Continuing this series talking about DC feats and BFC cards that I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.) Today, Card Arts continues with Origin’s Feat cards.
The next feat of the set is Compel:
A cover image from “Legion of Three Worlds” was an easy choice. Almost as though I were compelled to do it.
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Next time, Card Arts continues with the next Origin feat.
Last month’s Top Ten looked at the powers and abilities themselves. But now we’re looking at former loser pieces that actually might see a little use, and a few that were okay but now are much better, and maybe one or two that go from pretty good to top tier.
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Stranger (Galactic Guardians 043)
His only real weakness before was a low AV for his over-200 price. Now, with RCE/CCE, that’s handled. Also, he has access to the new pink powers of Sidestep, Precision Strike, Invincible, or Empower enabling him to, respectively, get a tad of free movement either before or after attack, , make his attacks stick, minimize the penetrating damage foes throw at him, or boost teammates in melee.
He’s only #4 because he was already quite good and the change still won’t propel him to top tier.
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Nomad (Captain America 016)
Before, his Energy Explosion was a total waste. Now he’s dealing the 3 damage AND the splash damage. Later, he picks up Close Combat Expert to help his punching, and Incap grants still more options. All of a sudden this former loser appears to have quite a bit more going for him than just Running Shot and Willpower — enough to make him the #3 Most Improved despite just 4 range and no keywords.
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Ken (Street Fighter 021)
Every single click has an improved power. On click #1 alone he can use the improved Force Blast to pushback with a fireball. Or SP Quake to clear crowds and move for free. Or pump his AV +1 or 2 in close against a single target. Then there’s RCE on the alternating clicks.
Ryu (020) is the same, but Ken gets the #2 slot for being 10 points cheaper and having the additional Quake power.
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Maul (Batman 024)
He made the Worst of 2012 list, deservedly so. But with the change to Close Combat Expert, his one crippling weakness, a terrible late-dial AV, is GONE. So push him with abandon, happily boosting his AV to double digits as he smashes with objects (thus keeping his damage value at 4 or higher). Sure, opponents might try to counter the SP, but they’d also be leaving his defense alone and shrinking him from giant size to boot. This piece is definitely the one that goes from zero to hero in a big way.
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I’m sure there’s some I forgot or overlooked, especially since I used my own “Worst of” lists as my starting point before expanding to pieces like Ryu and Ken who weren’t bad before but just had their whole dials upgrade. What are YOUR picks for Most Improved?
Last month’s Top Ten looked at the powers and abilities themselves. But now we’re looking at former loser pieces that actually might see a little use, and a few that were okay but now are much better, and maybe one or two that go from pretty good to top tier.
Numbers seven through five:
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Element Lad (Arkham Asylum 037)
One of the more powerful Legionnaires in the comics, Element Lad’s HeroClix representation is based on his WEAKEST version from the comics, with a dial to match. Fortunately, the 2013 rules give him a little boost.
Double Incap is fine, now that that power’s been given some teeth. Barrier is also fine. But his 4 range on his SP — two LESS than his printed 6 — is NOT FINE. Still, in a game where Smoke Cloud has new meaning, it’s nice to be able to disperse it for free. Legion Lost ATA can get around the lame 9-or-lower AV if you’re playing a Legion-only team.
Element Lad has gone from that one Legion piece you’d probably leave off even from an “Every Single Legionnaire In HeroClix” team to one to consider. Enough to get to #7.
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Iron Man (Chaos War Fast Forces 001)
Actually, the non-flying Iron Man only rates as improved on his Alter Ego dial. Tony Stark (Chaos War) can switch to a click with anti-Stealth, Force Blast and Ranged Combat Expert — AND you can move him 3 squares free upon transformation. If you pair him with any Avenger-keyword piece over 41 points, you can keep him from being one-shot (due to the SP “stop” click) and Regen back to that fantastic AE starting line.
He’d be higher on the list if not dependent on the Stark figure, whose singular contribution of Outwit is much less useful in the modern game. Still enough to rate #6.
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Mandarin (Avengers 061)
Before, his Outwit was something of a liability, wasting his 12 range. Now he’s in a small club of figs that can counter from that far out. Too bad he must push to use his full roster of SP-granted powers: Energy Explosion, Incapacitate, Mind Control, Barrier, Force Blast, Quake, Smoke Cloud, and Telekinesis, most of which improved. Fortunately, he can use either Barrier or Mind Control to make that push worth doing.
Still not really a winning figure but definitely better. It’s #5 on the list.
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Last month’s Top Ten looked at the powers and abilities themselves. But now we’re looking at former loser pieces that actually might see a little use, and a few that were okay but now are much better, and maybe one or two that go from pretty good to top tier.
Grey Gargoyle (Secret Invasion)
Hobbled with a barely usable power set (thanks, Masters of Evil TA and the crap AVs that go with you all too often), this 2008 piece, had I been doing a Worst Of list back then, would have made the top 3 easily. It’s a little better now.
The new minimum 4 range on Barrier makes his SP version that only works in hindering usable at last. Combined with his new ability to set objects down with Super Strength, he might actually be able to make a useful shield sometime. His full dial of Incap also means he might be able to keep a target locked down perpetually (since the MoE TA allows him to act without stopping).
Of course, that horrible AV means using Incap is still a total waste most of the time, so Barrier for up to 4 straight turns is probably the better move.
Finally, the Fear Itself figure Mokk might make this piece see some use due to the former’s “Revert” trait. But unless you just HAVE to get the Masters of Evil TA, you’d probably just be better off sticking with Mokk’s far superior stats.
GG here is at the bottom of the list because while he’s much improved, he’s still one of the worst figs in the game.
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Songbird (Hammer of Thor 037)
She starts with Running Shot + Force Blast for knockback ability and double-target Incap. But it’s her mid-dial RCE with decent damage that moves her up from mediocre to…well…less mediocre. Use with the Thunderbolts ATA for best results, I think. She’s #9.
Ocean Master (DC 75th Anniversary 027)
With the range for his only-in-the-water Prob Control shriveling like a jellyfish on a hot beach, one wonders how Orm here got any better. Well, it means he’s more likely to use the REST of his powers, maybe — namely his Force Blast and Mind Control. Not exactly a winner — his range is still just 3, after all, one LESS than the minimal 4 for MC — but he’s more useful and much less the one-trick pony. #8 on the “Got Better” list.
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Numbers seven through five tomorrow.
Yours truly is featured in a long interview (about 75 minutes) with Edward Shelton, aka “darklogos” on HCRealms on his Starting Over podcast episode 63 on YouTube. It was a lot of fun (and F.U.N. of course). We talk about:
Here’s the link:
So a clix-playing friend invited a number of other players to his place for food and then a fight. I came up with this scenario: We each build five 200-point teams and play one at a time. As a force is KO’d, place one of your remaining teams in the starting area (with immunity until your next turn) and two standard objects on the map. Continue until last man standing.
The idea was to play a lot of figures in one game without the lonnnng turns that massive-point games end up having.
Here were my teams (unplayed pieces in green):
We played on the Dawn of Time map with Time Zones.
Mr. P started with The Ray, Secret and Empress. Mr. V had Jennifer Kale and Hannibal King. Mr. L ran Selina Kyle and Poison Ivy (No Man’s Land).
All three took advantage of my too-aggressive positioning to destroy ExBrute. THEN they converged on my depleted team. Why am I so persecuted…?
Similarly, Radagast and Ancient One spwaned in the middle of a poop tornado. All sorts of minor user errors (Running Shot AWAY from A-One’s Enhancement. Leaving A-One open to shots from King. Outwitting GF Superboy’s Running Shot instead of his single-target Pulse Wave with Radagast the only one in sight) added up to quickly being down two teams while others were just starting up their second squads.
The Gotham Underworld team did a little better. Would’ve done way better if I’d remembered the False Facers’ Poison more often, especially in conjunction with Black Mask’s Outwit. Eventually couldn’t handle the amount of attacks hurled at the team, and I was soon on Team 4, which was VERY short-lived despite landing an attack or two. Double Outwit is a (rhymes-with-“witch”). It took some time for Shimmer to get KO’d so I could bring out my final team.
I think I made a big fail in every turn with this duo, starting from the moment I placed them in the starting area. I’d put Fairchild ONE SQUARE outside her 6 range, losing a great opportunity to Mind Control. I used Ridge to jump and Quake a trio of enemies (Cyborg, Raven and Solstice) but ONLY managed to hit the Mystic — bye-bye, Impervious. I used Fairchild to Mind Control an enemy Nightwing, who proceeded to miss and prove again that the power still sucks. Even worse, poor Ridge took a solo Pulse Wave (something I could’ve prevented by moving the MC’d Nightwing in range of said Pulse Waver) to end up near-dead.
And then there was one. Not much of a threat to anyone left on the board, my Fairchild was largely left alone. I tried my best to stay out of others’ way.
Mr. L’s All-Star Superman finally came out to play, but he was hampered by not one, but TWO Inertia pieces on the board. A testament to the strength of that piece is that he still had little problem wiping the board clean of the remaining teams even without Hypersonic Speed.
I had a chance to affect the game in an improbable way as Fairchild caught up with Superman with two tokens. She landed her hit, but it rolled off his Impervious hide. And that was all she wrote. (In the end, the last other remaining team of Red Robin and Bunker, both of Teen Titans main set, took down the Man of Steel.)
The “bring new teams in” mechanic was a pretty fun way of keeping things moving and getting a lot of figs out there. Will have to try this scenario in a real tournament.
More token-holding action in Teen Titans, courtesy of Soviet-era Russian, Red Star (012):
Much like Superboy, he can’t do much other than lamely lean it on his chest.
But I found that using some of the heat-then-bend-then-stanch-in-cool-water techniques I learned in my Custom Mods series, I was able to mod this piece ever so slightly at the wrists/forearms:
And now this copy of Red Star has a still-tenuous but much more decent hold on a token.
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More to come Thursday, maybe. Tomorrow, if I can muster the energy after work, look for a massive battle report featuring four players and 20 TEAMS.
Continuing this ostensibly weekly (but more like monthly) series talking about DC feats and BFC cards that I went back and customized with artwork for fun. (Here’s a link back to the original concept.) Today, Card Arts continues with Origin’s Feat cards.
The next feat of the set is Repulsor:
Terrible feat — who’d want to pay 10 extra points to risk knocking an opponent OUT of your range, assuming you could even hit with the AV penalty? — but for completeness’ sake I remembered this panel from the late-1990s Steel comic of the character’s hammer slamming a crook out of a (fake) ice cream truck. That’s knock back, son.
The feat will become absolutely and completely useless when the 2013 upgrade to Force Blast makes so that this can happen on ANY hit, not just ranged, not just on single targets and CERTAINLY not with a -1 to AV.
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Next time, Card Arts continues with the next Origin feat. You WILL be there.
Welcome to F.U.N. Forces, an occasional feature for Fridays where I share some team ideas or goofball themes I’m looking forward to running.
Left to right: Ant-Man, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Beast, Nova, Steve Rogers, Black Widow. (Not pictured: War Machine, Sharon Carter)
Recently, the dial and card for Valkyrie (Fear Itself 005) was revealed. That means, at long last, I will finally be able to run an Avengers keyword-thematic Secret Avengers (vol. 1) #1 lineup!
Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Valkyrie (Fear Itself) 130
Black Widow (Captain America 006) 85
War Machine (Hammer of Thor) 137
Moon Knight (Amazing Spider-Man) 109
Beast (Giant-Size X-Men) 95
Nova Prime (Galactic Guardians) 150
=893 points, all with the Avengers keyword and character-accurate unlike the first time I ran a version of this team with non-keyworded pieces or wholesale substitutes. This build leaves room for either some special objects or one of a few ATAs. Nova Corps could shave off 10 points to add, say, a minimal Gauntlet or a full Utility Belt to a member. Or the Asgardian ATA, at 5 points, which gives Val Willpower on her vital first click. (It’s a bitter irony that there’s no room for the actual Secret Avengers ATA. 🙁 )
This team looks MUCH better on paper than the previous ones I cobbled together a few years back. Though still range-heavy with the top two fighters dealing in Running Shot and still lacking a really durable brick or tie-up piece, the true Secret Avengers now have copious amounts of top- or 2nd-click support-power pieces instead of just one. The team also isn’t as dependent on a couple of characters as Stealth walls; most either have Stealth outright or get it from Sharon Carter. And although melee/tie-up still isn’t the team’s strength, Beast and Val certainly have great ability in close.
Even the upcoming PAC changes in June (when I’m likely to run this force, assuming I can acquire the Valkyrie) help instead of hurt. All the SHIELD members on the force (3 natural, potentially all of them) mean Beast could still be Outwitting targets from up to 9 squares away. (EDIT: actually, no, as his natural range is 0 and could only be boosted to 3 and thus still under the minimum 6 of Outwit). Several characters gain Ranged or Close Combat Expert down-dial to aid in those must-hit rolls in the mid- to late game. And there’s Quake, Energy Explosion and Incapacitate scattered among these characters — each power a decided Winner in the rules shift.
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This team is Golden Age. I can run a Modern Age version (for another month or so, anyway) by swapping out the retired War Machine with the 220-point new one from the Iron Man 3 set and Nova Prime for Nova from the Galactic Guardians Fast Forces. That’s a 1000-point build that allows for the Secret Avengers ATA but loses the themed team bonuses (War Machine lacks the Avengers keyword). I won’t mind so much when he’s shooting through hindering terrain with Avengers Initiative team ability.
There’s a super-budget character-accurate version out there, too, in Golden Age:
Steve Rogers (Captain America) 99
Sharon Carter (Chaos War) 45
Ant-Man (Chaos War 026) 43
Valkyrie (Sinister 046) 44
Black Widow (Clobberin’ Time 055) 30
War Machine (Armor Wars 067) 94
Moon Knight (Critical Mass 025) 18
Beast (X-Plosion 055) 42
Nova (Supernova 037) 56
=471 points. That leaves room for the Secret Avengers ATA on the four Avengers-keyword characters on the team. I think this team would get clobbered. Good thing I don’t own any of those pieces in black except the last one.
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Hopefully, I’ll pull a Valkyrie in my Fear Itself events and can field this team directly afterward!
More token-holding action in Teen Titans, courtesy of Ridge (043):
The monster guy holds it tenuously between his right forearm and knee. There’s probably a way to maybe work his tail into a grip as well, but I didn’t test for that.
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More to come next Tuesday. Tomorrow, we’ll look at a comic-accurate Marvel team that I can finally play for real.
