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Some of you old heads out there might remember the above game. It certainly topped my wishlist that Christmas.

Anyway, it’s what I titled this recent scenario at my venue:

  • Colossal figures, old and new, are encouraged for this Golden Age event! No feats or resources are allowed for colossals, but they are encouraged for non-colossal figures. 1800 points, 7 actions.

I built my team to A) survive Ziran tests if anyone brought it and B) to play as many never-before-played colossal dials as possible:

Giganto, The Mole Monster  (Galactic Guardians) 300
Giant-Man  (Chaos War) 300
Uatu The Watcher  (Galactic Guardians) 400
Master Mold  (Galactic Guardians) 700
Mole Man (Galactic Guardians) 47
Donald Blake (Chaos War) 33
Jane Foster (X-Plosion)16
=1796 points.

Other teams on the tables included:

Vic’s Thanos (issue 5, I think) and Dormammu with Iron Man and Scarlet Witch;

Paul’s old-school Galactus;

G.O.’s Mark II Sentinel and Nemesis with smaller toughguys like Worldbreaker, Scarlet Witch/Wonder Man and Brainiac;

Bob’s colossal Dark Phoenix and Master Mold with a horde of Orcs and Warg Riders!

Young Sebastian’s all-Dr. Manhattan team, ranging from the 1200-point Jon Osterman to the 105-point giant;

and Bryce’s team with no colossals at all.

FIRST I faced Blue, a new guy who fielded a full-power Master Mold (1500 points) and Sentry & Void. I picked an indoor map and crushed Sentroid with little trouble. That left his Mold free to build Sentinels. But that only offered up free extra points for me to gain a slim 50-point advantage for the win (having lost my own 300-point fig in Giganto).

NEXT, despite being the lowest-point 1-0 non-bye player, I somehow had to deal with the one piece I thought would go 3-0: Cosmic Multiattack Galactus! Paul picked a wide-open map and that was practically my loss right there. I tried to use some strategy by blocking with Uatu, then Giganto, but I made two critical errors:

  • I was blocking for Master Mold, the only one on the team who could withstand the big G’s Psychic Blast. So I should’ve used him to block for the others;
  • I forgot JUST HOW LONG 16 range really is. Galactus could move 6 squares to one-shot my medic in the starting area — and did. Feh.

FINALLY, I had another overpowered cosmic dude to face: Jon Osterman Dr. Manhattan (1200 points), Dr. Manhattan 005, Dr. Manhattan 012 and Silk Spectre & Dr. Manhattan. I got map and used Ookaara. My young opponent, Sebastian, picked the elevated outdoor side.

He spent the first several rounds refusing to budge from his starting area, much less entering my killbox, and I spent those turns setting up said killbox.

Finally, I remembered that I had him trapped already. I busted a couple of squares of blocking terrain so that Giant-Man could start shoving the elevated side of the map over and over and over until the blue man group quit hiding and came to fight!

Unfortunately, that kid is a pretty savvy player. He waited just long enough for me to shove colossal Jon onto his Pulse Wave clicks, then Phased down and exploded me over and over while I futilely tried to counterattack a 21 DV. Impervious was rolled when I actually did hit. I was just fortunate to not lose any of the three-figure-cost pieces.

___________

Though the event was designed for colossals, I was very pleased that the eventual winner, having beaten both the original Galactus AND the above-mentioned Dr. M team, was Bryce’s colossal-free force including Iron Man / War Machine with the full Infinity Gauntlet, Captain America (Hammer of Thor), Iron Man (Secret Invasion), Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion), Professor X (Giant-Size X-Men), Immortus, Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War), Mr. Fantastic (Secret Invasion) with Brilliant Tactician, Alfred Pennyworth (Dark Knight Rises), The Wizard Shazam (Brave and Bold), Batman (Dark Knight Rises), and Namor (Secret Invasion). Truly, a force that could contend with colossals, and did!

Happy Halloween to those who celebrate it. Me, I’m more of an All Saints’ Day fellow, which will be highlighted a bit with tomorrow’s Token Totin’ feature. See you then!

 

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clockwise from top left: The Spot, Super-Adaptoid, Armadillo, Nightshade, Chameleon, Rocket Racer, Living Laser (Xed for lacking the keyword), Mentallo, Puma, Scientist Supreme. And, of course MODOK in the center.

Last summer I wrote about fielding this team en toto. I got a chance to run a truncated version of it soon after, but as it was lacking nearly half the members (500-point game), it wasn’t nearly satisfying.

Well, with a 900-point “last chance for Modern Age”  tourney a few months ago, I finally brought the whole (not-quite-comic-accurate) MODOK’s 11 to the map:

MODOK (Captain America #050) 160 + Intelliencia ATA 3
Super-Adaptoid (Captain America #020) 175
Scientist Supreme (Captain America #033) 97
Armadillo (Captain America #036) 89
Nightshade (Captain America #027) 72
Mentallo (Captain America #010) 71
Chameleon (Web of Spider-Man #019) 66
Rocket Racer (Web of Spider-Man #044) 60
Puma (Web of Spider-Man #012) 56
The Spot (Web of Spider-Man #051) 51
= 900 points.

As I wrote before, running this team is like planning a heist. Every piece has its role. But as you’ve seen in every heist movie ever, things never go exactly as planned. Piece-by-piece:
MODOK (Captain America #050) 160 + Intelligencia ATA 3
The PLAN: As the main perceived threat, MODOK was to hold his big brain back behind pals.

What really happened: With the last-minute addition of the Intelligencia ATA, he had razor-thin opportunities to take range-enhanced Running Shots. So MODOK really was more the tentpole than I intended, taking and landing crippling blasts on the opposition. It worked out pretty well, to say the least. The big brain was also the brawn. He’ll be back for the next caper.

______

Super-Adaptoid (Captain America #020) 175
The PLAN: Use him as tie-up and blocker. His long dial would allow him to take multiple hits to land on his dangerous, Cosmic-powered clicks.
What really happened: His paltry 2 damage for his whole early dial made him a non-factor in fighting his weight class, while those foes simply murdered him past his best late-life clicks. Pushing was no help, either: he can’t afford the loss of his one opening click of Running Shot and his DV slides way too low for his price. Worst of all, his Attack-power-copying SP requires him to get way too close but the Intelligentsia ATA (and his inborn fragility) absolutely discourages that. Super Adaptoid will be the first I’ll drop for the sequel to this movie.
______

Scientist Supreme (Captain America #033) 97

The PLAN: Wait for the right moment to unleash her Outwit-through-walls SP.

What really happened: It was a challenge to make sure she could keep fellow Scientists in her Perplex-vision — which was more useful than the SP Outwit at first — while staying close to her Mastermind fodder, too. But in both games, she indeed acted as the surprise weapon no one could see coming, or stop. I won’t field MODOK’s 11 without her in a build high enough.

______

Armadillo (Captain America #036) 89

The PLAN: Use him as Mastermind fodder for Scientist Supreme.

What really happened: The guy just couldn’t keep up with her and never got used for her Mastermind. (It’s a real pity he can’t tunnel in ‘Clix like he can in the comics.) Instead, he worked OK as a cleanup hitter. Not bad, but feels a bit like deadweight. He’s only for the full squad.

______

Nightshade (Captain America #027) 

The PLAN: In between occasional Running Shots, turn The Spot into a buzzsaw of a werewolf.

What really happened: She did just that. In fact, she also functioned well as a tie-up piece, being able to Battle Fury a foe (The Armored Avenger 003, specifically) but keep him from attacking her back! This hottie is no mere eye candy.

______

Mentallo (Captain America #010)

The PLAN: Hydra TA and a bit of anti-Stealth shooting and, later, Outwitting.

What really happened: Well, at least he was able to loan Hydra to the wildcards. Moreover, he served as a Penetrating/Psychic Blast threat to draw fire. Any solid hit other than a KO made him an Outwit threat. Still and all, he’s hardly needed for future heists.

______

Chameleon (Web of Spider-Man #019) 66

The PLAN: Block LOF or tie up someone. Also loan wildcards the Sinister Syndicate TA.

What really happened: He did perform the requisite Stealth blocking, but the real surprise was that he actually landed an Incapacitate attack that swung the team to a victory. I won’t make certain he’s on future jobs, but he’s not as useless as I’d figured on.

______

Rocket Racer (Web of Spider-Man #044) 60

The PLAN: The advance striker, maybe? He needs the Sinister Syndicate TA to actually land attacks.

What really happened: The Intelligencia ATA truly made Racer effective at his intended role; a +2 range boost to his halved HSS attacks isn’t insignificant! He also excelled a bit at being another tie-up piece for the team thanks to his Combat Reflexes. Racer gets the call every time.

______

Puma (Web of Spider-Man #012) 56

The PLAN: The close combat specialist.

What really happened: Despite Super Senses and Shape Change, he only ever took damage and never dealt it. At least he frequently got hit to his Outwit clicks. He’s so inexpensive that he should end up on any and all MODOK’s 11 teams, but it seems he ought to be more effective.

______

The Spot (Web of Spider-Man #051) 51

The PLAN: The only taxi of the team and, possibly, a second melee fighter if Nightshade does her job.
What really happened: This part of the plan went entirely according to plan. Not bad for a screwup of a villain.

___________

Somehow this team managed a 2-0 victory over superior forces, proving that sometimes, crime does pay.

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It took me a lonnnng time to play this team.

Black Bolt (Incredible Hulk 042) 193
Gorgon (Mutations & Monsters) 110
Crystal (Chaos War) + Fantastic Force 5
Medusa (Galactic Guardians) 82 + Fantastic Force 5
+ Kinetic Accelerator 0
+ Dynamostat 0
+ Eleha’al Vine 0
=500 points. It was for the “Turf Wars” scenario (as seen on the “scenarios” page on this site). I’ve been wanting to field Mr. Bolt with his wife for months, but the time or team or total points never seemed right until now.

FIRST VICTIM: Returning player G.O. fielded Sentinel Mark II (Giant-Size X-Men G01), Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War) and Daredevil (Incredible Hulk 021) on the Quinjet map. I had control of the game for the most part, but was unable to KO more than DD for the win. It came down to a final-round miss on a last-click Crystal to save the game for me, because time would’ve run out before I could add a last-click Morgan to my points.

SECOND MARK: Relative newbie Aaron, who ran a full-strength Black Adam (Superman 054), Wonder Woman (Justice League 003) and Batman (10th Anniversary 001) on the Realm of Death. Gorgon rushed in to tie down the threats; after he was KOed, the enemy was in prime position to take massive “Silent Scream” damage from Black Bolt. He’d do this more than once, as Aaron’s team was unable to escape or muster enough fight to stop me. This time I wiped.

FINAL FOE: Vic had a typically strong team of Metron, Brainiac (10th Anniversary 012), Lex Luthor (10th Anniversary 013), Calculator (Arkham Asylum) and (sadly denying Vic the wonderfully F.U.N. theme of an all-chair team) Batman (10th Anniversary 001) again on the Death map. This match swung back and forth a bit, but a crucial late game error killed my potential comeback — having broken walls to gain a single-target Pulse Wave on Metron, I missed the crucial attack. But the move I should have made was to move Crystal to base Metron first, JUST out of BB’s line of fire. That way, even missing wouldn’t have cost Bolt his chances of a followup shot. As it actually happened, though, he was knocked way off his fighting game and only running out of time saved me from a complete wipeout.

Piece-by-piece:

Black Bolt really needs TK and/or Barrier to be playable for his SP Pulse Wave. But as the only taxi for the team and being paired with his wife Medusa for the +1 to AV, it’s a little hard to pull off the mega-move. He’s pretty pushable, at least. In the future, I won’t run him without the Inhumans ATA to help maneuver him into position to explode.

Medusa benefits greatly from the +1 AV. In this game, her free melee Incap was useless about half the time, but

Crystal remained a solid figure, functioning first as the alpha strike that Black Bolt is sadly incapable of being for this team, then as the cleanup pitcher with her unorthodox line of attack via the “Tornado” trait.

Gorgon was nothing other than high-priced tie-up, because I forgot his Super Strength only works on standard objects.

  • + Kinetic Accelerator 0
  • + Dynamostat 0
  • + Eleha’al Vine 0

Nope, I didn’t play a single one. Additionally, as I’ve mentioned before, Super Strength is hobbled by the fact that opponents need not bring a single object to the field — and none of mine did.

________

The darkness continues next week, with a long-awaited all-villain team report!

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Some time ago, I previewed this team in a F.U.N. Friday installment:

Morgan Le Fay (Chaos War) 122
Crystal (Chaos War) 105
Black Widow (Avengers Movie) 50
+ Iron Man Briefcase 12
+ Secret Avengers ATA 10
=299 points.

Here’s how it did.

Versus Cleveland’s CW Iron Man, Amadeus Cho, Ka-Zar and GF Dr. Strange on the Prison map, my failure to hit, well, anything, pretty much sealed my loss. That and me completely forgetting to use Morgan’s +2 suPerplex! What?!?

Did better in the next game against Tim’s one-man-army of Thanos (Galactic Guardians 049) on the Gotham Narrows. His bad clutch rolls helped me survive just long enough to maintain offensive ability. I think I still forgot Morgan’s suPerplex.

Piece-by-piece:

Morgan Le Fay: She’s a hoss. With her ability to make herself a hard shot either in close or at range as needed, and her suPerplex for fellow Avengers, and her wildcardness, she’s a highly versatile light tentpole. Her weakness is a great top click that you just don’t want to push off. I used her again in a sealed game (went 2-1) and I’ll play her next on a Pet Lovers theme team with Brightest Day Aquaman, DC75 Wonder Woman and Squirrel Girl, among others.

Crystal: Starting with great Running Shot + Psychic Blast ability, she’s a great threat upfront, until she pushes. Then she’s just mean. Super-Quake from range makes her a threat in all kinds of unrivaled ways. She’s very difficult to defend against; if not for her decidedly average numbers, she’d be a contender for the ranks of broken figures. I’ll always use her on an Inhumans team (did so recently, actually…look for a Battle Report on that in a week) and, perhaps, just for her own sake. This is a great F.U.N. piece.

Black Widow: Unlike the last time I ran her, this time the Takedown SP came into play quite a bit. If I’d remembered Morgan’s +2 Perplex, she might’ve gotten some more hits in. Black Widow (any version) is a favorite character of mine, so there’s little doubt she’ll find a spot on a future team.

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The Scenario: 300 points of nothing but Alter Egos.

My F.U.N. team: Bruuuuuce!

Bruce Wayne (Dark Knight Rises 202) 80
Bruce Wayne (Dark Knight Rises 003) 60 + Alias 3
Bruce Banner (Incredible Hulk 002) 55
Bruce Banner (Incredible Hulk 202) 50
Bruce Banner (Avengers Movie 002) 40
+ Iron Man Briefcase 12
= 399 points, plus, of course, alter egos Batman (Dark Knight Rises 201), The Dark Knight (Dark Knight Rises 001), Hulk (Incredible Hulk 001, 043, 201 and Avengers Movie 014 and 202).

FIRST I faced a team of all A.I.Marines, one fitted with a full Gauntlet. That made all my Outwit useless down the stretch, leading to a loss after I rather overconfidently left the 80-point Bruce open to ranged shots (it was the Bridge map) and forcing me to Mastermind damage without being able to effectively retaliate from range myself.

In the SECOND round, I picked Bizarro World against another largely A.I.Marine crew led by General Thunderbolt Ross (Incredible Hulk 208). His Air Strike did little but get me to AE clicks faster. But again my lack of range denied me a lot of attacks, and the few I made were theme-Probbed into misses — and another loss.

FINALLY, I faced an assortment of AEs: Donald Blake, Bruce Banner (Incredible Hulk 002), Matt Murdock, General Thunderbolt Ross 029, Rick Jones on Bizarro World again. This time I had figured out how to get the lines of fire I needed. Unfortunately, I got too aggressive with the 40-point Bruce and lost him before transformation, costing me that match as well.

Piece-by-piece:

  • Bruce Wayne (Dark Knight Rises 202): The one piece I’d never run and the tentpole of the team, big Bruce was my main offensive threat with Outwit and 10 AV. He could also Mastermind damage to pals. I depended too much on that in my first game when I should’ve trusted his Batman Ally TA instead. I found myself in an unexpected quandary in the late game more than once: his damage value is HIGHER on his first AE click than on the Batman 201 piece. It was a tough decision to give that up to switch!
  • Bruce Wayne (Dark Knight Rises 003) 60 + Alias 3: His 18 DV + Defend kept me in the first match longer than I had any right to after my non-use of the bigger Bruce’s TA. Never switched to AE, thanks to forgetting to use Alias to possibly avoid a one-turn KO.
  • Bruce Banner (Incredible Hulk 002): His Perplex was badly needed by this low-AV, low damage team. But of all the team, this Bruce was the first one to AE every time. Worse, my opponents had little problem rolling doubles to KO Hulk 043 in the first two rounds before he could land a single attack. Disappointing.
  • Bruce Banner (Incredible Hulk 202): Yet another Outwitter for the team, this Bruce had the advantage of being able to auto-AE once hit. Unfortunately, Hulk 201 missed his must-land attack (thanks to multiple theme rerolls) and got perforated on the next turn with ease.
  • Bruce Banner (Avengers Movie 002): never got to switch in either Hulk…always KOed too soon or just too late to get to the clicks.

Simply put, this team was just plain outgunned. I’d like to try a different build in the future when we have a new Bruce Wayne to add, or one where I can field the force-shielded Bruce Banner (Incredible Hulk 101) for a little more offensive oomph. But I probably ought to keep “Bruuuuce” on the sidelines for tournaments and save it for friendly home games only.

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Well, not exactly “revenge.” It’s just another tournament for the colossal Thanos that I actually qualified for this time.

The same parameters applied: 500 points of elements from Chaos War, Galactic Guardians or Incredible Hulk only. And I still lacked the chaeese* figures of the day (Sentry and Void or Thanos 049), so I again opted for something strange…and stranger.

DRS. STRANGE AND STRANGER

Stranger (Galactic Guardians 043) 213
Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 028) 196 + Avengers Response Unit ATA 3
Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 206) 75
Astral Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 014b) 13
= 500 points, with 2x replacement Astral Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 014a).

ROUND ONE I again faced a bunch of Annihilators: the Fast Forces versions of Gladiator, Beta Ray Bill, Quasar and Ronan the Accuser, as played by returning player Ricky. And again, I won handily, losing only a single Astral.

ROUND TWO was against the dreaded Dr. Doom chase, Sharon Carter, Replica, Adam Warlock and the medic Donald Blake.  Tracy, one of the best players from back in the day, was unfamiliar with much of this just-pulled team. So despite triumphing over a Sentry/Void team, he fell to the multi-vector assault that was my team.

ROUND THREE was against Vic, another returned player who has come back with a vengeance. His team: Thanos 049, Scarlet Witch, AIM Renegade and Punisher 011. This was the other chaeese tentpole I was worried about; time to see how I’d hold up.

Vic’s team was viciously effective at the killbox technique. Punisher’s penetrating blast was Perplexed and Enhanced to a staggering 5, and Barrier made it impossible for Dr. Strange to interfere.

But I’d built this team to survive the dreaded Thanos killbox strategy and was well on my way to having a fighting chance of winning in an upset, because I’d landed on Stranger’s “pick any power” SP. So, picking Colossal Size and Hypersonic Speed, I tried to one-shot the AIM Renegade to stop any more Enhancement/Barrier/HYDRA hijinks.

But…

Yep, got all but stranded and was forced to base the Psychic Blasters to cut off that threat, at least.

Just like that, my underdog team’s fighting chance slipped to needing a miracle.

Thanos opted to attack the wide-open Stranger himself.

Whoa! There was my miracle! Thanos was pushed and on a soft click, and Stranger picked Poison and damaged all four foes for free.

Unfortunately, that was about the last true success I had in the game despite Dr. Strange managing to get Thanos to his 2nd-to-last click. Once the bigger Dr. Strange was gone, the lesser was stuck with no way to damage Thanos, except by critical hit. But neither did Vic want to chase me down, for fear of a potentially game-killing crit miss.

RECORD: 2-1, and the final match came a lot closer than I might’ve figured. Vic was sweatin’!

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It’s off to Dragon*Con with Heroclixin’ for the next several days. Come and see me in the HeroClix corner of the gaming room if you’d like to meet me! Ask for Mr. Sampson. There’ll be tons of Battle Royales, qualifying tournaments, a Supremacy League board and the famous Quarter Table.

 

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I had a lot of unplayed pieces to run as usual and built this Robot-themed team:

Cyborg (52 Justice League 006) 100
Vision  (Chaos War 013) 27 + Secret Avengers ATA 5
Ultron (Chaos War 208e) 90
Masque (Chaos War 206) 50 + Secret Avengers ATA 5
Masque Duplicate (Chaos War 007 ) 27
Masque Duplicate (Chaos War 20 ) 27

= 399 points, plus replacement/sideline Iron Man Drone (Chaos War 002r) x3 and Ultron Drone (Chaos War 003r).

And boy, do those Drones make a difference.

FIRST I faced a duo of Thanos (Galactic Guardians 045) and Nova (Galactic Guardians 201). Here, I got a bit lucky when my opponent forgot Thanos’ stat boost upon KOing a foe, allowing me to barely land a clutch attack. But beyond that, I only needed a single break away roll to keep the mad Titan locked down for the KO and win.

In the SECOND round, I picked the lower decks of the Helicarrier to stymie the Hypersonic threat of Supergirl (Fast Forces) and Lucy Lane while blocking lines of fire for Batman (52 Justice League) and Zatanna (52 JL). Using the free action movement of the Drones to gain positioning superiority, I got enough first shots to wipe the board.

FINALLY, I faced Odin (Avengers Movie) and Larfleeze (Fast Forces) on the open Helicarrier map. It was tough to overcome the range disadvantage. But I benefited from a few key Turning Points:

  • Cyborg landed a light Pulse Wave to get them off top-click.
  • Odin missed a much-needed Running Shot, leaving him in range of my slowly encroaching force.
  • Cyborg GOT the heavy single-target Pulse Wave I was looking for.

From there, Anthony Hopkins couldn’t do enough damage to stop the full robotic army from winning.

Piece-by-piece:

  • Cyborg (52 Justice League 006): What an offensive threat this piece is! Running Shot and 6-range Pulse Wave, making it easy to get those single-target shots off. His dial never gets poor. I will play this piece often.
  • Vision (Chaos War 013): The team’s needed natural taxi. Being able to Indomitably break away and Charge targets came in big in the second game. This is my go-to Vision now.
  • Ultron (Chaos War 208e): The key to the team with her ability to pull in extra points and solid stats and powers. I want to try her 160-point dial more, though.
  • Masque (Chaos War 206): a surprising clutch backup fighter with 9 AV Psychic Blast, including Willpower on the 2nd click. Never got to use her sacrifice click.
  • Masque Duplicate (Chaos War 007 ): These actually made better tie-up and meat-shields than the Drone, freeing the latter for their more essential taxi duties. End-dial Support came into play, too. Never got to use their sacrifice clicks, either.

But as stated before, it was the Iron Man Drone swarm that made the team really work. With their ability to freely move 4 squares while in range of Ultron, they could:

  • move 4 for free, then move normally for 6 to gain a full 10-square shift or, if carrying, move 3 then 4 for 7 total;
  • or vice versa, spend the action to move 6 then free-action move a few more to, say, evacuate a pal from trouble;
  • Move up to 4 freely then use the normal action to make an attack.

 

Superb utility, yet not at all overbearing (for the Drones’ stats range from mediocre to dirt-poor at this point range). I was pretty surprised how well they helped my team adapt to anything.

 

 

 

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Though I lacked the participation points to play for colossal Thanos, I was able to get in a side event under the same parameters: 500 points of elements from Chaos War, Galactic Guardians or Incredible Hulk only.

Lacking the chaeese* figures of the day (Sentry and Void or Thanos 049), I opted for something strange…and stranger.

DRS. STRANGE AND STRANGER

 

Stranger (Galactic Guardians 043) 213
Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 028) 196 + Avengers (Heroic Age) ATA 2
Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 206) 75
Astral Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 014b) 13
= 499 points, with 2x replacement Astral Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 014a). My strat was to use the lesser Dr. Strange’s Energy Shield-sharing power to bolster defenses against the inevitable alpha strike against my not-so-mobile team until I had A) enough Astrals to start shooting with the big Dr. and B) Stranger could get to his 2nd click and start HSSing about.

ROUND ONE I faced sparring partner Lenny’s Annihilators: Cosmo, SR Gladiator and the Fast Forces versions of Quasar and Ronan the Accuser. I won handily, as I was able to get first Outwit then shot on Gladiator to blunt his threat. Lenny doesn’t handle gameplan adversity very well and I was thus able to run the table on him from there.

ROUND TWO was against the venue’s usual judge, who was allowed to play in this side event. He had the dreaded Sentry and Void, plus two Fast Forces Scarlet Witches and the medic Donald Blake.  AND a Gamma Bomb. Dude came to win. But he almost didn’t when he (and I) forgot that Astral Dr. Strange doesn’t force break away rolls and he stayed still a couple turns longer than he should’ve. It gave me a chance to close on his side of the map and eventually beat Sentroid as low as  his last click, forcing repeated heals via Support and Regeneration.

But then, with Stranger pushed and on his next-to-last-click, I made the absolute worst User Error I have EVER made in a HeroClix game (yes, even worse than the worst of the baker’s dozen I made in this classic failing effort). I forgot to pick Colossal Size at the start of the turn before (uselessly) moving Dr. Strange, thus denying Stranger the Colossal Stamina ability to make an attack with two tokens. That turned an unlikely win for me (as a hit would’ve KOed Sentroid) into complete and utter defeat in two turns.

ROUND THREE was against Melinda, a fairly new player who usually only plays Lord of the Rings characters. Her husband built her a team of Defenders: Silver Surfer (Galactic Guardians o36), Hulk (Galactic Guardians o27), Captain America (Chaos War 001) and Dr. Strange (Galactic Guardians 206). She was very aggressive; a little too much so. I managed to wipe her team while only losing a couple of Astral projections.

 

 

____

All in all, it was a decent day of clixin’. I played a team that’s the essence of F.U.N. that challenged even the most terrifying non-colossal character in the game. If I could only eliminate those User Errors!!!!!

* Chaeese = Chase and Cheese, combined.

 

 

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We had a recent 1200-point anything goes tournament. Promo pieces, feats, Star Trek ships, whatever — it was all legal.

Me, I had some pieces that’d languished in my unplayed fig box for nearly a year. Time to try ’em out.

Unfortunately, my fellow players brought out the velveeta (not cheese, but close). First, I faced a Brute team of Movie Hulk, Mighty Thorr, Wolverage, Big Figure surrounded by Thugs, all led by Sentry / Void. Then I had the “pleasure” of battling an all-Thanos team of the chase, the 150-pointer and the 800-point “Issue 1” colossal.

  • A-Bomb: Camouflage really helped him out, especially when chase Thanos snatched him but put him next to blocking terrain. His 19 DV also held up, even against the 12-13 AVs of the Thanosi. Too bad he wasn’t able to hit so much.
  • Arkham Asylum Inmate: Only good for resetting the Gamma Bomb. Otherwise completely overmatched.
  • Elite Zealot: Despite his starting with Leadership and Outwit, he was useless at both due to adjacency issues and immunity-to-Outwit opponents. Really needed to be more aggressive with him, but my team was very movement-challenged. (It didn’t help that Issue 1 Thanos knocked him off his sole movement click at game’s start.)
  • Gollum: Very useful for his support powers, but the little slinker took himself out via those very powers.
  • Hawkeye (Chaos War): The only piece of the team to perform well at ALL. Which, unfortunately, made him a victim of colossal  Thanos’ power to remove Hawkeye temporarily from the game when the archer managed to damage the mad Titan.
  • Master Chief (Battle Rifle): Disappointing. Lack of movement powers hobbles the Halo star. I pushed off his sole top click of Outwit to my regret.
  • Morg: Too glass-jawed. Perhaps on a team with TK, he’d have done better. As it was, he was just easy meat for first Sentry / Void and then chase Thanos. Seems like I’ve never seen this piece work.
  • Mouth of Sauron: If I had any chance in these games, it was because of this fellow. Being able to Demoralize and knock stats down -2 from behind cover is HUGE. In fact, I might have salvaged a win in the first game had I used him better. Unfortunately, I made most of my user errors with him, in A) his placement for Prob Control, B) opening him up to Outwit at a crucial moment and C) making a suicidal Mind Control of colossal Thanos (who missed BOTH his Multiattacks — it was that sort of game).
  • Nebula: her trait is so useless in these modern games where bringing objects is optional. If only she had more keywords to fit onto more teams! Or a slightly higher AV. Or damage. SOMETHING!
  • The Sharpshooting Avenger: Scored an early hit on 150-point Thanos and was useful for his SHIELD TA. Still pretty much the last version of Hawkeye I’ll ever pick for a team. Why did I trade for him, again?
  • Thor (Avengers Movie 201): Not bad, aside from the critical miss against Issue 1 Thanos that sealed my loss, big time.
  • U.S.S. Yeager: Worthless outside the Trek game thanks to single digit AV and 2 damage.

 

In fact, 2 damage was my problem across the board, as I lacked the ability to harm the Thanosi at all aside from a few characters. Had similar issues with the Brute squad.

In general, my unfamiliarity with pieces and the more highly competitive nature of the forces I tend to face these days make using untried characters a losing proposition. I think I’m going to resort to something I haven’t done in years: playing solo games on my dinner table.

Seriously, the last time I did that, the Olympics were being played in BEIJING. So maybe, as this article is published, yours truly will be watching the Games and playing a game simultaneously.

___

Tomorrow, a new Token Totin’ figure. Then, on Friday, the wrap-up of my Dark Knight Power Creep Rises series.

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I played this team in the sealed Chaos War marquee:

Ares 199
Donald Blake 33
Tigra 57

=289 points. Went 1-1, losing to a Genis-Vell + Tony Stark + Speed team (amazing how badly one carelessly placed object token can kill your game) and wearing down a Sentry one-man-army.

The roundup:

Ares (Chaos War 034): Pretty tough, but in my loss he had to do too much alone (thanks to the aforementioned object placement). He can get stranded too easily. He’ll be best leading one or two more secondary attackers to take advantage of his AV-boosting SP in a larger game.

Tigra: Her DV is too low, but she’s a good example of a backup fighter to pair with Ares (too bad the aforementioned object placement prevented her from doing so in the loss by blocking her Charge path). She needs a pal with Defend for best results.

Donald Blake: not only the game’s best medic, but great for drawing fire. The Sentry player wasted both a Perplex and an action killing off Blake, which left the golden-haired Dark Avenger open to a 1-2 punch from Ares and Tigra that was the beginning of the end for him.

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The next day, I brought this team to a Chaos War/Galactic Guardians/Incredible Hulk-only 300-pointer:

Hawkeye & Mockingbird (Chaos War) 158
Spider-Woman (Chaos War 209) 55
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Nick Fury (Chaos War) 45
+ Avengers Response Unit ATA 9

= 300 points. Went 2-1, and the loss was entirely due to my opponent choosing Krakoa and getting many Earthquake rolls.

Hawkeye & Mockingbird (Chaos War): Fantastic, versatile duo. Their sky-high 12 AV means they got some actual use out of the Transporter Move And Attack ability. For a surer attack, the Sharpshooting duo could just lightly blast foes twice from range or torch one for bigger damage with Ranged Combat Expert. Opening Stealth is pretty good for keeping them safe from range (though the double base makes them harder to manuever into hindering). Tying them up is no help, as they’ve got Combat Reflexes and Super Senses to defend themselves. The total lack of armor is their only drawback.

Nick Fury: a Stealthy and Willpowered Leader, Nick is best used as a SHIELD support piece, bumping up ranges and damages. But don’t mind pushing him (or, as in my game, shooting a Mystic) to get to his Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Outwit click(s). For only 45 points, this latest version of Samuel L. Fury isn’t bad.

Spider-Woman 209: Her Leap/Climb trait gets her in foes’ faces, Super Senses or Combat Reflexes and Stealth keep her safe, and her solid AV with powers like Incap and Flurry make her a threat. Very pushable, she’s also a good supporter for shooters thanks to her choice of SHIELD or Hydra TAs (I picked the latter because the entire rest of my team was SHIELD). Such an excellent tie-up piece.

Ant-Man: though blessed with a great “free move” trait, Eric O’Grady’s low damage makes it hard to capitalize on. His DV is too mediocre to use him well as tie-up, especially since his natural movement ability is so low. I got some use out of his anti-Outwit/Perplex SP, at least. And he’s still a lock for Secret Avengers themes.

I did not remember to use the ATA even once.