My pulls:

Alexis
Ant-Man x 2
Yellowjacket x 2
Ultron-8 x 2
Black Knight
Ultron-5
Hercules
ID Cards Machine Man and Vision

No super rares like in my two previous events from Month One [Goliath and Quasar, respectively], but the ones in green were figs I didn’t have, at least.

I was initially torn between a Masters of Evil team of Ultron-5 with the two Yellowjackets, or an Avengers squad composed of Herc, Black Knight and Ant-Man at 50 points. I tend to lean toward pieces I’ve never run. But that’s a bad idea in actual competition.

Plus, I’ve been on a bit of a MoE kick anyway. So EVIL it was:

Ultron-5 [Age of Ultron 051a] 120
Yellowjacket [Age of Ultron 007] 85 x 2
+ Avengers Round Table with Hank Pym ID card

+ Sideline Ant-Man [Age of Ultron 003] @ 50 points

= 300 points

The idea was to shrink one of the ‘Jackets each turn and use the other to taxi both the others with Sidestep each turn until an attack could be made. All matches were prescribed by the judge to occur on the Thebes map, one with lots of blocking terrain but only tiny patches of hindering.

 

ROUND ONE vs. Bob’s Hercules @ 130 and Machine Man + Jocasta with Iron Man ID Card. A melee team that I could get first shot on, perhaps, but could utterly maul me once he got in close.

Turning Point

• I’m always surprised at ID Card call-ins, and this was no exception. Iron Man came in after I THOUGHT I had made myself safe after a failed alpha strike. Fortunately, he missed. Later, a timely Shape Change saved Yellowjacket again. Unable to finish either Machine Man or Herc, I won by an ID card’s breadth. 1-0.

 

ROUND TWO vs. Brandon’s Victor Manchas — one with Jocasta — and Monica Chang, plus ID cards for Iron Man and Wasp. The TK was going to be a problem, as was Monica, the best fire support piece in the set.

Turning Point

• After a long period of cat and mouse [or, as Brandon put it, cat and cat!], he got to me with an ID card call-in Charge with Iron Man when I thought I was safe. Why do I keep falling for this? The attack crit missed, though.
• I made a nearly game-killing fumble near the end when I Sidestepped and shot with the wrong Yellowjacket, stranding my team in range of two Pulse Wavers. Luckily, the attacks failed long enough for time to be called, leading to an unlikely 2-0 record with just 15 total victory points scored from ID cards.

ROUND THREE vs. Morrison’s Black Panther, Alexis and Yellowjacket. This was a tough matchup; Thebes is full of blocking terrain, which Black Panther can use to block lines of fire drawn to him via his special power and Sidestep when he’s adjacent. I wouldn’t be able to shoot him at all, likely.

Turning Points

• I stayed way away, respectful of Black Panther’s 7-square Charge swing. Morrison flew BP next to a single square of blocking, ready to Charge me next turn knowing I had nowhere to run with my Sidestep shuffle. But in reality, I had him right where I wanted him. Perplexing one YJ’s damage, she Sidestepped and shot out the square of blocking, exposing Panther. I then got a shot on him with the other ‘Jacket.
• But it was only one damage after his traited Toughness. And he got a Leadership roll, freeing his Yellowjacket to double-team mine for a 1-2 KO shot. Thus I suddenly went from scoring first blood to dropping into a deep 85-point hole with BP back in quasi-Stealth and the rest of the squad at full health. Already backed toward my own corner, I took it to the limit and backed onto the elevated terrain. If Panther was going to press the attack, he’d have to do so without the cover of blocking or hindering.
• He did come and deal Ultron a hard blow. But he was now open to Sidestep pings from Yellowjacket, leading to the final Turning Point of the game: consecutive turns of Masters of Evil attacks while double-tokened to KO Panther. From there, it was a matter of taxiing Ultron away from a potential comeback counterattack from the remaining Yellowjacket until time was up. 3-0. And so I ended up, unexpectedly, in the final match.

ROUND FOUR vs. Charlie’s She-Hulk, Hank Pym and Wasp. 300 points of Outwit, Incap and massive melee damage on the way.

Turning Points

• It came before the match was even set: Charlie had just won a rolloff draw against a one man army of Ultron [055a] that I would have had nearly ZERO chance of winning against. So here, the odds were even.
• After a failed alpha strike on Pym, I retreated behind blocking, attempting to slow She-Hulk’s advance with Ultron’s Smoke Cloud. But Charlie closed on my team, countering the Smoke and forcing a fight. Things swung in my direction as all three characters were able to take shots on Pym and then She-Hulk due to the shrunken size of Yellowjacket and gaining Outwit as they took damage from attacks and pushing. Though it wound up being a wipe, I still lost a ‘Jacket and both my remaining figs were near dead.

But…4-0. After scoring only 15 points the first two rounds. Still can’t believe it! Makes up for Month One where I went a terribad 1-3. I’m now a close second in the standings.