Had a series of “Breakfast Club” games where no one could share keywords. By team:
————–
Captain America (Chaos War 203) rolled a lot of Leadership and made some attacks. Aside from the stellar Rare from 2011’s Captain America set, this piece might be the most Cap-like of them all and may well be my first choice to represent the character in future games.

Despite being a crook, Hired Goon (Batman 203) benefited greatly from Cap’s Leadership (“He was in ‘Nam” was the brilliantly F.U.N. explanation given by my opponent in the match) and scored some great shots with his Ranged Combat Expertise.

Blue Beetle (DC 10th Anniversary 009) was the Goon’s Boss, but he was better used for Running Shots to Pulse Wave, having ended up on that power combo thanks to Mystics damage. It worked. Never had to use his self Prob Control. I like this Reyes kid. Eventually I want to run a team of Hispanics like him…

…and fellow hero of the Latin persuasion, The Question (Streets 015b), who I used correctly this time. Her free little Smoke Cloud was super for the stealthy Hired Goon, and Probability Control is always welcome (on my team).

Ensign Anton Chekov (Star Trek Away Team 007b) supplied plenty of Telekinesis. I may have forgotten to use his Tricorder SP to expose a Stealthy target, though. Useful and Nifty enough to make my eventual Russian team.

Bofur the Dwarf (Hobbit 014) rounded out this force. With TK to help his low Speed, Bofur did his share of leadoff fighting. He’s better played in a crowd with his 17 Defend, though.

—

There was a shortened match in which I used some archers.
Arsenal (Streets 045) did nothing, really, as all targets were too far away to even so much as use Outsiders on. But I was prepared to do just that against a Utility Belt-equipped opponent. It’s the one thing he’s really good for.

Green Arrow (New 52 Justice League 007) also did nothing for the same reasons as Arsenal above, having to hide behind a League of Assassins member to avoid being possibly one-shot by ReMAC. It worked, but time ran out before I could force my opponent from his hiding spot with the long-range RCE of Manticore.

—

A third “Breakfast Club” team:
Frost Giant Champion (Avengers Movie 031) kept an enemy Psychic Blaster ineffective thanks to his Battle Fury-endowing SP, and dealt a great deal of the KOs of my game.

Frank Drake (Amazing Spider-Man 013a) also was able to fully nerf that target with his double Outwit against mystics and monsters. He happily fits two of the F.U.N. theme teams I’ll be highlighting in an upcoming regular feature.

Godiva (Batman 029) took so long to get into the action, the fight was basically over. I almost pushed her just to see what she’d do, but decided against it with only one target at the time.

Even without Thanos to give her Perplex, Terraxia (Infinity Gauntlet 009) works out as a solid brick. Can’t imagine playing her again without her “pa” though.

At first, I thought Batman (Batman 053a) was just a pale weak shadow of a certain Caped Crusader (his prime version). But in practice, using his Flock of Bats gave him some nice Poison tricks (during beginning phase, free action detach Grey Flock, free action Outwit defenses, then free action Poison = WINNING). He’s also a decently powered piece besides, and well-priced. This Batman’s gone from the “I’ma trade/sell him soon as I play him” to “I’d like to run this piece again!”

The next day, I played an even larger version of the Breakfast Club theme:

Ezio Auditore de Firenze (Assassin’s Creed: Brotherhood 001) didn’t do a whole lot despite his solid stats and powers. Still, he’s the only one of the set I wanted, so I’ll try his out again. Sometime.

Catwoman (Batman 204) was part of my main offense. Too bad no one fielded a relic in this friendly little game. Despite the fact that I played her with the following piece to take advantage of her Support trait, it never came into play.

Batman (Streets of Gotham 052) anchored the team early on, but he wound up falling apart and leaving me in dead last place. The black BatGhost is too soft for his cost. But he’s destined for a future team for sure.

Rhino (Amazing Spider-Man 204) was played with the understanding that “along the path” meant he could hit squares adjacent to his path, but in retrospect, I see we played it wrong. But I still might consider him over the more costly (and effective) main set Rhino to save the 30-plus points because he’s Indomitable and can more easily set up his straight-line Charges.

Spider-Girl (Amazing Spider-Man 027) worked well to evacuate Rhino to heal him after his crit miss, then to draw fire from him. This is a good piece. I want to mod one into her original Araña costume.

Bifur The Dwarf (Hobbit 010), another rare Dwarf with range, managed to contribute a bit with Running Shot and Incap (though I really should have just used his 2 damage instead of pushing the target because A) The target only had Toughness so the net damage would be the same and B) I rolled a crit hit). Nothing really distinctive about him otherwise, though.

I was far too overconfident with Speed (Chaos War 021) and got him good and KO’d early on. He’s for Young Avengers teams only. And who knows when I’ll play them again? They need their leader Patriot redone.

Johnny Blaze (Amazing Spider-Man 007) was played even more recklessly. NEVER PUSH HIM, no matter how enticing that shotgun power seems, unless you’re guaranteed to get penetrating damage out a landed hit.

___

All right. There’s one more week of Figure Flush to go. But next week is the beginning of another month, meaning it’s time for another Top Ten. What’ll it be of? Stay tuned.

Here’s what else I played past weekend and what my impressions were:

Both versions of Black Glove Demon (Streets of Gotham) were little more than easy points in their game. I think one needs to run at least three of them to really make them work.

Dwalin the Dwarf (The Hobbit 006) got overwhelmed in his game, cursed by dice rolls. Still, the dwarf put up a decent fight otherwise. He’ll be about the first dwarf I’ll consider for non-Tolkien teams (after Gimli).

Manphibian (Amazing Spider-Man 025) was fine even though he couldn’t use his water-boosted HSS early on due to an enemy Thor, Frog of Thunder equipped with Armor Piercing. For 60 points, the scaly alien is solid.

Martian Manhunter (DC  10th Anniversary 019) worked well…with a loaded Utility Belt. Though in actuality, I didn’t do much pushing until the game was well in hand. All that penetrating damage looks great, but I don’t know how well that 16 DV can hold up for his 100-point cost. Will have to try him out on a “My Favorite Martian” theme.

Skrull Commando (Avengers Movie 008), both versions, was basically relegated to tie-up, and not very effective tie-up at that. At least he’s cheap. But unless it’s a Modern Age game, this guy’s NOT taking the place of the old Supernova generics for a Skrull team.

On the other hand, the Skrull General (Avengers Movie 032) brings a lot to the HeroClix table: Leadership and super-taxi to start, giving way to some PB and Outwit later. A must for Skrull swarms.

Skrull Infiltrator (Avengers Movie 207) is similarly indispensable, especially the Smoke Clouding, Barrier-building, Stealthy Close Combat Expert. Only the Barrier came into play, though. Looking forward to running a pair in a future Skrull team.

Thorin Oakenshield (The Hobbit 004) is absolutely needed to get his pokey dwarf company mobile. Thorin also was decent in the end of the fight, coming very close to snatching an unlikely victory. I’ll have to consider him for future Ruler  or Warrior teams for his double-Carry trait.

Worldbreaker (Marvel 10th Anniversary 013) absolutely cleaned house at his 150 level. Want to run him at full strength!

____

OK. Just one or two more weeks to go, and I’ll have run almost every unplayed piece and can go back to playing stuff I just wanna play all the time, like that Mysterio team from the last Battle Report.

The report of Figure Flush week four continues.

In alphabetical order again:
Alfred Pennyworth (Batman 031) was a boon to the Batman Fam team he backed. Not enough to actually WIN, but he’s OK. I’ll probably look to the 25-point Unique version instead, though, in the future.

Azrael (Batman 104) just comes off as weak, weak, weak. Weak AV. Weak damage. WeakSAUCE. I can’t definitively say I’ll NEVER play him again — “never” is a mighty long time and his being a black character puts him in my permanent collection — but MAY never play him again.

I thought Beast (Fast Forces 003) would simply be a pale shadow of the excellent GSX Common, but he worked better than expected. I may consider this piece if points are a problem.

Cloak (Amazing Spider-Man 022) is going for two things: Carry and Willpower. At 55 points, he’s a bit too pricey for JUST those things, though, and he’s got to take damage to get to his more useful Poison and Perplex clicks.

Dagger (Amazing Spider-Man 003) spent the game too tied up to use her range powers or heal. Will have to be careful of that, going forward. She’s the key to successful Split/Merge tricks with the C&D duo from Secret Invasion.

Daimon Hellstrom (Amazing Spider-Man 009r), played at the rookie level, is an OK 2nd stringer. Armored Mystics is never bad. Neither is Psychic Blast. He’ll see play on my Angry Mob team, for sure.

Unlike most of the figures in this Flush series, Dracula (Amazing Spider-Man 016) got the full workout in a three-round tournament. Fantastic monster who nevertheless won’t see much future play since I’m not a fan of the character and he won’t fit many of my goofball themes.

Hulk (Galactic Guardians 102) took too long to get into the fray and was quickly dispatched when he did. I played his Banner pog-self all wrong, too. This Hulk just doesn’t have the juice to hack it. Doubtful he’ll make any teams in my hands.

Iceman (Fast Forces 006) is, at last, a solid version of the character for a price that doesn’t seem like totally wasting points. Being able to “freeze” move-and-attack powers is key to using him well.

Magneto (Marvel 10th Anniversary 015) plays like what he is: a stripped-down House of M Magneto. Too point-and-click for me, and that costume was always ridiculous.

Man-Thing (Amazing Spider-Man 033r) is very glass-jawed at the 100-point level. If I ever run him again, it’ll be with the Thunderbolts ATA to help his defense somehow.

Morbius (Amazing Spider-Man 028) would’ve been fine if not for one of those absolute game-killing user errors I seem prone to making. See, he’s got this ability to double-Outwit a non-defense power that I forgot to use EVEN THOUGH I MOVED HIM THERE FOR THAT EXPRESS PURPOSE. So instead of neutering two dangerous enemies, he got KO’d in no time.

Sigh.

I’m not much for the character, so I don’t know when I’ll run Morbius again. But I want to use him correctly, at least.

 Nightwing and Batgirl (Batman 100) led a Batman Family team. Though this duo is highly dangerous with Duo Attack, getting that ability countered made the couple fail to win. I’m not enough of a fan of either to plan any more teams around this 176-point figure, though it’s nice to have.

Orc Swordsman (Hobbit 003b) has Perplex, which the Dracula-led Monster team he was on needed. A pity his damage is so low that he can’t contribute much else. Still, he’ll be on ANY orc team I play, and most Monster squads.

Rogue (Fast Forces 005) was the one who held off that Nightwing/Batgirl duo with her adjacency-based Outwit. I like her; she’s much more economical than the 128-point GSX Rogue. She’ll see the field again sometime.

Spider-Man (Galactic Guardians 104), like his fellow “Newer FF” teammate Hulk, doesn’t hack it in today’s game only a year since his introduction. There are so many better Spideys to pick from. This one’s inability to even so much as Leap/Climb into position to do his Outwitting was his problem in this game.

Werewolf By Night (Amazing Spider-Man 015) wastes his first two clicks in every game he’s in, which I hate about him because he’s prone to getting one-shot (and did). On the other hand, those “Full Moon” clicks are amazing, and even the Shape Change kept him in games longer than he should’ve. Fun piece.

Zuvembie (Amazing Spider-Man 006) wants braaaaains.

_____

Monday, Card Art returns after a brief hiatus, and maybe some more Token Totin’ on Tuesday or Thursday. Mid-week and Friday, look for Figure Flush week five.

No characters could share keywords for this tournament.

Animal Man (DC 75th Anniversary W-5)
Bilbo Baggins (Hobbit 001)
Cloak (Amazing Spider-Man 202)
Emma Frost (Marvel 10th Anniversary 014)
False Facer (Streets of Gotham 007a)
Gardener (Infinity Gauntlet 004)
Hannibal King (Amazing Spider-Man 013b)
Howard Stark (Avengers Movie 021)
Knuckles (Infinity Challenge)
Wonder Woman (Streets of Gotham 034)

This 800-point team wasn’t exactly optimized, being thrown together solely from the Figure Flush roster of never-played pieces. It wilted like tissue paper in a fireplace under its first opposition: Darkseid, Big Figure, Saint Walker, a stack of Orc pogs and Nightcrawler with a Utility Belt. I’m not certain I’ve ever boned myself worse in a HeroClix match by giving up map choice…and then picking the absolute wrong starting area because I was worried about the wrong character. These are the kinds of games I hate: when I can only levy one or two attacks per turn while my opponent can answer with four or more.

It’s the price of trying to have F.U.N., I guess.

The 2nd round was so full of misses on both players’ part that I had to play sad violin music just about every roll.

Literally. I have a twelve-and-a-half minute-long track on my iPod — “String Quartet – Twilight of Heroes” from the Giant Robo anime — that’s just about the saddest violin music you ever heard during three of its four parts. It was hilarious.

The final round was more just a chance for the losing players to play a game to last man standing. It was characterized by both of us missing that one staggering blow that would irrevocably swing the game in his direction OVER and OVER.

Piece-by-piece:

I wrote this about Animal Man (DC 75th Anniversary W-5) for Pojo.com a couple of years ago:

His opening click is sad, offensively. He can’t copy Special Powers or the standard powers they grant access to. His DV is mediocre and, all too often, soft. “White Senses” could heal him out of his best clicks. And how good CAN the powers of character 82 points and less BE, really, without the stats to back them up?

Unfortunately, my every fear of those weaknesses were borne out (except the healing part, which he was never able to do). Thanks to my #1 favorite figure from 2012, I decided to get this White Lantern for Animal teams, but I’m having some buyer’s remorse. I’ll play him with Vixen and/or Alyosha Kraven or not at all…

Bilbo Baggins (Hobbit 001) was kinda the UNlucky piece, as it seemed that he was never in place to use his “The Lucky Number” SP Probability Control or nearly every reroll he allowed was a miss. The little hobbit will still have a spot on some future team, though…probably my Wee People theme of small-sculpt figures.

Cloak (Amazing Spider-Man 202) was surprisingly good despite not being the greatest threat on the board. All that Improved Movement makes his early Charge+Exploit combo really solid. This wildcard fig will see a lot of play from me.

Emma Frost (Marvel 10th Anniversary 014) was great. I opted to switch her to diamond form when she was hit hard. I’d like to try her again without shifting sometime.

False Facer (Streets of Gotham 007a), despite being mostly filler — I should have made sure to pair him with Cloak to get more attacks from him. But he still overachieved, landed both early and KO shots on the Collector.

Gardener (Infinity Gauntlet 004) was a glorified TK piece in most of the games. Not being able to fly and being a doublebase piece hurts his ability to use Stealth. I also completely forgot to use the attached Time Gem’s Super Senses. But the upside? Growing perma-hindering terrain for Stealthy folks isn’t shabby. Of all the Elders of the Universe, he’s the only one I might keep around.

Hannibal King (Amazing Spider-Man 013b) was a feast-or-famine piece. Either he gets one-shot by Darkseid or he tears enemy teams to shreds.

Howard Stark (Avengers Movie 021) was, frankly, the MVP of the team with his Outwit and Enhancement. If he weren’t limited to just two keywords, and actually had the SHIELD TA as well as the keyword, I might play him more often.

Knuckles (Infinity Challenge) was just temporary tie-up. It’s all he’ll EVER be!! And people wonder why he turns to crime.

Wonder Woman (Streets of Gotham 034) underperformed, getting killed in a single turn in the first two matches and the only character to die in all three. But that’s because her damage potential is so high and her stats/powers “hulk up” a little. So I’ll definitely run her on my next “Diana’s Wardrobe” team if the points work out.

___

Much more Figure Flush on Friday.