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All right, so the initial run of the Agents of Atlas went…not so well at all, actually. Definitely had some changes to make for a real tournament.
Jimmy Woo 46 + Contingency Plan 12
M-11 59
Gorilla-Man 61
Namora 76
Marvel Boy (Hammer of Thor) 102
Venus 125 + Nanobots 10 + Camouflage 8
= 499 points. BFCs were: Bright Lights, Mistrust and something that got killed anyway.
++++++++++++++++++++++
FIRST up was the previous two weeks’ champ, Solomon:
Wonder Woman (Arkham Asylum) 248 + Fortitude 25 + Protected 8
Robin (Crisis) 79
Iron Fist (Secret Invasion) 70
Mister Mind 68
= 498 points. On the BPRD map, I used Bright Lights to rob the Bat Ally and friends of cover to hide in. Setting up Namora on the Kinetic Accelerator, I waited for Wonder Woman to close in. Solomon wouldn’t do it, instead Mind Controlling M-11 to attack Gorilla Man with a heavy object for swift early damage. G-Man pushed and retreated to my Eleha’al Vine to heal.
Marvel Boy, with a SHIELD boost to range and Contingency boost to AV, managed to roll high enough to hit Mister Mind and then Robin off Outwit, and later to hit Iron Fist. That was enough for M-11 to knock Mind and Fist out for good. With Robin taking more fire, Solomon was forced to bring Wonder Woman from hovering just out of range and into the fight — and into Namora’s swing zone!
She took the bait and hit WW for 6…which was Protected away. :( But that left WW tied up and unable to stop the free folks from taking Robin in the final seconds for the win. KO’d Iron Fist and Mister Mind as well, losing none. 1-0.
++++++++++++++++++++++
NEXT, I faced Paul’s Spy team:
Ms. Marvel-b (Secret Invasion) 168 + Armor Piercing 10 + Fortitude 25
Warskrull 110
Winter Soldier 70
Ghost Widow 54
Agent Brand 44 + Contingency Plan 12
Alfred (Hypertime) 6
= 493 points. I picked the BPRD map. We both theme-cancelled each other’s cards.
He got an early OHKO of Woo but that left the offender, Ms. Skrullvel, open to Namora’s successfully crippling Meteorite strike. Gorilla-Man and Marvel Boy teamed up to finish her. Venus, though camped next to blocking terrain for the Camouflage, got her Shape Change countered by Warskrull and had to Mastermind a shot from Winter Soldier to Marvel Boy for big damage.
Marvel Boy ran to the Vine, but Ghost Widow was right there to Poison him. Giving him up pretty much for lost (especially when he failed to break away), I concentrated on fighting Winter Soldier. Venus Incapped him for a push.
Winter Soldier got closer and got a shot on Gorilla-Man. Caught between the sniper and the Warskrull, the ape went down. But Namora and M-11, boosted by the Accelerator, got to Winter Solder for a KO. They were coming for Ghost Widow when time ran out. 2-0.
++++++++++++++++++++++
FINALLY, it was the championship match against Vic’s Skrull team:
Ms. Marvel-b (Secret Invasion) 168
Skrull Emperor 140 + Protected 8
Super Skrull: Avengers 126
Skrull Warrior (Supernova) 30
Skrull Infiltrator (Supernova) 25
= 497 points. He theme-cancelled my Mistrust BFC and put us on the Prison map.
Vic made four Hypersonic Speed-y attack rolls on Namora (thanks to a pair of theme PCs) and failed them all. That left Ms. Skrullvel in range of an easy strike with Namora’s Meteorite Charge.
Which was nullified by a successful Skrull roll. DAMN!!!!!!!
Although Namora was able to KO a neighboring Warrior instead, that single rolled 6 did more to kill my chances of a win than anything else. Vic was able to Hypersonic Speed attack to and from hindering terrain at will for 4+ damage thanks to Skrull Emperor’s Perplex, KOing Namora in the very next turn.
Once Gorilla-Man went down in a single turn as well, I decided I wasn’t going to allow that tactic any longer and ran down the long hall near my starting area. It didn’t work, though, costing Jimmy Woo his life and garnering me just 25 more points as I’d KO’d the Infiltrator before fleeing.
WIN-LOSS: 2-1. OK, so it appears that Agents of Atlas utterly  crumbles against double Hypersonic Speed 4+ damage teams.
But really. Who doesn’t?
Final thoughts.
Jimmy Woo
Contingency Plan was key, mainly to make Namora’s initial attack stick. Better yet was his SHIELD TA, which made Marvel Boy a far more dangerous shooter. A great team player, making the whole squad work better together.
Hmm. Kinda like the leader he’s supposed to be, isn’t it?
M-11
Most of the time simply in Namora’s tow, he was valuable for taking theme PC tokens as well as dishing some damage of his own. In builds with more feat room I might give him Nanoarmor at a minimum, or Opportunist or Automatic Regeneration.
Gorilla-Man
His chief role was as Mastermind fodder for Venus (and his Leap/Climb was indispensable for that), but he dealt some key blows as well. Wish I could’ve added Lunge or Armor Piercing or Automatic Regeneration to him.
Namora
Didn’t disappoint as my big gun (aside from the Protected- and Skrulls-forced whiffs). The Kinetic Accelerator absolutely does wonders for her, enabling her to usually carry M-11 to help finish off whoever she Charges.
Marvel Boy
Otherwise acting as Venus’s taxi and occasional Mastermind sponge, he was the surprise of this team, backed as he was by Woo’s SHIELD TA. Suddenly able to shoot for 4 damage, he becomes a game-changer. Had he been able to even target someone in the last game, who knows how it might’ve gone?
Venus
Lacking in damage and mobility skills, Venus’s use in these games as anything but a decoy was a bit suspect. Never used the Nanobots combo I’d intended, as the objects disappeared all too quickly. Outsmart may have been a better choice. Camouflage was worth it, though. In bigger builds, she’ll have Mental Shields to be a more active battler. Or Knockdown, for the same reason.

Here’s my ideal keyword-friendly 600-point version:

Jimmy Woo 46 + Contingency Plan 12
M-11 59 + Nanoarmor 6
Gorilla-Man 61 + Automatic Regeneration 12
Namora 76 + Submerged 5
Marvel Boy (Hammer of Thor) 102
Venus 125 + Outsmart 10 + Camouflage 8 + Knockdown 5
Jimmy Woo 46 (stand-in for ex-SHIELD agent Derek Khanata)
Thug  (Avengers) 7 (old-school Atlas members)
Thug  (Avengers) 7
Thug  (Avengers) 7
= 594 points. Opting to stay as highlander-friendly as possible while keeping the keyword…that’s why I wouldn’t just run another M-11. He’s one-of-a-kind. :)

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Lately I’ve been making incredibly bad blunders in the game.
Even a couple of years into HeroClix, I regularly would make about one big rookie mistake per tournament. But these recent mental pratfalls take the cake!
=====================
Exhibit One: “Girrrl, I Got Your Back — oh, Never Mind.”
I was playing my 200-pt FOXEY LADIES team: Ghost Fox Killer 68 + Loner 5, Crimson Fox 44 + Lunge 5, E Vixen 38 + Lunge 5 and R Vixen 33
(Crimson Fox is one of those pieces I didn’t like at first but grew to love a little bit. I just don’t get that many chances to play her. This little theme was perfect.) And even in a 4-man battle royale opposing a Super Skrull from Supernova and a Contingency Plan-equipped Hammer of Thor Captain America teamed WITH “Out of the Shadows” (OOTS) Justice League Batman, they were holding their own, totally.
But you read the title of this blog post, right?
So we were on the Legion of Super-Heroes indoor map. Cap was cowering on the elevated portion and I took it upon myself to fight and tie him up with a Lunging E Vixen. I had him on the ropes, but Experience Vixen was taking damage, too…Cap’s no joke. Worse, OOTS Bats was waiting in the wings to warp to an object and blast her.
Fortunately, I had Rookie Vixen free and available to block Batman’s only possible line of fire. And even if she paid the ultimate price, E Vixen’s Suicide Squad TA would kick in and she’d heal at least 1 click, maybe 4. And so I moved R Vixen to that square.
And then, unthinkingly, I changed my mind and I moved R Vixen to another square. For no good reason.
E Vixen was quite reliably KO’d in short order. Meat shield FAIL.
====================
Exhibit Two: “That’s Why I’m Called INVINCI — oh, wait.”
It was a 3-way battle royal on the Arena. Invincible had just made a successful HSS KO of an enemy Thor. But instead of retreating well behind the battle lines, where remaining teammates Angstrom Levy, Omni-Man or Atom Eve might be able to shield him or back him up, I put him next to a weakened opposing Spider-Man…where my TK-equipped other opponent easily plonked down a Meteorite-carrying M-11.
Six clicks gone one easy die roll later. Hypersonic Speed FAIL.
====================
Exhibit Three: “Yeah, Let’s start CLOSER to danger.”
In a 400-point tourny using the Fantastic Four and Power Pack with the FF ATA, I picked three apt battlefield conditions:
Assembled. That’s good for a team full of the same team symbol.
Resistance. That’s even better for this team.
…Infiltration. Wait…what? Instead of Ordinary Day? Really?
It might look like a little thing, but it truly cost me the final championship match through this string of events:
  • I was unable to cancel out Deep Shadows, which
  • Allowed Lamppost Batman to hide in plain sight, which
  • Allowed him to Charge + Flurry + Lunge at his top speed value over and over, whereas he’d normally be much more constrained.
  • And with that many attack rolls, a 19 DV is going to get hit, sooner or later. In my case, sooner. And often.
BFC Selection FAIL.
====================
Exhibit Four: “So bad I can’t even write something cute here to minimize it.”
Once again playing a Guardians of the Galaxy team (700, 50% Floor Hammer of Thor), this time with the keyword:
V Starhawk 144 + Spotter 5
Phyla-Vell 138 + Protected 8
Star-Lord 90 + Contingency Plan 12 + Inside Information 4
E Vance Astro 70 + Ambidexterous 16
Rocket Raccoon 65
Yondu 53
R Aleta 51
Bug 44
= 700 points.

I found myself facing, first round, this team:
Thor & Loki 362
+ Immortal Contempt 10
+ Sidestep 10
+ two more feats I can’t recall. (Surprisingly not Protected or Thunderbolts, though.)
Sif 93
Asgardian Warrior 37
Asgardian Warrior 37
Asgardian Warrior 37
Asgardian Warrior 37
Asgardian Warrior 37
Yeah, pretty daunting. He won map and picked the Lab. Not much room to use my several ranged attackers.
That’s not what broke me, though. We got to a spot where I made some short-range Running Shots on his Warriors instead of Thor & Loki, not wanting to take Mystics damage just yet. That left the big duo free to push and Running Shot me or Duo Attack me…unLESS I used Bug to tie them up for a turn. It’s almost certain doom for him if he does. But he’s only 44 points and might hit Super Senses, anyway, even for both attacks. That pushes Thor & Loki and leaves him open for Phyla-Vell and others next turn, perhaps. No-brainer.
I ended my turn without moving him.
Consequently, T & L force me to burn all 3 of my theme PCs, my Protected, and they still manage to Sidestep next to Phyla to hit her with a heavy object and all but KO her. All because I refused to sacrifice a 44-point figure.
Really?
REALLY?
I mean, didn’t I write this review on the guy?
FAIL. On so many levels.
====================
Example Five: “Extinction Event Due to Stupidity”
600-point 4-way Battle Royale. I play an Animal theme on my choice of the Docks map:
Devil Dinosaur & Moon Boy 151
U Hawkman 115
Shathra 99
Sauron 77
Thor, Frog of Thunder 72
Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace 54
In a battle royale against a bunch of New Avengers directly on my left, both Thor and Thor & Loki on my right and a quartet of Green Scar, Gamora, Susan Richards and CT Nightcrawler across the way.
Surrounded by all this, with my dinosaur-centric, by-far weakest team on the board, what do I do? Forget about first-turn immunity and move nearly everyone. I get triple-teamed almost immmediately and eventually wiped out with ease.
The worst of it is that I didn’t actually forget about first-turn immunity. I left two characters behind just for that purpose, and one was the first action I took. I can’t explain why I didn’t consider the rest of the team.
Consistent strategy FAIL.
====================
Exhibit Six: “How you like that handicap, sir?”
Some of you readers may have noticed that in Exhibit 4 I burned only three theme PCs on a team build that should have had four.
That’s because it wasn’t until I started to write up this article of fail that I realized I’d forgotten to actually put R Aleta on the field for all three games.

FAIL. EPIC FAIL.

I was going to write about what I learned from all this, but I’m too mad and depressed now. So I appeal to you, reader. What are some of your “favorite” personal moments of total FAIL in HeroClix?

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Read the introduction to the series here.

E003 INFINITE CRISIS

Based on the 2006-2007 miniseries of the same name.

WHAT TO BRING: four extra SPECIAL markers.
THE SETUP: Before the beginning of the game, put four SPECIAL markers in squares of clear terrain as close to the center of the battlefield as possible. These four markers are the Machine; they are considered to be blocking terrain, but can’t be destroyed.
WHAT IT MEANS: You’ll see.
—
TURN THE DIAL: At the end of each round.
WHAT IT MEANS: Nothing special. :)
—
BROTHER EYE IS WATCHING (Black, slots A-D): Once during a player’s turn, one of his or her characters can use Outwit if they cannot already use it.
WHAT IT MEANS: Unlike some event dials (I’m thinking of YOU, SECRET INVASION: ILLUMINATI), someone will actually get to use Outwit.
—
ALEX LUTHOR’S MACHINE (yellow, slots B-E): All characters gain the Capture ability, but all characters modify their defenses values by +1 when they are the target of a capture attempt. Standard rules for releasing captives are ignored. Captives can be released only into unoccupied squares adjacent to the Machine; released captives are bound to the Machine: They can’t be given actions, are not considered friendly or opposing to any player, and cannot be targeted or damaged by any effect. If the game ends while this event is in effect, bound characters are considered to be eliminated and belong to their owner’s force.
WHAT IT MEANS: You should avoid One Man Armies and tentpoled builds; a successful Capture could get you a loss in short order.
—
DESTRUCTION OF BLUDHAVEN (Lime, slots E-I): All elevated terrain is hindering terrain. If any character occupies hindering terrain at the end of its controller’s turn, deal that character 1 damage.
WHAT IT MEANS: Stealth is a double-edged sword, since hindering is dangerous under this effect. Make sure any character in hindering has damage reducers. Also note that this effect is in force for the rest of the game.
—
SMALLVILLE THROWDOWN (Green, slots C-E): When the result of any successful attack roll is doubles (other than two 6s), deal 1 additional damage. Critical hits deal 1 additional unavoidable damage.
WHAT IT MEANS: Doubles rule. No way to prepare for this. Just roll with it. (Get it? “Roll” with it?)
—
PROGRAM: EARTH SPAWN (Blue, slots E-I): Once during your turn, one of your characters can use one of the following powers: Barrier, Outwit, Poison, Probability Control, or Support.
WHAT IT MEANS: No way to plan or build for this, either. In fact, it’s liable to screw up any number of plans for the rest of the game!
—
DESTRUCTION OF THE MACHINE (orange, slot F): At the beginning of the round, all bound characters are immediately no longer bound and are immediately controlled by its owner and friendly to his or her force. Beginning with the second player’s characters, any characters that were bound to the Machine can immediately be given any action as a free action by their controller. After all formerly bound characters have been given an action (if any), remove the SPECIAL tokens of the Machine from the game and replace them with debris markers. The round then begins normally with the first player.
WHAT IT MEANS: Second wind! You may want to avoid building a big themed team so that you’re more likely to be the 2nd player and get the first free action here. But it’s only an issue if you get your character Captured.
—
BATTLE OF METROPOLIS (Red, slot I): All characters can use Willpower. When the result of any successful attack roll is doubles, after the attack is resolved, deal 1 damage to any opposing character.
WHAT IT MEANS: Stealth and high defense values won’t necessarily save a character. Doubles will deal it damage regardless of where it is on the map. This is also the end of the dial, so you’ll be dealing with this condition until game’s end.
—
SUMMING IT UP: Fairly straightforward dial. Just make SURE not to be too tentpole-heavy, lest it get Captured and force you to an early loss.
The next dial has the shortest name yet in HeroClix. Look for that entry late this week.

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Jimmy Woo 46
M-11 59
Gorilla-Man 61
Namora 76
Marvel Boy 102
Venus 125
+ Warbound (Agents of Atlas)
= 499 points.
Tried out this Warbound team in a friendly match against a tough trio:
Superman (Justice League) 226
The Sentry (Secret Invasion) 197
Venom (Hammer of Thor) 73
I all but lost the game on my map choice (BPRD) and wrong placement of the Kinetic Accelerator, preventing Namora from reaching the special object with M-11 in tow. When she got an immediate opportunity to attack Sentry with the Com Dish, but failed, she was easy sushi for Supes and Sentry. M-11 didn’t last long, either.
At this point, I only had Marvel Boy left who could deal damage to Superman or Sentry, but his AV wasn’t up to the task of hitting a pair of 18+ DVs. And the one who could, Venus, was too tied up by Venom to do so for most of the game.
Venus still dealt the most damage through a MC of Sentry (who pasted Supes with the Generator), but it cost her life as the feedback knocked her off MM & SC. Marvel Boy and Gorilla-Man double-teamed Vemon for a KO. Woo was the last to fall, only able to run from the HSS tag team.

FAIL.

I’m probably not using this Warbound build again. It just constrains the team’s flexibility too much. If only Venus could Warbound to Gorilla-Man instead of only Namora and Marvel Boy, who are too important as damage-dealers to take her tokens!

Not giving up, though. After the next installment of the Event Dial series, watch this space to see how the team does in a proper tournament!

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Read the introduction to the series here.

E002 IDENTITY CRISIS

Based on the depressing 2005 miniseries that broke up the happiest couple in comics. Figures it's one of the harder event dials to build for.

This event dial is one of the reasons this series was written, as it cannot be played with certain teams.
THE SETUP: All characters are Unique.
WHAT IT MEANS: The “highlander” rule is in FULL effect. Leave the generic swarms at home.
—
MORE SETUP: Before the beginning of the game, each player must choose one of his or her characters and secretly write the character’s name on a piece of paper.
WHAT IT MEANS: This is the Culprit, and this is why you can’t run multiples: it wouldn’t do to cheat and claim the Secret Invasion Spider-Man that got KO’d just happened not to be the one who’d make you lose on points. :)
—
TURN THE DIAL: At the end of each round.
WHAT IT MEANS: Straightforward progression.
—
WIN CONDITIONS: THE CULPRIT REVEALED: When victory points are being totaled, all players must reveal the name of the character they wrote down. If that character survived the battle, its player receives additional victory points based on the character’s point value.
1-49 = 100 victory points
50-99 =  75 victory points
100-149 = 50 victory points
150-199 =  25 victory points
200+ =  0 victory points
WHAT IT MEANS: Survival points make a comeback in HeroClix! Try fielding some mid-cost but survivable pieces to be the Culprit…or avoid the potential loss by making it the heavy.
—
MURDER! (Red, slot B): At the beginning of the round, each player (starting with the first player) chooses an opposing character. Deal the chosen character 2 penetrating damage. A character can be chosen and damaged by this effect only once.
WHAT IT MEANS: You’d better not field a character who’s too top-loaded with a power or powers you depend upon. By round 2, kiss those clicks bye-bye. (You may want to decoy opponents into hitting a character who gets BETTER on click three.)
—
VOTE TO MINDWIPE (Black, slots C-G): At the beginning of the round, each player receives a number of votes to the number of characters he or she currently has in the game and must vote for only one of the following options: 1) All team abilities are ignored; 2) all feats are ignored; or 3) all characters gain Earthbound. The option that receives the most votes is in effect until the end of the round. If multiple options have the most votes, all options with that number of votes are in effect.
WHAT IT MEANS: Having those cheap pieces on the board could pay off here. Just be careful not to mess yourself up; it wouldn’t do to expose your Batman Allies by voting for option 1. In fact, it may wise to not field such crucial TAs at all. Also note that this condition is present the rest of the game.
—
ONE AGAINST THE JLA (orange, slots D-F): If a character is attacked more than once in a round, modify that character’s defense value by +1 for each time it has previously been attacked during the round (+1 for the second attack, +2 for the third attack, etc.).
WHAT IT MEANS: Tentpoles probably get the most benefit from this effect, but it’s fine for anyone getting dogpiled.
—
SUMMING IT UP: This dial is one you absolutely have to plan a little for in advance, since you can’t run your cheeseburger multiple OOTS Batman squad. And as said above, running team abilities like Batman Ally might not be a good idea.
(In fact, maybe you just shouldn’t run Batman at all.)  :)
You also have to be a little strategic in protecting your Culprit as well. You don’t want to telegraph its identity by playing too conservatively, but you don’t want to give up extra points either. What to do? WHAT TO DO?!?
Well, one thing to do is to watch this space this weekend for the next Crisis…an INFINITE Crisis. Between now and then, look for the 2nd part of a series of Agents of Atlas battle reports!

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So in my ongoing quest to play all my HeroClix pieces at least once, I’m pretty much done with Hammer of Thor…except for the Agents of Atlas.
Jimmy Woo 46
M-11 59
Gorilla-Man 61
Namora 76
Marvel Boy 102
Venus 125
= 469 points. Only 31 points left for feats for a team that could really use all 50 points allowed.
Jimmy Woo
His Leadership begs for Contingency Plan, and the team could use a few stat bumps. But most of their AVs and ranges aren’t that bad as is (and his TA can help with damage and range), and maybe the points are better saved for something else.
I was especially concerned about overcosting him because Woo is very lightweight…not able to contribute much in the way of direct fighting. His price point reflects that. The question is whether to put him in harm’s way to get to Perplex faster or to hold him back and use SHIELD TA to the fullest. Either way, I wasn’t sure C.Plan was worth the points to drop on him.
M-11
So lethal to be this inexpensive, the killer robot may be best left featless. Still, he’s such a soft target that one wants to insure him with Automatic Regeneration, maybe. Opportunist, too, could ensure his damage sticks. He’s taxiable enough to collect the tokens. His best use may well be as an offensive meat shield for Namora until she can get in the fight proper. As such, maybe Protected or Nanoarmor is in order.
Gorilla-Man
Pounce fits but makes him expensive! Lunge fits but his damage is low. Auto Regen fits but it’s expensive. Just don’t know. In any case, Gorilla-Man is MM fodder for Venus, I think, until the fight gets close enough for him to contribute.
Namora
Submerged and maybe Opportunist could work, maybe, so long as there’s no HoT Cap America around to ruin things. She’s my main hitter, but should remain a fairly lean one. Got to protect her until she can make her alpha strike. It’s got to count.
Marvel Boy
Mental Shields or Stunning Blow? His 9 AV makes both a bit iffy IMO because landing the initial MC does not ensure the following Incap, especially if he takes feedback. Maybe it’s just better to give him Force Field to bolster his DV?
Despite his mediocre AV, he has some potential to actually be effective. He’s got the best DV at range of the lot, and Woo can nudge his range up a tad. At worst, as Venus’s taxi, he can serve as MM fodder in a pinch.
Venus
Soooo featable. I’ve seen good use of Mental Shields on her. But she’s soft defensively. Camouflage hides her from shooters (again, beware of HoTCap), Outsmart to help fight off Outwitters and, given her ability to Incap all adjacents, Knockdown could be quite fantastic. Trouble is, all that’s piling more points on her already high cost. Contingency Plan is another option, as is Compel. What to do?
Really, the way I feat this team depends on what I’ll be doing with Venus. Her AV says she’s the main attacker, but her damage is way too low. (Oh, for some starting Perplex on this team!) Mind Control? Do I really want her to be 140 points with the all-but-mandatory Mental Shields? OTOH, hiding her next to a wall with Camouflage seems like a bit of a waste…and not even a guarantee.
And then I could just dump all other feats for Warbound. Namora in particular could get great mileage carrying and shuffling tokens off to M-11 or G-Man. Marvel Boy…less so. Same for Venus, dumping tokens off to him (or Namora, the other qualifying member).
The trouble with feating this team is that nothing is a slam dunk for anyone. See what my decisions were and the team’s performance later this week. Tomorrow, I resume the Event Dial series. Be here!

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Read the introduction to the series here.

E001 THE JUDAS CONTRACT

Based on the classic Teen Titans tale in which Terra (the blonde with the glowy hands) breaks Changeling's heart (he's the green kid). Poor guy's been unlucky in love ever since...and this was, like, 1984 or something.

And now we begin looking at the DC Event Dials, starting with those pulled as the non-figure element in the Crisis set.
TURN THE DIAL: At the end of each round.
WHAT IT MEANS: This short dial will be done before you know it.
—
SUSPICIOUS ALLY (Brown, slots A-C): At the beginning of your turn, choose a friendly character. The character is a wild card until the end of the turn. The character can use any other team ability it possesses, if any, but can use only one team ability this turn.
WHAT IT MEANS: Build in some offense-oriented team abilities on your team: Superman Ally, Avengers, Titans (natch) for your Suspicious Ally to copy.
—
AMBUSH! (Red, slots C-D): When an attack roll is made, if the attack is unsuccessful but the result of the attack roll is doubles, give an action token to the target if it has zero or one action token.
WHAT IT MEANS: Willpower, Indomitable or Power Cosmic/Quintessence will defend against this condition, but it’s not going to break you if you don’t plan for this.
—
BETRAYAL (Black, slots D-F): At the beginning of your turn, choose an opposing character. You can immediately give that character an action as a free action. For the duration of the action, the character is considered friendly to your force and opposing to your opponent’s force, and any of the character’s canceled powers return for the duration of the action. You can’t attack that character this turn.
WHAT IT MEANS: Whatever game plan you started with? It goes pear-shaped here when your opponent gets the effect of free Mind Control for an action. Keep your eyes open for unexpected openings.
—
TITANS TOGETHER! (Green, slots F-G): At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6 for each friendly character that has one or two action tokens. On a result of 5 or 6, remove all tokens from the character. The character can be given action tokens this turn.
WHAT IT MEANS: A chance to press or recover whatever advantage was gained or lost during BETRAYAL.  This effect will be in force at the endgame once the dial stops turning.
—
SUMMING IT UP: This E-Dial is pretty low-key. It will reward a wildcard abuse team (minus the wildcards) and characters who ignore pushing damage, but beyond that it won’t punish the average team build.
Next time we’ll look at another dial that inspired this event dial series: Identity Crisis.

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E100 PLANET HULK

It's more than just a trophy for winning the Mutations & Monsters tournaments back in Fall '07.

Read the introduction to the series here.


WHAT TO BRING: see “The Setup.”

THE SETUP: When building their forces, each player can also choose characters with a combined point value of up to 200 points per 300 points of the game’s build total; no character chosen this way can have a point value more than 40 points. These characters are reinforcements. They remain outside the game until called upon by the Rebellion effect.
WHAT IT MEANS: This event dial absolutely must be built for in advance. It’s one of the reasons I wrote this series of articles!
—
TURN THE DIAL: Immediately after the resolution of a critical hit, and at the end of any turn in which a character takes 4 or more damage as a result of a single action, and at the end of each round.
WHAT IT MEANS: Despite the length of this dial, it will move fairly quickly.
—
EXILE (Black, slots A-F): When a character is 4 or more squares from all other friendly characters, modify its defense value by +1.
WHAT IT MEANS: Field advance tie-up pieces to base enemy snipers and prevent them from attacking your team, or use the bonus to be aggressive with your main attacker(s) if that’s your style of play. Consider taking extra advantage of this effect by combining it with the LONER feat if you’re not running a keyword theme. Keep in mind that the Rule of Three will come into play and possibly nullify the defense bonus if an affected character has, say, Combat Reflexes or Energy Shield/Deflection. You’ll want to avoid running characters with powers or Team Abilities that require adjacency such as Mastermind or Justice Society if you want to use this effect.
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OBEDIENCE DISK (Cyan, slots B-F): All characters’ Willpower are ignored. When a character uses a special power, give it an additional action token after the action resolved (the extra token deals pushing damage normally).
WHAT IT MEANS: Absolutely avoid using Special Powers like the plague…unless the character has the Indomitable ability, Power Cosmic/Quintessence, or some other means of avoiding pushing damage other than Willpower. Even in these cases, this effect prevents you from getting the usual extra round of actions, so it may be better to forget about using SPs entirely. Strongly consider going with some old-school non-SP’d pieces in this game!
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GLADIATOR (Red, slots C-J ): Any character that can’t use or doesn’t possess Blades/Claws/Fangs can be given a power action to use Blades/Claws/Fangs as a free action, but the maximum result of the roll to replace its damage value with this effect is 4. If damage dealt to or taken by a character is not otherwise reduced, roll a d6 when the character takes damage. On a result of 4-6, reduce the damage dealt by 2.
WHAT IT MEANS: A character with high attack value but low damage potential would be good for this.
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ANARCHY (orange, slots I-O): When making an attack roll, roll 3d6 and choose two dice to be the result of the roll.
WHAT IT MEANS: More attacks will succeed during this phase, so if you’ve been biding your time, this is the moment to strike! If you’re running a themed team, you may want to use your bonus Probability Control rolls now, especially given the next condition coming up immediately…
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REBELLION (yellow, slots J-X): At the beginning of each player’s turn, that player must choose a character from his or her Reinforcements and put it into his or her starting area. Once the character enters the game, it is considered part of the player’s force.
WHAT IT MEANS: Those extra 200 points of characters begin to enter the game and will remain until the end. If you’re running a themed team, your new Reinforcements have to match the keyword or they will break the theme when they enter and cause you to lose any unused bonus Probability Control rolls, so either A) build some or all of them into the theme or B) use up the PC rolls before adding the keyword-unfriendly pieces to the match. Also, build them to make an impact to the game. (I recommend Perplexers.)
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ALLEGIANCE (Blue, slots K-S): The first time (only) Allegiance shows in the slot, each player must choose a character to be the Leader of his or her force. Friendly characters adjacent to their Leader modify their defense values by +2. If the Leader of a force does not have an action token at the beginning of its controller’s turn, it must be given an action that turn.
WHAT IT MEANS: Because you gain a defense boost for adjacent allies, it might be prudent to build in a highly mobile Reinforcement piece to enter the game first to act as Leader. That way, it can immediately back up (and, perhaps, taxi out of harm’s way) wounded primary pieces.
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POSSESSED BY THE SPIKES (Green, slots N-T): Once during each player’s turn, one of his or her characters can be given a power action to use Mind Control as if its range value were 6.
WHAT IT MEANS: Pretty straightforward. No way to build for this; it adds an element of randomness to the late-game action.
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CHEMMING (Gray, slots T-X): When one of your characters has resolved an action, you can give the action token for the action to any friendly character that has zero action tokens and that is 8 or fewer squares away from your character and to which your character has a clear line of fire.
WHAT IT MEANS: This is Warbound-plus! The Indomitable (or Power Cosmic/Quintessence) character(s) you fielded for the OBEDIENCE DISK effect will pay off big here both as a giver or recipient of tokens. Willpower works, too, but you’re less able to plan for using it at this stage in the game. Also note that this is in force until the end of the game.
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ARMAGEDDON (Brown, slot X): At the beginning of each round, roll a d6. Deal all characters penetrating damage equal to half the result.
WHAT IT MEANS: Because this is a red-lined event dial, there’s no escaping this deadly effect. Regeneration might be helpful, but really, the best bet is to try to get as many KO points as you can before ARMAGEDDON does everyone in.
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SUMMING IT UP: This long event dial is a blast. Aside from the Reinforcements effect, it’s not too unfriendly to most any team build you can cobble together. You just have to make sure you have enough cheap pieces in your collection to act as Reinforcements.
Since we’re going in chronological order, the next installment will begin reviewing the first DC dials from the CRISIS set. Look for it soon!

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I’d fielded pre-built Guardians of the Galaxy teams at the 800 and 1000-point levels, coming away with a successful tournament record. But with other players not quite ready to leave that Saturday evening, we played on in a three-way “shock the turtle” (in which the map’s playable zone shrinks with each turn, forcing characters toward the center or take a click of damage) battle royale, me with still another Guardians of the Galaxy team:

Star-Lord 90
V Major Victory 84
Rocket Raccoon 65
Bug 44
+ Guardians of the Galaxy ATA 16
= 299 points of unOutwittable themey goodness.
Paul and Lenny fielded, respectively, Robots and Martial Artists**:
Skull-Brother 75
Ahab 68
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
and
Daredevil (Hammer of Thor) 81 + Stunning Blow 10
Batman (Justice League) 75 + In Contact With Oracle 10
Robin (Arkham Asylum) 66 + In Contact With Oracle 10
Hand Ninja (Hammer of Thor) 38

(We had a fourth player but he had to leave before we completed the 2nd round of turns.)
I won map roll and picked the Smallville map, starting on the building-heavy side. I did all right at first, Force Blasting a Hand Ninja into the open. But my Bug basing Daredevil got Stunning Blown into the activated shock barrier and I badly mis-moved Major Victory into the barrier to lose Impervious without ever taking an attack.
Meanwhile, Star-Lord was doing a bit better, taking shots at Skull-Brother and Ahab. Rocket Raccoon also scored a crithit off a building on Daredevil, that was sadly nullified by a themed team Probability Control**. (I thoroughly forgot to use any of my theme PCs.) The Major fell to the shock barriers after defending against encroaching Phalanx; Star-Lord, to Batman’s fire. Soon, only Rocket Raccoon was left among DD, some Phalanx, Skull-Bro and Batman. Only DD and RR were left when the entire field was electrified, and DD had the longer dial for the win.
This was a fun but disappointing game for me. Three extreme, game-shattering lapses on my part — the Major Victory self-damage, the illegal theme team I didn’t catch (I’m usually good at that), and my ignorance of my own theme PC — led to my defeat.
**Of course, it WASN’T a themed team. That Batman lacks the Martial Artist keyword. Even after checking to see if Robin had it, we all missed this one.
Then, Lenny and I stayed late to play another game. I ran some unused pieces: Destroyer, Seth + Protected, Volstagg and Thor, Frog of Thunder. Which would appear to go against the theme of this series, except that Lenny played:
Phyla-Vell 138
Star-Lord 90 + Contingency Plan 12
Gamora 73 + Protected 8
V Mantis 67 + Alias 3
Rocket Raccoon 65
Bug 44
for 500 points of more Guardians of the Galaxy goodness! I wasn’t mad at ‘im. :)
We played on the Days of Future Past map, a good one to play the Opened Hydrant in, giving Frog of Thunder excellent cover and thoroughly blunting the threat of a Charging Gamora. Too bad I put Volstagg just outside the water, giving Gamora an easy shot at him. Destroyer managed to beat her to her late dial but Gamora lived on. Frog got Star-Lord, Bug and Mantis, Seth got Rocket, but a Hypersonic Phyla-Vell with an Outwitting Gamora couldn’t be stopped in the end. Frog and then Seth fell.
Those were Saturday night’s GotG battles, and my record now stood at 5-4. One more tournament, on the following Sunday afternoon. Would my planned 300-point team maintain the winning record or flop badly? Watch this web address…

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Hey, this is like the opening shots of one of those '90s Batman films. Only cool, actually...AND NO BAT-NIPPLES!

Back from Christmas and continuing the series.

Next day was a 800-point game using the Ragnarok event dial. Here’s the team:
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
V Drax 184 + Protected 8 + Unstoppable 5 + Cannonball 4 + Alias 3
Adam Warlock (Secret Invasion) 160 + Contingency Plan 12 + Invigorate 10
Phyla-Vell 138 + Protected 8
Star-Lord 90 + Contingency Plan 12
Gamora 73 + Protected 8 + Maneuver 8
Rocket Raccoon 65
Lila Cheney 6
Lila Cheney 6
= 800 points. Threw in a pair of pogs because I had room (after nearly maxing out on the 10% feat limit) and because Lila, being a space-faring teleporter, will probably meet them sooner than later.
FIRST MATCH vs. Paul and his Robots:
Air-Walker 201 + Armor Piercing 10
Beta Ray Bill (Hammer of Thor) 159
Skull-Brother 75
Bi-Beast 73
Ahab 68
M-11 59
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
On the Asgard map, I had to dig through Phalanx hordes while weathering Air-Walker and Beta Ray Bill attacks. Was simply unable to finish off any piece over 31 points, and the final condition of the Ragnarok event dial erased all the victory points I did score. (Paul clearly built his team for this event dial, a point I will certainly make when I cover Ragnarok in my ongoing “Building for the Event Dial” series.) Lost both pogs, Star-Lord and Gamora. 0-1.
SECOND MATCH vs. Azul and his
Psycho-Man 151
Enchantress (Hammer of Thor) 141
Ronan the Accuser (Hammer of Thor) 130
Green Arrow (Crisis) 104
Gambit 90
Miss Martian 76
Amanda Waller (Arkham Asylum) 75
V Scourge 21
He was tired of the Asgard map (as was I), so he picked my Dockyard. I picked the land end to force him down the narrow causeway.
Had to deal with Psycho-Man first. Fortunately, one of the early conditions of Ragnarok gives Outwit and consequently offered a chance for Star-Lord to take an early, though unsuccessful, shot. That scared Azul enough, I think, to TK Psycho-Man to base and attack Star-Lord for solid damage. But the rest of my team was able to dogpile him for the first KO.
Azul’s relative inexperience continued to work horribly against him as he brought Amanda Waller and Green Arrow in close, leaving her without Mastermind fodder and him pushed off his Stealth click. That cost him Amanda (c/o Star-Lord). I was working on Ronan (actually passed up an easy KO of him to chase after a fleeing Green Arrow) when time expired. Lost no one. 1-1.
THIRD MATCH vs. Bryce and his
The Mighty Thor 286 + Spotter 5
Thor (Hammer of Thor) 226
Fenris Wolf 140
Hogun 96
Asgardian Warrior 37. There was a Vendetta feat in there, too, but it was on The Mighty Thor and therefore mostly useless due to almost no characters with higher points to target.
This young but savvy player wasted no time attacking. On the Asgard map, I managed to dodge some big early damage with PC and Super Senses. When Fenris Wolf missed his strike, I took the opportunity to dogpile him with Gamora and Drax and Star-Lord for the first KO.
From there, Bryce’s rolls really went cold while I started landing repeated shots with Phyla-Vell (thanks to Adam’s Invigorate) to whittle down the Thors. Got a full-power heal on Drax to take him from near-KO to back useful. Wiped out the whole team, losing only my sacrificial pogs.
Win/Loss: 2-1 in this tournament, 5-3 overall. Not bad! (I somewhat wish I’d tried out the Guardians of the Galaxy alternate team ability for this game to defend against the “Treacherous Loki” condition that gives any character Outwit for a round. But…I didn’t. :p )
Still more coming from that weekend…keep watching this space!