Sketch by cartoonist Adam Warren.
Sorry, I’m not able to get the latest installment up today. But the next is 90% done (no voracious WordPress issues today!) and should be ready for Tuesday!
Category: HeroClix top ten
TOP TEN Medics: [interrupted]
Ugh. I had the update just about finished and then WordPress ate it. So no update today. I may call this week a wash and pick up on Monday with numbers eight and seven. The good news is that I’d written up to half of number six, so I should be able to get ahead a little.
Good thing, too. The holidays are coming and it’ll be time for Heroclixin’s Top Ten lists for 2012! I better get started now!
TOP TEN Medics: #10 – #9
Number 10
Accomplished Perfect Physician (Crisis 044)
This member of China’s team of superheroes super functionaries is one of the better healers in the game with his starting 10 Attack Value and 17 Defense backed by Super Senses. A full dial of Leap/Climb enables him to easily get out of adjacency if based, and a mid-dial pair of Outwit clicks in between the Support ones make hitting him off Support a problem for foes.
He’s at the bottom of the list, though, because at 61 points, he’s really pricey for a medic to have only a full dial of 1 damage despite his attack powers of Incap, Quake or Psychic Blast. Worse yet, his speed value is pretty poor; he might not be able to get where he needs to go!
Still, with a power on every slot, it’s not hard to be down with A.P.P. for a medic that can contribute a little bit more than just healing. He’s the #10 best medic in Heroclixin’.
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Number 9
Night Nurse (Web of Spider-Man 102)
She’s the first on our list to sport the Willpower + Support combo which, in a less crowded field, would rate a figure a spot automatically. A solid 9 AV — about the minimum you want for a top-flight medic — and a low 27-point price help her as well. What gets her on the list for sure is her ability to temporarily boost patients’ DV after a heal attempt.
Very much a Support specialist, she doesn’t contribute anything else and is a fairly easy KO with low DV and no real defensive abilities. But she’s one of the best at nursing wounded allies — #9 in Heroclixin’s estimation.
She ties with another lady:
Jane Foster (X-Plosion 206)
Thor’s mortal gal pal was the first in HeroClix to sport the Willpower + Support combo, making her one of the best of the old set. She rates low on the list for dirt-poor starting 8 AV and 13 DV. But at 16 points, the LE version of the Paramedic is one of the absolute cheapest medics in the game and has an outsized effect on matches as a result.
Top Ten: LEADERSHIP (3 of 3)
#3
Taskmaster (Chaos War 047)
The 139-point Tasky is on the high end of the Leaders of the list, costwise. But with his ability to automatically boost the Attack and range of adjacent allies upon a successful Leadership roll, he’s well worth the points — especially because he also sports Enhancement regardless of his rolls! Add to that his great numbers, wild card ability, Thunderbolts ATA and power-copying trait, and it’s no wonder the trainer of super-villains everywhere steals a spot high on the list.
#2 is on the side of the law:
Commissioner Gordon (The Dark Knight Rises 027)
At 99 points and only 5 clicks long, Gordon looks like he might be a better fit for retirement than leading the troops. But look at what his Leadership SP brings: 1) it effectively works on a 4-6, with 4 only adding an action, 5 working normally and 6 dropping tokens from two pals sharing a keyword/TA with him. He’s also got Defend (with 18 DV!) and PD to benefit his adjacent friends.
They also benefit Gordon; his trait gives him Mastermind to protect those five short clicks, and it works on pricer pieces if they share his keywords or TAs. Oh, and he’s got Outwit and Sharpshooter and Indomitable, too.
It’s a wonder that between him and Batman that Gotham hasn’t become Disneyland.
The #1 Leadership piece in Heroclixin is also a Gothamite:
Nightwing (Batman Fast Forces 003)
Dick Grayson has the best version of Leadership yet: he can treat any adjacent ally as cheaper for the token removal. It just doesn’t get any better than that. He’s a good crackin’ figure beyond that, too, with Outsiders TA and great numbers and powers.
Top Ten: Leadership (2 of 3)
#6 is
Captain James T. Kirk (Star Trek Away Team 001b)
The famed skipper of the U.S.S. Enterprise is the next boss on the list. Like almost all of the rest, His version of Leadership comes with a bonus: when he rolls 3-4, he can throw a token on an opposing character within 3 squares. Given that he starts with Charge and Combat Reflexes and has the Federation Away Team TA to enable him to make a strike as far as 17 squares out, he’ll have ample opportunity to affect foes that way.
The downside is that he might be too isolated from fellows for them to take full advantage of the normal effects of Leadership. But that’s on the player to ensure that doesn’t happen to Heroclixin’s #6 Leadership piece.
#5 is another from a non-comic property:
Bartolomeo d’Alviano (Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood 004)
His Leadership SP not only works as normal, but he can drop a token off a friendly as much as 55 points more than his 70 AND from four squares away! Aside from his super-Leadership, though, he’s just a competent melee fighter. Still, Bart’s the #5 pick for Heroclixin’s list.
#4 can barely fight at all, being crippled:
Chief (Crisis 036)
Unlike many others on this list, The Chief’s SP Leadership “Manipulate” doesn’t really grant extra actions to your total for the turn. Instead, players will usually opt to build tokens that give pushing allies a 66% chance of avoiding the pushing damage. The ability to essentially give pals Willpower much of the time is potentially powerful.
But Chief makes the top half of the list despite his lowish 63-point cost because he’s packed with a half-dozen team-enhancing powers including “Manipulate:” Outwit, Perplex, Mastermind (that works on higher point figs that share his Doom Patrol and Scientist keywords), Outsiders TA and Support. It’s more than enough to earn his spot as Heroclixin’s #4 Leadership piece.
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Finally: The top three Leadership figures in Heroclixin’s Decision 2012.
Top Ten: LEADERSHIP (1 of 3)
#10
Maria Hill (Avengers Movie 011)
At a mere 51 points, Maria Hill is FAR too inexpensive to rate as a good general Leadership piece in the modern game. But her Special Power makes her great for SHIELD generics: she grants +AV to adjacent allies with the keyword. Combined with the Willpower she gets via the same SP, she benefits fellow SHIELD mooks greatly. Moreover, since SHIELD team tend to be composed of swarms of low-cost characters, the extra actions of Leadership are much needed.
Because she’s a great piece for the power on the SHIELD teams she’s most likely to appear on, Cobie Smulders Maria Hill is Heroclixin’s #10 top Leadership piece.
Next is a bad guy:
#9
Moloch The Mystic (Watchmen 018)
At first glance he looks just like a mere Mind Control piece with zero defenses besides Shape Change, but he’s got a great form of Leadership that grants the user of the extra action Willpower. That character could be himself. You just have to be sure to declare which of your actions of the turn is going to be the extra one.
His long 10 range enables him to stay out of the main fray better than many, and his Underworld TA means he’s likely to carry or be carried by fellow Underworlders. His 79 points puts him a sweet spot, points-wise, to be a great boon to the teams he’ll show on. He’s Heroclixin’s #9 top Leader.
#8 (tie)
Capwolf (Captain America 061)
Superman (DC 75th Anniversary 050)
Both sport special Leadership that allow, on a 6 roll, the ability to remove a token from himself instead of a cheaper pal. Capwolf’s is a little better still, as it’s a trait instead of a first-half-of-dial SP and he can opt to drop the token off any adjacent Animal instead of himself. He’s also 100 points to Supes’ 120, with better AV, a full dial of BCF and Super Senses and nearly as much Battle Fury. But Superman is better in a fight, with a full dial of Toughness, JSA TA to help his or allies’ DV, perma-Leap/Climb, the ability to be carried and Indomitable. He’s also a slightly better general leader.
Both tie as the 8th-best Leadership figs.
Back to SHIELD for the next:
#7
Steve Rogers (Captain America 031)
A Leadership trait and solid 99 cost would seem to put Rogers even higher on the tops list. And when you consider that he outright grants his adjacent Avengers- and SHIELD-keyworded pals the SHIELD or Avengers TAs, respectively, his Leadership is almost incidental to his utility on the team. Add to that his high AV as well. His weakness is a total lack of armor, making him a tempting target for KO. But Rogers is still the #7 best Leader by Heroclixin’s standard.
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Next: The next three leaders elected by Heroclixin’.
Top Ten: LEADERSHIP
I had another Top Ten idea I was preparing for this week, but it occurred to me that with America voting in the next leaders of the free world tomorrow, Heroclixin’ ought to list the Top Ten best Leadership pieces in the game.
What qualifies one to be a great leader?
- The right point cost. It can’t be too low, because you want to be able to remove tokens from cheaper teammates upon successful rolls. But a leader too costly could crowd out the build total, leaving you with no other characters to use the extra actions granted by Leadership.
- The ability to stay adjacent to allies with minimal effort. Your leader needs to always be in position to remove tokens from less-costly allies with the 5-6 roll. That means being a taxi or being taxiable.
- Using that adjacency for something other than Leadership. It only works a third of the time, so the Leader really ought to have something else to benefit — or benefit from — adjacent allies.
- Starting Leadership. Pushing to get to the power is useless. But…
- No more attractive power on click #2. Nightwing (Crisis 029) is a prime negative example: though he begins with Leadership, unless a player is either using one of the feats associated with it (Inspiring Command, Contingency Plan) or married to leveraging his top-dial Incapacitate, Nightwing’s nearly always going to get pushed to click #2 for his Perplex. A better leader will not require feats and will get some actual mileage from the power.
- Finally, the leader should have followers to benefit from the Leadership. Does she have any teammates that are a natural fit for her style (via team abilities, keywords or whatever)? This is taken into account.
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OK. Those are the ground rules. Starting tomorrow, see what Heroclixin’ voted as the 10th, 9th and maybe 8th best Leadership figures in the game!
Top Ten Worst Sculpts in HeroClix (part 3 of 3)
I can’t draw this out any longer. Here are the top four worst sculpts in HeroClix:
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4
Morgan Le Fay (Critical Mass)
Y’know, she’s supposed to be scary AND beautiful:
I don’t even need to write any more. Just do the side-by-side for yourself.
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3
Green Lantern (Origin)
It’s not an optical illusion. His left leg really is a good 20% shorter than his right. And his left arm is also shorter than the right as well. But, amazingly, from shoulder to fist, that left arm is actually almost as long as his left leg is from hip to heel.
More from the believe it or not department: this is based on an actual comic book panel. I’ve seen it. I wish to heaven I’d grabbed the shot from the blog I spotted it in.
Here’s the question I’d like to ask the sculptor: In a comics universe where you could pick Alex Ross’ or Carlos Pacheco’s or other A-list modern artists’ work as a reference, why would you use a janky bit of rushed Golden Age-era art as a reference?
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2
Umar (Critical Mass)
Again, like Morgan Le Fay in the same set, she’s supposed to be beautiful, if rather scary, too.
Critical Mass was more like a Crippled Mess where sculpts were concerned. And Umar here is the absolute poster child for the problem. Thankfully, sculpts have never gotten quite this bad again…except once.
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1
Captain America (Avengers 001)
I asked before why this sculptor didn’t use better reference art to do Green Lantern. But considering that the reference for the above monstrosity was this pretty nice splash page:
…well, I guess it wouldn’t have helped.
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Tomorrow: More fighting fire with F.U.N.
Top Ten Worst Sculpts in HeroClix (part 2 of 3)
7
Martian Manhunter (Origin)
The first (but not last!) of sculpts on this list by notorious former WizKids sculptor Lukas Little, this doughy-looking work of the Manhunter from Mars wouldn’t be so bad if not for one funky bit of botched anatomy: his calves! They’re as big as his thighs, maybe a bit larger, and they ruin the whole piece.
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6
Wasp (Avengers 059)
The general sculpt is…okay. It flirts with actually being good, from the neck down. But that head! That FACE! It’s horribad. But while the face is an inexcusable non-paint job, it’s the nubs on the top that push this sorry excuse for Janet Van Dyne onto this list. I mean, where do you get those from this?
Maybe they were attempting to do her needle-thin antennae. Ridiculous to attempt. And plainly unfinished. PUKE!
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5 (tie)
Sersi (Critical Mass)
Somehow, this one comes off as a valiant attempt at the below, but is hindered by being in the Critical Mass set, probably the absolute nadir of sculpting excellence in HeroClix’s 10-year history.
However, that doesn’t explain this poor excuse for the maid of might:
Supergirl (Unleashed)
Again, it’s a valiant attempt. Feeble result.
Top Ten Worst Sculpts in HeroClix (part 1 of 3)
It’s October and that means Halloween is coming. This countdown has nothing to do with playability or anything about the dial. It’s all about the wrongest, worst-looking, most misshapen sculpts in all of HeroClix.
10
Validus (Giants)
Taken on his own, big V here doesn’t appear to deserve a spot on the worst list. That is, until you compare him to his comic-book and cartoon depictions:
The ‘clix figure is so skinny. It’s missing some details and it looks like a shark-toothed toddler. At the time, many giants were sculpted slim to fit into boosters, but Val here was in a collector’s set; he didn’t have to be so emaciated from the waist down!
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9
Rogue (Infinity Challenge)
A lot of the earliest ‘clix figures were poor. But this one’s the worst of the set, IMO. Awkward pose, a Butt’erface…there’s nothing flat-out WRONG with her. She’s just…wrong.
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8
Carnage (Web of Spider-Man)
It’s not the worst sculpt, but the huge hands make it unintentionally hilarious instead of terrifying as Carnage should be.
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Tomorrow, it’s numbers 7, 6 and 5. Things are gonna get UGLY!