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I pulled this 297-point one-woman army in a sealed tournament this weekend. So I just had to play her.

Phoenix (Giant-Size X-Men) 297

= 297 points. My strategy: to simply Hypersonic hit-and-run until nothing’s left. Simple but hard to do when the opponent has at least 3 actions to my 1.

FIRST ROUND I faced Jay’s Skullbuster, Domino, and Caliban on his choice of the Bridge map. This map’s elevated terrain on the ends is my potentially insurmountable advantage; Jay’s two Stealthy characters and just as many with penetrating damage powers are his.

TURNING POINTS

  • I miss my first four attempts to hit Skullbuster, whose Penetrating/Psychic Blast can ruin my day in a hurry. The last miss leaves me completely exposed.
  • Skullbuster doesn’t miss. Without the ability to run to safety and still fight, Phoenix is eventually completely overwhelmed, especially when Regeneration rolls completely fail.

0-1. My mistake was attempting to hit and run on my last miss against Skullbuster, knowing I couldn’t get to safety. I should have moved in for a close-range hit and then remained in base contact to prevent the easy Running Shot Psychic Blast, instead forcing the breakaway attempt.

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SECOND ROUND was against Sammy, a very young player running SR Archangel, Wolverine and Skullbuster on the Tank map. He’s not nearly as good a player yet, and despite an opening-attack critical miss on my part, I cruise to an easy wipeout. 1-1.

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FINAL ROUND was on the School Ruins — my choice — against Paul’s Emma Frost, Stryfe and Beast.

TURNING POINTS

  • I picked this map for thematic reasons and for the walls. But Paul had picked this map in both matches, and knew how to play it perfectly, stationing the Stealthy Stryfe in position to TK Emma from hiding in a corner to wherever she needed to be to best Psychic Blast Phoenix off her game.  Plus, there was absolutely no way I could get to either enemy without being open to a massive counterattack.
  • I set up too close and got hit first, negating my hit & run ability and getting attacked 3 times for every one time I could hit back.
  • And unfortunately, about 75% of my attacks weren’t hits. I did more damage to Beast with Poison and his own pushing than anything.
  • Though I managed to escape a couple of times with Regeneration rolls and her own self-reviving ability, a final terribly-timed critical miss stranded me in the middle of a HSS attack without damage reducers, enabling even the near-dead Emma to take Phoenix out. Unbelievable…and not comic-accurate at all.

Then again, as I quipped in my loss: "Phoenix always dies."

I think it’s a guarantee…tentpole forces lose if they miss more than three times before taking out any opponents. But there was nearly as much user error as poor dice rolling. My biggest mistake in this match was playing my opponent’s game instead of changing the game. I should have HSS-shot out the wall Emma was hiding behind…that would have left me with enough spare movement to get to a defensible position that would still grant attack opportunites.

This has me hot to try her out again, to redeem my losses! PHOENIX WILL RISE AGAIN!!!

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I continue my photographic journal of the Super-Strong characters that can hold their object tokens, this time with characters I (mostly) don’t own yet:

First, Ch’od, the most recently clix’d of the Starjammers:

He holds it easily in his massive reptilian arms.

Next is one of those D-list characters that pretty much only get made in HeroClix, Gatecrasher:

Stick the token between her head and her pet whose name I can't recall.

 

Armor, who’s almost undoubtedly going to be the cheap SR of GSX, has no problem pulling her weight:

Another one who not only holds it, but holds it COOL.

 

Colossus / Wolverine juggles a feral Canadian mutant and a Fantasti-Car at once:

It fits neatly between Wolvie's left claw and Colossus' head.

 

Finally…you know who the HECK this IS?!?
It’s the Juggernaut…um…you probably know the rest.

The space between his armpit and his dial fits an object token PERFECTLY.

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Latest object-holding figure:

Donna Troy can do it in Anniversary, wedged between her pit and stat slot.

Or she can do it as Wonder Girl in Crisis, held by her Rookie’s ponytail…

…or by the Vet’s fat yarn lasso. 🙂

And even though I don’t have her anymore, a little Photoshop shows how even the Cosmic Justice Troia/Donna Troy can get into the token action:

 

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Wrapping up our Black History Month-themed countdown of the Top Ten Black Characters in ‘Clix with the #2 piece:

Gotham City Detective (#006 Arkham Asylum)

Cheap Enhancement is always good, and this is the best value for the power  thanks in part to the PD Team Ability allowing him to also boost his Enhanced partner’s chances of hitting as long as he can see the target, too. Starting 9 AV is good for the 27-point cost.

Push GCD a bit to gain Plasticity to be one mother of a tie-up piece with Willpower, or stay put to keep Enhancing shooters while throwing out a ranged attack himself.

So many roles almost make this mere generic the best black piece in the game.

And the #1 Black fig is:

Bronze Tiger (#032 Justice League)

He’s got the Charge and 11 AV to move in for immediate attack; he’s got the DV to survive the counterattack and the Willpower to push to deal extra damage with Close Combat Expert; he’s got self-healing potential with his Suicide Squade TA and the ability to hide from shooters with the League of Assassins ATA (thus addressing his lone weakness against ranged attacks. Lunge and/or Loner are two feats that make him a lot better for minimal extra cost.

For just 60 points, Bronze Tiger is one of the better characters in the game. And so he takes Heroclixin’s top spot among the best Black Characters in ‘Clix.

Hope you enjoyed this month’s Top Ten countdown. Be here Monday for another Custom Mod. Until then, happy heroclixin’ this weekend!

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is the oldest figure on the list yet…

Fatality (#053 Cosmic Justice)

With TK, she offers mobility for the team. With RCE, she offers big damage. At 68 points, you can’t beat that. The pricey Trick Shot or Elite Sniper feats might pump her cost too high, but with the right shields and/or tie-up, hey, why not use ’em?

Like most older figures, her DV is pretty sad (even with Super Senses) and her late dial stinks. But she’s still one of the most solid black characters in HeroClix.

 

#5 brings us a tie between

Nick Fury (#091 Sinister / #2-11 Classics)

and

Storm (#057 Mutations and Monsters)

Fury is pushable for sure, with the ability to do a fair amount of hurt for relatively few points. All that Stealth up front helps keep him safe, and his fine attack stats and powers (Psychic Blast, Willpower AND Outwit) make him a serious threat. But his end half isn’t nearly as threatening as the front, and pushing him to click #2 (because you will push him) takes him closer to that end, so he’s on the bottom half of the list.

Conversely, Storm is all about long-ranged power (especially on her second click). A slight weakness to being based is mitigated by her “Goddess” SP that grants Force Blast and Quake in addition to Energy Explosion and Smoke Cloud.  She’s a little high-priced to be so fragile, but she’s still worth every point.

On the home stretch, now. Be here tomorrow for #4 and #3 on the Black List! 🙂

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I’m interrupting my usual weekly features to start a new regular monthly one — Top Ten Countdowns! (I had such a blast doing the various Top Tens of 2010 that I didn’t want to stop.)

It’s February, a.k.a. “Black History Month.” In its honor, I’m counting down the Top Ten Black Characters in Heroclix.

For the purposes of this countdown, here’s my definition of “black character”:

  1. A character of African descent.
  2. A character visually indistinguishable from such, regardless of origin.

In years past, I used to include Egyptians such as Asp in this category, simply because there weren’t many good Black characters to go around. And while I’ll still put M+M Apocalypse on my afro-teams, I no longer strictly count him. Similarly, I won’t be including Little Sure Shot; his sculpt is African, but the character is Native American.

Introductions are done. Who’s #10? Be here Monday to find that out. Until then, here’s the Honorable Mention foreshadowed by the art up top:

Captain America (#019 Secret Invasion)

At a svelte 49 points, black Cap here buys you a long dial of tie-up. Very similar to the barely-cheaper Guardian from Collateral Damage, he loses the older piece’s three clicks of Toughness for just one but gets much better numbers (especially in DV, though, in practice, they fare just about the same). A good filler for Soldier themes, too.

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When I first heard of the 50-points-and-below requirement for this tournament, I aimed to field the 43-point Molly Hayes and a few other favorites.
But then I had the mother of all dice-rolling meltdowns. I decided my next team shouldn’t miss so much and opted for high attacks over anything else.
Warlord 50
The Holiday Killer 43
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50
Peter Parker (Web of Spider-Man) 50
Harbinger 50
Impulse (DC 75th Anniversary) 49
 = 292 points.
THE STRAT
With two wildcards, this team centers around Batman Enemy Holiday Killer to leech his high AV. The fact that he’s stealthy and a Willpower’d Outwitter with 8 range also helps. Harbinger ferries him around to position while Parker pushes to Perplex. Then, and only then, do my chief fighters Warlord and Spidey get into the fray, with Impulse making hit-and-runs as opportunity presents. As needed, Harbinger would shoot or use her swap-places SP to get the others into or out of trouble zones.
FIRST ROUND was a truncated one, as I’d been delayed about half the match. No KOs were made and I won the roll-off. But I was well on my way to clobber the team, so I think it was a deserved win.
SECOND ROUND was against a Soldier theme of Captain Metropolis (Watchmen) leading a pair Thunderers of Qward and Easy Company Soldiers (DC 75th Anniversary) on the Graveyard. Holiday Killer  blocked LOF and took opportunistic shots to stop the Thunderers, leaving the rest of the team little threat to me.
FINAL ROUND saw me stuck on the Web of Spider-Man Bridge against a bunch of shooting X-Men. In an effort to get some offense going, I used Harbinger to taxi Holiday Killer close enough to bring it. But she was improbably KOed in just two attacks (thanks Cyclops from Danger Room) and HK critcally missed past his key 2nd click. That left Spidey, Parker and Warlord easy, easy kills for Vet Havok and I was down to just Impulse against Havok, Rookie Nightcrawler, Rookie Jean Grey, Vet Psylocke (X-Plosion), and Exp. Pyro.
Impulse proceeded to last nearly the remaining game, KOing Havok, Cyclops and Pyro before finally getting beaten. I must’ve made 9 of 10 Shape Change rolls, keeping my assailants tied down and blocking each other’s LOF.

It was pretty much this cover, except featuring X-Men instead of high-schoolers.

A lot of people will think of Johnny Quick (DC75th Anniversary) when considering speedsters 50 points or less. Me? I’ll always look to Impulse first. 🙂

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Every time a scenario is announced, the first thing I do is try to fit an Aquaman to it. Thus, I built and played three different Atlantis/Aqua team builds for three different scenarios.

SCENARIO ONE: 600 point Modern Age DC only

BD Aquaman 105
AN Aquaman 106
AN Mera 85
Ocean Master 65
Tempest 116
Starro Aquaman 70
Aqualad 40
= 587 points.

I faced a Titans team of Red Arrow, White Lantern Superboy, Bart Allen, Liberty Belle, Beast Boy, Donna Troy and Miss Martian on the constricted Sciencells map. Despite some early failure to roll that cost Starro Aquaman his life and the utter difficulty in mobility this map presents for non-flyers,the turning point saw the remaining Aquamen double-teaming Superboy for the big KO of the game. Lost Tempest, StarroAqua and Aqualad but wiped the enemy. FAIL moment(s): Thoroughly forgetting to use BD Aquaman’s Undead Sea trait to punish enemies.

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SCENARIO TWO: Six Degrees of (Keyword) Separation. Each character must have a keyword, and share that keyword with one other character, who must share a different keyword with a different keyword…and so on until both six characters and 600 points are reached.

BD Aquaman 105
Tempest 116
Zauriel 117
AN Aquaman 106
Starro Aquaman 70
AN Mera 85
=599 points. Atlantis to Mystical to JLA to Justice League of America to Ruler.

Narrowly beat a team led by AV Iron Man and WS Deadpool (KOing the former along with WS Wolverine and M+M Archangel) but got absolutely SKUNKED by a team led by Skrulluminati, CL Nick Fury and HoT Cap.

Both games I tried to TK Zauriel out to Pulse Wave, failed, and got him KOed less than a turn later. In the second, not only did I have a total range and mobility disadvantage, no objects (due to the Damage Control feat), but, worst of all, I had a very poor plan of addressing these issues that vitally depended on me hitting my rolls and my opponent missing his.

Ninety percent of my attack attempts (either by Skrull roll, or, more often, ice-cold rolls) failed and nearly that proportion of his attempts succeeded. So…so much for that. Lesson Learned: Move to minimize the opponent’s advantages instead of making it easier for him!

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SCENARIO THREE: No Fly Zone: No fliers allowed. Transporters OK.

This is my home venue, and these guys can’t stand it when I play Atlantis or Aquaman. But…they allowed transporters, and I wanted to try out the new Atlantis ATA.

AN Aquaman 106
BD Aquaman 105
V Icons Aquaman 71
JL Starro Aquaman 70
JL Aquaman 68
E Icons Aquaman 56
V HT Aquaman 41
R Icons Aquaman 39
R HT Aquaman 27
+ Atlantis ATA 16
=599 points.

But I was under the impression that feats and BFCs were banned this tournament. Upon learning they weren’t, I dropped the ATA and added Submerged to E Icons Aquaman and Armor Piercing to the Brightest Day version for an actual final cost of 598 points.

I chose the Aruna Temple map, which is about 60% water. My opponent’s largely ranged team of WS Bullseye, AN Green Arrow, AN Deadshot, Barry Allen, Lt. Marcus Stone and about a half-dozen PD generics stayed way on the other side, forcing my wide-open Aquamen to take fire on the way there.

No problem; my cheaper Aquamen had deep enough dials to make it to them, tying up the Sharpshooters long enough for the heavier-hitting fishmen to score KOs. Additionally, my fodder took so many attacks to put down that the Undead Sea trait racked up a fair amount of damage, too. I took out Green Arrow, Bullseye, Deadshot and a couple of cops, losing only my HT Rookie and Vet.

Next, I got stuck on the Graveyard against HoT Cap, Green Scar, Gamora, WS Nightcrawler and V Psylocke (Armor Wars) but washed it out with Atlantis Rising. Took a lot more damage in this game and handed out a lot more via the Undead Sea as well, knocking Nightcrawler off his kidnapping clicks.

Keeping Scar and Gamora tied up with HT Vet gave me a shot, but an ill-timed double-target critical hit on E Icons and R HT Aquaman by Cap knocked me out of position, possibly costing me an improbable victory as I was forced to waste bigger attackers on Nightcrawler instead of being able to focus on Green Scar.

It didn’t help that all those attackers couldn’t hit Nighty’s simple 17 DV in five straight attacks.

A final positioning FAIL allowed the otherwise tied-up Gamora to Outwit BD Aquaman just in time for a last-second KO by Green Scar. Also lost Starro, E Icons, R Icons, AN Aquaman for a crushing defeat, only KOing Psylocke. Lesson Learned: Don’t let frustrating dice failures shake me out of decent tactics…such as staying out of Outwitters’ sight!

Final round was on the Bridge map against the new Ares, Warlord and BN Flash times TWO. I perched JL Aquaman on the tower to Perplex everyone, kept my crew in the water so no one could reach them, and did hit & run attacks until I’d wiped them all out. Lost Starro, and R HT.

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With that game, I’ve been pretty much done with Atlantis/Aquaman-centric teams, having run just about every iteration possible. I even got a shot at using the Atlantis ATA. So it appears that my Aqua-holism is cured!

(Until I reacquire one of the Fantastic Forces Sub-Mariner pieces to use the ATA on. …ugh…starting to get the shakes…!)

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One of my favorite things to do in this game is pull out a F.U.N. (Friendly, Useful, Neat-o) team of clones. And with at least one version in the past 5 DC sets, Robin fits the need.

Robin 79 (Crisis veteran)

AKA: "Emo" Robin

The Outwit for this team, Emo Robin is crucial for getting past damage reducers. If necessary, he’s only one push away from Perplex, Willpower and Incap.

Robin 66 (Arkham Asylum)

My repaint.

While Crisis Robin supplies the Outwit, this version provides Perplex to start. Though it seems counterintuitive to use the high-cost figures for support, it’s absolutely worth it.

Robin (The Brave and the Bold)

"Lil'" Robin.

This is one of the front-line attackers. Totally built for close-fighting (as evidenced by  Combat Reflexes and 0 range), Lil’ Robin ties up the enemy for the others.

Robin (Crisis rookie)

Being a Robin without the Bat Ally TA, this one seems a weak link. But on a team this numerous, his Leadership can be key in the early game. And if you put Lunge on him, he suddenly becomes a dangerous puncher with a push or other light damage thanks to his Willpower and SP Flurry. He also draws attacks away from the others, being one of the non-Stealthed targets beyond his first click.

Robin (Batman Alpha)

Pretty long-lived for his cost, this Robin is made for Pounce and is, so equipped, the secret weapon of this team. Even without it, he’s good and consistent and will draw heat away from the really dangerous members of the team.

Robin 22 (Icons starter)

or, ol' Short Pants.

Only there to fill out points, toss an occasional Smoke Cloud and, most importantly, absorb themed team PC tokens. ‘Cause yeah…this is a themed team (Gotham City).

Here’s the team I built:

Robin 79 (Crisis veteran)
Robin 66 (Arkham Asylum)
Robin 43 (The Brave and the Bold) + Lunge 5
Robin 35 (Crisis rookie) + Lunge 5
Robin 30 (Batman Alpha) + Pounce 15
Robin 22 (Icons starter)

= 300 points (25 in feats). For a Modern Age version, I’ll drop the Icons piece and the feats for the 40-point Boy Wonder LE from Crisis:

Boy Wonder (Crisis LE)

This representation of the second and short-lived Robin Jason Todd can either be a Willpowered source of Smoke Cloud or join Damian Robin on the front lines with his Charge.

Look for a future New Comic Day battle report to, well, report on how this team fared. (But not this Wednesday…I have something different planned.) Happy clixing this weekend!