As promised last time, here’s a look back at the first Iron Man-themed swarm I ever played.

DATE PLAYED: 2/16/08
POINT TOTAL: 800, 10% feats, no pogs

Tony Stark 150 + Alpha Flight 0 +Brilliant Tactician 20 +Protected 8
Hulkbuster 165
V AW Iron Man 172 + Alpha Flight 0
NGN Iron Man 160 + Alpha Flight 0
V War Machine 124

= 799 points. This was well before the 10% feat cap became an official rule. As such, it was good training for that eventuality!

First game was vs. Lee and his team of E Jade, R Gotham Undercover x2, E Metropolis SCU, E CD Green Lantern, Dream Girl, V Icons Raven, R Brainiac 5, E Jinx, Easy Co. Medic x2, JL Batman, R Huntress, V OR Booster Gold and Cosmic Boy in the Hulk Arena. This was a fairly easy match, since Lee didn’t meat-shield Jade when she carted a bunch of fig onto hindering, giving me a shot on her. With Vet Iron Man’s range boosted to 11, he could fire from beyond anyone’s Probability Control range. Subsequent shots on Green Lantern kept him running to medics and unable to mount a real offense. In the end, I was able to KO Jade, GL and Dream Girl without losing a suit. 1-0.

Lessons learned:

Range is king with this team. It would take me several more games to truly apply this knowledge, though.

Second match was against “Galactus” (I think) and his team of Green Scar, Maestro (both with Fortitude), Hulk (Avengers) and Rampaging Hulk. I played my just-traded-for Krakoa and boy did that screw me up. Not only did I thus deny myself the rooftops to snipe from and lose a huge tactical advantage, but I RunShot with Vet IM to blow up a Tombstone and unthinkingly placed him next to hindering, and his all-too-precious Outwit was soon gone. My 2nd great error was “using” Ramp.Hulk’s Squash to place an object to activate Krakoa next to giant Hulk 1) after the big guy already had two tokens and 2) where Green Scar could (and did) EASILY grab it and paste Hulkbuster one. Add that to the fact that too many of my attacks missed like Tony had decided to “fortify himself” with a bottle of rum before the fight and you end up with a crushing defeat…which is USUALLY how Hulk vs. Iron Man fights go!  I lost Vet Iron Man, War Machine and NGN Iron Man, only getting Ramp.Hulk in return. 1-1.

Lessons learned:

Never play a Battlefield Condition half-cocked. With a team of fliers that’s so range-dependent against a ground-pounding team that has NO range, it was a game-breaking decision to not be able to use the rooftops.

Hulkbuster is NOT the equal of Hulk in comics…OR ‘Clix! ‘Nuff said.

Finally, I faced “Thrash’s” Future theme of Time Trapper, Cosmic Boy+CP, Dream Girl, SR Flash, Lightning Lad, Phantom Girl, Ultra Boy, KC Hawkman and V Emerald Empress in the Arena. Again, it seemed that Tony was drunk and affecting the rest of his remote-controlled A.I.-driven suits. The Separation Field was too close to Phantom Girl, allowing Ultra Boy to land a big hit on NGN Iron Man. Lightning Lad then RS to ping my Vet off Outwit. But Hulkbuster, War Machine and Tony were still on full, so all was not lost…

…until Cos TK’d out V Empress for a single-target PW on Tony. She missed.

And missed.

And missed.

And missed.

And…missed.

And on his LAST theme-PC roll, she hit.

No longer able to boost my attack values to counterattack Stark’s drunken die rolls, I was at a serious disadvantage. But my worst mistake was a Running Shot by Hulkbuster to finish off Lightning Lad to avoid Time Trapper’s line-of-fire for PC…putting myself IN range of his Psychic Blast after the Lad was gone! Bye-bye Impervious and all Hulkbuster’s good clicks. By this time, KC Hawkman was in the fray, KOing Iron Men with every attack. I was wiped out but at least I took down Lightning Lad, Empress and Ultra Boy with me!

Just goes to show…you can’t fight the future!

Get used to this feeling, Iron Man.

WIN/LOSS: 1-2. Thus began a string of 1-2 tournaments with Iron Man-centric teams.

Lessons learned:

Again, range is a big deal that I didn’t really leverage enough. I should have struck from 11 squares out for every attack until he was forced to get within everyone else’s zone.

Perplex and other stat boosts are also highly necessary. Particularly with these older Iron Man pieces, which each lack something in their combat values. Tony Stark’s AV and damage top out at 10 and 3 respectively and wane from there. Hulkbuster has poor range and mediocre AV and damage for his points. V AW Iron Man’s 3 damage keeps him from being the hard hitter he needs to be for his cost. SN Iron Man and V War Machine’s 8 range holds them back from greatness. It’s amazing how much more effective all these pieces have since become with the help of Perplex and the new SHIELD ability to boost range.

Hulkbuster is junk. Well, that’s the lesson I THOUGHT I’d learned. But as I showed last time, what matters is how you play him. Now I can hardly conceive of NOT playing him on one of these teams unless the build is under 500 points.

Last weekend, I played another three rounds of the Iron Campaign. With an overall record now of 7-10, I had a chance to reach .500! See if I did on Monday!