Guardians of the Galaxy: Now with more GROOT.

Y’all know I love me some Guardians of the Galaxy. Great title that I apparently learned about almost too late (it’s now “on hiatus”— read as: “soft-cancelled” — as of May  2010’s issue #25) that I got interested in because they’d been made into HeroClix. But until Web of Spider-Man, the tallest member of the team had been missing:

He is Groot.

I haven’t actually quite acquired the big guy, but a pair of friends generously loaned him to me for a game, knowing I liked the character. So I tossed aside the all-Web of Spider-Man team I was considering and instead ran this:

Groot 152
Phyla-Vell 138
+ Protected 8
Star-Lord 90 + Contingency Plan 12
Rocket Raccoon 65
Rookie Aleta 51
Bug 44

+ Guardians of the Galaxy alternate team ability 30
= 590 points. This was a last-minute team build, so I didn’t have any clear idea of what the last 10 points ought to have been used for. I faced my friend (who loaned the Groot) using this team: Deadpool (Web of Spider-Man), Bullseye (Web of Spider-Man), Nightcrawler (Web of Spider-Man), Scarlet Spider (Web of Spider-Man), Peter Parker (Web of Spider-Man) and Solo on the new Bridge map in the set.

Key factors/moments of the game:

  • His team had a pair of 12 AV ranged shooters, each of whom could use Running Shot for good damage. So after landing a very solid first hit on Scarlet Spider, I retreated most of the team to avoid retaliation.
  • Unfortunately, I made a bit of a repeat of a FAIL moment (see my FAIL series from a while back) involving Bug and Phyla-Vell that again cost the heavy-hitting cosmic girl her life in this fight. Using Aleta’s TK, I pulled Bug back out of range (rather than push him to retreat) while leaving the pushed Phyla a few squares out, just in range of Nightcrawler.
  • Nightcrawler, in particular, has been the focus of much nerd rage due the figure’s unique ability to snatch enemy figures into the range of his teammates, and that’s exactly what happened here: Phyla was grabbed and then attacked until defeated by the end of the round despite having the Protected feat to absorb one of the blows. Lesson Learned (again): Don’t be so concerned about protecting Bug from attacks, especially at the expense of much, much costlier and important figures.
  • However, Nightcrawler is not without his own glass jaw. Despite his multiple layers of attack evasion (Stealth, Shape Change, high DV and Super Senses), he was the victim of a one-hit KO by Groot.

    "I AM GROOT!!!"

  • Sadly, my attack rolls with Star-Lord — normally my MVP — were all ice-cold and he simply couldn’t survive another turn himself. Lesson (re-)learned: Make sure Star-Lord stands in, directly in front of, or behind hindering terrain when he makes a move that will expose him to counterattack…that way I can use Stealth (if he’s hit hard enough) to be shielded from most followup shots (using Combat Reflexes to take knockback into the hindering if necessary).
  • Similarly, I mis-moved Groot somewhat, not immediately taking advantage of his Special Power allowing him to heal for free when occupying hindering or water terrain. And at the end of the game, he probably took a KO shot he shouldn’t have, since we all forgot that Earthbound/Neutralized giants lose giant status.
  • I didn’t mind so much, since he’d landed a near-KO punch on Bullseye a turn or two earlier. :)

    “GROOT!!!”

In the end, Aleta was my last piece standing and, after she finished off Bullseye, my game was done. As evidenced by the Lessons Learned above, I could have played the team better, but it was going to be an uphill fight in any circumstance. More to the point of the article: does Groot enhance the Guardians of the Galaxy? What does he need from them?

  1. He’s got great defense. Now that the GotG ATA doesn’t wipe out their natural Defenders TA, he can chain his 18 DV with weaker members.
  2. He’s another taxi. Being a giant affords that. But…
  3. He’s terribly slow. Without Aleta’s TK or the speed boost of the Kinetic Accelerator special object, it takes him a looooong time to get in the fight. This game wouldn’t have gone half as well without either of them.

So it’s a bit tough to use him. He’s priced as a tentpole but is frankly better used as a backfield diversion for ranged shooters or a shield for lesser pals to hide behind. But if he gets stuck on his immovable clicks while too far away to attack, it could be disastrous. One must really carefully gauge the tempo of the fight when running Groot.

But then, isn’t that just good gameplay?

P.S.: one more rule of using this character: [Non-optional] At least once per game, you must shout, in your best Cookie Monster voice, “I AM GROOT!” when giving or resolving an action involving this character.

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