The Fish(men) Fight Back!!!

The Fish(men) Fight Back!!! AGAIN!!!!!

A few years back, I did a far-too-long article reviewing all characters with the Atlantis keyword. This series is a needed update.

For example, the old article opens with a list of the problems an Atlantis team has: the weakness of the Swim ability on maps with little to no water, the dearth of supporting powers and a total lack of long range.

But a number of these weaknesses have been addressed in the past 2.5 years: Most dolphin Speed characters get water-based bonuses and there is more water terrain on maps — or ways to get it — than ever, the amount of “pit crew” powers has at least doubled and range values in the general game have been lowered even as the number of ranged Atlantis figures has grown.

Finally, Heroclixin’ is splitting up this update into much smaller slices and spreading them out a bit.

ATLANTIS BASICS
There are some things a F.U.N. ‘clixer needs to consider when running the fishmen.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

MAPS
Because it’s a named keyword, Atlantis has a good shot at map choice. So make sure you have some Watery maps. Many of these characters’ powers depend upon water.

Many maps offer some water, but the trouble with most is that the water is either so minimal (see, for example, the Graveyard [The Brave and the Bold]), remotely placed (as in The Lab (Armor Wars)) or both (re: the Axis Chemical Plant [Icons], the Training Complex and Institute Grounds [both Danger Room], The Crater [Brightest Day]) as to be tactically useless, or the water is so central that it becomes a fish-in-a-barrel shoot for elevated snipers and Hypersonic hit-and-runners (Centennial Park Zoo [Icons]).

MODERN AGE

  • Killer Croc’s Lair (Streets of Gotham) has a healthy amount of water terrain, and much of it is behind walls so the swimmers won’t be completely vulnerable to ranged attacks.
  • Dock (No Man’s Land) is about 40% water. Use the post-cataclysm side for best blocking terrain cover.
  • Pacific Ocean (Fear Itself Month 5) is entirely water, and swimmers get a few extra movement bonuses on it. But beware: Objects on your force can’t be placed on this map!
  • Flooded Wakanda [Avengers Vs. X-Men Month 2] is mostly water, with land islands. These islands have walls that help shield the swimmers from lines of fire outside their retaliation zone, making this one of the best maps of all for Atlantis.

GOLDEN AGE

  • Aruna Temple (BPRD Action Pack), the original “water map.” While it’s gold for Atlantis teams, it’s also very open, offering excellent lines of fire for long-ranged shooters. Swim with care.
  • The Dockyard (Starro Attacks) and The Bridge (Web of Spider-Man) are even worse in this regard, with every square of their copious water terrain visible from multiple elevated zones.
  • The Dawn of Time (Crisis) has a large river running through it (and if you play its Time Zones, the Kooey Kooey Kooey and Camelot zones offer a lot and a little water, respectively). There’s a lot of hindering terrain to deal with, though.

But, of course, many maps have no water at all. There are some ways around this limitation, at least in Golden Age games.

SPECIAL OBJECTS

  • Atlantis Rising. Save this Battlefield Condition for that eventuality and hope your opponent doesn’t have his themed-team ignore function to spend. But even if you’re not able to use this card, all is not lost.
  • The Opened Hydrant special object gives you as much as 3 x 3 squares of water on any map. Place it carefully! Indoor maps are best, as the water effect isn’t blocked by walls. Note that it only works on clear grounded terrain.
  • Bucket of Water. This light special grants a single square of portable water terrain. Super Strength’s ability to drop objects make it even more usable.
  • The third object on your force needs to be either the Dumpster or the Generator — a 3D heavy object that’s not destroyed in an attack. Atlantis has a lot of Super Strength pieces, so it needs this to realize maximum damage potential.

A Golden Age Atlantis team is going to need feats. Here are the main two to look to.

  • Submerged. Moving through water is OK. Hiding in water is pretty awesome. On a Golden Age team, this 5-point feat should be present on multiple characters. Note that it won’t fit on Dolphin Transporters.
  • Rip It Up. Although it’s a double-edged sword that keeps you from picking up heavy items, it’s still a way to make certain this Super Strength-laden keyword always has extra damage and/or range attack! It’s also a way to get objects for use in the Pacific Ocean map.

In Modern Age, you’ll need to look to the Atlantis ATA, which gives characters a +1 DV bonus against ranged attacks while in water. This stacks with the hindering bonus, too. But note that depending on who else is on the team, you may wish to use a different ATA to boost those characters instead of this comparatively weak ability.

The Matter Rearranger ring and its attendant resource, the Power Plant, from Invincible Iron Man is the relic of choice for the Atlantis keyword, giving Modern Age teams a way of getting — one square at a time — water terrain even on maps that have none.

Enough basics. In future installments, Heroclixin’ reviews the characters by point cost: Under 50, 51-100 and so on. We’ll also recommend cards to help maximize each piece. Stay tuned.


Welcome again to heroclixin’s photographic record of Super Strength figs that can physically hold object tokens on their sculpts somehow. Today’s subject is one from my new phone:

QwardROX

 

The Weaponer of Qward [War of Light] has a tenuous hold, leaning the token on his hammer and shield as shown.

More pix from Deadpool are trapped on my old cellphone, perhaps forever. Heroclixin’ may have to find a workaround, as zombie Juggernaut photo ops are few and far between.

MTUBox

Finally, the retirement list is official, with the following sets rotating to Golden Age in July:

  • JUSTICE LEAGUE New 52 and its Fast Forces set
  • CHAOS WAR and its Fast Forces
  • DARK KNIGHT RISES and its starter set
  • GIANT-SIZED X-MEN FAST FORCES
  • WAR OF LIGHT Fast Forces
  • AVENGERS MOVIE and the starter set
  • GALACTIC GUARDIANS and the ANNIHILATORS Fast Forces
  • INCREDIBLE HULK and Fast Forces
  • SUPERMAN and its Fast Forces
  • INFINITY GAUNTLET OP set

 

And now Heroclixin’ laments the 10 figs we’re sorry we didn’t play more

 

Superman [Justice League New 52 001]

This Superman released in late August 2012 was a refreshing change from the point-and-click common one from a year earlier, in that it really plays more like a Superman should. It was also a new costumed variety for my “Kal’s Closet — What The Well-Dressed Superman Is Wearing This Season” collection of all the Superman outfits. But it was overshadowed by the identical-looking 125-point Fast Forces one and by later Supermen with costs less awkward than its 204.

 

Ant-Man & Wasp [Chaos War]

At 168 points, this Tiny Size duo … really … WASN’T so tiny-sized. And so they rarely made it onto teams. Then came this new power called Precision Strike, which drastically cuts into their effectiveness since most of their worth is based on attack evasion. So it feels as though their time has come and gone, like bugs in the wintertime. Except that now it’s summer.

 

Gabe Jones [Avengers Movie]

His SP granting him the equivalent of the Grenade trait ability looked great, especially for his inexpensive 45 points. His trait, though, sort of required him to be played with a Captain America to get the most out of him, and he was constantly being squeezed off teams for flashier figs. Plus, his keywords were a bit limiting.

 

Agent Coulson [Avengers Movie]

His ability to effectively be untargetable by costly enemy tentpoles looked meta-worthy, and his being a Perplex piece helped his cause a lot as well. So what happened? Why didn’t Coulson get run like every month or so? Heroclixin’ thinks it was the SHIELD keyword that did him in — there just weren’t enough favorites in the theme to build teams for Coulson to join. And by the time there were, there were better choices.

 

Mr. Sinister [Chaos War]

Such a great ability to turn X-Men and Brotherhood of Mutants into themed teams of Marauders was undermined by A) His appropriately high 225 cost and B) the existence of characters that Heroclixin’ prefers that don’t fit the keyword/team ability requirements for the arch villain’s trait or who mess up the points.

 

Speed [Chaos War]

As happy as Heroclixin’ was to see the Young Avengers team completed at last with this fig’s release, we’re not sure we ever actually saw said figure on the field outside of sealed events. We certainly haven’t run the Young Avengers in years, because those characters and dials, never very good to begin with, have aged HORRIBLY. So it’s no surprise that Speed was little played in Modern Age. Not certain Golden will be much kinder…

 

Swamp Thing [Superman]

On paper, his ability to warp through and Poison from printed hindering looked like so much effective fun. On the actual paper of a MAP, it worked out a lot less well thanks to a lot of hindering-light fields and his total lack of moving attack powers and a surprisingly soft defense for a nearly 150-point character. A tentpole he’s not. And yet, Heroclixin’ wishes he’d seen the field more in Modern Age.

 

Crystal [Chaos War]

Despite being one of Heroclixin’s Top Ten faves of 2012, Crystal almost never got played. Perhaps it was because we don’t care much for Inhumans. Maybe it was due to her slightly less-efficient cost of 105 — why play her when one more point gets you CW Hawkeye with Thunderbolts ATA? Or maybe it’s ’cause she’s a ginger. Whatever the reason, she remained on the shelf a lot more than I ever intended. A LOT MORE

 

Lyra [Incredible Hulk]

Oh, for some Willpower to make this fig work, because she does not push well at ALL. That’s why I almost never played her, but I always WANTED to anyway. Sure, I know I could give her a Resource to overcome her weaknesses, but Heroclixin’ has always found that distasteful.

———

So much retirement, then. It’s nice to see the broken garbage rotate out and sad to see some standbys meet restrictions. Keeps the game fresh, I think. And there’s always the mercurial “Silver Age” that welcomes all figs.

Finally, the retirement list is official, with the following sets rotating to Golden Age in July:

  • JUSTICE LEAGUE New 52 and its Fast Forces set
  • CHAOS WAR and its Fast Forces
  • DARK KNIGHT RISES and its starter set
  • GIANT-SIZED X-MEN FAST FORCES
  • WAR OF LIGHT Fast Forces
  • AVENGERS MOVIE and the starter set
  • GALACTIC GUARDIANS and the ANNIHILATORS Fast Forces
  • INCREDIBLE HULK and Fast Forces
  • SUPERMAN and its Fast Forces
  • INFINITY GAUNTLET OP set

——

Today, Heroclixin’ lists:

  • The 10 (or more) we’re really GLAD to see go

 

Sharon Carter (Chaos War)

Yes, she was on the “We’ll Miss Her” list. But that’s because she was on a Comic Accurate™ Secret Avengers First Lineup team. We will NOT miss her giving Stealth to non-Avenger “Avengers” like Sentry & Void.

 

Hulk (Incredible Hulk 001)

“Hulk the WEAKEST one there is!” Honestly, this was one of the biggest Hulk letdowns in a game history FILLED with them. Aside from his decent Alter Ego start click, there was no reason to play this Hulk, ever. And since said alter ego Bruce Banner is completely unplayable himself (one starting Outwit with 4-range Energy Explosion for 55 points? No thanks), there really is no reason to play this Hulk.

Ever.

 

Lt. Gordon (Dark Knight Rises)

Oh, the shenanigans made possible with this poorly balanced piece. Here’s what Heroclixin’ wrote about him back in 2012: “To be both character-accurate and game-balanced, [his “Get These Men Into Position!” SP] should’ve been limited to less-expensive Police-keyworded characters.” BATMAN DON’T TAKE ORDERS FROM GORDON.

 

Enchantress (New 52)

#$%#@% you and and your stupid reversed keywords.

 

Superman (Superman 001)

The point-and-click piece for the masses, his time has come and now gone for good…BYE

 

Astral Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians)

These little guys didn’t seem so bad at the time, being essentially conduits for a less-effective version of GSX Professor X. But a lot of shenanigans have entered the game since Galactic Guardians, and the Astrals exploit a lot of it. Time for them to dissipate into the ether.

 

Scarlet Witch (Chaos War)

Got real weary of seeing this chick on every competitive team for the past two years. Making such an ultimate support piece a non-Unique fig in a Fast Forces wasn’t a super move. HEX HER AWAY NOW

 

Mole Man (Galactic Guardians)

Friendly Mind Control. Who knew it could get this bad? Another fig that needed to be Unique. It’s pieces like this one that make Heroclixin’ call for a standard counter to free actions — an Incapacitate update. 

 

Thanos (Galactic Guardians 049)

The ultimate cowardly douchebag piece. “Hey, I get a Turn 2 Alpha Strike AND a killbox in one fell swoop? YES I AM TEH MOST L33T PWNZR IN HEROCLIX”

Go away forever.

___

And these two weren’t figures, but deserve the dishonor of mention today:

Gamma Bomb (Incredible Hulk)

The turtle/killboxer’s dream object, despite its utility against turtles. “I will sit just outside the blast area and laugh at your attempts to defuse the bomb and shoot at you when you try.”

Infinity Gauntlet

We hated you then, Anti-Love Glove. And even though you’re downright balanced now, we still hate you. If only because of what you spawned.

Actually, no. We hate you on basic principle

 

 

MTUBox

Finally, the retirement list is official, with the following sets rotating to Golden Age in July:

  • JUSTICE LEAGUE New 52 and its Fast Forces set
  • CHAOS WAR and its Fast Forces
  • DARK KNIGHT RISES and its starter set
  • GIANT-SIZED X-MEN FAST FORCES
  • WAR OF LIGHT Fast Forces
  • AVENGERS MOVIE and the starter set
  • GALACTIC GUARDIANS and the ANNIHILATORS Fast Forces
  • INCREDIBLE HULK and Fast Forces
  • SUPERMAN and its Fast Forces
  • INFINITY GAUNTLET OP set

——

Heroclixin’ devotes this post to:

  • The 10 figures we’re really sad to see go

 

AIM Agent/AIM Renegade (Incredible Hulk 003 and 017)

The beekeeper-looking terrorists were great cheap fillers for Scientist teams. I guess they’ve got replacements in, say, the Weapon X Scientist pieces from Deadpool set. But the A.I.M. keyword will miss its rank and file for a while in the Modern Age.

 

Lex Luthor (SUPERMAN: Battle for Smallville)

A Top Ten favorite from 2011 (sorta in a late kinda way), this 50-pointer was my Lex of choice before the game brought us suitably battle-suited — and far more expensive — versions in DC 10th and SLOSH.

 

Hulk (Avengers Movie 202)

The first truly great Hulk piece goes the way of the dinosaur. Thankfully, there’s the Worldbreaker to give Hulk fans a Modern option. But we’ll never forget your smashing ways, movie Hulk!

 

Lobo (Superman)

Sure, there’s Lil’ Lobo in rotation for another year, but that kid’s a pale imitation of the Main Man. We’ll miss this top-rate rendition of the intergalactic bounty hunter — and his little dog, too.

 

Miranda Tate (Dark Knight Rises)

A Top Ten favorite from 2012, she was only occasionally played but remains a lock on my non-costumed “plainclothes” teams. Really sad that Marion Cotillard is relegated to Golden Age games now, where she’s liable to be crowded off said teams by the mighty Crispus Allen, who’s king of the plainclothes team.

 

Sharon Carter (Chaos War)

She’s a lock on the Secret Avengers first lineup team and now, like her beau Steve Rogers (Captain America 031), is gone to the retirement home.

 

Sun Boy (Superman)

As noted in Heroclixin’s F.U.N. Focus on the Legion of Super-Heroes, Dirk here filled a crucial need for the team: that of a mobile, affordable ranged attacker. Even after the huge infusion of goodness for the team in its own set, Sun Boy was STILL the best available. Now, this sun is setting. And we’re sad.

 

Nova Prime (Galactic Guardians)

This actually goes for all the Nova Corps making its exit…just before it was to get some new blood in the new kid Nova making his debut in Guardians of the Galaxy. They just hatin’ on Richard Rider some more. :)

 

Giant-Man (Chaos War)

One of that year’s Top Ten favorites, this small step for WizKids is a giant loss for Heroclixin’.

 

Mera (Justice League New 52)

Atlantis’ source of much-needed TK mobility just dried up in Modern Age, right when the team finally looked to become somewhat competitive. They’re so scared of the fish men invading the surface again!

——

It’s not ALL gloom, though. Be here next time for Heroclixin’s 10 figs and stuff we can’t wait to get the [expletive] out our LIFE

MTUBox

Finally, the retirement list is official, with the following sets rotating to Golden Age in July:

  • JUSTICE LEAGUE New 52 and its Fast Forces set
  • CHAOS WAR and its Fast Forces
  • DARK KNIGHT RISES and its starter set
  • GIANT-SIZED X-MEN FAST FORCES
  • WAR OF LIGHT Fast Forces
  • AVENGERS MOVIE and the starter set
  • GALACTIC GUARDIANS and the ANNIHILATORS Fast Forces
  • INCREDIBLE HULK and Fast Forces
  • SUPERMAN and its Fast Forces
  • INFINITY GAUNTLET OP set

——

Surprisingly, it looks like certain Convention Exclusives were spared the axe this time around. Which is good, since none are terribly game-breaking and it takes forever to get one anyway.

Anyway, Heroclixin’ is going to devote the next few posts to:

  • The 10 figures we’re really sad to see go
  • The 10 we’re really GLAD to see go
  • and the 10 we’re sorry we didn’t play more

Keep an eye out!