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I was in some kind of quandary. I could not decide which team to run.

Last go-round, I’d run a pretty min/max force with three good attackers backed by a full pit crew that did barely better than squat against teams that weren’t even the roughest out there. So this time I decided to run teams that were more F.U.N.

But, again, I couldn’t decide. Would it be:

Vixen plus two each of Killer Croc (No Man’s Land) and Black Lightning with a Bat Signal?

An all-Batman squad of Zur-En-Arrh, the Streets of Gotham marquee, Speeding Bullets and the 200-point Batman, also with a Bat Signal?

or

Justice League International, starring the 200-point Batman, Guy Gardner, August General In Iron and Rocket Red with the Utility Belt?

I often decide these with a random die roll. But I second, third, fourth and FIFTH-guessed this time around. In the end, I chose to go with the JLI troupe, trusting the flexibility of the Utility Belt.

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The first round was a slow affair slowed further by my opponent’s total unfamiliarity with his team (all the NML LEs except Lock Up, who was swapped out for Scarecrow). Hits were rare. I won it on a roll-off at the end.

Second round I was up against a Birds of Prey team complete with Big Barda and Oracle. I lost it early with my decision not to go immediately to the Rebreather tactic. Guy Gardner was alpha-struck and my team never recovered, esp. after Red’s fortuitous Energy Explosion was rerolled into a miss.

Third match was another disaster against Superman-as-Batman, Mr. Freeze, Harley Quinn, a Joker Thug, Void and a Joker who could Mastermind to nearly all of them. Early hits on Freeze were healed away by Void, my Stealth was of little use against SuperBat, and I simply couldn’t land the needed KO blows once Red and Guy were clobbered to near-uselessness by the Belt-wearing Kryptonian. I got Void and the Thug but lost more.

Final round saw me facing another SuperBat, along with a Mystic Batman, Black Queen and Deathstroke. I made some headway against this team, KOing the middle two (and an Alfred) but fell victim to the sheer power of the Kryptonian, who wiped me out in a few late-game blows.

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Another dismal 1-3 performance. What made it worse is the feeling of not having any real answer to the Utility Belt and high armor/defense — and the knowledge that the Vixen-led team DID have those answers. Two Outsiders would’ve handled the +2 threats of the Belts, my whole team dealt penetrating damage, and the bruisers were unshootable in water.

More than anything, it was the team that, in truth, was closest to my heart. But I blinked and didn’t run it in favor of a team that had the stupid Utility Belt on it. Feh.

Thus ends my little flirtation with powergaming, such as it was. It’s just not enjoyable unless I’m winning. I’d much rather try to work a F.U.N. team into tournament-contending shape going forward.

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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 Pounce, the feat that used to make folks glad to see Leap/Climb and low damage on the same click:

OR_F006_Pounce

One of the covers from the “Villains United” miniseries or one-shot featuring a leaping-at-you Cat-Man seemed right, though ironically, the Vet version of the character represented by the image doesn’t meet the prereqs for Pounce. Oh well.

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Next time, Card Arts continues with an Origin feat that will be defunct in a few weeks. But not yet!

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This is an occasional article I plan to include in Heroclixin’ whenever a new set drops. 

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 Teen Titans that I have almost zero interest in, I still find pieces that I look to acquire to complete or complement my odd themes.

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Arrowette (Teen Titans 006) and Arsenal (Teen Titans 036) are, of course, both archers. Once in a great while, I like to build teams composed of nothing but characters wielding the bow and arrow. 

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Early on in my involvement in HeroClix, I endeavored to build a top-flight, competitive team of all-black characters. Back in 2005, that was impossible. But as the years have passed, some solid pieces of the African persuasion have been made and I can build teams that can challenge all but the GenCon-level forces.

Anyway, I still collect them all, so in addition to Static (045), a character I actually like, I’m also seeking out Skitter (048), Tattooed Man (071) and both versions of Cyborg (026 and 063) even though there are plenty of alternate versions of him by now.

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Longtime Heroclixin’ readers will recall a humongous article I wrote about the Atlantis keyword, so it’s no surprise that the common Aquaman (015) and the super-booster-exclusive Aqualad (075) are both on my wishlist. 

That Atlantis article needs an update, soon.

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“Diana’s Wardrobe,” a theme in which each Wonder Woman figure is wearing a different costume, once had me chasing every version of the character. The far-too-silly-looking TabApp figures broke me of that particular streak of completism. A similar theme called “Kal-El’s Closet: What the Well-Dressed Superman Is Wearing This Season” was also similarly nixed (but more because of the difficulty/expense of acquiring costly pieces such as White Lantern Superman). But if I can score either of the Justice League team base Trinity figs — Superman (066) or Wonder Woman (068) — then sure, I’ll add ’em to the mix.

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Red Star (012) is the latest addition to a theme I’m tentatively work-titling “Red Dawn” in which I play the whole game in a Russian accent with figs like Black Widow, Rocket Red, Darkstar, Ursa Major, Void, Crimson Dynamo and more such comrades. Apart from this team, though, I have zero affinity for the character. 

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Finally, there’s Fairchild (020), a rare female character with the Scientist keyword. I still want to play all these smart chicks who “Blinded Me With Science.”

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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.

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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:

OR_F004_Coordination

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.

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#2

EE

 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:

  • EE is no longer a ranged combat action, but activates when one is made, more like Blades/Claws/Fangs. So just as Exploit Weakness + BCF = possible 6 penetrating damage, so does PPB + EE = penetrating “splash” damage.
  • Instead of dealing damage to the “splashed” characters based on “number of hits,” which was sometimes powerful but super-complicated, it’s based on the shooter’s number of targets. This is a vast upgrade because a 3-target EE shooter no longer has to fire at a big cluster of targets to deal the big splash damage.

To illustrate: In the past, Lightning Lord could target Ult. Cap, Arachne and Bucky Cap and deal damage via EE accordingly…
EEillustrationOLD

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:
EEillustrationNEW

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:

spiderman2600_(11)

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!

Flash+Tarpit

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:

  • Hypersonic Speed characters with zero range can’t hit and run, or even run up and hit.
  • Leap/Climbers can’t bypass Plasticity to the rear guard.
  • Neither can fliers.
  • Or even colossals!

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:

Flash trips

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’!

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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.!

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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 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’:

Dissent

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.

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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!

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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.

Franken-Castle (Amazing Spider-Man 101) took the dirtnap in the big game against a Police swarm, never landing a Leadership roll or an attack. But it still took two Flurrying foes forever to put him down for good. Zombie Punisher may see play from me again.

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.