So I recently got a pair of the new Toys “R” Us Exclusive Sentinels and wanted to try them out in a tournament requiring all-fliers with range. My team:

Sentinel Mark V (Giant-Size X-Men #G02) 200
Sentinel Mark V (Giant-Size X-Men #G09) 150
Sentinel Mark II (Giant-Size X-Men #G08) 100
Experienced Sentinel Trooper (Ultimates) 25
+ Yellow Lantern 5
+Dynamostat 0
+Eleha’al Vine 0
=480 points.

FIRST, I faced Jay and his Green Lantern squad of Sinestro, Kilowog,Tomar Re and Abin Sur, all from the Green Lantern Gravity Feed set. He easily won map roll (thanks to Tomar’s trait) and picked Hawkworld.

Such an open map played to the Sentinels’ advantage. I took an early lead in this game and never looked back, eventually wiping out his team and losing only my 150-point Mark V and Trooper.

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SECOND, I faced guest Heroclixin’ writer Morrison, on my choice of the Prison map, and his armored team of War Machine (Hammer of Thor), Iron Man (Secret Invasion), Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters #200) and Batman (Arkham Asylum #016).

I know from running Iron Man teams that they’re great at range and I wanted to do all I could to mitigate that…hence, the map. Using the Dynamostat to block access to me until I was ready, I set up a phalanx of sorts that, while it blocked much of my own line of fire, still managed to focus Outwits and attacks on the Stark armors and limit his countermoves. I took down War Machine and FCBD Iron Man while SI Tony escaped with his life just barely seconds before I was about to make a surprise ranged attack that would likely have KOd him.

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FINALLY, I squared against Paul’s Gravity Feed Lanterns (Salaak, Ganthet and R’Amey Holl) and Fast Forces (Sinestro & Abin Sur). He picked Madripoor, a really difficult map for my 2×2 colossals to navigate.

I picked the dock side, to give the robots cover, before camping the 200-point Sentinel on the roof, the only other safe spot. My key

TURNING POINT

• was a clutch crithit Psychic Blast that knocked Ganthet off his Outwit, giving me the advantage in countering powers.
• Then, in the late game, after E Sentinel Trooper tied him up for an effective 3 full turns, Sinestro missed his would-be KO Charge on Mark V. That cost Sinestro his life.

Along with KOs of Abin and Salaak, I got the victory despite a potential comeback from Ganthet as time ran out.

The Sentinels…went 3-0.

Flush with victory, I started spinning the 100-point Sentinel’s dial to see how many clicks he had left, since in this game, he’d actually taken damage.

Kept turning.

And turning.

And then I thought: “This seems awfully long.”

Then I saw two clicks that I know aren’t on his 100-point dial.

I’d played the 100-point Sentinel on his 300-point dial! Arrrrrgh! Instant disqualification.

Frankly, the 100-level powers would’ve been better for my game. Front-loaded Psychic Blast > Incapacitate. But…my 3-0 instantly became 0-3. At least my opponents were cool about the mistake and actually somewhat relieved that they’d been playing at a 200-point handicap.

I also managed to trade for the Sentinel Mark II (Giant-Size X-Men #G01), so look for a future battle report featuring all four of the colossal mutant-hunting robots!