Longtime readers know that one of Heroclixin’s favorite themes is teams of all-black characters. But we did a cuter version of the team a few months ago:

Black Manta [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 039] 97

Black Widow [Avengers: Age of Ultron 105] 75

Black Adam [Trinity War] 270

Black Talon [Deadpool] 60

Black Mask [Arkham Origins] 100

Black Mask Thug [Arkham Origins] 40

Black Death [Kick-Ass 2] 35

Flock of Bats (Black) 13

=690 points.

It faced Robert’s John Constantine [Trinity War], Green Arrow [Trinity War 208], a pair of STAR Labs Technicians and full-points Batman [Trinity War] and Superman [Trinity War] on my brand-new Avengers Age of Ultron starter map.

I had to be very careful of Green Arrow. It was vital to keep at least one of the following between him and my force at all times:

• Elevated Terrain
• Blocking Terrain

to deny him any easy shots at me and force him, at minimum, to not be able to choose any of his extra-damaging options:

• Energy Explosion
• Incapacitate
• Penetrating/Psychic Blast

 

TURNING POINTS

• Black Talon sent Black Adam on a likely suicide run to successfully KO Constantine and tie up Green Arrow…
• …long enough for Talon to send Black Widow out to ping Superman off his excellent top click and keep him tied up…
• …and for Black Death to hold down Batman just long enough for Black Manta and the Thug to wear out Bats for the second KO.
• Meanwhile, Widow and Adam survived via Shape Change and blind luck, respectively, to narrowly preserve the win.

 

By piece:

Black Adam was the proverbial “beastick” of the team. Though lacking in ranged ability, his immunity to non-Mysticals’ Outwit made him the best possible brick to hurl at the enemy team’s collective face.

Black Widow completely over-performed. Shape Change isn’t much of a defense. Once again, we’re glad that Hypersonic Speed is no longer an automatic breakaway.

Black Mask was played for the first time in this game. His main contribution was the free move he offered his Thug. This isn’t really the team for him.

Black Mask Thug, on the other hand, was more of a boss than, well, his boss. The Batman Enemy TA worked well with…

…Black Manta, whose wild card status, Sidestep, Penetrating/Psychic Blast and traited Carry makes him a lock for this theme just about every time. As is…

…Black Talon. His friendly Mind Control ability is straight-up meta. He’s the engine that makes this team work despite it not being anything close to optimized.

Flock of Bats (Black) tend to underperform due to their inability to either move quickly or be taxied. They’re purely filler.

Black Death, OTOH, is another one we’ll look at as more than filler. He’s a key meat shield — thanks to opening Shape Change — and tie-up piece, with his top clicks of Combat Reflexes and later Plasticity/Poison/Toughness combo.

This “black” team was F.U.N. and surprisingly effective, enough so that we planned to try it out again sometime.

That time came with a Eight Is Enough game for the first weekend of the eighth month: 800 points, exactly eight figures. We kept Black Manta, Death, and Talon while adding:

Black Widow [Avengers Assemble 06 ] 200
Black Panther [Age of Ultron] 140
Black Kinght [Age of Ultron] 115
Black Lightning [Batman] 87
Black Canary [Streets of Gotham ] 62
= 769 points

This time it’d go through a whole tournament. How would it do? See this space next week!