The quest continues.

He don’t hold it well, but SHIELD Cyborg [Nick Fury 020a] manages.

Her face isn’t the only ugly thing about Man-Killer [029]: Her hold is sloppy, too.

The stat slot and gun hand are the best U.S. Agent [037] can do.

Miss America [039] has a surprisingly solid grip with a little effort.

Longtime readers know that one of Heroclixin’s favorite themes is teams of all-black characters. But we did a cuter version of the team a few months ago:

Black Manta [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 039] 97

Black Widow [Avengers: Age of Ultron 105] 75

Black Adam [Trinity War] 270

Black Talon [Deadpool] 60

Black Mask [Arkham Origins] 100

Black Mask Thug [Arkham Origins] 40

Black Death [Kick-Ass 2] 35

Flock of Bats (Black) 13

=690 points.

It faced Robert’s John Constantine [Trinity War], Green Arrow [Trinity War 208], a pair of STAR Labs Technicians and full-points Batman [Trinity War] and Superman [Trinity War] on my brand-new Avengers Age of Ultron starter map.

I had to be very careful of Green Arrow. It was vital to keep at least one of the following between him and my force at all times:

• Elevated Terrain
• Blocking Terrain

to deny him any easy shots at me and force him, at minimum, to not be able to choose any of his extra-damaging options:

• Energy Explosion
• Incapacitate
• Penetrating/Psychic Blast

TURNING POINTS

• Black Talon sent Black Adam on a likely suicide run to successfully KO Constantine and tie up Green Arrow…
• …long enough for Talon to send Black Widow out to ping Superman off his excellent top click and keep him tied up…
• …and for Black Death to hold down Batman just long enough for Black Manta and the Thug to wear out Bats for the second KO.
• Meanwhile, Widow and Adam survived via Shape Change and blind luck, respectively, to narrowly preserve the win.

By piece:

Black Adam was the proverbial “beastick” of the team. Though lacking in ranged ability, his immunity to non-Mysticals’ Outwit made him the best possible brick to hurl at the enemy team’s collective face.

Black Widow completely over-performed. Shape Change isn’t much of a defense. Once again, we’re glad that Hypersonic Speed is no longer an automatic breakaway.

Black Mask was played for the first time in this game. His main contribution was the free move he offered his Thug. This isn’t really the team for him.

Black Mask Thug, on the other hand, was more of a boss than, well, his boss. The Batman Enemy TA worked well with…

…Black Manta, whose wild card status, Sidestep, Penetrating/Psychic Blast and traited Carry makes him a lock for this theme just about every time. As is…

…Black Talon. His friendly Mind Control ability is straight-up meta. He’s the engine that makes this team work despite it not being anything close to optimized.

Flock of Bats (Black) tend to underperform due to their inability to either move quickly or be taxied. They’re purely filler.

Black Death, OTOH, is another one we’ll look at as more than filler. He’s a key meat shield — thanks to opening Shape Change — and tie-up piece, with his top clicks of Combat Reflexes and later Plasticity/Poison/Toughness combo.

This “black” team was F.U.N. and surprisingly effective, enough so that we planned to try it out again sometime.

That time came with a Eight Is Enough game for the first weekend of the eighth month: 800 points, exactly eight figures. We kept Black Manta, Death, and Talon while adding:

Black Widow [Avengers Assemble 06 ] 200
Black Panther [Age of Ultron] 140
Black Kinght [Age of Ultron] 115
Black Lightning [Batman] 87
Black Canary [Streets of Gotham ] 62
= 769 points

This time it’d go through a whole tournament. How would it do? See this space next week!

A  while back there was this event:

600 points Modern Age, six figures. No more, no less.

That I built this force for [first mentioned last December]:

Nick Fury [Captain America: Winter Soldier 015] 98p + Avengers Response Unit ATA 3
Captain America [Captain America: Winter Soldier 001] 125p + Avengers Response Unit ATA 3
Black Widow [Captain America: Winter Soldier 003] 114p + Avengers Response Unit ATA 3
Agent 13 [Captain America: Winter Soldier 013] 55p
G.W. Bridge [Deadpool 041] 68
Falcon [Captain America: Winter Soldier 006] 105p

+ Power Plant 10

+ Matter Rearranger 2
+Black Light 2
+Vortex Ring 2
+Impact Beam 2
+Disintegration Beam 2
+Flame Blast 2

=596 points.

Here’s how this Six Pack fared. In each round, I note how well Cap’s, Widow’s, Fury’s and 13’s Espionage traits worked out.

=============================================================

WHO IT FACED

The Flash [The Flash 202] 149
+ Predator entity 25

Krona [War of Light ]
+ Proselyte entity 25

Void [Streets of Gotham] 70

Captain Marvel [Guardians of the Galaxy 007b] 82

ESPIONAGE: Stephen’s Cosmic theme got no map bonus thanks to Cap, enabling me to choose the Fallen Asgard map for its very large central patch of special hindering terrain. But no objects were fielded for Fury to place, and my opponent had all the PC he’d need in Krona and Void, making Widow’s trait almost as useless. Agent 13 at least could hold the Cosmics to a single free action apiece.

I had an immediate problem; the map’s elevated terrain enabled Krona to shoot at will with 9 range. And Cap Marvel could safely give him a nearly unhittable 19 DV with Defend.

TURNING POINTS

• Several improbable hits on 19 DV wore Krona down, sending him running after a parting shot on Fury, who LMD’d to survive the fatal shot.
• Falcon hit Cap Marvel off top dial during a Move+Attack hit-and-run.
• Flash crit missed as Falc and Cap went in pursuit deep in enemy territory.

But time ran out and I lost the roll off. Oh well! 0-1

ROUND TWO

Ms. Marvel [Fear Itself]
Tyr [Fear Itself]
Raizo Kodo [Fear Itself]
Monkey King
Speedball
and Jennifer Kale [ASM]

ESPIONAGE: No theme team or objects were fielded, so Cap and Fury were useless as spies and Black Widow had no enemy probs to steal — not that Thomas needed theme with J.Kale around to double PC. Agent 13 picked the Mystical keyword to hold back Raizo and Jenn and Monkey King, to little avail. It looked like Espionage was a big ‘ol waste, here. But…

TURNING POINTS

• Fury drew fire again, from deadly Ms. Marvel.
• GW held off Raizo just long enough for Cap to take him.
• Agent 13 wreaked havoc with her defense-killing charms.
• But the MVP this time — FINALLY — was Black Widow. Her ability to make TTPC without taking tokens was key and absolutely clutch!

KO’d Ms. Marvel, Raizo, Monkey King and Jenn, losing only Agent 13. 1-1

By piece:

Captain America [Captain America: Winter Soldier 001]: Map choice was vital for this team that needs lots of Stealth — not least of which, Cap himself — and open lines of fire. This Cap is swiftly growing to be one of my preferred versions.

Black Widow [Captain America: Winter Soldier 003]: Until now, this latest Widow had done little else but die hard and fast despite Stealth, 17 Reflexes AND Shape Change to protect her. But today her PC trait turned a tight match into a rout. Still costs a bit too much for what she does, but she’s more than F.U.N. enough to warrant a future outing.

Falcon [Captain America: Winter Soldier 006]: Once again, he makes this team work, alternately pumping damage via Empower/Enhancement and shifting formations with Sidestep+Carry for both himself and Cap

Nick Fury [Captain America: Winter Soldier 015]: As the “easy” target among the mostly Stealthed crew, Fury took a lot of early fire. But of course, his “Stop” click surprises.

G.W. Bridge [Deadpool 041]: Aside from inviting the essential Falcon to the team, he shone for his Outwit and cleanup hitting skills.

Agent 13 [Captain America: Winter Soldier 013]: A final secret weapon on a team loaded with them. Her trait slows down opponents to better match SHIELD’s pace of attack, and she works both as a great tie-up fig and as one that can open the way for the rest of the squad with her defense-canceling SP. Just superb here.

Oh, and that Power Plant resource? I almost entirely forgot to use it. That’s how well this team worked.

______

Looking forward to what the new Nick Fury has to offer now.

Woooo!! Two new pocket checklists in a row!

NickFurypocketchecklist

Finally, the last pieces were revealed, so Heroclixin’ can present you a complete checklist. Download and print the PDF today!

AgeofUltronSLpocketchecklist

My pulls:

Alexis
Ant-Man x 2
Yellowjacket x 2
Ultron-8 x 2
Black Knight
Ultron-5
Hercules
ID Cards Machine Man and Vision

No super rares like in my two previous events from Month One [Goliath and Quasar, respectively], but the ones in green were figs I didn’t have, at least.

I was initially torn between a Masters of Evil team of Ultron-5 with the two Yellowjackets, or an Avengers squad composed of Herc, Black Knight and Ant-Man at 50 points. I tend to lean toward pieces I’ve never run. But that’s a bad idea in actual competition.

Plus, I’ve been on a bit of a MoE kick anyway. So EVIL it was:

Ultron-5 [Age of Ultron 051a] 120
Yellowjacket [Age of Ultron 007] 85 x 2
+ Avengers Round Table with Hank Pym ID card

+ Sideline Ant-Man [Age of Ultron 003] @ 50 points

= 300 points

The idea was to shrink one of the ‘Jackets each turn and use the other to taxi both the others with Sidestep each turn until an attack could be made. All matches were prescribed by the judge to occur on the Thebes map, one with lots of blocking terrain but only tiny patches of hindering.

ROUND ONE vs. Bob’s Hercules @ 130 and Machine Man + Jocasta with Iron Man ID Card. A melee team that I could get first shot on, perhaps, but could utterly maul me once he got in close.

Turning Point

• I’m always surprised at ID Card call-ins, and this was no exception. Iron Man came in after I THOUGHT I had made myself safe after a failed alpha strike. Fortunately, he missed. Later, a timely Shape Change saved Yellowjacket again. Unable to finish either Machine Man or Herc, I won by an ID card’s breadth. 1-0.

ROUND TWO vs. Brandon’s Victor Manchas — one with Jocasta — and Monica Chang, plus ID cards for Iron Man and Wasp. The TK was going to be a problem, as was Monica, the best fire support piece in the set.

Turning Point

• After a long period of cat and mouse [or, as Brandon put it, cat and cat!], he got to me with an ID card call-in Charge with Iron Man when I thought I was safe. Why do I keep falling for this? The attack crit missed, though.
• I made a nearly game-killing fumble near the end when I Sidestepped and shot with the wrong Yellowjacket, stranding my team in range of two Pulse Wavers. Luckily, the attacks failed long enough for time to be called, leading to an unlikely 2-0 record with just 15 total victory points scored from ID cards.

ROUND THREE vs. Morrison’s Black Panther, Alexis and Yellowjacket. This was a tough matchup; Thebes is full of blocking terrain, which Black Panther can use to block lines of fire drawn to him via his special power and Sidestep when he’s adjacent. I wouldn’t be able to shoot him at all, likely.

Turning Points

• I stayed way away, respectful of Black Panther’s 7-square Charge swing. Morrison flew BP next to a single square of blocking, ready to Charge me next turn knowing I had nowhere to run with my Sidestep shuffle. But in reality, I had him right where I wanted him. Perplexing one YJ’s damage, she Sidestepped and shot out the square of blocking, exposing Panther. I then got a shot on him with the other ‘Jacket.
• But it was only one damage after his traited Toughness. And he got a Leadership roll, freeing his Yellowjacket to double-team mine for a 1-2 KO shot. Thus I suddenly went from scoring first blood to dropping into a deep 85-point hole with BP back in quasi-Stealth and the rest of the squad at full health. Already backed toward my own corner, I took it to the limit and backed onto the elevated terrain. If Panther was going to press the attack, he’d have to do so without the cover of blocking or hindering.
• He did come and deal Ultron a hard blow. But he was now open to Sidestep pings from Yellowjacket, leading to the final Turning Point of the game: consecutive turns of Masters of Evil attacks while double-tokened to KO Panther. From there, it was a matter of taxiing Ultron away from a potential comeback counterattack from the remaining Yellowjacket until time was up. 3-0. And so I ended up, unexpectedly, in the final match.

ROUND FOUR vs. Charlie’s She-Hulk, Hank Pym and Wasp. 300 points of Outwit, Incap and massive melee damage on the way.

Turning Points

• It came before the match was even set: Charlie had just won a rolloff draw against a one man army of Ultron [055a] that I would have had nearly ZERO chance of winning against. So here, the odds were even.
• After a failed alpha strike on Pym, I retreated behind blocking, attempting to slow She-Hulk’s advance with Ultron’s Smoke Cloud. But Charlie closed on my team, countering the Smoke and forcing a fight. Things swung in my direction as all three characters were able to take shots on Pym and then She-Hulk due to the shrunken size of Yellowjacket and gaining Outwit as they took damage from attacks and pushing. Though it wound up being a wipe, I still lost a ‘Jacket and both my remaining figs were near dead.

But…4-0. After scoring only 15 points the first two rounds. Still can’t believe it! Makes up for Month One where I went a terribad 1-3. I’m now a close second in the standings.

A little something for the scorching days of August. The theme is obvious.

Captain Cold [The Flash 038] 100

Chillblaine [The Flash 011] 55

Golden Glider [The Flash 025] 60

Icicle [Justice League 007] 72

Mr. Freeze [Batman 048] 118

Blizzard [Invincible Iron Man 026] 75

Killer Frost [Trinity War 045] 121

Frost Giant Champion [Avengers Movie 031] 90

= 691 points.

I got to play it in a bye round against a force of Kaiju from Pacific Rim in a “silver age” event allowing all figures but banning non-object- or themed team-related tactics. It was a win for the villains, who simply managed to out-action the colossal monsters, especially as played by the inexperienced Cameron.

By piece:

Blizzard [Invincible Iron Man 026]: Pulse Wave is, as always, boss. Especially in a game against Mystics/Arachnos/Kaiju team ability. Blizzard was a key leading jab.

Captain Cold [The Flash 038]: Wasn’t really much of a captain in this game, what with failing Leadership at the key times and not having targets susceptible to his Ice Blocks.

Chillblaine [The Flash 011]: He was just along for the ride to benefit Golden Glider. But he had a role as tie-up, too, being one of the game’s best.

Frost Giant Champion [Avengers Movie 031]: His Battle Fury-inflicting ability was useless against range-less Kaiju. But he carried his weight in getting the big damage attack to set up the others. Not sure this game is won without him!

Golden Glider [The Flash 025]: Another tie-up fig mostly wasted against Great Size characters, she was surprisingly clutch with her late-game Exploit clicks.

Icicle [Justice League 007]: He was fielded for the Copsicles SP, but was useless due to the size of the enemies and lack of line of fire.

Killer Frost [Trinity War 045]: Never landed a single shot all game, despite many, many attempts.

Mr. Freeze [Batman 048]: the MVP. After the Frost Champion softened the Kaiju up, Freeze cooled them off considerably more.

––––––

This was a nice team. I’d like to see how it works against a more standard opponent. Sometime in the future, we could do a “Winter Is Coming” theme with added heroes such as Polar Boy and Iceman to replace the Golden Age figs on this force.