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Yep, I played this some weeks ago in a 100% Captain America set Golden Age tournament.

Nick Fury (Captain America #023) 109 + Inside Information 4 + Alias 3
Quake 67
Stonewall 62
Phobos 59
Slingshot 50
Hellfire 45
+ Kinetic Accelerator
+ Eleha’al Vine
+ Dynamostat
=399 points

My basic strategy: Use Fury’s SP to deploy the troops around Quake, whose Leadership might remove a token or grant an extra action. Slingshot uses the Accelerator to make hit&runs until Stonewall and Quake can get in Charge range.

FIRST ROUND vs. Conrad’s Nick Fury, Steve Rogers, Black Widow, Yelena Belova, and SHIELD Agent on the indoor Helicarrier map.
Conrad stayed in his enclosed starting area, giving me a decided deployment advantage.
Turning Point:

  • Probability Controlled a miss into a crithit on Rogers.

MVPs: Though Slingshot made that big hit, it was Quake who scattered the enemy like tenpins, sealing my win with authority.

SECOND ROUND vs. Sammy’s Baron Zemo, Stonewall, Doorman, Quake and Scorpion on Days of Future Past.
Sammy’s only about 7 and isn’t a great player at all, but he’s needing less and less coaching and made some surprisingly solid tactical moves.
Turning Point:

  • This was actually a very close game until Fury KOed Zemo.

MVPs: Quake and Fury.

THIRD ROUND vs. Paul’s Invisible Woman, Cage, Steve Rogers, Bucky Cap on Days of Future Past.
Paul’s the veteran player here, so this was going to be a challenge. I focused on Outwitting Sue’s TK, but her PC was the real annoyance.
Turning Point:

  • Though Stonewall took tons of fire, he blocked for Quake long enough for her to land a crippling hit on Cap and Steve through the walls.

MVPs: Quake and Fury, again. Her SP is gonna be a game-changer, and his Outwit enabled the team to actually deal damage.

The Secret Warriors don’t look like much, with only light-damage attackers surrounding one immobile leader, but they definitely equal to more than the sum of their parts. Probably the fact that A) they don’t absolutely depend on any one member to work (aside from the Stealth-and-Mastermind-protected Fury) yet B) any one of the members still have the ability to affect the game.

  • Stonewall’s the tough brick who can absorb damage and deal out plenty with Super Strength;
  • Slingshot’s cheaper version of HSS works well in the close quarters that the SWs thrive in;
  • Quake is doubly effective in said medium-to-close range;
  • Phobos functions well in the same zone and as a great bodyguard for Fury;
  • and Hellfire’s the blocker/tieup/bait piece who can’t be ignored.
Next week, I’ll be in the midst of another of my turn-of-the-month Top Ten lists. (If I were more on the ball, I’d do something on the New DC universe, debuting today. But…I dunno.) Until then, check tomorrow for another Token Totin’ pic, and try to get to Atlanta’s Dragon*Con for some sci-fi/fantasy fun this weekend!

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Continuing the photographic record of Super-Strength characters who can hold their own object tokens, today we’re looking at the twice-made robot with all the powers of the Justice League…Amazo! First, the JUSTICE LEAGUE Super Rare:

 

…then the original Unique from COSMIC JUSTICE:

Both barely hold the token. Really, the tokens just lean against the flight stand between the ankles. But it’s still better than the “are you holding that object or standing on it” confusion that might otherwise occur in a game!
Be back Thursday for another edition of Token Totin’!

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Continuing my new feature (replacing “My Custom Mods”) in which I talk a bit on how I selected artwork for feats and battlefield conditions that didn’t come with art, originally, let’s look at:

Again, I had to move the text up higher on the card considerably to make room for the art.

Choosing the art was a bit tougher. The card seemed to be inspired by this comic page:

…in which the Avengers apparently all get to remove their action tokens after Thor’s KO and gangpile Superman.

But one of my guidelines for this project was to only use DC art and illustrations, just as the official card would have. So this hybrid version was out.

Another guideline was that back in 2006, I was limited to only the comics I personally owned, and at the time that collection was at a near-all-time low.

Fortunately I was still reading JSA on occasion, and recalled this scene of the team tackling Black Adam. I can’t remember if the team was rallying to a fallen member’s side or rescue, but I think the excellent Rags Morales art gets the point across.

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Yep, yours truly is part of the judging staff for the HCRealms.com HeroClix tournaments at Dragon*Con, Atlanta’s gi-normous sci-fi/fantasy/comic/gaming convention this Labor Day Weekend.

Yes, you read that right: fellow HeroClix-related website HCRealms.com is sponsoring this year’s Dragon*Con HeroClix gaming. Check out this link for a full list of events, build your teams, and come on down to play! There are LEs, custom maps and HCRealms T-shirts (co-designed by yours truly) to be won!

Alas, Heroclixin’ proper won’t have any swag to hand out this year. Maybe next time. Worse, I won’t be there for the first day of festivities, Friday, due to work (that’s the downside of becoming gainfully employed. I was totally gonna bring out Diana’s Wardrobe for the win). But the rest of the weekend, you can find me in the bottom floor of the Hyatt hotel helping to make sure ‘clix games run smoothly and according to the rules.

Oh, and one more thing…I’ll be in costume at least one of those days. Nothing flashy, though. I wonder if you can guess what character I’ll be. HINT: In keeping with the Heroclixin’ site’s theme, it’ll be a character who’s been clixed. A few times, even!

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Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strength characters who can hold their own object tokens continues! Since we’re on a sort-of “captain” theme, here’s another you’ll almost never use: the Captain Britain from the Ultimates universe:

It’s not as secure as it looks! You have to jam the token between his head and his LEFT arm.

Be back next Tuesday for another edition of Token Totin’!

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A few months back, I played Diana’s Wardrobe: a team consisting of figures wearing some costume that Wonder Woman’s worn across the years. With the recent release of Wonder Woman (#D-001) at Origins and GenCon, there’s a new addition. I was blessed with one of these ultra-rare figures by a fellow player (and brother-in-Christ), so it’s time to dive into the Amazon’s closet once again!

Wonder Woman (Promo D-001) 190
Wonder Woman (DC 75th Anniversary #W-8) 172
Wonder Woman (DC 75th Anniversary #030) 127
Wonder Woman (DC 75th Anniversary #051) 100
+ Yellow Lantern 5
+ Blue Lantern 5
= 599 points

My basic strategy: Angle for a 1st-strike with Horse WW, backed up by #030’s Defend, then toss out the new WW with White Lantern WW’s TK to deliver support via Perplex and KO-blows.

FIRST ROUND vs. Khan’s GX Magneto, Kitty Pryde, Night Nurse, HT War Machine, Red Guardian, WS Nightcrawler on the indoor/outdoor Helicarrier map.
Highlights: Chasing down Nightcrawler at game’s end sort of validates my general anti-NC strategy: ignore the little blue devil in favor of attacking his more dangerous partners.
Turning Point: Inexperienced, Khan didn’t break Night Nurse away from WL WW’s Poison when he had the chance. That cost him a possible chance to heal Magneto, who’d been good and beaten up by the other Women.
MVPs: WL WW’s Poison was good, but JMS WW’s suPerplex was better for making those clutch hits and defending against same.

SECOND ROUND vs. Chris’s X-Men: WS Nightcrawler, GX Prof. X, GX Cyclops, GX Gambit / Rogue and GX Wolverine on the indoor Helicarrier map.
 Turning Point:

  • In an unexpected move, Chris moved NC within 6 squares of my team (though behind tons of walls and blocking cover), putting my force in imminent danger of being snatched to his partners. But that also played into my hands:
    • First, I used WL WW to smash the blocking in front of me so that
    • Second, a Perplexed, Yellow Lantern’d Horsey WW could Charge THROUGH the resultant hindering terrain and get an unexpected first strike on Nighty!
    • But the successful hit was Super Sensed away and he was able to scoot away to safety, ruining my chance and costing me later when he managed to snatch away DC75 WW on his 3rd try.
  • JMS WW gots Psychic Blasted by the duo and Prof X alike…and at no time did I remember her trait to use Energy Shield/Deflection OR Super Senses, either of which would have made those range attack FAR more likely to miss. FAIL Level 3, as this blunder cost me my pivot character’s best powers (her Amazon-friendly Perplex) and eventually her life.

MVPs: The map. Gave Nightcrawler easy access, but it also kept most of the X-Men from capitalizing on their range ability.

THIRD ROUND vs. Brian’s Robots: BB Lex Luthor & Brainiac, BB Metallo, Bonebreaker, M-11, and two Adaptoids on the Krakoa map.
Turning Point:

  • Thanks to Exploit Weakness, a heavy object and rolling boxcars, Old Spice WW KO’d Bonebreaker in one wondrous hit.
  • Krakoa hurt his team more than mine, constantly robbing M-11 and Lex/Brainiac duo of life via earthquakes and nerve center attacks.

MVPs: the map again. It dealt the ‘bots more hurt than me.

Went 2-1. REALLY kicking myself over that terrible failure to use her defensive trait that, in all likelihood, would have saved that one loss. When am I gonna stop making huge mistakes like that?

I was hoping to play all the Wonder Women in a big 1200-point game in a couple of weeks, but I won’t be able to make it to that one. And in any case, a new Wonder Woman is on the way in the upcoming Superman expansion, so Diana’s Wardrobe is not quite complete! Hopefully, come October, I can run the new piece along with the others.

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Forgive me for failing to properly schedule yesterday’s Card Arts update. I hate when I do that.

Continuing the photographic record of Super-Strength characters who can hold their own object tokens, today we’re looking at one of the first character-carded figures — and one of the worst sculpts ever — Captain America from 2007’s Avengers set:

He might be a spindly-limbed, elephantiasis-afflicted monstrosity, but he sure can tote an object token under his arm nicely.

Be back Thursday for another edition of Token Totin’!

EDIT: Sorry I mistakenly titled this one “Gargoyle” by mistake! (Though the sculpt is so bleedingly ugly that the error may be almost excusable.)

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clockwise from top left: The Spot, Super-Adaptoid, Armadillo, Nightshade, Chameleon, Rocket Racer, Living Laser, Mentallo, Puma, Scientist Supreme. And, of course, MODOK in the center.

I recently got the new MODOK (Captain America #050), and so want to run a near-complete M.O.D.O.K.’s 11 team.

MODOK (Captain America #050) 160
Super-Adaptoid (Captain America #020) 175
Scientist Supreme (Captain America #033) 97
Armadillo (Captain America #036) 89
Nightshade (Captain America #027) 72
Mentallo (Captain America #010) 71
Chameleon (Web of Spider-Man #019) 66
Rocket Racer (Web of Spider-Man #044) 60 + Outlaws ATA 1
Puma (Web of Spider-Man #012) 56 + Outlaws ATA 1
The Spot (Web of Spider-Man #051) 51
= 899 points.

There’s no questioning that this is a F.U.N. team. There’s hardly a hint of the powergames that usually go on in 900-point teams. It’s also Nifty, being based the Super-Villain team-up comic.

That leaves only the matter of Usefulness. How in the world will I make this team work?

Well, it’s going to be a little bit like planning a heist, I think.

Naturally, MODOK is going to be the main perceived and actual threat. It’ll probably do for me to run counter to usual wisdom and use my highest-point fig, Super-Adaptoid, as tie-up and blocker. His Shape Change and long, hulk-up dial make him ideal as a damage sponge. With him being a wildcard, though, I need to leverage the Sinister Syndicate TA provided by Chameleon (who’s only good for this one thing, really) to bump up the AV of my third mobile attacker, Rocket Racer.

For the Racer to make any sort of impact, his 2 damage is gonna need Scientist Supreme’s Outwit. That’ll make her a target, so she’ll need to Mastermind damage to Armadillo, chiefly. I must resist the urge to fully hurl him into the fray. Mentallo will try to take up some of that offensive slack with Stealth-busting penetrating shots and HYDRA aid to fellow shooters like MODOK and Nightshade.

Mobility’s going to be an issue, as there’s just one taxi for the whole team in The Spot. And frankly, he may be better reserved for receiving Nightshade’s Werewolf Serum, which turns him into a potentially lethal teleporting buzzsaw of Flurry/BCF on the right map. Setting up that opportunity is going to be difficult, though. I’ll need to rely on Puma in the meantime, keeping him next to WCs and fellow Outlaws to receive the needed movement boost to get in close.

MODOK’s 11 is a team that’ll live and die by the effectiveness of its swarm potential; no hanging back and sniping with this crowd. Neither, though, is it a melee-capable group. Mid-range is the ideal zone; close enough for Scientist Supreme to use her super-Outwit and for Rocket Racer to take ranged shots while getting boosted by HYDRA and Sinister Syndicate.

Can the Eleven pull off this caper? We’ll have to wait for the next Modern Age 900-point game to see!

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Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strength characters who can hold their own object tokens continues! Today we’re looking at Zangief, the Russian wrestler from Street Fighter!

It’s not as secure as it looks! You have to jam the token between his hip and the red spin trail. (It’s not like you’re going to be holding it for long anyway before you use the Street Fighter TA to move and spinning-piledrive someone with it.)

Be back next Tuesday for another edition of Token Totin’!

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After what’s probably the hugest FAIL factor game I’ll ever play, you’d think I wouldn’t so much as touch a team composed of all the Alter Ego figures in HeroClix:

  • With no fliers, phasers or Leap/Climbers, this weak swarm team is pretty immobile.
  • They’ve got hardly any range, or damage reduction, or speed.
  • They take forever to get deployed, and constantly have an action deficit.

I’m kinda stubborn this way, though: I don’t mind playing at a handicap if I think the idea’s neat enough. More importantly, I’m still convinced I can make the team work as long as I don’t make a solid dozen user errors again.

Norman Osborn  (Web of Spider-Man #023) 66 + T-Bolts 8 + Contingency Plan 12
Peter Parker  (Web of Spider-Man #008) 50
Clark Kent (The Brave and The Bold #002) 48
Bruce Wayne  (The Brave and The Bold #001) 48 + Outsmart 10
Jason Blood  (The Brave and The Bold #00)  44
Eddie Brock (Web of Spider-Man #010) 42
Ben Reilly (Web of Spider-Man #024) 38 + Lunge 5
Walter Kovacs (Watchmen #0) 38 + Loner 5 + Infiltrate 2
Hal Jordan (Green Lantern Gravity Feed #002) 35
Diana Prince (The Brave and The Bold #003)  32 + Invigorate 10

Again, I T-Bolted to Ultimates. My opponent Paul was using the following Brotherhood team:

Juggernaut (Giant-Size X-Men #046) 193
Pyro  (Giant-Size X-Men #034) 
Sabretooth (Giant-Size X-Men #040) 93
Esme Cuckoo (Mutations & Monsters #101) 50
Unus The Untouchable (Mutations & Monsters #042) 90

Another themed team, it got easy map choice, placing us on Oa from Green Lantern Fast Forces.

_________________________________________

WS Norman Osborn 66 + T-Bolts 8 + Contingency Plan 12

It’s fair to say that this team rises and falls with this piece. The only one with any range, plus Outwit and the Thunderbolts ATA, he delivers nearly all the early offense. I got a break when Juggernaut had to move just within Osborn’s line of fire (or, rather, where Osborn was going to be once I moved him — thank you Ultimates TA for ignoring hindering terrain for movement), forcing the big guy to either close in or remain Outwitted and unable to Charge in for a long time. That gave Osborn the chance to fight back and whittle Juggy down.

WS Peter Parker 50 

My chief Perplexer survived in this role throughout the game, never having to switch to either Spidey.

BB Clark Kent 48

Unlike last game, Kent was very much a part of this game, continually Perplexing up Osborn’s damage and defense on alternating turns while absorbing Mastermind damage to get to his Alter Ego, Superman (The Brave and The Bold #017). At that point, my team could really start delivering the attacks and had gained a needed taxi in the big blue boy scout.

BB Bruce Wayne 48 + Outsmart 10

Though the Outsmart feat was completely wasted again, his Outwit was another key to the game, despite the problem of his low, low speed. I had to take great care to draw the needed lines of fire to make sure Juggernaut was good and vulnerable. Eventually got him to switch Batman once my initial Perplexer was unavailable.

Jason Blood 44 + Endurance 5

Mr. PC did his thing until the end of the game, even taking the occasional swing. The feat? Just filler.

Eddie Brock 42

This time, Venom got a chance to attack and land a hit or two against Sabretooth before exiting the game. His ability to switch IDs early in the game is important to this team.

Ben Reilly 38 + Lunge 5

Still stinging from the horrible failure of last game, I was much more conscientious of wildcarding to the right team abilities with him. He was still an early KO, barely getting to switch to Scarlet Spider (Web of Spider-Man #040) before dropping, but copying Mystics at least made sure he hurt ’em along the way.

Walter Kovacs 38 

Used his Stealth and, more importantly, his Special Power to much better effect to tie down before eventually switching to Rorschach.

GF Hal Jordan 35

Where he was a key factor in the last game, Hal was an early casualty in this game. He still served to block access to more valuable figures.

BB Diana Prince 

Didn’t set her up right to best use the Invigorate feat due to the lack of actions to move her at first, but she worked out later as Superman emerged. Better still, her solid DV down the line enabled her to survive long enough to switch to Wonder Woman (The Brave and The Bold #018) and land the game’s final KO blow.

______________________

In the end, I wiped the Brotherhood out and only lost Hal, Ben and Eddie for a commanding victory over a team that was arguably stronger than the one that decimated me before. It just goes to show what decent play will do for your chances of winning.

In a Modern Age game, I’d toss in Madrox (Giant-Size X-Men #001) as a sort-of Alter Ego piece in 500 points to make it work. In 600, I’d use two of ‘im and add the mighty morphing Beast Boy (DC 75th Anniverasary) for 597 points of figure switching action. Hope to try it sometime!

Next week: a return to Diana’s Wardrobe.