I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings.
Here’s what I’d play in the 400-point “Dragon of Dragon*Con” tournament:
Black Rider 100
One of the Nine 100
Ringwraith 100
Servant of Sauron 100
= 400 points, plus the “dragon” Sauron himself!
I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings.
Here’s what I’d play around 9 AM in the 400-point modern Age named keyword tournament:
Vision (Chaos War 100) 185
Giant-Man (Chaos War) 75
Hawkeye (Avengers Movie 208) 65
Sharon Carter 45
Mockingbird 25
+ X-Kryptonite 5
= 400 points, plus all four sideline Morph pieces for Pym.
As I said Thursday, I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings.
Here’s what I’d play around 6 PM in the 500-point Star Trek tournament:
U.S.S. Defiant 100
U.S.S. Excelsior 150
U.S.S. Hood 100
U.S.S. Enterprise-A 75
U.S.S. Equinox 75
= 500 points. The rules require either all-Federation or all Klingon, and I’ve played all my I.K.S. ships. So it’s the Feds’ turn!
I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings. I’ve pre-posted my potential teams for each event for your vicarious weekend reading pleasure.
Here’s one of the GREAT teams I’d play in the 1 PM 300-point Golden Age tournament:
THE GREAT TEN
August General In Iron 100
Ghost Fox Killer 68
Accomplished Perfect Physician 51
Seven Deadly Brothers 30
Seven Deadly Brothers 30
+ Yellow Lantern 5
+ Indigo Lantern 5
= 299 points. BFCs: Alpha Strike, Ordinary Day, Disbanded
-OR-
GREAT LAKES AVENGERS
Deadpool (Web of Spider-Man) 158
Squirrel Girl 59
Doorman 45
Dinah Soar 25
+ Great Lakes Avengers ATA 12
= 299 points. BFCs: Ordinary Day, Armor Wars, Infiltration. Plenty of F.U.N. factor, here.
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There’s also the “Court of Owls” game at 600 points at the same 1 PM time. Here’s my team:
The Dark Knight (Collateral Damage) 100
Batman (Fast Forces) 100
Batman (Crisis) 90
The Bat-Man (Superman) 81
Batman (DC 75) 77
Batman (Dark Knight Rises 201) 75
Batman (Arkham Asylum) 64
+ Yellow Lantern 5
+ Red Lantern 5
=597 points. It’s actually a “highlander-friendly” Batman team, with each being a different character: “The Dark Knight Returns'”over-the-hill Bruce Wayne, New 52 Wayne, Jean-Paul Valley, Thomas Wayne, Dick Grayson, movie Bruce Wayne, and Terry McGinnis.
As I said Thursday, I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings.
Here’s what I’d play in the 9 AM 600-point Modern Age tournament:
AQUAMAN & FAM
Aquaman (Superman) 156 + Flashpoint ATA 4
Aquaman (Justice League) 111
Aquaman (DC 75th Anniversary) 106
Aquaman (Brightest Day) 105
Ocean Master 65
Mera (Justice League) 51
= 598 points. F: It’s AQUAMAN. How beast could it be? U: Pretty tough, actually. Enough to threaten many teams at the cost and one that actually benefits a bit from certain characters taking the KO. N: Atlantis teams are one of my favorite things to play in this game, and it’s been too long since the last one.
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There’s also the “Other Age” game at 500 points at the same 9 AM time. Here’s my team:
General RAAM 151
Dee Jay 75
Aragorn 75
Master Chief & Cortana 150
Lt. Hikaru Sulu 40
=491 points. I figure all the “other” ages ought to be represented on the team! Unfortunately, barring a last-moment ruling, the Star Trek Away Team won’t be allowed as it came too late to be included in the tournament rules setup. And I haven’t gotten mine yet, anyway.
A couple of weeks back, an unexpected team won it all at GenCon’s HeroClix World Championship: Scarlet Witch (Chaos War Fast Forces 006), Wasp (Chaos War 030) and Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War) with a fully loaded Infinity Gauntlet.
I was pretty pleased to have already bought one fairly cheaply off eBay about a week earlier.
A playable piece with fellow Avengers, she is, but I didn’t want to just run her with a standard team build or, worse, just ape the World Champ’s team (no matter how much I like that new Wasp figure).
Not Nifty enough. Without the “N” in F.U.N., you get something a little rude, at best. 🙂
But what to play? The answer came in a second piece I’d been wanting to try out: Crystal.
Also a redhead.
Add to that 227 points any of a number of similarly coiffed Black Widow pieces:
The 35-pointer Avengers movie version leaves the build just two points to much to fit a full 40-point Infinity Gauntlet. Sad.
Same problem with the 75-point The Covert Avenger from the starter version…two points over the max.
The 60-point Captain America Widow lacked the Avengers keyword and would smash the keyword theme to pieces. I was tempted to use her anyway due to Marvel Knights ATA to give Morgan Stealth.
That left the other movie Widow, the 50-point “Takedown” girl.
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.
Not bad. It’s a bit more Friendly than the championship team, lacking the ultra-support and Mystics threat that Scarlet Witch offers but not sacrificing all Utility with a mobile attacker like Crystal to back up Morgan. Widow gives Morgan anti-Stealth shooting powers and functions well as tieup for her allies. Both Avengers loan the Outwit/Perplex-blunting Secret Avengers ATA, too. And Morgan can suPerplex either of her Avenger pals slaves.
And, of course, the fact that they’re all red-haired babes makes it Nifty enough for me to play.
How will it actually play, though? Gonna have to wait for a future Battle Report for that.
As I said Thursday, I’m part of the judge staff at Dragon*Con this year, and I might be called upon to play a bye round in the event of uneven pairings. Here’s what I’d play in the 6PM Avengers Vs. X-Men event:
AVENGERS
Giant-Man (Chaos War 200) 300
Wasp (Chaos War 030) 77
Wasp (Chaos War 016) 75
Wasp (Avengers 059) 37
= 489 points, plus possible replacement/Merge pieces Ant-Man (015), Hank Pym (014), Ant-Man (173) and Ant-Man and Wasp (053). It’s Friendly and full of Fellowship with the Hank-and-Janet theme; its Usefulness is in the Morph trait, as well as the sheer mountainous might of colossal Giant-Man; and he’s the Niftiest thing about this team.
X-MEN
Colossus/Wolverine 190
GX Archangel 99
Fast Forces Rogue 75
Armor 66
GX Angel 50
+ Iron Man briefcase 12
= 492 points, plus Split sideliners Colossus (Ultimates Rookie) and Wolverine (Web of Spider-Man or Chaos War). Any team with Fastball isn’t unFriendly in the least, but it’s certainly Useful (as are Archangel and Rogue). This team is admittedly a bit short on my usual Neato factor, but for once I don’t care.
A few weeks ago, I nearly wrapped up the photo record of how Chaos War figures could hold their object tokens, but lacked the convention exclusive Giant-Man from the set to test and shoot.
Well, thanks to friends who went to GenCon, I’ve managed to get the shot.
Big Pym holds old-school tokens with ease: between the middle and ring finger of his right hand and the index and middle digit of his left. The newer, thicker tokens fit even better in his left hand.
And with that, the Token Totin’ Chaos War edition’s a wrap!!!
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Speaking of conventions, yours truly is headed to Dragon*Con starting Thursday through Monday. Updates may be slim to nonexistent, as I will not have internet access for much of that time. But I’m hoping to have a little F.U.N. Friday piece in the meantime, and to do a most unusual Top Ten starting Wednesday, Sept. 5.
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 moves on to the next DC set: Origin.
I actually forgot about this battlefield condition until I started writing this post. I’d never made an art version of it. So I started thinking, “What piece of DC art published prior to early 2007 would best illustrate a humongous amount of damage dealt all at once?”
Didn’t take long at all to recall the controversial scene where Wonder Woman does the only thing she thinks can to stop Maxwell Lord from making Superman a killer.
Art’s by Rags Morales.
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Next time, Card Arts continues with more BFCs of Origin.
…beeeeyotttch!!!!
So Hank Pym (Chaos War 014) has this Nifty trait:
“MORPH: HANK PYM: Give Wasp a move or close combat action that deals no pushing damage. After the action resolves, replace him with any character with this trait on the same click number.”
And he shares it with four other pieces in the set:
Ant-Man (Chaos War 015)
Wasp (Chaos War 016)
Ant-Man (Chaos War 173)
Giant-Man (Chaos War 200)
It’s a heftily Useful upgrade over the similarly named trait of Beast Boy (DC 75th Anniversary 014, 015, 016 and 055) in that it works via either a move action OR a close combat action. But with the recent rule that replacement characters have to stay on a KO click while on the sidelines, it’s harder to know which Pym to bring into the fight.
Let’s take an overview at the ever-changing mad scientist of the Avengers:
Hank Pym (Chaos War 014): With odd clicks of Outwit alternating with Perplex on even, and a SP granting a free Attack power when on an object, plainclothes Pym is the ultimate support piece sporting some surprise fight (though with minimal damage potential). Note that the Perplex clicks are paired with Willpower.
Ant-Man (Chaos War 015): Hank’s first super-ID flops between odd-numbered Stealthy Poison, Combat Reflexes and Exploit Weakness versus even-numbered Leap/Climbing Outwit with Super Senses — except that the first and last click lack the CR and EW. Problematic with his basement-low damage value and barely average DV. His best role might be shrinking a friend at the right time via his other trait.
Wasp (Chaos War 016) : Homage-to-Janet Van Dyne Henry here is the most traditional of the base set Pyms with top-loaded Running Shot and 3 damage with Leadership. Later clicks get the penetrating Incap treatment and some team support by granting pals EW.
These are the common Hanks. Then there are the two ultra-rare convention exclusives:
Ant-Man (Chaos War 173): Puck Pym is all about his high, high 20 DV. A full run of Incap gives him a little bit of offense, too, but only a little bit.
Giant-Man (Chaos War 200): Conversely, giant Pym is chiefly about fighting, with double-digit AV and 3+ damage most of his dial. He’s also loaded with armor powers.
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A lot depends on which Hank Pym one starts the game with. For example, a Wasp 016 player is likely to be relying on Running Shot and won’t be able to readily Morph as that Speed power is neither a move nor close combat action. Conversely, Giant-Man might benefit from Morphing to Wasp’s less-visible but still-17 Toughness click number 1 after smashing a foe with a heavy.
Therefore, the following list of “best” clicks to switch to is hardly exhaustive. (To do that, we’d have to go though each click of each Pym and detail the best choice for each likely situation. Which would make this F.U.N. article too long. Not doing it.) Instead, it’s just a rough guide on how to best size-change after taking the Morph-activating action, as the character will always have one or two tokens afterward.
ON CLICK 1:
First choice: Ant-Man (Chaos War 173). Stealthed 20 DV is best for weathering attacks.
Next best: Wasp (Chaos War 016) or Giant-Man (Chaos War 200) for 17 Toughness.
Avoid: Ant-Man (Chaos War 015). Though the Stealth and Poison are tempting, his bare 17 DV may be a problem.
ON CLICK 2:
First choice: Wasp (Chaos War 016) is the best-balanced pick regardless of whether he’s based (likely after the close combat action) or remote (likely after the move action option). But this click is possibly the most situational of the five, depending on whether you most need more support for your team (Hank’s Perplex, Wasp’s EW-lending, Ant-Man 015’s Outwit), personal survivability (either of the Ant-Men for Stealth) or offensive threat (Giant-Man).
Next best: n/a
Avoid: n/a
First choice: Either of the Ant-Men. The common gains Stealth and 18DV in melee, 17 at range with Poison and Exploit Weakness while the Unique is a Stealthy 18 (19 from range).
Next best: Giant-Man, with Charge, Quake and Invulnerability to be the toughest of the Pyms. Note that Charge works with Morph, so he can move to a more advantageous spot and push to the best choice for Click 4! (I’m thinking that Morph wouldn’t prevent the push since it’s part of the Charge action).
Avoid: Both Hank and Wasp are defensively soft. On the other hand, both offer passive powers that might benefit the team, so if you can protect them, they might be an OK choice.
First choice: Wasp. Again, he’s got the best blend of offense, defense and passive utility.
Next best: Giant-Man. Still Invulnerable, still Quake-ready. The more common Ant-Man gains 16-17 DV Super Senses and Outwit.
Avoid: Puck Ant-Man, whose DV finally slips to a decidedly average 17 and his AV to a mediocre 8. It’s all downhill from here, too.
First choice: Ant-Man 015. Though his base DV is just 15, it’s bolstered by Combat Reflexes, Stealth and Tiny Size. Offensively, he’s again Poisonous and Exploits Weaknesses.
Next best: Wasp. Though 16 DV Super Senses and 2 damage aren’t great, he’s got 9 AV and Perplex. Giant-Man’s poor 15 DV is balanced by not-so-poor 10 AV, 3 damage with Exploit Weakness and Charge. (Note that Exploit Weakness and Morph are not compatible — you have to pick one or the other!)
Avoid: Ant-Man 173, unless Stealth is absolutely needed to survive.
First choice: Ant-Man 015. His 15 Super Senses looks bad, but Tiny Size and hindering terrain bump it to a possible 17 from range. He’s also got Outwit back and 9 AV if fighting is needed.
Next best: Hank Pym, because while his 15 Willpower is the worst defense of the lot (barring the puck), he’s got Flurry and Perplex to shift matters in your potential favor.
Avoid: Ant-Man 173, unless Stealth is absolutely needed to survive.
First choice: Giant-Man or Wasp. Both sport 15 DV Willpower for a possible last-gasp attack next turn with 9 AV Quake or 8 AV Incap-plus, respectively.
Next best: Hank’s Outwit should be useful at this stage of matters, though it puts a Giant-Man-sized bull’s eye on his labcoated back. Ant-Man 015 can hide in the bushes (Stealth) and maybe Poison.
Avoid: Ant-Man 173 at all costs.
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That’s it for this quick guide to Morphin’ the Mighty Avenger Henry Pym. Have F.U.N. Pympin like I might with this team in a week:
Yellowjacket (Secret Invasion 006a) 100
Hank Pym (Chaos War 014) 75
Ant-Man and Wasp (Chaos War 053) 168
Wasp (Avengers 059) 37
Wasp (Chaos War 030)
Ant-Man (Infinity Challenge 173) 43
+ replacements Wasp 016, Ant-Man 015
= 500 points
or, if my friend managed to pick a Con Exclusive for me:
Hank Pym (Chaos War 014) 75
Wasp (Chaos War 030) 77
Ant-Man (Infinity Challenge 173) 43
Giant-Man (Chaos War 200) 300
+ replacements Wasp 016, Ant-Man 015, Ant-Man and Wasp (Chaos War 053), Ant-Man (Chaos War 173)
=495 points. Could be Big Pympin’ time at Dragon*Con!