Some years ago, I got these two posters and decided to build two then-Modern Age HeroClix teams to match — one for me to play and my friend Lenny, the other.

It was a monstrosity of a game, with the build totals topping 2000. Avengers took it because it was a themed team with JUST ENOUGH theme probs to make a crippling alpha strike miss while the Justice League — not quite themed due to the lack of the keyword on Hawkgirl — lacked the rerolls needed. Lenny never quite recovered.

Much later, I looked at the much-lower average point cost of these characters and wondered: How cheaply I could build both 12-person squads — and, this time, ensure that BOTH were themed?

The answer: 800 points.

EARTH’S MIGHTIEST HEROES: The Avengers

Vision [Avengers Defenders War 006] 50

Thor [Avengers Infinity 025] 100

Nick Fury [Avengers Age of Ultron] 45

Black Widow [Avengers Black Panther Illuminati 013a] 35

Captain America [Avengers Defenders War 011] 50

War Machine [Captain America: Civil War 004] 105

Falcon [WizKids M17-007] 50

Hulk [WizKids F18-001] 100

Captain Marvel [The Mighty Thor 036] 95

Hawkeye [Avengers Infinity 004] 50

Iron Man [Avengers Infinity 001] 60

Black Panther [Avengers Infinity 002] 60

=800 points

The Justice League: WORLD’S GREATEST HEROES

Green Lantern [Elseworlds 004] 55

Wonder Woman [DC Rebirth Fast Forces] @ 50

Green Arrow [WizKids D16-004] 85

The Flash [DC Rebirth Fast Forces] @ 50

Superman [Batman The Animated Series 036] 100

Cyborg [DC Rebirth Fast Forces] @ 50

Hawkgirl [Batman The Animated Series 073] @ 50

Batman [Batman The Animated Series 040] @ 60

Supergirl [Superman 010] @ 100

Aquaman [DC Rebirth Fast Forces] @ 50

Billy Batson [DC Rebirth ] @ 40

Martian Manhunter [DC 10th Anniversary] @ 100

= 790 points

I gave Lenny the choice of which team to play: He chose Justice League and won map, selecting Regenesis Month 2. due to water for Aquaman and plenty of wide spaces for shooters.

TURNING POINTS

From the get go, Len split his team, with an advance squad behind blocking and the rest closer to home. He didn’t anticipate War Machine’s range being Perplexed to 9 for first shot on Cyborg. From there, Len kinda wasted actions moving the advance squad back to the core.

But he got a great attack off with Green Arrow to likely cripple War Machine — one that backfired because of A) my TTPC and B) his advancing too far with GA out of range of HIS potential theme probbers. Especially when the final roll was a 2. OUCH!

In fact, although he likes to blame his poor dice and my less-untimely misses compared to my hits, his eventual loss was due as much to misplays galore.

• He didn’t use Batman’s Batarang, due to the attack’s low damage. But a free attack is a free attack.
• He overlooked Superman’s Justice League Unlimited trait and his Leadership the entire game.
• Similarly, he overlooked the bonuses Wonder Woman and Aquaman give each other (though in fairness, the timing to use them is tricky).
• What isn’t tricky is the FREE attack Aquaman gets when he’s dropped in water. I know Len sneered at the low damage, but…
• He kept ignoring Thor’s Call The Lightning SPECIAL squares, giving me way too many free strikes at him.
• He never used the Green Lantern TA to carry multiple figures — and completely overlooked his chance to give Green Arrow a chance at shooting after a carry.
• And speaking of GA, he was so focused on that big attack on War Machine that he ignored the archer’s 3 targets to possibly split that damage around — and, later, to Trick Arrow into a mass Energy Explosion.
• He took harder shots at higher defenses rather than considering attacking some lower DV targets — targets that I punished him with later.
• He had to contend with Hawkgirl’s Occasional Weakness multiple times due to mistimed attacks, even when he had easy ability to lead with her.

I wasn’t without my own failings, though.

• I left War Machine open to that shot, trusting too much in his Impervious.
• I wandered Panther to elevated, forgetting Supergirl’s anti-Stealth Running Shot
• I simply could not finish Hawkgirl, who eventually KO’d Hulk — even with the DV bonus
• I completely forgot Panther’s FREE Charge after a KO and the mistake nearly swung the momentum against me

But here’s the kicker: After my win (with both Caps, Vision, Nick, Widow, Falcon, Hawkeye, and Iron Man left standing), we played a second, shorter game on the Ha-Ha-Hacienda (my choice). He opted to use the JL again. And he made the majority of the above mistakes AGAIN (though racking up a lot more KOs this time so only the Caps, Hawkeye, Widow, Vision and Panther remained).

He’s not really this bad a player. This was a case of a team — both these teams, really — playing more to my style as a player than his. Lenny likes powerful, high-damage strikes to establish a commanding lead and is incredibly frustrated when they don’t land. I’m a more technical player who doesn’t mind taking small shots at a time and using even my misses to my advantage, but I’m constantly challenged to score enough points down the stretch. And then there’s my tendency to snowball small fielder’s choice “errors” into full-blown losses.

Anyway, he’s been keeping score, apparently, between these big matches. Next is a fight between his Inhumans and my Guardians of the Galaxy — the latter being an old favorite theme that Lenny is largely responsible for introducing me to. The Inhumans have gotten a LOT of new juice lately, while GOTG has waned a bit. Heroclixin’ will report how that game goes whenever we get a chance to play it.