My longtime clix buddy Lenny and I periodically have big matches between themed forces — Avengers vs. JLA, Guardians of the Galaxy vs. Inhumans, Marvel Knights vs. The Hand, Asgard vs. enemies of the Golden Realm, what have you.
But I pulled Dr. Thing and the Thing Legacy card, making my Thing team complete. And Lenny loves Hulks, so back in March …
Hulk (Avengers Black Panther Illuminati) 125 points…Professor Hulk.
Hulk (Earth X 055) 150 points…Big Baby Hulk.
Hulk (Fantastic Four Fast Forces 002) 75 points…Gray Hulk.
Hulk (Fantastic Four 056) 150 points…Cho Hulk.
Immortal Hulk (Captain America and The Avengers) 100 points.
Maestro (Secret Wars: Battleworld 028) 175 points.
Red Hulk ((Fantastic Four 010) 75 points.
She-Hulk (Future Foundation 006) 75 points
She-Hulk (Secret Wars: Battleworld 023a) 80 points
She-Hulk (Secret Wars: Battleworld 100) 90 points
Worldbreaker (Secret Wars: Battleworld 013) 100 points
VS. my
The Thing (Future Foundation 003) 30 points…Skrull
The Thing (Future Foundation Fast Forces 003) 50 points…Thing in a black jumper.
The Thing (Future Foundation 020) 60 points…Captain Thing
The Thing (Future Foundation L038) 140 points…Legacy Thing
The Thing (Fantastic Four 004) 40 points…OG Thing
The Thing (Fantastic Four 020) 50 points…Red Pants Thing
The Thing (Fantastic Four 036) 75 points…Married Thing
The Thing (Fantastic Four 049) 50 points…Dad Thing
The Thing (Fantastic Four Cosmic Clash 003) 100 points…Starter Thing
The Thing (Fantastic Four Deep Cuts 003) 75 points…Deep Cuts Thing
Ms. Thing (Future Foundation 022) 75 points
Blackbeard (Future Foundation 052) 90 points
Dr. Thing (Future Foundation 066) 150 points
She-Thing (Fantastic Four 012) 40 points
She-Thing (Fantastic Four 028) 75 points…of the Frightful Four
She-Thing (Fantastic Four Fast Forces 006) 75 points
Thing Robot (Future Foundation 009) 20 points
Both teams matched exactly 1195 points!!!
He won map: It was a ROC map. Little blocking, elevated with puddles of water to hinder. Sucked for me.
He split on two sides of the elevated, teaming Red, Gray and Professor Hulks on one and Big Baby Hulk, She-Hulk and Cho Hulk on the other. I avoided Baby, who was both too dangerous and would yield a lot of Vengeance for Immortal if I contended with him. So I set up a crowd to rush the multicolored Hulks, blocking access with Thing Robot.
…which got one-shot when Immortal Banner Outwit its defense and She-Hulk Charged in for 4. Gray Hulk also attacked but missed. Prof Hulk moved to an OK Outwit position and Red Hulk Charged in to protect him.
Granted these new targets, I began to counterattack, taking on both Red and Gray for decent damage — KOing the latter — and going around the end to punch up Professor Hulk with the black-suited Fast Forces Thing to get the Prof off his dangerous Outwit clicks, with Ms. Thing there to serve as bodyguard.
TEMPERS FLARE
Lenny got angry, as he often does, with my timely good rolls, saying, “You’re winning from luck, not skill!”
This was a rare time I snapped back: “Don’t disrespect my skill!” I had a plan and was putting it in action.
BUT… my boast aside, I was definitely was not playing my best game so far.
SMASHING FAILS
- I had no Prob Control apart from Ms. Thing’s “reroll a 4” trait that had already saved my orange bacon twice already. So why did I think it wise to march her where Immortal Hulk could Outwit her defense and get her one-turned by Amadeus, She-Hulk and Worldbreaker?
- I let black suit Thing (and, by extension, Ms. Thing) get Charged on multiple times without a roll because I forgot this trait:
| C’MERE… LEMME GIVE YOU A HUG: When an opposing character would move adjacent to The Thing, roll a d6. 4: Choose one: That character immediately ends their action -or- after resolutions, deal that character 1 penetrating damage. |
- Based by two strong bruisers, he got KO’d in short order.
- A few turns later, Dr. Thing got some strong licks in. But I neglected to Sidestep him away, overconfident in his defenses, and almost got one-turned by Cho’s Flurry.
- And my dice rolls aren’t nearly as lucky as Lenny thinks. Legacy Thing failed every attack in the first half of the game, getting beaten off his shiny new version of “Had Enough Clobberin’ Yet?”
- Two crit misses against LE She-Hulk — without her even having to use Prob!
- And my setup had the field so crowded that I couldn’t truly swarm with my superior numbers just yet.
Despite all that failing and flailing … I’m a skilled player most days. And this was no exception, leading to these TURNING POINTS
CLOBBERIN’ TIMES
- Dad Thing’s Defend kept most of the front line Things safe from much of the counterattacks and his -2 suPerplex kept Baby Hulk well in check.
- I’d carefully held Newlywed Thing back until there were Hulks aplenty, then moved him forward to give nearly the whole team Empower, so although the Things missed as much as they hit, they were hitting HARD.
- Did I say they missed? Actually they often hit but Lenny landed EIGHT STRAIGHT IMPERVIOUS ROLLS with FFFF She-Hulk — with more than a couple of straight missed attacks to boot! The silver lining was that Immortal Hulk got no Vengeance at all out of it because I’d skillfully prevented him any LOF to targets when possible.
- Cosmic Clash Thing was also held back for an opportune moment to attack with his version of colossal retaliation. Even though he crit missed the attack against SWB She-Hulk, he served his secondary purpose of blocking her from using her Prob Control.
- All this took attention from my real plan: for Frightful Four She-Thing to make her L/C attack to KO the Bruce bystander and remove Big Baby as a threat (though, even so neutered, he was able to finish off Dr. Thing).
- From there, the rest of the game was contending with a fully activated but hopelessly outnumbered Immortal Hulk, who smashed a couple of Things before getting clobbered in COMPLETELY COMIC ACCURATE FASHION with this SP:
| EVERYTHING I GOT! ALL OR NOTHING!: When The Thing makes a close attack, you may choose that he modifies attack +3, deals penetrating damage, and opposing characters can’t use Shape Change or Super Senses. If you do, after resolutions KO The Thing. |
It was worth losing an additional 75 points to win like this.
Last Things standing:
By piece:
Hulk (Avengers Black Panther Illuminati 014)
As a Hulk with Outwit, this was one of the pieces I was worried about. He’s also got a dynamite 12 AV with 5 damage. I had to watch carefully: Would Lenny use him as a frontline SMASH piece, or hold him back to nix my defenses? He kinda chose neither and I made him pay for it, focusing much of my early efforts on the Professor’s vulnerabilities.
Hulk (Earth X 055)
This was the Hulk I feared most. Not only was he the strongest on the board, but fighting the giant in the sight of Immortal Hulk would make that character much more dangerous later. So when Lenny split up his force, I opted to avoid Big Baby Hulk as long as possible while biding my time to threaten or eliminate Bruce in the starting area.
Hulk (Fantastic Four Fast Forces 002)
With ol’ Fixit here having Underworld TA and only 10 AV, Lenny should have used Gray Hulk here more for his taxi skills than as an attacker.
Hulk (Fantastic Four 056)
I was relieved that Cho Hulk here was hanging around with Big Baby so I didn’t have to deal with his potential multi-Outwit. This is a scary piece whose line of fire I wanted to block as long as possible.
Immortal Hulk (Captain America and The Avengers)
But of course the scariest piece on the board really is this one. I chose a lot of my targets to deny him LOF so he would not gain Vengeance tokens until it was too late. But just him as an Outwitter was enough to decimate Things in the early going.
Maestro (Secret Wars: Battleworld 028)
Invincible and armed with his own Perplex, old Hulk here was Lenny’s choice as frontline fighter. Given his +2 Perplex on Battleworlders, it may have been better to use him as support instead and then as cleanup hitter. But it’s hard to fault the strategy he picked because it was absolutely working for several rounds.
Red Hulk ((Fantastic Four 010)
Lenny made a good move Charging in and tying up my frontline Things with this Poison piece, forcing me to deal with him quickly and completely to get at my real target, Professor Hulk. But he pushed to do so and forgot he was a Team Player. Could’ve used Underworld, maybe, or copied Fantastic Four for potential healing.
She-Hulk (Future Foundation 006)
EIGHT.
STRAIGHT.
IMPERVIOUS ROLLS.
She-Hulk (Secret Wars: Battleworld 023a)
Not only bringing Probability Control but range attack (SP Energy Explosion) to the field, this chick was a problem. Also a wild card, but she was not really played to those strengths … and didn’t need to be.
She-Hulk (Secret Wars: Battleworld 100)
She was a rude surprise, Perplexing and punching for big damage. IIRC, she might’ve been able to finish Dr. Thing sooner had Lenny remembered to consider knockback.
Worldbreaker (Secret Wars: Battleworld 013)
Put in work as a secondary fighter, but this was probably better suited for the Hulks’ front line, getting boosted by the above She-Hulk’s and Maestro’s Perplexes for only the risk of 100 points.
The Thing (Future Foundation 003)
Skrull Thing’s chief purpose was to be Blackbeard’s bodyguard as Mastermind fodder. But he actually served more as a late-game fighter.
The Thing (Future Foundation Fast Forces 003)
As noted in the battle report, I misplayed his 1-in-6 chance of denying close combat.
The Thing (Future Foundation 020)
With no Sidekicks, this Captain felt slightly superfluous. But these Captain pieces have very long dials for their cost.
The Thing (Future Foundation L038)
I can’t believe I forgot to yell “What a revoltin’ development” at all the misses this piece made in the early going. But after getting some key Fantastic Four heals later to get back to his Clobberin’ SP, boy did he throw hands, spinning Immortal Hulk almost through one of his whole dials.
The Thing (Fantastic Four 004)
So cheap but such good AV. Somehow he lived to the game’s end thanks to his low cost and his Shape Change. I should have used him as a frontline fighter more.
The Thing (Fantastic Four 020)
I would not have thought his defense would actually hold up as well as it did. But between a successful Imperv roll here, a deterred attack there (because he deals penetrating on a good Imperv roll) and the F4 TA, he was one of the last standing despite being the first into the fray.
The Thing (Fantastic Four 036)
One of the linchpins of the whole team, he not only brought wifey Alicia to be a potential (though never successful) medic for the wounded, but his Empower-granting to the other Fantastic Four Things (nearly all of them) made the Things a match for the more powerful Hulks.
The Thing (Fantastic Four 049)
The other team linchpin, Dad Thing was my sole support power of Perplex for the whole game. That 19 Defend really saved my bacon against Maestro’s 12 AV. His kids Chuck and Buzz also served well, even though the latter took an early KO.
The Thing (Fantastic Four Cosmic Clash 003)
My secret weapon with his “clobberin’ retaliation.”
The Thing (Fantastic Four Deep Cuts 003)
With a simple, straightforward dial, he was quite the cleanup hitter when I finally got him into the mix.
Ms. Thing (Future Foundation 022)
My one source of rerolls but a victim of overconfidence in her long dial — that and the fact that she was one of the only Things able to get past the hindering and water terrain to where I thought she needed to go.
Blackbeard (Future Foundation 052)
I kinda used him just for his Leadership and nothing else for most of the game, trying to keep him in water. Kind of a waste. But the Leadership was nice.
Dr. Thing (Future Foundation 066)
He did OK and would have done better had I been a little more careful.
She-Thing (Fantastic Four 012)
I had a plan to use her “Unlimited Class Wrestling Federation” trait to reposition Maestro from his fairly well-protected spot, but she failed with her meager 10 AV. Still a neat trick.
She-Thing (Fantastic Four 028)
My other secret weapon with her L/C attack. Hits surprisingly hard and shines on a force where she’s a secondary attacker.
She-Thing (Fantastic Four Fast Forces 006)
Though not terribly mobile with only Sidestep, she’s so resistant to damage that she was a natural choice to lead the front line — especially with her potential +3 to either attack or damage via SP CCE.
Thing Robot (Future Foundation 009)
The poor first victim. Next time it needs to have help to at least serve as F4 TA healer when it falls. And speaking of F4 TA, that really was a big factor down the stretch.
We plan to do a rematch sometime (probably after Empyre gives us at least one more new Thing), which will shift a LOT of factors in this punch-up! For example, Big Baby Hulk, who previously had to concern himself with pushing damage, won’t have that problem. The hindering terrain that slowed many of the Things won’t be an issue. Perplex to damage will be impossible, forcing the Hulks to focus on other tactics to overwhelm the Things.
It’s gonna be another SMASH!
