The last time I ran this comic-accurate team of the underage progeny of supervillain parents, I found them to be weak yet better than expected, sporting a lot of surprising tricks and mobility but lacking in offensive ability.

Now, with Web of Spider-Man, original members Chase Stein, Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes and Nico Minoru have a new friend in Victor Mancha, another teen “born” to a supervillain.

Victor Mancha 96
Nico Minoru 84
Karolina Dean 55
Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace 54
Chase Stein 45
Molly Hayes 43

= 377 points. Enough room for feats or the Runaways ATA (at 3 points per Runaway keyword).

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TOURNEY ONE: All characters must have the Kid of Teen keyword. No feats or BFCs.

Basically, this was identical to my “EAT IT, GRANDPA” scenario in the newest section of the site. Perfect time for this build:

SECOND and final round, I faced Conrad’s Nico, Firestorm (Justice League), Wiccan, Spider-Girl, Robin (“Emo” Crisis vet) and Vet Spider-Man (Ultimates).

The kid still plays recklessly even after a couple of years. (His math wasn’t so good this time, either.) He jumped Robin to a rooftop to counter Karolina’s Energy Shield/Deflection without making sure he’d stay Stealthed. The landed hit wasn’t worth it when Vic knocked Robin off the roof for 5 total damage. From there I used my superior rules knowledge to thoroughly pounce on every mistake he made.

Conrad actually got a little rules-lawyery when I forgot to declare Chase Stein’s Close Combat Expert. But hey, he’s keeping me honest, and if it helps him play better, I’m for it.

End result: I KO’d all but Firestorm and lost only Karolina and Gert & Old Lace. As winner, I got  LE Daken.

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TOURNEY 2: 400 points, Modern Age.

I used the same team in this casual home game.

FIRST ROUND I faced Andy, using Iron Man/War Machine, Peter Parker, Ben Reilly and a Nurse on my chosen Prison map.

Key moments:

• As I hunkered down in a hallway, Andy made a crucial misstep in using his Kinetic Accelerator. He got a high enough roll to make a Running Shot attack on my Victor Mancha, but none of us saw it until well after his move action was made. (And, in any case, he should’ve declared the Running Shot power action from the start anyway, according to the rules of this special object — which he’s only started using because I use it all. The. TIME 😉 )
• Vic’s counterattack on the big duo was a critical miss. Two moves later, I realized I could have used the first of my three themed-team Probability Controls to reroll the attack. Ugh.
• But that was a blessing in disguise as it left Chase free to run the team away from IM/WM without pushing.
• Between IM/WM’s frequent misses and Psychic Blasts/Outwits from Vic and Nico, the Runaways, er…ran away with a surprise victory, KOing the 300-point duo and Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider while losing only Molly and Gert & Old Lace.

THEN I faced the host Thomas and his Cosmic Spider-Man, Batgirl (Arkham Asylum) and Checkmate Knight (white) on my choice of the Arena map.

Unable to target any of the opposing figures (due to their Batman Ally-granted Stealth) and with Cosmic Spidey able to, via his HSS and his never-blocked Line of Fire trait, attack my pieces at will, I spent much of the game cowering my team in one of the corners. Though I eventually got the  Checkmate Knight, my whole team was slowly wiped out in the least fun game I’ve ever played against a non-colossal character.

(Digressional rant: Cosmic Spider-Man is a point-and-click character…as in, “point it at your opponent’s characters and click their dials.” It takes no actual strategy to play him effectively. Heaven forbid you actually do use strategy when playing him, like Thomas did in this team build and game. Extreme HSS, 10 range, Power Cosmic, perma-Line of Fire AND a wild card? Really? In good conscience, I can never give fellowship to a player who uses him unless they’re using him against a powerful colossal figure.

Piece-by-piece:

Chase doesn’t have the sexy AV or DV, but he’s such a key to this team it’s not even funny. His ability to carry the team in and out of trouble was invaluable in the first games (even if I didn’t use it so well a couple of times). It’s telling that he was the first target of the CSM team.

Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace were useless except for taking theme PCs and occasionally forcing drive-by damage with their AV SP; in both tourneys they were KO’d in a single round of attacks. I need to either use them to plug up Hypersonic Speedster lanes on indoor maps or hurl them at foes to using Nico’s occasional TK after Vic’s softened a target up for the Runaways ATA.

Karolina was little else but an attack magnet and damage sponge. But that’s OK now that she’s not the only shooter or natural 10 AV on the team.

Molly was hobbled by her Super Strength forcing me to choose between her doing extra damage with an object or being taxied. More often she served as the best tie-up piece on the team.

As Nico lives or dies, so too does the team. That’s how it used to be, anyway, before Victor Mancha, a true attacker for the team who combines elements the others only provided piecemeal before: double-digit AV and Running Shot for a ranged threat (Dean), good damage (Molly) and a way to deal with Invulnerability-plus (both Molly and Nico, sometimes), strong defenses (Molly), taxi skills (Chase, Dean), and via his Indomitabilty, extra actions (Nico). His being able to press the attack or hasten the retreat makes the rest of the team better as well.

I want to play a Golden Age version of the team with Feats and Battlefield Conditions. Contingency Plan is a given on Nico to boost stats as needed. Armor Piercing, while good with Gert & Old Lace’s auto-damage “Arsenic” SP, might be too many points to put on this inefficient duo. Instead, Gert’s BF Chase can get excellent use from Lunge to give him move+attack ability in addition to taxiing pals. The 5-point Yellow Lantern is probably still the best use of the remaining 6 points to help Vic land his all-important Running Shots. With no team abilities, both the Alpha Strike and Disbanded BFCs work well on this build.