Normally this time of year, Heroclixin’ would be recovering from DragonCon, the annual Labor Day Weekend nerdfest in Atlanta. But we’re in Corona World now, and mass gatherings of thousands upon thousands of people in one place simply IS NOT SAFE and so we’re not going — because the city and the con’s organizers wisely didn’t hold the event.

So here’s a flashback to DragonCon 2019 (and a 2018 game) and, finally, a continuing of the “Ruling the World” series I started writing last fall.

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Heroclixin’ has written about The Authority a number of times, it being a whole team that was my collective No. 2 favorite of 2014. and my No. 6 favorite(s) of the whole DECADE.  In 2017, it was joined by Planetary to combine for one of the two most damaging rounds ever played.

Itching to play this team, I wound up accepting/making a challenge against my good buddy (and new Heroclixin’ board member) Chadd to see if I could keep my success streak with the squad going. Three practice games in, I found it was good as ever, as least with the feat cards I’d built in.

Despite all this, it was all academic: in between the first two playtests, Chadd messaged me saying he was thinking of not packing the Apokolips team after all, leaving me throwing up my hands, saying, “What am I doing all this for, then?”

Then he had a different team idea: Star Trek Away team vs. Authority/Planetary.

I immediately loved it, even being willing to lower my build total.

But it was gonna be a trap.

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(—- Flash back to May 2018 —-)

Chadd wanted to run his new-ish Starfleet starter set figures, and I got a comic-accurate idea to face it:

Cosmic Boy (Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 001) 90

Saturn Girl (Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 202) 102

Lightning Lad (Legion of Super-Heroes 001) 70

Chameleon (Unleashed 037) 30 

Brainiac 5 (Superman 008) 88

Shadow Lass (Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 035) 78

+ Legion Lost ATA 24 points

=482 points

I was looking for a fun, comic-inspired match. What I got was a Starfleet destroying my favorite keyword and me playing one of my worst games.

Everything I did was wrong.

• Wrong map. I selected the old swamp map from SLOSH starter. Aside from patches of hindering, it’s wide open — a factor that played right into Starfleet’s phaser trigger-happy hands.
• Wrong team ability. I chose Superman Enemy as my TA via Legion Lost, giving Outwit to the higher-costed of each member. But Outwit meant venturing into range. And with the team being all fliers, that also would eat up actions just to get into position.It’s almost the worst choice I could have possibly made.
  Batman Ally would have given much needed Stealth.
  Superman Ally would have aided in shooting through the plentiful hindering.
  JSA would have helped my defense as things started heading south, maybe buying me time for a comeback — as would Titans or Suicide Squad to get some needed clicks back.
  Even sharing attack with Batman Enemy would have been better.
• Wrong attack. I got lured out to take an early shot at Lt. Sulu. But I missed thanks to his DV boost from hindering and Dr. McCoy. Worse, I blocked my own Prob Control and so had to eat the miss.
• Wrong Shady. I should have used Shadow Lass for her Absolute Darkness trait’s impenetrable Smoke Cloud. That would have prevented a load of counterattacks — perhaps all of them.
• Wrong move. ….with Saturn Girl. She was my Prob and I wound up not only blocking her LOF early on, but also making her a target to get one-turned.
• Wrong field. I started to hole up indoors behind cover but didn’t and paid for the mistake.

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So despite it looking like a bunch of mediocre-stat peons, that Trek Away Team is actually very dangerous to my Planetary/Authority squad, with its starter set members granting +1 stats for EVERYONE.

And the team is even more dangerous with their next gen brethren who can use a lot of passive abilities at a 3 square range: Empower, Enhancement, PROTECTED Outwit, Support, Defend and protection from enemy modifications. All through walls!

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But FIRST! There were other games at DragonCon with my friend, including:

His Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles vs. my Bat-Family 600

Michelangelo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 028) 100 
Raphael (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell  027) 100
Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 026) 100
Donatello (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 025) 100
Casey Jones (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell Fast Forces 006) 50
Renet Tilley (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 024) 70
Splinter (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 011) 40
April (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Heroes in a Half Shell 005) 40
=600 points

VS

Batgirl, Shadow of the Bat (Batman The Animated Series 052) 70
Batman (Batman The Animated Series 040) 125
Bat-Knight (WizKids DP17-006) 60
Batwoman (Batman 036) 61
Robin (Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 030) 40
The Signal (DC Rebirth 011b) 60
Clayface (DC Rebirth 053) 100
Orphan (DC Rebirth 034) 75 + League of Assassins ATA 7

=598 points

 

He got map (my Bat-fam is comic-based, not keyword based) and picked ROC Assassin Alley. Rooftops suited me fine, as Bat-Knight was not hindered much from getting lines of fire and I had a number of pieces with Improved Movement: Elevated. He got Batwoman but I KO’d Leo, Splinter, Casey and Renet for the win.

The Turtles are just outmatched in that fight.

Then it was Chadd’s Jean Greys (he loves that chick)

Dark Phoenix (Mutant Mayhem 220)
Dark Phoenix (Marvel 10th Anniversary 021)
Phoenix (Giant-Size X-Men 047)
Phoenix (WizKids M19-015)
Jean Grey (Uncanny X-Men 025)
Jean Grey (Wolverine and the X-Men 209) 100
Marvel Girl  (X-Men: Xavier’s School 002)
Jean Grey (Wolverine and the X-Men 017) 

1987 points

vs. my Cyclopses (my favorite X-Man)

Dark Phoenix Cyclops (Avengers Vs. X-Men G001) 1000
Cyclops (X-Men Regenesis 102) 100
Cyclops (X-Men: Xavier’s School 001) 50
Cyclops (X-Men: Xavier’s School 052) 150
Cyclops (X-Men: Xavier’s School 063) 100
Cyclops (Giant-Size X-Men 008) 110
Cyclops (Uncanny X-Men 033) 85
Cyclops (Uncanny X-Men Fast Forces 001) 50
Cyclops (Uncanny X-Men 024) 100
Cyclops (Avengers Vs. X-Men 009) 150
Cyclops (X-Men Regenesis 002 ) 70

1965 points

He picked the old DragonCon vinyl outdoor map, which had a lot of scattered elevated. That made the colossals the only real targets and targeters.

It proved that DP Cyclops was the difference, being able to outmaneuver the older Dark Phoenix and go after the other threatening Phoenixes so the rest of the Cykes weren’t one-shot.

Also key: No. 29 favorite of the decade, Cyclops (Giant Size X-Men 008) and his ability to X-Men-heal two clicks instead of one, helping DP Cyke shrug off his counterpart’s damage dealt.

I don’t recall the final score but Cyclops and Co. definitely won the day. Or, more to the point, my superior play did. It had been a long time since Chadd had played and I was much more familiar with both the rules since 2017 and the old rules and abilities of his force. He definitely forgot a few powers that may have swung the game in his direction at key moments.

 

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Then came the aforementioned Starfleet vs. Authority/Planetary at 1000 points. But that’s a tale for another post. In the meantime, look for a downloadable printable pocket checklist for the latest set: Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage, due for release Sept. 9.

During these quaran-times, I’ve been wanting to do more solo play in lieu of the online or in-person games that Corona World has demanded or denied, respectively. Games like this one fit the bill.

  

Which band of X-Babies wins?

NEW MUTANTS…

Cannonball (X-Men Regenesis 017) 60

Cypher (X-Men Xavier’s School 021) 70

Karma (X-Men Xavier’s School 022) 40

Legion (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga 036b) 75

Lila Cheney (WizKids M17-015) 25

Magik (X-Men Deep Cuts 007) 50

Magma (Wolverine and the X-Men 073) 77

Moonstar (X-Men Regenesis 104) 65

Sunspot (Wolverine and the X-Men 018) 76

Warlock (Wolverine and the X-Men 046) 164

Wolfsbane (WizKids M15-002) 64

= 766 points

…or GENERATION X

Artie (X-Men Xavier’s School 008) 25

Banshee (X-Men Xavier’s School 040) 75

Chamber (X-Men Xavier’s School 041) 70

Gateway (X-Men Xavier’s School 054) 50

Husk (X-Men Xavier’s School 009) 40

Jubilee (X-Men Xavier’s School 026) 50

Leech (X-Men Xavier’s School 024) 30

M (X-Men Xavier’s School 042) 90

Mondo (X-Men Xavier’s School 027) 70

Penance (X-Men Xavier’s School 028) 75

Skin (X-Men Xavier’s School 029) 50

Synch (X-Men Xavier’s School 011) 45

White Queen (X-Men Xavier’s School 059b) 100

= 770 points

The match was played on the Latveria map from Fantastic Four Cosmic Clash. Generation X mostly got carried by Gateway on the elevated portion, forcing the less-mobile New Mutants to come to them. But get to the younger class they did. And although the mid-’90s squad held its own, the upperclassmen had a decided lead until the late game, when the depleted Gen X roster took down like FOUR figs in a single turn to make a real fight of things. It came literally down to the last two standing.

By piece:

Cannonball (X-Men Regenesis 017) put in work to give his team a shot at busting up the Gen X formation over and over again — though ensuring his “Blast Off” was clear of friendlies was tough to do at first. Grade: Excellent

Cypher (X-Men Xavier’s School 021) was even more useless in this fight than the classic character himself, with no ability to fight down the stretch, no enemy Outwit to thwart (White Queen never landed on the power and M never had access to it) and my failure to use him as a shield for the others. When I tried to push him to his fighting clicks in the late game, he got spun to KO before taking a single action. Grade: Unsatisfactory

Karma (X-Men Xavier’s School 022) made a solitary mid-game Mind Control and a clutch TTPC later. Unremarkable otherwise. Grade: Needs Improvement

Legion (X-Men Dark Phoenix Saga 036b) underachieved because he kept landing on his click #7, one he can’t push from but is also better than his other option, being far better defensively with Impervious and Prob. He still got KO’d there thanks to clutch Gen X rolls. Grade: Needs Improvement

Lila Cheney (WizKids M17-015) was the all-important taxi to get the Mutants into the fight proper. She didn’t last beyond that because I ensured she didn’t for the Gen X cause. Grade: Satisfactory

Magik (X-Men Deep Cuts 007) was only on the team because she was an unplayed piece. I had the points to fit the Regenesis version onto the force for an equally good taxi but better attacker. This one’s Prob Control was OK while it lasted, though. Grade: Needs Improvement

Magma (Wolverine and the X-Men 073) posed enough of a threat to draw attacks from better figures, but she never works like I hope she will. Grade: Needs Improvement

Sunspot (Wolverine and the X-Men 018) took some time to get into the fight and did OK once there, KOing Banshee with one heavy object shot. Grade: Satisfactory

Warlock (Wolverine and the X-Men 046) never truly pulled his weight due to his early game Telekinesis potential being snuffed and his whole life in the late game. 160 points is a lot to pay for a Perplexer. Grade: Needs Improvement

Wolfsbane (WizKids M15-002) got superb rolls on her trait over and over, effectively always on her best click and dealing lots of damage — or soaking up same. Grade: Satisfactory

 

GENERATION X

Banshee (X-Men Xavier’s School 040) was used as mostly an additional taxi, a decision that left him out of the fight and with a Teacher’s Assessment of Needs Improvement

Chamber (X-Men Xavier’s School 041) existed as a threat but didn’t get deployed as such until deep in the mid-game. He forced a devil’s choice to push or get poisoned (and dealt some Poison indeed) at least but still Needs Improvement

Gateway (X-Men Xavier’s School 054) did his job as a taxi and Prob Control. Teacher Assessment: Satisfactory

Husk (X-Men Xavier’s School 009) performed well down the stretch with Plasticity and heavy armor like Invincible, keeping attacks from more important teammates. Clutch Regen made her last deep into the late game. Grade: Excellent

Jubilee (X-Men Xavier’s School 026) landed Generation X’s first big blow with mass Energy Explosion of half the whole New Mutants team. She was also the first KO of the game, sadly. Grade: Satisfactory

Leech (X-Men Xavier’s School 024) pulled his weight with his Lockdown trait keeping Warlock from using TK to deploy his friends. His Outwit came into play in the late game, though never able to weaponize it on multiple targets as designed. Grade: Satisfactory

M (X-Men Xavier’s School 042) never got to use Outwit due to the New Mutants lacking the power, but she sure went for Perplex every time Warlock used it. Monet was one of the last Gen X figs standing because she’s Miss Perfect. Grade: Excellent

Mondo (X-Men Xavier’s School 027) was able to go it alone with his hindering terrain warp skills and was able to weather some attacks. But a crit miss during a Gen X trait attack left him in fatal shape. Grade: Needs Improvement

Penance (X-Men Xavier’s School 028) was probably the key to Gen X’s success, lending needed Battle Fury at clutch moments and being very effective with the Gen X trait and her claws. Grade: Excellent

Skin (X-Men Xavier’s School 029) kept the Mutants from gaining much early opportunity to attack with his zoned Plasticity. And his late game Barrier probably led to the unlikely KO of Legion. Grade: Satisfactory

Synch (X-Men Xavier’s School 011) is a terrible representation of the character but he really works on this Gen X team, with so many powers to take and boost with Perplex in addition. Grade: Satisfactory

White Queen (X-Men Xavier’s School 059b) was the better headmaster by far than Banshee, beefing up the class with ranged Empower deep in the fight. But she never landed a single Leadership, ever. Grade: Satisfactory

 

The last two standing?

Artie (X-Men Xavier’s School 008), who surged in the late game with multiple clutch Mind Controls that helped lead to several KOs. One of the crappiest Heroclix figures of all (No. 2 Worst of 2018) became the hero of this team — but in the end he couldn’t claim victory, with only 1 damage against an Invulnerable opponent. Grade: Satisfactory

Moonstar (X-Men Regenesis 104) landed the first and last attacks of her team to claim victory for the original X-Babies, the NEW MUTANTS. Grade: Excellent

 

While in quarantine, I’ve taken a bit of time to play some solo matches to try out new figs. Here’s one such game at 400 points:

JUSTICE LEAGUE

Big Barda (Justice League Unlimited 056) 50

Dr. Fate (Justice League Unlimited 004) 65

Dr. Fate (Justice League Unlimited 004) 10 x 4

The Flash (Justice League Unlimited 102) 60

Hawkgirl (Justice League Unlimited 045) 60

Huntress (Justice League Unlimited 033) 40

The Question (Justice League Unlimited 031a) 40

Shazam! (Justice League Unlimited 014) 45

= 400 points

vs.

INJUSTICE LEAGUE

Amazo (Justice League Unlimited 012) 75

The Cheetah (Justice League Unlimited 016) 45

Copperhead (Justice League Unlimited 017) 40

The Joker (Justice League Unlimited 010) 50

+ Time Bombs On The Strip 20

Lex Luthor (Justice League Unlimited 066) 40

Sinestro (Justice League Unlimited 019) 75

Ultra-Humanite (Justice League Unlimited 062) 50

= 395 points. I opted not to play a Location, as I wanted the match to be even.

The heroes would have an overwhelming action advantage, with the +3 granted between starter Flash and the Fates. And with 11 on the starting force to the villains’ nine, initiative went to the Justice League, which opted to invade the hall of doom.

That would be the first TURNING POINT, because

• Poor TK lanes prevented easy deployment of the JL. Still, the JLU got first blood…
• Huntress EE’d Joker, forcing the 1st Joker bomb. But…
• Flash failed his attacks and was open to Ultra-Humanite, who Mind Controlled him to leave him isolated and KO’d
• Thanks to a bunch of Shape Changes, the Jokers started to swarm but couldn’t effectively Poison with the Dr. Fates flying away with Phasing/Teleport.

FINAL TURNING POINT

Amazo took Running Shot + Pulse Wave from Sinestro to not only hit the JLA but also to detonate Jokers for even more damage. Took down 70% of the heroes in two turns this way. Having Luthor cakes helped

———

What I learned:

• Jokers are the truth. Pushing them to bomb is a good tactic.
• Amazo is amazing. Mistakenly played him at 40 and he STILL practically ran table.
• Flash was disappointing. IM:Characters is a weakness as it forces him to potentially overextend to use his SP.
• Forgot Huntress’ dial switch, but didn’t matter vs. Poison.
• Ultra-Humanite’s super MC is bananas.
• The Question was the key to JLA — once he was gone, it was done.
• But Barda was solid even at just 50 points. Ran afoul of Shape Change.

As is customary with Heroclixin’, here’s the pocket checklist for the set (thanks to all the previews and crowdsourcing out there, mostly compiled at HCRealms.com) a little ahead of schedule.

The above is just a low-res preview. Click below for the PDF download:

FantasticFour2020Checklist

You’ll get four copies you can print and cut out for yourself and friends.

As a bonus, we also present a set of mini-checklist for all the small sets released so far this year: Black Widow, Cosmic Clash, X-Men Deep Cuts, and Avengers Vs. Masters of Evil Battlegrounds! Click below for a solo PDF download of all four:

CHECKLIST2020SmallSets

And, as always, have F.U.N. Heroclixin’!

“Becoming a Jedi requires the DEEPEST commitment … the most serious mind.”

— Yoda to Luke Skywalker in The Empire Strike Back

Substitute “HeroClix player” for “Jedi” in the above and it mostly fits. I have not seen many new players who stuck with the game without a dogged determination to do so. (The existence of this website shows that “the most serious mind” isn’t totally necessary, though.)

Heroclix has a steeeeeeep learning curve.

It also doesn’t help that TPTB haven’t always aided in that climb. So here are 5 things that new players need and WizKids MUST provide to improve the beginner experience.

1. Include quick start versions of the core rules in every Fast Forces.

I get that starters are a bigger investment for both the company and the consumer. So meet the latter halfway. Possibly also include a simplified Powers And Abilities card (PAC).

2. Include team ability rules on character cards.

It is terrible that for so many years — YEARS! — a new player could buy a starter, read the core rulebook cover to cover and memorize the PAC and still not know what that Avengers “A” symbol on their favorite Thor figure means other than looking cute. I understand that licensing rules/costs probably prevent making a single printed/printable document. But it shouldn’t prevent this step.

Thankfully, it appears that putting team ability rules on cards will be a standard feature starting with the Fantastic Four set this month.

3. Scale back the gimmicks.

Overpowered SPs/traits and Additional Game Elements add a huge extra obstacle for new players in an already overwhelming game. Game Design should remember that any high-reward ability should also have high risk. (Popular meta tactics of Colossal Retaliation and ID cards do not.)

4. Focus on the core game.

So this is a criticism of the WWE line of figures. It’s a nice idea. It opens a new market. But why add a whole other PAC and a whole other rulebook? It’s confusing to established players and will only confuse the newbies further when they either move to the core game or are being taught by the still-confused veterans.

 

But if nothing else gets changed, this one thing absolutely MUST.

5. QUALITY. CONTROL.

A while back, I wrote this in my 10 Worst Clix of 2019 post about one of the pieces in the Orville starter set:

Aside from the Enhancement, [Commander Kelly Grayson’s] SP is supposed to function sort of as a Probability Control of normally unProbable rolls.

But

1. You can’t use Shape Change or Super Senses on your turn

2. You can’t use Leadership in the action phase, when you can activate FREE actions like this SP

3. Which makes this power 98% USELESS and UNWORKABLE (there’s a corner case where you might get caught in a friendly Energy Explosion and need to reroll Super Senses. WAYYYYY OVER INNA CORNER case). But even if it were usable…

4. …You could put the game into infinite rerolls because there’s no limit to the rerolls.

5. This is in a starter set for new fans

6. They had to issue errata for A STARTER SET

7. HOW IS A NEW FAN GONNA FIGURE WHERE ERRATA IS????

A starter set piece had a power that didn’t work at all and was clearly not playtested one whit.

But then it happened again. In the Justice League Unlimited starter set, one of the included maps’ special rules required errata.

And then it happened again with Human Torch in the Fantastic Four Cosmic Clash starter set, where his Flame Trail trait needed rewording to not harm friend as well as foe. Also, many of the included bystanders in the set required errata for their powers and team abilities to work. AND a map needed a rules rewrite.

And now it’s happening AGAIN with WizKids’ upcoming Battlegrounds starter set! An Iron Man piece has a special defense power that DOES NOT APPEAR on the actual dial, according to the visible dial on the card. (I’ve gotten word that they’re working on a solution, but it’s wild that it’s still necessary.)

It’s absolutely intolerable for even one starter set to require errata.

But here we have FOUR STRAIGHT RELEASES of them.

DO BETTER, WIZKIDS!!

 

Another pre-Corona World flashback, featuring the Boy Wonder (and a couple of wonderful girls, too)

 

LONG ago, I wrote a bit about how I’d like to run a force of nothing but Robins. There have been a LOT more added to the game since then and I’ve tried it out a few times. Here’s the latest:

Robin [Batman The Animated Series 002] 35

Robin [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 031] 40

Robin [WizKids DP19-009] 40

Robin [Elseworlds 048] 45

Robin [Batman The Animated Series 102] 50

Robin [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 031] 55

Robin [Batman The Animated Series 041] 75

Robin [Rebirth 050] 75

Batcycle [WizKids DP19-010] 40

Duke Thomas [Rebirth 011a] 35

= 490 points.

My opponent, David, is an occasional returning player who’s relearning the rules, so I often coached him as to some of his best move options. His team: X-Men

Cable [X-Men The Dark Phoenix Saga 015] 75

Colossus [Avengers V X-Men 012] 125

Gambit [X-Men The Dark Phoenix Saga 025] 65

Magik [Avengers V X-Men 013] 125

Storm [WizKids M19-003] 75

= 465 points

Dave had just bought the Earth X starter set, so he selected the Wakanda X map.

That was the first of the game’s TURNING POINTS:

• Too much Stealth meant he had to close in on my team eventually, severely blunting the threat represented by Storm’s 12 AV Running Shot. So he had to cart Colossus in close with Magik. But the big guy got one-turned (he was on his short dial) and Magik was beat up, too. I left her alone in favor of engaging the rest of Dave’s team.

TURNING POINT

• I did not notice Magik’s Pulse Wave.
• I DID notice the CRIT HIT Dave rolled using it.

Between them all being clumped together and getting knocked back into the edge of the map or blocking terrain, my team took a whopping 22 clicks of damage!

It was something of a last gasp, though. The Robins were all more than healthy enough to continue swarming Cable, Storm and Gambit to defeat — especially after 030 “Thrillkiller” Robin fell to the Mystics TA, KOing Magik and tokening up those remaining X-Men to ruin David’s tempo for a comeback.

———

MVP(s):

I spent a little too much money acquiring Batcycle Robin, but yo, he might be my favorite Boy Wonder right now. And of course Thrillkiller Robin (and No.10 and 37 Favorite of the 2017 and the Decade, respectively) always puts in work.

———

I have a much larger team of Robins planned for some future throwdown with a similar swarm, maybe with point costs capped at 100 or less. IDK 🙂

My longtime clix buddy Lenny and I periodically have big matches between themed forces — Avengers vs. JLA, Marvel Knights vs. The Hand, Asgard vs. enemies of the Golden Realm, what have you.

Anyway, he’s been keeping score, apparently, between these big matches. And he wanted a final deciding fight between his Inhumans and my Guardians of the Galaxy — the latter being an old favorite theme of mine to which Lenny is largely responsible for introducing me.

The Inhumans have gotten a LOT of new juice lately, while GOTG has waned a bit. So I loaded this team for the best Inhumanity could bring to bear. We played this a few months before Corona World began.

 

My GUARDIANS:

Adam Warlock [Galactic Guardians 004] 165 points

Aleta [Supernova 043] 51 points

Bug [Hammer of Thor 001] 44 points

Charlie-27 [Galactic Guardians 012] 92 points

Cosmo [Avengers Infinity 039] 70 points

Drax The Destroyer [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie 013] 94 points

Gamora [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Vol. 2 006] 65 points

Groot [Web of Spider-Man 049] 152 points

Major Victory [Guardians of the Galaxy 005] 95 points

Mantis [Avengers Infinity 030] 50 points

Martyr [Guardians of the Galaxy 040] 160 points

Nebula [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Vol. 2 015] 100 points

Nova [Avengers Infinity 032] 150 points

Rocket Raccoon [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie 018] 100 points

Star-Lord [Guardians of the Galaxy 030] 110 points

Yondu [Guardians of the Galaxy Movie Vol 2 016] 100 points

The linchpins of my team are Star-Lord, who allows all GOTG figs to share the highest defense value of the team, which is Rocket Raccoon’s 19 DV.

 

Lenny’s INHUMANS:

Alpha Primitive [Guardians of the Galaxy 018] 30 points x2

Black Bolt [Avengers Black Panther Illuminati 042] 145 points + Reality Gem 5 points

Black Knight [Earth X 032] 100 points

Crystal [Chaos War 044] 105 points

Gorgon[Guardians of the Galaxy Fast Forces 005] 150

Karnak [Guardians of the Galaxy Fast Forces 004] 100

Lockjaw [Avengers Black Panther Illuminati 059] 40

Maelstrom [Captain America 049] 225 points

Maximus [Guardians of the Galaxy 038] 75 points

Medusa [Avengers Black Panther Illuminati 030] 50

Ms. Marvel [The Mighty Thor 037] 90 points

Ronan The Accuser [Guardians of the Galaxy 020] 153

Talon  [Guardians of the Galaxy 022] 60 points

Thane [Guardians of the Galaxy 060] 115 points

Triton [Earth X 048] 100 points

This team is surprisingly … old. I expected a few more of the newer, better Inhumans like those seen in Earth X. But in truth, Lenny has the best of those on this force anyway, and he’s also using one of the strongest of the older days: Maelstrom, who delivers a -2 speed penalty to any of my force within 8 squares! His strategy will revolve around that huge debuff to my ability to attack with my mobile fighters.

———

I picked the Savage Land map from X-Men: The Dark Phoenix Saga, an outdoor map with a mountain peak and hindering everywhere.

Lenny set up most of his force on the mountain, with Maelstrom positioned where he could limit nearly every one of my many Charge and Hypersonic figures from doing, well, much of anything. But in the process, he blocked most of his Probability Control. It’s a good thing for him because my first attacks were unsuccessful, leading to the first of the game’s

TURNING POINTS:

I built a Barrier to dissuade Lenny from counterattacking Nova after his miss … Thane could have otherwise REALLY messed him up. But he really didn’t have to. He was pretty secure in his spot … he thought.

But my goal was simply to clear a shot on Maelstrom. Then, once I could hit that piece to click 5, he becomes a giant and my whole ranged force could light him the absolute hell up before he could fight back effectively

And that’s what happened. With Maelstrom gone, the Guardians could really get into the fight proper.

Lenny also continued to play very conservatively, which played right to my game plan of going HAM.

And nowhere was that more exemplified that with Yondu and this SP:

WHISTLING ARROW ATTACK: Give Yondu a range combat action targeting a single opposing character. Each time he hits and the attack resolves, he may make a range attack targeting a single opposing character that has not yet been targeted this action, counting range and drawing lines of fire as if he occupied the square of the character most recently hit. Each hit character is dealt 2 damage instead of normal damage.

He shot an Alpha Primitive. Then another. Then Thane. Then Black Knight. Then Ms. Marvel. Then Black Bolt and finally Ronan, never rolling less than an 8! A combo of Barrier and TK kept Yondu safe from counterattacks for a turn.

THEN HE DID IT ALL OVER AGAIN. SAME SEQUENCE. SAME HITS.

This was by far the most success I’ve EVER had using this chase Yondu.

Started rolling badly toward the end, but the victory was well and truly mine. Lost only Bug, Charlie, Drax and Yondu.

Highlights

Bug, as always, served his role as tie-up sacrifice, delaying and distracting the dangerous Thane from going after bigger game.

Drax The Destroyer actually reached his chosen target, Ronan, in a F.U.N. bit of movie accuracy. Unfortunately, his proto-STOP clicks didn’t work once.

This was the first game I’ve ever used Martyr in where she didn’t end up living down to her unfortunate name. I think her getting to pair up with Nova as a fellow HSS hitter took heat off her for once.

This was also the first time I managed to get good use out of swapping Adam Warlock out for Magus and back again.

Despite being an old-school version, Groot was invaluable as a vector for Star-Lord to use his SP Outwit to nix powers from near total safety. And speaking of Star-Lord…

…him and that chase Rocket Raccoon are just a mean combo. 19 base DV for the whole team and Outwit anywhere. I expected a much stronger Inhumans team and so loaded for bear.

———

I think this wraps up our Guardians vs. Inhumans matches, with it in 2-1 the GOTG’s favor. I gifted Len a bunch of Inhumans pieces that were gathering dust and he didn’t have, so we both left happy.

Next match of ours will be either Asgard or mutant-based. But the when depends on what happens in Corona World…

 

At long last, the delayed-by-Corona World set Justice League Unlimited is out! Here’s a (hopefully) complete checklist for both the figures — main set and starter set — and the 120-ish Team Up Cards.

Above is a low res preview. You get two copies of the pocket checklist and one list for the Team Up Cards.

 

Download the PDF from this link:

JLUnlimitedCHECKLIST

 

Every year, a batch of clix heads off into Golden Age. And every year, Heroclixin’ feels some type of way.

Heroclix 2020 Modern Rotation

5-Figure Booster Sets (including Organized Play game elements and incentives associated with each set)

• DC Heroclix: Elseworlds … becomes ElseWHEN

• The hammer drops on … Marvel Heroclix: The Mighty Thor

• DC Heroclix: Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls … get dumped

• Star Trek Heroclix: Away Team: The Original Series … is canceled

• Marvel Heroclix: X-Men: Xavier’s School … closes its doors

• Marvel Heroclix: Avengers Infinity … is not infinite

 

Fast Forces Packs

• DC Heroclix: Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls Fast Forces

No one in Heroclixin’ bought any of this set. Rurouni KJS has thought about picking up some of them individually, but talked himself out of it every time.

• Marvel Heroclix: X-Men: Xavier’s School Fast Forces

In the height of X-Men ID card meta, I guess Rusty was usable? Or am I confusing him with the regular set version?

The Cyclops was a bargain basement option for the ID card(s), but that’s over. It’s canceled.

• Marvel Heroclix: Avengers Infinity Fast Forces

The Hawkeye was kinda OK and of course I love Black Panther. Otherwise there was not one damn thing apart from Giant-Girl that anyone cared for in this.

• TMNT Heroclix: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Unplugged – Fast Forces

I may have bought the Donatello as a single from this set. Maybe. I’m sure I played it once if I did. I think?

 

Starter Sets

Ah, the starter set, where many a new Heroclix player gets a shot at learning the game … or would if we vets didn’t buy up every one in search of new maps, a new rulebook and the possible meta piece in each one.

• DC Heroclix: Elseworlds starter set

Scant weeks before a fully revamped rulebook was set to release in late summer 2017, WizKids put out this, the second of TWO last-gasp starters with the old ruleset.

Kinda fitting that we never used one damn single piece from it.

(Well, OK, maybe Rurouni KJS used the Cyborg from it once maybe)

• Marvel Heroclix: The Mighty Thor starter set

Now THIS was the real thing: the new rules and all. And it included Hulk, a figure that would always be meta-adjacent at minimum.

• Star Trek Heroclix: Away Team: The Original Series starter set

Heroclixin’ only got one fig from this set, but webmaster pal Chadd loved the HELL out these pieces and put them to great use more than once.

 

Micro Sets

• Heroclix: Undead

A rare excursion by WizKids into non-license territory, this set was a lot of F.U.N. and almost entirely void of meta potential, so no great loss for it going Golden.

• Marvel Heroclix: Thor: Ragnarok

I liked getting black Valkyrie and Heimdall in this, but neither got much play in Modern.

• TMNT Heroclix: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Unplugged

A few of the Foot generics saw the meta field. It’ll be good to be able to officially play the chase Donatello in Golden Age even without the character card (that was missing from boosters more often than not due to WizKids’ famous Quality (out of) Control)

 

Convention Exclusive and Limited Edition Game Elements

Usually, con exclusives get a longer lease on Modern life and these releases from 2017 were no exception.

2017 Convention Exclusives and Limited Edition Game Elements:

• WK DP17-001 Sinestro
• WK DP17-002 Doomsday
• WK DP17-003 Superman
• WK DP17-004 Muhammad Ali 🙁
• WK DP17-005 Plastic Man
• WK DP17-006 Bat-Knight (Taylor is NOT SORRY to see this one go)
• WK DP17-007 Zeus
• WK DP17-008 Boxing Ring (a meta staple to this day. Its day is over)

• WK D17-V001 Invisible Plane
• WK D17-G001 Titano
• WK D17-B001 Ape Superman
• WK D17-B002 Ape The Flash
• WK D17-B003 Ape Green Lantern
• WK D17-B004 Ape Batman
• WK F17-001 Juggernaut
• WK MP17-001 Giant Man
• WK MP17-002 Spirit Of Vengeance Red Hulk
• WK MP17-003 Spider-Carnage
• WK MP17-004 Captain America
• WK MP17-005 Spider-Gwen
• WK MP17-006a Pym Particle Tank / MP17-006b Autopilot Pym Particle Tank
• WK MP17-007 Pym Pocket Tank (once a meta requirement, needed errata made it merely usefully optional)

• WK M17-G001 Dormammu
• WK M17-V001 Deadpool’s Merc Jet
• WK M17-B001 Serpent Spider-Man
• WK M17-B002 Serpent Punisher
• WK M17-B003 Serpent Moon Knight
• WK M17-B004 Serpent Daredevil
• WK MQS-001 Iron Man
• WK MQS-002 Thor
• WK MQS-003 Captain America
• WK TP17-001 Cyber Shredder
• WK TP17-002 Pizza Face
• WK TP17-003 Bebop and Rocksteady

2018 Convention Exclusives and Limited Edition Game Elements:

But WHOA. Here’s the exception: This stuff released months after even the most recent sets in this round of retirement:

• WK MP18-001 Blackbird
• WK MVID-011 Colossus
• WK MVID-012 Professor X
• WK MVID-013 Banshee
• WK MVID-014 Psylocke
• WK MVID-015 Rogue
• WK MVID-016 Angel
• WK MVID-017 Beast
• WK MVID-018 Cyclops
• WK MVID-019 Iceman
• WK MVID-020 Jean Grey

• WK DOFP-001 Wolverine
• WK DOFP-002 Kate Pryde
• WK DOFP-003 Colossus
• WK DOFP-004 Rachel Summers
• WK DOFP-005 Storm
• WK DOFP-006 Magneto

• WK DCID-008 Harley Quinn
• WK DCID-009 The Joker
• WK DCID-010 Mr. Freeze
• WK DCID-011 Poison Ivy
• WK DCID-012 Two Face

WizKids just decided that ID Card meta will no longer be a thing in HeroClix anymore. And we of Heroclixin’ are ALL FOR IT. Much like feat cards and resources did before, IDs reduced high-level play too much to fighting elements off the board with no counter apart from one or two silver bullets among hundreds of pieces available in Modern Age.

Good riddance!

Finally, there’s these departures:

Monthly Organized Play Sets

• March 2017 (M17-007 Falcon, M17-008 Kate Bishop, M17-009 Miss America)
• April 2017 (M17-004 Polaris, M17-005 Havok, M17-006 Banshee)
• May 2017 (D17-001 Huntress, D17-002 Power Girl, D17-003 The Flash)
• September 2017 (M17-010 Colossus, M17-011 Storm, M17-012 Blink)
• November 2017 (M17-001 Scarlet Spider, M17-002 Doctor Voodoo, M17-003 Synapse)

As hinted by the opening image, yours truly (Rurouni KJS) will miss … um … Miss America.

COVID-19 continues to disrupt our lives in America. Heroclixin’ is no exception. Ye olde webmaster Rurouni KJS is preoccupied with finding new employment, so I haven’t been thinking much about keeping this blog fresh. And it’s not like we’re able to get much in the way of tabletop F.U.N. with social distancing being a thing.

But I can’t abandon Heroclixin’ entirely, or even at all. So it’s time for me to spend a little of this extra time digging out some posts that have been languishing in draft status for A WHILE.

The first is an installment in a little series I INTENDED to publish in recognition of Heroclixin’s 10th anniversary last year: How yours truly and fellow board members Sceritz and Taylor even got started playing this great game.

So this is a mea culpa to Taylor, aka The Baker Tay, aka TBT, who answered the call early and I just sat on his writeup for a whole dang year.

———

Heroclix started in my life as a goal.

My first piece was Hypertime Aquaman #52. I grabbed him off a “free” table at my first anime/games/etc convention at Otakon in Baltimore, Maryland.

It was the coolest thing ever.

Jump ahead a few years, and I found the Watchmen Fast Forces at a local music and games shop. I loved that store, I was still interested about the game, and one day I knew I’d play it with someone. I picked it up. I still had no clue how to play.

It was the coolest thing ever.

I’m a mostly full-grown adult, moved a (literal) thousand miles away, and I took a vacation back to a convention with a bunch of friends that I missed dearly. In that con was my first game of Heroclix. In a sealed event of War of Light, It was me against another new player. The judge was probably the epitome of an enthusiast, and he got to me. I loved the game. I played the Lost Lanterns Arisia and Graf Toren with an Orange Lantern Construct, and I can’t remember what my opponent played. I didn’t care. It brought comic books to life. It was intoxicating, even with the loss I took that day. The judge gave me a Kyle Rayner LE (yes, THAT Kyle Rayner) as a thank-you for playing, and the Green Lantern Battery. I couldn’t stop thinking about it all vacation.

It was the coolest thing ever.

I go back home to the great “A”, with a determination to play this game more than once in ten years. Thanks to the internet, I find a local game store, play more consistently, meet Rurouni KJS and Sceritz… and it snowballed from there. I still love that stupid, very-strong Kyle Rayner. I also hope I find that guy who taught me how to play. I owe him a game or two.

 

Coolest. Thing. Ever.

———

And that was the coolest intro to HeroClix ever!