Sceritz and I frequently meet for games the way me and Lenny have on multiple occasions. This time I suggested that we play our Top Ten Favorite lists against each other’s.
Cyclops [Uncanny X-Men 033] 85
Frog-Man [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 048] 35
Batman [Batman and His Greatest Foes Fast Forces 001] 75
Luke Cage [Civil War Storyline 011] 70
Alloy [World’s Finest 058] 300*
Spider-Punk [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 062] 75
Element Man [World’s Finest 040] 100
Goliath [Civil War Storyline 029] 90
Jakeem Thunder [Joker’s Wild 053b] 140
Grace [Joker’s Wild 031] 125
=1095 points
vs.
Iceman [Uncanny X-Men 051] 110
Spider-Man [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 049] 100
Rogue [Uncanny X-Men 052] 150
Mary Marvel [World’s Finest 041] 150
X-23 [Uncanny X-Men 037] 100
Mephisto [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 046] 130
Beast [Uncanny X-Men 050] 100
Wonder Woman [Batman V Superman 003] 105
She-Hulk [WizKids M16-005] 115
Spider-Gwen [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 052] 95
= 1155 points
To even the points exactly, I added an alternate favorite I considered for my top ten: Patriot [Civil War Storyline 021]. 60 points exactly made both our teams 1155 points.
Sceritz got map choice and selected Jean Grey Institute Indoors. He huddled his force in the room next to the stairs, forgetting that Element Man can get TK, thus giving me first shot with Jakeem.
I took it.
Landed a double-target shot on both Beast and Mary Marvel, dealing 2 to each.
That’s where I lost the game. RIGHT THERE.
It wasn’t that I overextended with Jakeem, because I had a nice backup maneuver to bounce him behind a wall of other figures. Especially after I chose Plasticity with him next turn to prevent the still-dangerous Mary Marvel from any of her Hypersonic attacks.
It wasn’t even that I didn’t move Alloy up far enough, allowing Mephisto to shift the big robot aside just enough to allow X-23 to get a crippling strike on Jakeem.
It wasn’t even lost when Iceman froze Jakeem long enough for me to lose that lead attacker in short order.
No, it was lost when Alloy got Outwitted and KOed in a single turn a few rounds later.
It was when Cyclops got Outwitted and crit-hit off the map.
It was when Spider-Punk got his Senses countered and died in a single turn after making his sole attack.
It was when Bats and Goliath both couldn’t land a hit on a 17 DV Combat Reflexes and no one with range could land a shot on the bare 17.
It was when Batman got his Reflexes countered to finally take a hit.
It was when Element Man got Poisoned to death after his defense got nullified by Outwit.
It was when Luke Cage and Goliath and Grace all got countered and killed.
Sceritz had one source of Outwit and it was Beast and he DID ALL THAT STUFF IN BLUE
It was a classic game of Avalanche FAIL for me: where a very small decision, not even a mistake, snowballs into a seemingly inexorable loss.
If I’d known dealing Beast just two damage instead of all four was going to cost me all the above, I’d have made a very different decision. And because of this game, I always will.
———–
It wasn’t all bad. Frog-Man scored his first KO by bouncing Spider-Gwen into a wall and tokening almost the entire remaining force.
And the whole game was great fun. A chance for us to play forces full of figures we love?
* Sharp readers with a memory for point values may have noted that I misremembered Alloy’s full cost as 300 instead of its actual 275. So I was running at a 25-point deficit despite the addition of Patriot. Knowing I had 85 points to work with instead of 60, perhaps I would have chosen No. 4 F.U.N. fig Crazy Jane [World’s Finest 019] at 75 points. Even better, because I could build to the point total exactly, No. 1 F.U.N. fig Stilt-Man [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 013] with 5 additional Leg Extensions would have been viable.