With the lessons learned from my last few pre-Iron Campaign excursions, I fielded a 1000-point version recently.

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
+ Thunderbolts 5
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
+ Thunderbolts 5
Hulkbuster 165
+ Unstoppable 5
Iron Man (Supernova) 160
+ Stunning Blow 10
+ Thunderbolts 5
Anthony Stark 100
+ Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28

= 1000 points of cutting-edge Stark technology.

My opponent was Lenny, who fielded a team that would test my mettle.

Silver Surfer (Avengers) 231
Green Scar 230
+ Fortitude 25
+ Protected 8
Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion) 149
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
Gravity 75
Gamora 73
SR Scarlet Witch (Avengers) 35

He won the map roll and picked the Outdoor Danger Room map. I didn’t mind, as that gave my range-heavy team plenty of wide-open space to shoot at. I played the Inferno BFC to flush out anyone hiding in hindering terrain, but Lenny cancelled it with Ordinary Day. Again, that suited me fine. I fielded a trio of Special Objects: The healing Eleha’al Vine, the Meteorite and the Kinetic Accelerator. Lenny used his own copies of the former two. Finally, I picked Mystics as my Thunderbolts team ability.

Immediately, Lenny used Gravity to move Surfer via Telekinesis to his rooftop so he could blow up my Accelerator!

I used Mandroid Armor to TK Guardsman to the roof, then did a Running Shot next to him with V Armor Wars Iron Man (Vet AW) to gain the SHIELD damage boost. But I missed the shot, and next turn Lenny retreated Surfer from any sort of followup shot.

Lenny moved Namor out to grab a heavy object while moving Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Gravity and Scar to a patch of hindering terrain within easy reach of my team. With a TK move from Gravity, Scar could hit any one of my people at will if I wasn’t careful.

Here I made a first real mistake. Instead of attempting a Running Shot off the roof with Vet AW, I tried a standing shot from there. It didn’t work, thanks to Dr. Strange’s high defense compounded by the hindering terrain bonus. This left the Vet open to retaliatory Hypersonic Speedy shots from Silver Surfer, forced rerolls by Scarlet Witch’s Probability Control, and sniper shots from Dr. Strange himself. (A better decision would have been to try a shot from extreme range on Gravity.)

I found myself forced to back up the Vet with Secret Invasion Iron Man (SIron Man), the linchpin of the team, much earlier than I liked. Also failing his attack, at least he was able to keep Gravity’s TK Outwitted to prevent the big Hulk strike.

Alas, that didn’t do much to prevent the big Namor strike! The avenging son of Atlantis soon came Charging in to Flurry the Vet Iron Man hard with a heavy object. Fortunately, Namor missed the followup Flurry strike, preserving the precious Outwit power. Unfortunately, on my turn both Hulkbuster and Supernova Iron Man failed their respective Charge and Running Shot attempts.

Tired of my constant Outwitting of Telekinesis, Lenny simply used Green Scar’s Leap/Climb (part of his “Smash” Special Power) to base SN Iron Man, putting both him and Hulkbuster in jeopardy. And then he based SN Iron Man with Gamora, too! Things looked hella bleak for the Silver Centurion.

Figuring that, at minimum, Gamora was about to use Willpower+Exploit Weakness to punch through his armor like wet paper, I pushed SN Iron Man to deliver a Stunning Blow on Green Scar. CRITICAL HIT! Scar took 3, got knocked back, lost his Meteorite and gained a token to keep him from moving. Dr. Strange, too got hit well at last by either SIron Man or Free Comic Book Day Iron Man (FCBD) to make him a relative non-factor (well, not entirely accurate, as he still could Brilliant Tactician). It was about here, though, that Vet AW fell at last to Namor and Scarlet Witch for the game’s first KO.

Just within the normal time limit, Dr. Strange was knocked out. Unfortunately, his KO points (149 + Brilliant Tactician’s 20 = 169) wouldn’t exceed what I lost in Vet AW (172 + Thunderbolts’ 5 = 177). Even if Lenny’d thought to use Protected on the Green Scar hit, the game would’ve been a draw.

We played on. FCBD tried to push and hit Gamora to stop her attack on SN Iron Man, but whiffed. Green Scar didn’t miss, having been beaten to his sweetest click, and neither did Gamora. SN Iron Man was down!

Anthony Stark was using Outwit to keep Namor in check (countering first his  Exploit Weakness, then his Avenging Son SP) while Hulkbuster worked him. SIron Man had been TK’d behind the building to Brilliant Tactician his fellows (and get away from Silver Surfer, who’d fortunately not yet landed his ranged attacks on the high-defense leader of my team) to help speed up the hits.

FCBD Iron Man made a Running Shot further away to try hitting Gamora, but failed yet again. Green Scar, despite making every Impervious roll so far, couldn’t make any attacks (Hulkbuster blocked access to the roof) and was in danger getting swarmed with both Namor and Gravity down, so he beat a retreat toward his Vine for healing and I couldn’t stop him. Gamora, for her part, based FCBD to prevent any further shooting and force him to deal with her 20 DV in close combat. Breakaway proved unsuccessful.

I took an opportunity to push Hulkbuster to Charge Silver Surfer with Scar’s discarded Meteorite to put a swift end to his hypersonic ways. But now he, too, would be able to Phase away and retreat.

Moving Anthony Stark to the ground for better firing/Outwit opportunities, I figured to push to FCBD Iron Man’s next “Invincible” click to minimize the damage Gamora could do once she was clear to act. But I forgot to use A.Stark’s Outwit to counter Gamora’s Exploit Weakness, making my move pretty pointless. She hit FCBD to his last click.

Scarlet Witch, though long beaten off her Prob. Control, proved to be a further annoyance by tossing up a Barrier, keeping SI Iron Man from pressing his pursuit (having already missed shots on the 200+ point targets). Scar, now on the Vine, was healing back up to move+attack deadliness.

FCBD got a clutch breakaway from Gamora and certain defeat to a nearby rooftop. Hulkbuster moved to the roof, too (Running Shooting Scarlet Witch on the way) and SIron Man also joined him there (Running Shooting and missing Scar and Surfer on his way). Bad move: SIron Man got Psychic Blasted by Silver Surfer. Mandroid pushed to base Surfer to prevent further shooting.

Back on the ground, A.Stark hit Gamora hard with a SHIELD boosted shot and  kept her nerfed with Outwit. Green Scar, now healed back to his move+attacking early clicks, moved just below SIron Man and Stark, threatening them both (thanks to his Leap/Climb, which allows close combat on differing elevations). SIron Man took a Running Shot on Scar, who broke away (from the Guardsman I’d just moved to tie him up with) to jump him with Exploit Weakness for 4 damage deep into his dial!

Fortunately, SIron Man could still Brilliant Tactician, enabling FCBD to hit Green Scar with Ranged Combat Expert while Hulkbuster Running Shot Gamora and A.Stark blew Silver Surfer away. Scar got swarmed, and when his Regen failed, it was easy winnings.

Stark Industries’ record improves to 5-9.

Despite an unhealthy number of poor die rolls, this Stark Armory team did pretty well! Lessons I gleaned from this game:

Range helps. When the Iron Men can use their range to the fullest, it helps. To that end…

Running Shot at full range if at all possible. If I have 10 range and have the opportunity to take a shot from extreme range, even if the target isn’t  the best choice, take it anyway. Minimize my vulnerability to counterattack.

Set up where enemy has minimal cover or where I can shoot at will. This particular map has an edge and corner with almost no cover

Mandroid Armor’s Telekinesis is a huge bonus. Since the theme allows for not just Iron Men, but also Stark-designed characters like the Guardsmen, “Iron” Spider-Man and the like, I’ll be including one of these fellows on every team I can. TK helps address the Iron Man’s dependence on range.

T-Bolt to Ultimates, always. Just do it. As much as Mystics helped me whittle down Green Scar a little bit or prevented Dr. Strange from taking shots on me, being able to ignore hindering terrain bonuses might’ve helped more.

Piece-by-piece:

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188:  Performed as the linchpin he’s supposed to be. He should be a first choice on any Stark team over 300 points.
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172: Honestly, I’m torn. I liked his range (longer than the others’), his Outwit and his AV. But he never quite works out because I never quite use that range right. If I decide I don’t want another Avenger on the team, I may downgrade him in future games for  the E Armor Wars version instead.
Hulkbuster 165: Definitely pulled his considerable weight, bringing a  needed close-combat prowess to the table. Especially good w/ Mandroid’s TK. Although I didn’t need it this time, using Unstoppable on him could be key for painlessly opening lanes of fire on indoor maps.
Iron Man (Supernova) 160: Excellent as usual with Stunning Blow, even though he only landed the one attack.
Anthony Stark 100: Useful as the cheap mobile Outwit alternative to the heavier hitters with the power and as a clean-up hitter…
Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100: …but this one was intended for the cleanup role. Only so-so this game, but well worth it.
Guardsman 32: not only good for SHIELD TA but for taxiing the Mandroid and acting as tieup when needed. Great filler for this theme.
R Mandroid Armor 28: But again, this little guy changes everything. TK minimizes range dependence while SHIELD TA maximizes range effectiveness.

Good first outing for the Iron Campaign. We’ll see if the winning ways can continue this weekend.