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A I wrote last Friday, I’ve been all about theme teams in HeroClix since I started in 2005. From attempting to run teams composed entirely of bug-people — Ant-Man, Spider-Man, Wasp, to name a few — to a “Bright Yellow Boots” squad of Unleashed Shazam, E Black Adam and Vet Power Man, it’s clear that “theme” has a broader meaning than just running a bunch of Scientist-keyworded fellows on a team. Case in point was the Luchador team I posted Friday.

Bane (DC 75th Anniversary) 140 + Secret Six ATA 3

Atom Smasher (Giants) 97 + Protected 8 + Not So Special 3

The Atom (DC 75th Anniversary) 50

Red Shift (Galactic Guardians) 106 

Juggernaut (Giant-Size X-Men) 193

= 600 points.

Each fit the Luchador archetype:

  • male
  • masked, with head fully covered
  • at least partially bare-armed

FIRST GAME was a loss to returning player Vic’s cosmic team of Lord Mar-Vell, Adam Warlock (Galactic Guardians 032), Red Shift and Rick Jones/Capt. Marvel. The Darkness BFC cut his range advantage on the Dawn of Time map and an early critmiss on Vic’s Hypersonic attack ceded the early momentum to me, but a round of total misses on my part in the mid-game coupled with Lord M’s dominance left the Luchadors in too deep to climb to victory. Lost Red Shift, Juggy and Atom while only taking Warlock and Red Shift.

SECOND GAME was versus occasional guest columnist Morrison, who made a surprise appearance (usually, this overachiever is too busy pursuing Eagle Scout status and earning early college credit to play with little plastic superheroes)! His Armor force of Iron Man (Secret Invasion and Supernova), Abner Jenkins, Doombot 5359 and Master Chief (Battle Rifle) was only made tougher by his choice of the Crater map. My Skyscrapers BFC was rendered utterly useless because it’s illegal on maps where the starting areas are on elevated terrain.

I made a decent fight of it, despite taking a fair amount of fire along the way, KOing both Iron Men and the ‘Bot. But my team was wiped completely.

FINAL GAME, I had the choice of facing the judge’s team of Frost Giants or a squad of Martial Artists. Of course the Lucha Libre vatos wanted to test the kickboxers! They were: Batman (Dark Knight Rises 201), Catwoman (Dark Knight Rises 203), Gamora (Galactic Guardians), Hawkeye (Avengers Movie 208), Diana Prince (Brave and the Bold 103) and The Question (Arkham Asylum) on the Graveyard.

Juggernaut again got pounded and sent running right off with a heavily boosted Legolas shot. I returned the favor with interest by one-shotting Batman with an Atom Smasher charge. From there, though, things went well south for me as Question began Outwitting (thanks to a FAIL level 3 on my part — I was playing the Resistance BFC and thoroughly neglected to use it!) and Legolas made multiple Super Senses rolls in between Sharpshooting first Juggernaut, then Bane and finally Atom Smasher into so many victory points. My only other KOs were Gamora and Hawkeye.

So the Luchadors went winless at 0-3. But they competed in every match. With a different strategy (and fewer mistakes) I might’ve come out on top anyway.

PIECE-BY-PIECE:

Bane (DC 75th Anniversary): I held this guy far too much in reserve due to his weak starting 16 DV with Toughness, instead waiting to Charge him in with a +2 Venom Pump to land on his Invulnerability 18 DV. The problem with this strat was that I needed his firepower sooner. Moreover, even a solid hit lands him on a long run of Outwit, which could’ve evened matters up for me a bit. Finally, if he goes down fighting early, he has a chance to use the Secret Six ATA to blow up an adjacent foe.

I never once remembered to use his Secret Six ATA. 🙁

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Atom Smasher (Giants): Despite being a giant, somehow big Al here got a solid Charge and hit in every game. He also got hit back pretty solidly in every game, being a giant target, and that’s his weakness: his mid-dial sports the most mediocre stats imaginable on a piece of his 97 cost. The Not So Special feat is an absolute must in Golden Age games — it REALLY helped in these games — as is a fellow JSAer/wildcard to help his DV. Speaking of which…

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The Atom (DC 75th Anniversary): The littlest luchador had the biggest impact. He serves as a much-needed DV sharer for Atom Smasher, a hard-t0-target meat shield for the bigger boys of the team, a tie-up piece and, not inconsequentially, a capable minor attacker to bat leadoff or cleanup as needed. My problem and regret with him is that too often he was the first gone and Atom Smasher was without his needed partner. But for 50 points, whaddaya expect?

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Red Shift (Galactic Guardians): It seemed every game went like clockwork; he’d make  a HSS strike, would have to base a dangerous shooter to let the rest of the slow team advance, and take just enough damage to end up on his very soft ESD clicks. The extra mobility and range were quite welcome, though. And though he was a KO in each match, he gave the team a shot at victory every time.

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Juggernaut (Giant-Size X-Men): Never truly was unstoppable in these games, as opponents invariably not only had little trouble hitting his 18 Impervious but seemed also to make it stick every time. I needed to use him and Bane as a total tag team, piling on foes together instead of Juggy trying so hard to get that first big hit in.

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0-3 record notwithstanding, I loved this team. I’d like to try it again sometime, this time using Bane more aggressively and remembering my much-needed features like BFCs and ATAs.

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Back to regular rotation of talking about DC feats and BFC cards I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.)

Moving on to the Collateral Damage set and its two battlefield conditions. First up is Debris:

This, one of my favorite BFCs (now more than ever — see my blog on why Super Strength needs to change) was an easy pick. I just needed some rubble, and this Patrick Gleason splash page detail in Aquaman #22 fit the bill.

The other BFC of the set was ably illustrated by some art from Scott McDaniel’s Green Arrow again:

BOOM! Perfect art. My scanning and Photoshop skills are also beginning to tighten up at this point, maybe.

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Next week, look for Card Arts to start in on the feats of Collateral Damage.

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Long before keywords, I was all about theme teams in HeroClix. From attempting to run teams composed entirely of Black women back in 2006 to the Wall-to-Wall Alter Egos squads I tried last summer, it’s clear that “theme” has a broader meaning that just running a bunch of Martial Artist-keyworded fellows on a team. Case in point:

LOS LUCHADORS

To be a Luchador, the figure had to be:

  • male
  • masked, with head fully covered
  • at least partially bare-armed

Like these folks:

Bane (DC 75th Anniversary) 140

 


Atom Smasher (Giants) 97


The Atom (DC 75th Anniversary) 50

 

Red Shift (Galactic Guardians) 106 


Juggernaut (Giant-Size X-Men) 193

= 586 points of ready-for-Mexican-rumble-in-the-ring roughhousing. I’d add some brick-friendly feats and BFCs to help this low-range team:

  • Resistance (for the JSA members to share in Outwit protection)
  • Darkness (to cut down on enemy ranges)
  • Skyscrapers (to eliminate sniper perches)
  • Protected and Not So Special (both for my giant target, Atom Smasher)
  • Secret Six ATA (for Bane)

I ran this cool team in a 600-point Golden tournament last weekend. Check in on Wednesday’s Battle Report to see if they body-slammed foes — or got forced to tap out.

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Welcome again to the photographic record of how all the sculpts of characters with the Super Strength power can hold object tokens.

I’m pleased to present another oldie (but not so good, really) who, at first glance, doesn’t even seem to rate Super Strength, a lawyer to super-people, Kate Spencer aka Manhunter:

She holds it like so under her arm and on the base. Though your results may vary due to how bendy she can get buried in the tackle box as she is along with hundreds of other figures that hardly ever see any play.

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Next Token Totin’ edition will be SMASHING!

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I really wanted to try all my Nova Corps pieces in a single team.

Nova Corps Recruit (Galactic Guardian 00) 50
R Nova (Supernova 037) 56
Nova Corps Denarian  (Galactic Guardians 210) 80
V Nova (Supernova 039) 78
Nova Corps Centurion  (Galactic Guardians 015) 100
Nova (Galactic Guardians Fast Forces 001) 125
Super-Nova (Galactic Guardians 200) 142
Nova Prime  (Galactic Guardians 001) 150
Air-Walker (Hammer of Thor 044) 201

The “Share Through The Worldmind” trait gives all the team some interesting — but nerfed — powers. Moreover, most also allow an additional game effect activated by fellow Corpsmen’s power action which we’ll call STW (Share Thru Worldmind) actions.

  • The Recruit offers a one-way Defend for the cheapies on the team, making him (and, by extension, the Supernova Rookie) good meat shields for bigger pieces. He’s also the best piece to take STW actions.
  • The Denarian’s version of Super Senses (only on a 6) could literally be a lifesaver. There’s also his ability to make an attack reroll after a STW, but this isn’t super-useful over making a standard move or attack action with the other Nova.
  • Both the Centurion and Super-Nova up the team’s firepower with Ranged Combat Expert (which maybe begs the use of Trick Shot on, say, the 10-ranged Supernova Vet, who could then shoot from behind the Recruit he’s loaning his 18 DV to). But a STW can give a Nova +1 damage for that turn, in case you need the damage boost for a close attack or a Running Shot.
  • Nova (201) contributes Force Blast to the team — a power you’ll probably use almost never, as the action needed to knock the foe back will either be useless (against, say, giants or Charge) or better used to fight or pump up damage. A STW action allows this Nova to knock back both friend and foe 1 square. Can’t think of a single time this would be useful when Force Blast would not — especially since this Nova breaks away automatically.
  • Nova Prime offers nerfed Leadership for all, which could come in handy for all. His STW option is even better, as he gets action tokens removed.

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What sparked this interest in Nova Corps, aside from the fact that I reread much of the fine 36-issue series this week, is my frustration in either not being able to or neglecting to use the various “Shared Through the Worldmind” traits lately. The first time, I was using the Nova Corps ATA to fit Nova Prime on a team of 100-points-and-higher. The second, a half-constructed, half-sealed tourney, kept me from fitting on all the different traits to be had. But I had so much fun finessing the ones I did have available that I decided to scrap the Howling Commandos team I was going to play in a 900 Modern Age team in favor of this one, while I still had the chance in Modern Age:

Nova Corps Recruit (Galactic Guardians 002) 50
Nova Corps Recruit (Galactic Guardians 002) 50
Nova Corps Denarian (Galactic Guardians 210)  80
Nova Corps Centurion (Galactic Guardians 015)  100
Super-Nova  (Galactic Guardians 200) 142
Nova Prime  (Galactic Guardians 001) 150
Air-Walker (Hammer of Thor 044) 201
+ Infinity Gauntlet on Nova Prime 10
+ Soul Gem 5
+ Space Gem 5
+ Time Gem 5

= 898 points. This was a first outing using the Infinity Gauntlet, used on Nova Prime. It wound up in a 4-player battle royale against some Guardians of the Galaxy, a horde of Skrulls, and a hodgepodge team led by MODOK, Queen of Fables and Beta Ray Bill from Hammer of Thor.

I played it far too conservatively and scored only minimal points — namely, a generic Valkyrie and a Force Blasted-into-wall Space Phantom — before time ran out.

  • The Gauntlet was also highly useless on Prime, as it takes forEVER to get the dial moving. (I’m beginning to see that the Gauntlet is really only good on characters who can push freely. They don’t really need the help so much.)
  • Getting these “human rockets” going is an issue, as the team lacks both the swing and AV to get the first strikes, aside from Nova Prime.  Worse, the same Centurions that offer the extra TK boost are also the most reliable attackers of the rest of the team. What’s their real role?
  • Hard to figure out how to use Super-Nova. He’s well-armored with Impervious but his AV is a weak-for-the-cost 9. Pushing gets him to Running Shot and 10 AV but he’s down to Invulnerability, now.
  • Air-Walker remains the glass cannon of the team. Only a theme-team reroll saved me from a disastrous Hypersonic Speed critical miss stranding him in full view of multiple enemies.

I’m still highly dissatisfied. I need to run this crew soon in a full game or tournament — preferably with the Fast Forces Nova to pump up the team with his Perplex. Perhaps in the next 1000-point game?

Nova Corps Recruit (Galactic Guardians 002) 50
Nova Corps Recruit (Galactic Guardians 002) 50
Nova Corps Denarian (Galactic Guardians 210)  80
Nova Corps Centurion (Galactic Guardians 015)  100
Super-Nova  (Galactic Guardians 200) 142
Nova Prime  (Galactic Guardians 001) 150
Air-Walker (Hammer of Thor 044) 201
and
Nova (Galactic Guardians Fast Forces 001) 125
= 998 points. Throw in Mjolnir, the Black Lantern and a heavy for the Denarian…at least while the orange elements are still Modern Age through June!

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Welcome again to the photographic record of how all the sculpts of characters with the Super Strength power can hold object tokens. Finally sort of getting back into a regular groove here.

I’m pleased to present a pic of the old school, Mr. “I broke Hypersonic Speed” himself, Vet Icons Superman:

 

He holds it easily under the cape until he clocks your favorite figure for seven.

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Next Token Totin’ edition on Thursday. Tomorrow, a battle report on a spacefaring team I’m still aching to play. (No, it’s NOT Guardians of the Galaxy.)

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Back to regular rotation of talking about DC feat card I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.)

Still on Icons feats. Next in line should be either Unstoppable, Brilliant Tactician or Divebomb. But somehow I completely missed out on the first two, and the third is no longer usable in HeroClix:

“When soaring, the character may make close combat attacks against grounded characters.”

Soaring’s been gone as a game mechanic since early 2008. So, no Card Art feature for it (though I did make one. It never got uploaded to the site, though).

Instead, let’s finish up the feats of Icons with Siphon Power:

This was a tough one to pick art for. I needed something that didn’t say “I, vampire” and was kinda  heroic and would fit in the tiny sliver of room afforded by the too-long, too-useless text of this horrible feat. The closest thing I could find was this art from the first JSA story arc in which Star Spangled Kid rushes at big bad Mordru with a power-siphoning infant in hand.

Comics are strange.

Thankfully, for the final feat in the Icons set, the art was much simpler to find and the results much more elegant.

From the excellent “Batgirl: Year One” miniseries circa 2004 by Chuck Dixon and Marcos Martin.

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OK. Maybe I’ve gotten this little feature back on track. Tomorrow, it’s more Token Totin’ time!

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“We can rebuild him…we have the technology.”

Been a little while since I did a Top Ten. Really needed the break after spending the first four months of the year slowly completing a bunch of them.

But now we’re into the first full week of a new month, which is when I usually do these. I’m not ready to do a very in-depth Top Ten in the vein of the top Barrier pieces, or the 10 needed changes.

Rather, I’m looking to the future for Heroclixin’s Top Ten Needed Remakes. These are characters  that have at least one full dial (not counting bystanders) in the game but are somehow inadequate and need to be redone, STAT.

As an example (and to keep them from burning up four of the 10 slots by themselves), I present Power Pack (with text cut-and-pasted from way back in Sept. ’09):

Gee: Originally, the oldest Power kid (age 12.5, not 15 like his card says) could only affect the gravity of people and objects he touched, making some version of Super Strength and the Carry ability a shoo-in. But the current revamp recasts him as more of a standard telekinetic, and that’s the clix we got. It’s OK, but not accurate.

Lightspeed: Also mis-aged on her character card, Julie only flew real fast at first. Much, MUCH later she learned to teleport, but that was never her main power. The current Lightspeed (in the kids’ books, not the teenaged runaway seen in recent years) has been treated as much as a speedster as anything, and even the original broke the sound barrier early in her career. Would it have been too much to give her at least ONE click of Hypersonic Speed, even with super-low attack and damage values?

Mass Master: the greatest disappointment of the four, thanks to his way-too-low defense numbers. Think of it; he’s an intangible cloud most of the time (and a 5-inch-high, 60-pound “Jack Hammer” the rest). He should have 17 DV at minimum with Defend or something, not to mention Phasing/Teleport for his ability to slip through any crack in his cloud form. Drop his damage to 0 with Close Combat Expert.

Energizer: the original Katie was considerably more destructive than the new incarnation that the ‘clix version seems based on. Always relied upon to either disintegrate or smash walls and such, the youngest deserves some 3 damage clicks.

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The actual top ten will have a little less griping than this example. But you get the idea.

Be here all next week to see Heroclixin’s choices and see how they line up with yours!

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Welcome again to the photographic record of how all the sculpts of characters with the Super Strength power can hold object tokens.

Back when the Incredible Hulk set was fairly new, I managed to get shots of two of the six Hulked Out Heroes chase figures, IceHulk and Mighty Thorr. Now, thanks to fellow player David Leverette, I’ve photographed the other four below:

Wolverage effortlessly holds his heavy under his right claw. Winter Hulk, on the other hand, already has his hands full with his puny shield and can only lamely lean the token on his chest. Hulkmariner must’ve been occupying water terrain, ’cause he’s balancing a light object on his head and under his right arm. (And he really is just balancing it; it’s not a great hold at all.) Finally, Hulklops’ is wedged in his stat slot and some eyebeams.

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Token Totin’s takin’ a break next week; it’s time for another monthly Top Ten countdown. Be here tomorrow for the intro!