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FALCON (Avengers)

Despite the fact that the sculpt is absolutely comic-accurate:

from "Ultimate Nightmare" #2.

…I’ve never liked it. And why would I? This is a character whose only power is flight and the sculpt is of him crouched on the floor…
…in mid-air.
Um…really?
Emboldened by my successful re-position of Danger Room Storm’s cape, I attempted a similar approach with this piece. Here’s my process used:
  • detached the wings off the extra-large flight base with exacto knife.
  • using the same knife, cut away the fight base until only the flight peg remained.
  • put figure in hot car to increase malleability.
  • resculpted in new position and run under cold water to set.
  • placed in freezer to fully set.
The problem, I found, was that the crouching position was the real issue, and no amount of hot car time would stretch those legs out. The result:
…this total “bleh” of a mod completed mid-2007. Well, they can’t all be resounding successes, and I’m not hiding the failures in this series!
Next: making a resounding success from a manufacturing error.

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They’re looking down on me in contemptuous disappointment. (Except Venus. She’s laughing at me.)

Last time I wrote about this themed team, I fretted about feats. But in the new Modern Age format, feats (and battlefield conditions) are disallowed. Fortunately, the team still works fine — in theory — with just a few bystanders and Special Objects.

Jimmy Woo 46
M-11 59
Gorilla-Man 61
Namora 76
Marvel Boy (Hammer of Thor) 102
Venus 125
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
+ Yellow Lantern object 5
+ Indigo Lantern object 5
+ Tombstone 0

= 500 points. (Or so I thought.)

FIRST ROUND: As the odd player out, I took a bye round, facing the judge Thomas’s League of Assassins: Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia Al Ghul (both from The Brave and the Bold), Merlyn, a Man-Bat Assassin and two each of League Assassin and League Elite. My first mistake was not caring which end of the Stealth-friendly Dawn of Time map I picked. Bad decision against a dangerous sniper like Merlyn. I crept behind blocking terrain to go after safer game until Thomas came after me.

Marvel Boy had to break away for his life while only a clutch Regen roll saved M-11 from the junkheap. Gorilla-Man went down swinging, and Namora finally got untied to deliver a key blow to KO Ra’s al Ghul.

I lost Gorilla-Man and a pair of Thugs but KOed Ra’s, an Elite and the Man-Bat Assassin for the win. 1-0.

SECOND ROUND: Young Brandon was my opponent. I picked the BPRD water map against his Lex Luthor and Brainiac, Kryptonite Man, BN Atom and Goodness & Mercy. I lost Marvel Boy but somehow got a win anyway by KOing Goodness & Mercy. And it was a win I didn’t deserve, because although the boy has picked up the game very quickly, he was still green enough to thoroughly forget to use the Superman Enemy team ability, which could have wreaked utter and absolute havoc on my team. 2-0.

CHAMP ROUND: It was the League of Assassins again, this time vs. Andy. He ran Bronze Tiger, The Sensei, BB Talia al Ghul, BB Ra’s al Ghul, Merlyn, a Man-Bat, and finally some Assassins and Elites. He picked the Graveyard and arranged his team in a solid defensive formation.

This game was fraught with FAILs.

  • Namora never made an attack due to my inability to get within Charge range of possible targets and my unwillingness to push her…positioning FAIL.
  • I completely forgot about Gorilla-Man in a late-game tag-team round that absolutely cost Namora her life…actions FAIL.
  • I wasted round after round Incapping an Elite with Venus instead of, say, Mind Controlling the guy (or picking a different target to do her bidding)…supreme power-use FAIL.

So while I KOed Ra’s and Merlyn, the loss of my pogs, Marvel Boy, M-11 and Namora were way too much to handle.

FINAL: 2-1. Despite the technically winning record, this wasn’t a good outing for this team at ALL. In addition to the FAIL-infested final round and the preying on Brandon’s inexperience/TA FAIL, I was hobbled by my chosen Special Objects. The Yellow Lantern, while great for M-11 when he took a hit and Marvel Boy’s late-dial, kept the robot from making some needed close attacks early on. The Indigo simply sat uselessly in a corner somewhere. Worst of all, the Tombstone deprived Namora of her much-needed heavy object boost, as she inevitably was the first targeted. She really needed the Kinetic Accelerator to be able to get into the fight earlier.

But, as I insinuated earlier in the team build, I inadvertently overbuilt by a 7-point pog. It didn’t end up making a difference, but I say it’s appropriate that I didn’t win the tourney. I’d be having to return a prize.

I’m determined to run Atlas again in Modern Age. Next time, I’ll use only the Yellow Lantern (it’s still quite useful; if M-11 gets hit off Super Strength and onto Psychic Blast, he actually gets an AV boost), the Accelerator and a normal heavy object to give Namora a real shot in the fight. And I’ll remember that Venus has Mind Control, and use the power, darnit.

In the meantime, I ran half the squad in a rare 200-point tourney:

Wouldja believe this is pretty much the only image of these three together alone?

Namora 76 + Warbound 5
M-11 59 + Warbound 5
Jimmy Woo 46 + Warbound 5 + Book of Destiny 4
+ Kinetic Accelerator, Eleha’al Vine and Generator.

= 200 points. I’d never used Book of Destiny before, and I never will again, because of the first round: my pal Lenny with a typically min/maxxed team of Captain America (Hammer of Thor)+ Contingency Plan, Iron Fist (Secret Invasion)+ Lunge, and R Mantis. He picked the Graveyard map and set up most of his team behind the wall. Namora failed her Accelerated Charge on Fist and she fell to his and Mantis’ combined assault when the following M-11 was forced to drop Lenny’s Shield Disruptor nearby after Cap knocked him off Super Strength.

  • In retrospect, I completely should have left the Disruptor where it was. Namora was well out of its range and it affected neither M-11 nor Woo. FAIL.
  • It was also foolhardy to make the Charge without enough Acceleration speed to take M-11 along and ensure the Warbound effect could continue unabated. Warbound FAIL.
  • Finally, I neglected to put Namora in adjacent water terrain during the Charge, where she may have had a chance to heal via her SP. Positioning FAIL.
  • Oh, and Book of Destiny, which I thought would negate Iron Fist’s Super Senses? Well, it does nothing of the sort, so I cursed myself for not putting Inside Information on Woo like I started to, which would have been incredibly useful against this enemy team of Martial Artists. Bonus Feat FAIL!
  • Bad as those gaffes were, though, the biggest FAIL here was my actually forgetting to use Woo’s Leadership, robbing him of an absolutely critical shot attempt on a weakened Iron Fist that may have saved Namora. (Seriously, I’m the type who rolls for Leadership when it’ll have no effect at all, just so I won’t forget it when it matters. And here, I forgot it when it mattered. The hell?!?) EPIC FREAKING FAIL.

It came down to Woo against a battered Mantis and full-health Cap; the latter just stood by nursing Contingency tokens while Mantis healed on the Vine from all the damage Woo dealt her (enough to KO her at least twice if not for that dang special object). Woo won the battle but Cap won the war. 0-1.

SECOND round was against young teenager Conrad, who, despite playing steadily, is still a bit reckless and careless. He ran a one-woman team of LE Nova (Critical Mass) who, despite her Power Cosmic team ability allowing her not to be completely outactioned or Outwitted, simply could not stand against the effectiveness of my Warbound combo. Nova dealt damage to Woo but was a relatively quick KO. 1-1.

THIRD, I faced veteran Paul’s bug team: Wasp (Infinity Challenge)+ Contingency Plan, Yellowjacket (Secret Invasion human) and LE Ant-Man. I won the roll and picked the water map. Scored a first strike on YJ, and though he was able to retaliate and take down Namora, M-11 caught up to finish the job. Then it was a matter of rolling high enough to get Ant-Man or Wasp (with their DVs of 20 and 19, respectively), who had to come to me to stand a chance of winning. Both fell.

FINAL: 2-1. I actually ended up winning the tournament, so it wasn’t completely full of FAIL. Still, the sheer number and severity of mental pratfalls in that first round leaves me unsatisfied. Atlas will rise again!

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Left to right: Ant-Man, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Beast, Nova, Steve Rogers, Black Widow. (Not pictured: Sharon Carter (

I love the Secret Avengers lineup and comic. It’s the best of Marvel’s Heroic Age Avengers launches. But I thus far cannot truly make the team work in HeroClix.
Part of the problem is that they’re not all made, yet. Ant-Man Eric O’Grady is a different guy from the five versions of Dr. Hank Pym as Ant-Man in the game. He’s decidedly not smart enough to rate even the Supernova Rookie’s single click of Outwit or the Experienced’s and Vet’s multiple Perplex clicks. (Maybe one. But not multiple clicks of it.) The old Stealth-heavy LE, on the other hand, could work as O’Grady, who’s a bit of a coward and would hide out until the battle’s done. But the points don’t quite work out. Consequently, I tried crossing universes to sub in The All-New Atom. The movement’s a little low, but he works for the character, right down to the surprising close combat ability.
(gallery or-figure-046)
(hoping the official heroclix.com script works here. If not, you know where to go to see the official dial.)
The other character who’s not quite right in his existing clix forms is Nova Prime. Whether of his Vet  Nova version or the LE Super-Nova, they simply don’t represent the character’s power level well at all.

This guy...

…does not equal…

...THIS guy. At ALL.

But looking over other figures with the Nova Corps keyword, I find that Air-Walker from Hammer of Thor is absolutely a match for the current character. He’ll work for builds of 800 or higher.
(gallery th-figure-044)
(In fact, I was inspired to make a Nova Prime mod to go on this dial. You’ll see it eventually in My Custom Mods feature, updated every Monday!)
Steve “Ex-Captain America” Rogers isn’t in the game, so one must substitute an existing Cap. The Hammer of Thor version is as good as any.
Here’s the base 800-point team I played, then:
Air-Walker 201 (as Nova Prime)
Valkyrie 145
HoT War Machine 137
M+M Beast 73
HoT Captain America 72
CL Black Widow 59
Sharon Carter 50
AV Moon Knight 38
R The All-New Atom 24 (as Ant-Man Eric O’Grady)
= 799 points. It went an anemic 1-2, due to multiple mental FAILures.
FIRST game, I picked the Space Map but faced a team of Kingdom Come Flash, Superman & Flash, and The Flashes that was able to first-strike me from clear across the board anyway. It cost me Valkyrie and Black Widow for a loss that even taking out SuperFlash couldn’t prevent. My main FAIL, besides giving up the alpha strike, was running Atom-as-Ant-Man well away from everything to tie-up The Flashes. Um, WHY? They’re Hypersonic. It worked a little bit, as he drew some attention and survived thanks to a Super Senses roll. But still…bad move, when he could have blocked some line of fire to bigger targets.
SECOND game was on the Junkyard against my bud Lenny. His team of Green Scar, OOTS Batman, BB Wizard Shazam, M+M Marvel Girl, Gamora and someone else I can’t recall was formiable but beatable. But I made two terrible FAILs that cost me everything:
  • Did not cover Air-Walker-as-Nova, giving OOTS Bats a free shot that killed his move+attack powers and blunted the cosmic hero’s effectiveness for the rest of the game.
  • Forgot that Green Scar had the Unstoppable feat and so did not use the 24-point Atom-as-Ant-Man to tie up the monster. Cost me Air-Walker and the game.
  • On top of that, every potential KO hit was Probability Controlled into a miss by The Wizard Shazam via his no-line-of-fire-needed Special Power.
THIRD was on the Graveyard against The Wizard Shazam AGAIN, SR Loki, and some other characters I can’t remember that gave my range-heavy team fits. My FAILs?
  • Moving Atom-Ant-Man first, leaving Valkyrie with no cover when I moved her last. The enemy Wiz got an improbable hit on her to immediately send her running for the Vine. Atom-Ant at least eventually tied up Loki to keep him out of the fight, but I truly lacked much opportunity to lay fire on the one guy I could safely attack.
  • Again getting Nova-Walker pasted early and often through careless positioning. A must-hit RCE shot (instead of a more conservative HSS run)negated by WizShazam left him open to multiple counterblasts taking him out in short order.
Other general FAILure:
  • Moon Knight was useless in these battles, as I thoroughly FAILed to use him as the Stealth wall or tie-up piece he is.
  • Really needed Outwit a time or two. FAILed to realize Beast has it on his 2nd click.
Disappointed by this outing of my newest favorite team. But I recently got a chance to make amends with a feated-up 900-point version!
Air-Walker 201 (as Nova Prime) + Elite Sniper 20
Valkyrie 145 + C.Plan 12 + Inside Info 4
HoT War Machine 137 + Warbound 5 (Soldier)
M+M Beast 73 + Lunge 5
HoT Captain America 72 + C.Plan 12 + Warbound 5 (Soldier)
CL Black Widow 59 + Opportunist 10
Sharon Carter 50
AV Moon Knight 38 + Warbound 5 (Soldier)
LE Yellowjacket 41 (as Ant-Man Eric O’Grady) + Takedown 6
= 900 points (82 in feats).
FIRST game I beat the Asgardian team of Thor & Loki, the Warriors Three, and 2 each of Asgardian Warriors and HoT Valkyries I’d brought as a backup team(which the young host of the shebang played against me in this bye round). I picked the Prison map which helped me against the big duo’s range even though it hampered my Cap. Once Thor & Loki overextended, I was able to Charge with Valkyrie for big damage (using the Com Dish) and others got him to his final click. A final click Moon Knight pushed to use his self-damaging SP to KO the duo first for the margin of victory.
2nd match was on the Junkyard (my pick) against HoT Ronan the Accuser, Immortus, BN Wonder Woman, 2 Jason Bloods, Clark Kent and someone else I can’t recall. I dealt plenty of damage but no KO blows due up to 4 PC rolls per attack. We had a draw and I won the roll-off. My FAIL in this game was not pushing Beast to Outwit sooner to make sure more of my damage stuck (as Immortus did a lot of Masterminding to Ronan and/or PC’d my rolls) or attacking softer targets for easier points.
3rd and champ match was against veteran Paul’s Skrull team of Ms. Skrullvel, two Warskrulls, Capt. Skrull-Vell, Skrullojacket, and a passle of Skrull generics on his choice of the Lab map. My FAIL? “Nova” critmissing the game’s first attack, stranding him in full view of the enemy team and forcing me to drop his passenger Moon Knight in front as a sacrifice. It was only dumb luck that Nova didn’t take any damage after Moon Knight was gone. My next FAIL was jumbo-sized Valkyrie blocking what little line of fire I had after fairly clobbering Ms. Skrullvel with a key Charge, preventing my team from ganging up on her and enabling the impostor to break away and run just as the time ran out.
We played on, though, giving me still more opportunities to FAIL:
  • After successfully using Yellowjacket to tie up and block enemy Outwit, I got extra careless and gave a Warskrull a narrow view to counter Valkyrie’s defenses, enabling enemies to easily gang up on her and take her down. Ant-Man FAIL…AGAIN.
  • Earlier Outwit FAIL with Beast also contributed to that tragedy.
  • Feat FAIL. Because this tournament was at a slumber party full of mostly kids, I didn’t use the superior Trick Shot feat over the slightly less-useful Elite Sniper. But really, feat use is optional. I didn’t have to use it against the kids, and I needed it against Paul thanks to the Valkyrie-in-the-way FAIL.
  • More feat FAIL. I forgot to use Inside Information. It would have helped against the Warskrulls.
  • And MORE feat FAIL: Warbound kept Cap from taking more shots. Maybe if Moon Knight had been around to take a token for Cap…but no. FAILed to make that happen, even before the unfortunate loss of Moon Knight.
  • One more bit of feat FAIL: Similarly, building up Opportunist tokens kept Widow from making more of an impact. This team can’t afford the lost actions, it turns out.
In the end, I still won, getting Paul’s whole force. But all that FAILure troubles me.
SECRET AVENGERS sum-up of FAILure.

Ouch!

“Ant-Man”
Played by two stand-ins — The All-New Atom and LE Yellowjacket — he did fine as a tie-up piece and cheap blocker. When I actually used him as such. These games probably go a lot better if I were consistent in this tactic.
Beast
I used him as what he is — the team’s ONLY source of Perplex and Outwit. Trouble is, he really ought to offer more for his points while the cheapies  should fill his role. But they don’t. So inthe backfield he must remain.

"I'm not a cowardly lion...why must you treat me as one?"

Black Widow
She ought to be great. She really should. Anti-Stealth, Willpower, 3 damage and Incap…but she really only took damage early and often. Only the Opportunist feat, which held her back at first, made her worthy after taking the damage (since she retains the prerequisites most of her dial). I guess that’s something, but…

Oh, for--! Stop being so dramatic and GET UP!!!

Captain America
He invariably never seemed to get into the game until far too late. Was I being too conservative with him? But then, I’m forgetting that in at least half these games he was hampered by walls.
Moon Knight
He’s pretty much just a meat shield or diversion. He’s either a total non-factor or he’s 38 points given up.

This is what happens when you try to sneak up on armed criminals at night wearing all WHITE, boys and girls.

That’s what I want to say, anyhow. But he did land the KO blow on a piece 9.5 times his cost and saved Nova “Air-Walker” Prime from near-certain death in that last game. So he’s won a permanent spot on this team in my book.
“Nova”
Air-Walker was a huge bust. Best used for that opening HSS but unable to take so much as a critical miss or Mystics feedback, he’s way too fragile at over 200 points with 17 DV and Super Senses. On the other hand, he’s the 1st strike piece this range-heavy team kinda needs when faced with constricting maps and Stealth.

Hypersonic FACEPLANT.

Sharon Carter
Another cheap Stealth shield I could never quite leverage for anything ELSE. But that’s mainly due to Wizard Shazam (or just plain poor rolls) causing her SHIELD beneficiaries to miss whenever she made her damage-enhancing action. I wonder if I should push her more freely to get to her diet Perplex SP.
Valkyrie
Ah, Brunnhilde. So versatile with both Charge and hit&run skills. So mighty. So fragile. The team fairly rises and falls with her. If she does fall, or can’t hit, they’re done. If she can land at least that one titanic hit while on her topdial, they’ll win.

Alas. It's all too often this.

War Machine
His reliance on range is a problem. He’s only been KOed in one game so far, but he hasn’t laid down the KOs he really ought to be, either.

I don't think I'm using him right.

Actually, that’s not it. It’s that these Secret Avengers lack a dedicated brick or two. (Compare to this Heroic Age team.) They need someone who can Charge a big ol’ rock into someone’s face and stay there to deliver continued beatdowns despite retaliation. War Machine could be that guy, if he weren’t such a Running Shooter. Valkyrie could do it, if only she weren’t stuck with Super Senses. Ditto for Air “Nova Prime” Walker.
The team is also short on support powers. (Again, compare to the Heroic Age Poster team). No PC. No starting Outwit…and to get it, you give up the only real Perplex. No Support. No TK. Val’s mid-dial Enhancement you hope you never see. And Sharon’s SHIELD ability is only good for range, which is not the S.Avengers’ weak point.
(Maybe I really should relent and use the Rookie Ant-Man anyway. Eric O’Grady’s not that stupid.)
Ah well. I love the comic so far, and I think the team still has what it takes to be competitive. Just need to watch out for those FAIL moments. Speaking of which…my next article looks to be about the Agents of Atlas. And yes…it’s also kinda full of FAIL. Keep an eye out.

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EMERALD EYE OF EKRON (Collateral Damage)

Original look.

As the name indicates, this LE version of Emerald Empress represents the Eye itself and not the woman who wields it. I wanted the sculpt to represent that.
Here’s how I did it:
  • Cut the Eye off her hand.
  • Got a Green Flame/Fire figure from the same Collateral Damage set.
  • Cut Fire’s leg off at about mid-calf (in a “V” shape to give the Eye a better space to glue in).
  • Glued the Eye to the leg with modeler’s glue.
Completed mid-2006.
I have to be careful with this mod — it’s broken a few times. Perhaps I’ll use a more flexible glue to bond it together next time. Despite its fragility, this was the first major customization I ever did, multilating two figures to do it. I don’t regret it one bit — this is just cool, yo.
This also emboldened me to attempt an even more ambitious mod that I’ll highlight next time.

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Over my years of HeroClix collection and play, I’ve dabbled in another aspect of the hobby — modifying existing sculpts into customized versions. Thus far, I’ve teased readers with a few pix in an article here and there, but rest assured I have plenty more to share, from barely-noticeable repaints to major reconstructions.

Each article will detail in brief my process in doing the mod, proving that you don’t have to be an expert sculptor or use a lot of Green Stuff to make your pieces your own!

I hope to make this a regular feature — perhaps weekly. What do you think?

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It’s been up for about a week now, but now it’s time to officially reveal my DC feat and battlefield condition cards with art added.

http://heroclixin.wordpress.com/pix-and-downloads/dc-cards-with-art/

Check ’em out and print ’em out!

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Seriously. I can’t believe some of the utter FAIL I’ve still been experiencing in HeroClix games lately.

Black Adam. I seem to make stupid tactical FAILs with this character more than any other. Back when he was new back in the Crisis events, I’d do ridiculous things like:

  • use his Impervious 254-point body to shield a 61-point medic from Outwit-equipped snipers. Barely escaped that game with a victory thanks to the time limit.
  • Hit Crisis Spectre hard with a Hypersonic hit and neglected to use the rest of his movement, leaving him completely vulnerable to the wounded but still-dangerous giant. I lost that game, snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory. Giant Hypersonic FAIL.

Lately, I’ve pulled Black Adam back out of the tacklebox. And I’ve made the same sorts of utter FAIL:

  • Used Exploit Weakness on a near-dead KC Shazam instead of HSS, leaving him vulnerable to repeated Lunging Stunning Blows from HoT Daredevil. Utter Hypersonic FAIL.
  • Didn’t use his full HSS speed with a full-health enemy V Icons Superman on the board, and didn’t really have much of a reason why I didn’t get him out of reach. Worse…I didn’t use his lower-pointed passenger to block line of fire to him. About three different FAILs. In one action.

Now with a new Black Adam as part of the Shazam! and Black Adam duo, I had another chance to do well by him…or not. See, I put Lunge on the guy (since he has Close Combat Expert much of his dial) and went to town, using the feat to get a quick one-hit-KO of Max Mercury. But later, I took a HSS chance to try to take out an enemy Brave + Bold Superman and lacked the speed to get back to relative safety.

Wasn’t until much later that I realized I’d forgotten Lunge, that would have given me the extra movement to not get so easily ganged up on by BB Superman and Wizard Shazam. Amnesiac FAIL.

In the same game, I utterly forgot BB Metallo was Indomitable, thus losing crucial attack chances. Lost that game. Double FAIL.

In the game previous, I didn’t use Goodness & Mercy’s SP Willpower to chase down a healing enemy. SP FAIL.

These FAILs paled next to today’s though.

Scenario: My Extant, way up on points and on his 1st click against enemy Flash (Justice League Super Rare) has a shot at long range. Afraid my 10 AV isn’t enough hit an 18 DV + Super Senses, I Phase in close. Flash proceeds to alternately Flurry, Hypersonic and generally pummel my weakening Extant to KO.

I wasn’t finished. Same tournament, tired of trying and failing to hit an enemy Black Flash, I pursue and base a wounded Max Mercury hiding on an Eleha’al Vine. Max uses Flurry to land 8 consecutive attacks to deal (with the other White Knight) my reducer-less Extant a bitter defeat.

Extant has full-dial Phasing and a 10 range. 10 RANGE! WHY WAS I BASING NON-STEALTHED CHARACTERS THAT COULD USE FLURRY….TWICE?!?

Worst bit of FAIL since forgetting to play my TKer in the last FAIL article.


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Read the introduction to the series here.

E101 RAGNAROK

What, it's the end of all things AGAIN?

WHAT TO BRING: Characters cards and/or keyword lists to make sure the  characters are accounted for correctly.
—
THE SETUP: All characters on a player’s force that have the keyword possessed by the most characters on that force (or the character that has the highest point value, if the characters possess no common keyword) are that player’s “Asgardians”. Any remaining characters are that player’s “Monsters”. Then, characters that have the Asgardian or Monster keyword can choose to become part of the group matching their keyword. Place eight objects on the battlefield instead of six, and do not replace any of them with special objects.
WHAT IT MEANS: Themed teams will lose out on some of the conditions and effects of the dial, so you might not want to build one. Super Strength will have a field day.
—
TURN THE DIAL: At the end of each round.
WHAT IT MEANS: Steady-moving event dial.
—
Treacherous Loki  (brown, slots A-C): Choose a friendly character. The character can use Outwit and Perplex.
WHAT IT MEANS: You might want to field anti-Outwit tactics (Stealth, Fortitude, Outsmart, certain team abilities) because you WILL be facing the power. By the same token, building in a character to best use this effect would be a good strategy. But you don’t really have to, since you can switch your “Loki” from turn to turn.
—
A Mob of Mjolnirs  (lime, slots A-C): Monsters can pick up objects as if they possessed Super Strength. All objects deal 1 additional penetrating damage when used in an attack.
WHAT IT MEANS: No need to build in Super Strength to use all those extra objects…at first. But because the effect doesn’t last long, it doesn’t hurt to have some actual Super Strength on the team.
—
March of the Trolls (blue, slots C-E): Monsters modify their speed values by +2.
WHAT IT MEANS: Move and attack powers get a boost here, so try to fit some among your non-Asgardians. It also helps your monsters act as good tie-up sacrifices.
—
Rally at Vanaheim (black, slots E-F): Asgardians can use Regeneration.
WHAT IT MEANS: The majority of your build gets a second wind (maybe). Here it pays to build in piece that actually has Regeneration among your Asgardians and feat it with Automatic Regeneration to get extra mileage from this effect.
—
Fall of the Trickster (yellow, slots G-J): Characters can’t use Outwit or Perplex.
WHAT IT MEANS: Suddenly all those powers and abilities you were so worried about earlier are safe. Now’s a good time to push the advantage, especially in conjunction with the next (and concurrent) dial effect…
—
The Odin Force Returns (cyan, slots G-J): Choose a friendly character. The character can use the following powers as if it had a range of 12: Energy Explosion, Psychic Blast, Pulse Wave, and Quake.
WHAT IT MEANS: Field someone with high attack value and Running Shot and try to make sure they survive to this point so they can viciously explode your enemies to cinders.
—
Last Battle (red, slots I-K): Once per action, Asgardians given an action or declared the target of an attack can modify one of their combat values by +1 until that action resolves.
WHAT IT MEANS: No Perplex (thanks to “Fall of the Trickster”)? No problem!
—
All That Remains (orange, slot L): The game ends immediately. Each player receives 10 fewer victory points for each character on an opposing force that was not defeated.
WHAT IT MEANS: Here’s where building a bigger force (that survives) can yield some dividends. On the other hand, KOs are still king, and and smaller team of beaters will give up fewer points (again, if they survive).
—
SUMMING IT UP: This dial is about speed-fighting to the absolute death, gaining as many KOs as possible in 11 rounds. Build for such and throw caution to the wind.

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It’s that time again: another brand-new HeroClix set. Considering that this time last year we didn’t think we’d ever see one, I for one am quite grateful.

One thing I am not so grateful for, though, is WizKids’ ceasing to print the handy little checklists they used to pack in every booster. Yes, I’m sure they’re an ultimately needless expense, but the company could offer downloadable and printable PDF versions.

Fortunately, I’m a fairly talented graphic designer myself, so I’ve been crafting my own checklists since WizKids stopped doing theirs in Secret Invasion. Now that I have my own little HeroClix blog, I figured I should share.

BBpocketchecklist

BBpocketchecklist (updated April 17, 2010 with added AE point cost for Etrigan and minor spelling/name changes [for instance, “ATOM & HAWKMAN” is now properly spelled “THE ATOM AND HAWKMAN”))

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For the past couple of years, I’ve done Top Ten lists of HeroClix on Pojo.com (in addition to semi-regular reviews, which I once planned to archive here. That’s probably not happening). In honor of the return of the game, I’m back with a Top Ten HeroClix of 2009 list.
…
…wwwhich pretty much means a Top Ten Hammer of Thor HeroClix list. 😀
But actually, HoT was absolutely packed with excellent pieces, so selecting these top 10 was every bit as difficult as in previous years with 3-4 times the sets.
So, without further delay, here’s #10!
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...but he's Number ONE with the BULLETS.

Star-Lord
boot symbol
90 points
Team: Defenders
Keywords: Guardians of the Galaxy, Soldier
Range: 8 x 2
DIAL: http://wizkidsgames.com/heroclix/gallery/
STRENGTHS: “Galactic Marksman” is a fantastic Special Power. It gives him the choice to boost his AV +2 against a single target or his damage +2 against two. Coupled with his Running Shot and Sharpshooter ability, he can truly lay down some hurt at range or up close. Defenders TA shores up his Combat Reflexes-enhanced DV (assuming you run some higher DV’d teammates with him). His AV rises, making him fairly pushable. He’s also got Leadership to aid the team (and possibly himself).
His late dial gains Stealth and Ranged Combat Expert to remain a threat.
WEAKNESSES: His 16 DV is pretty mediocre, and it only gets worse on his back half. If he can’t find two targets, his damage is too low on his early dial. His dial is short for his point cost.
CARDS TO CONSIDER: CONTINGENCY PLAN can offset the AV penalty on his double-target option of Galactic Marksman. The KINETIC ACCELERATOR is good to boost his Running Shot range. And if you’re not running him with any other Defenders, go ahead and put the powers-protecting GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY ATA on him.
IN SUM: A figure riddled with weaknesses nevertheless got a lot of support from readers to make the top 10 list because of its incredible versatility. Star-Lord is much better in practice than he looks on paper.
#9 is hardly a lord, taking us out of the stars but not out of the heavens…!