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Welcome to F.U.N. Forces, an occasional feature for Fridays where I share some team ideas or goofball themes I’m looking forward to running.

Left to right: Ant-Man, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Beast, Nova, Steve Rogers, Black Widow. (Not pictured: War Machine, Sharon Carter)

Left to right: Ant-Man, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Beast, Nova, Steve Rogers, Black Widow. (Not pictured: War Machine, Sharon Carter)

Recently, the dial and card for Valkyrie (Fear Itself 005) was revealed. That means, at long last, I will finally be able to run an Avengers keyword-thematic Secret Avengers (vol. 1) #1 lineup!

Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Valkyrie (Fear Itself) 130
Black Widow (Captain America 006) 85
War Machine (Hammer of Thor) 137
Moon Knight (Amazing Spider-Man) 109
Beast (Giant-Size X-Men) 95
Nova Prime (Galactic Guardians) 150

=893 points, all with the Avengers keyword and character-accurate unlike the first time I ran a version of this team with non-keyworded pieces or wholesale substitutes. This build leaves room for either some special objects or one of a few ATAs. Nova Corps could shave off 10 points to add, say, a minimal Gauntlet or a full Utility Belt to a member. Or the Asgardian ATA, at 5 points, which gives Val Willpower on her vital first click. (It’s a bitter irony that there’s no room for the actual Secret Avengers ATA. :( )

This team looks MUCH better on paper than the previous ones I cobbled together a few years back. Though still range-heavy with the top two fighters dealing in Running Shot and still lacking a really durable brick or tie-up piece, the true Secret Avengers now have copious amounts of top- or 2nd-click support-power pieces instead of just one. The team also isn’t as dependent on a couple of characters as Stealth walls; most either have Stealth outright or get it from Sharon Carter. And although melee/tie-up still isn’t the team’s strength, Beast and Val certainly have great ability in close.

Even the upcoming PAC changes in June (when I’m likely to run this force, assuming I can acquire the Valkyrie) help instead of hurt. All the SHIELD members on the force (3 natural, potentially all of them) mean Beast could still be Outwitting targets from up to 9 squares away. (EDIT: actually, no, as his natural range is 0 and could only be boosted to 3 and thus still under the minimum 6 of Outwit). Several characters gain Ranged or Close Combat Expert down-dial to aid in those must-hit rolls in the mid- to late game.  And there’s Quake, Energy Explosion and Incapacitate scattered among these characters — each power a decided Winner in the rules shift.

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This team is Golden Age. I can run a Modern Age version (for another month or so, anyway) by swapping out the retired War Machine with the 220-point new one from the Iron Man 3 set and Nova Prime for Nova from the Galactic Guardians Fast Forces. That’s a 1000-point build that allows for the Secret Avengers ATA but loses the themed team bonuses (War Machine lacks the Avengers keyword). I won’t mind so much when he’s shooting through hindering terrain with Avengers Initiative team ability.

There’s a super-budget character-accurate version out there, too, in Golden Age:

Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Valkyrie (Sinister 046) 44
Black Widow (Clobberin’ Time 055) 30
War Machine (Armor Wars 067) 94
Moon Knight (Critical Mass 025) 18
Beast (X-Plosion 055) 42
Nova (Supernova 037) 56

=471 points. That leaves room for the Secret Avengers ATA on the four Avengers-keyword characters on the team. I think this team would get clobbered. Good thing I don’t own any of those pieces in black except the last one.

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Hopefully, I’ll pull a Valkyrie in my Fear Itself events and can field this team directly afterward!

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Week six is done. Almost through. This time I’ll review these by team.

These barely got a workout in a shortened game:

Batman (DC 10th Anniversary 001) has Leap/Climb and Outwit and 12 AV and is only 63 points. He was about to wreck it. But time was up.

On the other hand, Batman (Streets of Gotham 032) got one-shot in round two. Such a great sculpt but possibly the worst Batman dial ever.

The Batman of Zur-En-Arrh (Batman 103) had only begun to fight. He has so many powers — Prob, Perplex, Super Strength, Toughness, anti-Super Senses/Mastermind/Shape Change — that it was hard to get a handle on how to use him. I’ll save him for my next big Batman team.

Captain America (DC 10th Anniversary 001) also was only getting started, missing his attempted KO of Dracula. I didn’t build a great force to use Leadership on.

Wonder Man (Chaos War 210) missed his attack and got absolutely pounded. Was just lucky that my opponent ran out of actions to finish him off — and that the game ended after round 3.

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This force of Monsters had me playing “Thriller”…
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Fimbul the Hunter (Hobbit 005) was the MVP of his Monster squad. (Landing 3 straight Super Senses rolls will do that.) A good leading attacker to soften up for others or to finish off weakened foes. Solid piece, though niche enough that I might not consider using later.

Grinnah the Goblin (Hobbit 008) is fearsome with his free-attack-on-his mark SP. Another piece that’s niche; needs a taxi or TK for best effect.

Being able to shamble from square to square helps Living Mummy (Amazing Spider-Man 011) ONCE he gets to Charge range. He can shift to a better point to use his Probability or Mind Control, perhaps.

Lurtz (Lord of the Rings 010), probably the longest-unplayed figure in my box, finally got his workout. Not bad, but certainly only reserved for Orc teams.

I kept forgetting Vampire (Amazing Spider-Man 012)’s speed gets a boost when the scent of blood is in the air. Might’ve gotten me better use from him as a taxi. Hilariously comic accurate moment: he crit-missed on a push to KO Dracula. WHO’S the king of vampires, here?

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Played an all-Dwarf team. It came up short.
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Dori The Dwarf (Hobbit 015) only got KO’d thanks to how long it takes dwarves to get in the action. I also forgot to keep him with his brothers Nori The Dwarf (Hobbit 025) and Ori The Dwarf (Hobbit 016) to possibly get his Duo Attack SP to work (though, again, I never got the chance anyway). Similarly, Nori couldn’t use his special Prob due to lines of fire being cut off. And Ori was so stuck in hindering that he could barely Perplex his bros, much less get off meaningful shots. I’ll try this trio again someday, but much more purposefully. Ori in particular is vital for the Dwarves for his top-dial Perplex.

Oin The Dwarf (Hobbit 013) had the same problem all dwarves do: Low Charge speed. I absolutely needed the Kinetic Accelerator I played in order to do ANYTHING with these guys, and it doesn’t help when that opening Charge misses. Oin’s a solid dwarf, but he may not be the first I consider on any force with Thorin (as there are two others that do the Charge thing when he’s around but with better AV).

Balin The Dwarf (Hobbit 026) is worth pushing with his excellent 11 AV (with Thorin) and CCE. He’s also some 20 points cheaper than the similarly SP’d 77-point Gloin.

Kili The Dwarf (Hobbit 011) was the indispensable shooter. Can’t imagine leaving him off a Thorin-led team, what with his late-dial SP boosting the king’s DV. And when foes feel Kili’s 4 damage from range, they WILL try to hit him onto his late dial…

Fili The Dwarf (Hobbit 009), once he was pushed, brought some much-needed Perplex to the dwarven swarm. Between that and his Defend, he helped make the team surprisingly competent despite its shortcomings.

(There I go with the short jokes again…)

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On Friday, part two. Signed, The Breakfast Club.

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It took me a lonnnng time to play this team.

Black Bolt (Incredible Hulk 042) 193
Gorgon (Mutations & Monsters) 110
Crystal (Chaos War) + Fantastic Force 5
Medusa (Galactic Guardians) 82 + Fantastic Force 5
+ Kinetic Accelerator 0
+ Dynamostat 0
+ Eleha’al Vine 0
=500 points. It was for the “Turf Wars” scenario (as seen on the “scenarios” page on this site). I’ve been wanting to field Mr. Bolt with his wife for months, but the time or team or total points never seemed right until now.

FIRST VICTIM: Returning player G.O. fielded Sentinel Mark II (Giant-Size X-Men G01), Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War) and Daredevil (Incredible Hulk 021) on the Quinjet map. I had control of the game for the most part, but was unable to KO more than DD for the win. It came down to a final-round miss on a last-click Crystal to save the game for me, because time would’ve run out before I could add a last-click Morgan to my points.

SECOND MARK: Relative newbie Aaron, who ran a full-strength Black Adam (Superman 054), Wonder Woman (Justice League 003) and Batman (10th Anniversary 001) on the Realm of Death. Gorgon rushed in to tie down the threats; after he was KOed, the enemy was in prime position to take massive “Silent Scream” damage from Black Bolt. He’d do this more than once, as Aaron’s team was unable to escape or muster enough fight to stop me. This time I wiped.

FINAL FOE: Vic had a typically strong team of Metron, Brainiac (10th Anniversary 012), Lex Luthor (10th Anniversary 013), Calculator (Arkham Asylum) and (sadly denying Vic the wonderfully F.U.N. theme of an all-chair team) Batman (10th Anniversary 001) again on the Death map. This match swung back and forth a bit, but a crucial late game error killed my potential comeback — having broken walls to gain a single-target Pulse Wave on Metron, I missed the crucial attack. But the move I should have made was to move Crystal to base Metron first, JUST out of BB’s line of fire. That way, even missing wouldn’t have cost Bolt his chances of a followup shot. As it actually happened, though, he was knocked way off his fighting game and only running out of time saved me from a complete wipeout.

Piece-by-piece:

Black Bolt really needs TK and/or Barrier to be playable for his SP Pulse Wave. But as the only taxi for the team and being paired with his wife Medusa for the +1 to AV, it’s a little hard to pull off the mega-move. He’s pretty pushable, at least. In the future, I won’t run him without the Inhumans ATA to help maneuver him into position to explode.

Medusa benefits greatly from the +1 AV. In this game, her free melee Incap was useless about half the time, but

Crystal remained a solid figure, functioning first as the alpha strike that Black Bolt is sadly incapable of being for this team, then as the cleanup pitcher with her unorthodox line of attack via the “Tornado” trait.

Gorgon was nothing other than high-priced tie-up, because I forgot his Super Strength only works on standard objects.

  • + Kinetic Accelerator 0
  • + Dynamostat 0
  • + Eleha’al Vine 0

Nope, I didn’t play a single one. Additionally, as I’ve mentioned before, Super Strength is hobbled by the fact that opponents need not bring a single object to the field — and none of mine did.

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The darkness continues next week, with a long-awaited all-villain team report!

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Played this 600-point theme in a 4-way about four weeks back.

Thundra (Incredible Hulk) 88
Medusa (Incredible Hulk) 82
Spider-Woman (Chaos War 037) 82
Invisible Woman (Chaos War) 80
Wasp (Chaos War 030) 77
Scarlet Witch (Chaos War) 75
Tigra (Chaos War) 57
Wasp (Fast Forces) 50

=591 points. Won map and picked the Dawn of Time with Time Zones, facing a Star Trek Away Team with the LE Mr. Fantastic and Avengers Black Panther to fill points; a New 52 squad anchored by Hawkman, two Green Arrows and some JL Dark folk; and a Hand crew complete with ATA.

Here’s how the figures shook out:

Thundra (Incredible Hulk): Racked up the early kills with KOs of an Arrow and Hawkman (her marked man) in succession. Telekinesis helps her a great deal. She might’ve done even better if not for a late-game misplay pitting her against not one, but TWO figs with Exploit Weakness.

Medusa (Incredible Hulk): The Inhuman queen hardly did more than get an occasional Leadership roll (always apart from her underlings) and take damage. Landed on her glorious Flurry+Blades clicks only to miss badly and get KO’d. A royal disappointment that I hope fares better when I one day run her with her taciturn mate, Black Bolt.

Spider-Woman (Chaos War 037): Her Pheromones SP is clutch. Unlike, say Perplex, which goes away with damage, her stat-modding ability lasts all round. She very much aided Thundra’s early production.

Invisible Woman (Chaos War):  Came soooo close to getting that free heal trait to work. Darn my inattentive placement of Spider-Woman…!

Wasp (Chaos War 030): When this piece showed in the 2012 World Champion match, I was both gratified and unsurprised. She’s fragile as all get out — I lost her in 2 light hits — but can really swing a game your way. I must’ve landed six straight Super Senses rolls. It’s just a shame that she spent virtually 75% of the game tied up by White Tiger and couldn’t back up the rest of my team for the 25% that mattered.

Scarlet Witch (Chaos War): TK, Perplex, PC and Mystics made her the perfect support role player of the ladies. Even her inability to fly proved useful. Expect to see her in a Top Ten list in the future.

Tigra (Chaos War): Her low DV keeps her from absolutely buzzsawing through any game she’s in, including this one. She still racked up more than her point cost tonight.

Wasp (Fast Forces): My mobile Perplex, then Outwit piece. Definitely needed by this sisterhood dealing all-too-ladylike light damage.

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This was a F.U.N. team for sure, with enough juice to challenge all teams — I actually had traction against all thrre other forces — yet with the obvious Neat theme and no unFriendly elements.

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I started writing this Top Ten before Dragon*Con (through Labor Day weekend) with no idea of what it’d be on.

I flirted with the idea of griping about the Top Ten un-F.U.N. pieces in the game, which seem to be cropping up with a bit too much regularity in the past few rotations. But that was a bit more negative than I wanted to be on the verge of the nerd prom. I’m definitely not ready for another couple of articles I’m planning to do on the top tie-up or taxi characters.

Most of all, I wanted a topic that wouldn’t take a lot of work…one that I could either write ahead of the convention or easily write afterward.

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#10

Sentry & Void 300
Scarlet Witch (Fast Forces) 50
Mockingbird (Fast Forces) 25 x 2
= 400 points. This one was memorable because of how it managed to fit the most fearsome piece in the game now — Sentroid — and still be a named themed team per this qualifier tournament’s rules. It also threatened to cruise to an easy victory amongst the other teams in the event. But it would be sorely challenged in the finals…

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#9

All-Star Superman (Superman 001) 150 + full Gauntlet 40
AIM Agent (Incredible Hulk) 38
AIM Renegade (Incredible Hulk) 34 x 2
=296 points. This one was memorable first for being the eventual championship team; second, for being, surprisingly, an almost-comic-accurate one, in a roundabout way (Superman standing in for AIM creation Doomsday Man). But mostly, I was impressed that even the repeat champ Cramcompany could take such a fragile team to a 5-0 victory.

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#8

Scarlet Witch and Wonder Man 225 + full Gauntlet 40
Scarlet Witch (Fast Forces) 50
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Victoria Hand 40
=400 points. I was gratified to see one of Heroclixin’s Top Ten Duos on the field. I was even more pleasantly surprised to see it in the finals against the Sentroid team mentioned earlier.

At first, I thought Sentroid’s far superior mobility and power would overwhelm the Witch-Wonder duo and support. But on second glance, I realized that the teams were a lot more evenly matched than it first appeared. And in the final result, this team proved it with a victory.

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#7

Commander El 135
Kryptonian Soldier 87 x 3
=396 points. Of all the teams played at its event — 400 point named keyword — it appeared to be the only fully comic-accurate one. It didn’t do too well, ending up near the bottom.

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#5

Black Bolt (Incredible Hulk 10) 133 + full Gauntlet 40
Super-Skrull (Galactic Guardians 20) 100
Xavin 75
Replica 47
= 395 points. I also appreciated any team in this event that wasn’t Avengers-themed (said keyword has become the dominant one in the game at the moment).

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#5

Captain Marvel (Galactic Guardians) 141
Captain America (Captain America 001) 89
Black Widow (Captain America 006) 85
Falcon (Captain America) 79
=394 points. This one got props from me for running Falcon, a piece that I like (good powers, AV) and hate (low DV, 15-20 points too much) at the same time.

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#4

Mr. Sinister (Chaos War) 225
Wolverine (Incredible Hulk) 70
Tarot 47
Roulette 35
=377 points? I can’t recall if there was a Gauntlet on this team. Anyway, I loved that the fun Mr. Sinister was the anchor of the force. That it was played by a young man who used to frequent my venue in years past as a boy was just icing.

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#3

Master Mold 200 + full Gauntlet 40
Scarlet Witch (Fast Forces) 50
=290 points. The colossal robot’s only weakness is his vulnerability to Outwit. Handled, with the Gauntlet. I watched this pair sweep a Sentroid one-man-army twice. As my favorite of the GG colossals, that was pretty gratifying.

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#2

Stranger 213 + Gauntlet w/Time Gem 15
AIM Agent (Incredible Hulk) 38
AIM Renegade (Incredible Hulk) 34
=300 points. Despite lacking a full Gauntlet and being set on its heels by a Morgan Le Fay/Loki duo for the entire game, this team still battled long and was only a couple of clutch hits from getting an unlikely win.

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#1

Clark Kent (The Brave and the Bold 102) 23
Clark Kent (The Brave and the Bold 002) 48
Young Superman 100
Superman Beyond 145
Superman (Superman 057) 160
Superman (Justice League 001)
Kal-L  (The Brave and the Bold ) 254
= nothing, as this event had no build total. Instead, only one piece from seven point brackets occupied the battlefield and swapped in upon taking damage or healing. This team was my favorite of the whole weekend because it was very well-themed.

 

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I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings.

Here’s what I’d play in the final event “Trials of Dragon*Con”:

(1-25) Checkmate Pawn (Black) 25
(26-50) Catwoman (Unleashed) 50
(51-100) Luke Cage (Cap America) 98
(101-150) Monica Rambeau (Giant-Size X-Men) 139
(151-200) Crispus Allen 197
(201-250) Apocalypse (Mutations & Monsters) 250
(251+) Iron Man/War Machine 300

And that wraps up my Dragon*Con bye round teams. Stay tuned to Heroclixin’s battle reports to see which, if any, actually got played and how they did.

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I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings.

Here’s what I’d play in the 400-point “Dragon of Dragon*Con” tournament:

Black Rider 100
One of the Nine 100
Ringwraith 100
Servant of Sauron 100
= 400 points, plus the “dragon” Sauron himself!

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I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings.

Here’s what I’d play around 9 AM in the 400-point modern Age named keyword tournament:

Vision (Chaos War 100) 185
Giant-Man (Chaos War) 75
Hawkeye (Avengers Movie 208) 65
Sharon Carter 45
Mockingbird 25
+ X-Kryptonite 5
= 400 points, plus all four sideline Morph pieces for Pym.

 

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As I said Thursday, I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings.

Here’s what I’d play around 6 PM in the 500-point Star Trek tournament:

U.S.S. Defiant 100
U.S.S. Excelsior 150
U.S.S. Hood 100
U.S.S. Enterprise-A 75
U.S.S. Equinox 75
= 500 points. The rules require either all-Federation or all Klingon, and I’ve played all my I.K.S. ships. So it’s the Feds’ turn!

 

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I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings. I’ve pre-posted my potential teams for each event for your vicarious weekend reading pleasure.

Here’s one of the GREAT teams I’d play in the 1 PM 300-point Golden Age tournament:

THE GREAT TEN

August General In Iron 100
Ghost Fox Killer 68
Accomplished Perfect Physician 51
Seven Deadly Brothers 30
Seven Deadly Brothers 30
+ Yellow Lantern 5
+ Indigo Lantern 5
= 299 points. BFCs: Alpha Strike, Ordinary Day, Disbanded

-OR-

GREAT LAKES AVENGERS

Deadpool (Web of Spider-Man) 158
Squirrel Girl 59
Doorman 45
Dinah Soar 25
+ Great Lakes Avengers ATA 12
= 299 points. BFCs: Ordinary Day, Armor Wars, Infiltration. Plenty of F.U.N. factor, here.

 

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There’s also the “Court of Owls” game at 600 points at the same 1 PM time. Here’s my team:

The Dark Knight (Collateral Damage) 100
Batman (Fast Forces) 100
Batman (Crisis) 90
The Bat-Man (Superman) 81
Batman (DC 75) 77
Batman (Dark Knight Rises 201) 75
Batman (Arkham Asylum) 64
+ Yellow Lantern 5
+ Red Lantern 5
=597 points. It’s actually a “highlander-friendly” Batman team, with each being a different character: “The Dark Knight Returns'”over-the-hill Bruce Wayne, New 52 Wayne, Jean-Paul Valley, Thomas Wayne, Dick Grayson, movie Bruce Wayne, and Terry McGinnis.