DATE PLAYED: April 18, 2009

SCENARIO: 2000 points of Little Big Men. No pieces less than 200 points or more than a single base in size.

My team:

Thanos (Supernova) 267
+ Protected 8
+ Shellhead 10
+ Thwart 15
Black Adam (Crisis) 254
+ Fortitude 25
+ Warbound 5 (Ruler)
Doom (Secret Invasion) 249
+ Outsmart 10
+ Warbound 5 (Ruler)
Mordru (Crisis) 245
+ Warbound 5 (Ruler)
Green Scar 230
+ Contingency Plan 12
+ Warbound 5 (Ruler)
Darkseid (Crisis) 210
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
+ Outsmart 10
+ Monster Hunter 3
+ Warbound 5 (Ruler)
Omni-Man 207
Man of Steel 200
= 2000 points

My plan: Use Darkseid to constantly Warbound to Green Scar (who builds CP tokens) to Omega Effect people into easy range for the rest of the team. If that’s not possible due to no clear LOF, Mordru will either stall the enemy with nonstop Barriers (thanks to Warbound again) so that Man of Steel and Omni-Man can HSS to and from safety or TK every turn for the same effect until the enemy comes in close. Then, and pretty much only then, Black Adam, Green Scar and Thanos will kick into full-on attack. Doom and Darkseid will always be adjacent to double up on Outsmart protection.

That was the plan, anyhow. What ACTUALLY happened…

FIRST ROUND, I faced new player Stephen on the Dawn of Time map:

U General Zod
U Brainiac (Icons)
U Mongul
Darkseid (Crisis)
+ Brilliant Tactician
Black Adam (Crisis)
+ Vendetta
V Bizarro (Cosmic Justice)
U Lex Luthor (Icons)
U Dormammu

He won the map roll and neither of us played battlefield conditions or special objects. Stephen got his first harsh lesson in positioning when he moved Brainiac just within Darkseid’s 12 range. The lord of Apokolips used Omega Effect option 3 to yank the evil robot into easy range of my whole team; Brainiac didn’t last a round. 

Stephen got his 2nd harsh lesson in positioning after his next turn. Dormammu was taxied far too close to my team and took a lot of Outwit and Psychic Blasts from Doom and Thanos while Man of Steel and Omni-Man took turns attacking Black Adam with TK help from Mordru. 

Once Dormammu was gone, Stephen used the blocking terrain to approach within his Charge ranges. I used Mordru to TK again (thanks to Warbound he never had to rest) and hit Zod hard with Man of Steel. Stephen finally got some real offense off with a couple of hard Charge hits on Man of Steel and Mordru but it was too late to save Stephen’s game. I wound up adding Zod and Bizarro to my tally, losing none. 1-0.

SECOND ROUND was against Paul on the old Indy Zen garden map against his:

Superman (Crisis)
+ Fortitude
The Mighty Thor
Ares (Legacy)
+ Fortitude
V Supergirl (Origin)
+ Fortitude
+ In Contact With Oracle
Green Lantern (Legacy)
+ Fortitude
V M’onel
+ Fortitude
Victor Von Doom
+ Fortitude

He Ordinary Day’d my Wasteland, so it was a good thing I put my Kinetic Accelerator on the rooftop. I also had a Generator and the Meteorite. 

The first few turns were a lot of passing, really. Then Paul TK’d Victor Von Doom to attempt a Mind Control…but failed the roll. “So long, Doom,” Paul said. He moved Earth-2 Superman behind the small building on the map. 

This left me with a tough choice: pound Doom with Darkseid, Thanos, Doom and Mordru (and suffer multiple clicks of Mystic feedback thanks to his Wildcard copying of Ares’ team ability), or take the huge risk of attacking E2 with my Hypersonic Speeders. I picked the latter, TKing Omni-Man off the roof to get Perplexed by Darkseid. With this extra speed, he successfully made the attack with the Generator and got back to safety. Emboldened, I pushed Man of Steel off his first click in an all-or-nothing Hypersonic strike with my Meteorite, which hit for maximum damage and my first KO of the game. With my remaining actions, I used Omega Effect to pull Victor Von Doom next to Darkseid, my mystic Doom and Thanos. Thanos used Thwart to nix Victor Von Doom’s Fortitude and Doom made him Powerless.

The Mighty Thor got TKd to a roof and blasted Darkseid hard (though not as hard as if I’d failed his Outsmart roll), and his Mastermind fodder was currently pushed on my rooftop; I didn’t think he could survive another shot from either TMT or Ares, who’d parked 8 squares away in hindering terrain. I agonized over whether to press the attack with Darkseid and friends (since I’d foolishly Omega’d Victor Von Doom adjacent to all three) and take three Mystics clicks for my trouble…leaving them all open to the God of War next turn. I could use Mordru to build a Barrier, sure, but I really wanted him free to act next turn if I needed to TK or attack. I fretted for a solid 3-5 minutes this way.

Fortunately, Darkseid now had Phasing/Teleport to get next to both fodder sources and out of harm’s way. Thanos and Black Adam then finished Victor Von Doom (the Mystics damage handily getting him to Hypersonic Speed) while Paul got M’onel and Supergirl into position. Not wanting to possibly waste a shot on the Fortituded Adam, on Thanos’ Protected or take two clicks for hitting Mystic Doom, Paul rested Ares to my relief.

Using his Kinetic Accelerator, Paul sent Supergirl to hit Omni-Man, but he Impervious’d it. M’onel had better fortune, landing a full-strength hit with the Meteorite than E2 Supes had dropped (and I’d forgotten to pick up). Ares tried to blasted through Doom’s countered Invulnerability for 5, knocking Doom onto Perplex. That sealed Ares’ fate as Thanos countered with a Psychic Blast boosted to 5 damage, followed by Black Adam doing similar damage for the KO (and basing Thor, who’d taken Psychic Blast from Mordu). Man of Steel slammed KC Green Lantern.

When time was called, I’d taken Ares, E2 and Victor Von Doom to no losses. Paul chided me for stalling (due to that one turn where I just couldn’t decide what to do), but really I was only in danger of losing Omni-Man out of all my team. 2-0.

THIRD ROUND was opposite Lenny on the Junkyard map from Collateral Damage:

Superman Prime
+ Protected
+ Fortitude
Ganthet
+ Contingency Plan
Thanos (Supernova)
Silver Surfer (Avengers)
Darkseid (Crisis)
+ Brilliant Tactician
Dr. Doom
Green Scar
+ Fortitude

I Ordinary Day’d his Bizarro World. Both of us played cautiously, but I not quite enough as his Surfer got an early shot at my Superman that just missed. Thus scared, I set up my team behind a Mordru Barrier after Thanos’ disastrous crit miss at long range (12 out) on his Dr. Doom. 

Lenny can be a reeeeeally slow player sometimes. This time he took a whopping 10-12 minutes to try to find an angle to attack Thanos after blasting my Barrier. His only option, which he didn’t want to take, was a shot with Superbrat. In the end, I don’t think he took it, despite my (in-character-for-my-villain-heavy-team) taunts of his cowardice.

I blew up the Kinetic Accelerator to send Man of Steel for a risky attempt on Silver Surfer deep in Lenny’s backfield for a solid hit, stranding MoS in the relative saftey of the trash compactor. Lenny then sent Prime for a potentially crippling shot (at range, sans the Meteorite), but Superbrat crit missed. Whew. He then covered Prime with Thanos and Doom against my follow up. Wise…

…but unwise. Mordru TK’d my Darkseid up to Omega Effect his Thanos into clear range of my Psychic Blasters and Omni-Man with my Meteorite. Two-hit KO of the mad Titan. Pressing the attack, I pushed Man of Steel to paste Surfer with the Generator and crit missed — ARRGH! 

That left Man of Steel wide open for Superbrat’s successful, full-power Meteorite blow, landing him on his last click. As time ran out, I pushed to TK Omni-Man for a final attack that KO’d Surfer for the win.

WIN/LOSS: 3-0. 

Keys to victory:

Mordru. His giant-sized TK was basic to my whole strat, but timely Psychic Blasts, Outwits and Barrier-building made him a superb support player with bite. High-point games like these are where he shines.

Single-click-of-HSS duo Man of Steel and Omni-Man. Intended only as jabbers to set up KO punches later in the game, these guys wound up racking up a lot of KOs anyway. 

Outsmart. Saved me at least twice. I LOVE this feat. Outwit protection for yourself AND neighbors for less than half the cost of Fortitude? Pretty good. 

Thwart. A feat I almost never use came in very handy this time. It was great having this trump card ready to deal with Fortitude and such.

Contingency Plan and Warbound on Green Scar. “Sparta” Hulk as a support player? Yeah, strange as it seems, this was a big key to my game. Though he never took a single action, his presence made a huge difference. Heck, just knowing he was ready to go if everything went pear-shaped was a great comfort.

Omega Effect option 3. Did Darkseid ever deal a single click of damage? I don’t think he did. He was just the setup man, and he did it OH so well.

On Sunday I played the Charge team in a two-round tourney. First was first-timer Andrew, who could only play his entire collection:

R Anaconda
E Sidewinder
R Drax the Destroyer
R Skrull (Clobberin’ Time)
R Rhino (Critical Mass)
Starter Spider-Man
Starter Wasp
Starter Hobgoblin
Starter Elektra
Starter Wolverine
Starter Sabertooth
R Toad
R Tessa
R Crimson Dynamo (XPlosion)
E Bulldozer
R Juggernaut (Infinity Challenge)
(and more such small fry I’m probably forgetting)

and some pieces Paul loaned him:

U Black King
LE Shazam
U Darkseid (Hypertime)
E Batman (Icons)
R Dr. Mid-Nite
U Nightmare

I picked the Danger Room outdoor map for its simplicity and coached Andrew through most of his (many, MANY) moves. For my part, I marched my folks right up, dropping Omega Red in front so that Andrew could make some attack rolls. Andrew took my recommended shots at Omega Red, landing nearly all and actually KOing him. And I suddenly found myself with no time to get the points back, only taking Toad. So I lose to the first-timer! Not the first time THAT’S ever happened.

Second round, I played against Conrad’s (another once-first-timer who beat me long ago) Impervious team:

Norrin Radd
LE Nova (Critical Mass)
LE Superman (Collateral Damage)
Trigon
The Mighty Thor
Ganthet
Colossus (Mutations + Monsters)
The Joker (Justice League)

Conrad unwisely put Superman outside of hindering terrain, fairly daring me to attack. I suppose he wanted to get hit to better clicks. I obliged and then tied him up with Ben Grimm and Karnak.

For my part, I unwisely Taxied Bronze Tiger within range of Norrin Radd, who didn’t miss. I left him there, lest Zauriel (who was much more central to my game) take fire. Ganthet opened fire and that was it for Tiger as Conrad took early points. 

I still had Superman tangled, though. Karnak pushed to hit him, then Power Man & Iron Fist Charged off the roof to Exploit Weakness him for a solid 5 clicks more. This landed Superman on his Hypersonic click, and that’s when I knew I had him. Spectre flew up to drop Omega Red between Superman and Joker. Superman had a token and couldn’t push without dying and Omega Red had Armor Piercing and Poison.

With Superman gone, I had the lead and a suddenly un-based Power Man & Iron Fist. I pushed (no damage thanks to Indomitable) and Charged them at Mighty Thor (who was also based by Spectre now) to score another hard hit via Exploit Weakness. But this landed Thor on Flurry, which would be bad news later. It also isolated the duo from the protection of Defending teammates, opening them to taking much damage.

Omega Red continued Poisoning and hitting Joker…unfortunately landing the clown on his best click: 12 AV, 19 DV!!!!!!! He began hitting Omega, bypassing the Poison threat. Norrin Radd, too, kept scoring hits on Spectre, who sadly failed his one shot at Thor with his terrifying “Vengeance” power (which would have allowed Spectre to deal 4 clicks of penetrating damage)!

Worse yet, I completely forgot about Automatic Regeneration on Spectre, or that he had Outwit. My one chance at healing him gone, Spectre was Flurried by Thor, then finished off by yet another 5-damage cannonblast from Ganthet.

On the other side of the fight, Black Adam had tied up Trigon to prevent any Psychic Blasts from the big red giant. Trigon hit him hard with Flurry, dealing knockback (Adam having lost Charge) and forcing Adam to fly back in base. I decided to push him, using Giant-Man’s and his own Perplex to boost his damage to 5, and Flurry the Impervious-free Trigon (thanks to Steel’s Outwit). Hit both attacks for 6 total damage, even though it cost Adam 3 himself (pushing and two Mystic backlashes). Steel followed with a 4 shot to land Trigon on his final click. 

So it was all up to Zauriel now…10 attack value to Trigon’s 18 defense. Countered the big bad’s Impervious with Gamora and rolled…

…a hit. How appropriate that the angel beat a devil.

Although Conrad had one more turn as time expired, all his remaining team was pushed and I claimed the victory. 

Keys to victory:

Armor Piercing on Omega Red

Spectre. Although he was my big casualty, his ability to taxi O.Red was a clutch moment. I wish I’d played him a lot smarter, though. 

Giant-Man. His Perplex was sorely needed when I used it. 

Wow. Were these guys my first reviews at Pojo.com?

New material is in green. 

———————–

Rookie Swordsman
20 points
Team: none
Range: 0
Keywords: Lethal Legion 
Originally, the Swordsman was a villain with some skill with a blade. His costumed criminal career started in the circus, then in Europe, both of which explain that ridiculous moustache.

1 2 3 4 5
————–
08 07 07 07 06
08 08 07 07 06
16 15 15 14 14
01 01 02 01 01

Powers analysis:

He starts with Leap/Climb and Close Combat Expert for
2 clicks, then switches to 2 Flurry clicks. Final click has no powers. Swordsman is best used as pure tie-up sacrifice piece to keep enemy shooters from targeting more important figures. L/C helps him gets there, and CCE makes him dangerous enough to draw attention

Feats:
POUNCE is the best choice; for just 35 points, R Swordsman can threaten even Impervious/Invulnerable targets. DOUBLE-TIME is a solid choice to enable him advance to the rear lines and threaten medics and PC figures. DAMAGE SHIELD makes his close-range tie-up potential even better. And nowadays LUNGE is a perfectly good and low-cost fit. How did I miss recommending PASSENGER back then?  

Themes:
He was killed in action, so add him to the “legion of dead” clix as well as the “not dead anymore” set. He was an Avengers enemy and fought Captain America.

In sum:
Rookie Swordsman is a disposable tie-up piece at best, but with the right feats he can be quite annoying — and even a little dangerous — for only 25-35 points. 

Rating: 2/5. Cheap enough to not mind losing, but useful in the meantime.

Experienced Swordsman
35 points
Team: Avengers
Range: 4 x 1
Keywords: Avengers 
This Swordsman is the secret plant on the Avengers of the Mandarin, bearing the special energy-blasting sword the Iron Man archvillain gave him. But he comes to respect the heroes and works with them frequently while half-heartedly continuing a life of crime.
Eventually, he’s pardoned and joins the team.

1 2 3 4 5
————–
08 08 07 07 07
09 08 08 07 07
16 16 15 15 14
02 01 01 02 02

Powers analysis:
Two clicks of L/C start things, so initial mobility isn’t a problem, and ESD will help against shooters until he can base a target — preferably a flier.
That’s because he gets Psychic Blast on his second click. It switches to Incap for the 3rd and 4th, giving him some ability to slow the enemy down.
Defensively, clicks 2-4 boast Combat Reflexes to boost his close-combat survivability. And in the damage slot, he a Close Combat Expert for the first three, then lapses into Battle Fury for the final two.

Like the Rookie, this is a good cheap tie-up piece that’s a little dangerous with all that CCE. Loss of Flurry hurts a bit, though, and the BF at the end means no yanking him out to be healed. (Like you’d bother with that.)

You’re almost never going to use that 4 range except on that 2nd click.

Feats:
VAULT is a no-brainer. POUNCE works, but loss of Flurry + higher cost make it less attractive. HEIGHTENED REFLEXES is a good bet to help him survive the move-attackers. DOUBLE-TIME helps him threaten the pit crew figures. THUNDERBOLTS is a great choice, of course. DAMAGE SHIELD works just as well on him as on the R — coupled with TB’d Mystics/Crossgen TA, and his use as a tie-up piece is magnified. Again, LUNGE is a great modern feat that’s exceptional on E Swordsman.

Themes:
Fits on both Avengers teams and villain teams. Team up with Mandarin for a good and effective theme.

In sum:
Exp. Swordsman, while less disposable than the R, may be a bit more useful thanks to T-Bolts. But that makes him more valuable, which is counter to his best use as a sacrifice piece. 

Rating: 2/5. Better than the R, but less disposable, which is a problem.

On Saturday, after a LOT of indecision, I played the Perplex team. And was immediately dismayed to see my sole opponent Paul’s team:

Vet Supergirl (Origin) 232 + Fortitude 25

U Hellboy (Indy) 188

Sabbac 145

U Hercules 142

Power Man & Iron Fist 136

Ultra Boy 130

Strong Guy 124

Tempest 116

V Captain America (Ultimates) 103

Young Superman 100

Krypto 100

Namorita 98

Gamora 73

Karate Kid 63

Timber Wolf 60

Captain Mako 52

Bouncing Boy 50

V Katana 48

Kamandi 14

Ugh. Three Mystics, a Batman Ally, TWO sources of ANTI-Stealth and NINE wildcards to copy it all, making my own Bat-stealth nigh-useless. Paul won the map roll and picked an old one…a park with lots of hindering terrain, a lake in the center and one 4-square blocking terrain feature on my side. I used Infiltration and he played Deep Shadows. AAAGH! So much for my plan of bombarding from long range with Darkseid!

I fielded the Kinetic Accelerator and the Dynamostat (to give me extra Charging range and a bit more cover to hide behind, respectively). Paul had his own Accelerator and a Meteorite. Using the Avengers TA, he was able to move his entire team about mid-field, largely safe from any retaliation thanks to Deep Shadows’ cutting long ranges to just six and providing free hindering terrain for all the wildcards copying Batman Ally. I similarly set up my forces behind the blocking terrain. 

Paul moved Strong Guy in very close behind the blocking terrain, probably to serve as bait for Power Man & Iron Fist and Hercules (on the Accelerator, toting the Meteorite) waiting in the wings. I decided to spring the trap, Charging the Fortitude-equipped, double-Perplexed (thanks to Dr. Strange and Hulk) Wonder Woman to critically-hit Strong Guy with Exploit Weakness for 5 clicks into the lake. I followed up with a Running Shot from Dr. Doom to hit Gamora and leverage his Outwit to slow down Paul’s team. 

Wonder Woman got pretty surrounded and I had to send Hulk and Black Panther to help. But Panther took hits from Kamandi of all people, and Hulk got hit  really hard himself. That’s the bad news; the good is that this being a bizarro game, Hulk landed on his best clicks and Panther remained a great threat himself.

Dr. Doom, meanwhile, got further into enemy ground to hit Hercules hard. I made the error of not Outwitting Herc’s Super Strength or Charge because I’d flown beyond his range. Didn’t count on Hercules’ Speed Value getting Perplexed up by Tempest! Doom took a Meteorite to the chin and had to push to make a clutch breakaway roll (thank you, mid-dial Probability Control!) to escape.

On the other side of the field, Paul was repeatedly missing attacks with his big gun, Supergirl (she starts with a lowly 7 Attack Value in this format) against my higher defenses. Meanwhile I was biding my time to try for a single-target Pulse Wave with Black Bolt. Young Superman’s destruction of my Dynamostat ruined that plan, and Namorita’s Poison threatened to wreck him personally.

As time expired, it all came down to a breakaway roll to try a Running Shot Nova Blast with Black Bolt. I made both rolls, dealing 5 clicks to Hellboy, Namorita, Young Superman, Tempest, Timber Wolf and Karate Kid, KOing the last two for the only points in the official game. (We played out the rest of the game and I wiped his team, losing only Sinestro and the Nova Blast points.)

WIN/LOSS: 1-0.

Well, the team was held down by the Deep Shadows battlefield condition, but it still functioned all right. In fact, the card probably saved me from taking more of Ult. Captain America’s Outwit!

Keys to victory:

• Will Magnus & Platinum were crucial in the early game for the Defend power. 
• M+M Hulk is fantastic in this bizarro format. His early Perplex, Charge and Invulnerability make him a key attacker and supporter in one, and taking a bit of damage only makes him more terrifying. 
• Avengers Black Panther is good on every click, but with Lunge he’s even better. Here, he supported the team well with Outwit or Perplex in between his Lunge-enabled attacks, scoring a KO on Hercules. I will have to try this feat combo with him in normal games as well.
• Dr. Strange was here not only for his anti-Stealth trait “Eye of Agamotto” but for his immediate use of Perplex even in this bizarro format. Down the stretch, he became a much greater factor in the game.
• Wonder Woman IS a wonder. Battling Mystics actually works to her favor in this format, as she really does only get better.
• I really didn’t intend to ever use Nova Blast on Black Bolt. It’s really more of a psychological tactic to change the opponent’s game plan. But the feat works SO much better in the bizarro format that I frankly wonder that I ever doubted the idea. Deep Shadows actually helped me pull off the strike better than I might’ve otherwise. 

I really hated that I didn’t get to use my other, Charge-based team. At least, until I learned that my other venue was doing the same scenario! Come back tomorrow for how that went!

This week, my venues held a pair of “Bizarro” HeroClix games. In Bizarro (named for the backwards-thinking Superman villain) games, the game pieces are played in reverse; the last click is the starting line, and the dial is turned toward the green line instead of away from it as the character takes damage.

These games are challenging because A) most figures are considerably weaker on their final clicks than on their first, and consequently B) dealing damage to the enemy often makes them much stronger opponents. 

However.

There are a number of pieces that have pretty good last clicks. Take Gypsy (whom I reveiwed here )from the Justice League set. While her Speed Value, Attack Value and Damage Value of 5, 7 and 1 respectively is common for a final click in HeroClix, her Defense Value is an astronomical 19 — a value shared or exceeded by fewer than 50 of the 2900 or so existing dials in the whole history of the game.

Therefore, part of the fun (for me) of the Bizarro scenario is finding these hidden gems to build a squad that’s nearly as deadly as a normal team. Again, the aforementioned Gypsy: with Defend, she can share that sky-high Defense with adjacent allies and thus shore up the low defense values found on most final clicks. 

That’s why I was glad that my venue’s judge added the following condition to my suggestion of a 2000 point Bizarro game: each character on the team must share a common power on their first click (and Special Powers granting use of standard powers would qualify). 

Team #1: SUPER STRENGTH

Since I did want to field some titanic powerhouses, I tried to build around this power. Specifically, I wished to build around a certain character who would be instrumental in this scenario.

Aquaman 71

Man of Steel 200

V (Origin) Steel 164

SR (Justice League) Superman 283

SR Spectre 234

Arkham Asylum Wonder Woman 248

Junkpile 92

Avengers Ares 275

Secret Invasion Namor 150

Triton 72

Power Man & Iron Fist 138

Man of Steel’s excellent 19 DV + Defend was tempting, but in the end, I wasn’t confident in this small team’s mobility, SR Superman’s Hypersonic Speed notwithstanding.

Team #2: CHARGE

Gamora 73 

Power Man & Iron Fist 136 + Unstoppable 5

Omega Red 124 + Armor Piercing 10

AV Giant-Man 82 

E Drax the Destroyer 168 

Karnak 79

Atom Smasher 97 + Alias 3

V OR Steel 164 

Zauriel 117 + Protected 8

SR Black Adam 254 + Fortitude 25

Liberty Belle 84 + Unstoppable 5

Benjamin J. Grimm 100

Spectre 234 + Automatic Regeneration 12

Bronze Tiger 60

SI Namor 150 + Submerged 5

= 2000 points.

My plan: Use Zauriel’s “2nd” click with 18 Defend to shore up Atom Smasher’s weak DV while Spectre blasts people with his “Vengeance” Special Power. Meanwhile the others crawl forward at mostly low speed values.

Team #3: PERPLEX

Super Skrull: Illuminati 250 + Outsmart 10

AA Wonder Woman 248 + Fortitude 25

CR Darkseid 210 

SI Dr. Doom 200 

SI Dr. Strange 149 

SR Sinestro 146 

M+M Hulk 143 

Emma Frost 107 + Invigorate 10

AV Black Panther 92 + Lunge 5

Hector Hammond 88

Will Magnus & Platinum 75 

AA Robin 66 

Black Bolt 166 + Nova Blast 10

= 2000 points.

My plan: Bunker my non-Stealthed move+attack pieces around Will Magnus & Platinum, who have Defend with 18 Defense Value. Protected by Bat-Stealth, Doom and Black Panther advance until Wonder Woman can enter the fray. In the backfield, Hector TKs nearly every turn and Emma heals him — and Invigorates Darkseid to shoot from 12 squares out over and over. Dr. Strange is also key as an extra source of Perplex that can see all.