300 points. Character-card sets only.
My take: Power Pack #6 “theme team”
Lightspeed 25
Mass Master 30
Energizer 35
Gee 40
SI Spider-Man 50
+ Lunge 5
+ Loner 5
SI Cloak & Dagger 109
= 299 points
See my blog, heroclixin.wordpress.com for this write-up!
Round ONE
Easton, 12-year-old from Huntsville, AL
On a shaved-down Indy map (the Evil Lab, I think), I took on his Stardust, SI Captain America, M+M Marvel Girl and AV Scarlet Witch. He played a great game, easily KOing first Gee, then Mass Master for an early lead. But Spidey and Cloak+Dagger began landing their respective double attacks, taking out Cap, Scarlet Witch and Marvel Girl. Stardust, still at full health, critmissed a big attack, enabling my two Phasers Lightspeed and C+D to run from the herald until Spidey could finally hit it — and then to run from it when it gained HSS. A 2nd critmiss spared Energizer’s life and the grownups finished the now-hittable Stardust for the wipeout. 1-0.
Round TWO
Clark, a 12-year-old former Atlanta kid now in Florida but back for Dragon*Con.
On the Crashed Spaceship map, this slightly spacey kid fielded a team of bi-coastal Avengers: Lionheart, U.S. Agent, Ronin, Moon Knight and AV Scarlet Witch. Not nearly as sharp a player as my last opponent, but much better than when I last played him, Clark took down Mass Master and Energizer and very, VERY nearly got Cloak & Dagger; a miss from a weakened Lionheart allowed the duo to Phase away and support a well-beaten-down Spidey from afar. Managed to hold on for a win despite frequent sniping from the hidden but nearby Moon Knight and Clark’s semi-secret weapon, Ronin. Got U.S. Agent and Lionheart. 2-0.
Round THREE
Nathan, a former S. Carolina player moved to Wisconsin back for Dragon*Con. On the HorrorClix Carnival map, he dealt me a vicious beating with a team lacking anything resembling a blind spot: SI Nick Fury + Contingency Plan with Skrully Ms. Marvel — both Warbound. And Lila Cheney just to round out. By not covering Gee in my initial move, a Kinetic-Accelerated Ms. Skrullvel took him, and any chance I had of winning, out in one shot. I retreated to force him to overextend a bit, though it cost me Mass Master in the next turn. And it worked some; by basing Lightspeed with Lila (outwitting her P/T to force Lightspeed to fight, he said) he’d left an opening for Spider-Man to Lunge-attack Lila (missing), then Nick Fury, hitting him and forcing a L.M.D. warp away from Ms. Skrullvel and thus negating the constant Warbound attacks. The team was actually able force a critmiss from her and knock Fury to hit late dial and even get KO points for Lila before getting wiped by this incredibly effective trio. 2-1.
Round FOUR
A guy whose name and hometown I’m blanking on. Did I ever ask?
I picked the Castle to face his Justice League of America: Starro Green Lantern, OOTS Batman, JL Zatanna and JL Black Canary. Again incautious with Gee placement, I got my TK first Outwitted, then lost outright to Green Lantern’s Running Shot off the bat. Fortunately, Cloak & Dagger would remain safely Stealthed on the Kinetic Accelerator, no matter what. Mass Master was my first casualty, blocking Batman’s fire for his brother. Energizer (via Lightspeed) proved her worth by disintegrating the object Bats sat on, leading to shots from Cloak & Dagger and a Spider-Lunge that took him to eventual KO. Both girls fell to enemy fire, but the Fantastic Four TA healed Gee back to TK, enabling him to push and move Cloak & Dagger forward to take out Zatanna. All four kids were lost but I wiped all but Green Lantern for the win.
Win/Loss: 3-1. I built this team just for kicks, being a great fan of the old-school ‘Pack. But it proved to be way more effective than I dreamed.
A couple of days later, we had a 200-point unrestricted game, and I saw a chance for another Power Pack-heavy team:
Lightspeed 25
Mass Master 30
Gee 40
R Shazam! 105
= 200 points. “Kid” keyword makes it a themed team. See my blog, heroclixin.wordpress.com for this write-up, too!
Round ONE
I was late, so I had to take a bye round.
Round TWO
A relatively new player whose name I can’t remember. He played, on a shaved-down old “Mall” map: Gamora, Spider-Man (Armor Wars) and The Question (Arkham Asylum). I was able to bunker my kids in an interior room to block nearly all line of fire from enemy fire and Outwit. Thus Shazam was able to easily beat down the whole team for a wipeout. But not without cost: Question crithit Gee into a wall for a one-hit-KO (OHKO). 1-0.
Round TWO
Now I faced Scott, a local player and friend. A master modder, he ran half of his Offenders team: an awesome Red Hulk (on the Hercules (Secret Invasion) dial) and Tiger Shark (Captain Mako repainted with a fin) on the Crashed Spaceship map. I used the terrain (and Mass Master’s Smoke Cloudform) to slow down the close-combat specialists. But they quickly based, then KO’d the boy when Shazam failed 4 attempts at hitting Rulk (burning both theme PCs and a push). Both fliers got the team away, forcing the Offenders to trudge back through hindering terrain. Shazam landed on his Billy clicks and hid in a corner with Gee blocking access to him. Gee fell, but it was enough time to get back to Captain Marvel power. One successful Impervious roll later, sole survivor R Shazam was able to chase down Rulk and then Shark for a come-from-behind win. 2-0.
Round THREE
Now in a battle for third place, I again faced young Easton’s nigh-unbeatable team of The Flash (Legacy) + Alias, V Spoiler + Loner and R Destiny. And when I neglected to block line of fire to Shazam and got his Hypersonic Speed countered, I was pretty screwed. Had to sacrifice nearly the whole Pack to block line of fire to try for additional attacks. It didn’t go well; failed the Kingdom Come roll and then the consolation attack on Destiny. Made a 2nd mistake when I neglected to move to my Telephone Booth to get off my Billy clicks. Only a successful Regen roll got me back in fighting shape. Constant Outwitting of KC’s Outwit kept me Invulnerable and safe from him, but unable to catch up to him to make an attack. So I pushed and rolled for the moon and failed due the Alias feat. Game Over! At least I got the other two. 2-1
TOTAL RECORD: 5-2. So OK, both Pack teams got utterly dragged by completely min-maxed builds played by master players, and certainly didn’t deal many KOs (only Gee got any, and it was a character half his points — R Destiny). They still well outperformed my and my opponents’ expectations.
Gee: As one of the game’s cheapest TK characters, he’s already a staple of teams worldwide. But he especially makes this team work, giving both my main attackers Spider-Man and Cloak & Dagger the reach they needed to use their respective Lunge-Flurry and duo attacks effectively. In the Kid team, Gee was instrumental in yanking Shazam out of harm’s way after a failed Charge attempt.
Lightspeed: The game’s most efficient taxi did the job here, too, getting Spidey or her brothers and sister in place over and over again.
Energizer: mostly served only as sacrificial tie-up but got that great move against Batman. She also scored an Exploit Weakness hit on U.S. Agent.
Mass Master: Also limited to tie-up, though he drew Outwitters’ ire away from more dangerous opponents.
And that’s really the Power Pack’s strength; while these swarming preadolescents are pretty weak on their own and even as a unit, they tend to make any grown-up figures on the team work better. For example, a Lunge-enabled Spider-Man, already beastly, is twice as effective when paired with cheap TK (Gee) or cheaper air taxi (Lightspeed). Shazam depended on the kids to block LOF from Question, Charge lanes from Gamora and to absorb the extra objects “Red Hulk” carried. And Energizer can be OOTS Batman’s worst nightmare.
The kids are INDEED all right.
One of the greatest comics Marvel’s ever produced.
If I had to point to one comic that’s responsible for my near-lifelong love of comics, it’s this one: POWER PACK. Ever since I spied this promo ad in the spring of 1984, I knew this book could be something really special. I wasn’t disappointed: a deft melding of superheroics and the kids of the Narnia Chronicles, Power Pack was a comic well ahead of its time yet more innocent than most of today’s fare.
Power Pack is also the reason I glommed onto HeroClix as both a game and as a collectible. Only the HeroClix line made room for not only the marquee characters like Superman or Spidey but also for Z-list characters largely unseen in comics for a decade or more like Ambush Bug or Zzzax. So I knew that if HeroClix lasted long enough, eventually I’d see my beloved superkids in playable, miniature plastic form.
Gee, Lightspeed, Mass Master, and Energizer. As ‘clix. Aren’t they cute.
Were they worth the wait? Well, yes and no. Yes, it was great to get them in ‘Clix and all at once…no waiting across different sets like fans of larger teams have had to. And given that HeroClix soon suffered a yearlong near-death experience mere months later, I’m glad they showed when they did.
But no. Not only are the sculpts a bit lacking, being influenced by the cute-but-inferior revamp of the 2000’s, but the dials aren’t right, either. Most of the problem is that it seems that the game designers couldn’t figure out which version of each character to emulate, leaving us with an oddly amalgamated Pack that doesn’t represent either very well.
“I control gravity — G POWER! Get it?”
Gee: Originally, the oldest Power kid (age 12.5, not 15 like his card says) could only affect the gravity of people and objects he touched, making some version of Super Strength and the Carry ability a shoo-in. But the current revamp recasts him as more of a standard telekinetic, and that’s the clix we got. It’s OK, but not accurate.
.
.
“I can fly so fast you can hardly see me!”
Lightspeed: Also mis-aged on her character card, Julie only flew real fast at first. Much, MUCH later she learned to teleport, but that was never her main power. The current Lightspeed (in the kids’ books, not the teenaged runaway seen in recent years) has been treated as much as a speedster as anything, and even the original broke the sound barrier early in her career. Would it have been too much to give her at least ONE click of Hypersonic Speed, even with super-low attack and damage values?
.
“I’m MASS MASTER, punk! Don’t you forget it!”
Mass Master: the greatest disappointment of the four, thanks to his way-too-low defense numbers. Think of it; he’s an intangible cloud most of the time (and a 5-inch-high, 60-pound “Jack Hammer” the rest). He should have 17 DV at minimum with Defend or something, not to mention Phasing/Teleport for his ability to slip through any crack in his cloud form. Drop his damage to 0 with Close Combat Expert.
.
.
“I just touched stuff and it disintegrated.”
Energizer: the original Katie was considerably more destructive than the new incarnation that the ‘clix version seems based on. Always relied upon to either disintegrate or smash walls and such, the youngest deserves some 3 damage clicks.
Enough griping, though. The fact is, barring a sudden explosion in their popularity, the Pack we have is likely all the Pack we’ll get. And I’ve been hankering to run them in a team. I got the opportunity at Dragon*Con last weekend, the first big HeroClix tournament in many, many months.
SCENARIO/BUILD RULES: 300 points. Character-card sets only. This is only sets from summer 2007 and newer.
My take: Power Pack #6 “theme team” (both Spidey and Cloak & Dagger made cameos)
Lightspeed 25
Mass Master 30
Energizer 35
Gee 40
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50
+ Lunge 5
+ Loner 5
SI Cloak & Dagger 109
= 299 points
Round ONE
Against Easton, 12-year-old from Huntsville, AL
On a shaved-down Indy map (the Evil Lab, I think), I took on his Stardust, Captain America (Secret Invasion), Marvel Girl (Mutations and Monsters) and Scarlet Witch (Avengers). He played a great game, easily KOing first Gee, then Mass Master for an early lead. But Spidey and Cloak+Dagger began landing their respective double attacks, taking out Cap, Scarlet Witch and Marvel Girl. Stardust, still at full health, critmissed a big attack, enabling my two Phasers Lightspeed and C+D to run from the herald until Spidey could finally hit it — and then to run from it when it gained HSS. A 2nd critmiss spared Energizer’s life and the grownups finished the now-hittable Stardust for the wipeout. 1-0.
Round TWO
Clark, a 12-year-old former Atlanta kid now in Florida but back for Dragon*Con.
On the Crashed Spaceship map, this slightly spacey kid fielded a team of bi-coastal Avengers: Lionheart, U.S. Agent, Ronin, Moon Knight and AV Scarlet Witch. Not nearly as sharp a player as my last opponent, but much better than when I last played him, Clark took down Mass Master and Energizer and very, VERY nearly got Cloak & Dagger; a miss from a weakened Lionheart allowed the duo to Phase away and support a well-beaten-down Spidey from afar. Managed to hold on for a win despite frequent sniping from the hidden but nearby Moon Knight and Clark’s semi-secret weapon, Ronin. Got U.S. Agent and Lionheart. 2-0.
Round THREE
Nathan, a former S. Carolina player moved to Wisconsin back for Dragon*Con. On the HorrorClix Carnival map, he dealt me a vicious beating with a team lacking anything resembling a blind spot: Nick Fury (Secret Invasion)+ Contingency Plan with Skrully Ms. Marvel (Secret Invasion) — both Warbound. And Lila Cheney just to round out. By not covering Gee in my initial move, a Kinetic-Accelerated Ms. Skrullvel took him, and any chance I had of winning, out in one shot. I retreated to force him to overextend a bit, though it cost me Mass Master in the next turn. And it worked some; by basing Lightspeed with Lila (outwitting her P/T to force Lightspeed to fight, he said) he’d left an opening for Spider-Man to Lunge-attack Lila (missing), then Nick Fury, hitting him and forcing a L.M.D. warp away from Ms. Skrullvel and thus negating the constant Warbound attacks. The team was actually able force a critmiss from her and knock Fury to hit late dial and even get KO points for Lila before getting wiped by this incredibly effective trio. 2-1.
Round FOUR
A guy whose name and hometown I’m blanking on. Did I ever ask?
I picked the Castle to face his Justice League of America: Starro Green Lantern, OOTS Batman, JL Zatanna and JL Black Canary. Again incautious with Gee placement, I got my TK first Outwitted, then lost outright to Green Lantern’s Running Shot off the bat. Fortunately, Cloak & Dagger would remain safely Stealthed on the Kinetic Accelerator, no matter what. Mass Master was my first casualty, blocking Batman’s fire for his brother. Energizer (via Lightspeed) proved her worth by disintegrating the object Bats sat on, leading to shots from Cloak & Dagger and a Spider-Lunge that took him to eventual KO. Both girls fell to enemy fire, but the Fantastic Four TA healed Gee back to TK, enabling him to push and move Cloak & Dagger forward to take out Zatanna. All four kids were lost but I wiped all but Green Lantern for the win.
Win/Loss: 3-1. I built this team just for kicks, being a great fan of the old-school ‘Pack. But it proved to be way more effective than I dreamed.
A couple of days later, we had a 200-point unrestricted game, and I saw a chance for another Power Pack-heavy team:
Lightspeed 25
Mass Master 30
+ Fantastic Four o
Gee 40
R Shazam! 105
= 200 points. “Kid” keyword makes it a themed team.
Round ONE
I was late, so I had to take a bye round.
Round TWO
A relatively new player whose name I can’t remember. He played, on a shaved-down old “Mall” map: Gamora, Spider-Man (Armor Wars) and The Question (Arkham Asylum). I was able to bunker my kids in an interior room to block nearly all line of fire from enemy fire and Outwit. Thus Shazam was able to easily beat down the whole team for a wipeout. But not without cost: Question crithit Gee into a wall for a one-hit-KO (OHKO). 1-0.
Round TWO
Now I faced Scott, a local player and friend. A master modder, he ran half of his Offenders team: an awesome Red Hulk (on the Hercules (Secret Invasion) dial) and Tiger Shark (Captain Mako repainted with a fin) on the Crashed Spaceship map. I used the terrain (and Mass Master’s Smoke Cloudform) to slow down the close-combat specialists. But they quickly based, then KO’d the boy when Shazam failed 4 attempts at hitting Rulk (burning both theme PCs and a push). Both fliers got the team away, forcing the Offenders to trudge back through hindering terrain. Shazam landed on his Billy clicks and hid in a corner with Gee blocking access to him. Gee fell, but it was enough time to get back to Captain Marvel power. One successful Impervious roll later, sole survivor R Shazam was able to chase down Rulk and then Shark for a come-from-behind win. 2-0.
Round THREE
Now in a battle for third place, I again faced young Easton’s nigh-unbeatable team of The Flash (Legacy) + Alias, V Spoiler + Loner and R Destiny. And when I neglected to block line of fire to Shazam and got his Hypersonic Speed countered, I was pretty screwed. Had to sacrifice nearly the whole Pack to block line of fire to try for additional attacks. It didn’t go well; failed the Kingdom Come roll and then the consolation attack on Destiny. Made a 2nd mistake when I neglected to move to my Telephone Booth to get off my Billy clicks. Only a successful Regen roll got me back in fighting shape. Constant Outwitting of KC’s Outwit kept me Invulnerable and safe from him, but unable to catch up to him to make an attack. So I pushed and rolled for the moon and failed due the Alias feat. Game Over! At least I got the other two. 2-1
TOTAL RECORD: 5-2. So OK, both Pack teams got utterly dragged by completely min-maxed builds played by master players, and certainly didn’t deal many KOs (only Gee got any, and it was a character half his points — R Destiny). They still well outperformed my and my opponents’ expectations.
I spent some lines writing about what’s wrong with the ‘Pack. But what’s right about them?
Gee: As one of the game’s cheapest TK characters, he’s already a staple of teams worldwide. But he especially makes this team work, giving both my main attackers Spider-Man and Cloak & Dagger the reach they needed to use their respective Lunge-Flurry and duo attacks effectively. In the Kid team, Gee was instrumental in yanking Shazam out of harm’s way after a failed Charge attempt.
Lightspeed: The game’s most efficient taxi did the job here, too, getting Spidey or her brothers and sister in place over and over again.
Energizer: mostly served only as sacrificial tie-up but got that great move against Batman. She also scored an Exploit Weakness hit on U.S. Agent.
Mass Master: Also limited to tie-up, though he drew Outwitters’ ire away from more dangerous opponents. That free Smoke Cloud occasionally helped, too. Finally, pushing to his 2nd click made him an actual threat worthy of the enemy’s attacks as a decoy.
And that’s really the Power Pack’s strength; while these swarming preadolescents are pretty weak on their own and even as a unit, they tend to make any grown-up figures on the team work better. For example, a Lunge-enabled Spider-Man, already beastly, is twice as effective when paired with cheap TK (Gee) or cheaper air taxi (Lightspeed). Shazam depended on the kids to block LOF from Question, deny Charge lanes to him from Gamora and to absorb the extra objects “Red Hulk” carried. And Energizer can be OOTS Batman’s worst nightmare.
The kids are INDEED all right.
OK. Enough postponing on the event dials articles…! Next time.
