This past weekend I found myself taking another little road trip to a big tournament to play for F.U.N. and prizes. And again, I found myself trying to compete with this F.U.N. team:

Lizard [Amazing Spider-Man] 88
Vixen [Streets of Gotham] 74 + Justice League: Generation Lost ATA 3
Alyosha Kraven [Amazing Spider-Man] 70
Beast Boy [DC 75th Anniversary ] 60
Cosmo [Galactic Guardians] 52
Catwoman [10th Anniversary ] 35
Flock of Bats [Batman 99c] 18
= 400 points. This time around, even the themed team tactic was banned. But the force’s basic integrity was still intact, so I ran with it again. Let’s see how it did:

ROUND ONE
vs. an accidental Mystical team of Madame Web, Astral Dr. Strange, Brother Voodoo, the 50-point Enchantress and led by the 225-point Malekith [Thor: Dark World 004]. I was first player and chose the Karnak map from the Watchmen Crimebusters Fast Forces set. The starting areas are on the long edges of the map instead of on the ends.

Turning Points

• As in my first match in the ROC a few weeks ago, my opponent made a First Round Immunity blooper again, thinking that my moving a single figure on my force meant my whole team was fair game. Why is this basic rule so misunderstood? Now I had an easy first shot on his big piece.
• Whoa, Did I Say “Easy?” Malekith had a 20 DV from range because he Perplexed his defense and was sitting on the heavy object I’d placed during setup. Why, oh why didn’t I pick him as the target for Justice League: Generation Lost ATA? Without the hindering boost, I’d have felt better about shooting with Vixen instead of getting close — especially because with Cosmo’s PD TA and Enhancement, he’s a normal 18 instead of 20 to shoot for 4 damage. Then I could follow up with a TK’d Lizard Charge to tie Malekith up at a minimum.
• What happened instead was misses, misses, misses thanks to way too much Prob Control and then Brother Voodoo wreaking his havoc on my formations with Mind Control.

Lost all but Catwoman, Cosmo, and a Flock of Bats, which was perpetually at least ONE SQUARE TOO FAR AWAY to do ANYTHING. 0-1.

ROUND TWO
vs. Phantom Stranger, Question, Pandora. Again, I picked Karnak.

How It Went
He immediately jumped on lil’ Catwoman with both Question and Phantom Stranger after I moved her out to a light object. I didn’t intend her to be bait, but I took the opportunity to blast him with a TK’d and Enhanced Vixen. Unfortunately, Catwoman failed to KO Question with a followup and fell quickly, leaving a clear LOF for Lizard to be Outwitted.
I repositioned to take on Pandora but there was a lot of dice futility. Lucked out that my opponent rarely used Poison.
I eventually got Question and Pandora but it was a desperate fight to stay ahead against an almost full-strength Phantom Stranger with most of my remaining figs all chewed up. A terrible move with Vixen — including forgetting HER Poison — KOd her and lost me the game.

Until I did the math and noted that 77+60+35 is still less than the 200 I’d scored. 1-1.

ROUND THREE
vs. 30-point Loki [Fear Itself], 50-point Scarlet Witch [Chaos War] and 319-point Cosmic Spider-Man [Web of Spider-Man]. I lost map roll and got stuck in a very-walled-up map whose name escapes me.

What the hell do I do against that?
I knew my only chance was to close on him as soon as possible, especially after my opponent’s opening move gave CSM view of the entire map. So:

• Immediately I switched Beast Boy to Pterodactyl to carry 3 animals and poised him to do so just out of starting area. 0-moved Alyosha Kraven. Vixen JLA-free-moved as far out as possible, just in CSM’s range, carrying and placing Cosmo in front as bait, maybe. Finally, I used the free-action-move then a normal move action to get the Flock of Bats next to all his team.
• But Loki pushed and easily KOed the Flock, making me want to say another word that shares a lot of the same letters as “flock.”
• Thus free, CSM shot Vixen for 5, despite her Super Senses.
• Got a lucky Regen with her [this was Vixen’s Best Move this match] as BB taxied the rest within Charge range of a pushed CSM. I had a CHANCE now of at least making a fight of it!
• …until Scarlet Witch Barriered in the room. No chance.
• …until Lizard Charged a wall, so Kraven could attack.
• Then I free-action-moved BB to cart Catwoman near CSM and SWitch.
• Here’s the Turning Point of the match, though: CSM chose to stay and fight rather than risk a Hypersonic Speed breakaway failure — THANK YOU, 2013 RULES CHANGE! — so I was able to swarm him. But between misses and Blades rolls and Prob Control, he and SW survived some 20-30 attack rolls! That bad luck was offset by superb fortune on Regen rolls, though, and eventually Cosmic Spider-Man fell, at which point my opponent conceded.

Back to another top 16. And again, I ran a Legion team in the 300-point finals. How’d it do? That’s a tale for next week.