Category: comic-accurate teams

F.U.N. Focus: the Legion of Super-Heroes [part 3]

February 12, 2014 by rkjs·0 Comments

The Legion got a couple more characters in 2005’s Legacy — but just got a little bit closer to being viable.

Wildfire (Legacy 043-045) and Drake Burroughs (Legacy 203)
This figure finally gives the Legion a decent starting AV of 10 for more than one click (on the Vet, at least) and Running Shot+4 damage on ALL FOUR versions, from the 89-point Rookie to the 123, 127 and 145 Experienced, LE and Vet, respectively. A long and well-armored dial full of Toughness and Energy Explosion rounds out the anti-matter package. Hidden Charm: When you see 12 DV on any of his versions, push with abandon because he’s only a click or two away from last-click Impervious and Phasing to make him a solid mid- to late-game tie-up/meat shield blocker, though with only 10 DV, so pair him with one of the Defend members.

Kid Quantum (Legacy 031-033)
She brings Incapacitate to the team with Running Shot and 3 targets. That’s all she does, though, aside from a bit of Leadership on the 80-point Vet. Her DV is a bare 16 and 6 range isn’t quite long enough to make her all that effective. Opponents will just see easy points to be scored. Don’t even bother with the 2-target, 4-range Rookie; her 8 AV and 4-click life is a waste of 49 points. Hidden Charm: use the 61-point Exp. on a high-build-total Legion team for best results. If she slows down the enemy even once, she’s gotten her value back. Try to bump up her 9 AV for the attack if at all possible.

Next: Did the Legion suffer Collateral Damage?

F.U.N. Focus: The Legion of Super-Heroes [part 2]

February 11, 2014 by rkjs·2 Comments

The Legion would reappear in the next DC set, Unleashed. But the same problems would persist: The characters’ combat values would still be subpar and they would still be all wild cards….mostly.

Brainiac 5 (Unleashed 019-021)
The smart kid of the Legion, Brainy is the team’s first and cheapest source of Outwit at just 40 points for the Rookie. And like his teammate Saturn Girl from the previous set rocked Perplex and little else, so too is his dial compLETEly bare apart from the Perplex he gets AFTER Outwit. Twelve more points buy a click each of Toughness and Mastermind on the Experienced — good luck finding fodder on a Legion team — and the 58-point Vet doubles up on both powers. The LE, Querl Dox, has a totally different powerset: Incap, Defend, Leadership and Exploit Weakness for 47. All are basically useless due to his terrible stats. Hidden Charm: B5 has one role — to Outwit or Perplex ’til he’s dead. He’s gonna need help not dying with only 15 or lower DV and having to be within 6 squares to be of use. Fortunately, there’s a Legion maneuver that Heroclixin’ calls the “bunker formation” that he can benefit from, allowing him to help his team. We’ll discuss it more in future installments.

Chameleon (Unleashed 037-039)
Holy junk, what an awful opening click on the Rookie. 7 AV, 14 DV, 1 damage. And the AV goes DOWN from there. At least there’s a bit of Plasticity and a full dial of Shape Change to help save his 30 points. 44 and 58 get a 15 DV Toughness and a click of life on each level up. All have Blades/Claws/Fangs, Incap and Poison in some order in the Attack slot. Hidden Charm: The Rookie pushes straight onto Poison. So pair him with a higher DV ally with Defend and go tie up a soft target.

Supergirl (Unleashed 077)
She wasn’t a Legionnaire when this set first arrived; that would happen later, with the addition of keywords. Unfortunately, she still brings the same LSH problems of the era to the team: unconscionably low values for a 133-point figure, especially on defense. On the plus side, she brings the Superman Ally team ability for her wild card friends to copy at last. Kara Zor-El (Unleashed 218) is much like Supergirl, only rocking the LSH TA and losing opening Running Shot for Charge and an extra click each of Impervious and Super Strength for one point less. Hidden Charm: On a big enough LSH team where she’s not a main fighter — and I really hope a gal of her cost that only has one click of 10 AV and THREE TIMES more clicks of 8AV or worse than clicks of 9AV ISN’T a main fighter — either can be used to soak up shots for better pieces with her 9-click-long dial.

Shvaughn Erin (Unleashed 204)
She’s really only an honorary Legionnaire, being their liason on the Science Police force of their time. And she has the same rubbish stats. But she’s another cheap Leadership fig, and she actually has useful powers in Running Shot and Energy Shield/Deflection. Hidden Charm: A rare non-flyer on the Legion, she can be carted about for all manner of formations and setups.

Next: The Legacy of the Legion

F.U.N. Focus: the Legion of Super-Heroes [part 1]

February 10, 2014 by rkjs·0 Comments

The first appearance of the Legion in HeroClix were these lackluster teens cursed with low defenses in 2003’s Cosmic Justice set — we’re talking zero armor and peaks of 15 here —and a team ability that was useless to them unless one broke theme and ran them with non-wildcards. The addition of keywords to the game years later did little to help, as a Legion team still was almost all wild cards.

By piece:

Cosmic Boy (Cosmic Justice) is dial-long wild card Telekinesis. That’s really all that need be said. Neither the 45-point Rookie nor the 61-point Experienced figs have anything else of worth to offer. The Vet adds two starting clicks of Leadership for 68 — whoopee. The LE Rokk Krinn has a run of Force Blast for 8 points more. Hidden Charm: What you see is what you get. Cos is all TK. Push him to do it every turn he can — he can take it. Use the 45-point Rookie for best results, or if you really need the extra action sometimes afforded by Leadership, spring for the Vet.

___

Saturn Girl (Cosmic Justice)
At least she starts with a 9 AV. With her long run of Perplex and opening click of 8-range Mind Control, this Rookie telepath actually has a bit of utility. The Exp and Vet both nudge up to 10 AV, a click each extra of MC and Perplex alike, but there’s really no call to spend the extra 15 and 32 more points over the Rookie’s 44 unless you just REALLY want the 10 range on the Vet. Don’t even THINK about spending 72 on the Imra Ardeen LE. Hidden Charm: The Rookie is still among the LSH’s cheapest Perplexers, and pushable in that role. Keep her in the back at all times, bumping those stats as needed. The other two have some potential as Mind Controllers.

___

Live Wire (Cosmic Justice 046-048)
The rookie is the dirt-cheapest of all Legionnaires (22 points) and nigh-useless with only 7 AV and 0 damage Ranged Combat Expert. That’s right: base him and he’s nothing but low-DV, 4-click-long tie-up. Unless sacrificing him’s part of your strat — say, as part of using a Legion Lost ATA-gained TA — steer clear. The Exp. and Vet only pack on extra points and a click of life apiece but are similarly pointless. For more than double the rookie’s cost, the 50-point Vet STILL only has one click of 2 damage and AV over 8. Hidden Charm: The Rookie is the least expensive 8 range flier in the whole game. Equip him with the Spotter feat to aid better shooters. Using the Legion Lost ATA well could make Live Wire a surprise danger — by chaining a decent AV to him with Batman Enemy, for instance.

Next installment: The Legion Unleashed…?

F.U.N. Focus: the Legion of Super-Heroes [intro]

February 7, 2014 by rkjs·0 Comments

Welcome to a new occasional Heroclixin’ feature called F.U.N. Focus, in which we take an in-depth look at a character or team or, as in this case, an entire keyword: The Legion of Super-Heroes, in anticipation of the full-size Superman and The Legion of Super-Heroes set releasing later this month.

Building a F.U.N. all-Legion of Super-Heroes team has been an exercise in frustration for many years. The vast team of superteens has long had a number of problems to overcome that other similarly sized rosters don’t:

It’s lacked many attackers with greater than 10 AV.
It’s lacked multiple support-power pieces: Only one starting-click Outwitter in Modern Age and ZERO healers.
It’s composed almost entirely of fliers and so severely lacks the action advantage that a force with taxiable characters can employ. Or, to put it another way, it’s a swarm team that can’t really swarm.
It’s also almost lacking in Willpower/Indomitable — fewer than five total each compared with literally dozens in the other big teams — which compounds its difficulty swarming.
It’s also almost entirely made up of wild cards.

Most of these problems are mitigated when the characters are teamed up with non-Legionnaires that they can carry and copy. But the Legion ought to be formidable in its own right. This is a team that’s taken on Darkseid, for crying out loud. Or, as a quote from one of their comics — and ATA cards — goes:

“So you’re like the Teen Titans of the future?”
“No, we’re the Justice League of the future.”

This problem just came up in a multi-player game recently. I ran a 500-point all-Legion team and was the last to fully engage because every one of my characters had to waste actions just moving around and couldn’t safely push, while the other five teams either had Willpower or taxis or both.

This 10-or-so-part F.U.N. Focus series will take a look at the progression of the Legion in HeroClix and how well each piece works on an all-Legion squad, ending with a sort of rating:

This piece has a role best reserved for a huge Legion team.
The piece is fine for most Legion teams of any size.
This piece must be considered for any Legion team, big or small.

Finally, one of the charms of the Legion is that even the weakest members have something to contribute. This series will highlight each piece’s Hidden Charm.

The first installment will use the Legion Time Bubble to go back in time to 2003…on Monday. Be there!

F.U.N. Fights: WATCHMEN

August 28, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen 005) 276
Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen 011) 105
Comedian (Watchmen Fast Forces 006) 100 + Not So Special 3
Silk Spectre (Watchmen Fast Forces 002) 75
Nite Owl (Watchmen Fast Forces 003) 75 + Utility Belt 13
Ozymandias (Watchmen Fast Forces 004) 75 + Brilliant Tactician 20
Rorschach (Watchmen 001) 57
799 points.

Ran this last summer.

FIRST vs. Lenny with Supergirl (Fast Forces), Eradicator and Superman (Superman 001) among others from Metropolis I can’t recall on the Days of Future Past map. I had to work very hard to get shots on big Supes and Supergirl and Eradicator, having to bust walls and sacrifice Rorschach to do so. Alas, I was not able to take out either before running out of time.

SECOND vs. Stephen’s Haunted Tank, David Cain and other Soldiers on the Dr. Manhattan’s Lab map. The tall Dr. got an early long-range Running Shot on a target that I almost chased down for the win — but I wound up having to win on a roll-off. The sitting Dr. M. resisted all attempts to hit him — narrowly.

FINALLY against Henry on the Bridge: Iron Spider, Hawkeye (Chaos War) Mockingbird (Chaos War) and more. Still a new player, he moved too aggressively and I made him pay for it. A more seasoned opponent would have made it much harder for me and I probably would not have won. I lost Rorschach, Silk Spectre and Comedian but KOd Hawkeye, Mockingbird and Iron Spider for the advantage.

By piece:
Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen 005)
Lotus-position Dr. M spent too time TKing and not enough time shooting. His lack of Willpower is also a liability. But it’s nice knowing he’s a potent piece of backup for the rest of the team.

Dr. Manhattan (Watchmen 011) 105
The tall Doc, OTOH, was a real workhorse. He was the most mobile shooter of the team, a second taxi, a barrier builder (instrumental in my last win) and a boon to other shooters through his Enhancement. Oh, and there’s that 2x Energy Explosion thing, too.

Comedian (Watchmen Fast Forces 006) 100 + Not So Special 3
Despite his great AV, he never quite had the effect on the game I expected. I used him over the longer-ranged, double-targeted original for the damage boost. Perhaps I should consider the older piece in the future and use an additional feat card to make up the points difference.

Silk Spectre (Watchmen Fast Forces 002) 75
With both her boyfriends on the team, SS is a legit melee threat well worth the extra point cost, even though she took a lot of fire.

Nite Owl (Watchmen Fast Forces 003) 75 + Utility Belt 13
Definitely a linchpin of the team due to his ability to carry Silk Spectre, Ozymandias, Comedian and, most importantly, sitting Dr. Manhattan into position for next-round attacks. The Utility Belt is VERY thematic on the Watchmen universe’s Batman analogue. The Willpower helps a lot, too. Today, with the release of the Batman Cowl, I’d add that costume for Stealth action.

Ozymandias (Watchmen Fast Forces 004) 75 + Brilliant Tactician 20
He’s a bit tricky to use because you want to have him carted about by Nite Owl, but his LOF to the rest of the team tends to get blocked that way. But of course Brilliant Tactician makes him superb for the team.

Rorschach (Watchmen 001) 57
He’s a needed Stealth wall and Leap/Climb tie-up for the rest of the team. With the boost to CCE, maybe he’s a potential fighter, too.

I like running the Watchmen more than ever with the superior Fast Forces versions. This team will see the map again.

F.U.N. Forces: Great Lakes Avengers

August 23, 2013 by rkjs·1 Comment

With Wednesday’s release of the Wolverine and the X-Men set, the core roster of the not-so-mighty GLA is complete.

Mr. Immortal: 46 points of ~~undying~~ frequently dying tie-up;
Doorman: 45-point taxi extraordinaire with 11 Speed and the ability to open a wall or blocking terrain for a round;
Dinah Soar: The other taxi. Not quite as fast but makes it up in quantity by carrying 3 GLA teammates for 20 points less;
Flatman: A conditional Outwitter of 100-points-or-less figures;
and Big Bertha: Just 4 clicks long for 56 points but with Charge and Plasticity and a DV power that only takes one click at a time. Strong, too.

= oh, look! They’re exactly 200 points! …withOUT their tailor-made Additional Team Ability.

This team has great mobility options in Dinah and Doorman, and Mr. I and Bertha are good tie-up. But it’s sorely lacking in damage output. None of the characters have greater than 2 printed damage and most have ONES almost the entire dial! Outside of Bertha’s brawn, the GLA will often NEED Flatman’s limited Outwit SP to be able to deal with even the lightest armor.

Or they can get a little help from other keyworded friends:

Squirrel Girl: With a good run of Exploit Weakness and then Incap and BCF, she gives the group a little oomph. Unfortunately, her 59 point cost is awkward.
Hawkeye (Avengers 056): Finally a bit of actual 3 damage for the team. His 9 AV is suspect, since he’ll need to use Running Shot instead of sitting still for the +2 AV standing still version. At 56 points is also tough to tack on to the rest of the team’s 200.
Then there’s Hawkeye (Chaos War), a nearly perfect fit to make the team 300 points. The trouble with him is he still prevents use of the ATA and his natural Spider-Man Ally TA is completely wasted on this team. Same goes for…
Deadpool (Web of Spider-Man): Way expensive at 158 points, but worth every one as he gives the GLA what it sorely needs to help its fighting strength: Perplex. Though he’s such a good fig that he threatens to steal the show…like Deadpool NEVER, EVER does in the comics. 😉
What about Hawkeye (Fear Itself)? 135 points allows another pal such as Squirrel Girl to get in on the action in a 400 point game. His Revert click works well with CW Hawkeye. The only drawback is that the GLA ATA is STILL crowded out.

But IS that ATA even worth using?

“During an attack made by a character using this team ability, opposing characters cannot use Probability Control unless a friendly character has already used Probability Control during this attack. Uncopyable.”

3 points just to stop enemies from forcing rerolls on your attacks seems overcosted.

Anyway, the Great Lakes Avengers are only supposed to be a F.U.N. team: certainly Friendly, kinda Nifty….barely Useful.

Nextwave 600 points: Wave One

July 31, 2013 by rkjs·3 Comments

So a few weeks (or more) ago I mourned the exit of the Nextwave squad from Modern Age and thrilled at the possibilities for the team in Golden Age, tricked out with Feats and BFCs and Resources and ATA. Little did I realize I’d run the team that very next day.

Monica Rambeau 139 + Not So Special 3
The Captain 124 + Alias 3
Aaron Stack 106 + Inside Information 4 + Infinity Gauntlet (Soul, Power, Space) 25
Elsa Bloodstone 73 + Monster Hunter 3
Tabitha Smith 58 + Armor Piercing 10
+ Warbound (Nextwave) 25
+ Nextwave ATA 25
=598 points. I opted not to use Debris, Extraordinary Day or Overconfidence against my opponent’s mostly X-squad of Professor X (Giant-Size X-Men), Wolverine (Giant-Size X-Men), Cable (Giant-Size X-Men), Storm (10th Anniversary 010) and Spider-Man 2099 (Amazing Spider-Man) with the full Utility Belt. I got map choice and we used the Time Zones on the Dawn of Time map.

My opponent is a notorious turtler, so I advanced with caution.

KEY MOMENTS

Opponent, seeing how I’d finally poised my attackers for a first-strike Charge on Storm, moved her well out of range. But in doing so he’d killed his ability to attack back — or even Outwit — from her square with Prof. X. That gave The Captain a Charge opportunity on Cable.

Which failed.

In fact, Cap pretty much just did this the rest of the game.

Similarly, Monica missed her shot on the retreated Prof. X — one that, had I remembered she was wearing the +1 AV Not So Special feat, may NOT have missed. The leader of Nextwave didn’t do much else this game but die.

I also completely forgot that once the Prof. left his starting area, HE SHOULD NOT HAVE CONTINUED SHOOTING ME. Big mental fail on m part.

The Nextwave squad eventually got Cable, mostly thanks to Elsa. (This may have been the first time I’ve ever triggered the Nextwave ATA on a Nextwave team.) But the Belted Spidey 2099 was killing said team, making victims of Monica and then Elsa.

Yes, Elsa. VICTIM.

Fortunately, Aaron Stack had slowly built up to the Gauntlet’s special powers. And now, with combinations of Perplex, RCE, Poison and Hypersonic Speed, he began to wear down the opposition. (Or, at least, he keep Tabby from dying right off.)

In the end, it took a careful combo of Poison and judicious attacks to damage Spidey 2099 just so to avoid him landing on his Power Cosmic stop click with fewer than two tokens on him. Then, with a couple more attacks, Aaron took him down for the victory.

Leader Monica was difficult to use right. I really needed her to attack more, but early on I made her a taxi, using Warbound to stay mobile. Same went for The Captain, who carted around Aaron. But that made Aaron push with two tokens much of the time, preventing him from leveraging his fight skills or even the early TK he offers via the Gauntlet. I also found that Tabby was left behind and thus unable to bring the explodo for far too much of the match.

In the future, I’ll probably use Warbound to push Monica ASAP, so she can properly contribute to a fight. Captain will try to remain as free of tokens for a long as possible — he doesn’t push well — and Aaron will TK either Elsa or Tabby into their effective range.

This is a team I carry around in my travel box constantly, lately, always ready for a pickup game of 600 points.

One. Last. Mission. Secret Avengers: Modern Age

July 10, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

The highlighted figures below retired to Golden Age on July 1, a Monday. I played this team on June 29, a Saturday, for

One.

Last.

Mission.

Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Valkyrie (Fear Itself) 130
Black Widow (Captain America 006) 85
War Machine (Iron Man 3) 220
Moon Knight (Amazing Spider-Man) 109
Beast (Giant-Size X-Men) 95
Nova (Galactic Guardians) 125

While there are the Avengers Movie/Fear Itself versions of Black Widow and the Fast Forces release of Beast to keep those characters Modern, Steve Rogers as commander of SHIELD is highly unlikely to ever be remade. So the Secret Avengers, in its one truly great incarnation (on paper, at least — the actual team-up in the comic never lived up to its promise thanks to the virtual non-involvement of Nova before his being taken out) will never again grace a Modern Age game.

So how’d it do in its swan song?

MISSION: To beat Mark’s Adam Warlock (Galactic Guardians 032), Quasar (Captain America), Jor-El (Man of Steel 005), Cyborg (Teen Titans 025), Hawkeye (Chaos War), Alfred Pennyworth (Batman), Gizmo and Bruce Wayne (Batman 202a) x 3 on my choice of the Iron Man 3 docks map in a 1000-point, 5-action Modern Age event requiring at least one figure due for retirement July 1.

Key moment: Ant-Man and friends took early Energy Explosion damage from Cyborg, who got TK’d a bunch to get an object-enabled shot.
War Machine and friends took Cyborg down next. Then Valkyrie, warping to Cyborg’s last known spot, pushed to Charge-Flurry Hawkeye to immediate death for an extra margin of victory. Only lost Ant-Man in the end, despite two badly timed consecutive crit misses on my part.

BY PIECE:

Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99

True to his trait’s name, he was “The Focal Point” more than ever in these last few games. Giving fellow Avengers the SHIELD TA helped plenty. When I originally played Rogers, well before the TA’s more recent upgrades, his 7 range was a liability against further-reaching foes. But with the average range value dropping to about 6, he’s working out a lot better. More than a couple of Leadership roll successes kept certain teammates active.

Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45

Naturally, her “Secret Avengers” trait granting Stealth to Avengers is a key point on this team. But she’s also great for her printed SHIELD TA and 2nd-click Perplex, too. SO much better than the original Sharon in Mutations & Monsters.

Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43

O’Grady’s lack of speed hurts his effectiveness as a good tie-up piece, but his unusual anti-Outwit/Perplex power can come in handy. Better still is his Tiny Size, which enables him to take a power action to use SHIELD and then hitch a ride with a Running Shot pal to boost said pal’s damage. His short dial is a boon to the following teammate as well…

Valkyrie (Fear Itself) 130

This team has needed a dedicated melee piece and, in her, gets one. So after she’s done clustering with cheaper allies to use her Leadership early on in the game, she either Charges in to Flurry or, more hopefully, warps in the spot of a fallen friend or foe to gain access to more targets. ‘Course, this can just as often lead her to her own early death. But the more fire on her, the less on the dangerous shooters of the team.

Black Widow (Captain America 006) 85

Best used as Rogers’ left hand with his Leadership to take off her tokens. SHIELD helps extend her modest range, too. With traited, unOutwittable Stealth, she’s the one teammate who need not depend on Sharon Carter for cover. A single push gets her to Penetrating Psychic Blast if needed.

War Machine (Hammer of Thor) 137
Nova Prime (Galactic Guardians) 150

These two serves as leadoff or cleanup hitters alike on the team I played back in mid-June. War Machine’s long range proved key for a clutch TTPC, and both are my preferred choices to represent the characters.

War Machine (Iron Man 3) 220
Nova (Annihilators) 125
This Modern Age pair worked differently, with Nova being more pure support through his Worldmind Surge SP granting Perplex to like-keyworded friends. It especially benefited his fellow Soldier, War Machine, who got a generally can’t-miss 13 AV.

Moon Knight (Amazing Spider-Man) 109

He was a HUGE boon with his Perplex. Especially good in crowded environs thanks to his short range. The Full Moon trait makes him a bit of a wild card, as one never quite knows if he’ll be a quietly high-priced support piece or a dangerous threat they won’t see coming.

…even though he wears all white.

Beast (Giant-Size X-Men) 95

Thanks to the Outwit nerf forcing him to get closer to the action, Beast is now a new melee threat and tie-up piece. At worst, he’ll draw fire away from the real offensive threats on the team before going down. And with his late-dial CCE, he WILL draw fire if he’s basing a foe with his natural 11 AV.

The difference couldn’t be greater in this truer incarnation of the Secret Avengers build than the initial one cobbled together in 2010 when the title was first released. And I couldn’t be gladder about it — a comic-accurate F.U.N. team!

Top Ten retiring figs we miss already…well not really (part final)

July 5, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

The final “piece” in this “Top Ten” list of figures Heroclixin’ will miss in retirement is a whole team:

Aaron Stack, Elsa Bloodstone, Monica Rambeau, The Captain, Tabitha Smith (Giant-Size X-Men)

Equaling a perfect 500-point named keyword team, the Nextwave squad never really got on the field the way I wanted it to. Maybe it was the lack of good top-dial moving attack options in a game which still boasted, at the time, plenty of ranges 8 or longer. A pity that almost as soon as the support powers Outwit and Perplex, which could easily nerf Nextwave before, were themselves nerfed, Nextwave gets relegated to the pasture. Speaking of which, Nextwave didn’t have any of those support powers, either — not without taking a lot of damage. And even though the crew had a decent ATA, it was unusable on a full-power Nextwave themed team in Modern Age unless one doubled up on the weakest member to make a 600-point team.

Nextwave: Not Getting Played In Force Since Q1 2011.

________

Retirement has a silver lining though, because this:

Aaron Stack, Elsa Bloodstone, Monica Rambeau, The Captain, Tabitha Smith (Giant-Size X-Men)

The team with the Nextwave ATA added up to 525 points. Now that the team’s in Golden Age, we can throw on the full 50 points of Feats to make this a proper 600-point themed team at last!

First, spend 25 points on Warbound on all characters with the Nextwave keyword. This feat, which really kinda fits this close-knit team that’s more like a family, eliminates some of the movement/action challenges the squad has at this point level. The taxis, which are also the big hitters, can shunt tokens off to the cheaper passengers (only Tabby is too inexpensive for them to Warbound to). Or the cheaper ones, when finally in position to do something, can dump their tokens off to the others, as in this illustrative pic:

Tabitha Smith (Giant-Size X-Men 015) makes a close combat attack and uses Warbound to give the token to adjacent friendly character more than half her 58-point cost, Aaron Stack (Giant-Size X-Men 016). He then pushes to make a close combat attack of his own because he's Indomitable and can use Willpower. Tabby will be free next turn to act — say, setting her Timebombs in distant squares or just making a ranged attack, because no generic cop HeroClix figure is standing up after getting kicked for 3 damage twice in a row. (Dont' worry, it's OK, it's a BAD cop they're kicking.)

Tabitha Smith (Giant-Size X-Men 015) makes a close combat attack and uses Warbound to give the token to an adjacent friendly character more than half her 58-point cost, Aaron Stack (Giant-Size X-Men 016). He then pushes to make a close combat attack of his own because he’s Indomitable and can use Willpower. Tabby will be free next turn to act — say, setting her Timebombs in distant squares or just making a ranged attack, because no generic cop HeroClix figure is standing up after getting kicked for 3 damage twice in a row.
(Don’t worry, parents, it’s OK— it’s a BAD cop they’re kicking.)

That leaves 25 more points left for feats in the 10% allowed for feats. Each character’s gonna get one.

Monica!

Lacking Special Powers or Traits, she will microwave the buttocks off most of the newer figures in the game thanks to Not So Special giving her an AV boost against those that do have SPs. That’s 3 points. 22 to go.

Tabby!

Her no-attack-roll-necessary SP only deals a low 1 or 2 damage. So feat her with Armor Piercing, which has always put teeth into multi-target Energy Explosion, which Tabitha (aka Boom Boom aka Meltdown) has in spades on her non-SP clicks to give foes the explodo with this clever use of 10 points.

Aaron!

The robotic hero full of useful devices and sock-drawer-organizing skills would have the Inside Information on other Avengers, Heavy Metal, Nextwave, Robot, S.H.I.E.L.D., and West Coast Avengers-keyworded foes for a healthy AV boost against them for just 4 more points. Play it!

Elsa!

The English-accented monster hunter can further her monster hunting ways with the 3-point Monster Hunter feat.

The Captain!

In an appropriately gonzo sort of way, Alias is actually a pretty fitting feat for a guy who’s called himself just about every Captain [insertwordhere] in the Marvel Universe. Gameplay-wise, as he’s liable to lead the charge with his Impervious hide and potential Outwit/Perplex immunity, it gives him a little protection.

Feat total comes to 48 points, 2 under the cap, bringing the team to 573.

So let’s put a Resource on Aaron Stack, who, as noted before, is full of very useful devices approximating the powers of a half-complete Infinity Gauntlet:

Soul Gem (or “Death to fleshy ones!”)
Power Gem (Close Combat Expert on early dial. Range Combat Expert on 2nd half)
Space Gem (using extendible arms to Carry pals and stride past foes with his extendible legs akin to giants)

And, of course, his time with the Celestials means he can access robot godhood … eventually.

The most useful aspect of a Gauntlet on Aaron is the early Telekinesis he offers the team. He is the pilot of Nextwave’s ship, the Shockwave Rider, after all.

Finally, some Battlefield Conditions will round things out:

Mistrust. Nextwave have no team symbols to share, so they’re unaffected by this card. (And, as noted before, Nextwave is Love.)
Overconfidence. There’s no Perplex on the team, either, unless Aaron picks it later via Gauntlet (Assuming he’s not actually complete and utter ****). Conversely (because I may not actually have the above card in my collection anymore) I could use White Noise because, again, I have virtually no Outwit on the team.
Extraordinary Day. This just fits Nextwave’s penchant for **** and **** and people getting kicked. ESPECIALLY PEOPLE GETTING KICKED.
There’s also Debris. The Captain and Aaron both start with Super Strength, so it might be worth having a bunch more objects to use.

598 points. Can’t wait to try this out!

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Next week: back to regular features.

F.U.N. forces: Secret Avengers (for real this time)

May 24, 2013 by rkjs·0 Comments

Welcome to F.U.N. Forces, an occasional feature for Fridays where I share some team ideas or goofball themes I’m looking forward to running.

Left to right: Ant-Man, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Beast, Nova, Steve Rogers, Black Widow. (Not pictured: War Machine, Sharon Carter)

Recently, the dial and card for Valkyrie (Fear Itself 005) was revealed. That means, at long last, I will finally be able to run an Avengers keyword-thematic Secret Avengers (vol. 1) #1 lineup!

Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Valkyrie (Fear Itself) 130
Black Widow (Captain America 006) 85
War Machine (Hammer of Thor) 137
Moon Knight (Amazing Spider-Man) 109
Beast (Giant-Size X-Men) 95
Nova Prime (Galactic Guardians) 150

=893 points, all with the Avengers keyword and character-accurate unlike the first time I ran a version of this team with non-keyworded pieces or wholesale substitutes. This build leaves room for either some special objects or one of a few ATAs. Nova Corps could shave off 10 points to add, say, a minimal Gauntlet or a full Utility Belt to a member. Or the Asgardian ATA, at 5 points, which gives Val Willpower on her vital first click. (It’s a bitter irony that there’s no room for the actual Secret Avengers ATA. )

This team looks MUCH better on paper than the previous ones I cobbled together a few years back. Though still range-heavy with the top two fighters dealing in Running Shot and still lacking a really durable brick or tie-up piece, the true Secret Avengers now have copious amounts of top- or 2nd-click support-power pieces instead of just one. The team also isn’t as dependent on a couple of characters as Stealth walls; most either have Stealth outright or get it from Sharon Carter. And although melee/tie-up still isn’t the team’s strength, Beast and Val certainly have great ability in close.

Even the upcoming PAC changes in June (when I’m likely to run this force, assuming I can acquire the Valkyrie) help instead of hurt. All the SHIELD members on the force (3 natural, potentially all of them) mean Beast ~~could still be Outwitting targets from up to 9 squares away.~~ (EDIT: actually, no, as his natural range is 0 and could only be boosted to 3 and thus still under the minimum 6 of Outwit). Several characters gain Ranged or Close Combat Expert down-dial to aid in those must-hit rolls in the mid- to late game. And there’s Quake, Energy Explosion and Incapacitate scattered among these characters — each power a decided Winner in the rules shift.

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This team is Golden Age. I can run a Modern Age version (for another month or so, anyway) by swapping out the retired War Machine with the 220-point new one from the Iron Man 3 set and Nova Prime for Nova from the Galactic Guardians Fast Forces. That’s a 1000-point build that allows for the Secret Avengers ATA but loses the themed team bonuses (War Machine lacks the Avengers keyword). I won’t mind so much when he’s shooting through hindering terrain with Avengers Initiative team ability.

There’s a super-budget character-accurate version out there, too, in Golden Age:

Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Valkyrie (Sinister 046) 44
Black Widow (Clobberin’ Time 055) 30
War Machine (Armor Wars 067) 94
Moon Knight (Critical Mass 025) 18
Beast (X-Plosion 055) 42
Nova (Supernova 037) 56

=471 points. That leaves room for the Secret Avengers ATA on the four Avengers-keyword characters on the team. I think this team would get clobbered. Good thing I don’t own any of those pieces in black except the last one.