Iron Campaign (part 7). The Endgame continues.

Q: What do these HeroClix figures have in common (besides all being Tony Stark-related characters)?

Q: What do these HeroClix figures have in common (besides all being Tony Stark-related characters)?

It was just me and 12-year-old Bryce this time, so we played a 1000-point game.  Although I wanted to wrap up my Iron Campaign, I actually decided to mix things up by not playing the best figures for the theme. So here’s my Iron team du jour:

V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
+ Inside Information 4
+ Alpha Flight 0
Tony Stark 150
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
+ Coordination 6
+ Alpha Flight 0
E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135
V War Machine 124
E War Machine 109
+ Alpha Flight 0
Anthony Stark 100
+ Alpha Flight 0
R Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
+ Alpha Flight 0
U Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
+ Alpha Flight 0

= 998 points.

A: They're all from the Armor Wars set of Marvel HeroClix from Fall 2005.

A: They're all from the Armor Wars set of Marvel HeroClix from Fall 2005.

It’s all Armor Wars pieces, a theme I’d wanted to try some time ago once I realized I had all the Iron Men (and such) of that set. But it’s a much more fragile team than the other 1000-pointers I’ve played recently. With no natural damage above 3, only one click of AV higher than 10 and nothing better than Invulnerability on defense, I expected some problems against Bryce’s team:

The Mighty Thor 286
+ Thundering Blow 20
Magog 209
Dr. Doom (Fantastic 4) 200
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
Batman (Icons promo) 102

…which I’m only now realizing was 5 points over. >:(

I win the map roll and pick the wide-open Rooftops map to give Doom and Batman little cover. Bryce plays Bizarro World while I Bright Lights up the field to completely nerf the Batman Ally ability.

First moves.
I start by moving out the old Iron Man suits to pick up objects. This is bad for Anthony Stark, who’s immediately hit hard for FIVE (thanks to SI Iron Man’s Outwit and Perplex via Extremis) by The Mighty Thor. Just like that, half my opening Outwit — and the heavy object A.Stark was holding — is GONE. And with the rest of Bryce’s team marching in for next turn, things look bleak already.

Not Going Out Alone.
Anthony Stark WILL be KO’d in another turn by Thor, who simply cannot miss his 15 DV. But Bryce has moved Batman in range of a Running Shot from one untokened Iron Man, so I take the shot. Then I call Alpha Flight and boost Anthony’s AV for a KO of Batman. This pushes Anthony to Outwit SI’s Extremis, forcing a “wasted” attack on Anthony to regain it. An early shot on Magog neuters him a little bit.

Things get worse.
I next get a couple of shots on The Mighty Thor, who wins the Impervious roll both times. Then my V AW Iron Man is hit for 4 down to his 8 AV click (which doesn’t belong on the middle of a dial this expensive). In an attempt to save the Vet, U AW bases bad Iron Man to stall him (and perhaps the fire of the still-free Dr. Doom) in a total sacrifice move. Fortunately, Iron Man missed his attack, enabling U AW Iron Man to survive that round and the Vet to retreat to the backfield.

One last push.
Meanwhile, R AW Iron Man tumbles under massive fire, but not before proving his worth by blocking for bigger guns and getting an Alpha Flight + Perplexed RCE hit on Thor. The Asgardian is KO’d after concentrated fire from both War Machines for the win within regulation time.

We play on. SI Iron Man & Doom hit E AW for a solid 3, but E AW busts back for 4 to get Doom off Perplex at last. Now I have two firing every turn. Doom flees too far to use PC so Iron Man starts taking heavy fire. Eventually, V AW Iron Man gets back in Outwit range and the War Machines finish off the rest of Bryce’s team. And, as it turned out, Thundering Blow never came into play, so the slight illegality of his team was never a concern.

Armor Wars set? We salute you.

Armor Wars set? We salute you.

Iron Campaign final record: 12-11.

Mission accomplished: I’ve taken the Stark Armory from a dismal 4-9 record to a winning one after about 5 weeks of focused play. It was especially gratifying to do so A) with a not-quite-optimized build (lacking the awesome 188-pointer and the oh-so-handy Mandroid Armor) that resembles the poorer teams I started with in 2008; and B) against Byrce, a young player who’s played in fewer than 8 tournaments since starting the game last summer but yet is a very sharp player who makes few mistakes.

Be here next time for a round-up of all the Iron Man/Stark Industries pieces I’ve used in this campaign. And as always, thanks for reading!

3 comments

  1. This article is probably my favorite of the Iron Campaign series of articles so far. I especially enjoyed how in this article you used what you considered less than optimal for the team and still succeeded. It just reminds myself of games ive played where teams im confident in lose and ones that i think will lose normally win. I have weird luck that way.

    I do have a random question, where do you play? i am aware that chances are slim you play anywhere near me but i just had to ask.

    1. Thanks for the feedback! I had lots of fun playing and writing this series. And yes, it was gratifying to win with the straight Armor Wars team in a throwback to my early, loss-heavy Stark Swarm builds. Shows that I’d finally gotten my tactics right.

      I play in Atlanta, GA, at a couple of venues 1-3 times a week. Where are you?

      1. oh, that sucks for me. im all the way in California. my judge stopped the events for now and the regular people stopped because of d&d, wizkids dying, or they moved away. it was a small venue, so any loss of people was brutal. not enough people play heroclix around here. been a long dry spell and green scar needs more punching bags!

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