by ·0 Comments

Number 10
Miranda_Tate-1
Miranda Tate (Dark Knight Rises 012)

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HER EVERY WEEK

I don’t, actually.

Let me explain. As I was thinking on this list, I found myself having trouble with the #10 piece. There were so many candidates: Black Lightning, John Blake, Taskmaster, Agent Coulson, Thing, Cosmo.

But aside from the first, none of those leap to mind to play, ever, unless a specific keyword of theme calls for them. And even if I spot them in the tackle box while pawing for another figure, none make me stop and consider it the way Ms. Tate does.

I like Miranda Tate because, like the character, the piece is all finesse and positioning. The ability to wildcard adjacent enemy TAs (via her “A Secret Agenda” trait) is novel but requires careful play. Fortunately, she’s got solid combat values plus Perplex to help. She’s not a point-and-click figure but can have an outsize effect on a game.

And hey…Marion Cotillard.

WHY I DON’T
Her keywords are limited to Martial Artist and Spy — neither are favorites. Her 70 points are also a bit hefty for her fragile dial. It’s also tough to come up with cute F.U.N. themes to include her on. (Business Suits, maybe?)

I’M PLAYING HER NEXT
My venue’s having a “Breakfast Club” scenario where no one can share keywords. She’s on the team…with her secret agenda.

_____

Number 9
Stranger
Stranger (Galactic Guardians 043)

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK
When the Infinity Gauntlet finals came around, I used him. With only average combat values ill-fitting his high price, one may wonder why I tried him against the likes of Sentroid and Chanos.

The fact that I came close to maybe beating both is testament to the unique strengths of The Stranger.

  • See, I picked him against Chanos because even though the mad Titan’s starting-area killbox WOULD get first shot on Stranger, it couldn’t possibly KO him. Instead, Stranger would almost surely land on his Attack SP, allowing him to pick any PAC power for the turn, such as Hypersonic Speed to hit the key foe and run out of the killbox.

    And if not for the critical miss I rolled in the process, I might’ve had a decent shot at beating that team, what with Stranger’s ability to heal up by picking Regen or ensure the best defenses for the situation.

  • Stranger also has a great trait allowing him to become either giant or colossal-sized at the beginning of turn. The former ability, one of my favorites anyway, gives him extra LOF when needed and the latter permits him to act via the Colossal Stamina ability while double-tokened to press the attack.

    And if I’d remembered to pick the Colossal symbol when I had Sentroid on his LAST TWO CLICKS, I might’ve easily taken him down for the win instead of getting wiped out the next three turns.

Though these losses to two of the most ultra-meta teams of late summer/early fall by mischance and user error were unfortunate, they underscore why Stranger is a favorite:

  1. He’s not a point-and-click-your-opponent’s-dial by any means. Makes him Friendly for a 200+ point Power Cosmic tentpole.
  2. But he’s super Useful with that Special Power.
  3. And he fits my Nifty “This Team Is Strange” theme. (The rest of the above IG team: Both GG Dr. Stranges and a trio of Astral Stranges.)

WHY I DON’T
I typically only bring out the Stranger for big-point, higher stakes games that usual. He’s about as close as I ever get to powergaming.

I’M PLAYING HIM NEXT
On the next high-point Strange and Stranger team, this time adding Hugo Strange, Adam Strange and the new ASM Dr. Strange. Should be……………………………………strange.

____

Number 8
AVMHulk
Hulk (Avengers Movie 202)

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK
After a decade of Hulk figures that mostly disappointed (being zero-range figs in a game weighted in favor of shooters), this movie-inspired one finally got the jade giant right. Fantastically powered AND balanced, Hulk is character-accurate fun without being broken.

WHY I DON’T
Unfortunately, he’s so strong enough that he’s not enough F.U.N. to break out on a regular basis — don’t want to be That Guy. He’s also so many points that he eats up the points room for his non-Avengers keywords (Brute and Monster), and I’m not that big a fan of the Avengers keyword. In a bit of a blow to his ability to run with fellow Monsters, his Battle Fury keeps him from working with Mole Man’s special Mind Control. Finally, he’s been a bit overshadowed by the Worldbreaker version of Hulk released last fall.

I’M PLAYING HIM NEXT
On an Avengers Movie team. Would also like to run an all-Hulk squad sometime, if I can ever get the points to work out.

___

Tomorrow, numbers 7, 6 and 5 of Heroclixin’s favorites.

by ·0 Comments

Finally, it’s time for my favorite Top Ten list of these annual new year retrospectives: My Top Ten Faves of the past year! As in previous installments I’ll hit the following talking points:

  1. Why I like this figure and would like to play it every weekend
  2. Why I don’t actually play this figure every weekend
  3. When and how I’m planning to play this figure, possibly this weekend

And also as before, I open this feature with a figure released in the prior year that came out too late to make the list it might’ve belonged to:

Lex Luthor

LEX LUTHOR (Superman Fast Forces 004)

The greatest criminal scientist of the DC Universe and sworn enemy of Superman!

_____

WHY I WANT TO PLAY HIM EVERY WEEK:

I love that Lex as jailbird was finally represented in HeroClix in the full Superman set. But like his archfoe, Lex was based on his All-Star Superman version and thus saddled with a Superman-level powered “stop” click to represent his electric-chair-activated super serum in that storyline.

But that’s not the mainstream Universe Lex. He’d NEVER let himself actually lose a death penalty trial. 🙂

Anyway, I was even gladder to see a more normal, less apocalyptic Lex in this 50-point model. He’s a better fit for teams and plays much like this ultimate schemer ought to:

  • Allying with others  (using his Calculator wild card status)  whom he might use to defeat Superman by using Enhancement to help them shoot, or Perplexing other stats as needed);
  • Staying in the shadows (via Stealth);
  • and, best of all, using Mastermind to turn on his temporary allies to save himself in classic Lex fashion, regardless of their  cost if they don’t have more than 100 points on him.

I like this sort of finesse piece.

_____

WHY I DON’T:

His super-Mastermind requires him to be using the same TA. That rules out a lot of characters, and he’s only as good as his team. He’s also been a bit overshadowed by Lex Luthor (10th Anniversary 020), an even better representation of the character at his at-large strongest.

_____

I’M NEXT PLAYING HIM ON:

Either a Legion of Doom team  or a team of all Lex Luthors:

Justice League Lex 161
Orange Lantern Lex 160
Alex Luthor 113
Force Field Lex 160
All-Star Lex 107
and this Lex to make a 751-point team to fill out with ATAs, feats and/or Resources.

____

Join Heroclixin’ in Valentine’s week for more figures I loved in 2012.

by ·1 Comment

Readers who caught yesterday’s post on time might’ve noticed it was titled as a draft. I was literally falling asleep at the keyboard and not only forgot to fix the name, but actually forgot I’d scheduled it to publish! I was fretting a bit thinking I had forgotten to publish it, then got online to see my error.

____

At the nadir of the list of 2012’s worst pieces is the late, not-so-lamented :

#1

marvelgirl1960s
MARVEL GIRL (Marvel 10th Anniversary 006)
Miniskirt Jean Grey does one thing: Telekinesis. (Yeah, she can heal on her first click. So what.)
TK is her only job. Possessing zero range, her using TK is the only way to maybe activate her Battlefield Promotion when she dies.
Wait. What? She only promotes when she DIES?
Well, that’s actually character accurate. But with her 9 AV sinking low and lower, the chance of her racking up enough tokens to succeed if she gets KO’d are slim. And no player’s going to KO her if it can be helped, knowing Dark Phoenix is in the (fire) wings.

So. 54 points for a character you really just push to sling people around is just a waste. And she’s the worst.

____

Enough of the torrid and the horrid. For this week leading into everyone’s favorite Hallmark holiday, Valentine’s Day, I’m going to focus on 10 figures from 2012 I loved. As has become standard, next post will share a holdover from 2011 that first saw play in 2012 and has a place in my Heroclixin’ heart.

by ·0 Comments

Now we really start bottom-feeding.

 #4

RACHEL DAWES (Dark Knight Rises 205)

I mentioned her last summer in my rant about the overpoweredness of The Dark Knight Rises set, but my complaint was centered solely on the character inaccuracy of this dial. It’s really not very good.

(Kinda like Katie Holmes as an actress.)

(Kinda like Katie Holmes as an actress.)

  • She’s not getting much use out of Leadership at her 40-point price.
  • Incap’s not too useful at 0 range.
  • She loses Stealth to be a medic…a subpar one with 8 AV.

Sure, she makes adjacent pals immune to Poison and Incap. But only one of those powers is scary. Meanwhile, she’s got to push and push (ignoring her Willpower) to get to a decent AV to use Support. So just do yourself a favor and pretend this Rachel is the one that gets blown up in the 2nd movie.

Along the lines of civilians-in-a-superhero-game…

_____

#3

LUCIUS FOX (Batman 033)

This was almost a double feature starring BOTH versions of Lucius Fox: this one and the Dark Knight Rises version. But the latter is properly costed well under 40 points for his civilian bystander weakness and can be useful for his special Leadership (which works way better than stupid Katie Holmes’) and Perplex and then Outwit.

The non-Morgan Freeman’d Fox also brings Perplex and Outwit to the table. But he’s paying 42 points for it and his power to not get shot at first thing in a turn. So opponents will move an inconsequential piece first and THEN blast him.

I suppose one could use him to tie up a dangerous opponent. But with his crap stats, you’ll just be surrendering his support powers and his 42 points and make him an obituary.

LuciusMissing

_____

 #2 

MADAME XANADU (New 52 Justice League 018)

She’s a Mystic with Perplex, and one of the cheapest. This makes her better than a lot of previous years’ Worst lists. Yet she here tops 2012’s crap heap. Why?

  • No defense other than Mystics.
  • In fact, she’s completely soft and vulnerable to attack.
  • A largely wasted 10 AV. Being so soft and having 0 range work at cross purposes. In order to fight, she must be in close. No savvy opponent will let her in close, and she won’t live long in melee.
  • And then there’s her SP, which only removes tokens off adjacent characters who MISS an attack.
  • I repeat for emphasis — it only works when you’re failing attacks.
  • Oh, and she’s got to make a power action first. So you’re basically burning an action as a weak contingency if the ally misses. Otherwise, you just totally wasted an action and her ability to use themed team Probability Control (because you’re only going to play her on a Justice League or Mystical keyword team, if ever) to reroll a friend’s attack.

The only reason she isn’t #1 is that the ever-useful Perplex is followed by an impressive run of Regen paired with Prob Control, which can combine to keep her around longer than she should and force the opponent to take more Mystics damage trying to KO her.

But you shouldn’t be paying 62 points for the ability to maybe come back from damage she ought not be taking. The booby prize of the New 52 Rares.

(Literally)

I'm looking at your stat slot window, Madame.

I’m looking at your stat slot window, Madame.

One more left: the cruddiest figure of 2012. Tomorrow.

by ·0 Comments

Here’s three more of the year’s worst.

_____

 #7
Maul

MAUL (Batman 024)

The WildCATs’ big man is a big failure. He starts as a modest-stat Perplexer, then “hulks up” into a more Invulnerable type. The problem is that his AV doesn’t quite hulk up with him, and he loses the ‘Plex when he could really use it. Then he becomes a giant target, still without the AV he needs to contribute more than being the game’s biggest tie-up/meat shield.

At half the price, maybe he’d be better at the role. But no — 113 points he is, and it’s 113 points you might want to split between a real fighter and a real tie-up pawn.

He might get dumber and dumber as he grows, but maybe he’s still smarter than players who use him as the brick he looks like.

_____

 #6

Mindwarp_001

MINDWARP (New 52 Justice League 015)

He’s a two-trick pony, and only the first trick is any good:

  1. Phasing Prob Control. OK, that’s not bad.
  2. IF he has no action tokens and IF he can see an attacker and IF he can see the target, the target can use Super Senses. That’s a lotta IFs, and we’re still not done with ’em: IF the target actually dodges the attack with Super Senses, Mindwarp has to base the attacker. But PCers are best used at a distance, not up close. So it kinda ends up being a wash — or worse — even if it works.

45 points is just too much to pay for this. Lose him in warp space or something.

 _____

 #5

ORACLE (DC 10th Anniversary 017)

Oracle pieces have never been much for the battlefield proper — after all, she’s a paraplegic. But at least they’ve been great backfield support and, most of all, cheap.

This one? Not really.

She’s got a nifty trait that, like 2011’s #7 Top piece Professor X, allows her to draw lines of fire from fellow keyworded pals. But she’s more handicapped than her Marvel chair-bound counterpart:

  • 0 Range.
  • Using her complement of support powers (Outwit, Perplex, Prob Control) requires a dedicated power action…
  • …to pick ONE.
  • And all the oppo needs to do to shut that whole thing down is base her. She really can’t survive a hand-to-hand fight for long.

At 73 points, she needs to be a lot more potent than that.

I would make a crack here about her being crippled and having to crawl, but...oh, look....I...just did.

I would make a crack here about her being crippled and having to crawl, but…oh, look….I…just did.

Tomorrow we really start bottom-feeding.

by ·0 Comments

Compiling a list of 10 truly terrible pieces of crap this past year was harder than ever. Some of Heroclixin’s choices would’ve simply been completely average dials in years past. That’s the case with the first of the worst:

_____

#10

 Egghead_Marvel

EGGHEAD (Chaos War 004)

A rare cheap Master of Evil with Outwit and the Special Power to penetrate armor of Tiny Size and Great Size characters, Egghead could overachieve enough to not make this list. But he’s hobbled enough by his short 4 range and middling AV to ensure he can’t really take advantage of the SP — he’ll miss the Tinys and the giants will squish him if he ever gets near enough to fight. Even the MOE TA only serves to speed him toward death. Egghead will probably stay in most players’ box bottoms, lest he get cracked.

_____

 #9 slot is filled by two, sort of:

BLOOD BROTHER (Galactic Guardians 007)

61 points for Blood Brother’s distinct mediocrity as a solo brick almost earns him a spot on the list. But then, he’s not designed to be solo; he’s supposed to pair up with his bro!

So the good news is that his AV leaps from 9 to 10 with another Bro on the force, and all stats are +1 when they’re adjacent. On top of that, they can stave off death for the other when adjacent, too.

But that leads to the other problem: Keeping them adjacent means burning double the actions (via a taxi, TKer or their own move actions) to make this 122 points of your team just…OK. And you can’t hedge your bets by running more than two, either, because the bonuses only work when there are just two.

You could build around these weaknesses, but there are literally a thousand better choices than these bloody losers.

BloodBrosFall

_____

 #8 is the first tie:

BAD SAMARITAN (Batman 033)

Wild card status and Sharpshooter ability are wasted on poor AV and damage. Worse, you have to push to his best powers (super-Outwit and Penetrating/Psychic Blast, namely). With Stealth and Mastermind, he’s not completely useless, but at 83 points, he’s at least 25 points too high to make him worth using. Unlike the Good Samaritan, who helped a wounded traveler on the road, you should leave this guy lying there.

This fig is more proof that smoking is bad for you.

This fig is just more proof that smoking is bad for you.

At least he’s not as costly as this chick:

It's actually a toilet.

It’s actually a toilet.

MISTRESS DEATH (Galactic Guardians 044) is a great cannon with a staggering 13 range that’s anti-Stealth and shoots past friendlies with a full dial of Penetrating/Psychic Blast. But she’s the most immobile character in the game (4 Speed and can’t be TKed or taxied), and on the right map, she’s helpless and dies like the rest!

Tomorrow, three more of the worst.

by ·0 Comments

Compiling a list of 10 truly terrible pieces of crap this past year was harder than ever. Some of Heroclixin’s choices would’ve simply been completely average dials in years past.

But we’re in the era of power leap, now. Completely average might as well equal total crap in some folks’ eyes.

We’ll start with a (dis)Honorable Mention that flirted with being the best of the worst:

The Sharpshooting Avenger (Avengers Movie Starter 005)

At first, this version of Clint Barton looks just fine: Running Shot with 10 AV, 3 damage and Willpower isn’t exactly chopped liver. He’s also got a nice trait giving him 3 targets to use his Incapacitate with.

  • Then you notice that trait drops his AV to 9.
  • And there’s only a short 5 clicks of life on his soft dial.
  • He’s also saddled with two team abilities: Avengers and SHIELD, neither of which really serve him very well.
  • The worst thing is that all this inefficiency cost 75 points.

Jeremy Renner isn’t truly a bad piece, though. It’s just that there are close to 100 other figures in that price range — including a number named “Hawkeye” — that are better fielded than this one.

Yep...you're goin' DOWN. That little rope arrow ain't savin' ya.

Yep…you’re goin’ DOWN. That little rope arrow ain’t savin’ ya.

Enough intro. Join us next week for the descent into mediocrity.

by ·1 Comment

This sight is often terrifying to see in the rearview mirror.

police-blue-lights_0

This one can be terrifying to see on the HeroClix map.

COPcar

“What?” someone’s asking. “In a game that has the nigh-indestructible Bug (Batman V007) in it, you list the COP CAR as number one?”

Yeah, I do.

First, it’s got all the ridiculous advantages that all the new Vehicles do: auto-breakaway, taxi ability, range attacks out of adjacency and long, long dials full of long power runs at a heavy discount.

It’s also a great support piece, with Enhancement and Perplex for adjacent allies (who it’s likely taxiing anyway).

But it’s the Pilot Abilities that make the GCPD Cruiser (V004) leap to the top.

Cuffed To The Bumper, activated by any “GCPD” or “Gordon” piece, gives the car Plasticity coupled with a complete nerfing of the automatic breakaway abilities that usually render Plasticity useless. More than that: those characters can’t fly, giant-step or even TELEPORT past it! With a 2×4 base, this ability gives the Cruiser an unprecedented degree of board control!

Clear The Streets is even worse: by simply moving through an opponent’s square, the Cop Car can deal 1 penetrating damage (WHAT Impervious roll? Hello, Mystics?) and completely reposition it 3 squares away.

Just by MOVING. No attack roll needed. And with Willpower, do it twice.

The GCPD Cruiser is a silver bullet to so many tactics in HeroClix.

  • Stealth. Knock Batman in the open.
  • Mystics. “Clear The Streets” isn’t an attack.
  • Charge/multibase/Great Size’s ability to ignore knockback. “CTS” doesn’t care.
  • JSA/BatEnemy/Syndicate/Defenders chains. Busted.
  • Hypersonic/LeapClimb. Cuffed by bonds made of Kryptonite-irradiated adamantium alloy with multi-phase dampeners and mystical wards on ’em, apparently.
  • Damage reducers.
  • Attack avoiders (Shape Change, Super Senses, Combat Reflexes).

And probably more I forgot to name. There are some crazier combos out there, but none are encapsulated in one piece like this, and the Cop Car probably goes a ways toward shutting many of those combos down anyway.

At just under 100 points to activate all this, the GCPD Cruiser is the most torrid tactic of 2012.

____

OK, that end this “Top Ten” that replaced the usual “best of” list. But while this one showed the worst stuff players had to face, it in no way represents the actual worst pieces of 2012. That’s coming next week, as the retrospective continues! Stay tuned.

by ·0 Comments

Down to the #2 most torrid things in 2012 HeroClix: Ziran the Tester and Thanos Issue #1

I griped about Ziran back in October. Quoting (with some hindsighted copyediting):

“There are a lot of characters and game elements that can punish opponents with by using solid power combos, huge damage numbers, ease of attacking and staunch defenses. There aren’t many that punish opponents equally for building such into their team or largely leaving same OFF.”

The colossal’s stupid Testing trait harshly punishes any team built to effectively fight Ziran and any team that passes the test can’t effectively fight Ziran. As if fighting colossals weren’t hard enough already.

Thanos (Infinity Gauntlet 008, Issue #1) doesn’t even need a test. Just pick half the enemy force and click ’em like they’re taking Mystics.

Before the fight even starts.

Torrid. And yet not the most torrid tactic of 2012. That’s next time. Brace yourselves!