Normally this time of year, Heroclixin’ would be recovering from DragonCon, the annual Labor Day Weekend nerdfest in Atlanta. But we’re in Corona World now, and mass gatherings of thousands upon thousands of people in one place simply IS NOT SAFE and so we’re not going — because the city and the con’s organizers wisely didn’t hold the event.
So here’s a flashback to DragonCon 2019 (and a 2018 game) and, finally, a continuing of the “Ruling the World” series I started writing last fall.
Heroclixin’ has written about The Authority a number of times, it being a whole team that was my collective No. 2 favorite of 2014. and my No. 6 favorite(s) of the whole DECADE. In 2017, it was joined by Planetary to combine for one of the two most damaging rounds ever played.
Itching to play this team, I wound up accepting/making a challenge against my good buddy (and new Heroclixin’ board member) Chadd to see if I could keep my success streak with the squad going. Three practice games in, I found it was good as ever, as least with the feat cards I’d built in.
Despite all this, it was all academic: in between the first two playtests, Chadd messaged me saying he was thinking of not packing the Apokolips team after all, leaving me throwing up my hands, saying, “What am I doing all this for, then?”
Then he had a different team idea: Star Trek Away team vs. Authority/Planetary.
I immediately loved it, even being willing to lower my build total.
But it was gonna be a trap.
(—- Flash back to May 2018 —-)
Chadd wanted to run his new-ish Starfleet starter set figures, and I got a comic-accurate idea to face it:
Cosmic Boy (Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 001) 90
Saturn Girl (Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 202) 102
Lightning Lad (Legion of Super-Heroes 001) 70
Chameleon (Unleashed 037) 30
Brainiac 5 (Superman 008) 88
Shadow Lass (Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 035) 78
+ Legion Lost ATA 24 points
=482 points
I was looking for a fun, comic-inspired match. What I got was a Starfleet destroying my favorite keyword and me playing one of my worst games.
Everything I did was wrong.
- Wrong map. I selected the old swamp map from SLOSH starter. Aside from patches of hindering, it’s wide open — a factor that played right into Starfleet’s phaser trigger-happy hands.
- Wrong team ability. I chose Superman Enemy as my TA via Legion Lost, giving Outwit to the higher-costed of each member. But Outwit meant venturing into range. And with the team being all fliers, that also would eat up actions just to get into position.It’s almost the worst choice I could have possibly made.
Batman Ally would have given much needed Stealth.
Superman Ally would have aided in shooting through the plentiful hindering.
JSA would have helped my defense as things started heading south, maybe buying me time for a comeback — as would Titans or Suicide Squad to get some needed clicks back.
Even sharing attack with Batman Enemy would have been better.
- Wrong attack. I got lured out to take an early shot at Lt. Sulu. But I missed thanks to his DV boost from hindering and Dr. McCoy. Worse, I blocked my own Prob Control and so had to eat the miss.
- Wrong Shady. I should have used Shadow Lass for her Absolute Darkness trait’s impenetrable Smoke Cloud. That would have prevented a load of counterattacks — perhaps all of them.
- Wrong move. ….with Saturn Girl. She was my Prob and I wound up not only blocking her LOF early on, but also making her a target to get one-turned.
- Wrong field. I started to hole up indoors behind cover but didn’t and paid for the mistake.
So despite it looking like a bunch of mediocre-stat peons, that Trek Away Team is actually very dangerous to my Planetary/Authority squad, with its starter set members granting +1 stats for EVERYONE.
And the team is even more dangerous with their next gen brethren who can use a lot of passive abilities at a 3 square range: Empower, Enhancement, PROTECTED Outwit, Support, Defend and protection from enemy modifications. All through walls!
But FIRST! There were other games at DragonCon with my friend, including:
His Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. my Bat-Family 600
Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 028) 100
Raphael (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 027) 100
Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 026) 100
Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 025) 100
Casey Jones (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell Fast Forces 006) 50
Renet Tilley (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 024) 70
Splinter (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 011) 40
April (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 005) 40
=600 points
VS
Batgirl, Shadow of the Bat (Batman The Animated Series 052) 70
Batman (Batman The Animated Series 040) 125
Bat-Knight (WizKids DP17-006) 60
Batwoman (Batman 036) 61
Robin (Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 030) 40
The Signal (DC Rebirth 011b) 60
Clayface (DC Rebirth 053) 100
Orphan (DC Rebirth 034) 75 + League of Assassins ATA 7
=598 points
He got map (my Bat-fam is comic-based, not keyword based) and picked ROC Assassin Alley. Rooftops suited me fine, as Bat-Knight was not hindered much from getting lines of fire and I had a number of pieces with Improved Movement: Elevated. He got Batwoman but I KO’d Leo, Splinter, Casey and Renet for the win.
The Turtles are just outmatched in that fight.
Then it was Chadd’s Jean Greys (he loves that chick)
Dark Phoenix (Mutant Mayhem 220)
Dark Phoenix (Marvel 10th Anniversary 021)
Phoenix (Giant-Size X-Men 047)
Phoenix (WizKids M19-015)
Jean Grey (Uncanny X-Men 025)
Jean Grey (Wolverine and the X-Men 209) 100
Marvel Girl  (X-Men: Xavier’s School 002)
Jean Grey (Wolverine and the X-Men 017)
1987 points
vs. my Cyclopses (my favorite X-Man)
Dark Phoenix Cyclops (Avengers Vs. X-Men G001) 1000
Cyclops (X-Men Regenesis 102) 100
Cyclops (X-Men: Xavier’s School 001) 50
Cyclops (X-Men: Xavier’s School 052) 150
Cyclops (X-Men: Xavier’s School 063) 100
Cyclops (Giant-Size X-Men 008) 110
Cyclops (Uncanny X-Men 033) 85
Cyclops (Uncanny X-Men Fast Forces 001) 50
Cyclops (Uncanny X-Men 024) 100
Cyclops (Avengers Vs. X-Men 009) 150
Cyclops (X-Men Regenesis 002 ) 70
1965 points
He picked the old DragonCon vinyl outdoor map, which had a lot of scattered elevated. That made the colossals the only real targets and targeters.
It proved that DP Cyclops was the difference, being able to outmaneuver the older Dark Phoenix and go after the other threatening Phoenixes so the rest of the Cykes weren’t one-shot.
Also key: No. 29 favorite of the decade, Cyclops (Giant Size X-Men 008) and his ability to X-Men-heal two clicks instead of one, helping DP Cyke shrug off his counterpart’s damage dealt.
I don’t recall the final score but Cyclops and Co. definitely won the day. Or, more to the point, my superior play did. It had been a long time since Chadd had played and I was much more familiar with both the rules since 2017 and the old rules and abilities of his force. He definitely forgot a few powers that may have swung the game in his direction at key moments.
Then came the aforementioned Starfleet vs. Authority/Planetary at 1000 points. But that’s a tale for another post. In the meantime, look for a downloadable printable pocket checklist for the latest set: Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage, due for release Sept. 9.
