Ready to RUMBLE.

Got three games in last Saturday to continue the Iron Campaign. I went wayyyy too in-depth with my last battle report (though some told me they enjoyed it — THANKS!) so I’m going to try to shorten things up and make it a little more readable.

First game: 200 points

Anthony Stark 100 + Alpha Flight 0
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100

vs Lenny’s

Winter Soldier 70
Gamora 73
Scarlet Witch (Avengers Super Rare) 35

I got to pick the wide-open Arena with a Tombstone, Eleha’al Vine and Dynamostat to help me out. Lenny used only a Meteorite.

Opening moves.
I had Anthony Stark grab the Tombstone and park behind the Dynamostat, leaving Iron Man in the starting area. I expected Lenny to move Winter Soldier immediately to the map’s existing hindering terrain, giving him a great sniper’s coverage of nearly the whole Arena. But he instead picked up his Meteorite and parked on a light object while moving Scarlet Witch to a building. A turn later, he moves Gamora to the existing hindering.

First shots.
Winter Soldier blew away the Dynamostat, exposing Stark. This was fine with me; Iron Man then blew away Winter Soldier’s hiding place so Stark could Outwit his Ranged Combat Expert. Lenny tied up Stark with Scarlet Witch, but it didn’t seem to help him much; Iron Man Running Shot Winter Soldier off his top click and Scarlet Witch fell to a OHKO by Stark’s Tombstone. Stark then Outwitted Gamora’s Charge.

Turning point.
Lenny forgot about Charging and simply based Stark with Gamora. In the meantime, Winter Soldier was able to pop him off Outwit. That opened him up for Gamora to peel his suit apart with hit after Weakness-Exploiting hit.

Iron Man started to break for the Vine, having taken a crithit from WS and further damage from Gamora, but I realized Gamora would catch up and probably KO him before any real healing occurred. Managed to break WAY away from her to chase Winter Soldier, but the gun-toting spy managed to immediately roll the 9+ needed to win the game.

Iron Campaign record slips to 5-10.

Lessons learned:

Anthony Stark should be kept just close enough to use Outwit until it’s time to close in. I got too close in, trusting too much to the Dynomastat for cover KNOWING it would get blown up, and then pressing the attack instead of retreating beyond any possibility of being swarmed.

Beware enemy tie-up. Especially if a swarm or snipers are involved.

Get Gamora while the getting’s good. I treated WS as the main threat too long and Stark paid. Without Stark, I couldn’t win.

Second game: 700-point 3- way Battle Royale.

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Inside Info 4 + Thunderbolts 5 + Alias 3

Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5
Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10 + Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Vendetta 6
R Mandroid Armor 28

As usual, Lenny loaded for bear:

Superman (Justice League) 226 + Fortitude 25
Green Lantern (Crisis) 157 + Shellhead 10
Green Arrow (Crisis) 104
Batman (Justice League) 75
Gamora 73

Soooooo close to a thematic team. 🙂

Paul, on the other hand, went for mostly wackiness:

Bizarro #1 (Arkham Asylum) 199
Ch’p 82
Plasmus 80
Impossible Man 72
Batzarro 69
Mr. Mind 68
Plastic Man (Justice League) 55
Ambush Bug 50
Val-Or 23
Franklin Richard 2

Yeah, a lot like one of my first posted teams. 🙂

Paul won the map roll and picked the old office, an indoor map with an open space between compartmentalized rooms. He also played Damage Control, while Lenny cancelled my Bright Lights with Ordinary Day. I made my T-Bolts Ultimates.

Opening gambits.
I played very conservatively to not get double-teamed. I’d picked the most open part of the map to give my ranged fighters maximum lines of fire.

Lenny, though, underestimated Paul’s reach with Ch’p’s TK and got Green Arrow immediately crithit by Bizarro onto his last click. (That’s all Bizarro could do, eventually becoming the first KO.

I get involved.
Me, I kept my tin men well down the open hallway in a snipers’ formation to prevent any easy forays against me. But Paul decided not to leave me alone, sending Plastic Man (who I’d deliberately let alone despite having easy attack access to him via my TBolts) to tie up my 100-point Free Comic Book Day Iron Man and somewhat spoiling my options.

An opening!
After Lenny used Superman to finish off Bizarro #1, he put him in a safe place around a corner…or so he thought.

Using the Unstoppable feat, Hulkbuster smashed the wall Superman was hiding behind and SN Iron Man landed a Stunning Blow that caused 3 clicks all told to Supes, effectively ending his Hypersonic Speed threat. Then, thanks to the Damage Control BFC, the wall closed up, preventing any possibility of retaliation. Meanwhile, SI Iron Man Running Shot Plastic Man to near-uselessness (though it took a couple of tries.

Lenny and Paul continued to fight it out, with Paul definitely on the losing end of matters. Though Green Arrow finally dropped, Paul lost Impossible Man, Plasmus and Mr. Mind in the process.

Too little, too late.
I wouldn’t be able to use my Unstoppable wall-break trick again, so I inched closer to the skirmish. Made the slight error, though, of using my Mandroid as a meat shield for his taxi, Hulkbuster. Ch’p came out and Running Shot the ‘droid into near-uselessness. Meanwhile, I was way short on points and nearly out of time in “regulation play,” so I threw my efforts into nailing Ch’p and Batzarro for points. Got the squirrel, but couldn’t quite finish Batzarro…not without pushing, and it wouldn’t NEARLY make up the deficit. So as time expired, I found myself in a distant  2nd place.

The REST of the story (with apologizes to the late great Paul Harvey).
We played on. As Paul retreated to attempt an end-around of my team with his remnants, Lenny came after me, big time. Green Lantern TK’d Gamora into Perplex-aided Charge range of Hulkbuster, hitting him for 4 straight (Exploit Weakness. Ugh, I hate that chick). The rest of the Iron Men lit her like a Christmas tree in the fireplace. Similarly, Superman was hit hard onto his 20 DV click and eventually off the board.

Now there was only Green Lantern and Batman to deal with (besides Paul’s Val-Or, Franklin pog and Ambush Bug sneaking in behind me), but they weren’t going quietly. Batman’s Outwit made sure Hulkbuster felt all 3 clicks of GL’s Running Shot, sending the suddenly Stealthy big guy to the bushes. Batman was the next to fall (at the replusor-wielding palms of SN Iron Man — thank you Thunderbolted Ultimates TA), but not before SI Iron Man got blasted for 4 clicks off his Extremis powers and onto Charge.

By now, Paul had gotten his scragglers in place to tie up most of my team, leaving them sitting ducks for Green Lantern to take potshots at once he;d finished off Hulkbuster. SN Iron Man was particularly stuck with Val-Or, failing breakaway after breakaway. Fortunately, SI Iron Man made most of his and eventually cleared out the annoying fodder until SN Iron Man finally got clear to finish the game.

Lessons learned:

SI Iron Man wins games for this team. So much so, I almost decided not to use the piece in the next game.

Hulkbuster + Unstoppable pays off. It seems unthinkable to me that there was a time I was determined to never play him on this theme again. (I’ll tell THAT story in a future installment.) Unstoppable on him is ALL about giving this ranged team a way to compete on cramped, indoor maps, and it worked big time.

Got to be careful of those time limits without overextending myself. Haven’t quite found the balance, here.

Paul had a date, so completely-uncoupled-up Lenny and I played one more game.

Third game: 700 point match.

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Inside Info 4 + Thunderbolts 5 + Improvise 7
Hulkbuster 165 + Unstoppable 5 + Lunge 5
E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Vendetta 6
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28

vs

Thanos (Supernova) 267 + Shellhead 10 + Protected 8
Dr. Doom (Fantastic 4) 200 + Alias 3
Susan Richards 120
Gamora 73 + Alias 3

I won the map roll and picked a map I usually hate: the Rooftops of Galactus. Limiting Thanos and Gamora’s range of movement was key, I figured, and it would also lessen Skrull Sue’s opportunities to shoot through walls and stuff.

The fight starts QUICK!
I huddled much of my team on and around my Kinetic Accelerator and Eleha’al Vine behind a tiny bit of blocking terrain. Nearly paid dearly for it when Sue TK’s Thanos who barely missed his Psychic Blast on Hulkbuster. I pushed E AW Iron Man to try to ping Thanos but missed. The mad Titan hit him back.

The 2nd wave.
Now Sue tossed Doom out to Running Shoot someone. Fortunately, Doom missed, giving E AW a chance to get off the Accelerator and to the Vine right next door. Unfortunately, I rolled too high on the Accelerator and blew it up, negating my plans for Hulkbuster to Charge Thanos 10 squares away. I went to the backup plan and TK’d (with my Mandroid) Hulkbuster to hit Doom with the Meteorite for big damage.

Uh-oh.
That was the good news. The bad was that Doom had regained his free-breakaway Special Power, had Willpower and would certainly leave Hulkbuster wide open for Thanos to easily destroy. That is, unless I sacrificed Guardsman to block Line of Fire. Which I did. It also had the side benefit of preventing a TK’d Gamora from getting to Hulkbuster as well.

As I expected, Doom ran behind Thanos’ skirts (well, okay, it’s a tunic, technically) and Thanos hit Guardsman…even with a roll of 3…even though I’d Brilliant Tactician’d up his defense. And because I’d had to push Guardsman to make the move, he was thus one-shot by the mad Titan.

So here came Gamora, TK’d over and Charging Hulkbuster. I said, out loud: “I’m REALLY getting tired of this chick.” 🙂

Fortunately, she missed her initial attack. But the advantage was all Lenny’s thanks to the free-push abilities of Gamora and Thanos.

Turning Point.
E AW Iron Man had healed a single click via the Vine but still had Perplex, so I boosted SI Iron Man’s range with him while using Extremis to boost his damage. FCBD Iron Man then Running Shot, using Mandroid’s free SHIELD range  boost to ping Thanos off his first click. Then I did a Running Shot with SI Iron Man him next to both Mandroid and FCBD Iron Man to gain a double SHIELD boost to range to hit Thanos from 11 out, keeping all from Thanos’ retaliation.

Now unable to shoot anyone at the moment, Thano chased and based E AW. That gave me a SHIELD-boosted Running Shot with FCBD Iron Man to knock Thanos off his Probability Control clicks. E AW was done for as soon as Thanos could act again, but I was OK with this, as it had allowed SI Iron Man to chase down Doom for the KO. Meanwhile, Hulkbuster had survived several low Gamora rolls and scored a couple on her to take her out.

Now I could swarm Thanos, with Hulkbuster basing and all missing (I continually Extremis’d down Thanos’ AV). Between misses against Thanos, SIron Man got Sue and eventually Hulkbuster cracked through for the KO.

Made of WIN.

Iron Campaign improves to 7-10. Getting there.

Lessons learned:

SHIELD TA is worth its weight. Make sure I always have one or two cheap sources of the ability on a team OTHER than Free Comic Book Day Iron Man.

Put Hulkbuster on the Kinetic Accelerator, not some other “placeholder” character. E AW Iron Man’s premature overloading of the special object could have been a crippling occurrence.

And again: Hulkbuster comes through. Next installment, I’ll take a look back at an event that contributed some of the loss-column numbers of the Iron Campaign back in early 2008.

With the lessons learned from my last few pre-Iron Campaign excursions, I fielded a 1000-point version recently.

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
+ Thunderbolts 5
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
+ Thunderbolts 5
Hulkbuster 165
+ Unstoppable 5
Iron Man (Supernova) 160
+ Stunning Blow 10
+ Thunderbolts 5
Anthony Stark 100
+ Thunderbolts 5
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
Guardsman 32
R Mandroid Armor 28

= 1000 points of cutting-edge Stark technology.

My opponent was Lenny, who fielded a team that would test my mettle.

Silver Surfer (Avengers) 231
Green Scar 230
+ Fortitude 25
+ Protected 8
Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion) 149
+ Brilliant Tactician 20
Gravity 75
Gamora 73
SR Scarlet Witch (Avengers) 35

He won the map roll and picked the Outdoor Danger Room map. I didn’t mind, as that gave my range-heavy team plenty of wide-open space to shoot at. I played the Inferno BFC to flush out anyone hiding in hindering terrain, but Lenny cancelled it with Ordinary Day. Again, that suited me fine. I fielded a trio of Special Objects: The healing Eleha’al Vine, the Meteorite and the Kinetic Accelerator. Lenny used his own copies of the former two. Finally, I picked Mystics as my Thunderbolts team ability.

Immediately, Lenny used Gravity to move Surfer via Telekinesis to his rooftop so he could blow up my Accelerator!

I used Mandroid Armor to TK Guardsman to the roof, then did a Running Shot next to him with V Armor Wars Iron Man (Vet AW) to gain the SHIELD damage boost. But I missed the shot, and next turn Lenny retreated Surfer from any sort of followup shot.

Lenny moved Namor out to grab a heavy object while moving Dr. Strange, Scarlet Witch, Gravity and Scar to a patch of hindering terrain within easy reach of my team. With a TK move from Gravity, Scar could hit any one of my people at will if I wasn’t careful.

Here I made a first real mistake. Instead of attempting a Running Shot off the roof with Vet AW, I tried a standing shot from there. It didn’t work, thanks to Dr. Strange’s high defense compounded by the hindering terrain bonus. This left the Vet open to retaliatory Hypersonic Speedy shots from Silver Surfer, forced rerolls by Scarlet Witch’s Probability Control, and sniper shots from Dr. Strange himself. (A better decision would have been to try a shot from extreme range on Gravity.)

I found myself forced to back up the Vet with Secret Invasion Iron Man (SIron Man), the linchpin of the team, much earlier than I liked. Also failing his attack, at least he was able to keep Gravity’s TK Outwitted to prevent the big Hulk strike.

Alas, that didn’t do much to prevent the big Namor strike! The avenging son of Atlantis soon came Charging in to Flurry the Vet Iron Man hard with a heavy object. Fortunately, Namor missed the followup Flurry strike, preserving the precious Outwit power. Unfortunately, on my turn both Hulkbuster and Supernova Iron Man failed their respective Charge and Running Shot attempts.

Tired of my constant Outwitting of Telekinesis, Lenny simply used Green Scar’s Leap/Climb (part of his “Smash” Special Power) to base SN Iron Man, putting both him and Hulkbuster in jeopardy. And then he based SN Iron Man with Gamora, too! Things looked hella bleak for the Silver Centurion.

Figuring that, at minimum, Gamora was about to use Willpower+Exploit Weakness to punch through his armor like wet paper, I pushed SN Iron Man to deliver a Stunning Blow on Green Scar. CRITICAL HIT! Scar took 3, got knocked back, lost his Meteorite and gained a token to keep him from moving. Dr. Strange, too got hit well at last by either SIron Man or Free Comic Book Day Iron Man (FCBD) to make him a relative non-factor (well, not entirely accurate, as he still could Brilliant Tactician). It was about here, though, that Vet AW fell at last to Namor and Scarlet Witch for the game’s first KO.

Just within the normal time limit, Dr. Strange was knocked out. Unfortunately, his KO points (149 + Brilliant Tactician’s 20 = 169) wouldn’t exceed what I lost in Vet AW (172 + Thunderbolts’ 5 = 177). Even if Lenny’d thought to use Protected on the Green Scar hit, the game would’ve been a draw.

We played on. FCBD tried to push and hit Gamora to stop her attack on SN Iron Man, but whiffed. Green Scar didn’t miss, having been beaten to his sweetest click, and neither did Gamora. SN Iron Man was down!

Anthony Stark was using Outwit to keep Namor in check (countering first his  Exploit Weakness, then his Avenging Son SP) while Hulkbuster worked him. SIron Man had been TK’d behind the building to Brilliant Tactician his fellows (and get away from Silver Surfer, who’d fortunately not yet landed his ranged attacks on the high-defense leader of my team) to help speed up the hits.

FCBD Iron Man made a Running Shot further away to try hitting Gamora, but failed yet again. Green Scar, despite making every Impervious roll so far, couldn’t make any attacks (Hulkbuster blocked access to the roof) and was in danger getting swarmed with both Namor and Gravity down, so he beat a retreat toward his Vine for healing and I couldn’t stop him. Gamora, for her part, based FCBD to prevent any further shooting and force him to deal with her 20 DV in close combat. Breakaway proved unsuccessful.

I took an opportunity to push Hulkbuster to Charge Silver Surfer with Scar’s discarded Meteorite to put a swift end to his hypersonic ways. But now he, too, would be able to Phase away and retreat.

Moving Anthony Stark to the ground for better firing/Outwit opportunities, I figured to push to FCBD Iron Man’s next “Invincible” click to minimize the damage Gamora could do once she was clear to act. But I forgot to use A.Stark’s Outwit to counter Gamora’s Exploit Weakness, making my move pretty pointless. She hit FCBD to his last click.

Scarlet Witch, though long beaten off her Prob. Control, proved to be a further annoyance by tossing up a Barrier, keeping SI Iron Man from pressing his pursuit (having already missed shots on the 200+ point targets). Scar, now on the Vine, was healing back up to move+attack deadliness.

FCBD got a clutch breakaway from Gamora and certain defeat to a nearby rooftop. Hulkbuster moved to the roof, too (Running Shooting Scarlet Witch on the way) and SIron Man also joined him there (Running Shooting and missing Scar and Surfer on his way). Bad move: SIron Man got Psychic Blasted by Silver Surfer. Mandroid pushed to base Surfer to prevent further shooting.

Back on the ground, A.Stark hit Gamora hard with a SHIELD boosted shot and  kept her nerfed with Outwit. Green Scar, now healed back to his move+attacking early clicks, moved just below SIron Man and Stark, threatening them both (thanks to his Leap/Climb, which allows close combat on differing elevations). SIron Man took a Running Shot on Scar, who broke away (from the Guardsman I’d just moved to tie him up with) to jump him with Exploit Weakness for 4 damage deep into his dial!

Fortunately, SIron Man could still Brilliant Tactician, enabling FCBD to hit Green Scar with Ranged Combat Expert while Hulkbuster Running Shot Gamora and A.Stark blew Silver Surfer away. Scar got swarmed, and when his Regen failed, it was easy winnings.

Stark Industries’ record improves to 5-9.

Despite an unhealthy number of poor die rolls, this Stark Armory team did pretty well! Lessons I gleaned from this game:

Range helps. When the Iron Men can use their range to the fullest, it helps. To that end…

Running Shot at full range if at all possible. If I have 10 range and have the opportunity to take a shot from extreme range, even if the target isn’t  the best choice, take it anyway. Minimize my vulnerability to counterattack.

Set up where enemy has minimal cover or where I can shoot at will. This particular map has an edge and corner with almost no cover

Mandroid Armor’s Telekinesis is a huge bonus. Since the theme allows for not just Iron Men, but also Stark-designed characters like the Guardsmen, “Iron” Spider-Man and the like, I’ll be including one of these fellows on every team I can. TK helps address the Iron Man’s dependence on range.

T-Bolt to Ultimates, always. Just do it. As much as Mystics helped me whittle down Green Scar a little bit or prevented Dr. Strange from taking shots on me, being able to ignore hindering terrain bonuses might’ve helped more.

Piece-by-piece:

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188:  Performed as the linchpin he’s supposed to be. He should be a first choice on any Stark team over 300 points.
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172: Honestly, I’m torn. I liked his range (longer than the others’), his Outwit and his AV. But he never quite works out because I never quite use that range right. If I decide I don’t want another Avenger on the team, I may downgrade him in future games for  the E Armor Wars version instead.
Hulkbuster 165: Definitely pulled his considerable weight, bringing a  needed close-combat prowess to the table. Especially good w/ Mandroid’s TK. Although I didn’t need it this time, using Unstoppable on him could be key for painlessly opening lanes of fire on indoor maps.
Iron Man (Supernova) 160: Excellent as usual with Stunning Blow, even though he only landed the one attack.
Anthony Stark 100: Useful as the cheap mobile Outwit alternative to the heavier hitters with the power and as a clean-up hitter…
Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100: …but this one was intended for the cleanup role. Only so-so this game, but well worth it.
Guardsman 32: not only good for SHIELD TA but for taxiing the Mandroid and acting as tieup when needed. Great filler for this theme.
R Mandroid Armor 28: But again, this little guy changes everything. TK minimizes range dependence while SHIELD TA maximizes range effectiveness.

Good first outing for the Iron Campaign. We’ll see if the winning ways can continue this weekend.

First step in the Iron Campaign is to figure what went right and wrong with the previous attempts.

The 2300-point birthday game

V Iron Man (X-Plosion) 189 + Trick Shot 20
Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188 + Brilliant Tactician 20
V Iron Man (Armor Wars) 172
Hulkbuster 165
Iron Man (Supernova) 160 + Stunning Blow 10
Iron Man (Avengers) 154
Tony Stark 150
Iron Man (Ultimates) 144
E Iron Man (Armor Wars) 135 + Mercenary 15
V War Machine 124
Spider-Man (Avengers) 111
E War Machine 109
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Protected 8 +Vendetta 6
Anthony Stark 100 + Outsmart 10
U Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
R Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89
Guardsman 32

= 2300 points.

In a battle royale against Psicardi’s “ladies’ night” team featuring Ms. Marvel (Skrull), Wonder Woman (Arkham Asylum), Moondragon, Chase Spider-Womanand a full complement of six Cuckoos, among many more; Lord Timothy (aka Bilbo3000) and his Parallax, CR Mordru, AV Ares, Magus, SN Thanos, Immortusand more; and Lenny’s JL Superman, AV Silver Surfer, SI Iron Man, CR Green Lantern, Gamora, Iron Spider, CR Green Arrow, OOTS Batman and the like.

RESULT: Took 75 points, lost 344, by far the worst showing on the map.

What went right: Using XPlosion Iron Man as the hidden Trick Shooter. Thanks to his awful-for-the-points attack values, this old rendition of the character is good for nothing other than this niche role. Fortunately, it worked eminently well, leading to my only points of the night.

What went wrong:

Trying to use Ultimates Iron Man to Energy Explode a pile of Cuckoos. While the first attack succeeded, the followup to get the girls off their dangerous clicks failed, leading to said Iron Man — who ventured well within their retaliation range — taking about 2 more clicks of Psychic Blast damage than he could stand. Lesson learned: better to pick targets off one by one if possible. Also, never NEVER move + attack INTO an enemy’s shorter range if it can be helped.

Not being able to leverage Brilliant Tactician enough. The indoor map and my huddled pieces hindered my ability. Lesson learned: equipping Secret Invasion Iron Man with Coordination in addition might prove beneficial. Also, I need to otherwise be prepared for cramped spaces that hamper ranged attacks.

Six-person Battle Royale:

Iron Man (Secret Invasion) 188
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
Paramedic 8

= 296 points.

RESULT: I was the first one wiped, since we had a special rule that prevented teams from pouncing on the nearest enemies (and me from targeting most of the weaker players on the board).

What went right: Not much, really, despite being the first player to score a KO.

What went wrong: Missed a gift of a first-turn shot at Gamora by forgetting the range-boosting aspect of M+M Iron Man’s SHIELD team ability. When that same player’s Batman and Gamora closed in, I risked a close-range Running Shot that I absolutely could not afford to miss…and did. Lessons learned: This is a range-centric team that should leverage that ability at all times and in all ways. When the enemy closes in, Running Shot away…or just run, period.

The late Father’s Day team

SI Iron Man 188 + Inside Information 4 + Thunderbolts 10 (Ultimates)

AV Spider-Man 111 + Lunge 5
Spider-Girl 77 + Lunge 5

This game was a Father’s Day holdover in which 2 figures on the team had to be a father and his offspring.

RESULT: I beat Nathaniel Richards, his son FF Reed Richards, his son Franklin Richards, V Corsair and his sons V Havok and V IC Cyclops and a couple more pogs. Lost the Spiders, though.

What went right: Pretty much everything. I caught Nathaniel Richards with his pants down (i.e., away from Mastermind fodder) and hit hit early with Iron Man’s Running Shot to put Paul on the defensive early on. I was also well-equipped with Outwit and two boot speed Leap/Climb figures to tie up the opposition pretty well. Lesson learned: Use that range advantage and maintain it, even if tie-up pieces have to be put at risk.

What went wrong: Still lost significant portion of team. That’s just the way the dice roll sometimes, though. Lesson learned: Cheap tie-up is better.

Finally, I played one more Stark swarm:

U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100
Anthony Stark 100 + Outsmart 10 + Alpha Flight 0
U Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89 + Alpha Flight 0
R Iron Man (Armor Wars) 89 + Alpha Flight 0 + Armor Piercing 10

= 398 points
against a Warskrull, V Vampire Lackey and White Martian x 3 team and a JL team of CR Green Lantern, CR Green Arrow, OR Carter Hall and LE Atom.

RESULT: I was wiped first and scored no KOs.

What went right: Nothin’.

What went wrong: An early attempt on Warskrull proved a huge game-breaking error. Not only was I only marginally successful (putting the target on its Stealth clicks and causing later problems with range attacks), but I put my whole team in range of multiple Charging White Martians, who couldn’t even be Force Blasted away. Thus tied up, my force was helpless against the JL team shooting mine in the back even while the Martians fought me. Lessons learned: No matter how tempting/fearsome the target, do not EVER give up the Stark team’s range advantage under any circumstances. A tied up Iron Man is halfway lost already.

Using R and U Armor Wars Iron Man. The one has too-low damage (requiring Armor Piercing) and the other, too-low range. Forced to choose between the two, I’d pick the Unique for its better damage, Super Strength and tie-up ability. Lesson learned: It’s probably better to fill the team out with Stark-built generics like Mandroid Armor or Guardsman instead of these pieces, anyway.

That final lesson was key, actually, in that it reminded me that in a “Stark Industries” theme team would allow me to field Mandroid Armor, which would serve well to add Telekinesis to the team’s range.

I would have a chance to apply some of these lessons in a 1000-point match a week later. Would the Iron Campaign’s numbers in the loss column slide into double digits? Find out in Part 3 of the Iron Campaign in a couple of days!

Welcome to the first of an occasional series: My Favorite Teams, where I discuss some HeroClix builds I enjoy fielding at every opportunity. 

Last Friday, I played a 500-point friendly match with Paul (while all the usual regulars were apparently seeing “Terminator Salvation”). This was my chance to play my Seven Soldiers of Victory team (Grant Morrison’s version)!

Seven Soldiers of Victory (left to right): Klarion (and cat Teekl), Shining Knight (and winged steed Aragon), Zatanna, Frankenstein, Guardian, Bulleteer and Mister Miracle.

Frankenstein 98 + Opportunist 10
Klarion 76
Zatanna 72
Bulleteer 69 + Unstoppable 5
R Mister Miracle (Origin) 64 + Loner 5
SR Shining Knight 48 + Double-Time 5
U Guardian (Collateral Damage) 47

= 499 points

Although this is the team almost exactly as it appears in the comics, save Mr. Miracle whose clix is based on the original Scott Free character instead of his former protegé Shilo Norman who stars in Seven Soldiers, it’s not a keyword-worthy themed team since Miracle doesn’t have the Seven Soldiers keyword. This is actually quite appropriate because the team never assembled in one place (indeed, many never encountered each other at all).

Paul, for his part, put together a decent Justice Society team:

E Mr. Terrific
V Stargirl
V Ray
V Damage
V Wildcat
E Hawkgirl (Unleashed)
E Dr. Mid-Nite
Ma Hunkel
Speed Saunders

…but Ray’s and Hawkgirl’s lacking the Justice Society keyword prevented him from getting the theme bonus. I thus won the map roll and picked the World War Hulk NYC map. No battlefield cards or special objects. I hunkered my team behind the elevated trailers and waited as Paul similarly bunkered ehind blocking terrain with only Mr. Terrific exposed.

I knew I had to deal with Mr. Terrific ASAP. His Outwit would be a serious problem and I didn’t want to risk him getting pushed to Stealthed Probability Control. So I was glad when Paul taxied him (with Stargirl) in full view of the field in preparation for Outwitting anyone I put out there. Better still, he didn’t chain the 17 defense value (in Vet Damage) either.

I went for Mr. T, using Shining Knight’s Double-Time to carry Bulleteer and tie-up both Terrific and Stargirl. With most of Paul’s lines of fire blocked by the double-based Knight, I set up my Perplexers to boost her to 18; her Defense was sufficient to avoid all Paul’s attack rolls. A turn later, Mr. Terrific fell to Bulleteer’s heavy-object Charge and Knight’s Flurry.

Shining Knight was the first of my figs to fall (to Wildcat), but then Frankenstein was in the mix, and Opportunist made sure Frank didn’t miss. Dr. Mid-Nite got easy healings on his wounded thanks to JSA lowering DVs to, Hawkgirl’s 12. Fortunately for me, he critmissed once to keep Wildcat from getting back to full. 

A wounded Zatanna still showed her worth by using Enhancement to boost Frankenstein’s Running Shot to massive levels and thus ending the threat of the enemy that hit her, V Ray. As Guardian and Miracle polished off Wildcat, Hawkgirl and Stargirl, Ray retreated with Dr. Mid-Nite in vain flight. Brought them to ground for the wipeout having only lost Bulleteer and Shining Knight.

I was so surprised by this performance (and the team similarly dominated the first time I played it early this year against a Hellfire Club team of Black King, Black Queen, Emma Frost, E Sunspot and Mastermind) that I decided to run the same team in the real tournament the next day. See how that went next time!

DATE PLAYED: May 17, 2009

POINT TOTAL: 400 points

SCENARIO: 2nd Amendment (all sculpts must have guns)

 My take: KANGs

V Kang the Conqueror + Protected + Inside Information
R Kang (Supernova) + Lucky Break
R Kang (Supernova) + Armor Piercing

 This was a last-minute switch from a vague idea of wildcard abuse. I wanted to keep things simple for my first opponent Andy, an almost brand-new player whose collection is very small. But I also wanted to build a team capable of facing down anything my other, more savvy sparring partner would bring to the table. So I spent some time giving Andy a bunch of figures from my trade stock instead of picking out Battlefield Conditions. He was then able to build a half-decent gun-toting swarm: 

Punisher (Secret Invasion)
R Tessa
Bishop (Mutations and Monsters)
Maverick
The Hood
E Silver Sable
R Skullbuster
R Skrull Agent

 He won the map roll and picked, from my collection, the Rooftops from the Galactus tournaments. Lots of open space, so we pretty much got right into the mix like 19th century armies. I quickly nailed Skullbuster for a solid hit, sending her running, and Punisher didn’t last long under the Kangs’ fire. But then things went well south as a combination of hard hits and Masters of Evil pushing took down both my Rookies and a crithit forced my Vet onto the late half of his dial. Outnumbered and outactioned, Kang…was conquered. Wiped out by the newbie…and this time I didn’t even help him that much! 0-1.

 I took the bye and watched (and kibitzed for the new player) until the 3rd and final round against Lenny: 

SR Nick Fury (Secret Invasion) + Contingency Plan + Brilliant Tactician
SR Winter Soldier
Deathstroke (Crisis)
Bucky

 WHAT A GREAT TEAM. He won the roll and put us on the Secret Invasion Crash Site map. Lots of hindering terrain for his Stealthy team, immediately making me regret not picking any Battlefield Conditions for this tournament, because today of all days I would certainly — CERTAINLY — have used Bright Lights. No DOUBT. I used a Dynamostat to give my Kangs a bit of cover, but Fury boosted his own damage to get rid of it and thus keep his main attackers more than free to light up my Kangs. I lost the game when I broke one Kang off to tangle with Winter Soldier but missed the followup attack. Soon I was down to two figures and only had Bucky as a viable target; sure, I could hit Fury easily (13 attack + 2 for Inside Information), but he’d only use his Special Power to warp away and leave Kang the Conqueror wide open for Winter Soldier and Deathstroke’s counterattack. (Perhaps I should have done it anyway, to remove the Brilliant Tactician + Contingency Plan + Outwit combo!) As it stood, I only KO’d Bucky and got wiped out. 

Again, this was a superb team. What it lacks in mobility it makes up in range power and protection against same. Fury buffs the team with either his Perplex/BT/Plan combo or with his SHIELD TA (never used in this game), Winter Soldier is the sniper, Deathstroke is eminently able to handle close combat (as well as serve as a 2nd sniper/Outwitter) and Bucky is the bait/tieup. And, on top of all else, it’s a themed team (Soldier), so he didn’t actually have to eat that inconsequential critical miss he rolled, late-game. It’s got no blind spot, really. (Sure, it’ll have problems against a Hypersonic squad, but who doesn’t?)

Looking back on the game, I still had some chances to turn the game around a bit:

–Splitting my team was a poor strategy. Better to have double- or triple-teamed any one of his pieces to mitigate the swarm effect he was able to use on me at every turn.

–Lenny had placed the healing Eleha’al Vine in a very safe nook of the map, and I had counter-placed a Dark Cauldron to nullify it. I regretted that later, as it would have been an ideal spot to regroup and force Lenny out of his Stealthy comfort zones.

–And, again, hitting Fury would have been worth it to get him out of the mix for a while.

 Next post will be about one of my favorite comic-accurate-but-not-quite-a-keyword-theme-team, Seven Soldiers as reimagined by Grant Morrison in a megaseries of miniseries a few years back. Keep an eye out!

THE SCENARIO: 600-point four-way Battle Royale

MY TAKE:

Crispus Allen 197
Black Manta (Arkham Asylum) + Submerged 73
Goliath (Secret Invasion) 58
Power Man & Iron Fist 136
Cloak & Dagger 109
R Black Panther (Universe) 27

SCOTT’s take

Ganthet 286
Metron 195
V Wonder Man (Avengers) 117

LENNY’s take

Superman (Justice League rare) + Fortitude + Protected 259
Wonder Woman (Arkham Asylum) + Contingency Plan 260
Batman (Justice League common) 75

PAUL’s take

E She-Hulk (Supernova) 127
LE Johnny Storm (Secret Invasion) 100
Tharok 100
E Spider-Man (Mutant Mayhem) 97
LE Sue Storm (Fantastic Forces)+ Fantastic Four 49
Crystal 62
Medusa 57

We played at the Docks, which made Black Manta VERY happy. Power Man & Iron Fist weren’t pleased with having to slog through the water, though. 

Paul got the first points when Scott moved Wonder Man within range of a single target Pulse Wave by Johnny Storm. Scott decided to focus on Paul’s team in general and Sue Storm in particular. “I don’t wanna be swinging at 19 defense all night,” he said. Apart from a shoot-for-the-moon transporter drive-by from Black Manta, I left his two Quintessence pieces alone to tangle with Sue and Co. huddling on or near the Vine on the corner rooftop.

I advanced carefully, keeping Crispus well out of the fray, Cloak & Dagger in cover and Power Man & Iron Fist behind Goliath and others, trying to get an angle on Superman or Wonder Woman in particular. 

I at last got a shot at the Man of Steel with Power Man & Iron Fist, but forgot that Fortitude would nullify the Exploit Weakness. Missed, anyway. Then CRITICAL-missed with Crispus Allen. A followup attack with Cloak & Dagger got Lenny to burn his Protected rather than eat even the reduced damage. That opened Supes up for…

…Black Manta!!!! Rolled highly enough to hit Supes’ 19 DV through hindering with Psychic Blast. And as soon as he could move, Superman broke away to the relative safety of the roof. 

Yes. It’s true. Superman ran from Black Manta. Like a little girl.

(Well, OK, to be fair, there was also Power Man & Iron Fist and Cloak & Dagger to contend with, so in actuality he was retreating from them as well. But still. 🙂 )

Goliath managed to tag OOTS Batman (thanks to Scott using his Metron’s Probability Control to give me a reroll or two) but fell to a sniper shot from Paul’s Johnny Storm. Meanwhile Lenny had taken the most points within the initial time limit by KOing She-Hulk and Metron in the massive rooftop melee. We played on since the night was still young and things were getting good. Especially for me, as Power Man & Iron Fist pasted Batman on the way up there.

Because Crispus was on his worst click, I pushed him past it to tie up Wonder Woman and Superman, trusting that Scott’s Ganthet wouldn’t take any opportunity to shoot him. It worked; his Mystics TA is a great deterrent. Unfortunately, it didn’t deter another critical miss, so while he was able to nullify Wonder Woman’s powers nicely, he didn’t do a lot of damage. Indeed, he was taking a great deal of damage, ending up on his last click.

Which brings us to the absolute turning point of the game. Crispus was next to Superman, who had Force Blast and a token. Because Force Blast isn’t an attack, it would circumvent both Super Senses and Power Man & Iron Fist’s Defend (which I was finally remembering to use) while NOT triggering Mystics and slam Crispus into the map edge for knockback damage — and a KO. But Lenny obviously didn’t realize it’d be a knockout blow and didn’t want to push Superman. Crispus was alive — barely.

Cloak & Dagger got to the roof to set up for a followup attack on various targets, using Black Panther as a meat shield. BP soon fell to Paul’s short-range shots. But again, Black Manta dealt serious damage to otherwise hard targets with his Psychic Blast. Between him and my duo figures on the roof I took both Wonder Woman and Superman’s points.

That left Scott’s Ganthet as the major threat on the map. He’d retreated clear to the other side of that end of the map to use the healing Eleha’al Vine that Lenny had placed, and with his Quintessence-granted ability to push and not take damage, he was healing up FAST! But I still had the remains of Paul’s Fantastic Four TA team to deal with — especially after Spider-Man finished off Black Manta before the helmet-clad pirate could get back to the Submerged safety of the water. Fortunately, the only other targets left were very weakened Crystal and Tharok; I made very sort work of them. 

Cloak & Dagger used Stealth to creep up on a full-power Ganthet, encouraging the Guardian of the Universe to retreat from their threat of Psychic Blast. That cleared the way for Crispus Allen to make his way to the Eleha’al Vine for his own use, guarded by Power Man & Iron Fist’s 18 Defend. (Yes, they were still on their top click.)

Ganthet perched on a nearby roof for easy shots on Crispus, forcing me to sacrifice Cloak & Dagger, then Power Man & Iron Fist, to stall for Crispus to heal as much as possible before Paul’s Outwit-wielding Spidey could get into the mix. Crispus got back to an Impervious click and then managed to finish off Ganthet and Spider-Man for the win.

Keys to victory

• Black Manta with Submerged is surprisingly good. In fact, Black Manta with anything is surprisingly good. His “Pirate” SP gives him just enough flexibility to work around his mediocre stats and make him a threat with his transporter move+attack. 
• Knowing the dials of friend and foe. 
• Using opponents’ tactics against them. Paul’s bunkering ’round his Eleha’al Vine drew attention that way, keeping me from being double teamed early on. Later, Lenny’s Vine would prove an advantage for both Scott and me. 

Next post, I’ll tell how Lenny cured me of ever playing a tournament again without considering Battlefield Conditions. EVER.

The neat thing about HeroClix is that the large range of figures allow for the appearance of some very obscure characters. The Inhumans are a prime example. Unless you’re fairly deeply into Marvel Comics lore, you’ve probably never heard of ’em. But here they are, able to be played right alongside Superman or Spidey if you like.

Anyhow, a thread at HCRealms focused on how well the Inhumans play together as a team. This was borne out in a tournament I ran most of the extant team in last summer. 

The scenario: 400 points with a 10% feat limit.

My team: Inhumans

Black Bolt 166

V Lockjaw 38

Karnak 79

+And Stay Down 6

Gorgon 110

=399 points

BFCs: Inferno, Disbanded, Telekinetic Strain

My plan: Use Lockjaw to transport either Gorgon or Karnak into Charging range of targets, shielding them with his big, double-based body. Black Bolt hangs back to Perplex and snipe until Lockjaw needs some help from Bolt’s Defend.

How it went down:

FIRST ROUND I faced Chad and his Hand Ninja clan

V Hand Ninja (range)

E Hand Ninja (range)

E Hand Ninja (range)

R Hand Ninja (range)

R Hand Ninja (range)

V Hand Ninja  

E Hand Ninja  

E Hand Ninja  

E Hand Ninja  

R Hand Ninja 

R Hand Ninja 

R Hand Ninja  

V Hand Ninja (universe)

E Hand Ninja (universe)

Kirigi

LE XPlosion Elektra

V Critical Mass Elektra

LE XPlosion Betsy Braddock +Extended Range

V Armor Wars Psylocke + Saboteur

on the JSA Museum…his choice of course (theme bonus of plus NINETEEN). I opted not to play Inferno as that would have completely messed his team up and I wanted us to have fun.

Generally, every time I hit, a Ninja went down. But Gorgon got hit hard by an Enhanced Betsy PsyBlast, followed by a 5 BCF hit by Psylocke. Thank heavens for Lockjaw, who both took a PC token to save him and got him out of there. Karnak also took a fair amount of damage, but survived to the end. I lost no one and got both Betsys and Elektras and about 100 points of other Ninjas. 1-0.

NEXT, one the Dawn of Time man, new face Adrian brought his Avengers theme:

Iron Spider

SR Scarlet Witch

NGN Iron Man + Stunning Blow

V Echo

E Mockingbird + Alpha Flight

I used a Dynamostat to give myself some small cover to use the Kinetic Accelerator. He used the 3D Desk with Spidey. I immediately Perplexed up Black Bolt’s range to 11 to get rid of the Desk and actually still hit (well, after theme PCing Black Bolt’s crit miss), removing the immediate Outwit threat. A followup basing with Lockjaw and Karnak was thwarted by Mockingbird tying up and then dodging Karnak. So Lockjaw left for the Defend protection of Black Bolt.

Now Adrian clumped his team ’round my Dynamostat, providing some defense against Pulse Wave. Unable to reach Iron Man with anyone, I cringed when he pushed to Stunning Blow Bolt for 5 clicks of damage immediately after. Meanwhile, Gorgon was repeatedly being Webbed by Spidey. Fortunately, Bolt was able to Outwit Iron Man’s Outwit so Karnak could deliver a counterblow and get rid of Outwit permanently.

Tied up by Mockinbird, BBolt repeatedly failed to hit her (despite being able to use range attacks to circumvent her Combat Reflexes — this being a few weeks before the rule changes last summer) but kept her Close Combat Expert countered against his Invulnerability. Karnak crithit Iron Man out of range (saving him from a likely KO from Flurry) and Gorgon finished Spidey. Adrian’s rolls began to tank, rendering him unable to even finish off Lockjaw. I KO’d Echo, Mockingbird and Spidey for the win. 2-0.

The FINAL ROUND was on my Space map against Paul’s wildcardy badness:

V Emerald Empress + Nova Blast

Ghost Widow

V Lockjaw

E Icons Joker

Alfred Pennyworth

Cosmic Boy

I Disbanded him. 🙂 Then, to neutralize the threat of Pulse Wave or Nova Blast, I rushed him as fast as possible, on first turn, using Lockjaw to get Karnak in base with Cos immediately, with Black Bolt putting Gorgon within Charge range right behind. Paul immediately jumped on the dog, countering his Phasing/Teleport and pounding him with Emerald Empress, Joker and putting Ghost Widow into Poison position for good measure. Gorgon, Perplexed to 11 Attack Value, Charged in to successfully Quake Joker, Cos and GW away, clearing a path for Karnak to Charge-Exploit Weakness Empress right off Pulse Wave.

Black Bolt pushed to Defend Lockjaw from what would have been a euthanizing shot from Cos. Paul tried to regroup by sending his crew across the field to my Vine, but we got to him. Lost Lockjaw eventually but got max points by wiping Paul’s team.

WIN/LOSS: 3-0. As the tourney winner, I got to pick Sir Pietro Maximoff from a grab bag of 15 or so LEs. I can’t believe this Inhumans theme actually did so well. Lockjaw is insanely useful, giving this crew mobility it would lack and blocking for the fragile Black Bolt. Karnak continued his giant-killing ways and Gorgon delivered some clutch hits.  

—————-

That was last summer. If anything, the rule changes to the game that ban range attacks in adjacency only make Karnak and Gorgon even more effective. Moreover, the old archenemy rules are now gone, allowing Black Bolt’s brother Maximus to be played on the team, giving it the mobility of the Telekinesis power. Finally, the addition of Triton gives the team a third melee fighter. 

That’s all for this edition of Battle Reports. Stay tuned for a series about Event Dials in the comic weeks!

Played 3/14/09
The scenario: 2000 points; at least 5 characters must be green or have the green Uncommon tab. Rounds last 60 minutes, with both sides getting an even number of turns; shock barriers activate on turn 5.

My take: Another SKRULL INVASION!!!!!
I’ve wanted to play a big Skrull force anchored by the Skrull Emperor for some time. So when our judge announced a green-themed St. Patty’s Day game, this team — which was an alternate for another day’s 2000-pointer — was a lock.
Super Skrull: Illuminati 250 + Fortitude 25
Capt. Mar-Vell 185
Ms. Marvel 168
SN Super-Skrull 150
Skrull Emperor 140 + Brilliant Tactician 20 + Getaway 4 + Outsmart 10 + Coordination 6
SSkrull Avengers 126
Warskrull 110
Warskrull 110
SSkrull X-Men 106
Yellowjacket 100
Elektra 80
SI Spider-Woman 79
Dum Dum Dugan 75
Skrull General 43 + Contingency Plan 12
Skrull General 43 + Contingency Plan 12
SI Jarvis 36
Skrull Warrior 30
Skrull Warrior 30
Skrull Infiltrator 25
Skrull Infiltrator 25
 = 2000 points. For the rest of this report, I’ll cease this pointless impersonation of the human known as Rurouni KJS and reveal my TRUE SKRULL NATURE!

This, the grand imperial army of the glorious Skrull Empire, descended upon that mudball planet of Earth. Our first excursion was against Lenny’s:

SR Spectre
Green Scar + Fortitude, Repulsor Shield, Protected, Unstoppable
Rampaging Hulk + Fortitude
Green Arrow + Trick Shot
CR Green Lantern
Skrull Sue
2099 Hulk
SI Iron Fist
Celestial Madonna
V Vision
SI Dr. Strange + Brilliant Tactician
Dawnstar
Dawnstar + Opportunist
Tomar Re
Jarella

We chose the earthlings’ outcast mutants’ Danger Room outdoors. It proved to be inauspicious; immediately the human archer Green Arrow was moved by Telekinesis to a roof to attack our Ms. Marvel soldier off her strongest powers. Matters worsened when our Avenger super-soldier was the first casualty, again thanks to Green Arrow cowardly shooting from behind a bystander.

Our forces took a brief advantage when the humans’ Rampaging Hulk fell to a fuisillade of Skrull fire. Green Scar was to be next, but we made our critical error of the day when we wasted a potentially crippling 6-damage attack with Ms.M on his Protected shield technique and THEN followed with a Running Shot with Cap. Skrull-Vell. This cost us this battle, when on the final turn our Elektra agent and a brave pair of Infiltrators bravely sacrificed themselves. 0-1.

We took advantage of a needed respite (read: I took a bye) to retool our approach in the THIRD ROUND to face Paul’s all-green team.

N’astirh
Sauron
CJ Phasing Green Lantern
V Mantis
Gamora
Green Scar + Fortitude + ICWO
SN V She-Hulk
CM Charles Xavier (Brood)
SI Annihilus
Ms. Skrullvel
V Martian Manhunter + ICWO
V Killer Croc
V Lizard
Miss Martian
XP Green Goblin
SI Elektra

This time we were able to use turn the humans’ own Resistance technique to OUR advantage to essentially make us invulnerable to Outwit (as though a bunch of mudball apes could Outwit US). Again able to choose the field of battle, we again chose the mutants’ territory.

The fools wasted no time closing on us, which proved deadly to the one called Martian Manhunter. We were startled when our brave Avengers agent suddenly turned on us, then broke ranks to join the enemy, but quickly surmised it was an enemy Mind Control trick. The enemy tried to then snuff out his life, but his superior shapeshifting training thwarted no less than 4 of the 5 enemies to attack him. Hail the Skrull Empire!

The Avengers agent’s sacrifice allowed the rest of our forces to focus attacks upon the Green Scar for a second victory, with Killer Croc then falling to our combined might. Our ability to baffle the enemy’s attacks with our infiltration and sleeper agents (known to some as “theme team Probability Control) proved instrumental in our glorious victory!

But perhaps none was so glorious as our Emperor himself! His Brilliant Tactics made the entire army considerably more dangerous. But for that one costly error in tactics by the overzealous Ms. Marvel, nothing may have stopped the destined victory of the Skrull Empire!

Had a lot of fun trying out this Skrully force — many of the pieces for the first time in a live game. Lenny says he wants to do a Kree versus Skrull game sometime. I’m game once he can secure a Ronan the Accuser to make his side more complete. 

OK, so this post is coming a bit later than I promised, but it’s not like I had any visitors yet, anyway!

The scenario: 800 points and at least two figures had to sport either the Green Lantern symbol or the keyword.

My take: Well, since I haven’t scored a Guy Gardner yet, I didn’t want to play a true GL squad…too boring. Instead, I wanted to run a team of all-goofy characters!

Ch’p 82
G’nort 70
CR Blue Beetle 65
V OR Booster Gold 80
Impossible Man 72 + Loner 5
Ambush Bug 50 
Mr. Mzyxptlk 107 + Monster Society of Evil 0
Batzarro 69
Bizarro #1 199 + The Society 0

= 799 points

My plan: This was to be a classic Green Lantern tank team, in which a character with the Green Lantern team ability carries and surrounds himself with passengers. Coupled with Ch’p’s Defend power (once I pushed him to the power), this had the potential to be a hard-to-hit squad. Booster Gold would supply ranged firepower after Blue Beetle and/or Impossible Man (or Batzarro) Outwitted enemy defenses while G’nort and Impy both used Probability Control to influence results. At some point, too, Bizarro #1 would levy his high damage. 

The matches: I had only two opponents at this venue: barely-14-year-old Conrad and Lenny, a very soft-spoken player in his 30s. Lenny fielded a true Green Lantern team:

Abin Sur + Trick Shot
Arisia
Ch’p
G’nort
Green Lantern (Crisis)
Katma Tui + Opportunist
Tomar Re
+ Green Lantern Corps

He won the initiative roll and chose the water temple map. He played Assembled and cancelled my Disruption. I picked the side of the map with an island of hindering and blocking terrain to set up my Kinetic Accelerator. I set a Dynamostat and Structural Integrity Field on the big island to give my team a little more cover against the Trick Shot threat.

On our opening positionings, I noticed that I’d left Batzarro open to a quick Trick Shot, but I didn’t mind when he got hit hard into Stealth. Wanting to push my Ch’p to Defend immediately, and to bring some fight to the enemy GLs huddled mostly behind now-indestructible blocking terrain, I pushed Bizarro #1 to make an Accelerator-boosted Charge to attack Green Lantern. The attack failed, so I pushed Ch’p to TK him back to safety. Failed that, too, and neither of my Probability Controllers had any Line of Fire to effect a reroll. 

This was an utter disaster of a turn for several reasons. First, poor Bizarro was stuck unable to act with two tokens on him. Second, I’d unwisely pushed him off his only Impervious click. Third, he was open to several consecutive attacks from the GL Corps. Fourth, said Corps was equipped with the little-seen Green Lantern Corps alternate team ability feat, with allows them an attack boost for every member’s attack roll on a given target — successful or not. And with Perplex, a PCer of their own, and the Assembled feat giving an additional +1 to attack value, Bizarro’s mounting Defense Value that I trusted in was absolutely no obstacle. He was KO’d without being able to make another action.

With the big galoot gone, I tried to get Mzyxptlk into the action to maybe get his quasi-incapacitating Special Power to work, but he didn’t last a turn either against the GLC TA. And again, my PC and Outwit pieces had little LOF to work with, thanks to my own SIF giving plenty of hiding places for the Telekinesis-and-Running Shot-loaded GLs. Although I scored some hits on Tomar Re, I scored no KOs.

So. My game-breaking errors:

1. Not knowing Bizarro #1 only has the single click of Impervious and pushing off it. And doing THAT against a character sporting the Protected feat, to boot!

2. Putting my PC pieces in the BACK of my Ch’p tank. Incredibly sloppy.

3. Not having a proper strategy for Mr. Mzyxptlk. I’ve long known that his Object Animation SP is no good without Telekinesis to toss him (or objects) into range or a character with Smoke Cloud to give him the hindering terrain the power needs to work. I didn’t use either tactic.

4. Using the Structural Integrity Field object was far more harmful to me than him, Trick Shot threat or no. 

5. Completely forgetting to use the Monster Society feat.

6. Forgetting that while he hasn’t been playing as long as I have, Lenny has become a VERY competent player. 

Y’know what really makes this loss rankle the most, though? Lenny’s told me he got the Abin Sur+Trick Shot idea from this review column, particularly the 2nd review. Go look, I’ll wait.

Yeah. So I really did beat myself in a bunch of different ways. 🙂

2nd round: I had the bye and so essentially judged the 2nd round between Lenny and Conrad (noting a couple of figs not on 1st clicks, reminding young Conrad of powers and TAs he was forgetting to use). In the end, he’d KO’d Katma Tui and lost his Starro Green Lantern to lose by a SINGLE POINT.

Until all present remembered that Katma had been wearing Opportunist.

So I sat for my game against Conrad’s similarly GL-heavy team:

Starro Lantern
LE Alan Scott
CR Kyle Rayner
CD R Green Lantern
The Mighty Thor
Mera
AA Question

on the water map again. This time, I’ll let the characters narrate:

Impossible Man: “Here comes the fun again!”

Ch’p: “All right, everyone form up on me!”

Batzarro: “Me doing what you say!”

Ch’p: “Wh…where are you going, Batzarro?!?”

Mr. Mxyzptlk: “That didn’t work so well LAST time, so I guess he’s trying something new!

Blue Beetle: “Booster? Wait!”

Booster Gold: “Dude, I’ve got a shot on Alan Scott! I’m taking it!”

Bizarro #1: “HA! HIM HIT TARGET HARD!!”

Booster Gold: “Arrgh! My blasters backfired!”

Blue Beetle: “(razzin frazzin idiot…) Hold on, I’m coming!”

Batzarro: “Watch in, them holding their fire now!”

Beetle: “BOOSTERRRRRR!”

Impy: “I can’t SEE anything from back here!”

Ambush Bug: “I can’t read my #$#%^#$ newspaper with all this noise!

Ch’p: “Put the paper down and pay attention! Bizarro #1, get ready!”

Bizarro: “ME TOTALLY UNPREPARED!”

Impy: “Wow, didja see him blast that weird old Lantern over there, G’nort?”

G’nort: “Yessiree!!!”

Ambush Bug: “Hey, where ya goin’, Alan?”

Beetle: “Look out, it’s Thor!”

Ambush Bug: “EEEAGH!!”

Ch’p: “Aw, poor Bug.”

Impossible Man: “That beardo looks like he needs a laugh! HI THERE, M.T. HAMMER!!”

Ch’p: “Well, that oughta keep ‘im busy for a bit.”

Impy: “You ticklish under that armor?”

Mr. M: “Let’s see what fun *I* can stir up!”

Beetle: “This is a disaster. Hey G’nort! Try a divebomb angle on Mera there!”

G’nort: “G’NORT-A-ROONIEEEE!”

Bizarro #1: “THAT GET US OFF SCOREBOARD NOW!

Mr. M: “AAIEEGH! This Rayner fella is no fun at all! Lemme outta here!”

G’nort: “Ahh…a little help here, guys? I think I’m gonna…pass…out…” THUD

Well, OK, that’s enough of that. Suffice it to say, I didn’t even run my GL tank strat this time, getting too antsy and making an ill-advised TK and shot with Booster and paying for it with his early loss (and depriving me of the “Bwah-ha-ha” SP for the rest of the game). Stacked serious damage on Alan Scott (Bizarro finally came through) but he got away. The only points I netted were for Mera the pog, and I was fortunate not to lose Mxyzptlk as well.

So for the first time in a long while, I found myself in dead last place both in points and wins. But it was Conrad’s first-ever tournament win, so I was glad for him.

Next time on “Battle Reports,” we’ll see what happened when I fielded 2000 points of Skrulls. See you then!