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Wolvies

My favorite thing to do in HeroClix is to run teams composed of various iterations of the same character. This time is was comics’ most popular Canucklehead’s turn:

Wolverine (Giant-Sixe X-Men) 103
Wolverine (Giant-Sixe X-Men Fast Forces) 75
Wolverine (Web of Spider-Man) 105
Wolverine (Armor Wars 095) 60
Wolverine (Fantastic Forces) 71
Wolverine (Wolverine and the X-Men 201) 113
Wolverine (TabApp) 100
Wolverine (Chaos War) 90
Wolverine (Incredible Hulk) 70
Weapon X (Captain America) 72
Weapon X (Marvel 10th Anniversary) 71
Colonel Logan (Days of Future Past) 70
+ Eleha’al Vine
+ Kinetic Accelerator
+ Dynamostat
= 1000 on the nose. BFCs included Overconfidence, Darkness and Resistance.

FIRST, I faced Paul’s excellent Mystical team of Dracula (Fear Itself), full-power Scarlet Witch (Fast Forces), 50-point Enchantress (Justice League) 3 Vampire Lackeys, 2 Astral Dr. Stranges and Trinity of Sin’s Phantom Stranger and Pandora, all led by a Warbound pair of Dr. Stranges (Secret Invasion and Galactic Guardians 206) on the Gridreality Park map. My BFC (Overconfidence, to stop Lotus Strange’s Brilliant Tactician) was nixed. I fought off Dracula but only KO’d a single Rookie Lackey for a horrible loss in which my opponent consistently made at least 2 attacks for every one I attempted.

SECOND round was against Bill’s N.O.W.H.E.R.E. team of Harvest, Omen, Rose Wilson (Teen Titans 030), Warblade (Teen Titans 055), N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Soldier (Teen Titans 205) and the rest of the team filled out with at least four N.O.W.H.E.R.E. Soldiers (Teen Titans 009) on the Metropolis map. Again, my chosen BFC, Resistance, was killed, and again I found myself thoroughly outactioned, outgunned and outdone, only scoring 126 points in the final minutes while losing Wolverine after Wolverine. And it could have been far, far worse, if Omen’s Mind Controls had actually borne fruit.

In the FINAL round, a bye against the judge, I finally found a little success, winning map roll to get Shadowlands (which ironically made my last BFC, Darkness, superfluous). This meant my Wolverines could actually do some fighting at last. And fight they did, KOing Green Lantern Batman and Caped Crusader (both of 2012’s Batman set) while surviving attacks from Thing (Galactic Guardians), Hawkeye (Chaos War), Kid Flash (Teen Titans 039) and Raizo Kodo, common Red She-Hulk and Valkyrie all of Fear Itself. Only lost WAXM Wolvie.

I’d wanted to play an all-Wolverine team for a long time. In fact, it was the sole reason I even still own some of these figures. But today’s 1-2 record tournament has me considering…well…NEVER DOING THIS AGAIN.

That means I’m dumping some Wolvies outta my collection.

So…which Wolverines should stay? Which should go? Post your opinions in the comments! A future F.U.N. Friday article will reveal the results of the Wolverine Purge.

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Continuing this photographic record of figures hefting objects, this time starting an overdue look at figs from the Fear Itself event. First up?

“A” is for Asgardian Troll 002 who, at his 25 point cost, supplants Aquaman (Hypertime ) as the least expensive Super Strength non-bystander in the game. The Troll’s hold on the token is a wedge between the club and his right heel.

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Valtrauta_cool_from_Thor_313

Years ago, when HeroClix’s rebirth was in its infancy, I wrote about this  theme. Now, with a new Valkyrie figure, it’s time to cue up the Wagner and field the choosers of the slain again!

RIDE OF THE VALKYRIES

Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 055) 145 + Not So Special 3
Valkyrie (Fear Itself 005) 130
Mirage (Wolverine and The X-Men 004) 75 + Camouflage 8
Valkyrie (Sinister 048) 71 + Not So Special 3
Brunnhilde (Sinister 204) 69  + Not So Special 3
Valkyrie (Sinister 047) 60
Samantha arrington Hammer of Thor 101) 55
Mirage (Fantastic Forces 007) 55
Valkyrie (Sinister 046) 44
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38
+ Defenders ATA 20

= 800 points. EDIT: I must’ve been falling asleep at the desk, because this in no way adds up to 800. Here’s the REAL team:

Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 055) 145 + Not So Special 3
Valkyrie (Fear Itself 005) 130 + Contingency Plan 12
Mirage (Wolverine and The X-Men 004) 75 + Camouflage 8
Valkyrie (Sinister 048) 71 + Not So Special 3
Brunnhilde (Sinister 204) 69  + Not So Special 3
Valkyrie (Sinister 047) 60
Samantha Parrington (Hammer of Thor 101) 55
Mirage (Fantastic Forces 007) 55
Valkyrie (Sinister 046) 44
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38
Valkyrie (Hammer of Thor 012) 38
+ Defenders ATA 24
+ Black Lantern 0
+ Generator 0
+Mjolnir 0

= 900 points is more like it. EDIT: Except that IT’S NOT 900 POINTS. I keep screwing up the math on this. Either drop the C.Plan feat or Camouflage + a Not So Special card to make the team fit.

The last time the Valkyries rode, the team was able to take advantage of some tricks that no longer work (such as transporter Move And Attack being a move action). But it has some new ones that might work better.

  • Big Hammer of Thor Valkyrie is no longer the sole tentpole of the force. Before, the Contingency Plan feat was all but required, to allow the strong but soft-skinned horsewoman to make safe hit-and-run attacks with a decent AV. But now she has help from two more sources…
  • No-cape Fear Itself Valkyrie, who shares the high damage potential and excellent AV of horse Val — and can field the C.Plan for more clicks than Horse Val…
  • The Defenders ATA allows both these Vals to chain their stellar AVs to their three sister Defender-keyworded sisters from Sinister, making for a solid front line of melee offense.

Then there are the curious mortal inductees to the cadre.

  • Samantha, whose low AV was always reason enough to hold her off the team before, finds that weakness addressed by the ATA.
  • Mirage of the upcoming WATX set adds a bit of ranged ability with her -range and Incap (with Sidestep to add even more swing).
  • Finally, there’s Mirage from Fantastic Forces. Though very weak stats-wise, her Running Shot and Penetrating/Psychic Blast could land a light shot against weakened foes. More important still is her taxi ability to carry the less-mobile of the Valkyrior.

A team of Charging Super Strength figs can make good use of the Generator. The Black Lantern, though from DC, is highly thematic for valkyries. And Mjolnir is quite fitting.

I obviously can’t run this team yet because Wolverine and The X-Men is still a few days away from release (AND I no longer own a Samantha Parrington LE). But one day, the Valkyries will descend upon a HeroClix battlefield!

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Concluding the photographic record of clix from the Teen Titans set with Super Strength that can hold the game’s cardboard object tokens. Today, let’s look at this last pair:

 

Despite being the standard burly brute character, Mammoth (011) can just barely tote his token. One must carefully balance it under his left wrist brace and against his right knee. But Heroclixin’ has not been able to reproduce this hold on any tokens other than its well-worn ones — the new ones just roll right off with the slightest touch. So your mileage may vary.

And this (foot)hold is just going to be better all around:

IMG_20130815_022434

It’s one of the few that work better with the newer, thicker card stock.

And a final teen titan fig with a grip: Skitter (048)

It’s almost more fitting to ask “how DOESN’T she tote a token?” This intricate sculpt has no issue with a number of solid holds.

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OK, that’s more than enough Teen Titans toting tokens. Next week, TTT begins a long-overdue look at Fear Itself. Tomorrow, check out a F.U.N. Force for Heroclixin.’

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So I got to a venue too late and too broke to get in the scheduled Fear Itself event and instead joined a battle royale with this team:

Clark Kent (Man of Steel 009) 115
Lois Lane (Man of Steel 00) 39
Harve Bullock (Streets of Gotham 016) 32
Roy Raymond, Jr. (Batman 026) 74
Miranda Tate (Dark Knight Rises 012) 70
Pepper Potts (Iron Man 3 007) 70
= 400 points of plainclothed clix…no costumes, no weapons, nothin.’ I had a few pieces running for the first time.

VERSUS three others in a battle royale:
MATT with Superboy (Teen Titans 026)+Belt, Kid Flash (Teen Titans 039), and something I can’t recall. Solstice, maybe?
DOMINIQUE’s Thanos (Galactic Guardians 045) and Terraxia.
JASON fielding Superman (Man of Steel 101) and Superboy (Teen Titans 026). And I think that’s all.

I knew that Thanos was the big threat, but Matt & Jason went at it first anyway because they’re noobs. I crept about toward Thanos, using Stealth (thanks, Harvey for giving it to yourself and fellow detective Roy) for cover. Eventually, I made my move:

  1. Based Thanos with Roy Raymond Jr. for the -1 DV trick
  2. Knocked down T’s DV further with PD TA
  3. Perplexed it down one more time with Miranda…
  4. …so she could Mind Control him to kill Terraxia nearby!

But Thanos himself missed, leaving me with Miranda taking MC damage and Roy all set to just get one-shot by Thanos. 🙁

Fortunately, 5 damage is not enough to one-shot Roy, so he lived to use Outsiders TA for many more rounds to come. That proved key to dealing with Matt’s Superboy’s Belt-fed modifications.

In the end, it was only Lois Lane and Kid Flash. A late misplay cost me a shot at a most unlikely victory for the overachieving star reporter.

By piece:
Clark Kent (Man of Steel 009)
Traited Stealth and SP Willpower made him the solid core of my team’s offense. I happily landed on his second such click, with HSS and Perplex. Maybe I erred in healing him off it (though with only a natural 8 AV, who could blame me). Great piece that literally flies under the radar.

Lois Lane (Man of Steel 007)
Amy Adams, as noted above, nearly won the whole shebang with her nosy reporting ways. A fine use of 39 points.

Harvey Bullock (Streets of Gotham 016)
Key for his ability to Stealth fellow cops and detectives. His TA also came into play. All told, he was worth way more than his cost.

Roy Raymond, Jr. (Batman 026)
Been wanting to get this unusual figure on the field. He’s tricky to use because his Outsiders and maxxed-Outwit beg for him to stay away from the fight. But his Combat Reflexes and ability to -1 adjacent DV means he ought to be in foes’ faces. With no Stealth or other defense against range, his 16 DV is an easy target. Use with care…but do use him on plainclothes teams like this one.

Miranda Tate (Dark Knight Rises 012)
Still one of my faves, she had so many ways to mess with the team (Perplex. Outwit. Mind Control). Both underestimated and a priority target, she always served her purpose on this force. On a future build, I’ll want to couple her with Bruce Wayne 003 from her set to gain Batman Ally TA and a Defense boost.

Pepper Potts (Iron Man 3 007)
Great for drawing fire early on — as she need not fear being one-shot — then for fighting after taking the big hit. Gwyneth is a winner for this theme. On a Golden Age team, I’ll run her with Loner for the DV boost.

That is, if I can still fit her on after adding the ultimate plainclothes clix piece: 

crispus

Crispus Allen (Arkham Asylum 101).

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Tomorrow, one more installment of “Token Totin’ Titans,” and I think I’m done with the set (minus a few whose high rarity have kept me from readily getting pix: Wonder Girl 065, Wonder Woman 068 and Zookeeer). Then on Friday, a look at a F.U.N. Force I’d like to run.

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Continuing the photographic record of clix from the Teen Titans set with Super Strength that can hold the game’s cardboard object tokens. Today, let’s look at this pair:

One can bend Changeling’s forearm a tad to reveal a gap between it and the clear green tiger form for a solid and appealing hold. Meanwhile, his sometime fellow Osiris has a less secure hold under his raised arm.

Over on the Ravagers side of things, the OTHER Beast Boy manages:

It’s actually under his right knee. This is an OK hold, but there’s another, more dynamic one available:

The balance is precarious, but it works as pictured.

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Back on Thursday for another teen titan fig with a grip.

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I added art to DC cards to make ’em prettier. Here’s the latest, another feat from Justice League:

JL_F006_Unstoppable

From Final Crisis #6. Doug Manke draws a fighting-mad Superman smashing walls like they’re not there.

Next week, more feats from JL.

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There were SO many other feats that were great but couldn’t quite make it to the top 10. Here are some of Heroclixin’s other favorites:

10. Camouflage (Sinister and Secret Invasion):  This 8-pointer was nicely balanced by preventing range attacks but not all line of fire while next to blocking terrain, giving Outwitters a shot at nixing the Shape Change prerequisite. It’s at the bottom of my list because it often restricted mobility on many maps.

9. Loner [Secret Invasion]: 5 points to boost DV on a non-themed character? Sure! The prevalence of themed teams and keywords made this a tough play most of the time, though.

[tie] Rip It Up [Fantastic Forces]: 20 points is a LOT to pay not to ever be able to use heavy objects. But it also ensures a Super Strength team never runs OUT of objects, so it sort of balances out in the end.

8. Opportunist [Crisis]: This might be Heroclixin’s favorite feat for just filling out points. But for the sacrifice of a few early-game actions, this 10-point card can really pay off later by turning near-misses into solid hits. I like that it modifies the die roll, not the attack value, circumventing the Rule of Three.

7. Alias [Secret Invasion]: 3 little points, small enough to fit on any force, that can get your big guy out of an attack of opportunity. It’s a bit too one-size-fits-all for Heroclixin’s taste, but it’s just right for its disposable nature.

 

6. Inside Information [Mutations + Monsters]: Spend 4 points, get a +2 AV boost against your own keywords. Great little feat that’s almost always worth running.

5. Unstoppable [Fantastic Forces and Justice League]: A nice inexpensive feat that helps ground-pounding bricks a lot — but not TOO much, like the similar but overpowered Swingline did. Ignoring  hindering terrain is fine, and it’s finely balanced by the wall-busting ability only working during move actions.

4. Outsmart [Mutations + Monsters]: It’s not as Outwit-proof as Fortitude, but Heroclixin’ prefers less point-and-click strategies anyway. This 10-point feat has the dual benefit of being way cheaper and helping allies not get countered, too. Don’t get to use this as often as I’d like.

 

3. Not So Special [Brave and the Bold]: The last great feat in Heroclixin’s opinion, this 3-point card is a no-brainer for standard-powered pieces. It’s lost a few steps because there practically ARE no standard-powered pieces any more.

2. Submerged [Icons]: Swimmers have needed all the help they can get. This 5 points to stay unseen in water is among the best help the marine set could pay.

1. Takedown [Mutations + Monsters]: This fan-made feat might be the best feat card ever made, working perfectly in flavor with its prerequisite powers Incapacitate and Plasticity. Priced perfectly at 6 points. It’s perfect!

 

 

 

 

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The two very best feats.

#2

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20 points. Expensive, but such a simple way to make our whole team better as needed every round. There’s probably no better use of 20 points on a team with, of course, the prerequisite Perlexer and allied beneficiaries.

 

 

# 1

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5 points. The inexpensive price is what vaults this one to the top of the feat heap. It suddenly makes a HOST of Leap/Climbers and Close Combat Experts highly viable move-and-attack pieces, opening up tons more positioning options than before. But it’s also quite balanced since its two-square reach really isn’t that overwhelming. It’s the perfect example of a great feat card and it’s a real pity that more weren’t this fun and awesome.

 

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 The very worst feats.

 

#2

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9 points. Even when Soaring was a thing, this feat was useless. +2 movement for move actions really was not a big deal without the ability to carry. Breaking away from other soaring characters came into play about the same number of times more than one character occupied soaring status: almost never. And the cost? At least seven points too many.

 

 #1

mmF002

12 points. Couldn’t have been much worse if they’d just written “only this one Colossus character and that one Wolverine figure can use this feat, once, EVER.” I mean, have you ever seen so many arbitrary conditions to use a power?

  1. Same team symbol required. This kind of makes sense, but cuts out so many combinations.
  2. First must have Super Strength. OK, that’s fine.
  3. Second must have Toughness. Sure, that’s fair. Need to be able to survive the impact. But…
  4. …not Invulnerability. Not Impervious. ONLY Toughness. Here’s where it gets stupid. And we’re not done.
  5. Can’t have more than 3 damage, either. Which is ridiculous, because…
  6. …It costs both a power action. Ugh. So you’re burning up two actions for one light attack! Really?!
  7. Hit or miss, it’s a one-time-use feat…
  8. THAT COSTS 12 POINTS.

Feats are supposed to increase a character’s flexibility. This one is the definition of INflexible. That’s why it’s the worst feat WizKids ever attempted.

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Tomorrow, a bonus: Heroclixin’s favorite F.U.N. feats!

 

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Feats were even more game-warping than Resources, as will become clear as we look back at the top five of the Top Ten feats ever:

#5

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8 points for the other feat that broke the game. It’s perfectly costed and perfectly balanced but probably should have been one of the game’s few “unique” feats like Loner or Saboteur: one per force. As it was, entire teams would be outfitted with this ultimate “get out of jailhouse damage free” tactic, necessitating the rule change of no more than 10% of a force build being feats.

4

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10 points. A simple way to make weenies a legit threat on the board. This feat used to be required to make Energy Explosion any damn good, and Poison still gets a lot of mileage from it. A bit annoying because of the total lack of prereqs.

 #3

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10 points per character. Point for point, for a long time this was possibly the best 20 (or more) points one could spend in HC. If you had the Oracle (Legacy) figure, so much the better.

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WizKids used to just throw away money on these stinkers that no one wanted to even pull, let alone play, like the #5 worst feat:

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5 points. I don’t like disposable feats in general; paying points for a one-time effect seems unwise. But if the effect is more or less guaranteed, then it’s not so bad.

This one is so bad.

It requires getting hit to work. It requires taking DAMAGE from that hit to work. It requires the hit being close combat to work. And all of this has to happen to a character of 60 points or more, so no putting it on a fig one might not mind risking the points to use this feat.

We’re not done with the drawbacks. It requires a high die roll of 9 or higher to work. All to deal just 1 damage (or maybe 2 if it’s a crit). Better hope the target doesn’t have Toughness.

Succeed or fail, it’s costing you 5 points. There’s just no reason to ever field this weak attempt at payback. Can you believe this was a TOURNAMENT PRIZE?

#4

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2 points per character. Gets on the list partly for teasing me every time I thought I’d found a cheap feat to fill out those last few leftover points on a team. Then I’d be cruelly reminded that it’s 2 points per character. So on the average force, you’re paying 6 to 10 points for a feat that only works once.

  • …When you’ve already lost your bigger pieces.
  • …Then you give up the feat’s 6-10 points to the opponent, too, after its single use..

“Revenge” is what you’ll seek against the dude who MADE this feat and put it in a collector set, of all things. But it wouldn’t be the last:

#3

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10 points. So it’s like using Support, except you remove action tokens — and clicks of life! No thanks. No thanks at ALL.

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Tomorrow: The very best of the feats…and the worst of all.