A new set brings more Super-Strong figs to photograph toting their object tokens. And we’ll start with the first of several versions of Wonder Girl:
She holds a token tenuously but well between her lasso hand and her left leg.
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Lots more to come next Tuesday.
Continuing this ostensibly weekly (but more like monthly) 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 Origin’s Feat cards.
The next feat of the set is Coordination, a double-edge feat that unblocks lines of fire for some of those characters who need it:
This pic from the ’07 series “JSA vs. Kobra” fit the bill, even if it’s a bit better than the feat it illustrates.
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Next time, Card Arts continues with an Origin feat that’s a DC reprint of a Marvel favorite.
#2
ENERGY EXPLOSION!
Hard to use, hard to explain, and hard to justify ever using on any click that could shoot out a wall instead, Energy Explosion has long been one of those stepchildren of attack powers. For while it was potentially powerful against multiple hit targets, getting that shot was usually difficult and not worth the trouble if even +1 damage got you to 3 damage or better. And if you had a SP or trait granting you some other ranged combat action power, like Penetrating/Psychic Blast or Pulse Wave? Fuggedaboudit; you’re using one of those two 90% of the time.
The 2013 ruleset addresses all that in the following ways:
To illustrate: In the past, Lightning Lord could target Ult. Cap, Arachne and Bucky Cap and deal damage via EE accordingly…
Moon Knight, who’d normally be untargetable thanks to Stealth, and Spymaster take some heavier damage due to being adjacent to two hit targets. But by and large, most are only scratched (and Aquaman, who’s got Invulnerability, isn’t even tickled).
Now, with the 2013 rules, Lightning Lord deals EE damage like this:
Whoa, that’s a BIG DIFFERENCE! Good thing ol’ L.L. only has a 9 AV, huh?
Oh, he’s a wild card? Copying Batman Enemy? With Joker As Sgt. on his 11 — or 12 — AV click?
This explosive leap in usefulness makes the orange attack power the #2 Winner of 2013.
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Speaking of leaping:
LEAP/CLIMB.
Once the darling power of cheap tie-up figs everywhere, the king of mobility has lost its automatic break away might, only granting the +2 to the roll. It also lost the “Improved Movement: Characters” bit that would allow it to slip past enemy lines with ease. Most of the time, the Leap/Climb piece won’t have trouble doing so, but Plasticity (and certain other SPs and abilities) will trip it up.
Though still plenty useful, Leap/Climb is the #2 Loser in 2013, because the orange speed power is so much less than what it was.
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And now: the NUMBER ONES!
PLASTICITY!
It was long one of the lamest of all powers. Sure, it worked great at tie-up against most opponents, and helped minimize its users’ vulnerability to tie-up. But there were nearly 800 dials with Leap/Climb; nearly 300 with Hypersonic Speed and close to 650 with Phasing/Teleport. Once you add the Improved Movement pieces and the Giants and Colossals, you’ve got a full third of all characters in the game ABSOLUTELY IGNORING an opponent’s Plasticity.
So two of those powers/abilities were stripped of their automatic breakaway skills. That still left another third or more of all characters in HeroClix able to freely move around Plasticity via Flight or some other ability. That’s where Plasticity’s true upgrade comes in: the ability to gum up its surrounding squares for movement. Suddenly:
Plasticity doesn’t do squat against Phasing/Teleport (it ignores characters for movement) or vehicles (same) or certain types of Improved Movement. But the blue Speed power has been fantastically upgraded and will have a far greater impact on the game than ever before. It’s easily the #1 Winner in HeroClix’s 2013 rules revision.
And the #1 loser:
HYPERSONIC SPEED.
Although HSS has been nerfed a couple of times (full range to half; option 2 gone), it remained the one power that truly had no hard counter the way nearly every other power did…until now.
Losing automatic break away was the first blow, with HSS instead getting a +2 to the roll instead. But the changes to Plasticity make that a true hard counter to the brown speed power if its user has 0 range.
So say goodbye to the days when a HSS figure could easily and merrily stay just out of reach in the late game if you didn’t have Outwit to stop it. Now all you have to do is base the speedster, and you might have a chance at a fight.
It’s still pretty much the best power in the game, but it’s also pretty much the #1 Loser in 2013 because it’s gone from being as close to an auto-win standard power as exists in the game to merely being the best.
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That’s it! I, for one, am very much looking forward to these changes, which will tip the balance a bit more to the melee end of things while not invalidating the power of range. And, of course, there are the brand-new PAC powers of Sidestep, Precision Strike, Invincible and Empower!
But that’s ahead in June. For now, I’m off to go see Iron Man 3. Have F.U.N. clixin’!
Continuing the photographic record of how HeroClix can hold their object tokens. Let’s look at the bruiser of the Batman set, Big Barda:
She holds hers OK under her cape IF you use the chintzy lightning on her Mega-Rod to help.
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I’ve been planning to publish the Top Ten list I was working on for April originally. But it was shoved into doubt by a sneak preview at a Fear Itself figure that appeared to meet the criteria.
Then the 2013 PAC and its changes completely destroyed that list.
Consequently, Heroclixin’ is beginning an early Top Ten countdown between now and Monday on the 10 biggest winners (and losers) in the 2013 rules update (in the same fashion as the 2011 version two years back).
It’s gonna be F.U.N.!
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 begins with Origin’s Feat cards.
The next feat of the set is Dissent, another I forgot to include when I uploaded these cards to Heroclixin’:
Again using 2005 art by Barry Kitson from his run on Mark Waid’s reimagined “threeboot” Legion of Super-Heroes series. (It’s of newest member Invisible Kid being shunned.)
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Next time, Card Arts continues with another feat in Origin.
Continuing the photographic record of which Super-Strong characters can hold cardboard object tokens. Here are a couple that I missed from the Batman set months back.
Batman (Batman 056) has a good hold under his cape. Maul (Batman 024) doesn’t grip his quite as tightly, but it’s fine and it’s arguably cooler.
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Was set to start a new feature tomorrow, but might delay to get a little ahead on the site. Have a great weekend!
It’s been a marathon run, but I’ve finally cleared out the six leftover Fast Forces/Starter set clamshells FULL of never-played figures in my collection and whittled it down to this small case intended for such pieces (the clear one on the right):
…and even it’s only half-filled! It’s a good feeling.
Piece-by-piece, alphabetically:
Blanka (Street Fighter 102) served well as a meat shield for bigger monsters. But that’s about it. He takes up too much space in my ever-more-crowded HC storage for his lack of utility even though he fits a couple of F.U.N. themes.
Dagger (Amazing Spider-Man 203) never got to be the fine healer she’s capable of being thanks to some horrible die rolls in the game. Of the two new Daggers, I might prefer the other one.
Dr. Strange (Amazing Spider-Man 005) fell victim to a lot of Poison Ivy poisoning but I liked the way this piece held up anyway. He’s got a fairly permanent place in my collection.
GCPD Detective (Streets of Gotham 004b) is much less effective than her Outwit-wielding “A” version. There’s enough Perplex elsewhere in the Police keyword for me ever to field this chick.
GCPD Officer (Streets of Gotham 001b) was OK. And that’s about all I can say. I’d like to get a 2nd one to drive the GCPD Cruiser while this one rappels all over the map.
Harvey Dent (Streets of Gotham 022) was the engine of his team, swinging over and over with Flurry on an Outwitted target. He never took enough damage to risk becoming Two-Face, either.
The Joker (The Dark Knight Rises 209) is a different sort of bad clown. I’ll save him for a mass Joker team (or leader of a bunch of his thugs and henchmen).
The Joker Thug (Batman 004a and Batman 004b) is a neat piece on Joker-led swarm teams but a little awkward to use, too.
The Joker’s Henchman #2 (The Dark Knight Rises 019) finally joined his brethren on the battlefield. But he never got to use his special Probability Control, because the game was too short. Maybe next time.
Kraven The Hunter (Amazing Spider-Man 031a) did little more than Leap/Climb behind enemy lines and try to get his chosen prey. Didn’t work. But he definitely gave the team chances to win. This clix will hunt.
Punisher (The Incredible Hulk 023) failed his one shot at an approaching Big Barda. Didn’t last long after that, especially after I Weapon Swapped to the pistol version upon a second attack after Barda beat him with a light object. That was a mistake. So far, it just looks like I need to avoid fielding the sniper Punisher under most circumstances.
Robin (DC 10th Anniversary 014) WAY overperforms. First, his Enhancement naturally enhances fellow shooters. Next, his Leap/Climb got him into close quarters with ease. And while his 16 DV does no favors in that position, it does help him attack with 10 AV and 3 damage next turn if he survives. Though a tad more costly than I like, this 52 points isn’t badly spent.
Satanna Hellstrom (Amazing Spider-Man 034) was OK, but she’s not really my type. I prefer good girls to bad ones. I needed the points for Thunderbolts and didn’t have them. Oh well.
Scarlet Spider (Amazing Spider-Man 018) nearly took out Kal by himself (before one of my opponents stole those points from me). That 20 DV in close is pretty awesome.
Spider-Man (Amazing Spider-Man 054) had too many friends around to leverage his combat boosts when isolated. Still a decent piece, though I may try to trade him for a different armored Spider-Man.
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Thus ends the Figure Flush, leaving but a literal handful of never-before-played heroClix in my collection instead of the 175 I started with.
number 3:
SENTRY AND VOID (Chaos War 057) LOSES THE “AVENGERS” KEYWORD
When these two are merged like this, not only do the Avengers fight HIM, but even the likes of LOKI fight him. Absolutely should NOT have the keyword, for any reason. Worse still, the Avengers keyword is the best in the game already.
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number 2:
ENCHANTRESS (New 53 Justice League 016) GETS ALL HER KEYWORDS ON HER 50-POINT STARTING LINE, NOT THE 250-POINT ONE
Ditto for this crazed chick. The Enchantress who actually works with Shadowpact and the Justice League (Dark, see number 5 from yesterday’s post) and Suicide Squad was the relatively low-powered June Moon. The 250-point powerhouse was the Justice League (Dark)’s FIRST VILLAIN. WHY DOES SHE HAVE THE STUPID KEYWORD?!?!?? Especially with a trait that helps her FIGHT the Justice League?
Rrrrrrrrgh! I’m convinced that those keywords were supposed to only work on her 50-point line. But WK screwed it up.
Which brings us to the number 1:
SUPERMAN (Crisis 105) COSTS 283 POINTS, NOT 238
You can’t tell me there’s really a 79-point difference between this chase and its 317-point, LESS-POWERFUL sculpt-mate for having just three less power slots. The Superman Ally TA CAN’T cost that much more than the Hypertime TA. This was a mistake and should be fixed on the card and the clix.
But it won’t be. So I’m done whining this month.
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NEXT MONTH: I’ll have a real Top Ten (the one I intended for this month but ran out of time to finish it, especially since one of the previewed Fear Itself pieces looked to shatter the lineup … until I learned it was fake). TOMORROW: Figure Flush finally finished.
number 6:
EVERY FIGURE WITH BOTH THE “GOTHAM CITY” KEYWORD AND THE BATMAN ENEMY TEAM OR CALCULATOR OR INJUSTICE LEAGUE TEAM ABILITIES GETS THE “GOTHAM UNDERWORLD” KEYWORD INSTEAD OF THE “GOTHAM CITY” KEYWORD
It was always ridiculous that Joker could “theme up” with Batman and Robin…JASON TODD Robin. It would be great if that stupidity were permanently reversed the way the old Thunderbolt feat abuse was. As far as I can tell, the only figure that would be adversely affected is Hitman no longer being able to theme up with the Bat Fam. Which would crush the playing dreams of no one ever.
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number 5:
ALL ALTER EGO CHARACTERS IN THE BRAVE AND THE BOLD AND WEB OF SPIDER-MAN GET AN ERRATA SO THEY DON’T TAKE PUSHING DAMAGE TO USE THE POWER — LIKE ALL THE ALTER EGOS AFTER THEM
Unlike 90% of all HeroClix players, I’ve actually tried to play these pieces and found that the inability to push to the AE figure made them highly unplayable. The new lot are much better.
So why not just make it a global change for Alter Ego powers? Sure, it’d be a big clustergropefest to errata all those character cards for the 10% of all HeroClix players who even care. But so what?
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number 4:
“JUSTICE LEAGUE DARK” IS A KEYWORD
It somewhat incenses me that this super-niche team that most of the real Justice League don’t even know about is, for keyword purposes, practically invited to the satellite Watchtower for snacks. Conversely, how’s the glow-in-the-dark Green Lantern get to use the JL Dark ATA? It’s ridiculous. The team should be its own thing with its own ATA.
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NEXT: The “never ever ever ever” wish list continues.
….getting these changes in HeroClix.
number 9:
THE CONVENTION EXCLUSIVES OF 2012 WILL NEVER BE WIDELY AVAILABLE BEFORE THEY’RE RETIRED
This wish is lower on the list not because I don’t really really want it but because it’s not really THAT far outside the realms of possibility. But if nothing’s been announced by now, I don’t think it’s happening.
A sub-wish of mine is that the Con Exclusives from 2011-12 are NEVER retired. They’re so difficult to acquire that it’d be a shame to ever not be able to play them. And they’re not game-breaking at all, either. But I’m not expecting it.
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number 8:
AUTOPILOT VEHICLES WILL NEVER BE DISALLOWED FROM USING FEATS, RESOURCES, RELICS AND THE LIKE
Vehicles already get a HUGE discount in the point formula, able to have long, long dials for very low cost. They can move freely, immune to tie-up. They can keep a key figure on your team safe as its pilot. They can carry multiple figures that usually can’t be carried, with no speed penalty.
And I know HeroClix doesn’t always make real-world or even comic-book world sense. But VEHICLES ARE NOT PEOPLE. They can’t pick up and wear a Nova Helmet. They can’t wield the Infinity Gems. They aren’t capable of superheroic feats.
They’re just dumb machines — with NO HANDS. Which leads to my sub-wish under this heading: That the Autopilot mechanic for Vehicles just goes away (except as a specific trait for certain “smart” vehicles like the Batmobile).
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number 7:
NO NEW MECHANICS/SALES SCHEMES IN HEROCLIX FOR AT LEAST A FULL TWELVE MONTHS
Since January 2012, we’ve gotten:
Ships
Resource Dials
Relics on the dial (on the Infinity Gauntlet figures)
Replacement Figures
Team Packs
Mass Market Exclusive blind boosters
Characters only found in Fast Forces/Starter/Con Exclusive/Strategy Game form
Tab-Apps
Vehicles
Wild Dials
And now, the imminent introduction of Team Bases and the sealed-only Fear Itself set, all on top of expanded use of Alter Ego, Morph and Battlefield Promotion mechanics.
There are more than enough mechanics in the game. And there’s no need to do any more.
But I know I’m spitting in the wind, here.
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NEXT: The “never ever ever ever” wish list continues.