Almost completely opposite of the supporters we highlighted in Part 1 are the monsters in the One Man Army class — big bruisers that take up the lion’s share of a 300-point team. Usually a big liability, these nevertheless flirt with Top 10 status:

Spectre [War of Light 050a] at 200 points is a one man army piece that, thanks to his “Battle Fury-or-not” SP, generally gets to dictate where and how the fight will start. That guards him well from most of the swarming range attacks — or Outwits — that usually plague giants. He also has penetrating Poison (that’s even ranged, eventually) to use once enemies DO get close. He’s got 100 points of room for a pal or two who can get Blades/Claws/Fangs from him in a pinch.

The lone Entity figure of the erstwhile Top Ten, Butcher [War of Light 066] is actually a little bit light in cost at only 185 points and he only bears Toughness for his starting armor. Being a doublebase fig keeps him from being TK’d, too. But 12 AV and 5 damage really make him solid to start. Then he gets better on clicks 3-5, gaining Invulnerability and his BCF +2 SP. After that, he gets Quintessence and penetrating Poison at once. And after foes manage to finally wear through all ELEVEN CLICKS, he simply goes to Possess some 25-point peon to deny the KO points.

The 255-point Tiamat [Deadpool 057] is by far the most expensive on our Top Clix list. But he could deserve a slot due to his ability to:

1. fairly easily hit with 12 AV.
2. Gain a FREE ACTION upon said hit.
3. Then remove his own action token.

Because he’s got the Power Cosmic team ability, he could conceivably never have to stop to rest as long as he keeps hitting attacks. His only weaknesses are his double base [bad for TK], lack of flight and a vulnerability to anti-free action tech, and all three would drag him off the Top Ten if we were still DOING a Top Ten.

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HONORABLE MENTIONS

Noted back in the Part 0 intro, which was written before we switched the format of this year’s look back, are these two:

• Parallax [War of Light 041]: Lack of flight and his scale-tipping price of 250 cost him his spot. 50 points doesn’t buy him enough 3-damage allies to keep him consistently active by smashing squares of blocking terrain.
• Hal Jordan and Sinestro [War of Light 052]: One Man Army figs like this duo still don’t work. But Halnestro comes close, very close. The Green Lantern Power Battery’s Emotional Spectrum and other free action silver bullets kill this 300-pointer’s chance of making the list.

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As tempting as tentpoles are, they’re always just a miss or two away from failing due to the being outactioned issue. So next are the pieces that will ACTUALLY lead a team in a fight: The middleweights.

With this year’s rankings uncertain due to the uncompleted Watch List, we’ve decided to just feature 2014’s top figs by category, roughly. To start are the best of the supporting power pieces of the year, in order of release:

Weasel [Deadpool 020]: He’s a shooter’s bestie, given his ability to pick a pal and give them a reroll if they miss by one. Even better is his Enhancement SP that also nudges up range and AV for one ally per turn. And he’s a Stealthy scientist as well. 27 points isn’t much to pay at all to make a shooting team much better.

Destiny [Days of Future Past 011] is a lot pricier at 50 points, but she eviscerates Outwit, Probability Control and Perplex within 8 squares. She’s also a Prob Controller herself, one that only needs line of fire to the target as long as the attacker is in her SP’s 8 square zone. Brotherhood TA helps her get around without burning actions.

Despotellis [War of Light 099]: So cheap, so deadly to tokened figs with its super-Poison and “stick-to-ya” SPs. 20 DV is still pretty unhittable.

Where Weasel is a frontline piece, STAR Labs Technician [The Flash 007] is more a rearguard fig, mobilizing fighters with the excellent Sidestep+TK combo. She easily pushes to a Sidestep+14 Defend+Support combo. On her first and last clicks, she sports her damage SP that allows her to grant either Precision Strike or Toughness to an adjacent pal as a power action.  33 points is a bargain to pay for this much utility.