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The two very best feats.

#2

jlF003

20 points. Expensive, but such a simple way to make our whole team better as needed every round. There’s probably no better use of 20 points on a team with, of course, the prerequisite Perlexer and allied beneficiaries.

 

 

# 1

aaF002

5 points. The inexpensive price is what vaults this one to the top of the feat heap. It suddenly makes a HOST of Leap/Climbers and Close Combat Experts highly viable move-and-attack pieces, opening up tons more positioning options than before. But it’s also quite balanced since its two-square reach really isn’t that overwhelming. It’s the perfect example of a great feat card and it’s a real pity that more weren’t this fun and awesome.

 

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 The very worst feats.

 

#2

DCCDBoosterCards.indd

9 points. Even when Soaring was a thing, this feat was useless. +2 movement for move actions really was not a big deal without the ability to carry. Breaking away from other soaring characters came into play about the same number of times more than one character occupied soaring status: almost never. And the cost? At least seven points too many.

 

 #1

mmF002

12 points. Couldn’t have been much worse if they’d just written “only this one Colossus character and that one Wolverine figure can use this feat, once, EVER.” I mean, have you ever seen so many arbitrary conditions to use a power?

  1. Same team symbol required. This kind of makes sense, but cuts out so many combinations.
  2. First must have Super Strength. OK, that’s fine.
  3. Second must have Toughness. Sure, that’s fair. Need to be able to survive the impact. But…
  4. …not Invulnerability. Not Impervious. ONLY Toughness. Here’s where it gets stupid. And we’re not done.
  5. Can’t have more than 3 damage, either. Which is ridiculous, because…
  6. …It costs both a power action. Ugh. So you’re burning up two actions for one light attack! Really?!
  7. Hit or miss, it’s a one-time-use feat…
  8. THAT COSTS 12 POINTS.

Feats are supposed to increase a character’s flexibility. This one is the definition of INflexible. That’s why it’s the worst feat WizKids ever attempted.

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Tomorrow, a bonus: Heroclixin’s favorite F.U.N. feats!

 

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I added art to DC cards to make ’em prettier. Here’s the latest, another feat from Justice League:

JL_F003_BrilliantTactician

It’s pretty. More to the point, Brainiac 5 (as drawn by Barry Kitson on the cover of Legion of Super-Heroes #1) is the prototype of the feat.

Next week, more feats from JL.

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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.

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.

monicaSHOT

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.

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.)

ZOMG

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.

aaronstack6

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.

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Continuing this series talking about DC feats and BFC cards that I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.) Today, Card Arts continues with the first of 2007’s Justice League’s feat cards:

JL_F001_PointBlank

Deadshot aiming at the reader at point blank range, from Jim Califore’s work on Secret Six. It works.

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Next time, Card Arts looks at another feat of 2007’s Justice League set.

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Continuing the photographic record of clix from the Teen Titans set with Super Strength that can hold the game’s cardboard object tokens. Today, let’s look at this wild guy, Grunge:

It doesn’t go easily, but the shirtless tat-monger can secure something like a hold on a token upright under his right wrist as shown.

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Back on Thursday for another teen titan with a grip.

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Continuing this series talking about DC feats and BFC cards that I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.) Today, Card Arts continues with the last of 2007’s Justice League’s BFCs:

JL_BF003_Shrunk

Technically, the Justice Leaguers in the above image (from the Rock of Ages storyline in JLA) aren’t shrunk, just among much larger heroes of an older universe. But it’s a perfect image to illustrate the card.

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Next week, Card Arts looks at the first of the Feats of 2007’s Justice League.

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Continuing this series talking about DC feats and BFC cards that I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.) Today, Card Arts continues with the next of 2007’s Justice League’s BFCs:

JL_BF002_Pacification

Great image of the mighty Superman giving a love tap courtesy of Carlos Pacheco. The card itself is a great remix of the more abusable “Power Dampening Field,” which replaces damage dealt higher than 3 with 3.

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Next time, Card Arts looks at the last of the BFCs of 2007’s Justice League.

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Another installment of the photographic record of how HeroClix figures with Super Strength can hold — in some way — their own object tokens. Here’s a final figure from Man of Steel that’s actually named Superman:

Superman (Man of Steel 100) has a steely grip thanks to his cape and left boot.

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Next week: Token Totin’ might continue Tuesday with more Man of Steel. But I still lack the remaining pieces with the Super Strength power: Kelex (Man of Steel 015) and General Zod (016). We’ll see.

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Secret_Avengers_05_pencil

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

CommanderRogers

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

sharoncarter00
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

irredeemable ant-man
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

valkyrie
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

black-widow-jg-jones
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

war-machineNovaPrimeIAmAnAvenger
 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

MoonKnight
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

beast
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!