I went to my first Realms Open Championship event of 2016 with a team I knew didn’t stand much chance of winning the whole thing but thought could still be competitive:

ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMEN

Chameleon Girl [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes] 115

Giganta [Legion of Doom Fast Forces] 100

Elasti-Girl [World’s Finest] 100

Ms. Marvel [Avengers Assemble 056] 66

H.E.N.R.Y. 15 points

=396 points.

 

ROUND 1

I face Jennifer’s cheese figs du jour team of Nick Fury [NFAOS 056], Nighthawk [NFAOS 059b], Mr. Mxyzptlk and Copycat with Doc Magnus and Mercury rounding out matters as the pit crew. Right away I was in trouble because I did not factor Copycat into my meta prep. But I was also in better shape than most because my team is designed to survive losing a key fig in the early game. She took Elasti-Girl. No problem. I got map and chose the indoors Hank Pym Lab to blunt Fury’s lines of fire.

TURNING POINTS

Sidestep For the Loss. This is where that one more game of testing would have helped greatly. When I used Giganta’s free action of Sidestep to taxi in my first turn, I forgot that she needs to be ready to push to get the best use of her combo of powers. So when Jen moved into my potential swing range, I was unable to take advantage. It wasn’t a total game-killer, but it was a classic avalanche decision that led to worse later.

The Right Ruling…But the Wrong One. So Jen used my Elasti-Girl’s Plasticity to gum up the narrow passageway, and under the new size rules giants no longer ignore Plasticity, keeping me from freely advancing past her to engage Nick Fury. I double checked with the judge and a Powers and Abilities Chart.

…but what we both missed was that the PLASTICITY rules had ALSO changed with the size rules. I could have moved Ms. M past Elasti-Girl with impunity and she would have made MUCH better — and less costly — tie-up vs. Fury than the Chameleon Girl I gambled and lost with. I blame WizKids for this one, because in this setting, even if I had remembered the right rule, not having it on a printed document where a judge can make a fast and correct ruling on may have led to the wrong ruling being made anyhow.

Stupid Senses. Despite losing Cham Girl, I was still in the game with Giganta now able to freely Quake most of Jen’s team. But Mr. Mxyzptlk scored a Super Senses roll that saved him from KO and the game for my opponent, who was in full retreat mode.

So close. But now I was 0-1.

 

ROUND 2

Rob’s KC Shazam @ 170, Mr. Mxyzptlk, Mercury, Harlequin, and KC Spectre @ 35.

TURNING POINTS

Are You Kidding Me? Thirty-seven potential opponents in the room and I end up facing the one guy in the room who successfully play tested against my team? What a terrible draw!

Too Fast on the Draw. Forewarned that Rob would be aggressive, I decided to go for his Spectre to take an early lead in points. Unfortunately, I didn’t think to take the time to push either Elasti-Girl or Chameleon Girl onto Plasticity to prevent Shazam’s Hypersonic Speed strike with an ultra-heavy. Once again, Cham’s SC fails and I’m immediately down a fig. But I felt all right because while my easy KO of Spectre is now denied, Rob had overextended his force a bit and I would get right back in the game with an overwhelming counterattack, first to KO Harlequin, then to wear down Shazam.

But Dice.

Despite needing a 7 or less to hit, Ms. Marvel missed her attack. Then Elasti-Girl pushed and missed with an even easier shot. Then Giganta pushed and missed TWICE with Flurry. Then she hit with Quake — but hit two Mystics with it, to take THREE clicks of damage.

Elasti-Girl attacked every round after, using Colossal Stamina and missed every time, either outright or with “help” from Mr. M.

Any ONE of those hits kills Harlequin. If Shazam is the only attacker instead of me having to weather up to THREE attacks per round, maybe I’ve got a shot at clawing back into the game.

But no. 0-2.

 

ROUND 3

Omar’s Zombie Super Skrull, Mercury, Black Cat, Primehawk, Proxima Midnight, and KC Wonder Woman @ 30 on my United Nations map.

Everything went normally this time. Yes, Ms. Marvel was KO’d — and zombified — in far too short order, but the girls gave every bit as good as they got. I got the benefit of some low rolls from Proxima.

Finally a win! 1-2.

 

ROUND 4

Bob’s KC Superman @200, Batman [Trinity War 051] @ 85, SLOSH Stargirl @ 75, and KC Green Lantern @ 35 on his Black Mercy map.

TURNING POINT

Wearing down Superman was going to have to wait. Batman was the real threat, with his Outwit and Perplex and PC and any number of extra powers at his disposal. At 85 points, Cham could take him out in one shot. It was completely worth the push to do so with a Sidestep then Flurry.

Critical missed, stranding CG on her one bad click, effectively removing her from the fight until far too late in the game. Even worse: I hadn’t opted to place the H.E.N.R.Y. she’d carried next to Batman, who was then free to either softened up or finish off Elasti-Girl, Ms. Marvel and Giganta. Unbelievable that that one dice flail essentially cost me the game.

FINAL: 1-3 with barely over 300 points scored. UGH! This team is much stronger than this performance, though the fact that two of the losses came against eventual Top 8 finishers takes some of the sting out of it.

Really missed that last play test. That would have shown me the importance of keeping Giganta ready to push for that blitzkrieg, and then I completely change the makeup of Round 1. I also may have considered a different tempo against a HSS team like in Round 2, given that I had two Plasticity figs on click 2.

Then again, there’s little to be done about the horrid dice and luck of the draw I had in Round 2.

I’m still so mad. 😀

In the aftermath of the 2015 ROC World Cup, I hung out with Edward Shelton [a.k.a. Darklogos of Starting Over podcast fame], talking competitive play with a newer player who wanted tips on becoming top-tier. Edward said something that stuck with me, as he was trying to keep our friend from obsessing over the meta and net decking his teams:

Learn what kind of player you are. Learn your own play style. Then build from that.

As you readers know, I am Mr. F.U.N. — I really don’t have the inclination whatsoever to build a min/max team composed of the best power combos in the game. I have such an aversion to it that I almost detest using any figure that’s shown up in a ROC top 8 result.

So what’s my play style? It’s generally reactive rather than strategic. The best HC players have a definite strategy that they bring to the table. My mind doesn’t work that way. I instead look at what my opponent does, then formulate a counter, because whenever I try to plan too far ahead, I end up surprised by a move that obliterates my plans.

Therefore, I build teams that are designed with obliteration in mind — MY potential obliteration. I let you think you’re taking out my most important figure but there are two or three OTHER most important figs that will continue the fight undeterred.

There’s also my tendency to want to pick favorite characters that are off the radar, then be dangerous with them. It’s how I scrapped out top 8 finishes in two big 2014 tourneys and something I’m aiming to get back to in 2016 after some major failure with tentpoles and two-headed teams in 2015.

Even when I’m planning to go hard in high-level competition like the Realms Open Championship events, I can’t help but be F.U.N. Here’s the team I came up with to combat all the chases and Nick Furies and other cheesy nonsense in the metagame:

ATTACK OF THE 50-FOOT WOMEN

Chameleon Girl [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes] 115

Giganta [Legion of Doom Fast Forces] 100

Elasti-Girl [World’s Finest] 100

Ms. Marvel [Avengers Assemble 056] 66

Hulkbuster Torso 10

Helmet of Fate 8

Pym Particles 2

=400 points.

All four can be giant- or colossal-sized. Normally, that’s a huge liability given the ease with which lines of fire can be drawn to giants. And this team has zero range, so there’s really no upside to their Great Size.

But it has three characters who are or can become standard-sized as well, giving them a shot at, well, NOT being shot at. Additionally, there’s SO much going on with this team. Cham Girl is a lead attacker and support piece and taxi and Stealthed meat shield. Giganta is expendable but a vital lead attacker and taxi and support piece. Ms. Marvel is a cleanup hitter and tie-up and taxi. Elasti-Girl is a lead attacker and support piece and tie-up fig.

Here’s how it playtested:

vs. Tim’s KC Flash, Mr. Mxyz, Dr. Fate and Black Cat, I got the United Nations map. This is a good map for the girls, as the indoor nature protects them from shooters and the special door terrain keeps them from taking hit-and-run Hypersonic attacks — vital against a HSS expert like KC Flash.

Tim was using the Weapon Drop special object on KCF. With KC double tokened, I had him where I wanted him and advanced my whole team to striking distance. Next turn, I threw about 7 attacks in a turn, overwhelming his numerous Probability Controllers and taking a lead that held up within the time limit.

Next I tested against Rob’s KC GL, Spectre, Harlequin, Mr. Mxyz and Mercury. He got an open map and immediately hit Elasti-Girl hard, stranding her on her late dial. It took me too long to get Harleqin and KC Green Lantern’s 20 DV was way too much to handle. Still, Rob had had a whole round to see how to counter my team and I was surprised by how aggressive he was.

So the 50-Foot Women went 1-1 in playtest, but with the loss coming courtesy of my best sparring opponent after he’d seen my team in action, I felt good about the girls’ chances. I really wanted to get one more play test out of the quartet, especially after switching the Torso and Helmet or other items such as the Weapon Drop out for H.E.N.R.Y.

Next week, Heroclixin’ reports on its actual tournament performance.

Heroclixin’ is on a quest to determine how each model with Super Strength can hold the object token the character is holding. Because standing on it is weak sauce and confusing. Putting it on the card is even WEAKER (and borderline cheating in our barely humble opinion because it’s sort of hidden).

So here’s how to be awesome instead in World’s Finest.

Monsieur Mallah [World’s Finest 052] barely manages a hold, here, ironically using a Brain to help.

It’s awkward but, like many giants, Alloy [WF 058] puts leg day at the gym to good use.

Surprisingly, Superman [WF 017a and 017b] just barely have a hold here. We wanted to just plop the token on the brick wall, but it’s at too much of a tilt and so it slides off.

The set’s namesake, World’s Finest [WF 060] have a classic grip.

Time to get this blog back active. And what’s better than Batman?

A: Not much.

Batman [Trinity War 051] 150
Vampire Batman 147
Gaslight Batman 75
Earth-2 Batman 60
Red Son Batman 55

A nice highlander-rule-friendly force of all-Batman for a 500-point Modern Age game. Let’s see how it did:

FIRST, I faced Bill and his Monster team of zombie Magneto, Lydea Mallor, Lyssa Drak and vampires Jubilee and Batman on my Legion of Doom map.

Despite never finishing off v-Bats, I KO’d Jubes and Magneto for the margin of victory.

NEXT, I’d have to deal with Paul and his so-called Amazon team of Red Son Wonder Woman, Wonder Woman (Superman/Wonder Woman 033) and a generic Amazon. I say “so-called” because the theme was polluted by non-thematic elements Eclipso, Ion and the Green Lantern power battery in place of, say, a second Amazon generic and the Amazon ATA. Booooo, Paul!

With the TK and HSS advantage, Paul was able to get several attack shots on me before I could retaliate. Only a serious of improbably low rolls kept me even minimally in the game.

This was the first rodeo for a number of these Bat-figs. By piece:

One of our top picks for 2015, is not surprising that TW Batman was a leading piece.

On the other hand, Red Rain Bats was a disappointment. Lack of Willpower is fatal at his price point unless he has weaklings to feed his KO-activated healing.

Gaslight Batman has some potential to be a game changer, effectively working as Outsiders TA and Guardians of the Galaxy ATA writ wide. He’s also a good melee secondary with Indom. Key in tonight’s game.

Earth-2 Batman is a bit of a mess. The Miraclo pump is fun for the two actual turns you get to use it offensively, but lacking Charge to start makes the Super Strength hard to employ before it wears off.

Finally, Red Son Bats remains F.U.N. but a bit frustrating sure to his low offense stats.

 

NEXT WEEK: Heroclixin’s webmaster tried to have some F.U.N. at a ROC. Did he win at all in that high-stakes tourney setting, much less place? We’ll see…