As is common for Heroclixin’, we’ve made a pocket checklist for the latest full-sized set. (Thanks, as always, to the crowdsourcing at HCRealms.com for the advance info!)
Previously, the download has only included a single checklist but now we’ve opted to give FOUR checklists per download. I figure if I print them out that way at home, I ought to offer them that way to you as well.
Link below.
Late 2014’s The Flash set retired in June 2017. So last year, not too long before the crime occurred, I took one last Modern Age run of one of my favorite ever teams in clix: The Authority.
Here’s my force:
Jenny Sparks [The Flash 059] 125
Apollo [The Flash 048] 125
Midnighter [The Flash 049] 125
Swift [The Flash 017]
Engineer [The Flash 060]
Jack Hawksmoor [The Flash 033]
Doctor [The Flash 016] 50
=690 points. I went against Sceritz, who ran some meta figs I can’t quite recall aside from his own Jenny Sparks. I managed to scrape a win despite a couple of terrible misplays:
Fortunately, Sceritz rolled ice cubes just long enough for me to survive with a points advantage.
Though I’m unsure of the exact record, my games with the Authority in Modern and “Silver” ages have a distinct winning percentage. Didn’t get to play this team nearly enough. But as with a lot of my favorites, Golden Age can offer new life to themes, thanks to feats. (Oh, and resources, too, I suppose. But I still hate those things. So no.)
Jenny Sparks: Contingency Plan is great to help nudge some of the team stats ever so slightly, and without her having to see to do it. Automatic Regeneration is OK, but she can’t heal back to her Pulse Wave clicks anymore.
Apollo: Damage Shield works on all his clicks but one. But given that his main SP works best when he’s not based, this feat might not be the best. I’ll only use it to fill points.
Midnighter: He also qualifies for Damage Shield throughout his dial, and this close combat specialist will indeed be based a lot. Opportunist is also a good fit for my play style of him, where he’s getting taxied a lot in the early going.
Swift: Heightened Reflexes or Force Field are solid choices. It’s just unfortunate that a single Outwit can rob her of all her defenses if you’re not careful. Mid-dial, clicks of CCE make Lunge a potentially good mix with her no-cost Air token moves.
Engineer: Though she can qualify for a ton of feats, the ones that could shore up her weak defenses aren’t readily available. So I like Invigorate, which can make her useful to keep the others on the team token-free even as she tries healing her pals.
Jack Hawksmoor: Lunge gives him more fighting mobility once off his top click. Auto Regen might be a must.
Doctor: Force Field is a perfect fit.
Jenny Quantum: Brilliant Tactician is, well, brilliant on her.
——
The Authority is always ready to be wielded!
Now that we’re back online, it’s time for some battle reports.
THE SCENARIO: One named fig is the team leader. The rest must be generics.
MY FORCE:
Owlman [Crime Syndicate Fast Forces 002] 150
Bizarro Police [Elseworlds 021] 50
Corrupt GCPD Cop [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls Fast Forces 006] 40 (her Boss: Owlman)
Hired Henchman [Batman 006a] 40 (his Boss: GCPD Officer)
Central City Police Captain [Flash 204] 40
GCPD Officer [Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls 013] 35 x 2
+ GCPD ATA 2 x 2
NYPD Officer [Superior Foes of Spider-Man 003a] 30 x 2
Henchman’s Goon [Batman V Superman 004] 20 x 2
= 494 points (Gotham City Underworld themed team)
This is a team of shifty mobility built to swarm and enable the tentpole alike.
FIRST FIGHT
vs. Paul’s Green Lantern Corps of Hal & Sinestro [War of Light ]@300 and Green Lantern Recruit [ ] x 4. I chose the old Negative Zone map (from Chaos War?) to tighten lines of fire. It was worse for me, but I managed. Key Moment: Used Central Captain to lay down Smoke Cloud to get Owlman into position to get a successful triple-Enhancement shot on Halnestro. Though the broccoli-heads nailed my swarm with multiple Energy Explosions, Owlman was able to chase down the 300-point duo for the win.
SECOND FIGHT
Lenny had a World of Krypton led by Superman [Trinity War 050], Kryptonian Infiltrator [Superman 002], Kryptonian Soldier [Superman 002] and Kryptonian Rebel [Man of Steel 004]. I picked the United Nations because Owlman had a statement to make about taking the world for ransom or something. Of course Superman had a thing to say about it. But he’s not as smart as Owlman. Key Moments: Corrupt GCPD Cop was the first off the map, but she was only used to draw out Supes, who hid behind the Stealthy Infiltrator. A GCPD Officer called for backup and the swarm against the Infiltrator began. She went down, then the GCPD cops pulled the whole squad except Owlman and a respawned Corrupt Cop behind closed doors. Superman tried heat visioning Owlman, but he simply Masterminded to his underling. He was closing in on the Soldier when time ended for a 78-35 victory.
FINAL FIGHT
Sammy brought Steve Rogers [Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD ] with SHIELD Infiltrators, Elite Agents, Bodyguards, Paranormal Investigator, and a SHIELD Cyborg. The Key Moments came when Steve got a narrow LOF over the elevated terrain I was on to Energy Explode my swarm, including my medic — but in doing so, Rogers was in the open and able to be Outwit by my Captain, then shot by Owlman. From there, attacks were focused until Rogers was gone for the decisive margin of victory.
BY PIECE:
With Sidestep, Enhancement and Underworld TA, Henchman’s Goons are still top tier for a Gotham Underworld force.
But even better are the GCPD Officers, the true key to this enterprise. With the GCPD ATA, they could free move 4 squares at Beginning of Turn. Then one could use her POWER trait “I Need Backup!” to place two other Police within 4 squares next to her and thus extend their attack reach considerably — or evac fellow cops in trouble. Also sporting Sidestep and Enhancement, they were the engine that made this team go.
NYPD Officers, by comparison, were only occasionally clutch. But as yet another source of Sidestep+Enhancement — as well as their trait allowing use of PD TA to aid fellow PD users from as far as 5 away — they were solid additions to the force.
Now with Hired Henchman, we’re getting to the specialist members of the team. Played on his “a” dial, he’s the medic who kept fellow mates on their best clicks with ease. Plus he selected one of the GCPD Officers as his Boss (guess he’s on parole, trying to go straight or something) and thus was able to wildcard her two team abilities: Police (never used) and GCPD ATA (used a lot). The latter, coupled with Underworld TA, gave him extra use as a taxi.
Aside from his conditional Leadership SP (works only on Police keyword for token drops) granting that oft-needed sixth action, the Central City Police Captain was the team’s sole source of Outwit. The GCPD Officers enabled him to get into position to use the POWER action in a couple of clutch moments.
Corrupt GCPD Cop’s inability to be scored as long as her Boss is alive makes her the best Mastermind fodder. Aside from that, her dual TAs of PD and Underworld also add to her utility. And she is SO apropos for the team’s theme.
Bizarro Police is the one nod to just plain playability I made for the force. Flight, Charge, Super Strength, and a DV SP that’s difficult to dig through makes it a great taxi, attacker and tieup for just 50 points.
But of course, the raison d’etre for the whole team is Owlman, who grants all members who have either Police or Gotham City keywords the Gotham City Underworld keyword as well, making this a themed team that are ALL on his payroll. >:) Moreover, he aids his own cause by giving him a whole team he can pick with Mastermind from 4 squares away (such as the aforementioned Corrupt cop) leaving him only vulnerable to Pulse Wave, really. And he has that trait “Into the Shadows” that extends his reach and gets him out of trouble with relative ease. Plus he’s a key source of Prob Control (CSA TA). Really, his only weakness is low damage for his huge (for this team) price point. Having six allies with Enhancement top dial covers that area.
I’ve wanted to run an Owlman-led team of bad cops and crooks ever since the Fast Forces piece came out, so this was a dream come true.
In a new occasional series, I’m starting to take pictures of my favorite teams seen on HeroClix maps. to wit:
One time, I brought 2000 points of archers to a friendly HeroClix game.
My pal Stephen had an Orc horde of similar size. The archers won in a game cut short by the venue closing, but his Orc Bowmen put in some WORK with Energy Explosion.
It’s been a while since our last update. But we’ve finally gotten back computered up, so Heroclixin’ should return to a more regular schedule.
Originally, the plan was to share our top wishes for new figs and remakes, but WizKids has released sets and pix of upcoming stuff that forces us to redo our lists. So we’re waiting until after Avengers Infinity for that series.
For now, here’s a little something that’s been in the hopper for a while now.
On a Modern Age 400-point game required to be played on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles set map, I decided to break out my TMNT Villains squad:
Alpha One [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 015] 60
Mousers Swarm [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 020] 60
Mousers Swarm [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 020] 60
Baxter Stockman [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 013] 30
Foot Soldier Bo Staff) [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 008] 30
Foot Soldier Chain Kama [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 010] 30
Foot Soldier Katana [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 009] 30
Foot Soldier Nunchaku [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 007] 30
Foot Soldier Sai [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 006] 30
Mouser [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 005] 20
Mouser [Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 005] 20
= 400 on the nose. It faced George’s Captain Thunder, Monsterex and Hat. It looked like it was going to be a total slaughter of the TMNT Villains.
It wasn’t.
Turning Points
George didn’t know about Alpha One. He’d gotten set up to rampage my crowd of Foot Clan soldiers huddled near a corner of the map. But Alpha One has this crazy SP:
| DIMENSIONAL DISPLACEMENT DEVICE: Give Alpha One a power action and choose a character within 5 squares. If that character is friendly, it must have the Robot keyword. If that character is opposing, it can’t have the Robot keyword. Place that character adjacent. |
So Monsterex got teleported into the midst of Foot and Mousers with penetrating damage Flurry who Sidestepped into position to nibble him to death in a couple of turns.
George didn’t go for Baxter first. Though he had the speed to get to my sole Outwitter, Captain Thunder decided to KO a relatively meaningless Foot Soldier instead. Baxter was able to simply move a pair of squares to counter CT’s Flight to prevent him having the reach to get to me. It slowed him just long enough for me to finish Monsterex and get the rest of the force ready to chase the Shazam variant down.
George didn’t use his tiger later. It may not have made a huge difference, but it was one less tool for him.
George didn’t flee with Hat far enough. Alpha One was able to kidnap him for an extra margin of victory a few minutes before game’s end.
This being my first rodeo with the Foot Soldiers, I was as surprised by this swarm’s effectiveness as George was. I’m less confident of its performance in a 300-point build, though; the 4th action proved key nearly every round.
It’s that time again: another big set of HeroClix. And again, we’ve got a pocket checklist for you.
No 1.
Miss America [WizKids M17-009]
A number of times this and previous years, figures have won a place among my favorite F.U.N. figs.
America, though? She DEBUTED on the list. At the top. The No. 1 spot was hers to lose. And she didn’t.
Already one of my most wanted characters in clix, her dial also turned out to be superb. Starting with an Invulnerable 11AV Charge, 4 damage with Super Strength before shifting to Sidestep+CCE, she ends with Hypersonic Speed. She’s got no bad clicks. But you’re playing her for her trait to make a Space Portal when she makes a melee attack, hit or miss. She can call as many allies as you have actions and squares next to the Portal that those allies can make close actions against America’s original target.
It is super Useful yet completely balanced. It’s also incredibly true to the character.
How F.U.N. is it?
Friendly/Fellowship: Trait is appropriately high-risk/high reward.
Useful/Utility: Trait can really make a melee team work. Strong brick for the cost
Nifty/Nerdcore: America is ALREADY GREAT
Annnnd that does it for our mass look back at HeroClix in 2017.
With Xavier’s School dropping today, Heroclixin’s next post will be a little nerding out over the new clix we either enjoyed in sealed already or that we’re looking forward to playing soon. Then we’ll look further ahead with our lists of most wanted remakes/unclixed characters.
Heroclixin’ is BACK.
No. 2
Moon Knight [Avengers Defenders War 062]
Some figures I like for the gameplay. Others for the sculpt. This one? Both.
Love the white suit look. But the dial is the real thing: Charge+Running Shot, IM: Hindering+Elevated, 11AV, Indomitable wildcard with Perplex. He’s got a STOP click, too, with Regen. He’ll need it if you employ his ability to warp to the spot where an ally was KO’d. Better to use the trait’s feature of dropping tokens from him when friendlies are hit and hurt.
It’s a figure that I constantly want to play and so he ranks very high on my favorites list.
How much F.U.N. is Knight time?
Friendly/Fellowship: Low range, high cost, best traits require damage to and/or loss of allies
Useful/Utility: Wildcard, Perplex, good mobility, action advantage
Nifty/Nerdcore: Moon Knight avenges night travelers and HeroClix
NEXT: ¡Numero una!
No. 3
Troll [The Mighty Thor 039]
She completely snuck onto this list. With a dialful of Exploit Weakness, she’s a solid melee piece. But she has so much more to offer:
How F.U.N. is it?
Friendly/Fellowship: Fairly fragile at range
Useful/Utility: Great melee mobility, low cost, anti-Stealth aid
Nifty/Nerdcore: Delightfully feral sculpt and background
NEXT: HE OWNS THE NIGHT
No. 4
Elijah Snow [Elseworlds 046]
My friend Bob traded him to me, saying, “You’re really going to like this one; he’s your kind of figure.”
Bob knows me.
In a great bit of design, Snow can, once per game per type, force enemies to take an extra token or unavoidable click for doing any of the four costed action types. Got an Indom. foe all set to push to use Hypersonic to punish you? Pick POWER; he’ll take a click for daring to use it. Is there a sniper worrying you? Buy time by picking RANGE; she’ll end up double-tokened and pushed. Elijah also can force non-flyers to slip and slide, only able to move in direct paths. (The F.U.N. catch is that this one affects friends as well and is a once-per-game effect that lasts the WHOLE game as long as Snow is alive.)
He’s also a solid figure beyond these traits. Sidestep 8 range, Outwit/Perplex, Indom+Barrier, triple Incap top his dial at 120 points. His second dial at 70 points is focused on Running Shot Pulse Wave and Leadership.
A winter wonderland of F.U.N.?
Friendly/Fellowship: Completely unarmored. Traits are double-edged
Useful/Utility: Unusual methods of tempo control can’t be stopped. Good stats, powers
Nifty/Nerdcore: Snow days are fun
NEXT: Trolling