At last, that 900-point Golden Age opportunity to run this team came about.

Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 055) 145 + Not So Special 3
Valkyrie (Fear Itself 005) 130 + Contingency Plan 12
Mirage (Wolverine and The X-Men 004) 75
Valkyrie (Sinister 048) 71 + Not So Special 3
Brunnhilde (Sinister 204) 69  + Not So Special 3
Valkyrie (Sinister 047) 60
Samantha Parrington (Hammer of Thor 101) 55
Mirage (Fantastic Forces 007) 55
Valkyrie (Sinister 046) 44
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38 + Invigorate 10
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38
+Book of the Skull 27
+ Defenders ATA 24

=900 points.

FIRST it faced a team full of Halo, Gears of War and Bioshock figs on the Bioshock starter map. Squeaked out a win by KOing Dominic Santiago before my opponent could lay into my bunched-up team with grenades. 1-0.

NEXT, I was against an Avengers team of a pair of Iron Men, Dr. Druid, Scarlet Witch and the Fear Itself versions of Wolverine and Black Widow. This team was optimized to abuse the hell out of the Book of the Skull. But my zero-point loss was mainly due to a colossal mental CRIT FAIL: Me completely forgetting to use the Defenders ATA that I’d built the team to use in the first place. It was the difference between a hit on Wolverine that would’ve crippled him and the actual miss that allowed him to use the penetrating Poison and Exploit Weakness and B/C/F that KO’d the top Valkyries in one short turn. UGH! 1-1

FINAL game was against an overmatched team of LOTR figs. Even here, I barely managed to eke out enough victory points to win.

RECORD: 2-1. But I didn’t even clear 200 points on the day.

This team performed well below expectations. What went wrong:

• I couldn’t figure how to use the generic Valkyries well enough. Taxis or medics? I should have run them just behind the fighters, then pushed them to evac the wounded for healing.
• I had a plan for Mirage, then I did totally the opposite. She was to be a lead shooter and Shape Changing/Camouflaged bait. Instead, she was always in the back, stuck with bad LOF. I needed to cart her to the front with a teammate and let her Sidestep into action from there.
• Forgetting that Defenders ATA. Not only on the big attack but on the small ones, too. More than once, I opted not to make attacks due to low AV when I shouldn’t have worried. Speaking of attack values…
• Not So Special on the wrong character. It needed to be on moving attackers like either R or E Valkyrie from Sinister or R Mirage instead of on Brunnhilde, who barely ever made an attack and could benefit from the ATA anyway.
• The hammers slowed down an already slow force. Without Willpower, it almost doesn’t seem to be worth the effort to equip. I think I may have been better served by fielding one more generic Valkyrie for more taxi/medic action.
• This mostly melee force’s need for cover kept the ladies from truly swarming their targets, which was a real problem down the line. Once the enemy was actually in Charging range, there were no squares left to Charge to!

Future builds will likely not open the Book. Instead, Mirage will have Camouflage again and there’ll be that fourth generic Valkyrie. Rookie Val will be gone. Contingency Plan may well be doubled up at the expense of Not So Special.

THE VALKYRIES WILL RIDE AGAIN!!!!!!