Continuing the series recounting how I choose art for DC cards to make ’em prettier.
Here’s the next BFC in the set:
Though he’s my favorite character, Aquaman on a wrecked throne well-illustrates the card. This was from a cover 2/3 through his 2002 series run, just after Atlantis had gotten smooshed by the insane Spectre during Infinite Crisis.
Next week, another feat from Crisis.
Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, let’s look at the Jugga’naut, #####:
U know who the #### I am?
Kuurth [Fear Itself 026] can juuuuust barely balance an object token on his head and arm as shown. There might be another hold available, but I didn’t find one in the minute or so I had with someone else’s copy of the piece.
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Future editions of Token Totin’ Thursday will highlight more Fear Itself until it’s all shown.
Have F.U.N. Heroclixin!’
This is an occasional article I include in Heroclixin’ whenever a new set drops. (Yes, it’s a bit late.)
See, while some players collect X-Men or Justice Society characters, I have…odder themes that I like to complete. It’s why, even in a set like Wolverine & The X-Men full of characters that I’m fairly burnt-out on, I still find pieces that I look to acquire to complete or complement my weird themes.
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For example, there’s my ARCHER theme of characters wielding bows and arrows. It’s the main reason Mirage (Wolverine & The X-Men ) makes the list. Well, that and the fact that I’m glad they made her with both her classic and Valkyrie powers, putting her in line for another semi-goofball theme that I may have highlighted a long time ago (or not so long ago): Ride of the Valkyries.
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Early on in my involvement in HeroClix, I endeavored to build a top-flight, competitive team of all-black characters. I still collect them all, so I’ve sought out my #4 Most Wanted Piece, M (054) and Bishop even though, technically, these dark-skinned characters are Algerian and Aboriginal, respectively. And we can’t forget Storm, who comes with the X-Men Gold team base.
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The Trenchcoat brigade gains new member(s) with a new Multiple Man in his current long-coated look. He also happens to be one of my favorite characters, so I have focused on obtaining several of these figures. Speaking of favorites, Longshot shares X-Factor membership with him (and the aforementioned inestimable M) to finally mostly complete a keyword-friendly version of my favorite X-team. I won’t break my neck to get the Team-Based new version of Wolfsbane, as there’s a great Golden Age version of her out there. Similarly, Strong Guy isn’t exactly a must-have for the same reason.
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Big Bertha adds some more female mystique to my fun FAT FOLKS theme. Shadow King is also portly enough to contribute to tipping the scale toward my end of the map.
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I won’t mind adding Black King and Black Queen to my silly “characters with ‘black’ in their names” theme.
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And, sadly, I like Atlantis pieces, so chase piece Phoenix Five Namor is on my wish list. Sigh.
Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, this time starting a multi-week look at figs from the new Wolverine and the X-Men full set. Next up? Cyber (Wolverine and The X-Men 208) .
Under his left toe is an OK hold; not great, but adequate.
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Thursdays for a while will feature pix from Fear Itself, with Tuesdays continuing the coverage of Wolverine +The X-Men.
Continuing the series recounting how I added art to DC cards to make ’em prettier. I’m going to switch things up a little by alternating between BFCs and Feats in each set. To wit, this time Heroclixin’ looks at the first Feat of Crisis:
Well, technically it’s the 2nd feat, but F001 is an Alternate Team Ability that was banned when WizKids upgraded to the current Additional Team Ability rules.
Anyhow, the challenge was finding a DC character jumping off a building and NOT FLYING. This crop of two panel of Young Heroes In Love member Thunderhead doing so was the best I could recall and find. Art’s by Dev Madan, who apparently went on to great success as a creator of Sly Cooper.
Next week, another BFC from Crisis.
It’s tough reviewing these. Heroclixin’ is all about F.U.N. But BFCs were all too frequently the OPPOSITE of fun. Especially these:
Earthquake: Bad for soft non-fliers. At least it only occurred once per game, so it’s the least unfun of the lot.
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Isolation: Defend, Blades/Claws/Fangs and a host of team abilities that shared AV or DV were all rendered null and void by this card. Worse, teams that need these effects tend to be utterly ineffective without them. Unfun.
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Poor Teamwork: Whoops; your taxis and TKers are mostly dead weight now. Terrible unfun for any team that needed the mobility.
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Exhaustion: As if pushing weren’t bad enough, this one doubled the damage for doing so. Worse, it swung the action advantage even FURTHER in Willpower’s direction.
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Disbanded: Nothing’s worse than seeing all those points paid for those team abilities on your team go up in smoke upon this card’s reveal. The one BFC even Galactus fears.
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Bright Lights: Woe to any team that actually used Stealth as a defense. It’s worthless with this BFC on the field. Used almost exclusively to punish players who abused the black Speed power, it also gave a really strong advantage to range-heavy teams.
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Deep Shadows: This card is mean because Stealth can be mean. But Stealth has a built-in dependence upon hindering terrain that usually limits the degree of its meanness. This card gives all the advantages of being hidden and none of the drawbacks. UnF.U.N. Why the hell was it reprinted over and over and not its more F.U.N. cousin, Darkness?
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Malice: The meanest card out there, bar none. It forces teams to take damage any round it doesn’t attack. Supposedly an anti-turtle tactic, it actually rewards turtle teams more than any other so long as it has a healer available to absorb the self-damage. Meanwhile, it can set up the killbox for teams that CAN’T bide their time, anymore, because of this #$^$% card.
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Usually, Heroclixin’ devotes the first full week of the month to a Top Ten countdown of something. But battling the happy fatigue that follows the great Labor Day weekend nerd prom called DragonCon makes this one short and sweet as yours truly takes a short, sweet break from Heroclixin’. Readers new and old can use the time to catch up on older articles.
Next week, look for the usual rotation to start again:
Monday: Card Art, where I explain my choice of art for DC feats, BFCs and ATAs after WizKids stopped licensing art from DC comics;
Wednesday: F.U.N. Fights, a semi-regular feature of battle reports
Friday: an occasional F.U.N. Friday article starring a team or a figure I’d like to run, or other commentary on the game;
and Token Totin’ Tuesday/Thursday, the photographic record of how characters with Super Strength can visibly and practically hold the game’s object tokens.
Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, this time we look at a quartet of red females in the Fear Itself expansion. Starting with that ginger foe of the Avengers, Titania:
She really can’t do much more than lamely lean the token on her right boob. At least it makes it plain that she’s holding the object and not standing on it.
Things improve once it’s hammertime and she becomes Skirn:
Said hammer makes for a fine grip.
The ginger theme goes even further with the dark-haired but red-skinned Red She-Hulk 006, who sports two holds. First is this tenuous one wedged between her hair and the small of her back:
…but it only works with the older, thinner object tokens. Otherwise, you’ll need to lean her a bit to the right to fit a token under her left arm:
What about when she goes Mighty? Red She-Hulk 020 shows what’s what:
It tucks right under her chin.
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Future editions of Token Totin’ Thursday will highlight more Fear Itself until it’s all shown.
And hey! if you’re coming to DragonCon this weekend, look for yours truly in the HeroClix gaming area as I’m a member of the judging staff again this year. I’ll be one of the short black guys with glasses. (I may or may not have blonde hair.)
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.
Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, this time starting a multi-week look at figs from the new Wolverine and the X-Men full set. First up? Colossus (Wolverine and The X-Men 002 and 202) .
Just nudge the big Russian back a bit and the token fits fine under his left wrist.
A surprise is Toad 006, who can get any attack power on his late dial:
The hold is quite bad, as only the newer, thicker objects found in starter sets since 2012 can wedge between his butt and calves…barely.
Another: Shi’ar Guard 206 from the countertop primer set:
He can hold it well as shown.
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Thursdays for a while will feature pix from Fear Itself, with Tuesdays continuing the coverage of Wolverine +The X-Men. Tomorrow, read about a F.U.N. Fight.
And Friday? It’s all about DragonCon in Atlanta on Friday.
Continuing the series recounting how I added art to DC cards to make ’em prettier.
Last time, I promised another feat from 2007’s Justice League set. But the remaining feats of the set were either too laden with text to work — such as Contingency Plan — or are outright banned, like the Alternate Team Ability feats. So we’re moving on to cards from the next DC set, 2008’s Crisis.
When I read the issue of Starman that this excellent art came from, I knew it was the best choice to illustrate this battlefield condition — one which could not be used at all on a lot of the more recent maps in the game, according to this Player’s Guide ruling:
This card can‘t be played if any of the starting areas is made up exclusively of elevated terrain.
Next week, more BFCs from Crisis.