So I got a phoned invitation from a friend across town to play a game. I happened to be free and halfway there already and decided to make the trip. And though I was packing a Diana’s Wardrobe team, I had another team I’d been aching to try out: wall-to-wall Alter Egos!

Norman Osborn  (Web of Spider-Man #023) 66 + T-Bolts 8 + Contingency Plan 12
Peter Parker  (Web of Spider-Man #008) 50
Clark Kent (The Brave and The Bold #002) 48
Bruce Wayne  (The Brave and The Bold #001) 48 + Outsmart 10
Jason Blood  (The Brave and The Bold #00)  44 + Endurance 5
Eddie Brock (Web of Spider-Man #010) 42
Ben Reilly (Web of Spider-Man #024) 38 + Lunge 5
Walter Kovacs (Watchmen #0) 38 + Loner 5 + Infiltrate 2
Hal Jordan (Green Lantern Gravity Feed #002) 35
Diana Prince (The Brave and The Bold #003)  32 + Invigorate 10

…and, of course, all their alternate identities. My friend was using the following Hellions team:

Emma Frost (Giant-Size X-Men #011) 81
Cypher  (Giant-Size X-Men #012) 38
Empath (Giant-Size X-Men #013) 47
Wolfsbane (Web of Spider-Man #029) 65
Roulette (Giant-Size X-Men #014) 35
Tarot (Giant-Size X-Men #021) 47
Cannonball (Giant-Size X-Men #022) 82 
Firestar (Web of Spider-Man #020) 81

Cypher was able to make them all Mystics, thanks to Jason Blood’s presence, and the swarming themed team got easy map choice, placing us on the wide-open Bridge map from Web of Spider-Man.

Those were only the first things to go wrong for my team. In fact, this game was such an utter debacle, I’ve had to come up with a new FAIL SCALE to account for it:

1. Minor, purely circumstancial stuff like a missed roll or having a feat that only wastes points.
2. Misremembering a power / enemy dial or underestimating enemy tactics leading to a poor situation.
3. A tactical move or non-use of a power/ability/feat on my part that causes me to lose points.

Because I made some sort of FAIL for every single character on my team.

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WS Norman Osborn 66 + T-Bolts 8 + Contingency Plan 12
He made one of my only successful attacks in a crit hit of Cannonball, but he got forced to push to AE to Green Goblin, still in range of Tarot’s automatic-damage “Devil” power. FAIL level: 1

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WS Peter Parker 50 
As Spider-Man, pushed to hit a Mystic. It scored my only points, but KO’d him, too. It was a last gasp in a losing effort, so the FAIL level: 1

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BB Clark Kent 48

• Trusted  Osborn’s Mastermind to get him to AE clicks rather than push. Didn’t work out. FAIL level 1
• Perplexed GL’s AV instead of damage to Running Shoot Cypher, landing the New Mutant on his last click instead of KO and extending the Mystics TA problem through the whole game. FAIL level: 2

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BB Bruce Wayne 48 + Outsmart 10

• The feat turned out to be utterly wasted on this team. FAIL level: 1
• Moved him (as Batman) not far enough to avoid Wolfsbane’s Charge near the end of the game. But that was only about FAIL level 2 because of the next entry…

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Jason Blood 44 + Endurance 5
Moved him behind said Batman instead of using him to block the Charge. At least he’d have A) had a chance to force a reroll and B) caused Mystics damage if hit. FAIL level 3.

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Eddie Brock 42
Scared to push AND hit Mystics, I never got an attack off despite him becoming Venom. FAIL level 2.

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Ben Reilly 38 + Lunge 5
Forgot to wildcard to Mystics in the one early turn it mattered. He was the first KO in two incredible rolls of nine or better, not even causing feedback damage, practically costing me the rest of the match. FAIL level 3.

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Walter Kovacs 38 + Loner 5 + Infiltrate 2
Failed a breakaway roll to get Rorschach out of a deadly triple-team…having thoroughly forgotten that the Infiltrate feat made the roll unnecessary. (Worse still, the move I was trying to make would have saved Venom above at minimum by tying up a foe or two and blocking LOF.)  FAIL level 3.

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GF Hal Jordan 35

• As Green Lantern, crit-missed a final attack on a final-click Cypher. Technically only  FAIL level 1, but far more costly, especially when my better move may have been to try targeting Tarot.
• Trying to get him to the Vine to heal, boneheadedly moved him in range of Tarot’s Devil zone for automatic KO. FAIL level 3.

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BB Diana Prince 
Trying to get out of Tarot’s range, and not thinking far enough ahead at all, I moved her into the water…still well within Cypher’s Charge range. FAIL level 2.

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As you can see, it was not one of my better-played games. What really gets my goat is that making any one of those user errors dramatically affected the match, yet I made over a dozen of them.

But did I learn my lesson about running a weak team like this crowd of Alter Egos? Oh, nooooo. Apparently I hadn’t had enough. See next week for what happened then…