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Number 7
Crystal

Crystal (Chaos War 044)
WHY I WANT TO PLAY HER EVERY WEEK
I wrote about Crystal last summer in my “Ginger Avengers” feature. It’s all still true; she’s a heck of a first-strike piece on top with a great deal of finesse in her super-fun “Tornado” trait and later-dial related SPs. Her modest combat values keep her from being broken.

WHY I DON’T
She’s a lock on Inhumans teams, but I don’t play that keyword very often. I also quickly get tired of Avengers. I haven’t figured out many other cute themes to work her onto.

I’M PLAYING HER NEXT
On an Inhumans team, of course, though who knows when THAT’ll be. And she’ll always be a Ginger Avenger.

_____

Number 6
cyborg

Cyborg (New 52 Justice League 006)
WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK
I’m a completist where black characters are concerned, so I was glad to see Victor Stone well-represented in his third HeroClix iteration. I also like what’s been done with him in the New 52 JLA, making him a founding member for a needed extra dose of diversity in that team.

He’s also very playable, what with his anti-Stealth trait and Running Shot + Pulse Wave combo (which is very effective with his 6 range; it’s easy to get single-target blasts off). Following with Poison, Exploit Weakness and strong combat values, and it’s not hard to see why I think he’d have made my Top 10 list in a less torrid year.

WHY I DON’T
I’m trying to play all my figures at least once, and that hasn’t left much opportunity to run Vic more often with the sheer rate that WizKids is pumping out new figures and sets. Especially since I haven’t come up with any cute themes to run him in. The “Big 7” JLA is also a bit too points-heavy to run much.

I’M PLAYING HIM NEXT
I have no idea. I just know I will, probably when I’ve whittled down my multiple cases of unplayed figs.

______

Number 5
NovaPrimeIAmAnAvenger

Nova Prime (Galactic Guardians 001)
WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK
After I became a fan of the Guardians of the Galaxy (because of HeroClix, incidentally), I grew to become a fan of Nova as well, enjoying his rise in status from a mere ex-New Warrior into a heavy hitter of cosmic Marvel.

HeroClix didn’t really give him his due in its first take on him in Supernova. I mean, the Vet was fine for Rich as just a regular Nova Corps Centurion. But it wasn’t him as Nova Prime at all.

Even this figure isn’t really Rider with the full Worldmind and Nova Force in him. But then, he’s totally designed as the leader of fellow Novas, and no longer carrying the full load anymore. And this Nova Prime is still an excellent piece.

WHY I DON’T
He’s best played as part of a full corps of, well, Nova Corps pieces with the “Share Through the Worldmind” traits. But the points almost never seem to work right, due to my insistence on running multiples of all the Nova Corps generics, the Super-Nova marquee and the older REV pieces.

I’M PLAYING HIM NEXT
On a Secret Avengers team soon, now that that team’s original lineup is basically complete (only missing an Avengers-keyworded Valkyrie). And one day I’ll get that full-force Nova Corps team together.

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Nearing the top with numbers 4, 3 and 2, which range from the tall to the small; from the depths to the heights.

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Number 10
Miranda_Tate-1
Miranda Tate (Dark Knight Rises 012)

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HER EVERY WEEK

I don’t, actually.

Let me explain. As I was thinking on this list, I found myself having trouble with the #10 piece. There were so many candidates: Black Lightning, John Blake, Taskmaster, Agent Coulson, Thing, Cosmo.

But aside from the first, none of those leap to mind to play, ever, unless a specific keyword of theme calls for them. And even if I spot them in the tackle box while pawing for another figure, none make me stop and consider it the way Ms. Tate does.

I like Miranda Tate because, like the character, the piece is all finesse and positioning. The ability to wildcard adjacent enemy TAs (via her “A Secret Agenda” trait) is novel but requires careful play. Fortunately, she’s got solid combat values plus Perplex to help. She’s not a point-and-click figure but can have an outsize effect on a game.

And hey…Marion Cotillard.

WHY I DON’T
Her keywords are limited to Martial Artist and Spy — neither are favorites. Her 70 points are also a bit hefty for her fragile dial. It’s also tough to come up with cute F.U.N. themes to include her on. (Business Suits, maybe?)

I’M PLAYING HER NEXT
My venue’s having a “Breakfast Club” scenario where no one can share keywords. She’s on the team…with her secret agenda.

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Number 9
Stranger
Stranger (Galactic Guardians 043)

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK
When the Infinity Gauntlet finals came around, I used him. With only average combat values ill-fitting his high price, one may wonder why I tried him against the likes of Sentroid and Chanos.

The fact that I came close to maybe beating both is testament to the unique strengths of The Stranger.

  • See, I picked him against Chanos because even though the mad Titan’s starting-area killbox WOULD get first shot on Stranger, it couldn’t possibly KO him. Instead, Stranger would almost surely land on his Attack SP, allowing him to pick any PAC power for the turn, such as Hypersonic Speed to hit the key foe and run out of the killbox.

    And if not for the critical miss I rolled in the process, I might’ve had a decent shot at beating that team, what with Stranger’s ability to heal up by picking Regen or ensure the best defenses for the situation.

  • Stranger also has a great trait allowing him to become either giant or colossal-sized at the beginning of turn. The former ability, one of my favorites anyway, gives him extra LOF when needed and the latter permits him to act via the Colossal Stamina ability while double-tokened to press the attack.

    And if I’d remembered to pick the Colossal symbol when I had Sentroid on his LAST TWO CLICKS, I might’ve easily taken him down for the win instead of getting wiped out the next three turns.

Though these losses to two of the most ultra-meta teams of late summer/early fall by mischance and user error were unfortunate, they underscore why Stranger is a favorite:

  1. He’s not a point-and-click-your-opponent’s-dial by any means. Makes him Friendly for a 200+ point Power Cosmic tentpole.
  2. But he’s super Useful with that Special Power.
  3. And he fits my Nifty “This Team Is Strange” theme. (The rest of the above IG team: Both GG Dr. Stranges and a trio of Astral Stranges.)

WHY I DON’T
I typically only bring out the Stranger for big-point, higher stakes games that usual. He’s about as close as I ever get to powergaming.

I’M PLAYING HIM NEXT
On the next high-point Strange and Stranger team, this time adding Hugo Strange, Adam Strange and the new ASM Dr. Strange. Should be……………………………………strange.

____

Number 8
AVMHulk
Hulk (Avengers Movie 202)

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK
After a decade of Hulk figures that mostly disappointed (being zero-range figs in a game weighted in favor of shooters), this movie-inspired one finally got the jade giant right. Fantastically powered AND balanced, Hulk is character-accurate fun without being broken.

WHY I DON’T
Unfortunately, he’s so strong enough that he’s not enough F.U.N. to break out on a regular basis — don’t want to be That Guy. He’s also so many points that he eats up the points room for his non-Avengers keywords (Brute and Monster), and I’m not that big a fan of the Avengers keyword. In a bit of a blow to his ability to run with fellow Monsters, his Battle Fury keeps him from working with Mole Man’s special Mind Control. Finally, he’s been a bit overshadowed by the Worldbreaker version of Hulk released last fall.

I’M PLAYING HIM NEXT
On an Avengers Movie team. Would also like to run an all-Hulk squad sometime, if I can ever get the points to work out.

___

Tomorrow, numbers 7, 6 and 5 of Heroclixin’s favorites.

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Finally, it’s time for my favorite Top Ten list of these annual new year retrospectives: My Top Ten Faves of the past year! As in previous installments I’ll hit the following talking points:

  1. Why I like this figure and would like to play it every weekend
  2. Why I don’t actually play this figure every weekend
  3. When and how I’m planning to play this figure, possibly this weekend

And also as before, I open this feature with a figure released in the prior year that came out too late to make the list it might’ve belonged to:

Lex Luthor

LEX LUTHOR (Superman Fast Forces 004)

The greatest criminal scientist of the DC Universe and sworn enemy of Superman!

_____

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK:

I love that Lex as jailbird was finally represented in HeroClix in the full Superman set. But like his archfoe, Lex was based on his All-Star Superman version and thus saddled with a Superman-level powered “stop” click to represent his electric-chair-activated super serum in that storyline.

But that’s not the mainstream Universe Lex. He’d NEVER let himself actually lose a death penalty trial. 🙂

Anyway, I was even gladder to see a more normal, less apocalyptic Lex in this 50-point model. He’s a better fit for teams and plays much like this ultimate schemer ought to:

  • Allying with others  (using his Calculator wild card status)  whom he might use to defeat Superman by using Enhancement to help them shoot, or Perplexing other stats as needed);
  • Staying in the shadows (via Stealth);
  • and, best of all, using Mastermind to turn on his temporary allies to save himself in classic Lex fashion, regardless of their  cost if they don’t have more than 100 points on him.

I like this sort of finesse piece.

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WHY I DON’T:

His super-Mastermind requires him to be using the same TA. That rules out a lot of characters, and he’s only as good as his team. He’s also been a bit overshadowed by Lex Luthor (10th Anniversary 020), an even better representation of the character at his at-large strongest.

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I’M NEXT PLAYING HIM ON:

Either a Legion of Doom team  or a team of all Lex Luthors:

Justice League Lex 161
Orange Lantern Lex 160
Alex Luthor 113
Force Field Lex 160
All-Star Lex 107
and this Lex to make a 751-point team to fill out with ATAs, feats and/or Resources.

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Join Heroclixin’ in Valentine’s week for more figures I loved in 2012.

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Readers who caught yesterday’s post on time might’ve noticed it was titled as a draft. I was literally falling asleep at the keyboard and not only forgot to fix the name, but actually forgot I’d scheduled it to publish! I was fretting a bit thinking I had forgotten to publish it, then got online to see my error.

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At the nadir of the list of 2012’s worst pieces is the late, not-so-lamented :

#1

marvelgirl1960s
MARVEL GIRL (Marvel 10th Anniversary 006)
Miniskirt Jean Grey does one thing: Telekinesis. (Yeah, she can heal on her first click. So what.)
TK is her only job. Possessing zero range, her using TK is the only way to maybe activate her Battlefield Promotion when she dies.
Wait. What? She only promotes when she DIES?
Well, that’s actually character accurate. But with her 9 AV sinking low and lower, the chance of her racking up enough tokens to succeed if she gets KO’d are slim. And no player’s going to KO her if it can be helped, knowing Dark Phoenix is in the (fire) wings.

So. 54 points for a character you really just push to sling people around is just a waste. And she’s the worst.

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Enough of the torrid and the horrid. For this week leading into everyone’s favorite Hallmark holiday, Valentine’s Day, I’m going to focus on 10 figures from 2012 I loved. As has become standard, next post will share a holdover from 2011 that first saw play in 2012 and has a place in my Heroclixin’ heart.

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Now we really start bottom-feeding.

 #4

RACHEL DAWES (Dark Knight Rises 205)

I mentioned her last summer in my rant about the overpoweredness of The Dark Knight Rises set, but my complaint was centered solely on the character inaccuracy of this dial. It’s really not very good.

(Kinda like Katie Holmes as an actress.)

(Kinda like Katie Holmes as an actress.)

  • She’s not getting much use out of Leadership at her 40-point price.
  • Incap’s not too useful at 0 range.
  • She loses Stealth to be a medic…a subpar one with 8 AV.

Sure, she makes adjacent pals immune to Poison and Incap. But only one of those powers is scary. Meanwhile, she’s got to push and push (ignoring her Willpower) to get to a decent AV to use Support. So just do yourself a favor and pretend this Rachel is the one that gets blown up in the 2nd movie.

Along the lines of civilians-in-a-superhero-game…

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#3

LUCIUS FOX (Batman 033)

This was almost a double feature starring BOTH versions of Lucius Fox: this one and the Dark Knight Rises version. But the latter is properly costed well under 40 points for his civilian bystander weakness and can be useful for his special Leadership (which works way better than stupid Katie Holmes’) and Perplex and then Outwit.

The non-Morgan Freeman’d Fox also brings Perplex and Outwit to the table. But he’s paying 42 points for it and his power to not get shot at first thing in a turn. So opponents will move an inconsequential piece first and THEN blast him.

I suppose one could use him to tie up a dangerous opponent. But with his crap stats, you’ll just be surrendering his support powers and his 42 points and make him an obituary.

LuciusMissing

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 #2 

MADAME XANADU (New 52 Justice League 018)

She’s a Mystic with Perplex, and one of the cheapest. This makes her better than a lot of previous years’ Worst lists. Yet she here tops 2012’s crap heap. Why?

  • No defense other than Mystics.
  • In fact, she’s completely soft and vulnerable to attack.
  • A largely wasted 10 AV. Being so soft and having 0 range work at cross purposes. In order to fight, she must be in close. No savvy opponent will let her in close, and she won’t live long in melee.
  • And then there’s her SP, which only removes tokens off adjacent characters who MISS an attack.
  • I repeat for emphasis — it only works when you’re failing attacks.
  • Oh, and she’s got to make a power action first. So you’re basically burning an action as a weak contingency if the ally misses. Otherwise, you just totally wasted an action and her ability to use themed team Probability Control (because you’re only going to play her on a Justice League or Mystical keyword team, if ever) to reroll a friend’s attack.

The only reason she isn’t #1 is that the ever-useful Perplex is followed by an impressive run of Regen paired with Prob Control, which can combine to keep her around longer than she should and force the opponent to take more Mystics damage trying to KO her.

But you shouldn’t be paying 62 points for the ability to maybe come back from damage she ought not be taking. The booby prize of the New 52 Rares.

(Literally)

I'm looking at your stat slot window, Madame.

I’m looking at your stat slot window, Madame.

One more left: the cruddiest figure of 2012. Tomorrow.

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Here’s three more of the year’s worst.

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 #7
Maul

MAUL (Batman 024)

The WildCATs’ big man is a big failure. He starts as a modest-stat Perplexer, then “hulks up” into a more Invulnerable type. The problem is that his AV doesn’t quite hulk up with him, and he loses the ‘Plex when he could really use it. Then he becomes a giant target, still without the AV he needs to contribute more than being the game’s biggest tie-up/meat shield.

At half the price, maybe he’d be better at the role. But no — 113 points he is, and it’s 113 points you might want to split between a real fighter and a real tie-up pawn.

He might get dumber and dumber as he grows, but maybe he’s still smarter than players who use him as the brick he looks like.

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 #6

Mindwarp_001

MINDWARP (New 52 Justice League 015)

He’s a two-trick pony, and only the first trick is any good:

  1. Phasing Prob Control. OK, that’s not bad.
  2. IF he has no action tokens and IF he can see an attacker and IF he can see the target, the target can use Super Senses. That’s a lotta IFs, and we’re still not done with ’em: IF the target actually dodges the attack with Super Senses, Mindwarp has to base the attacker. But PCers are best used at a distance, not up close. So it kinda ends up being a wash — or worse — even if it works.

45 points is just too much to pay for this. Lose him in warp space or something.

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 #5

ORACLE (DC 10th Anniversary 017)

Oracle pieces have never been much for the battlefield proper — after all, she’s a paraplegic. But at least they’ve been great backfield support and, most of all, cheap.

This one? Not really.

She’s got a nifty trait that, like 2011’s #7 Top piece Professor X, allows her to draw lines of fire from fellow keyworded pals. But she’s more handicapped than her Marvel chair-bound counterpart:

  • 0 Range.
  • Using her complement of support powers (Outwit, Perplex, Prob Control) requires a dedicated power action…
  • …to pick ONE.
  • And all the oppo needs to do to shut that whole thing down is base her. She really can’t survive a hand-to-hand fight for long.

At 73 points, she needs to be a lot more potent than that.

I would make a crack here about her being crippled and having to crawl, but...oh, look....I...just did.

I would make a crack here about her being crippled and having to crawl, but…oh, look….I…just did.

Tomorrow we really start bottom-feeding.

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Compiling a list of 10 truly terrible pieces of crap this past year was harder than ever. Some of Heroclixin’s choices would’ve simply been completely average dials in years past.

But we’re in the era of power leap, now. Completely average might as well equal total crap in some folks’ eyes.

We’ll start with a (dis)Honorable Mention that flirted with being the best of the worst:

The Sharpshooting Avenger (Avengers Movie Starter 005)

At first, this version of Clint Barton looks just fine: Running Shot with 10 AV, 3 damage and Willpower isn’t exactly chopped liver. He’s also got a nice trait giving him 3 targets to use his Incapacitate with.

  • Then you notice that trait drops his AV to 9.
  • And there’s only a short 5 clicks of life on his soft dial.
  • He’s also saddled with two team abilities: Avengers and SHIELD, neither of which really serve him very well.
  • The worst thing is that all this inefficiency cost 75 points.

Jeremy Renner isn’t truly a bad piece, though. It’s just that there are close to 100 other figures in that price range — including a number named “Hawkeye” — that are better fielded than this one.

Yep...you're goin' DOWN. That little rope arrow ain't savin' ya.

Yep…you’re goin’ DOWN. That little rope arrow ain’t savin’ ya.

Enough intro. Join us next week for the descent into mediocrity.

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THANOS.

Based on the classic 1991 miniseries.

There was a lot of bellyaching about Nightcrawler (Web of Spider-Man) and his ability to kidnap a target to a prearranged killbox far away from its backup. That misbegotten mechanic suddenly made soft, immobile characters and tactics like Metron and the Shield Disruptor top-level stuff. But there were ways to slow the elf down: super turtling in the start zone or rushdown so the killbox can get overwhelmed immediately after its done its worst to Nighty’s victim.

That #$%#$ don’t work when the kidnap tactic works from the STARTING ZONES. On TURN TWO.

Thanos (Galactic Guardians 049) can do just that, isolating your top two figures some 20 squares away from anyone friendly, giving his killbox IN THE STARTING AREA (no need to actually, y’know, position) easy free shots on them.

And lest you think “Well, he just made it easy to counterattack him,” he can swap your guy’s usually high Attack Value with the usually lower Speed Value.

Meanwhile, the rest of your team is likely at LEAST two rounds from being able to effectively help out.

At least that’s a chase piece, and thus not all over the place. Unfortunately, the regular Super Rare Thanos (Galactic Guardians 046) is as torrid in his own way, thanks to this trait:

“AVATAR OF DEATH: Other characters can’t be healed.”

Steal Energy, X-Men/Titans TA, Regeneration, Support…all useless until he’s gone. And with his sky-high stats, self-healing and powers, that’s a tall order for a lot of teams.

Neither of these match up to Thanos the Colossal (Infinity Gauntlet 008), regardless of which “Issue” you’re “reading”:

  1. Multi-Attack and a choice from  THREE 150-point figs to add to your force AFTER seeing what the other side’s packing AND deal half the team free damage;
  2. Double-Incap a foe and dump ‘im in their start zone;
  3. Kill the other team’s keywords and, if in base, team abilities…and oh yeah, a free 100-point brick/Perplexer in Terraxia;
  4. Nerf a successful attacker’s stats -1;
  5. Penetrating damage is just regular damage.

I mean, sheesh. How torrid can you get?

As it turns out, even more so. Stay tuned.

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The countdown continues.

JuliePOWAH

Resources were a new mechanic for 2012. Neither quite a feat, nor quite a special object, the Infinity Gauntlet combined the randomness of relics with the steady boost provided by the best feats.

Trouble was, it was better than ANY feat or relic — so much so that it became pointless to try winning a top-level tournament without paying the 40 points for the fully loaded version.

Here’s why:

  • Anti-Outwit. Who needs Fortitude? Ignore the black damage power.
  • Willpower. Any character that was hobbled by the fact that it couldn’t afford to push…well, it wasn’t hobbled anymore. Or balanced.
  • Random extra powers. With a full complement of Infinity Gems, a Gauntlet wearer could sport a short ton of powers (Steal Energy, TK, Mind Control, PC, Super Senses, Phasing, Carry, Incap, etc.). Not something to count on, but certainly not chopped liver.
  • Special Powers 1, 2 and 3. Within just a few rounds, suddenly that fig that you already had difficulty dealing with because your Outwit was useless and it kept acting 2 of 3 turns…well it just got more difficult to deal with. With SP #1, that random extra Gem power need not be so random anymore. Then SP #2 not only adds +1 to all stats — ALL! — but it also allows the player to pick any one power from the PAC.
  • Worse still, Both SPs do not require the dial to turn like the rest of the Gauntlet does, allowing the wearer to just. Sit. There!
  • Worst of all? SP #3 ups the ante to +2 to all combat values on top of the pick-a-power ability, and the wearer can use ANY of the attached Gems.
  • For the rest of the game.

A more balanced — and comic accurate — approach to these Special Powers would be for them to require the Gauntlet dial to turn with every action. Why? Because no one EVER holds the Gauntlet long. The less-than-cosmic can’t handle the power (see Nebula) and the powerful are either too wise to do so (Adam Warlock) or bore quickly of omnipotence (Thanos).

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Barely any better is the Utility Belt. Much more random than the Gauntlet, it would seem to be a much more balanced piece.

It’s not.

It grants massive stat boosts about every other roll. Its attachable items grant some neat abilities for absolutely minimal cost (1 point).

And with just three of them, HEY! You get Willpower…for just 11 points.

Not done. You can get reloads of items, or take a double action to switch to your favorite click on the Belt (like the one with +2 stats and OUTWIT, maybe?) or add brand-NEW items, get free uses of existing ones or even drop one to make it a Relic.

One more thing: You can add a costume granting some MORE powers essentially for free (so far, we’ve got the Suit of Sorrows, which gives Super Strength and Battle Fury).

All this for a dirt-stinkin’-cheap 14 points, max. Its capabilities aren’t even fully known yet and it’s already warping the game.

Resources are torrid. But you need ’em if you’re going to face the top 3, coming next week.

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One thing you always used to be sure of: If you saw a themed team of a certain type, you knew the other player was likely just a little more limited in what she could bring to the table than if she’d built a truly maxed-out team.

Used to.

But in 2012, even that was no longer any guarantee, thanks to the #5 most torrid thing in HeroClix this past year:

Keyword “wild cards”

It started with Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War 049) and her trait that allowed her to team up with Avengers — already one the most-populated and potent of the named keywords — and add her considerable talents without breaking the theme. This unprecented bending of the theme rules was mitigated by the fact that she didn’t actually add to the themed team bonuses; she can’t add to the map roll or use the theme Probability Control. But her being a Mystic and bringing her own PC made up for that little balancing act.

Then came Nightwing (DC 10th Anniversary 007), who not only doesn’t break theme teams, but actually gains the needed keyword in addition. So if you need a keyword to activate an effect, just make sure to assign it to the former boy wonder and let fly with the game abuse.

WizKids really should have at least, in the interest of character accuracy, limited the effect to DC keywords only. It’s like they learned nothing from the original Thunderbolts feat.

They still weren’t done. Gandalf (The Hobbit 002) also has the same trait. While the trait makes a bit more sense on him (after all, a wizard comes and goes precisely when he means to!) it should have been limited to generic keywords. Gandalf brings more general utility to teams than Nightwing thanks to first-click TK and Perplex. Thankfully, he’s not Modern Age-legal.

The three chase Skrulls represented a last bit of keyword “wild card” action. While they neither get nor grant keywords, they instead grant team abilities to all their fellows with the Skrulls keyword in addition to their inborn Skrulls TA. To that end, chase Spider-Man (Marvel 10th Anniversary 024) is the last link of the wild card keywords. Joined by the two previous pieces, he can turn fellow Skrulls into actual wild cards so they can copy Batman and Mystic TAs.

Torrid. Just torrid.