I often refer to my Inner-12-Year-Old when I play Iron Man in HeroClix, and the above cover is a big reason why. It was at that age that I first discovered the character.

(Interestingly, the first issue I ever bought was the last one starring Tony Stark in the armor for nearly 2.5 years. As a young black kid yearning for superheroes who looked like me, I was instantly hooked by James Rhodes becoming Iron Man.)

Anyhow, a lot of years have passed since then. It took the great movie to get me truly interested in Iron Man again. But even before then, thoughts of that classic cover always sparked a desire to play an Iron Man swarm team.

The first time I played an all-Iron Man team was in February 2008, an 800-pointer made up of Hulkbuster and some of the Armor Wars pieces. It went an anemic 1-2, with one loss being at the hands of an all-Hulk team, and the other loss being a total wipeout (thanks in no small part to a single-target Pulse Wave that got Probability Controlled FIVE TIMES into a successful hit).

A later game that June with the same point build garnered an identical record due to my non-calling for many T-Bolt Mystics damage clicks (though this time I won over an all-Hulk team). Yet another mostly-Iron Swarm team from August (a 2000-pointer half made of the Illuminati and the other half Iron Man figures) got the same 1-2 result.

So, for my birthday last week, I finally got to run a huge swarm of every Iron Man-related figure in my collection!

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-Woman and a full complement of six Cuckoos, among many more; Lord Timothy (aka Bilbo3000) and his Parallax, CR Mordru, AV Ares, Magus, SN Thanos, Immortus and 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.

The next day, I got a fun game in a 6-person Battle Royale, again playing an Iron Man squad:

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).

The NEXT day, I got another shot with an Iron 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.

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.

So, with my weekend record a dismal 1-3, my Stark Industries-centric teams have sunk to a sorry 4-9 record.

Crunched.

This just cannot be tolerated. I REFUSE to leave it at this. I WILL make the Iron Man swarm an unqualified success. Looking back at my losses, I see some common factors besides the poor dice rolls…mostly elements of user error, not build-inherent. Future posts will detail those errors, team-by-team, build-by-build…and I’ll analyze the strengths, weaknesses and roles for each Stark-designed suit made in HeroClix.

And I will play Stark Industries swarm teams until I win out!

Thus begins the Iron Campaign.

Stay tuned.