I’d fielded pre-built Guardians of the Galaxy teams at the 800 and 1000-point levels, coming away with a successful tournament record. But with other players not quite ready to leave that Saturday evening, we played on in a three-way “shock the turtle” (in which the map’s playable zone shrinks with each turn, forcing characters toward the center or take a click of damage) battle royale, me with still another Guardians of the Galaxy team:
Star-Lord 90
V Major Victory 84
Rocket Raccoon 65
Bug 44
+ Guardians of the Galaxy ATA 16
V Major Victory 84
Rocket Raccoon 65
Bug 44
+ Guardians of the Galaxy ATA 16
= 299 points of unOutwittable themey goodness.
Paul and Lenny fielded, respectively, Robots and Martial Artists**:
Skull-Brother 75
Ahab 68
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Ahab 68
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
Phalanx Soldier 31
and
Daredevil (Hammer of Thor) 81 + Stunning Blow 10
Batman (Justice League) 75 + In Contact With Oracle 10
Robin (Arkham Asylum) 66 + In Contact With Oracle 10
Hand Ninja (Hammer of Thor) 38
Batman (Justice League) 75 + In Contact With Oracle 10
Robin (Arkham Asylum) 66 + In Contact With Oracle 10
Hand Ninja (Hammer of Thor) 38
(We had a fourth player but he had to leave before we completed the 2nd round of turns.)
I won map roll and picked the Smallville map, starting on the building-heavy side. I did all right at first, Force Blasting a Hand Ninja into the open. But my Bug basing Daredevil got Stunning Blown into the activated shock barrier and I badly mis-moved Major Victory into the barrier to lose Impervious without ever taking an attack.
Meanwhile, Star-Lord was doing a bit better, taking shots at Skull-Brother and Ahab. Rocket Raccoon also scored a crithit off a building on Daredevil, that was sadly nullified by a themed team Probability Control**. (I thoroughly forgot to use any of my theme PCs.) The Major fell to the shock barriers after defending against encroaching Phalanx; Star-Lord, to Batman’s fire. Soon, only Rocket Raccoon was left among DD, some Phalanx, Skull-Bro and Batman. Only DD and RR were left when the entire field was electrified, and DD had the longer dial for the win.
This was a fun but disappointing game for me. Three extreme, game-shattering lapses on my part — the Major Victory self-damage, the illegal theme team I didn’t catch (I’m usually good at that), and my ignorance of my own theme PC — led to my defeat.
**Of course, it WASN’T a themed team. That Batman lacks the Martial Artist keyword. Even after checking to see if Robin had it, we all missed this one.
Then, Lenny and I stayed late to play another game. I ran some unused pieces: Destroyer, Seth + Protected, Volstagg and Thor, Frog of Thunder. Which would appear to go against the theme of this series, except that Lenny played:
Phyla-Vell 138
Star-Lord 90 + Contingency Plan 12
Gamora 73 + Protected 8
V Mantis 67 + Alias 3
Rocket Raccoon 65
Bug 44
Star-Lord 90 + Contingency Plan 12
Gamora 73 + Protected 8
V Mantis 67 + Alias 3
Rocket Raccoon 65
Bug 44
for 500 points of more Guardians of the Galaxy goodness! I wasn’t mad at ‘im. 
We played on the Days of Future Past map, a good one to play the Opened Hydrant in, giving Frog of Thunder excellent cover and thoroughly blunting the threat of a Charging Gamora. Too bad I put Volstagg just outside the water, giving Gamora an easy shot at him. Destroyer managed to beat her to her late dial but Gamora lived on. Frog got Star-Lord, Bug and Mantis, Seth got Rocket, but a Hypersonic Phyla-Vell with an Outwitting Gamora couldn’t be stopped in the end. Frog and then Seth fell.
Those were Saturday night’s GotG battles, and my record now stood at 5-4. One more tournament, on the following Sunday afternoon. Would my planned 300-point team maintain the winning record or flop badly? Watch this web address…
1 comment