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

Back in 2021’s rules overhaul — less than two years ago! — we looked at each power and how each lost or won something. And we found that the streamlining back then felt like weights coming off.

Although this year’s version isn’t quite as massive, it’s still significant and no power will be unaffected. So let’s take a deeper look at each change.

SPEED POWERS

FLURRY:

BUFFED in 2021, it neither gains nor loses much now other than possible interaction with Quake.

Still F.U.N.? Yes — and possibly more relevant in a more melee-focused game.

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After Part I, Part II and Part III, it’s time for the last part of these changes: the Comprehensive Rules. And they start with this new card design:

I’m not sure how much I like this change.

• YES, having the Improved symbols next to everything else important is good.
• But wait NO, the team symbol ISN’T next to everything else important. So what the heck
• YES, the full sculpt image is kinda nice.
• But NO, I do not like the wasted space on the back.
• Especially because NO, I do not like the loss of flavor text.
• YES, the lighter design is kinda nice-looking.
• But NO the dial info is more cluttered and harder to read — AND on the front, which we didn’t like when they first proposed it in 2016 and we still don’t really like now. But…..¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But this isn’t a game changer. Actual game changes are game changers. And there are a few!

SPIDER-SENSE TA!

• The Spider-Man team ability is no longer wild card but now Super Senses on a 6 or +1 if they already can use Senses. A welcome change even though some weird characters will suddenly get extra dodgy (Luke Cage).

KNOCK BACK PAIN

• It’s confirmed: Hitting walls/blocking or falling off elevated deals 1 damage. With boosts to Quake, Force Blast and less immunity from knock back since the 2021 change, this could get wild. I’m here for it.

R.I.P. TEAM TEAMS

They’ve nerfed Themed Teams in two important ways.

• Every themed team gets +3 to first player roll, regardless of team size, because the old “+3 to your opponent’s roll” language was very confusing. I think they SHOULD have made it exactly like the Rule of Three, but they didn’t ask me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (This game would be way better if they asked me)
• Theme Team Prob is GONE. They said a lot of flimflam about it only really aiding alpha strikes which, like old-school Super Strength attacks, they’ve kinda been dialing back (while still making figs like Sky Tyrant ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ ). So they just removed it. I’m kinda very OK with this even though I kinda hate it.

WALL CLIMBING … SORTA

• One change we saw coming in the look at the PAC last week but now is confirmed: Every character can climb elevation. They just have to immediately stop (like in the old hindering terrain movement rules) when they switch elevation unless they have the right improved movement or at the red diamond transition point. This stops easy tactics of bottlenecking rooftops against non-fliers, for instance. (There’s a related rule keeping you from setting terrain up at the transition points, too.)

This is a FANTASTIC change and we can’t wait to see how dynamic it makes gameplay.

ACTIVE PLAY

• So this one is a little complicated. For ages, if two or more effects had simultaneous timing, the active player would decide the order of resolving those effects. Now, the players owning each effect, starting with the active player, will choose the order, sort of. It’s hard to explain without coming up with some corner case example, so I’m not gonna bother. The short version: The attacking player doesn’t get to just order stuff to their own advantage anymore.

SHRINKING SIDELINE

• Old rule allowed you to pack 3 sideline pieces per 100 points of the build, MAX: 15. Now it’ll just be 2 per 100. But anything can go on the sideline, not just things with a specific interaction with a starting element. I like this change a lot — in the height of the ID card era, it was sooo common to see way more pieces off the field than on it. And that’s just wrong IMO.

That’s it! This is a much more substantive rule shift than they said at the outset. But overall they’re mostly positive in my opinion. What say you? Leave a comment!

PART III

We looked at new terrain changes and map sizes last post. Now let’s unpack the PAC!

• Flurry: No change
• Leap/Climb: No change EVEN THOUGH IT NEEDS ONE
• Phasing/Teleport: No change
• Earthbound/Neutralized — no change (even though we still think it could use an update/reversion)
• Charge : No change, but a few powers it interacts with make it more viable
• MIND CONTROL: Its minimum RANGE option gets reeled from 6 to the previous 4. For longtime clix players, this feels very familiar. Personally, I thought the minimum for this power should have remained 4.
• Plasticity: No change
• FORCE BLAST gains a minimum range of 4 for its POWER action application, down from 6. This seems appropriate, since the classic version of the power used to be 0 range. More to the point, the return of knock back damage means this should be reeled in a bit.
• Sidestep: No change
• Hypersonic Speed: No change
• Stealth: No change
• Running Shot: No change, but read on. There’s a new power combo with Telekinesis that didn’t exist before.

ATTACK

DEFENSE

DAMAGE

• OBJECTS are replaced with terrain. Terrain has stats now governing how far it can be thrown, how much damage or reach it gives in attacks, and how much it takes to destroy it.
• IMPROVED MOVEMENT: DESTROY BLOCKING is much better — I will no longer have to tell players they can’t stop in that blocking square they were in the process of running through.
• KNOCKBACK: Deals 1 damage for falling or hitting certain terrain — a partial return to old rules. But the PAC is going to either require an errata/clarification or game terminology may be changing, due to this weird wording: “(A character that is knocked back onto a lower elevation or into terrain suffers 1 damage.)” Suffer isn’t a game term, soooo ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
• IMPROVED MOVEMENT: ELEVATED: The language has changed to “This character does not have to end its movement when crossing a boundary of Elevated terrain” — characters can now climb up and down rooftops without using transition squares. (Much more about that in Part IV.)

OTHER CHANGES

• INDESTRUCTIBLE: “This terrain marker can only be destroyed by using it in an attack or by its own effect.” It’s a new key phrase for these new terrain rules.

What, AGAIN? We just DID this not even two years ago lol

PART I

Change of Terrain

WizKids said: “this specific rules update began with a single question: How do we make standard objects matter again? Standard light and heavy objects have long been overshadowed by equipment.”

I mean, that’s YOUR fault, WizKids. But instead of just giving a small tweak to Super Strength — say, making it deal +1 damage with ANY object attack, like we suggested in 2021, or allowing it to generate NEW objects — WizKids is getting rid of objects altogether.

Upon first reveal, I said “I’m not sure if I hate it a lot or just a little.” And this old quote from Heroclixin’ is why:

“There was once a time you needed a whole chart to figure out:

• who could hold any of FOUR different kinds of objects and
• how FAR you could throw each and
• how much damage each could do in close
• or at range because it was different based on what the object was
• and if it was thrown or not …
• GAAHHHH.”

Now they wanna bring all that back, but as terrain markers now. Instead of the old flow chart, each terrain will have the stats printed right on them:

• How far it can be thrown
• How much damage it adds in close or range attacks
• How much damage to destroy it
• How much Giant Reach it gives you
• Gaahhhh. (But in lower case)

The REAL upside? There’s a couple.

1. It looks like Super Strength will work with terrain markers, such as being able to grab, say a square of Barrier and hit someone with it!
2. They’re also bringing falling damage back to the game. Hopefully this is a nice middle ground and not a wholesale return of knock back damage which could get silly with there being a ton more knockback in the game in general.

That’s exciting. We’re here for it.

PART II

Map quest

They’re shrinking the standard map size from 2×3 to 2×2 — AND changing the startup/setup rules. Quoted from the article [with my additions in brackets]:

• After rolling for First Player, whoever wins the roll chooses between being the First or Second Player.
• Second Player chooses the map.
• First Player chooses which edge they’ll use as their starting area [this is only on the 2×2 maps for 1v1 games … older 2×3 ones still use the purple start zones, I think] and places their force and terrain markers; Second Player uses the opposite edge as their starting area, and places their force and terrain markers.
• Once setup is complete, First Player begins their first turn and the game begins!

This is a bigger deal than the terrain. For ages, first player’s been picking map and going first — both pretty huge advantages, especially with Telekinesis and mega-taxi pieces. Now, with the smaller field and ability to orient the map multiple ways and the single-line starting area, plus the addition of all kinds of special terrain, this game may feel really new.

But the real meat is always the new PAC. The next part’s all about that and they’ve already teased a pretty substantial change:

the minimum range for any standard power or team ability that has one is being changed from 6 to 4.

So that means Mind Control, Force Blast, Smoke Cloud, Telekinesis, Barrier, Probability Control, Perplex and Outwit probably all get their range slashed. They also said some powers would get “tweaks to give them greater interactivity with terrain” — such as Super Strength.

We can’t wait!

So I guess this is a regular feature now: looking at how legacy cards might be a F.U.N. way to bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play or rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

Here’s the latest batch, from the first set of 2023, Batman Team-Up.

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L001 Batman
(Batman, 2012)

———

L011 Commissioner Gordon
(Batman The Animated Series, 2018)

Hi there: It’s our usual checklist. And possibly our last: The old files and templates were lost in the latest computer crash. Unsure if we can get the old programs used to build them back.

That’s the bad news. The good news is my work computer has the software so I was able to rebuild the templates there for now. And thanks to the crowdsourcing done on HCRealms, Clix Nexus and several Facebook clix groups, we think we have the complete info for this set.

Downloadable PDF below contains two checklists apiece: one with the main set and miniature game and the other a list of the team-up cards, mystery cards, the ring equipments and constructs. It’s a lot to collect; keep track with this checklist.

BatmanTeamUp

2022 has been much more normal than either 2020 or 2021 were.

But with actual map time at a premium in 2021, there was one fig that could’ve made 2021’s favorite list but didn’t stand out immediately until it got play this past year — potential “late bloomer” faves.

So I introduce this year’s list with an addition to last year’s, again asking “Is this figure Fair, Useful and Nerdcore?” and “When I see this figure, do I immediately wish I had a team to fit it on?”

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Omega (House of X 056)

200 points

What’s Fair: With the nerfing of Pulse Wave since spring 2021, ultimate Karima here is a lot less scary than she was upon her January 2021 release. And 200 points is like your whole team.

What’s Useful: But her potential 20 clicks of life tho. And Cosmic Energy. Not a truly bad click on her dial — and she can boost her stats on the few that are borderline.

What’s Nerdcore: Heroclixin’ board member Chadd knows how much I like Sentinels.

Folks think Nimrod is the baddest Sentinel, but it’s really her.

——————

OK. On to the actual list, which is somewhat more than the usual top 10 but fewer than the 20 I picked for 2020.

Alphabetical order.

——————

Blue Marvel (Avengers Forever 031)

150 points / 50 points

He’s Fair: Though he’s a Hypersonic Speeder at full, his value is pretty modest. He’s gonna put himself at some risk to extend across the board. And his traited PW doesn’t work with HSS.

And Useful: But TRAITED PW THO. And also Force Blast, which means he can pinball a whole squad through their defenses and ruin formations. He’s also difficult to snipe, as he heals from any range attacks on his person (hit or miss) and has a pair of STOPs. He’s Cosmic Energized, gets some Outwit down dial (or to start when at 50 points) and

How He’s Nerdcore:  He’s a member of the Ultimates with Black Panther, America Chavez, Captain Marvel and Monica Rambeau. Can FINALLY play the squad again.

Back in 2015, WK made a first pass at this character which ranked as one of the worst of that year and HAS NOT AGED WELL. This version stands as an apology for that one. And it is heartily accepted. If I were ranking this year, he’d be likely in the top five.

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Captain America (Disney Plus 056)

125 points / 75 points / 50 points

Is he Fair? Maybe on his lower dials, which lack the big damage and armor of the top. Otherwise, this figure is way OP for the character. If I were still doing pure F.U.N. factor ratings, he wouldn’t make it. This is a meta piece (if a lower-tier one, due to his unwieldy cost and so-so speed value while HyperSpeedy.)

But Very Useful: As I said, he’s OP for the character. Stealthy and anti-Stealthy (thanks to Avengers Initiative). 19 DV Invincible  plus the Energy Shield/Deflection from his no-cost Cap’s shield equipment. A HUGE 12 AV 4 damage first click — 13/5 in close! — and Defend+Toughness he can share with his pals. But of course what puts him over the top is his ability to drag a target he punched along with him:

Add to that his Willpower and ability to generate a Redwing drone for an extra HSS Precision attack or Outwit — or both — and you see why he makes the meta list.

How He’s Nerdcore For Me: I first saw this piece about 7 months before release and bought it almost as soon as I could. No regrets. He’s now a fixture on my competitive Cookout team of all-Black characters. And he led that team to a win in WizKids’ World Championship — a bucket-list item for me! (And something I need to write about here.)

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Captain Carter (Disney Plus 041a)

95 points

Britain’s Fairest: She’s not nearly as busted as the prime variant, so she’s not going to make opponents quake after they notice she lacks the green ring. At 100 points (because you WILL play her with the shield), she’s a lot of a team and outdone by a lot of smaller pieces.

A Usefully Stiff Upper Lip: She really is good for smaller pieces, though, not only Defend-ing them via trait, but boosting the DV of friends NOT next to her if they’re within her 6 range. Speaking of which, she can punch or Quake at that 6 range (via SP Giant Reach:6) and knock back in any direction.

Nerdcore: A breakout star of the What If cartoon. She’s a nicely straightforward piece I didn’t expect to like so much.

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Falcon (Avengers Forever 006)

50 points

Fair Flight: At just 50 points, this Charge piece isn’t frightening anyone, not even if playing with his team up card to get free attacks if a Captain America hit.

Useful in the Skies: But Improved Movement: Characters means he’s rarely getting tied up, giving his 50% Super Senses trait vs. range more of a chance. He mid-dials to Running Shot with Perplex and ends with a bit of Willpower+CCE.

How He’s Nerdcore For Me: In a year with Sam Wilson as the scale-tipping Disney Plus Cap America seen above (not to mention the SR Falcon from the same set), this one would seem a letdown. And yet, it’s this perfectly F.U.N. fig I’m always considering for teams when I need a more pure Falcon to run.

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Hulk (Avengers Forever 045)

200 points

Hulk Fair! Giants are big ol’ targets, and Hulk here is no exception. He’s also 200 points and still not quite the total tentpole needed at that cost, especially without constant Outwit protection.

Hulk Useful! But Gamma Clap, though! It’s almost the perfect power for such a big target. It’s so good for friends, too, since it triggers when adjacent friendlies are targets. He also gets a few STOPs that do give him Safeguard:Outwit on those clicks. It’s a great balance that keeps him viable without the extra cost (and unF.U.N.ness) of being completely immune to the black damage power.

Puny Nerdcore!: Across the two decades of HeroClix, Hulk has rarely gotten definitive versions. This is one of them.

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Isca the Unbeaten (X-Men: X of Swords 031b)

45 points

Fair? Kinda, For Someone Who Can’t Lose: Despite being a prime, she’s a Charge piece. Not scary on the outset and, being a Rally figure, it takes some time for her to ramp up.

Useful? Yeah. Her Mutant Power Is Inability To Lose: But when she does, though. Rally on any 4 means she could get them pretty fast, and then use them on her attacks, give herself critical hits, or make attackers miss her. She’s also got Invincible, Precision, Exploit and, later, Steal Energy and Empower. She’s a wild card and has a STOP click with +1 Super Senses if there’s a 4 in the attack. Finally, she’s a Sword Bearer, so for 5 points extra she can wield one of the Sword Equipments to give more ways to win. I prefer her story-accurate sword, Mercy (either version), which allow you, the player, to either reroll an attack on her or her attacks, respectively.

She’s So Nerdcore I Can’t Lose Playing Her: So none of the four (!) versions of her actually really represent her inability to lose. But man do I have F.U.N. trolling over it — whether I’m winning or losing. And as of this writing, I have not yet lost a game with her on the team.

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Kurse (War of the Realms 035)

60 points

She’s Fair: A 3-damage melee piece, even with Sidestep and a bit of Giant Reach, isn’t that rude to see.

She’s Useful: But she’s not that polite. Difficult to hurt from range, courtesy of an unOutwittable SP, she’s also smart and bears Outwit and Sidestep. So she can ‘Step around a corner, counter a defense and then Charge in with that Giant Reach. Later she gets Flurry, Steal Energy and Close Combat Expert. All for just 60 points!

How She’s Nerdcore For Me: I was surprised to learn this Kurse is a chick! That only makes her cooler in my book.

———

Mindful One (Avengers Forever 030)

40 points / 25 points

Fair-Minded: Super Strength is not good. And Charge figures die. So despite his Mystics TA, Mindful One alone isn’t going to be super-unF.U.N. to deal with.

Of A Mind To Be Useful: But he’s never alone, is he? At 40 points, he’s an 18 Defend piece who gives the Defended Mystics TA (not at 25 points, though). He spawns Mindless Ones with Rally dice (on friendly 1 rolls). And he’s a rare medic who can fight, either Charging in or shooting from 4 out.

How He’s Nerdcore For Me: I originally just wanted to team him with old Mindless Ones for mindless goodness. But actually fielding him won him this spot among the year’s best favorites.

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Miss America (Avengers Forever 050)

50 points

Young and Fair: Her 8 Hypersonic Speed is not much, and her best use of it doesn’t pair well with TK, the usual power combo. So Miss America isn’t an unfriendly sight to see.

Avenger Useful: She’s one of the only HSS figs able to take friends along, making her a great taxi — one who can attack on the way! Or, after the melee has begun, she can evacuate pals with HSS’s second move (though not far, thanks to her low-ish 8 Speed). She also brings Empower and later CCE to do her own punching.

Nerdcore: The original America was one of my all-time favorite clix pieces, but this one overshadows her in a number of ways. I can’t say I like this year’s model better, but I really really like it and honestly don’t know when I’ll reach for the 2017 version over it. But in any case, she’s a member of the Ultimates with Black Panther, America Chavez, Captain Marvel and Blue Marvel AND on the Young Avengers. She’s a fixture on both teams for me.

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Miss Minutes (Disney Plus 029)

35 points

“Time’s Up!”

Fair Timeline : No Incap piece is anything to be worried about.

Useful Timeline: But she’s a decent one, with 12 AV and 2 targets. She also brings Prob Control to the force, with the ability to “teleport” next to blocking terrain in her 6 range. She’s also a potential Mission Point threat if the other force has multiples of a same-named character in range+LOF.

Nerdcore Time: Taylor, there’s finally an Incap piece I love. This shady little robot AI just tickles me that she exists in clix.

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Storm (X-Men: X of Swords 001)

45 points

Fair Weather:  For best results, she often has to put herself a bit in harm’s way. Still, with no moving attack, this Storm is not going to wreck anyone’s team with damage.

Uncannily Useful: But she’ll wreck formations with ease, being able to move and FREE Force Blast in any direction. She’s also Stealthy and Perplexing. And she’s a Sword Bearer, so +5 points can make her a Blades piece.

Nerdcore: Representing Storm stealing the sacred sword Skybreaker from Wakanda, this is an interesting take on the character. Not the perfect Storm we’ve still not gotten in clix — I want one who can make whole hurricanes — but more than OK.

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Valkyrie (War of the Realms 042)

70 points

Fair (not really a) Maiden: Very few Charge pieces should ever be a terror — not unless they have the full-Speed variety of the power — and Val here doesn’t. She’s also a pricey BCF figure, and weak to Exploit Weakness in particular.

Valhalla-level Useful: Where she shines is in damage reduction. She can weather penetrating damage from non-adjacent foes (that includes EW blows from Giant Reach!) and reduce +1 damage from adjacent ones (though not the aforementioned EW or other penetrating attack from them). But maybe she doesn’t mind fighting a crowd: Her SP allows her to use BCF against multiples.

Nerdcore: I’ve loved this Tessa Thompson-inspired version of Valkyrie since the Thor: Ragnarok film and it’s nice to get the comics analogue in clix. She’s got Exiles keyword — that’s how I played her during Games With Chadd this past summer — and she’s an addition to the The Cookout!

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The Watcher (Disney Plus 101b)

40 points

He Sees All Is Fair: He starts with a 10 AV but just 1 damage. He ends with a 3 damage but just 8 AV. And with neither his Outwit nor his Perplex ever making him a credible offensive threat, he’s not a frightening presence on the other team.

But boy is this guy Useful. First of all, his line of fire is never blocked, so he is a supreme TK figure. With 8 range, he can be a surprising attacker (though again, not much of one) and an Outwit threat at all times. That’s because he can pick any of his clicks at the beginning of the turn — including a superb 20 Defend click at end dial. Add to that his bearing Mystics TA, and he’s worth most of his 40-point cost.

How He’s Nerdcore For Me: This is the What If version of Uatu, so he gets added to the Black Box of Black-themed characters. He was a key addition to that themed team I took to Worlds this year.

———

I didn’t rank ’em this year, same as last. But if I had to choose right now, my top 10 would be:

No. 10. Kurse

No. 9. Hulk

No. 8. Storm

No. 7. Miss Minutes

No. 6. Captain America

No. 5. Valkyrie

No. 4. Mindful One

No. 3. Miss America

No. 2. Blue Marvel

No. 1. Isca the Unbeaten

———

I might try a new version of something I did last year while still under quarantine: Play this year’s team of faves against the prior year’s.

150 AV4E031 Blue Marvel
125 MSDP056 Captain America
95 MSDP041A Captain Carter + shield 5
50 AV4E006 Falcon
200 AV4E045 Hulk
45 XMXS031B Isca the Unbeaten + sword 5
60 WOTR035 Kurse
40 AV4E030 Mindful One
50 AV4E050 Miss America
35 MSDP029 Miss Minutes
45 XMXS001 Storm + sword 5
40 MSDP101B The Watcher
70 WOTR042 Valkyrie

= 1020 points

versus

HoX053 Captain Britain 80
WW80067 The Commissioner 50
WW80045 Dr. Poison 40
WW80024 Harley Quinn 50
WW80054 Lex Luthor 50
A4E026 Loki 60
HoX051 Maggott 40
MP20-001a-200 Master Mold 200
A4E041 Monica Rambeau 150
XRF007 Multiple Man 40
XRF007 Multiple Man 40
XRF007 Multiple Man 10
A4E015 Onome 40
A4E072 Rikki Barnes 75
A4E047b T’Chaka II 45
XRF008 Sentinel 25
XRF008 Sentinel 25

= 1020 points.

I’ll let y’all know if it happens.

In all fairness, across 20 years of HeroClix, what’s considered “bad” has changed a lot. The worst pieces in 2002 are WAY more terrible than this past year’s junk.

But someone’s gotta be in last place, so here we go, in no particular order because who wants to do all that work???

——

Noh-Varr (Avengers Forever 034) 50 points

Bearing trait Super Senses, IM:Elevated and Running Shot+Energy Explosion+RCE, he doesn’t seem bad at all for the points, especially with a STOP click.

…which, instead of saving him, actually insta-KOs him unless he’s by himself. It’s kinda comic accurate, but WOW.

• BOTTOM LINE: His other SP on that click is “This Fight Is Over” and in his case, that’s actually usually true.

——

Redroot the Forest (X-Men X of Swords Storyline 039) 70 points

Oh, I want to like this one so much. FREE damage and terrain wreckage seems good.

But she has to get into range. THEN get to POWER Smoke Cloud — while hiding in Stealth with no other defenses (though she can Defend others) — then hope she can actually do something to an enemy. Her 3 target Incap would be great if she had ANY range or Charge. But nah … she’s a mess, esp. at her top dial.

• BOTTOM LINE: She might be able to sneak into effectiveness at 40 points, but overall she’s kinda rotten

——

Lockheed (X-Men X of Swords 008)  45 points

Another Defend piece. He can slip in a FREE attack when enemies attack. But it doesn’t function with his Energy Explosion, and that makes him not a great use of 45 points.

• BOTTOM LINE: I’d love him at 25 or maybe even 35 points. As is, this tiny dragon is bloated

——

Synch (X-Men X of Swords 019) 70 points

When this dial was revealed, I thought my prayers for a proper Synch had finally been answered. He could finally — FINALLY — copy the powers he needs like the in the comics. But then I saw: “This turn” meaning he’s virtually defenseless: No reducers, no Stealth, no Shape Change, No Senses to help him survive opponents’ turns.

Plus, despite a free healing trait, he needs OTHERS to heal first to use it.

And on top of all else, he can only copy displayed powers — doesn’t key off SPs or traits — and those only from characters who aren’t giant OR colossal OR tiny OR pogs OR enemies OR out of line of fire

• BOTTOM LINE: He looks really bad next to the similarly powered Hope Summers. A 70-point fig should be more self-sufficient and not just dead/defenseless if he happens to be the last guy standing.

Same problem goes for the OTHER Synch:

Synch (Hellfire Gala 007) 75 points

No defenses AGAIN. Depending on teammates AGAIN (this time for them to roll for the Gala trait so he can copy ONE of some X-Man’s standard power). And SP Perplex that does himself very little good. He’s also wasting points on Incap for some reason.

• BOTTOM LINE: Maybe don’t waste points on him for any reason (outside a Hellfire Gala team)

——

 Magik (X-Men X of Swords 102a) 30 points

Leap/Climb is a spectacular waste of a power on a character with Flight. Even as a training figure, that’s a spectacular waste, as the only extra benefit is easier breakaway from Plasticity, which doesn’t even show up in the starter set she’s from.

• BOTTOM LINE: What a spectacular waste

——

Monica Rambeau (Disney Plus 026) 45 points

She’s there to sort of defend other allies. But she kinda needs the same defense boost she offers others for her price point, esp. since she’s doing zip else with 0 range and zero moving attack powers. Her common variant is better at nearly half the cost.

• BOTTOM LINE: She’s a zero

——

Thor (War of the Realms Fast Forces 001b) 75 points

This many points for this few clicks? And his cool SP doesn’t show until he’s hit hard. And then he’s just got Toughness to protect him before he’s an easy KO.

• BOTTOM LINE: UNWORTHY.

——

Moon Knight (War of the Realms 032) 70 points

His trait depends on him getting hit, which is … less than ideal. His SP depends on him hitting. But it’s not on his top dial where, ideally, he’d stay — and with him being a Running Shot piece, the SP’s emphasis on melee powers like Quake, BCF and Steal Energy seems wasteful. Maybe could’ve left them off and saved 10+ points.

• BOTTOM LINE: I don’t even have anything cute to say

——

Iron Man (Avengers Forever 014) 50 points

Soooo I think the point is he’s supposed to stand in place and defend allies or something. Which would be OK with longer range, but 6 is really average. Then later, Outwit shows, which would be way more welcome top dial — and, again, with longer range.

• BOTTOM LINE: It’s giving me bad old Iron Man fig energy

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Hulk (War of the Realms 009) 70 points

Basically a tie-up fig for 70 points. He’d be effective at 70 points with Improved Movement to ensure he can get in faces. Or Plasticity — even at 70 points — to keep there. But without those things, he’s just a highly ignorable 70 points. Or 70 points you need to dedicate another piece or pieces to make work.

• BOTTOM LINE: Hulk mashed

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Empath (X-Men X of Swords 008)  75 points

At 75 points, this is a single-target Mind Control piece that HAS to land that attack or he’s utter trash, Masterminding attacks to teammates who are probably more useful than he is. Meanwhile, his low dial lacks the stats to make him effective.

• BOTTOM LINE: He’s a bottom feeder.

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OK, that’s enough of this garbage. I’m going to hold my nose and use each of them effectively on a team in the coming months.

But before that, next up: Heroclixin’s top 10 (or so) favorites of 2022.

In principle, legacy cards are a F.U.N. way to bring some old pieces back into Modern/Silver play, rework some old figs that never really worked right before (or don’t anymore due to rule changes).

In practice? Well, let’s see. Here’s the latest batch, from 2022’s Avengers Forever set.

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L006 Black Knight
(Fantastic Forces, 2005)

He’s prime TK for the team. He also bears Outwit (and immunity to same) with IT:Hindering. Mind Control (with +1 AV against multitargets) is hampered a little by 6 range, as is his second damage power to shut down POWER actions. Fortunately, he doesn’t need LOF for that SP. His last click is Charge with 12 AV and BCF and Battle Fury. … His short, unarmored dial is his one weakness, especially for [70] points.

Hi there: It’s our usual checklist. And possibly our last, as the old files and templates were lost in the latest computer crash. Unsure if we can get the old programs used to build them back.

Downloadable PDF below.

AvengersForeverCHECKLIST