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Experienced DAREDEVIL (Sinister)

The 1990s were a stupid time in comics, full of stupid revamps and stupid new directions and stupid new powers and and stupid new costumes. Daredevil’s briefly-worn “armor” costume was among the stupidest of all.

A character whose main thing is nimbleness and agility is gonna load up on armor plating? Yeah. SO makes sense.

But, I must admit…it did look cool. And when I saw this Experienced Daredevil dial sporting Toughness where no previous Daredevil had any at all, I figured this one must be this costume. So I decided to modify mine to match:

  • Painted body in black and red acrylics.
  • Painted armor details in silver enamel.

Front...

...and back. Photos by Antonio Cade.

Completed late-2009. Yep. It does look pretty cool.
NEXT MONDAY: A much less extensive repaint.

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Last Friday, I introduced this column and my Heroclixin’ philosophy: teams should be F.U.N.

  • Friendly: Not designed to crush all comers;
  • Utilitarian/Useful: Not about to GET crushed without a fight;
  • Neat-o: Has an interesting or amusing trait.

With a 200-point game coming soon, I’m thinking of running this:

The Atom & Hawkman 120
Hawkgirl (Brightest Day) 71
Red Lantern 5
Kinetic Accelerator 0
=196 points. The 0 range keeps things friendly, but Hawkgirl is a frightfully useful piece, especially with those two Special Objects to boost her damage and speed, respectively. It’s neat that this is an almost perfectly comic accurate team. Not only did Atom and Hawkman share a title once, but I can’t imagine that the trio never shared an adventure.

Will I actually use it? Dunno. I passed it up for the Dark Avengers duo I ran a couple of weeks ago, and I have a great Avengers build I’ll probably highlight next week.

Happy clixing this weekend!

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Welcome again to my once-or-twice weekly presentation of characters with Super Strength who can hold their own object tokens.

In anticipation of the upcoming Lantern-heavy DC 75 set, here’s Arkillo, who totes his token in an unusual way:

It is NOT for eating. It is for BEATING.


🙂

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Truth be told, I almost skipped this week. I played zero games last weekend, which is unusual for me. But I had this one in the vault (played back last spring or sometime) and decided to stick to my schedule.

I love playing Atlas even though they’re tough to win with.

Venus
HoT Jimmy Woo
Gorilla-Man
Namora
M-11
AV Thug
AV Thug
AV Thug
AV Thug  
=395 points.

FIRST match was against Lenny and his sharp cheddar cheese team of SI Dr. Strange, OOTS Batman, Gamora, and HoT Captain America on my choice of the Armor Wars Lab map. Ugh! Two pieces with nearly unlimited Line of Fire powers and two ultra-effective cheap fighters — all with an effective 18 or better defense!

This was a real chessmatch at first. Lenny quietly bided his time while I largely refused to attack. If I dared attempt a Charge with Namora, no matter how I positioned her she’d be counterattacked by all four of Lenny’s fighters (thanks to Cap and the Doc’s unique line of fire abilities) and have nearly zero chance to survive. So I made him burn actions with convenient Thugs as targets so I could make a safer approach by tying up Cap and bringing Venus in close to multi-Incap targets (careful to block Batman’s line of fire). Eventually KO’d Cap but lost Gorilla Man and 3 Thugs for the loss. 0-1 (which felt like a win against all that cheese, though).

SECOND was a match against Lenny’s teenage friend Tony: Odin, HoT Spider-Man and Asgardian Warrior. His inexperience won this for me — he refused to push Odin most rounds despite the character’s ability to do so without cost via the Power Cosmic team ability. That allowed my sorely wounded Namora and Venus to escape while Thug after Thug tied up Odin long enough to preserve my 96-28 victory. 1-1.

FINALLY I went vs. Conrad: HoT Cap, Kurse, M+M Wolverine and Spider-Thor, once more on the Armor Wars map. The teenager remains a somewhat reckless player, but this time his tactics were pretty solid as he smashed my cover behind walls, my Accelerator, and constantly stole my reusable Generator to use against me.

Fortunately, Namora was able to land her initial attack, getting Wolverine out for an insurmountable lead. Venus was also invaluable against the Impervious Kurse, Incapacitating him over and over. Lost G-Man and all Thugs but wiped all but Cap for the win.

FINAL: 2-1. This was the first time I’ve really gotten Venus into the thick of things, and she worked out all right with her Incap-everybody SP. I wasn’t afraid sometimes to not use her Mastermind to gain her Perplex. Similarly, as Thugs dwindled and my need for extra actions waned, I opted to push Woo to his Perplex clicks as well, usually using his SHIELD TA to do it.

Namora continued to disappoint. If she misses that initial Charge, she’s kinda done. But when she works, she works oh so well, as in the last match. Gorilla-Man was close to being MVP with his KO of Batman and taking tons of damage for Venus and tying up foes and landing a crit hit on Odin and whatnot.

But the element most key were the Thugs. These pogs, representing the faceless minions of Atlas, served many roles such as blocking LOF, tying up, MM fodder and even the occasional attack. This Modern Age team doesn’t work half as well without them.

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Veteran DRAX (Supernova)

The dial is right...but the sculpt isn't.

While the Rookie and Experienced versions of this character both bear the “Destroyer” tagline and the Wing symbol, the vet version not only lacks both, but he has a radically different appearance:

He’s actually physically smaller than his more hulking Destroyer incarnation, but as initially drawn in the Guardians of the Galaxy, he’s still quite buff. That’s why I didn’t want to go the route many other talented modders did in choosing a smaller character to modify.
Longtime readers of Heroclixin’ will recall my Guardians of the Galaxy series and how their appearance in this game made me a fan of the comic. And, as this Mods series shows, I’m often motivated by a desire for comic-accuracy in doing these sculpt repaints and modifications.

In fact, Drax here was actually one of the first mods I revealed on this site, way back during my first Guardians of the Galaxy campaign. But now you get to learn the process:

  • Removed cape (it’s a separate piece, but I had to work his head off to do it).
  • Replaced head.
  • Filled in resultant gaps around his collarbone area with several layers of a thick modeler’s glue.
  • Cut and filed away belt details.
  • Repainted body a deeper green (acrylics).
  • Repainted pants with a flat gray miniatures paint.
  • Repainted boots, gloves and belt in black enamel.
  • Painted on red tattoos/war paint and gold enamel belt buckle.

Better now.

Completed late-2009, in time for my blitz of Guardians of the Galaxy teams that followed shortly after. 🙂
NEXT WEEK: A stupid revamp gets a cool mod.

 

 

 

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Hope you had a great Thanksgiving! I almost certainly have had one, but this was written and set to publish earlier in the week.

OK, so I revealed my grand plans to bring a new feature to Heroclixin’ (almost) every weekday last week, but stopped short of the pressing the “Publish” key on this one because I figured I should explain my team-building philosophy a little.

I, primarily, am a fun HeroClix player. First, I am Friendly. I dislike playing teams designed to crush all comers. I’ve faced those teams and found the experience unpleasant. It’s also more challenging to play a less-than-optimized build and still win with it. I mean, which delivers bigger bragging rights: going 3-0 with a Warbound Skrull Ms. Marvel+SI Nick Fury or with The Runaways?

This doesn’t mean I like to lose. Therefore, most of my teams will still have a degree of Utility to make them effective against all but the most highly competitive builds. No auto-losses!

Finally, probably the biggest element of my team-building philosophy is the “Neat-o” factor. I almost always run with a theme of some sort that I hope will bring a smile or at least a nod of appreciation from my fellow players.

So there, in a fairly torturous acrostic-ized nutshell, is my approach to this feature and to the game at large: It’s all about FUN.

Example of a team I ran back in June for a Modern Age 400-point game requiring that characters share a generic keyword:

Crispus Allen 197
Edward Nigma 60
The Question (Arkham Asylum) 37
Gotham City Detective 27
Gotham City Detective 27
Gotham City Detective 27
= 375 points. Although a team with 3 Outwitters and 4 Enhancement pieces may not look all that Friendly, consider that the team has zero move and attack powers, limited range, and little protection from same — and I could just as easily have run the Batman/Catwoman duo to address all three weaknesses and had room for another figure. All the same, it has plenty of Utility in the powers I named, along with Nigma’s powerful SP. Finally, though (and the other reason BatCats was never a consideration), the team’s Neat-o factor is that all are wearing suits and ties. They’re the Sharp-Dressed Detectives. 🙂
FUN team-building at its best. Hope you’ll visit next Friday for more!

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I’m away from my computer, celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday with family. But in case you’re visiting today, I thought I’d schedule a relative feast of pics for you.

In fact, because it contains a Thanksgiving dinner scene, the nerdcore 2002 film Spider-Man has become something of an annual broadcast tradition. So enjoy this Spider-centric edition, and have a happy Thanksgiving!

"Is he strong? Listen, bud...he's got radioactive blood!" From left: Vet Spider-Man (Sinister), Spider-Man (Avengers), Unique Spider-Man (Armor Wars), Unique Scarlet Spider (Sinister), Spider-Woman (Secret Invasion) and Spider-Girl (Secret Invasion).

  • Vet Spidey holds his token between his leg and the brick wall (similar to Tuesday’s CD Clayface).
  • Iron Spidey holds his in his extra “legs” as pictured, or you can fit the token even better between his left shoulder and leg.
  • Lay the token on AW Spidey’s back. It’ll lie neatly in the gap created by the web and his ankle.
  • Similarly, Scarlet Spider’s able to hold his with his butt. 🙂

Not to be outdone the Spider-ladies can heft their heavies:

  • Spider-Woman’s fits under her right armpit.
  • Spider-Girl’s is wedged upright between her left armpit and her dial base.

Finally, here’s one more Spidey for you, the LE from the 2007 Sinister set:

The ORIGINAL pole-dancing, armored Spider-Man!

Don’t have the latest Spider-Men pictured yet. But if you readers have any photos of HeroClix characters holding their objects, send ’em to me at heroclixin@yahoo.com with your name/screenname and location. If I don’t have that character pictured, or you’ve shown me a new way of Token-Totin’, I’ll publish the pic in this space and give you credit.

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I was headed to a 200-point Modern Age tournament and wracking my brain trying to decide between three different builds. Suddenly I considered my most-recent clix acquisition, and a perfect force came to mind:

“Who, me?!?”

Bullseye (Web of Spider-Man) 117
Norman Osborn  (Web of Spider-Man) 66
+ Thunderbolts ATA 16
+ AE Green Goblin and AE Iron Patriot
+ Kinetic Accelerator 0
+ Eleha’al Vine 0
+ Dynamostat 0
=199 points.

Oh yeah. Highly effective AND comic-accurate, with the fun random factor of whether Norman will be Unbalanced or not. Bullseye is one of the game’s ultimate ranged figures, and Norm’s SHIELD TA works well with that.

FIRST MATCH was against John’s furious females including the also-Thunderbolted Moonstone (Hammer of Thor), Elektra (Secret Invasion human) and X-23 (M+M). I picked the Prison map and Ultimates as my T-bolts TA, while John chose Mystics.

I forced him to push Moonstone when I telegraphed my intent to Running Shoot her with the Sharpshooting Bullseye right past the Stealthy Elektra he was hiding behind. That worked against me, though, as my later shot on Moonstone landed her squarely on her late-game Phasing/Outwit combo.

Elektra moved in an scored a pair of great Flurry hits to threaten and eventually KO Bullseye. He’d worn down her and X-23 enough for Osborn to finish them off.  So it came down to Norm on my Vine alternately healing from Moonstone’s hits and vainly shooting back until she KO’d him with a knockback into the wall. Perhaps I should have used the Alter Ego power instead of healing one of those times. Still a great game and fairly appropriate ending. 0-1.

SECOND MATCH: Brian’s HoT Ultron and hot Megan Fox.

Er, I mean Lilah from the Jonah Sex set.

I mean Jonah Hex sex.

I mean SET. Jonah Hex SET.

Anyway.

I picked the new Monument map from Brightest Day and chose Mystics as my TA. Immediately, Ultron threatened to Charge one of my pieces and I considered pushing to pre-emptively strike. But it was too high risk for too little reward, so I let Brian make his move to successfully pound Bullseye for 4 clicks.

Had him just where I wanted him, now.

Osborn easily moved to Outwit Ultron’s defense and Bullseye easily hit back for 4 clicks of his own. A turn later, he pushed to hit Ultron for 4 more, dealing knockback this time.

(It’s at this point that I remember I forgot to call for the big bad robot to take his Mystics damage from his first strike. CRAP.)

Ultron takes a shot that finishes Bullseye, but the resultant Mystics feedback takes him down for a double KO. That leaves Norman free to choke Lilah like he did that other poor brunette in The Pulse. 1-1.

FINAL MATCH was against Vic, a player from my home venue who’d traveled with me to this one. He had a detective theme of Martian Manhunter (Brightest Day) and Question (Arkham Asylum). He picked the Secret Invasion Crash Site map.

He jumped right out at me, basing Bullseye with both characters before I could get rid of his Yellow Lantern object. It was the right move; for while I made short work of Question (forcing it with a themed-team Probability Control), Manhunter knocked Bullseye right out of his best clicks and out of adjacency, allowing him to one-shot Norman, who’d had to push to use the theme PC. Darn near made me regret loaning the Question to him. 🙂

FINAL WIN/LOSS: 1-2. Good team, but I think I could have done a little better in my losses by switching to Iron Patriot in the first and maintaining my range advantage as long as possible in the other.

I love 200-point games. They’re very focused and quick to play when compared with the slog that larger-point games can become.

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Welcome to Token-Totin’, a visual journal of HeroClix sculpts that can hold the game’s object tokens. Today’s subject is REV Clayface (and LE sculpt-mates Basil Karlo and Ultimate Clayface) from 2006’s Collateral Damage.

It fits neatly & easily between the wall and his left leg.

Even with his hands full, he can tote his token! Sadly, the one Modern Age version of Clayface from Batman Alpha is also the only one of the six (!) figures with this sculpt that doesn’t have Super Strength.


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U PHOENIX (Ultimates)

This 2004 representation of the X-Man Rachel Summers is pretty good both from a playability and sculpt standpoint. But in 2007, a new version of Miss Summers was released in the Days Of Future Past action pack that looked even better, replacing the painted firebird effect with translucent plastic:

…representing her past life in the future as the mutant-tracking Hound.

(…It’s a long story.)

Unfortunately, Hound is appropriately named. She’s a dog. Her dial is probably the worst for her cost range in the whole game unless you can somehow ensure she lands on — and stays on — the two good clicks in the middle of her 10-click dial. With a DV that never tops 16, that’s a tall order.

Faced with this piece I was never gonna play with a sculpt that was even better than the good sculpt on a figure that I would play, I decided to make a change:

  • Removed Hound sculpt from Hound base. (In my case, the separation was already done, somehow! When I acquired Hound in a sale, she’d detached from the flight stand.)
  • Painted black costume red (with yellow details).


Completed late-2009.

NEXT WEEK: Finally learn the process behind one of the very first mods I showed off on this site, nearly a year ago…!