Being a HUGE Aquaman fan, he was the first character I had to try out from the brand-new Brightest Day Action Pack. I did so in a friendly home game against a pal, who played his own BD figs Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Deadman, Hawkgirl and Captain Boomerang versus my Atlantis-themed team:

Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Tempest 116
Aquaman (Brightest Day) 105
Atlantean Warrior 35
Atlantean Warrior 35
Atlantean Warrior 35
Walter “Prof” Haley 7
Dolphin 6
Mera (Crisis) 6
+ Blue Lantern 5
+ Opened Hydrant 0
+ Dynamostat 0
= 500 points.

This was Modern Age, so no feats or battlefield conditions. Thomas won the map roll, so he picked the Crater map.

Fortunately, I  knew how I wanted to approach this not-so-watery map: by placing my Opened Hydrant in one of its special squares to ensure my team was always well-hydrated.  Thomas, for his part, placed his Yellow Lantern in the other square to keep me from taking it out.

Thomas moved his force out, ready to Charge any of my team that entered my Hydrant-generated pool. I kept my important pieces back and Charged (unsuccessfully) all four foes in the Crater with Atlantean Warriors while Tempest Barriered Martian Manhunter from raining down Psychic Blast damage from the ledge. By mid-game, Thomas had lost Aquaman and Hawkgirl.

Things went a bit south for me, though, when Martian Manhunter got hit to his Hypersonic Speed clicks. Suddenly, Thomas had all the offensive and mobility advantages — flight, range, move+attack and the high ground — forcing me to slowly advance while Thomas could take shots at will to whittle down my Aquaman, the only real threat to him now that Namor had been knocked off his Flight clicks. Not even my picking up Thomas’s Indigo Lantern object or his rolling a crit miss with the Manhunter could stop him!

Finally, the turning point: after getting hit to his range SP, Aquaman took a shot at Deadman. My plan was to get to Aquaman’s Support to maybe heal Namor or one of the Atlantean Warriors. But…

1. My push to heal failed.
2. Aquaman was now stuck on his last click.
3. I’d hit Deadman to his TK clicks, granting Martian Manhunter the extra range to reach a shooting spot past the team I’d surrounded Aquaman with.
4. MM did not miss, KOing Aquaman.
5. MM’s trait granted him Outwit, with which he countered Tempest’s Perplex, preventing the one character I had with range the ability to damage through MM’s Invulnerability, and MM blocked the ladder, blocking all my characters from reaching him or his teammates.

And that last action cost Thomas the game. Because:

1. Tempest still had Incapacitate, and successfully pushed MM to his last click.
2. Namor still held the Indigo Lantern, and threw it to KO MM.

That pretty well sealed my win, as Deadman and Captain Boomerang were now quite overpowered. (But Cap sure piled up the bodies before he went down!)

As I noted in my titanic Atlantis article, Brightest Day Aquaman truly makes the Secret Invasion Atlantean Warriors a force to reckon with. They lasted much longer both as meat shields and tie-up fodder than they should have because of fear of the feedback damage from Aquaman’s trait. That freed up Namor and Aquaman to deal the bulk of damage. Tempest was also quite key for his support powers of Barrier and Perplex.

I love playing Atlantis and swimmer teams. Can “Atlantis Attacks: Wave 2” be far off? 😉