Heroclixin' ...it's all about F.U.N.

Winners/Losers in 2021 Rulebook Overhaul

March 30, 2021 by rkjs·3 Comments

We talked a lot a few posts back about the changes as we learned of them. Now we’re looking at all the powers and abilities to see what’s better and what’s worse in HeroClix 3.0.

UPDATE: The full Comprehensive Rules finally got released. And yes, a few more changes were revealed.

It’s a lot, so let’s get into it.

SPEED POWERS

FLURRY: BUFFED. Benefits from new general rule allowing multiple targets in melee.

F.U.N. or nah? We said a few posts ago that getting to split the damage of both attacks to, for example, clear out a swarm of pogs, could be great F.U.N. OK with this change.

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LEAP/CLIMB: NERFED. Lost little-used ability to attack different elevation and has no more +2 breakaway bonus. But it also gets a slight BUFF by effectively ignoring Plasticity (normal breakaway roll, Improved Movement: Movethrough) and comboing with other movement powers such as Sidestep, if applicable.

F.U.N. or nah? This is overall positive in our book … when combined with other Speed and movement powers. But on its own, L/C continues to be one of the more useless PAC powers in existence, probably leading to its benching. Our F.U.N. Fix for it: Make it also do the old Vault feat, something like this: “After this character makes a close attack, place it in any square adjacent to the target.”

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PHASING/TELEPORT: No inherent change, but BUFFED as one of a number of powers resistant to Plasticity. Just having Phasing means easier breakaway from Plasticity, even if you’re not activating it.

F.U.N. or nah? Phasing was already perfect.

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EARTHBOUND/NEUTRALIZED: Mildly BUFFED by loss of pushing damage…but not really a boost at all because it’s supposed to be a drawback.

F.U.N. or nah? Ehhh, we would have left this power as the one remaining method of doing “pushing damage” … something like “deal this character 1 unavoidable damage when it gets a 2nd action token.”

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CHARGE: BUFFED by a few new power combos and multi-targets in melee. NERFED by loss of knockback immunity.

F.U.N. or nah? I’m perfectly happy with Charge figs being able to be knocked back, especially with the loss of knockback damage. And it is super duper F.U.N. to get more options for the power as well.

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MIND CONTROL: BUFFED by minimum range increase from 4 to 6. Also, a BUNCH of new powers are available for the controlled character: Quake, Incap, Exploit Weakness, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Penetrating/Psychic Blast, RCE, CCE, Leap/Climb

F.U.N. or nah? I’ve been a fan of the 2017 Mind Control from the start, and this only makes it better.

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PLASTICITY: NERFED. No longer stops Improved Movement: Movethrough at all, whereas before it could stop all but bigger characters. Also doesn’t stack anymore or prevent auto-breakaway.

F.U.N. or nah? Honestly, Plasticity was a little too powerful until now. It was fine when the likes of Hypersonic Speed needed a hard counter besides Outwit, but it did too much to everything else and could really muck up the works with all the weird calculations when you had multiple Plasticity against, say, Leap/Climb.

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FORCE BLAST: BUFFED by new minimum range of 6 instead of adjacency. But NERFED by loss of knockback damage.

F.U.N. or nah? I never thought I’d say this, but I’m looking forward to using Force Blast! It’s still highly situational — possibly more than ever with knockback damage going away (we still think falling damage should have been a thing) — but with far fewer figs immune to knockback now, this power is a great defensive skill. Shove that melee fig three squares back! Knock the enemy shooter out of its range!

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SIDESTEP: No change, but combos with the new Leap/Climb and the hindering change for a mild BUFF.

F.U.N. or nah? Will be nice, as a judge, to no longer have to field player questions about how Sidestep out of hindering terrain works.

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HYPERSONIC SPEED: BUFFED by a host of new power combos (Quake, Incap, Exploit Weakness, Blades/Claws/Fangs, Penetrating/Psychic Blast are all options plus passive powers RCE/CCE) but NERFED with loss of +2 Breakaway bonus (though it can still break from Plasticity on a normal 4-6 roll).

F.U.N. or nah? Once the king of offense powers, Hypersonic’s crown has tarnished over the years. But here comes the polish with these new combos. With that tradeoff, I’m OK with HSS losing its enhanced breakaway skills, making tie-up figs its main hard counter — a far cry from the old days of HeroClix where a HSS fig could take a lead and just run away for a whole game. Gonna be F.U.N.

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STEALTH: NERFED by hindering change because boot speed enemies no longer get slowed by the green terrain and adjacent foes can still draw line of fire. UPDATE: ~~Also harder to use without heavy objects~~.

F.U.N. or nah? Once upon a time, Stealth was practically impenetrable defense. Now it’s MUCH more in scale with its cheap price — but at what cost? I’m OK with it because I have bad reflections of how it used to be.

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RUNNING SHOT: Mildly BUFFED by a few new combos and expansions of powers.

F.U.N. or nah? This is a good change for what has always been one of the best powers.

ATTACK POWERS

BLADES/CLAWS/FANGS: BUFFED by being triggered by any close attack, so it combos with Close Combat Expert, Hypersonic Speed, and other single-target attacks, even FREE ones.

F.U.N. or nah? It was always a nice balance for BCF to be tied to a CLOSE action, but probably an unnecessary one. We’re here for it.

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ENERGY EXPLOSION: BUFFED by new combos with Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Precision Strike.

F.U.N. or nah? This one makes us nervous. The 2017 change to Energy Explosion struck the perfect balance between the power’s modest cost and its effectiveness. Making it penetrating damage seems a bit much. We’ll be watching.

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PULSE WAVE: Heavily NERFED to only dealing 1 damage ever. But we think it needs clarification. Here’s why:

Outgoing 2017 version:

PULSE WAVE — RANGE: Halve range, [Improved Targeting: Characters, Adjacent]. Other characters within range can’t use powers or abilities (for this action). Make a range attack targeting all other characters, at least one of which must be opposing, within range and line of fire using their printed defense values. If more than one character is targeted, each hit character is dealt 1 damage instead of normal damage.

Upcoming 2021 version:

PULSE WAVE — RANGE: Halve range, [Improved Targeting: Characters, Adjacent]. Other characters within range can’t use powers or abilities (for this action). Make a range attack targeting all other characters within range and line of fire, including at least 1 opposing character, using printed defense values for each targeted character. If 1+ characters were targeted, each hit character is dealt 1 damage instead.

“Instead” … of WHAT? What is that word even DOING there if there’s no other condition where the power would do anything else “instead”? Just make it this:

PULSE WAVE — RANGE: Halve range, [Improved Targeting: Characters, Adjacent]. Other characters within range can’t use powers or abilities (for this action). Make a range attack targeting all other characters within range and line of fire, including at least 1 opposing character, using printed defense values for each targeted character. Each hit character is dealt 1 damage instead of normal damage.

Or maybe even strike “instead of normal damage.” Either way, it’s way cleaner and doesn’t look like a mistake.

F.U.N. or nah? Heroclixin’s split on this one.

Taylor is fully in favor of the change. Sceritz doesn’t like it right now but mainly only because Pulse Wave is the only solution to beating some ridiculous pieces — later, game design will catch up and bring dials better in line with the new version of the power. Lenny thinks it’s barely indistinguishable from multi-Precision Strike now, and Chadd mentioned the Golden Age feat Nova Blast as key to his displeasure.

For me, honestly, the idea of full-damage PW never quite made sense. So on a purely comic-accuracy level, this massive toning down of the power works for me. But it sure makes the power worse, doesn’t it? Still, getting hit with this — or trying to avoid it — has been one of the basic game’s most negative play experiences for a long time. My F.U.N. Fix: Make it do 2 damage always. It would keep the power scary but also prevent it from being a total waste against a single target.

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QUAKE: BUFFED by new combos with Exploit Weakness, Hypersonic Speed (and while being Mind Controlled) due to it no longer being a CLOSE action and its ability to knock back more foes (thanks to Charge and Combat Reflexes changes) and the passive KNOCKBACK keyphrase effectively allowing single-target Quake (sort of). NERFED by loss of knockback damage. (ISSUE: As written, knockback works with range attacks.)

F.U.N. or nah? As with Energy Explosion, the multi-penetrating damage is troubling. But not nearly as much. Here for it.

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SUPER STRENGTH: NERFED by loss of both knockback damage and heavy object damage. Mildly BUFFED by being the only figs able to attack with heavy objects and the changes to Charge and Combat Reflexes. UPDATE: ~~Heavy objects no longer hinder line of fire, so even the ability to reposition them to aid against enemy shooters is lost.~~ I originally missed text on the PAC that indicates heavies still hinder LOF. My thanks to reader James who reminded me that this info was still incorrect in this post!

F.U.N. or nah? It’s definitely a shift toward the power being more a utility power than an attacking one. And with the change to heavies, this power indeed has gone from being one of the best to becoming what high-level player PJ Bolin calls the worst standard power in HeroClix. I hate this change.

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INCAPACITATE: Heavily NERFED by loss of damage ability. Mildly BUFFED by new combo with HSS, Mind Control (on the controlled fig).

F.U.N. or nah? Heroclixin’ is split on this. Taylor thinks the power is more accurate than ever now, while I have long thought Incap was more like InCRAP. But the new combos might actually make it more generally useful rather than just that situational way to get around Mystics.

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PENETRATING/PSYCHIC BLAST: BUFFED by new combos with EE, HSS and MC.

F.U.N. or nah? It’s always been good. Only gets better.

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SMOKE CLOUD: NERFED by hindering change. BUFFED with minimum range boost.

F.U.N. or nah? Long a pretty situational power unless it was a FREE version, it’s worse than ever now that it can’t hinder figures’ movement. I hoped it might retain some of its control factor with an increase to the attack penalty for enemies, but no.

That said, the range boost will make it more useful for other things. UPDATE: And with the change to heavy objects, it’s become the only way to get hindering terrain not dependent on the map choice. Not really a buff, but it’s become a little bit more important now.

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PRECISION STRIKE: BEEFED by loss of single target restriction.

F.U.N. or nah? It doesn’t really make sense that one ought to be able to precisely strike multiple targets (unless you’re Cyclops like in the image), especially since this combines with decidedly IMprecise attacks like Quake or Energy Explosion. But at least it still doesn’t completely nullify Super Senses or Mastermind like it did when introduced in 2013, so we’ll take this compromise version.

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POISON: No change.

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STEAL ENERGY: No change.

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TELEKINESIS: NERFED. Lost both attack options, now only for moving objects and allies.

F.U.N. or nah? Even though it was almost never worth using for object attacks, I STILL want it to be Darth Vader TK. Loss of heavy-object-hindering-LOF makes it even less useful.

DEFENSE POWERS

SUPER SENSES: NERFED by Precision Strike being usable with multiple targets again.

F.U.N. or nah? This isn’t the backbreaker to the power that 2013 P.Strike was. And with certain effects expanding Senses’ potential effectiveness (looking at you, Wonder Woman TA and equipment), this is maybe a needed counter.

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TOUGHNESS: NERFED by Precision Strike and Penetrating/Psychic Blast’s multi-targeting potential.

F.U.N. or nah? This armor power is more situational than ever now. But still better to have than to not have.

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DEFEND: No change.

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COMBAT REFLEXES: NERFED by loss of knockback immunity.

F.U.N. or nah? With the loss of knockback damage, this was no longer needed, so I’m glad it’s gone.

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ENERGY SHIELD/DEFLECTION: No change.

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BARRIER: BUFFED by loss of pushing, boost to minimum range and new ability to generate on water, hindering terrain.

F.U.N. or nah? Man, Heroclixin’ lobbied for the Barrier-on-all-terrain change years ago before we decided it maybe needed the counter of, say, Smoke Cloud to prevent it. But it’s been a long time coming.

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MASTERMIND: No change.

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WILLPOWER: BUFFED by potential to never stop costed actions.

F.U.N. or nah? I haven’t been excited to see purple in the defense slot … ever. But now I am.

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INVINCIBLE: NERFED by loss of 3 damage cap.

F.U.N. or nah? With the loss of Perplexed damage, this might not be a killer, as it’ll be a lot harder to rack up much more than 5 damage anyway. F.U.N.

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IMPERVIOUS: NERFED by the new multi-targeting potential of Exploit Weakness and Precision Strike as well as Penetrating/Psychic Blast’s new availability to all range attacks.

F.U.N. or nah? I suppose since there are fewer massive solo damage attacks likely to happen, smaller ping damage needs to have some effect. So … both, maybe?

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REGENERATION: BUFFED by loss of pushing damage.

F.U.N. or nah? Man, we always hated the fact that Regen ever had the potential to self-kill. The 2017 rules made that at least an impossibility. Now, with the absence of pushing, Regen is better than ever — you ALWAYS heal from it (unless you’re on a STOP click).

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INVULNERABILITY: NERFED by the new multi-targeting potential of Exploit Weakness and Precision Strike as well as Penetrating/Psychic Blast’s new availability to all range attacks.

F.U.N. or nah? See Impervious

DAMAGE POWERS

RANGED COMBAT EXPERT: BUFFED by becoming a passive effect against characters and terrain/objects rather than a dedicated POWER action.

F.U.N. or nah? We’ve long liked the flexible stat boosts, but we did not like that it didn’t combo with, well, anything. Now it gives powers such as Running Shot or Penetrating/Psychic Blast or Hypersonic Speed a boost, works with multi-targets, and basically becomes so much easier to use, making it Friendly to new players AND Useful to all, and it’s Nerdcore to boot.

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BATTLE FURY: BUFFED by new immunity to anything similar to Incap.

F.U.N. or nah? Actually pretty unchanged.

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SUPPORT: No change.

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EXPLOIT WEAKNESS: BUFFED by new combos with HSS and Quake and more.

F.U.N. or nah? I used to appreciate the choice of Flurry -OR- EW, but I will not miss having to answer the question of whether the two are compatible. They are; you can use both.

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ENHANCEMENT: BUFFED by change to Perplex and combos with Range Destroy actions.

F.U.N. or nah? I grew tired of reminding players that the power didn’t work on shooting walls and stuff. Never made sense why not. Glad for this change.

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PROBABILITY CONTROL: No change.

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SHAPE CHANGE: No change.

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CLOSE COMBAT EXPERT: BUFFED, becoming a passive effect against characters and terrain/objects rather than a dedicated POWER action.

F.U.N. or nah? We’ve long liked the flexible CCE stat boosts, but we did not like that it didn’t combo with, well, anything. Now it gives powers such as Charge or Object Attack or Hypersonic Speed a boost, works with multi-targets, and basically becomes so much easier to use, making it Friendly to new players AND Useful to all, and it’s Nerdcore to boot.

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EMPOWER: BUFFED by change to Perplex and combos with Close Destroy actions.

F.U.N. or nah? I grew tired of reminding players that the power didn’t work on punching walls and stuff. Never made sense why not. Many hands make light work (of demolishing walls).

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PERPLEX: NERFED. Lost effect on damage.

F.U.N. or nah? I talked about this before, but to restate: When I started playing HeroClix nearly 16 years ago, the very name and nature of this power bugged me. How in the world does one confuse an ally to hit harder? Isn’t “perplexing” something you’d do to an enemy?

Now Perplex (which should be called Cunning, probably) gets nerfed so that the risk/reward factor of damage boost goes up. And Heroclixin’ likes appropriate risk/reward ratios.

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OUTWIT: BUFFED by change in Stealth to be targetable by adjacent characters.

F.U.N. or nah? This is the No. 1 dumb rule I am glad I won’t have to explain to new players anymore. Though I could rationalize the reason, it was always a reach as to why Stealth was so doggone impenetrable.

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LEADERSHIP: No change.

F.U.N. or nah? Perhaps more essential than ever, with Empower and Enhancement pieces needing to get into position to boost damage unlike Perplexers who could park in a good LOF spot to affect the battlefield.

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And some other PAC stuff:

INHERENT ABILITIES

CARRY: BUFFED. No penalty, carry vehicles and fliers

F.U.N. or nah? I always liked the fact that Running Shooters or Chargers had to decide whether to carry or to go their full halved speed. But this game is so littered with other tough decisions that I now welcome one less.

Carrying fliers, though? NOT A FAN. The only time a flier gets carried is either by a vehicle or a Green Lantern or if they’re unconscious. I’m sure I’m in the minority in hating this new-old rule return.

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DESTROY ACTIONS: BUFFED with Empower, Enhancement, and the Combat Experts.

F.U.N. or nah? Yes, please. While I could always justify the reasons for other powers not being compatible with Destroy Actions, this is better.

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OBJECT ACTIONS: NERFED by loss of heavy damage.

F.U.N. or nah? Not crazy about this. Super Strength has long had problems being the great power it should be, and this only deepens those problems.

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GREAT SIZE: BUFFED with 66% chance of acting when double tokened.

F.U.N. or nah? Uhhhh … wow. This stands some chance of being, on balance, better than Colossal Stamina ever was. I particularly like how it gives giants, long one of my favorite game mechanics, a new edge to make up for the fact that they’re so often targets.

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INDOMITABLE: Completely gone with the no more pushing change. Heavily BUFFS every previous non-Indom figure. Slightly NERFS every formerly Indom figure.

F.U.N. or nah? Initially we were skeptical. But the cost of a few figures losing their special-ness compared to the vast majority becoming viable for perhaps the first time ever excites us. And it’s not like the Indom figs got any worse, actually. Only high-point tentpoles will feel this negatively.

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IMPROVED MOVEMENT: HINDERING: Gone with change to hindering.

F.U.N. or nah? The more I think about this, the more I absolutely LOVE IT.

No longer having to go the long way around a patch of hindering, or breaking a wall only to have to dead stop in the debris, being able to hide in Stealth and Charge full speed from the spot … It’s got me feeling like Rock Lee after he got to take the weights off.

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IMPROVED MOVEMENT: MOVE THROUGH: BUFFED after Plasticity nerf.

F.U.N. or nah? We’re neutral on this change. Not much is different.

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SWIM: BUFFED with no vulnerability to range beyond 4 squares when in water. Slightly NERFED by water terrain no longer affecting movement.

F.U.N. or nah? Given that dolphin symbol characters usually don’t have range, this is definitely a boon to them.

TEAM ABILITIES

One got revamped. Others, affected by the new ruleset.

BUFFED

AVENGERS / JUSTICE LEAGUE / UNITED FEDERATION OF PLANETS: No speed penalty for passengers means taxis have a net +1 speed on MOVE actions.

GREEN LANTERN / UNDERWORLD: Can now also carry fliers; No speed penalty for any number of passengers.

COSMIC ENERGY / POWER COSMIC / QUINTESSENCE / Q CONTINUUM: All get Willpower’s ability to remove own token.

OUTSIDERS: With the Combat Experts working more broadly, this TA’s effect gains more relevance.

S.H.I.E.L.D.: With the easy Perplex-to-damage move gone, this TA’s POWER effect gains more relevance.

MASTERS OF EVIL: Works like close combat version of Hydra/PD; a boon to this melee-heavy team

NERFED

MASTERS OF EVIL: Lost Colossal Stamina. Range fighters don’t benefit and are likely hurt due to adjacency requirement.

ULTIMATES / AVENGERS INITIATIVE / SUPERMAN ALLY: The movement through hindering part is gone.

BATMAN ALLY / ROMULAN STAR EMPIRE / KABUKI: Stealth is non-functional against adjacent foes, assuming LOF is not otherwise blocked.

NEW

WONDER WOMAN: Like Skrulls but for Super Senses instead of Shape Change.

THEMED TEAMS

BUFF

No difference between generic and named teams anymore. Both get all theme team bonuses.
Theme prob no longer gives tokens and you don’t need the keyword anymore, just be on the team (a la bystanders or figs such as Prez).
No minimum number of characters.

NERF

Theme prob is max of 3, not 5.
Initiative bonus is effectively limited to rule of three. So if your opponent has 7 themed characters and you only have 2, his roll is maxxed out at +3 (I think. I am still a little confused how this works when it’s theme vs. theme).

Unfortunately, none of this gives my “BIG BRIGHT YELLOW BOOTS” themed team any of the bonuses.

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Finally: A number of Additional Team Abilities are affected, too. But that’s way too much to include in this article. Just figure them out for yourselves.

Or maybe I’ll do a future article on it. ATAs are for F.U.N. Golden Age games, after all … and we’re all about F.U.N.

Retirement 2021 … and the dawn of a new Age!

March 24, 2021 by rkjs·0 Comments

WizKids surprised us a bit with its early announcement of rotation (which doesn’t happen until July 1)

Silver Age and 2021 Rotation

What’s going?

5-Figure Booster Sets

DC HeroClix: Batman The Animated Series … is canceled

Marvel HeroClix: Secret Wars: Battleworld … calls a cease-fire and cease EXISTENCE
Marvel HeroClix: Earth X … gets X’ed out

Fast Forces Packs and Starter Sets

Marvel HeroClix: Secret Wars: Battleworld Fast Forces: Bye-bye, Runaways

DC HeroClix: Batman The Animated Series Starter Set
Marvel HeroClix: Earth X Starter Set

It’s more the maps we’ll mourn from these latter two than anything.

Micro Sets

Marvel HeroClix: Captain Marvel Movie: 2019 fave Captain Marvel 021 will be missed, even though she’s been power-leaped by the SR from Captain America and the Avengers.

2018 Convention Exclusives and Limited Edition Game Elements

WK DP18-001 Starro (and his WKDP18-002 through 005 minions)
WK DP18-006 Batman (a.k.a. Commissioner Gordon Batman)
WK DP18-007 Power Woman
WK DP18-008 Orion
WK DP18-009 Joker
WK DP18-010 Hawkgirl (one of the subjects of our Bombshells F.U.N. Focus)
WK DP18-101 Captain Cold
WK DP18-102 Heatwave
WK DP18-103 Impulse

WK MP18-002a Thanos-Copter
WK MP18-002b Cube-Powered Thanos-Copter
WK MP18-003 Thanos
WK MP18-004 Gwenpool
WK MP18-005 Lockjaw
WK MP18-006 Shadowcat
WK M18-007 Daredevil (a 2018 fave)
WK M18-101 Bishop
WK M18-102 Black King
WK M18-103 Forge
WK M18-104 Death’s Head
WK M18-105 Mandarin
WK M18-106 War Machine
WK M18-G001 Tri-Sentinel

WK S18-001 Captain Kirk & Uhura

There are also a few WKM17 holdovers that will certainly be added to this list: Lila Cheney, Longshot, Dazzler. A few others I can’t think of. But they’re not gone forever because WK also announced a whole new official format in addition to Golden and Modern:

SILVER AGE.

This format allows all new-style card sets (from Superior Foes of Spider-Man onward). It also wisely starts with both a ban list and watch list of problem figures:

Ban List

WK MP-18 001 Blackbird: We’re not sure why this immediately banned. Perhaps there’s a weird interaction with the Krakoan Revival trait we’re not seeing, or WizKids just doesn’t want resources in the game anymore. In any case: Plane is decommissioned and grounded.

FF JW 004 The Penguin: This fig’s ability to make itself target of friendly attacks has the potential to lead to infinite loops and easy wins with certain Mission Points win conditions, among other things. So yes, Penguin is jailed.

Watch List

JW 053b Jakeem Thunder: I would say he’s not going to be a problem after his errata adding Shape Change to the powers he can only choose one from. But the 2021 rules expand his versatility even further. So this young Black man is getting profiled for good reason.

TMNT3 Mini Shredder: Aside from the fact that free damage should never be a thing in this game, the elimination of speed penalty for Carry means this little guy could become problematic in a hurry. Keep him under the microscope!

WI 040 Goblin King: See Jakeem Thunder, but add Power Cosmic Willpower. Could get even uglier than he is.

TMT 058 Uni-Mind: 2021 rules make him even grosser and top of mind for this watch list.

JW 060 The Joker: With all the new power interactions and his resistance to KOs, this Joker is no laughing matter.

FF HQGG 006 Corrupt GPCD Cop: This addition is a curious one, but clearly WK is concerned about any and all of the “don’t die” figures and mechanics. Internal Affairs will be WATCHING you, girl.

SW:BW 061 Black Panther: See Goblin King, except he’s not ugly. Also death-resistant. This king could lose his immunity.

EAX 017b Vulture: He’s needed to be addressed forever anyway. He better fly low or get his wings clipped!

EAX 054 Daredevil: Another death-resistant figure. His license could get suspended.

XTAS 011b Magneto, XTAS 023b Sabretooth, XTAS 043b Mister Sinister: These three figs are here for the same reason: Don’t Die.

HOX 030 Moira X: Another Don’t Die figure, she’s also loaded with powers.

XTAS G014 Proteus: His Barrier-like ability could get out of hand.

XTAS G018 Wendigo: So many free attacks he can do, and the 2021 rules boost him even more.

XTAS G020 Dark Phoenix: Already a top meta figure, the 2021 rules boost her even more.

AI G001 Giant-Girl: Perhaps less of a problem now that she can’t be spammed to boost initiative, but still warrants a look.

AI G017 Giganto & Namor: New Swim ability eliminates most of the big guy’s weakness to long range. One to keep an eye on.

AI G025 Groot: Walking Woods were problematic before. Maybe worse now that they can get two tokens without dying.

FF AI G001 Giant-Girl: Free retaliation. ‘Nuff said!

TMT G001 Surtur: Good God, just ban him already.

TMT G004 Carnage: See Groot, but shave 10 points.

WK MP-18 G001 Tri-Sentinel: Any retaliation that can dole out free damage belongs here. And so he is.

All ID Cards: Just ban them already. No off-the-map stuff, please.

All this is a good move. Even a ban isn’t the end; Golden Age will continue to exist for local venues. The best and most hopeful thing is that maybe some rulings and questions about retired stuff can finally be answered, especially if this format will be a WizKids-supported deal for future WKOs and more.

Sounds like F.U.N.!

Future F.U.N.: 2021 Rulebook changes [part 7]

March 8, 2021 by rkjs·0 Comments

WizKids has really dragged revealing the upcoming changes to HeroClix rules (necessitating splitting this article into a series of Parts 1-4 and Parts 5-6), but finally we’ve gotten a look at the entire Powers And Abilities card and can comment on how gameplay will look going forward.

HeroClix has gone through some mega shifts over its now 18-year lifespan. It started with everything you needed for play being on the dial — simple, once you learned the rules. And although some off-the-map wrinkles such as feat cards and battlefield condition were added, this was the extent of the game. Call it HeroClix 1.0.

But then came character cards, in year 6, and HeroClix 2.0 in all but name ensued. From here, layer upon layer of new complexity began to add to the game — sometimes to its detriment but always remaining F.U.N. if you could find (usually by downplaying the metagame). And the rules made a significant shift roughly every four years, but most of the core gameplay was unchanged.

Well, now we’re in HeroClix 3.0, with a number of “sacred cow” rules like hindered movement, Stealth while adjacent and pushing going by the wayside.

Let’s get into it.

SPEED

Flurry is unchanged.
Leap/Climb is no longer a MOVE action so it combos with stuff like Sidestep and Charge. It also lost the little-used “attack-different-elevations” ability and wording for +2 breakaway.
Phasing/Teleport is unchanged.
Earthbound/Neutralized restricts use of Improved Movement/Targeting abilities.
Charge allows use of CLOSE as FREE instead of “at no cost.” Also loses immunity to knockback,
Mind Control‘s RANGE option gains a minimum reach of 6 from the previous 4.
Plasticity no longer forces everything without Improved Movement: Characters to stop but everything without Hypersonic, Leap/Climb, Plasticity or Phasing has to roll a 6 to break away. Plasticity only fails break away on 1.
Force Blast gains a minimum range of 6 for the POWER option and a standard 3-square knockback.
Sidestep remains a FREE 2-square move.
Hypersonic Speed, like Leap/Climb, loses wording for +2 breakaway, so it’s a normal breakaway roll in most cases.
Stealth gets wording that at last allows an adjacent foe to draw line of fire to Stealthers in hindering.
Running Shot allows use of RANGE as FREE instead of “at no cost.”

ATTACK

Blades/Claws/Fangs, is now activated by any close attack against a single target, not just a CLOSE.
Energy Explosion has minor shift in wording but effectively no change.
Pulse Wave appears to no longer do full damage on single target. (This could be a mistake.)
Quake is no longer a CLOSE, just a close attack that may target multiples. Otherwise is functionally the same. It gets the KNOCKBACK keyphrase as a passive ability.
Super Strength remains the same.
Incapacitate is no longer a CLOSE or RANGE. Whenever it makes an attack, you can token the target(s) instead of normal damage. Also no longer deals damage to double-tokened targets.
Penetrating/Psychic Blast is no longer a RANGE but still deals penetrating damage at range.
Smoke Cloud gets the minimum 6 range boost that Mind Control did.
Precision Strike no longer is restricted to a single target.
Poison is unchanged.
Steal Energy has minor shift in wording but effectively no change.
Telekinesis only affects objects and friendly characters now. No attack options.

DEFENSE

Super Senses is unchanged.
Toughness is unchanged.
Defend is unchanged.
Combat Reflexes loses its knockback immunity.
Energy Shield/Deflection is unchanged.
Barrier gains the minimum range boost to 6 and is no longer limited to clear terrain only.
Mastermind is unchanged.
Willpower is functionally now a self-Leadership roll, working at the beginning of turn phase.
Invincible no longer caps taken damage at 3.
Impervious is unchanged.
Regeneration is unchanged.
Invulnerability is unchanged.

DAMAGE

Ranged Combat Expert, no longer a POWER action, loses its modification options and now is a static +1 to attack and damage to any normal damage range attack (including destroy actions).
Battle Fury has minor shift in wording that prevents it from being given action tokens by ANY enemy effect, not just Incapacitate.
Support is unchanged.
Exploit Weakness is no longer a CLOSE but still deals penetrating damage in melee.
Enhancement now allows the +1 against terrain/objects
Probability Control is unchanged.
Shape Change is unchanged.
Close Combat Expert no longer a POWER action, loses its modifcation options and now is a static +1 to attack and damage to any normal damage close attack (including destroy actions).
Empower now allows the +1 against terrain/objects.
Perplex no longer affects damage.
Outwit is unchanged.
Leadership is unchanged.

ABILITIES

Carry no longer penalizes speed.
Heavy Objects appear to no longer do extra damage.
All the Improved abilities are properly named in their description.
Improved Movement: Hindering is gone.
Improved Movement: Characters has minor shift in wording but effectively no change.
Great Size now also grants 3-6 Willpower.
Passenger no longer prevents same-size fliers from being carried.
SAFEGUARD replaces the PROTECTED keyphrase, while “Protected: X” still stands for Outwit and Pulse Wave, respectively.
Swim can’t be targeted from beyond 4 squares when in water.

OTHER CHANGES

Crit miss self-damage is immediate, instead of after resolutions.
Knockback places UP TO 3 squares away, so … you might have options to do less. Also no more “direct path” language.
Destroyed Barrier no longer leaves debris!

….that’s a lot! They seem to be encouraging more melee and team formation (and counters to same) at the expense of big solo strike ability (see the heavy object change, and that Pulse Wave one … whoa.) A future post will further analyze what’s gotten beefed up and nerfed — and how F.U.N. is it all.

In the meantime, here’s the new 2021 rulebook and Powers & Abilities Card.

Future F.U.N.: 2021 Rulebook changes [part 5+6]

February 18, 2021 by rkjs·0 Comments

I had hoped to contain all commentary on the changes coming to HeroClix rules in one post. But WizKids has really dragged out these revelations, such that I’ve had to split the article up (because a whole new set — the last to use the current ruleset — dropped in the middle of it all).

Here are the changes (and links to WK’s articles) so far:

PUSHING DAMAGE IS GONE. So is Colossal Stamina (mostly). Willpower is now essentially a self-Leadership roll. Great Size grants an improved version of that roll (3-6). There’s also mention of BENCHED POWERS: Not really a rule change, just a new design philosophy.
CHANGED POWERS: Leap/Climb, RCE and CCE each become passive powers; Telekinesis loses attack options; no Perplex on damage.
CHANGED THEME TEAMS: No minimum number of characters, generic and named themed teams are same, initiative roll only gives +3 bonus, Themed Team Probability Control is simple Prob and capped at 3.
CHANGED … EVERYTHING: multiple bolts work in melee; hindering terrain only affects line of fire; knockback move a character 3 squares and doesn’t damage.

But enough recap. On to

PART 5

There was a rules article that suggested that a lot more powers will function as “attack improvements” rather than “attack replacements,” allowing for more combinations than are currently legal. But it was so vague, with few concrete examples, that we can’t really comment and so we won’t, other than it sounds like it could be F.U.N.

A later rules article focused on cleaning up language like “FREE” vs. “at no cost” (it appears they’re looking to minimize use/abuse of the latter in future game design) and “place” in the Telekinesis sense of repositioning things on the map versus “place” in the sense of putting a piece from off the map/outside the game onto the map. Going forward, they’re using “generate” for the latter effect, a term already in use for making bystanders.

The biggest F.U.N. news is that while water terrain no longer affects movement, characters with the Swim keyphrase get a big boost: They can’t be targeted from further than 4 squares away when they’re in water terrain. That scores huge on the F.U.N. factor for Utility and Nerdcore (even if it makes the Friendliness factor go down — there could be some nasty teams built around this).

An “Atlantis Attacks” Heroclixin’ article update is gonna be necessary.

We’re sure there’s still more changes to come. Stay tuned for …

PART 6

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Players got a low-res look at the first page of the new PAC and there are some clear changes to many of the Speed Powers!

Flurry, Phasing/Teleport, and Sidestep all have no inherent change (though it remains to be seen if other general rule changes affect them).
Leap/Climb we already knew about. And the removal of pushing damage means Earthbound/Neutralized just restricts use of Improved Movement/Targeting abilities.
Charge and Running Shot both get a minor change, allowing use of either CLOSE or RANGE (respectively) as FREE instead of “at no cost” like in the 2017 rules. This might make these powers vulnerable again to effects that restrict FREE actions (such as the Golden Age Green Lantern battery or the Modern Spiders Man 013 from Earth X) but should clean up gameplay somewhat.
Charge also loses its immunity to knockback!
Mind Control‘s RANGE option gains a minimum reach of 6 from the previous 4.
Plasticity loses language that forces most enemy figures to stop next to it, instead seemingly only keeping its easy breakaway rolls and forcing hard breakaways against all but Leap/Climb, HSS and Phasing figures.
The POWER version of Force Blast loses its d6 roll but gains a minimum range of 6 and a standard 3-square knockback. With at least Charge losing knockback protection, this is a big upgrade.
Hypersonic Speed, like Leap/Climb, loses wording for +2 breakaway. But given the new Plasticity wording, maybe there’s a new general rule for breakaway that either retains the bonus or nerfs it.
Stealth gets wording that at last allows an adjacent foe to draw line of fire to Stealthers in hindering.

Can’t wait to look at more changes in Part 7!

Pocket Checklist for FUTURE FOUNDATION

February 17, 2021 by rkjs·2 Comments

It’s that time again. Here’s your old-school pocket checklist for the latest 5-figure booster set, Fantastic Four: Future Foundation. The download link below will yield four copies of the list.

FutureFoundationchecklist

Future F.U.N.: 2021 Rulebook changes [part 1-4]

January 31, 2021 by rkjs·0 Comments

There’s been a lot of talk about the surprising rules changes coming to HeroClix in mid-spring — the biggest changes since 2017. But unlike other commentaries, Heroclixin’ is focusing on how F.U.N. these changes promise to be — or not.

F = Friendly: How unpleasant is this aspect of the game likely to be to face when it’s not on your side? The more so, the less it rates on this metric.
U = Useful: It’s still nice to have utility on your force. So how’s it rate in this manner?
N = Nerdcore: Finally, there’s the question of whether this change adequately reflects the source material, the comics. And we found that this metric mattered to us much more than we expected in rating these new rules.

Let’s dish.

PUSHING DAMAGE IS GONE. So is Colossal Stamina (mostly). Willpower is now essentially a self-Leadership roll. Great Size grants an improved version of that roll (3-6).

One of the core rules of HeroClix — getting a second action token deals you damage — is no more. It’s a seismic change, but also a pretty F.U.N. change: No more calculating the risk/reward of taking a click for an action that might fail. Instead, the cost is taking the second token, which for many figures is risk enough as they’re unable to effectively act while thus tokened. The overall tempo of the game should increase.

But Indomitable is now effectively gone, because WizKids is retiring the ability. So any high-cost characters without actual Willpower will get out-actioned even more. Meanwhile, Power Cosmic/Quintessence/Cosmic Energy TA will get a major boost by being able to self-remove tokens. This is slightly less F.U.N. — Indom figs will be effectively overcosted, maybe — but the level playing field might balance things out.

Giants get a big boost as well, gaining Willpower as a matter of course — and an improved version of it, to boot. But only ACTUAL giants, not many of the part-time ones such as Heroclixin’ faves Power Girl (Rebirth 022) or Micron (JLU 059b). I guess that’s an OK tradeoff of those characters being able to opt-out of the drawbacks of Great Size.

Finally, although WK is removing Colossal Stamina from the roster of keyphrase abilities on the 2021 PAC, the odd character that still has it on their card as a SP or trait will still have it.

But that means Masters of Evil team ability is getting a wholesale change from Colossal Stamina to this: “When an adjacent friendly character makes a close attack, modify the target’s defense -1 if the target is adjacent to this character.”

Heroclixin’ HATES this change. It’s absolutely useless and actually detrimental for range-focused MoE TA figs. It’s absolutely useless for the actual figure that HAS the TA in ANY case. This would be tolerable if it were inexpensive, but the MoE TA seems to have traditionally added a lot of cost. But Heroclixin’ has to grudgingly acknowledge that the rewrite is well in line with the spirit of the source material: gangpiling a single enemy in close combat.

2. BENCHED POWERS: Game design is not using certain PAC powers in a given set.

Specifically, WK said for the new Wonder Woman set it was deemphasizing:

Leap/Climb, which is mostly overshadowed by Improved Movement
Super Strength, which has diminishing returns due to the scarcity of heavy objects
Willpower, which got overshadowed by Indomitable before and now is a whole new thing so I guess they don’t wanna overdo it maybe
Earthbound/Neutralized, which people hate anyway
Precision Strike, which is overshadowed by Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Exploit Weakness … sort of
Pulse Wave, which, as the ultimate solvent, probably ought to be more rare anyway
Battle Fury, which is mainly only useful against Shape Change, which is also taking a break
Ranged Combat Expert, which overshadows Enhancement, which WK wants to use more
Perplex, which overshadows EVERYTHING because it is the most useful support ability and WK wants to let Empower/Enhancement get some shine
Shape Change, which WK thinks is “redundant” and “off” compared to Super Senses
Invincible, which WK says is “an exception to an exception” through its resistance to penetrating damage. We guess they just want penetrating damage to matter again
Force Blast, which is pretty niche and difficult for new players to weaponize
Hypersonic Speed, which WK says is “redundant” but they also recognize that it’s very good and I guess they want more risk for reward in gameplay
Support, which WK says “feels bad” because it requires three dice — which begs the question of how much worse Mind Control is on that score

Heroclixin’ doesn’t like this change. Yes, we understand the goal is to ease the complexity of play for new players and add to the flow of the game. And every power need not show in every set. (Indeed, a survey of recent sets will show that a number don’t appear.)

But one of the key aspects of the F.U.N. factor of Heroclix is the N for Nerdcore. We love when a figure is just right and reflective of the source material. That means a Wonder Woman maybe needs Hypersonic Speed and Invincible instead of Charge and Impervious.

That said, this isn’t really a change to the PAC but maybe a throwback to simpler dials. We’re not necessarily opposed to that. We just like variety.

Some powers are getting changes, too. We’ll dish on those in Part 2.

PART 2

Rather than do a separate article, we’ll just add to the previous one so this’ll be Heroclixin’s definitive post for posterity on the 2021 shift.

The designers definitely went on a mission to streamline the base game as much as possible this go-’round, simplifying a lot of powers.

____________________________

Leap/Climb: It’s no longer a MOVE action but always on. Also lost the attack on different adjacency ability

In their reasoning, WizKids said the attack part only came up very occasionally. And for our part, the power wasn’t terribly F.U.N.: definitely Friendly enough but not really Useful (compared to Improved Movement not taking up a power slot) or that Nerdcore, even. Making it so it works with the likes of Charge and Sidestep boosts the F.U.N. a lot — and cuts down on the annoying question “Does L/C work with this other movement power?”

Yes, Timmy. Yes it does. Finally.

____________________________

Telekinesis: Lost all its range attack ability. Only for placing friendlies and objects now

This is the least F.U.N. change of the lot. Heroclixin’ likes the Darth Vader aspect of this power to hurl objects into faces!

But in truth, we hardly ever used this object attack. And the range attack to reposition enemies? Forget it! It was almost never worth the attempt. So I’ll happily leave that part of TK in the Dark Side.

Worse on the usefulness scale is the (potential) loss of the ability to TK enemy objects. That’s an issue, because sometimes taking an opponent’s equipment is the key move. But even that tactic is pretty niche, so we’re not that broken up about it.

____________________________

Close Combat Expert/Range Combat Expert: Now a passive +1 to both attack and damage in attacks or Destroy actions

We’ve long liked the flexible CCE stat boosts, but we did not like that the powers lacked the ability to combo with, well, anything.

Now they *do* combo with most anything, giving powers such as Charge or Penetrating/Psychic or Hypersonic Speed a boost. They work with multi-targets. Both become so much easier to use, making them Friendly to new players AND Useful to all, and it’s Nerdcore to boot.

_____________________________

Perplex: Doesn’t work on damage anymore.

When I started playing HeroClix 15 years ago, the very name and nature of this power bugged me. How in the world does Joker making a quip or Mystique’s … I don’t know … changing form or something … equate to higher damage on an ally? And isn’t perplexing something you’d do to an enemy?

With time, it’s become my favorite support-style power over the rest, as I’ve come to see it’s an unfortunately misnamed power (“Cunning” might have been a better choice). But its ability to boost damage was always way out of scale. Note how almost every souped-up +2 version of Perplex excludes damage from the modified stats.

So Perplex gets nerfed so that the risk/reward factor of damage boost goes up. And Heroclixin’ likes appropriate risk/reward ratios.

The article hints at a global change coming to hindering terrain and breakaway (the new L/C refers to neither), as well as themed teams. We’ll delve into that with Part 3.

PART 3

Themed Teams: No more distinction between generic and named themed teams. Initiative roll only gives +3 bonus. Themed Team Probability Control is simple Prob and capped at 3. No minimum number of characters.

WizKids’ design team thought themed teams needed streamlining some more. Let’s unpack.

The biggest shift is that TTPC no longer requires getting an action token and characters can Prob themselves — which is important for the new rule that literally allows single-character theme teams now. Heroclixin’ thinks that One Man Army “team” loophole fails spectacularly on the F.U.N. scale (it’s likely not Friendly, hard to Use (what good is a one-time Prob Control, really?) and a Nerdcore flop as there’s no such thing as a team of one) but overall this change is great — and it self-balances with the OMA allowance (only one TTPC, +1 map bonus).

Also, the capping of the initiative bonus is one that I’ve been advocating for a long time now (in a planned-but-never-published “needed changes to HeroClix” article). We would’ve set a max of 5 to match the max number of TTPCs, but 3 is better on both accounts. Heroclixin’ approves — this is F.U.N.! Friendly in that it doesn’t lock players into oppressive maps, but still a Useful benefit and Nerdcore in that the battlefield is not always of one’s choosing.

The least favorite thing about this rule shift is the loss of distinction between named and generic themes — we like the former better on principle — but yours truly has always appreciated themed play long before keywords were ever a thing. Ask about my “Bright Yellow Boots” themed team circa 2005 sometime.

Revelation of a hinted-at global change coming to hindering terrain and breakaway rules still is forthcoming. We’ll delve into that with Part 4, probably.

PART 4

The big changes keep coming, as WK shakes up hindering terrain — which we expected — along with targets and knockback, which WEREN’T expected. Direct quote:

OK. Let’s consider each.

Multi-melee is a FANTASTICALLY F.U.N. change to the game … eventually. Right now, almost no 0 range characters have more than one lightning bolt symbol on dial, so this won’t affect the vast number of punching characters out there. But superheroes are constantly depicted in fights against swarms of thugs or ninjas or robots or whatever, making this a really great F.U.N. shift. It will also be much more intuitive to new players. As for us vets, we’ll be able to weaponize stuff like Flurry even more — getting to split the damage of both attacks could clear out a swarm of pogs in the way. Or maybe Blades will get to split ITS damage!

Hindering terrain, though, is a mixed bag. On one hand, explaining to new players that you have to stop in hindering, and the whole halved speed thing was always a bit burdensome. Worse — and this was a point the WK article brings up — it really hurts the effectiveness of melee figs vs. range, and the game design team wanted to better balance the two sides more. So removing the movement penalty altogether is a pretty F.U.N. fix that aids in that endeavor.

What Heroclixin’ doesn’t like is the implications for certain other abilities:

Smoke Cloud — long a nice niche power to slow down enemy movement, it will now be MUCH less Useful.
Obscuring Terrain — introduced a few years ago as a subset of hindering terrain, it’s now effectively pointless. But we won’t miss answering player questions about it, either.
Water Terrain — OK, so I have always, ALWAYS hated the fact that, for a very long time, water was just like a weaker version of hindering terrain. UPDATE (2/10/21): It could have had a chance to shine by becoming the new version of hindering terrain — stopping boot speed movement — while hindering gets to just mess with line of fire. But the designers opted to keep it the same. This is a good move to aid new players but a Nerdcore disappointment.

Knockback damage is being removed entirely. This is another change we’re unsure about. Sure, what seems like a very simple mechanic somehow got ridiculously complex, so Heroclixin’ can get down with the blanket 3-square knockback. We are less enthused about the loss of the damage — getting slammed into walls and off buildings is one of the most Nerdcore things there IS! So we can’t wholly approve of this one.

All this and breakaway still to come. Standby for Part 5 in a new post.

Pocket Checklist for HOUSE OF X (part 2 of 2)

January 7, 2021 by rkjs·0 Comments

House of X is released and we appear to now know all the Team Up cards of the set. Here’s a completed checklist of both the figures (x2) and the cards (x1, in two parts):

Low-res image (don’t use this; it’s incomplete and low-res)

High-quality PDF download (1/21/2021 UPDATE! There was a Magneto card missing):

HouseOfXchecklist

Top Ten Favorites? No — Top 20 of 2020!

December 31, 2020 by rkjs·0 Comments

In a normal year, my favorites have all stood the test of time on a map and thus earned favored status. But nothing about 2020 has been normal. Actual map time has been at a premium. And there’s certainly no way to properly rank my faves this time around.

So in addition to the usual F.U.N. criteria Heroclixin’ uses — Is this figure Fair? Is it Useful? Is it Nerdcore? — I’m also falling back on this question I asked for 2016:

“When I see this figure, do I immediately wish I had a team to fit it on?”

That’s the criteria more than ever in this weird year where I COULDN’T play so much. And because of that, I’m not limiting the cut, either, but EXPANDING it.

——————

Normally, I’d open here with a fig from the previous year that came out/got played too little to make the list proper back then before going into a multi-day countdown of this year’s actual releases. But I’mma just jump right into the 2020 faves in this one big post.

Sorry, Dr. Claire Finn (The Orville 003). It was you. You were the 2019 latecomer. I still love you.

In alphabetical order:

Absorbing Man (Captain America and the Avengers 073) 100 points

I collect Masters of Evil in general, though I needed to wait for this chase figure to drop a lot in price before getting it. His trait “Take On The Properties Of Any Element” make this a wildly dynamic dial to play depending on what the map terrain is like. If he’s next to hindering, he can get Stealth, Regen and +2AV. Obscuring gives Super Senses, +2 Speed and Improved Movement:Blocking, Elevated. Water terrain makes him Poisonous and Shape Change-y and damaging (+2) while blocking grants Super Strength, IM:Destroy Blocking and +2DV. All these choices last until he chooses again, too! Very flexible piece.

Friendly/Fellowship: He’s fairly map-dependent, needing hindering or blocking (actual squares, not walls) to get his best powers and stat bonuses.

Useful/Utility: But look at the sheer length of his dial for 100 points — 10 clicks with Masters of Evil TA. WHAT point formula?

Nifty/Nerdcore: Speaking of MoE, he’s on the next big build

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The Atom (Justice League Unlimited 059a) 40 points

The Atom is a longtime favorite character and this piece feels the most like the hero with its ability to hitch a ride with any character, friend or foe (and be able to take a costed action after because he’s placed but not carried) and the SP granting Perplex and Outwit alike. He can also shrink a standard ally to Tiny Size.

Friendly/Fellowship: Despite lowish AV and damage…

Useful/Utility: …he’s actually a kinda meta piece due to that placement SP

Nifty/Nerdcore: I have an all-Atoms team ahead

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Black Cat (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 005) 40 points

I’ve been waiting for WizKids to make this crime boss version of Black Cat. It’s one of the most accurate dial for her we’ve ever seen, boasting a Prob Control-nerfing SP in close range, which works well with her great tie-up potential. Sidestep, Underworld TA and her trait to adopt one of her team’s named keywords make her a taxi and easy theme teammaker.

Friendly/Fellowship: Her anti-Prob zone is only within 4 squares and she only has Ruler keyword

Useful/Utility: Dial-long Stealth and late Prob of her own with Blades/Claws/Fangs round her out

Nifty/Nerdcore: She’s the latest keyword cheater

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Black Widow (Black Widow Movie 100) 75 points

I’m a Black Widow completist, but normally I like a BW with:

Wall-crawling and swingline action (Improved Movement: Elevated);
Blasting multiple targets on the move (Running Shot);
Good combat values because she’s a spy extraordinaire;
Stealth and Perplex or the like for the same reason

So one would expect Black Widow 017 from this set would be my pick because she does all that. Trouble is, that piece is further overpowered in about a half-dozen more ways that make her totally unF.U.N. So no thanks. Instead I like this motorcycled version that skimps on No. 1 and 4 but delivers plenty of the rest plus extras like one-time FREE half-movement, a Sideline BW to shift to when she KOs, and the ability to hit and drag and reposition a target to a new square.

Friendly/Fellowship: She requires a themed team or two more movie set pieces to really work, so she by herself isn’t too frightening

Useful/Utility: But that drag move tho. And she’s a potential undying piece

Nifty/Nerdcore: It’s this movie shot, it’s a classic, C’MON, it’s BIKE WIDOW

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Bombshell (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 009) 40 points

Bombshell (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 025) 60 points

This is not really a tie. The common daughter does the anti-Stealth with Ultimates while her uncommon mom boosts range up to a possible 8 (+2 via Mom’s “Yet Another Sinister Six” trait, then Perplex). And of course their ability to Pulse Wave when in 3 squares of each other, as they should be due to the above and the daughter’s late Enhancement.

Friendly/Fellowship: It can be tricky to get their duo timing down

Useful/Utility: A nice pair of Energy Exploders

Nifty/Nerdcore: The family that Pulse Waves together stays together

BOMBSHELL(s). BOTH. Or not at all. Like I said, THIS IS NOT A TIE. They’re a DUO

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Human Torch (Fantastic Four 038) 40 points

So there was a storyline where Sue traded powers with her brother and found out how mature Johnny really was to keep all that heat in check. I love how this random dial works gives all sorts of options. In addition to constant Poison (which hurts friend and foe, so be careful), she might have Running Shot or HSS or Pulse Wave or RCE or Senses or Deflection. It’s super F.U.N.

Friendly/Fellowship: Randomness means the opponent needn’t fear how you’ll weaponize her. She also can’t Poison with impunity when near allies

Useful/Utility: But no one can plan for her and the random dial means she can usually push freely

Nifty/Nerdcore: A really fantastic rendition of the story. Random SUSAN TORCH is the funnest

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Ironheart (Captain America and the Avengers 056) 85 points

I was so glad to get this version of her in a properly engineered suit. She’s a solid attacker and supporter in one, with 7 range, 11AV Penetrating/Psychic Blast Running Shot and double Prob. When she hits, she makes no-cost Barrier around the target, so it’s worth it to burn both Probs on her own attack if needed.

Friendly/Fellowship: I wish she had Willpower, but then she’d be meta and not F.U.N.

Useful/Utility: Down dial she gets Outwit and Perplex, both also for double use.

Nifty/Nerdcore: She’s been on two of my meta teams this year anyway. I HEART IRONHEART

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Jolt (Captain America and the Avengers 031a) 25 points

She has a 50% chance of getting to Sidestep again, and then again and again and again. Its possible she could get all across the map in a turn. Not bad for a 25-point tie-up with Reflexes, Precision and Flurry.

Friendly/Fellowship: Her multiStep power is still unreliable to depend on or to fear. She’s also a short three clicks.

Useful/Utility: But that potential to scoot across the board, tho. Or to retrieve your equipment easily

Nifty/Nerdcore: Jolt was my favorite Thunderbolt anyway, Jay

—————————

Micron (Justice League Unlimited 059b) 50 points

So this was my prime in my JLU brick. At first I was unimpressed and thought I might quickly flip him for cash, even though he was a character with the power to change size to either tiny or colossal, which is one of my favorite things in the game. He also shares same ability as The Atom (when this was initially planned as a Top 10 list, these two were gonna share a tied spot) to hitch rides with friends or foes, which can work wonders with his Empower/Enhancement/CCE SP. So I thought I’d hold onto him a while longer.

Friendly/Fellowship: He’s an actual meta fig, so not so much in this category. But as primes go, he’s kinda distinctly mid-range in effectiveness

Useful/Utility: But he’s a prime, which means he can do something cool, like get FREE placed next to an enemy that KO’d an ally last turn in a quasi retaliation

Nifty/Nerdcore: My biggest completist effort in this game is collecting all the Black characters. So when I learned he fit the theme, I was SUPER glad I didn’t sell.

HIS REAL NAME IS “UNKNOWN” BUT TO ME IT’S “MIKE RON”

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Quake (Captain America and the Avengers 010) 65 points

I’ve liked previous takes on this character, but this one finally gets her just RIGHT. The 2011 version introduced the close attack from range without any line of fire concept, but it was only 2 squares —barely better than standard Giant Reach — and the 2015 model only extended the quaking range to 3, still requiring line of fire.

This time the range is stretched to 5 (or beyond, if she has SHIELD teammates/wildcards), no LOF needed.

Friendly/Fellowship: She requires a certain finesse that keeps her from feeling overbearing

Useful/Utility: But packing Empower and anti-Stealth in addition to her no-look quaking is strong here

Nifty/Nerdcore: This year, Daisy is in full flower. THIS MILKQUAKE BRINGS THIS BOY TO THE YARD

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Red Guardian (Black Widow Movie 016) 75 points

I thought I came for his cool “Fighting An Entire Squad” trait that allows him to both close attack from range like Daisy above (though he still needs LOF) and not have to split the damage. But I stayed for his SP Leadership that modifies all stats except damage +1.

Friendly/Fellowship: A failed roll boosts either his opponent’s choice of DV or AV +1, making this a very fair piece.

Useful/Utility: A tough melee dial that doesn’t have to base targets (at first) means this might be a Charge fig that doesn’t die.

Nifty/Nerdcore: Looking forward to seeing if the film character deserves this dial. IN SOVIET RUSSIA, clix plays YOU

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Reed Richards, Fixer Of Universes (Fantastic Four 056) 60 points

So I’ve had a standing “Council of Reeds” team build for the past eight years that finally got updated this year. But at first I kinda despaired of actually being able to DO that update because not one but two of the added figs were chases in a pandemic.

I was able to acquire them, though. (It’s a long story. Tell ya someday.)

Anyway, I love Title Reed because while it’s very much in character (unlike another that I need to add to the Worst of 2020 roster), it’s also very focused on a specific play style and goal.

Friendly/Fellowship: He’s really kind of a support-style fig but one that won’t just hide in the back row.

Useful/Utility: Aside from his early Leadership and later Prob, getting a high-AV, low-damage, nigh-Immobile pog in the enemy start zone and getting to free damage your cheapest foe is kinda OK

Nifty/Nerdcore: Playing him is almost like an alternate win condition

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Spider-Hamurai (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 066) 60 points

I really hated the last time WizKids based a chase theme on a non-comics idea (the armors based on variant covers back in 2013’s Invincible Iron Man set) but these, completely homegrown by WizKids, are actually good enough to possibly appear in a real Marvel comic someday. And this little guy, who makes Martial Artist keyword into a named theme team by granting them the Spider-Man Family keyword, won me over as soon as I saw it in the booster.

Friendly/Fellowship: “Busheepdo Honor” is so supremely balanced.

Useful/Utility: Getting a FREE attack is always good, esp. when you’re tying up a key foe with the above SP. And Improved Movement and wildcard status and (when not in Busheepdo Honor duel) “Call In Help From The Spider-Verse”

Nifty/Nerdcore: I did not know I needed a samurai pig with spider powers in my life until I opened that box

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Spider-Man (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 054) 60 points

Back in 2016, a Batman with a similar ability to attack a crowd for full damage each made the favorites list. Now here’s a Spidey with the Improved Movement and Hypersonic Speed needed to truly leverage it. And he can slip into a civilian ID to possibly avoid KO via his Garbage Can equipment.

Friendly/Fellowship: He generates a J. Jonah Jameson pog — for your opponent.

Useful/Utility: He’s a wildcard and Outwit on top dial, Prob on the back end, and Empower in the middle.

Nifty/Nerdcore: Just a near-perfect classic early-career Spidey

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Spot (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 042) 50 points

The first iteration of Spot was among my faves of 2010 and 10 years later his remake takes a … spot … as well. It’s MUCH improved thanks to the decade of power creep since.

Friendly/Fellowship: Only having light 2 or lower damage makes him pretty non-scary to see on a map

Useful/Utility: But yo, his ability to warp and punch from a distance via the “Here, There and Everywhere” trait is really good — especially being able to Outwit before Flurry. And counterpunching him can be dangerous due to “Death of a Thousand … Spots?” dealing damage when they miss his 18 Super Senses.

Nifty/Nerdcore: The old Spot was in my Goofy Marvel Villains team but this one might be a little too good for that.

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Sue Storm (Fantastic Four 062) 100 points

I was fortunate enough to get this chase this summer despite joblessness and pandemic (again, long story) and immediately fell for this dial. I like Barrier shenanigans and hers are strong.

Friendly/Fellowship: She’s a lot of points without a strong attack presence. Better Barrier exists at much less than 100.

Useful/Utility: But FREE Barrier’s never bad, esp. when it can double as an attack and she can see through it for TK or Outwit (or Quake and Prob or Incap and Support)

Nifty/Nerdcore: I still await the ultimate Invisible Woman but she’s close

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Superman (Justice League Unlimited 105) 125 points / 60 points

This piece is based on that classic JLU episode where Superman goes and pinballs Darkseid because for once Supes doesn’t have to hold back. I love the specificity of this dial.

Friendly/Fellowship: No range means he’s likely got to get deep in enemy territory to be as scary as other HSS figs. Also, his knockback requirement to get the second, FREE placement and attack might run counter to the usual HSS hit and run tactic. He also can’t be healed once he hits his STOP clicks. He’s a high-risk character.

Useful/Utility: Though he requires you to pick your moment and target — he REALLY needs to get that second attack chance, so avoid Reflexes and Charge and other knockback avoiders — he’s really straightforward. A finesse brick.

Nifty/Nerdcore: Make enemies feel like cardboard

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Ultron (Avengers Vs. Masters of Evil Battlegrounds 110b) 100 points

Though I like his sculpt twin chase from the Captain America and the Avengers set, too, this one is just so much more straightforward to play. Love the random d6 for FREE Phasing as a kind of no breakaway Running Shot for his Penetrating Blast with Prob.

Friendly/Fellowship: Short dial and he’s not nearly as scary as his twin

Useful/Utility: But FREE breakaway tho. And opening 4 P damage

Nifty/Nerdcore: Nothing cute to say here. ONLY FLESH NEEDS SOMETHING CUTE TO SAY.

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Vixen (Justice League Unlimited 015) 75 points

Another Vixen topped my favorite list years ago. And though this one isn’t the first remake since then, I think it might be the truest version of the character ever. Like, there was no reason for her to have any range at all, much less the 8 she got in Streets of Gotham (though I didn’t complain). And the Trinity War version was too many points and dependent on being on a sparsely populated — and bad — theme team to fully activate. The older carded Vixen also had limitations based on the presence of other Animal-themed pieces.

This Vixen is self-sufficient, as she has all the powers she needs via her trait “Tantu Totem” where she can FREE pick any one from her card and use it until next turn. So while she starts with Charge, Reflexes and Exploit Weakness, she could combo with Flurry for two attacks on that Charge. Or Blades/Claws/Fangs for possible extra damage with the Exploit. Or Quake to hit a bunch at once. Or Leap/Climb to hit someone on a different elevation. Or she could be more defensive-minded and choose Invulnerability or Super Senses to stay unharmed next turn. Or Stealth if she’s hiding from shooters. Or Plasticity to keep her adjacent enemy from running. And much more!

Friendly/Fellowship: Her AV is not hot, with only 10 and 9. Not too scary at 75 points to see on the other team.

Useful/Utility: But boy is she handy in a fight. Any of those powers are good to have at any given time.

Nifty/Nerdcore: Y’all know I love a good Vixen

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And those are my 20 of 2020. Hopefully next year we’ll get back to something closer to normal.

Next up on Heroclixin’: A possible battle report on what I’ve been doing during this most abnormal past year in quarantine. (it’s proving daunting. I don’t think it’ll be anything close to complete).

Also: the return of My Custom Mods. Because, again………quarantine

2020 was the worst. Here are its 10 worst clix

December 30, 2020 by rkjs·0 Comments

This was a rough year for the world and clix wasn’t excepted.

Lack of in-person play.
No official Worlds.
One less set due to House of X’s delay.

2020 was trash and so were certain HeroClix dials.

In order of lowest point value to highest:

Dr. Traci Simmons (Justice League Unlimited 024) 20 points

screenshot from Clixnexus.com

She has to get too close to use her trait to nerf enemy fliers and that little 3-click dial won’t live long. I feel like there are better bargains for Perplex — or ones that just do more.

I suppose she’s still better than this…

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Dr. Emil Hamilton (Justice League Unlimited 023) 25 points

screenshot from Clixnexus.com

A 50% chance at nerfing penetrating damage. But the opportunity to Mastermind to such armored pals, IF they share a keyword because 25 points is unlikely to be high enough points for MM to work otherwise, isn’t a great move because this isn’t a dial worth protecting.

Where did this guy get his doctorate, a Cracker Jack box?

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Aaron Davis (Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage 017) 30 points

screenshot from Clixnexus.com

Most secret ID figs’ worth is in that they essentially have built-in STOP clicks to swap to their alternate versions to possibly deny KOs and stuff. But in the meantime they tend to do things that help your team to make the enemy WANT to get them off the board. Aaron here, though? He’s just 30 points of Perplex they can safely ignore and who’s a bit too long-lived to push himself to his Secret ID.

Lock this con up in your storage case

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Hawkgirl (Justice League Unlimited 100) 50 points

screenshot from Clixnexus.com

She earns the spot for the -1 DV her SP deals to allies with no reward for this risk, esp. with her Indom discouraging you from pushing and Steal Energy’s healing putting you back on click 1 over and over again — because she’s a close combat specialist who does nothing else.

She’s bird poop

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Iron Man (Avengers Vs Masters of Evil Battlegrounds 102b) 75 points

Just five clicks for 75 points? I mean, 11AV Penetrating Blast with Prob isn’t bad, but this is an Iron Man with no armor on its top clicks that can get one-shot. Unless that SP is really amazing, like Running Shot+…let’s look…

…Ehh, it’s just Force Blast along with the Running Shot. Nothing that goo—

…wait, there’s another SP. A STOP power! THAT’S maybe worth the points—

…… it’s not there.

(checks actual figure dial)

Not there, either.

With at least one of those clicks 2-5 being a STOP, this dial would be a good play at 75 points, easily. With this coming in a set for new players, an error like this is particularly bad.

If we were ranking these like in most years past, this would be No. 1 or 2.

“Iron” Man? Nah, tin foil Man

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Superman (Justice League Unlimited 001) 100 points

screenshot from Clixnexus.com

100 points? For no Indom.? No damage powers? No reducers for 3/7 of the dial? Barely any range?HOW?

Supermeh

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Singularity (Captain America and the Avengers ) 100 points

Screenshot from HCRealms.com

Her points are a waste for no move+attack ability until well into her dial when she’s lost her armor. Shape Change alone is a thin defense against her being an easy three-figure gift to your opponent’s victory score.

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Zeke Stane (Captain America and the Avengers 029) 100 points

Screenshot from HCRealms.com

Lack of Indom. means his speed SP that triggers off having two tokens isn’t super usable until he’s considerably softer-shelled. Playing him alone means the Power Elite trait isn’t so hot with him being a range fighter. Do not like.

NOT ELITE

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Static (Justice League Unlimited 043) 100 points

Screenshot from HCRealms.com

A mess. TK on a 100-point piece is not a good value in build or action efficiency. He struggles to be effective on offense due to needing debris nearby — which means either he’s wasting actions smashing walls (without Willpower) or other allies are. He also needs to be too close to enemies to get the most from his Chain Lightning attacks, and with only 17 Senses to protect him, that’s a dangerous plan. Worse still, he doesn’t have that SP when he’s Hypersonic and could really leverage it — and the damage boost doesn’t work with multi-target Pulse Wave AT ALL.

043 Static. Don’t start none, won’t be none. So don’t play none

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Martian Manhunter (WizKids M19-004) 120 points

Screenshot from HCRealms.com

When a fig will almost never get to use its own first click of life, you know it’s bad.

At the beginning of each turn, he’s takes a click if there’s any Choco on the board. So he’s on click 2 ALREADY.
He MIGHT heal 2 clicks if he can pick one up (moving) or hits an enemy holding one (likely via HSS), but by then he’s already acted and will take another click of damage on his next turn, so … BACK to Click 2.
He can’t use range because he’s got Battle Fury which means he’ll have to venture deep in enemy territory to get Chocos.
He doesn’t even have WILLPOWER to help keep himself going
There are 5 of these Chocos out there, which means 5 straight rounds of MM not being able to use his own Click 1 on his own turn.
He’ll be taking fire while trying to get Chocos.
Sometimes stuck with two tokens, having pushed, while taking fire AND the unavoidable Choco click
The enemy can ensure there’s ALWAYS a Choco out there even after the initial five are gone.
His stats are mediocre without the Choco bonus.

This is Choco-flavored puke

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And on that nauseous note, be back next post for Heroclixin’s Favorites of 2020. It’s gonna hit different.

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ADDENDUM: I just remembered one more terrible HeroClix released in 2020.

Mr. Fantastic (Fantastic Four 001)

It’s just the most underwhelming version of Reed Richards possible. Like an old rubber band that you expect to actually stretch but instead it just cracks and breaks. Just … just POOR.

DISHONORABLE MENTION (added 1/2/2021):

Deathlok (Fantastic Four 022)

Screenshot from HCRealms.com

I hesitated to add this one, because, subjectively, I like it and actually think it’s a great F.U.N. fig. But objectively: You’re spending 60 points on 1 damage, despite fantastic offense powers and numbers and his wildcard status, for the first two rounds at the very least. That is a lot to pay for just being a Leadership fig when that power can be had for way cheaper on his best keyword, Soldier — and WAY too much points for a piece that might NEVER get activated due to his bad Leadership rolls.

Pocket Checklist for HOUSE OF X (part 1)

December 26, 2020 by rkjs·0 Comments

Merry Christmas, clixers! We bring you a little late-evening gift for the delayed set (originally due Dec. 9, then held to Dec. 30 and most recently bumped into next year, Jan. 6, 2021): our customary pocket checklist, ready for printing.

(Preview not for print)

Below is the link to the high-quality version:

HouseOfXchecklist

Once all the Team Up cards are revealed, we’ll publish a companion checklist for those as well.

(1/6/2021) EDIT: And it’s updated