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Continuing Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strong figs that can hold objects, again. Here we continue  the DC HeroClix 10th Anniversary roundup!

I mentioned yesterday that I observe All Saints Day (though I’m not a Catholic). Frankly, I only do so nominally, if at all. It’s still fitting that today’s photo is of the closest thing in comics to sainthood, Superman!

As you see, Superman (DC 10th Anniversary 021) has plenty of room in the booth for the object! One can also squeeze the older, thinner objects between his cape and the back of the booth.

Since it’s Thursday — formerly known as Thor’s Day — here’s a pic of Thor  (Marvel 10th Anniversary 005):

A token fits under his tricep, barely.

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Heroclixin’s taking a few days off in preparation for November’s Top Ten list, to begin either Monday or Tuesday.

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Some of you old heads out there might remember the above game. It certainly topped my wishlist that Christmas.

Anyway, it’s what I titled this recent scenario at my venue:

  • Colossal figures, old and new, are encouraged for this Golden Age event! No feats or resources are allowed for colossals, but they are encouraged for non-colossal figures. 1800 points, 7 actions.

I built my team to A) survive Ziran tests if anyone brought it and B) to play as many never-before-played colossal dials as possible:

Giganto, The Mole Monster  (Galactic Guardians) 300
Giant-Man  (Chaos War) 300
Uatu The Watcher  (Galactic Guardians) 400
Master Mold  (Galactic Guardians) 700
Mole Man (Galactic Guardians) 47
Donald Blake (Chaos War) 33
Jane Foster (X-Plosion)16
=1796 points.

Other teams on the tables included:

Vic’s Thanos (issue 5, I think) and Dormammu with Iron Man and Scarlet Witch;

Paul’s old-school Galactus;

G.O.’s Mark II Sentinel and Nemesis with smaller toughguys like Worldbreaker, Scarlet Witch/Wonder Man and Brainiac;

Bob’s colossal Dark Phoenix and Master Mold with a horde of Orcs and Warg Riders!

Young Sebastian’s all-Dr. Manhattan team, ranging from the 1200-point Jon Osterman to the 105-point giant;

and Bryce’s team with no colossals at all.

FIRST I faced Blue, a new guy who fielded a full-power Master Mold (1500 points) and Sentry & Void. I picked an indoor map and crushed Sentroid with little trouble. That left his Mold free to build Sentinels. But that only offered up free extra points for me to gain a slim 50-point advantage for the win (having lost my own 300-point fig in Giganto).

NEXT, despite being the lowest-point 1-0 non-bye player, I somehow had to deal with the one piece I thought would go 3-0: Cosmic Multiattack Galactus! Paul picked a wide-open map and that was practically my loss right there. I tried to use some strategy by blocking with Uatu, then Giganto, but I made two critical errors:

  • I was blocking for Master Mold, the only one on the team who could withstand the big G’s Psychic Blast. So I should’ve used him to block for the others;
  • I forgot JUST HOW LONG 16 range really is. Galactus could move 6 squares to one-shot my medic in the starting area — and did. Feh.

FINALLY, I had another overpowered cosmic dude to face: Jon Osterman Dr. Manhattan (1200 points), Dr. Manhattan 005, Dr. Manhattan 012 and Silk Spectre & Dr. Manhattan. I got map and used Ookaara. My young opponent, Sebastian, picked the elevated outdoor side.

He spent the first several rounds refusing to budge from his starting area, much less entering my killbox, and I spent those turns setting up said killbox.

Finally, I remembered that I had him trapped already. I busted a couple of squares of blocking terrain so that Giant-Man could start shoving the elevated side of the map over and over and over until the blue man group quit hiding and came to fight!

Unfortunately, that kid is a pretty savvy player. He waited just long enough for me to shove colossal Jon onto his Pulse Wave clicks, then Phased down and exploded me over and over while I futilely tried to counterattack a 21 DV. Impervious was rolled when I actually did hit. I was just fortunate to not lose any of the three-figure-cost pieces.

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Though the event was designed for colossals, I was very pleased that the eventual winner, having beaten both the original Galactus AND the above-mentioned Dr. M team, was Bryce’s colossal-free force including Iron Man / War Machine with the full Infinity Gauntlet, Captain America (Hammer of Thor), Iron Man (Secret Invasion), Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion), Professor X (Giant-Size X-Men), Immortus, Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War), Mr. Fantastic (Secret Invasion) with Brilliant Tactician, Alfred Pennyworth (Dark Knight Rises), The Wizard Shazam (Brave and Bold), Batman (Dark Knight Rises), and Namor (Secret Invasion). Truly, a force that could contend with colossals, and did!

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it. Me, I’m more of an All Saints’ Day fellow, which will be highlighted a bit with tomorrow’s Token Totin’ feature. See you then!

 

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Continuing Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strong figs that can hold objects, again. Here we continue both the DC HeroClix 10th Anniversary roundup and wrap up the Halloweeny focus on the freakish with this most famous of comics monsters, the Hulk!

It’s kind of a tough hold. You’ve got to push the token as far into Hulk (Marvel 10th Anniversary 002)’s armpit or crook of the arm as possible, making certain it’s also against his right toe. Then sort of make it rest on his fist as well. It’s wobbly, but it seems to work!

The monstrosities aren’t finished. It’s a DC zombie!

 

Black Lantern Superman (022) can fit a token under the cape, barely.

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Tomorrow’s Halloween! Prepare for a most terrifying battle report — colossals unleashed!

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Heroclixin’ has a cute name for everything. F.U.N. Fridays. Card Arts. Token Totin’ whatever. “Battle Reports” just isn’t doing it for me.

‘Course, longtime readers may recall that I did have a cute name for this feature before I dropped it for being too long: “New Comic Day Battles.” Because it was scheduled for Wednesdays, right? Which is when new comics are released. And since this is a game that’s (mostly) based on comic books, I thought it was fitting.

But, as noted, it was too long. Especially since it was always followed by the name of the theme or scenario.

So I’m now seeking a proper new title for this usually weekly feature. Would love to get your suggestions. 🙂

 

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clockwise from top left: The Spot, Super-Adaptoid, Armadillo, Nightshade, Chameleon, Rocket Racer, Living Laser (Xed for lacking the keyword), Mentallo, Puma, Scientist Supreme. And, of course MODOK in the center.

Last summer I wrote about fielding this team en toto. I got a chance to run a truncated version of it soon after, but as it was lacking nearly half the members (500-point game), it wasn’t nearly satisfying.

Well, with a 900-point “last chance for Modern Age”  tourney a few months ago, I finally brought the whole (not-quite-comic-accurate) MODOK’s 11 to the map:

MODOK (Captain America #050) 160 + Intelliencia ATA 3
Super-Adaptoid (Captain America #020) 175
Scientist Supreme (Captain America #033) 97
Armadillo (Captain America #036) 89
Nightshade (Captain America #027) 72
Mentallo (Captain America #010) 71
Chameleon (Web of Spider-Man #019) 66
Rocket Racer (Web of Spider-Man #044) 60
Puma (Web of Spider-Man #012) 56
The Spot (Web of Spider-Man #051) 51
= 900 points.

As I wrote before, running this team is like planning a heist. Every piece has its role. But as you’ve seen in every heist movie ever, things never go exactly as planned. Piece-by-piece:
MODOK (Captain America #050) 160 + Intelligencia ATA 3
The PLAN: As the main perceived threat, MODOK was to hold his big brain back behind pals.

What really happened: With the last-minute addition of the Intelligencia ATA, he had razor-thin opportunities to take range-enhanced Running Shots. So MODOK really was more the tentpole than I intended, taking and landing crippling blasts on the opposition. It worked out pretty well, to say the least. The big brain was also the brawn. He’ll be back for the next caper.

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Super-Adaptoid (Captain America #020) 175
The PLAN: Use him as tie-up and blocker. His long dial would allow him to take multiple hits to land on his dangerous, Cosmic-powered clicks.
What really happened: His paltry 2 damage for his whole early dial made him a non-factor in fighting his weight class, while those foes simply murdered him past his best late-life clicks. Pushing was no help, either: he can’t afford the loss of his one opening click of Running Shot and his DV slides way too low for his price. Worst of all, his Attack-power-copying SP requires him to get way too close but the Intelligentsia ATA (and his inborn fragility) absolutely discourages that. Super Adaptoid will be the first I’ll drop for the sequel to this movie.
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Scientist Supreme (Captain America #033) 97

The PLAN: Wait for the right moment to unleash her Outwit-through-walls SP.

What really happened: It was a challenge to make sure she could keep fellow Scientists in her Perplex-vision — which was more useful than the SP Outwit at first — while staying close to her Mastermind fodder, too. But in both games, she indeed acted as the surprise weapon no one could see coming, or stop. I won’t field MODOK’s 11 without her in a build high enough.

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Armadillo (Captain America #036) 89

The PLAN: Use him as Mastermind fodder for Scientist Supreme.

What really happened: The guy just couldn’t keep up with her and never got used for her Mastermind. (It’s a real pity he can’t tunnel in ‘Clix like he can in the comics.) Instead, he worked OK as a cleanup hitter. Not bad, but feels a bit like deadweight. He’s only for the full squad.

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Nightshade (Captain America #027) 

The PLAN: In between occasional Running Shots, turn The Spot into a buzzsaw of a werewolf.

What really happened: She did just that. In fact, she also functioned well as a tie-up piece, being able to Battle Fury a foe (The Armored Avenger 003, specifically) but keep him from attacking her back! This hottie is no mere eye candy.

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Mentallo (Captain America #010)

The PLAN: Hydra TA and a bit of anti-Stealth shooting and, later, Outwitting.

What really happened: Well, at least he was able to loan Hydra to the wildcards. Moreover, he served as a Penetrating/Psychic Blast threat to draw fire. Any solid hit other than a KO made him an Outwit threat. Still and all, he’s hardly needed for future heists.

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Chameleon (Web of Spider-Man #019) 66

The PLAN: Block LOF or tie up someone. Also loan wildcards the Sinister Syndicate TA.

What really happened: He did perform the requisite Stealth blocking, but the real surprise was that he actually landed an Incapacitate attack that swung the team to a victory. I won’t make certain he’s on future jobs, but he’s not as useless as I’d figured on.

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Rocket Racer (Web of Spider-Man #044) 60

The PLAN: The advance striker, maybe? He needs the Sinister Syndicate TA to actually land attacks.

What really happened: The Intelligencia ATA truly made Racer effective at his intended role; a +2 range boost to his halved HSS attacks isn’t insignificant! He also excelled a bit at being another tie-up piece for the team thanks to his Combat Reflexes. Racer gets the call every time.

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Puma (Web of Spider-Man #012) 56

The PLAN: The close combat specialist.

What really happened: Despite Super Senses and Shape Change, he only ever took damage and never dealt it. At least he frequently got hit to his Outwit clicks. He’s so inexpensive that he should end up on any and all MODOK’s 11 teams, but it seems he ought to be more effective.

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The Spot (Web of Spider-Man #051) 51

The PLAN: The only taxi of the team and, possibly, a second melee fighter if Nightshade does her job.
What really happened: This part of the plan went entirely according to plan. Not bad for a screwup of a villain.

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Somehow this team managed a 2-0 victory over superior forces, proving that sometimes, crime does pay.

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Continuing Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strong figs that can hold objects, again. Here we continue both the DC HeroClix 10th Anniversary roundup and the Halloweeny focus on the freakish with Marvel’s greatest monster at his most monstrous — the Worldbreaker!

 

Worldbreaker (013) holds his token strong, like a boss.

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Tomorrow’ I’m highlighting a villain team, something I’m doing more of this month, leading up to Halloween.

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Continuing Heroclixin’s photographic record of Super-Strong figs that can hold objects, again. Here we continue both the DC HeroClix 10th Anniversary roundup and the Halloweeny focus on the freakish with this zombified version of the Amazonian heroine:

Black Lantern Wonder Woman (022) holds her token at the knees, between them and the axe “swoosh.”

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Tomorrow’s Friday and I’m not sure if I’m continuing my “Fighting Fire with F.U.N.” series or highlighting a villain team I’d like to play (something I want to do more of this month). Maybe I’ll just take a little break. We’ll see.

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It took me a lonnnng time to play this team.

Black Bolt (Incredible Hulk 042) 193
Gorgon (Mutations & Monsters) 110
Crystal (Chaos War) + Fantastic Force 5
Medusa (Galactic Guardians) 82 + Fantastic Force 5
+ Kinetic Accelerator 0
+ Dynamostat 0
+ Eleha’al Vine 0
=500 points. It was for the “Turf Wars” scenario (as seen on the “scenarios” page on this site). I’ve been wanting to field Mr. Bolt with his wife for months, but the time or team or total points never seemed right until now.

FIRST VICTIM: Returning player G.O. fielded Sentinel Mark II (Giant-Size X-Men G01), Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War) and Daredevil (Incredible Hulk 021) on the Quinjet map. I had control of the game for the most part, but was unable to KO more than DD for the win. It came down to a final-round miss on a last-click Crystal to save the game for me, because time would’ve run out before I could add a last-click Morgan to my points.

SECOND MARK: Relative newbie Aaron, who ran a full-strength Black Adam (Superman 054), Wonder Woman (Justice League 003) and Batman (10th Anniversary 001) on the Realm of Death. Gorgon rushed in to tie down the threats; after he was KOed, the enemy was in prime position to take massive “Silent Scream” damage from Black Bolt. He’d do this more than once, as Aaron’s team was unable to escape or muster enough fight to stop me. This time I wiped.

FINAL FOE: Vic had a typically strong team of Metron, Brainiac (10th Anniversary 012), Lex Luthor (10th Anniversary 013), Calculator (Arkham Asylum) and (sadly denying Vic the wonderfully F.U.N. theme of an all-chair team) Batman (10th Anniversary 001) again on the Death map. This match swung back and forth a bit, but a crucial late game error killed my potential comeback — having broken walls to gain a single-target Pulse Wave on Metron, I missed the crucial attack. But the move I should have made was to move Crystal to base Metron first, JUST out of BB’s line of fire. That way, even missing wouldn’t have cost Bolt his chances of a followup shot. As it actually happened, though, he was knocked way off his fighting game and only running out of time saved me from a complete wipeout.

Piece-by-piece:

Black Bolt really needs TK and/or Barrier to be playable for his SP Pulse Wave. But as the only taxi for the team and being paired with his wife Medusa for the +1 to AV, it’s a little hard to pull off the mega-move. He’s pretty pushable, at least. In the future, I won’t run him without the Inhumans ATA to help maneuver him into position to explode.

Medusa benefits greatly from the +1 AV. In this game, her free melee Incap was useless about half the time, but

Crystal remained a solid figure, functioning first as the alpha strike that Black Bolt is sadly incapable of being for this team, then as the cleanup pitcher with her unorthodox line of attack via the “Tornado” trait.

Gorgon was nothing other than high-priced tie-up, because I forgot his Super Strength only works on standard objects.

  • + Kinetic Accelerator 0
  • + Dynamostat 0
  • + Eleha’al Vine 0

Nope, I didn’t play a single one. Additionally, as I’ve mentioned before, Super Strength is hobbled by the fact that opponents need not bring a single object to the field — and none of mine did.

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The darkness continues next week, with a long-awaited all-villain team report!

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Some time ago, I previewed this team in a F.U.N. Friday installment:

Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War) 122
Crystal (Chaos War) 105
Black Widow (Avengers Movie) 50
+ Iron Man Briefcase 12
+ Secret Avengers ATA 10
=299 points.

Here’s how it did.

Versus Cleveland’s CW Iron Man, Amadeus Cho, Ka-Zar and GF Dr. Strange on the Prison map, my failure to hit, well, anything, pretty much sealed my loss. That and me completely forgetting to use Morgan’s +2 suPerplex! What?!?

Did better in the next game against Tim’s one-man-army of Thanos (Galactic Guardians 049) on the Gotham Narrows. His bad clutch rolls helped me survive just long enough to maintain offensive ability. I think I still forgot Morgan’s suPerplex.

Piece-by-piece:

Morgan Le Fay: She’s a hoss. With her ability to make herself a hard shot either in close or at range as needed, and her suPerplex for fellow Avengers, and her wildcardness, she’s a highly versatile light tentpole. Her weakness is a great top click that you just don’t want to push off. I used her again in a sealed game (went 2-1) and I’ll play her next on a Pet Lovers theme team with Brightest Day Aquaman, DC75 Wonder Woman and Squirrel Girl, among others.

Crystal: Starting with great Running Shot + Psychic Blast ability, she’s a great threat upfront, until she pushes. Then she’s just mean. Super-Quake from range makes her a threat in all kinds of unrivaled ways. She’s very difficult to defend against; if not for her decidedly average numbers, she’d be a contender for the ranks of broken figures. I’ll always use her on an Inhumans team (did so recently, actually…look for a Battle Report on that in a week) and, perhaps, just for her own sake. This is a great F.U.N. piece.

Black Widow: Unlike the last time I ran her, this time the Takedown SP came into play quite a bit. If I’d remembered Morgan’s +2 Perplex, she might’ve gotten some more hits in. Black Widow (any version) is a favorite character of mine, so there’s little doubt she’ll find a spot on a future team.

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Some stuff in this game just ain’t fun.

You know the stuff. The powergamer pieces that represent an arms race to ever-more-broken game effects and keep you from playing that ridiculous “Clix With Serious Tail” team-up of Squirrel Girl and Tigra and Beast Boy and Hellboy you’ve been wanting to play. Or that keep you reaching for the same 20 efficient figures because you don’t want to get dragged EVERY week by the other players doing the same.

Ziran the Tester is chief among offenders in this regard.

I suck your fun out with my hands. MY HANDS!

There are a lot of characters and game elements that can punish opponents with solid power combos, huge damage numbers, ease of attacking and staunch defenses. There aren’t many that punish opponents equally for building such into their team or largely leaving same OFF.

Pretty much any team that could conceivably pass all his tests won’t have a prayer of dealing with his Multi-Attacking 13 AV, 5 damage and 20 Impervious first click. Conversely, any team actually built to take on a powerful colossal like him might have its key players nerfed or dead before the game even starts, because said team is unlikely to pass all (or any!) of the tests.

In order to pass them all, a team has to meet these conditions on the opening click:

  1. -Smoke Cloud: No colossal-killing team is going to waste points on this power.
  2. -Force Blast: Same here. It’s just not a power that appears often on powerful pieces.
  3. -Battle Fury: There’s a chance that this might show on a 600-plus team. But it’s not one to build around.
  4. -Energy Explosion: Same here. It’s a power that just kinda shows up and is rarely used by tough figs.
  5. -Mind Control: Trying to MC a big colossal is pretty suicidal. It’s unlikely to be on a team that can fight one.
  6. -5 Team Abilities: With ATAs and multiple team symbols on characters, this condition is easier to meet than others. But by itself it won’t be nearly enough. And if you’re playing a themed team? Forget it!
  7. -5 figures costing 50 points or less: A true colossal-fighting team might have a cheap “pit crew” of supporters to meet this test. Might. But that’s around 200 points of  non-fighting power you can’t really afford to build to face this sort of monster.
  8. -5 Unique rings: With Uniques far less common in the post-REV era, this one could be a bust. It’s certainly not a prerequisite for battling colossals anymore.And really — needing FIVE of all these things? At 600 points, that’s really tough! If I weren’t the F.U.N. guy (emphasis on the F, for Fellowship), I’d want to slap the guy who came up with this requirement.
  9. -Enhancement: This cheap power is actually likely to make it onto a colossal-kill squad, although it’s a little rare. Better hope you get tested on this!
  10. -Leadership: Similarly, Leadership tends to show up on a lot of opening clicks and on a number of tough pieces. 
  11. -Support: It’s not nearly the must-have power it used to be, and healers are kinda rare. 
  12. -Defend: Similarly, top-dial Defend pieces are a little soft to go against the likes of Ziran. A colossal-hunting team needs to be about maximum offense.

Here’s one of the only Modern Age teams that is guaranteed to pass:

Hawkgirl (Brightest Day) (Battle Fury)
Major Glenn Talbot (Incredible Hulk) +  Hulkbusters ATA  (Enhancement, Unique #1, <50pts #1, TA #1)
Empath (Giant-Size X-Men) (MC, <50pts #2, TA #2)
Sgt. Rock (DC 75th Anniversary) (Defend, Leadership)
Astral Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardian 014b) (Smoke Cloud, <50pts #3)
Agent Coulson (Avengers Movie) (Unique #2, <50pts #4, TA #3)
Tarot  (Giant-Size X-Men) (Unique #3, <50pts #5)
S.H.I.E.L.D. Specialist (Captain America) (Support)
Bob, Agent of Hydra (Captain America) (Energy Explosion, Unique #4, TA #4)
Adam Warlock (Galactic Guardian 032) (Unique #5, TA #5)
GCPD Riot Officer (Dark Knight Rises 011a) (Force Blast)

599 points of “Yay.” This team barely has a chance a dealing any damage to Ziran, much less winning.

So what’s a Heroclixin’ fan to do, knowing that in any game of 600 points or higher this colossal killjoy might show up to spoil your F.U.N.?

Answer: Boost the U-factor (Utility and Usefulness) of your otherwise Friendly and Nifty team with the 33-point Donald Blake (Chaos War).

Not only does the good doctor pass one of the tests (Support) and possibly two more (below 50 points, possible ATA), but he also can either A) heal up victims of Ziran’s test penalties or B) absorb  4 of the 6 clicks Ziran doles out upon complete test failure, leaving your more important figures barely hurt, if at all.

Thus Ziran’s effect on your game is blunted. Of course, you’ve still got one of the most powerful colossals in the game to contend with, but at least you’re not at half-strength from the get-go!

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This is a bit of a sneak peek at what I’ll be writing for much of October, the Halloween month. ‘Cause there’s a lot more in HeroClix to be scared of!