Welcome to the first of an occasional series: My Favorite Teams, where I discuss some HeroClix builds I enjoy fielding at every opportunity. 

Last Friday, I played a 500-point friendly match with Paul (while all the usual regulars were apparently seeing “Terminator Salvation”). This was my chance to play my Seven Soldiers of Victory team (Grant Morrison’s version)!

Seven Soldiers of Victory (left to right): Klarion (and cat Teekl), Shining Knight (and winged steed Aragon), Zatanna, Frankenstein, Guardian, Bulleteer and Mister Miracle.

Frankenstein 98 + Opportunist 10
Klarion 76
Zatanna 72
Bulleteer 69 + Unstoppable 5
R Mister Miracle (Origin) 64 + Loner 5
SR Shining Knight 48 + Double-Time 5
U Guardian (Collateral Damage) 47

= 499 points

Although this is the team almost exactly as it appears in the comics, save Mr. Miracle whose clix is based on the original Scott Free character instead of his former protegé Shilo Norman who stars in Seven Soldiers, it’s not a keyword-worthy themed team since Miracle doesn’t have the Seven Soldiers keyword. This is actually quite appropriate because the team never assembled in one place (indeed, many never encountered each other at all).

Paul, for his part, put together a decent Justice Society team:

E Mr. Terrific
V Stargirl
V Ray
V Damage
V Wildcat
E Hawkgirl (Unleashed)
E Dr. Mid-Nite
Ma Hunkel
Speed Saunders

…but Ray’s and Hawkgirl’s lacking the Justice Society keyword prevented him from getting the theme bonus. I thus won the map roll and picked the World War Hulk NYC map. No battlefield cards or special objects. I hunkered my team behind the elevated trailers and waited as Paul similarly bunkered ehind blocking terrain with only Mr. Terrific exposed.

I knew I had to deal with Mr. Terrific ASAP. His Outwit would be a serious problem and I didn’t want to risk him getting pushed to Stealthed Probability Control. So I was glad when Paul taxied him (with Stargirl) in full view of the field in preparation for Outwitting anyone I put out there. Better still, he didn’t chain the 17 defense value (in Vet Damage) either.

I went for Mr. T, using Shining Knight’s Double-Time to carry Bulleteer and tie-up both Terrific and Stargirl. With most of Paul’s lines of fire blocked by the double-based Knight, I set up my Perplexers to boost her to 18; her Defense was sufficient to avoid all Paul’s attack rolls. A turn later, Mr. Terrific fell to Bulleteer’s heavy-object Charge and Knight’s Flurry.

Shining Knight was the first of my figs to fall (to Wildcat), but then Frankenstein was in the mix, and Opportunist made sure Frank didn’t miss. Dr. Mid-Nite got easy healings on his wounded thanks to JSA lowering DVs to, Hawkgirl’s 12. Fortunately for me, he critmissed once to keep Wildcat from getting back to full. 

A wounded Zatanna still showed her worth by using Enhancement to boost Frankenstein’s Running Shot to massive levels and thus ending the threat of the enemy that hit her, V Ray. As Guardian and Miracle polished off Wildcat, Hawkgirl and Stargirl, Ray retreated with Dr. Mid-Nite in vain flight. Brought them to ground for the wipeout having only lost Bulleteer and Shining Knight.

I was so surprised by this performance (and the team similarly dominated the first time I played it early this year against a Hellfire Club team of Black King, Black Queen, Emma Frost, E Sunspot and Mastermind) that I decided to run the same team in the real tournament the next day. See how that went next time!