Heroclixin’ has written about The Authority a number of times, it being a whole team that was my collective No. 2 favorite of 2014. In 2017, it was joined by Planetary to combine for one of the two most damaging rounds ever played.
Itching to play this team, I wound up accepting/making a challenge against my good buddy Chadd to see if I could keep my success streak with the squad going.
At first we were going to do a simple, friendly 1300-point match with him playing an appropriately villainous squad of Crime Syndicate. But when Ambrose Chase was revealed in spring 2019, it threw the points off. Then Chadd came up with an Apokolips force to be reckoned with: a bunch of Female Furies from Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls set joined by Steppenwolf, Brimstone (both from 2015’s Superman/Wonder Woman) and led by the fearsome Darkseid [Justice League Strategy Game 005]!
Whoa, so strong. This 1400-point team hurls the Furies at you, tying you up with Knockout, Stompa, Harriet and especially Lashina while Bernadeth poisons you slowly. Meanwhile, Granny, Barda and Supergirl PPB you to death from range.
And then there’s Darkseid in the back, shooting through nearly everything with a double power action SP for penetrating damage.
I saw no way to victory or even a fun game with Jenny Quantum on the team. Having 3-4 Probs on a team but only ever getting to use one takes away one of my main weapons. And she and Jenny Sparks don’t exist in the same time, anyway. So she had to go and we took the build total down to 1300 points.
But I was still worried for my squad. Most of these pieces are nearly 5 years old and power creep in Heroclix is real, y’all. If I was going to stand any chance in this matchup, I needed to bring my A (for “Authority”) game and not play by the seat of my Planetary as usual.
I built this stand-in force to practice:
Bernadeth [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 040] 50
Knockout* [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 006] 50
Mad Harriet [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 022] 50
Stompa [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 007] 50
Lashina [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 056] 75
Big Barda [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 023a] 125
Granny Goodness [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 046] 125
Steppenwolf [Superman/Wonder Woman 058] 135
Brimstone [Superman/Wonder Woman G003] 150
Lex Luthor [Rebirth 051] @100 (standing in for the Supergirl I didn’t yet have)
Darkseid [Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes 044] @ 350 (in place of the Darkseid I don’t own)
=1260 points
This Darkseid has similar Outwit resistance and 10-range line of fire cheating as the SJLSG version — for lighter damage (5 damage, non-penetrating) but greater swing (Running Shot) and greater frequency of attack. He might be *better* than the other one.
And here’s “Planetarauthority”
Ambrose Chase @ 90 + Force Field 10
Apollo @ 200 + Alias 3
Doctor @ 110 + Force Field 10
The Drummer 40
Elijah Snow @ 120 + Stunning Blow 10
Engineer @ 175 + Invigorate 10
Jack Hawksmoor + Lunge 5
Jakita Wagner 80 + Unstoppable 5
Jenny Sparks 125 + Contingency Plan 12
Midnighter @ 100 + Opportunist 10 + Infiltrate 2
Swift 90 + Lunge 5
=1297 points.
Lots of feats. Part of this practice game’s purpose was to see if they’re necessary.
I chose a semi-random map among three old ROC prizes. Ended up indoors, an advantage to Authority but not much.
Immediately, my initial intended moves with the Authority (TK with both Engineer and Jack) were nullified by having absolutely no lines of fire. So I set up very conservatively behind blocking.
On the Apokolips side, I also advanced immediately out of the start zone to not get caught in the Jack Hawksmoor effect.
TURNING POINTS
Despite a double-layered Barrier built by Snow, Lex and Barda smashed it to give Darkseid a shot on Midnighter, who barely lived. Then I BoomTubed with Granny and Sidestepped Lashina to thoroughly gum up attack lanes. No one was going to be able to move without encountering her 3-square Plasticity zone.
But in advancing her, I’d miscalculated the number of range attacks Lashina was vulnerable to and still had enough actions left to deal more clicks. Lashina was KO’d, Granny was grievously hurt (by Jenny), and Bernadeth was left near death while Midnighter got evac’d to get healed by Engineer the same turn (and de-tokened by Invigorate).
It was still a tough fight for the Authority, as Brimstone, Luthor and Stompa really put some work in. But while their momentum slowed and Darkseid ever threatened, the good guys never lost progress, eventually taking even him down with Ambrose, Apollo, Engineer, Elijah and Jakita left standing.
———
“REMATCH”
I thought I needed to run this practice again. I accidentally forgot to actually put Knockout on the team, and I thought she could be a really key addition for just a few extra points. I also remembered I had Superman, God of Strength to stand in for the 200-point Supergirl piece (removing the Lex Luthor). Finally, I needed to see how the team would do on a less constricted map.