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Being a HUGE Aquaman fan, he was the first character I had to try out from the brand-new Brightest Day Action Pack. I did so in a friendly home game against a pal, who played his own BD figs Martian Manhunter, Aquaman, Deadman, Hawkgirl and Captain Boomerang versus my Atlantis-themed team:

Namor (Secret Invasion) 150
Tempest 116
Aquaman (Brightest Day) 105
Atlantean Warrior 35
Atlantean Warrior 35
Atlantean Warrior 35
Walter “Prof” Haley 7
Dolphin 6
Mera (Crisis) 6
+ Blue Lantern 5
+ Opened Hydrant 0
+ Dynamostat 0
= 500 points.

This was Modern Age, so no feats or battlefield conditions. Thomas won the map roll, so he picked the Crater map.

Fortunately, I  knew how I wanted to approach this not-so-watery map: by placing my Opened Hydrant in one of its special squares to ensure my team was always well-hydrated. :) Thomas, for his part, placed his Yellow Lantern in the other square to keep me from taking it out.

Thomas moved his force out, ready to Charge any of my team that entered my Hydrant-generated pool. I kept my important pieces back and Charged (unsuccessfully) all four foes in the Crater with Atlantean Warriors while Tempest Barriered Martian Manhunter from raining down Psychic Blast damage from the ledge. By mid-game, Thomas had lost Aquaman and Hawkgirl.

Things went a bit south for me, though, when Martian Manhunter got hit to his Hypersonic Speed clicks. Suddenly, Thomas had all the offensive and mobility advantages — flight, range, move+attack and the high ground — forcing me to slowly advance while Thomas could take shots at will to whittle down my Aquaman, the only real threat to him now that Namor had been knocked off his Flight clicks. Not even my picking up Thomas’s Indigo Lantern object or his rolling a crit miss with the Manhunter could stop him!

Finally, the turning point: after getting hit to his range SP, Aquaman took a shot at Deadman. My plan was to get to Aquaman’s Support to maybe heal Namor or one of the Atlantean Warriors. But…

  1. My push to heal failed.
  2. Aquaman was now stuck on his last click.
  3. I’d hit Deadman to his TK clicks, granting Martian Manhunter the extra range to reach a shooting spot past the team I’d surrounded Aquaman with.
  4. MM did not miss, KOing Aquaman.
  5. MM’s trait granted him Outwit, with which he countered Tempest’s Perplex, preventing the one character I had with range the ability to damage through MM’s Invulnerability, and MM blocked the ladder, blocking all my characters from reaching him or his teammates.

And that last action cost Thomas the game. Because:

  1. Tempest still had Incapacitate, and successfully pushed MM to his last click.
  2. Namor still held the Indigo Lantern, and threw it to KO MM.

That pretty well sealed my win, as Deadman and Captain Boomerang were now quite overpowered. (But Cap sure piled up the bodies before he went down!)

As I noted in my titanic Atlantis article, Brightest Day Aquaman truly makes the Secret Invasion Atlantean Warriors a force to reckon with. They lasted much longer both as meat shields and tie-up fodder than they should have because of fear of the feedback damage from Aquaman’s trait. That freed up Namor and Aquaman to deal the bulk of damage. Tempest was also quite key for his support powers of Barrier and Perplex.

I love playing Atlantis and swimmer teams. Can “Atlantis Attacks: Wave 2” be far off? 😉

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The last time I ran this comic-accurate team of the underage progeny of supervillain parents, I found them to be weak yet better than expected, sporting a lot of surprising tricks and mobility but lacking in offensive ability.
Now, with Web of Spider-Man, original members Chase Stein, Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes and Nico Minoru have a new friend in Victor Mancha, another teen “born” to a supervillain.
Victor Mancha 96
Nico Minoru 84
Karolina Dean 55
Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace 54
Chase Stein 45
Molly Hayes 43
= 377 points. Enough room for feats or the Runaways ATA (at 3 points per Runaway keyword).
__________
TOURNEY ONE: All characters must have the Kid of Teen keyword. No feats or BFCs.
Basically, this was identical to my “EAT IT, GRANDPA” scenario in the newest section of the site. Perfect time for this build:
Victor Mancha 96
Nico Minoru 84
Karolina Dean 55
Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace 54
Chase Stein 45
Molly Hayes 43
+ Runaways ATA 18
+ Yellow Lantern 5
= 400 points. With Molly safeguarding the AV-boosting Lantern, Victor would get better odds at landing hits and thus giving the rest of the team a resultant bump to their follow-up attacks. Here’s how it actually went:
FIRST, against Paul’s Kara Zor-El, Dream Girl, Shrinking Violet, X-23 (Web of Spider-Man), Wolfsbane (Web of Spider-Man) and Dawnstar, I landed the first hit against Dawny with a one-two shot on the wall she hid behind (thanks, Karolina-backed-by-Nico’s-Staff-of-One’d-Enhancement-followed-by-Victor). Kara was the next to fall victim to Victor’s shots.
Things got dicey, then. Nico got KO’d in short order by Shrinking Violet and Wolfsbane despite a surprise use of Poison against both. Vic stayed tied up for a long time, leaving the still-Invulnerable Kara, well…invulnerable to most everyone else. And Molly ended on the short end of the claws of X-23. Fortunately, I finally took down Kara, Wolfsbane and Vi in the end to make up for the losses of Nico and Molly.
SECOND and final round, I faced Conrad’s Nico, Firestorm (Justice League), Wiccan, Spider-Girl, Robin (“Emo” Crisis vet) and Vet Spider-Man (Ultimates).
The kid still plays recklessly even after a couple of years. (His math wasn’t so good this time, either.) He jumped Robin to a rooftop to counter Karolina’s Energy Shield/Deflection without making sure he’d stay Stealthed. The landed hit wasn’t worth it when Vic knocked Robin off the roof for 5 total damage. From there I used my superior rules knowledge to thoroughly pounce on every mistake he made.
Conrad actually got a little rules-lawyery when I forgot to declare Chase Stein’s Close Combat Expert. But hey, he’s keeping me honest, and if it helps him play better, I’m for it.
End result: I KO’d all but Firestorm and lost only Karolina and Gert & Old Lace. As winner, I got  LE Daken.
__________
TOURNEY 2: 400 points, Modern Age.
I used the same team in this casual home game.
FIRST ROUND I faced Andy, using Iron Man/War Machine, Peter Parker, Ben Reilly and a Nurse on my chosen Prison map.
Key moments:
  • As I hunkered down in a hallway, Andy made a crucial misstep in using his Kinetic Accelerator. He got a high enough roll to make a Running Shot attack on my Victor Mancha, but none of us saw it until well after his move action was made. (And, in any case, he should’ve declared the Running Shot power action from the start anyway, according to the rules of this special object — which he’s only started using because I use it all. The. TIME 😉 )
  • Vic’s counterattack on the big duo was a critical miss. Two moves later, I realized I could have used the first of my three themed-team Probability Controls to reroll the attack. Ugh.
  • But that was a blessing in disguise as it left Chase free to run the team away from IM/WM without pushing.
  • Between IM/WM’s frequent misses and Psychic Blasts/Outwits from Vic and Nico, the Runaways, er…ran away with a surprise victory, KOing the 300-point duo and Ben Reilly/Scarlet Spider while losing only Molly and Gert & Old Lace.
THEN I faced the host Thomas and his Cosmic Spider-Man, Batgirl (Arkham Asylum) and Checkmate Knight (white) on my choice of the Arena map.
Unable to target any of the opposing figures (due to their Batman Ally-granted Stealth) and with Cosmic Spidey able to, via his HSS and his never-blocked Line of Fire trait, attack my pieces at will, I spent much of the game cowering my team in one of the corners. Though I eventually got the  Checkmate Knight, my whole team was slowly wiped out in the least fun game I’ve ever played against a non-colossal character.
(Digressional rant: Cosmic Spider-Man is a point-and-click character…as in, “point it at your opponent’s characters and click their dials.” It takes no actual strategy to play him effectively. Heaven forbid you actually do use strategy when playing him, like Thomas did in this team build and game. Extreme HSS, 10 range, Power Cosmic, perma-Line of Fire AND a wild card? Really? In good conscience, I can never give fellowship to a player who uses him unless they’re using him against a powerful colossal figure.
Digression over. Back to Runaways.)

Piece-by-piece:
Chase doesn’t have the sexy AV or DV, but he’s such a key to this team it’s not even funny. His ability to carry the team in and out of trouble was invaluable in the first games (even if I didn’t use it so well a couple of times). It’s telling that he was the first target of the CSM team.
Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace were useless except for taking theme PCs and occasionally forcing drive-by damage with their AV SP; in both tourneys they were KO’d in a single round of attacks. I need to either use them to plug up Hypersonic Speedster lanes on indoor maps or hurl them at foes to using Nico’s occasional TK after Vic’s softened a target up for the Runaways ATA.
Karolina was little else but an attack magnet and damage sponge. But that’s OK now that she’s not the only shooter or natural 10 AV on the team.
Molly was hobbled by her Super Strength forcing me to choose between her doing extra damage with an object or being taxied. More often she served as the best tie-up piece on the team.
As Nico lives or dies, so too does the team. That’s how it used to be, anyway, before Victor Mancha, a true attacker for the team who combines elements the others only provided piecemeal before: double-digit AV and Running Shot for a ranged threat (Dean), good damage (Molly) and a way to deal with Invulnerability-plus (both Molly and Nico, sometimes), strong defenses (Molly), taxi skills (Chase, Dean), and via his Indomitabilty, extra actions (Nico). His being able to press the attack or hasten the retreat makes the rest of the team better as well.
I want to play a Golden Age version of the team with Feats and Battlefield Conditions. Contingency Plan is a given on Nico to boost stats as needed. Armor Piercing, while good with Gert & Old Lace’s auto-damage “Arsenic” SP, might be too many points to put on this inefficient duo. Instead, Gert’s BF Chase can get excellent use from Lunge to give him move+attack ability in addition to taxiing pals. The 5-point Yellow Lantern is probably still the best use of the remaining 6 points to help Vic land his all-important Running Shots. With no team abilities, both the Alpha Strike and Disbanded BFCs work well on this build.

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Y’all know I love me some Guardians of the Galaxy. Great title that I apparently learned about almost too late (it’s now “on hiatus”— read as: “soft-cancelled” — as of May  2010’s issue #25) that I got interested in because they’d been made into HeroClix. But until Web of Spider-Man, the tallest member of the team had been missing:

He is Groot.

I haven’t actually quite acquired the big guy, but a pair of friends generously loaned him to me for a game, knowing I liked the character. So I tossed aside the all-Web of Spider-Man team I was considering and instead ran this:

Groot 152
Phyla-Vell 138 + Protected 8
Star-Lord 90 + Contingency Plan 12
Rocket Raccoon 65
Rookie Aleta 51
Bug 44
+ Guardians of the Galaxy alternate team ability 30
= 590 points. This was a last-minute team build, so I didn’t have any clear idea of what the last 10 points ought to have been used for. I faced my friend (who loaned the Groot) using this team: Deadpool (Web of Spider-Man), Bullseye (Web of Spider-Man), Nightcrawler (Web of Spider-Man), Scarlet Spider (Web of Spider-Man), Peter Parker (Web of Spider-Man) and Solo on the new Bridge map in the set.

Key factors/moments of the game:

  • His team had a pair of 12 AV ranged shooters, each of whom could use Running Shot for good damage. So after landing a very solid first hit on Scarlet Spider, I retreated most of the team to avoid retaliation.
  • Unfortunately, I made a bit of a repeat of a FAIL moment (see my FAIL series from a while back) involving Bug and Phyla-Vell that again cost the heavy-hitting cosmic girl her life in this fight. Using Aleta’s TK, I pulled Bug back out of range (rather than push him to retreat) while leaving the pushed Phyla a few squares out, just in range of Nightcrawler.
  • Nightcrawler, in particular, has been the focus of much nerd rage due the figure’s unique ability to snatch enemy figures into the range of his teammates, and that’s exactly what happened here: Phyla was grabbed and then attacked until defeated by the end of the round despite having the Protected feat to absorb one of the blows. Lesson Learned (again): Don’t be so concerned about protecting Bug from attacks, especially at the expense of much, much costlier and important figures.
  • However, Nightcrawler is not without his own glass jaw. Despite his multiple layers of attack evasion (Stealth, Shape Change, high DV and Super Senses), he was the victim of a one-hit KO by Groot.

    "I AM GROOT!!!"

  • Sadly, my attack rolls with Star-Lord — normally my MVP — were all ice-cold and he simply couldn’t survive another turn himself. Lesson (re-)learned: Make sure Star-Lord stands in, directly in front of, or behind hindering terrain when he makes a move that will expose him to counterattack…that way I can use Stealth (if he’s hit hard enough) to be shielded from most followup shots (using Combat Reflexes to take knockback into the hindering if necessary).
  • Similarly, I mis-moved Groot somewhat, not immediately taking advantage of his Special Power allowing him to heal for free when occupying hindering or water terrain. And at the end of the game, he probably took a KO shot he shouldn’t have, since we all forgot that Earthbound/Neutralized giants lose giant status.
  • I didn’t mind so much, since he’d landed a near-KO punch on Bullseye a turn or two earlier. :)

    “GROOT!!!”

In the end, Aleta was my last piece standing and, after she finished off Bullseye, my game was done. As evidenced by the Lessons Learned above, I could have played the team better, but it was going to be an uphill fight in any circumstance. More to the point of the article: does Groot enhance the Guardians of the Galaxy? What does he need from them?

  1. He’s got great defense. Now that the GotG ATA doesn’t wipe out their natural Defenders TA, he can chain his 18 DV with weaker members.
  2. He’s another taxi. Being a giant affords that. But…
  3. He’s terribly slow. Without Aleta’s TK or the speed boost of the Kinetic Accelerator special object, it takes him a looooong time to get in the fight. This game wouldn’t have gone half as well without either of them.

So it’s a bit tough to use him. He’s priced as a tentpole but is frankly better used as a backfield diversion for ranged shooters or a shield for lesser pals to hide behind. But if he gets stuck on his immovable clicks while too far away to attack, it could be disastrous. One must really carefully gauge the tempo of the fight when running Groot.

But then, isn’t that just good gameplay?

P.S.: one more rule of using this character: [Non-optional] At least once per game, you must shout, in your best Cookie Monster voice, “I AM GROOT!” when giving or resolving an action involving this character.

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I open this article with a new philosophy on battle reports. I’ve spent many a column whining about various FAIL moments in this game. But an audiobook chapter of “The One-Minute Millionaire” persuaded me to stop brooding on my failures in the game or to blaming others, the dice, or even myself. No, instead, I simply treat every game, win or lose, as a learning experience and become a better player — and person — as a result.

Now. Let’s lock and load, ‘clixers!

For many months I shelved pretty much the entire Guardians line-up. (It’s not as though they’re underused or anything. :D) But with the revamped Alternate Team Abilities now in play, I thought it was time to see what the new Guardians of the Galaxy team ability could do for me.

  • At 5 points per character, it costs a bit more, making it harder to fit on the team.
  • But it no longer overrides their natural team abilities, making it a real boon to most of its members.
  • It can’t be wildcarded, so it’s better on pure GotG teams anyway.

Here’s the team I built:

Phyla-Vell 138
One-Who-Knows 123
Star-Lord 90
Rocket Raccoon 65
Yondu 53
R Aleta 51
Bug 44
+ Guardians of the Galaxy 35
= 599 points. (0 in feats). BFCs: Assembled, Wasteland.

I got to the venue early, so I tried this out against the judge in a friendly game. Well, “friendly” being a bit relative as Thomas fielded all three Batman figures from the Arkham Asylum set (the 208-point Sinestro Corps one, the 120-point “Lamppost” and 64-point “Batman Beyond” version), the Out of the Shadows Batman and the Crisis “AzBats” Batman. I won the map roll and picked the Space map and theme-cancelled Thomas’s Deep Shadows BFC.

The Space map’s unique rules would cut into Sinestro Batman’s Running Shot + 10 range advantage, and the lack of hindering terrain would leave the Bats little room to hide. Or, at least, that would have worked if not for Sinestro Batman’s free-action Smoke Cloud Special Power. With that, Thomas was able to thoroughly nullify the majority of my offensive ability, and every time I attempted to fight, he was able to concentrate multiple attacks per turn while I was limited usually to only one. Consequently, despite his rolling 2 0r 3 critical misses, he lost only AzBats and wiped my whole team out. 0-1.

It wasn’t quite as lopsided a game as it looked (and often felt) like, though. The new Guardians of the Galaxy team ability made the Outwit that four of the five Batmen wielded almost completely useless. And my team’s ability to chain defense values with Defenders TA helped them last a lot longer than they might’ve otherwise. If I hadn’t accidentally blocked the Telekinesis lane Aleta needed to move Phyla-Vell into a much-needed first strike up Sinestro Corps Batman…if I could have thus gotten rid of that free Smoke Cloud and thus opened up the Bats to the full firepower of the Guardians of the Galaxy…who knows what the end result may have been?

LESSON LEARNED: Don’t block my TK lanes!

Fortunately, that was only a bye-round match of the tournament, which officially began while Thomas and I finished our match. That meant I got a 0-point win and still retained my once-per-themed-team’s BFC cancel ability.

NEXT OPPONENT: Andy and his mighty Avengers:

Thor (Hammer of Thor), Thorbuster, War Machine (Hammer of Thor) and Captain America (Hammer of Thor). He picked the Graveyard map and tried to use the Disbanded BFC. Thankfully, I was able theme-cancel that team-killing card.

Things didn’t go well for him from the start, as his first-strike single-target Pulse Wave attempt on Bug critically failed. Thor landed a massive hit on Yondu way back in the starting area, but Aleta’s Barrier slowed down the coming assault, forcing War Machine to fly over the makeshift wall and deep into my territory to press the attack. Multiple uses of Probability Control (both natural and theme-team versions) made it a wasted attempt.

I concentrated all my efforts on Thor first with Star-Lord’s Galactic Marksman ability to deal 4+ damage when targeting multiple foes, eventually wearing the god of thunder down and out of the game. By the time Captain America made it into the fray, I was able to keep him tied down with Rocket Raccoon (who was well-defended with Super Senses). I then followed with a KO of War Machine and finally, a last attack on Thorbuster with Bug’s Exploit Weakness — the armored Avenger’s early miss on my cheapest character truly coming back to haunt. I lost no characters. 1-1 (2-0, officially)

LESSON LEARNED: I tried to use this map’s special “Open Graves” terrain, which blocks lines of fire to the character occupying it, to my advantage. But my opponent reminded me that ALL lines of fire, including friendly ones, are blocked, preventing a couple of attack opportunities. This could’ve been disastrous…and would be for certain opponents in future games.

FINAL OPPONENT: Zach and his Sinestro Corps

Superman Prime (borrowed from me, actually), Arkillo, Lyssa Drak and a Manhunter (Arkham Asylum).

The 11-year-old picked the Castle map, but I used my Wasteland BFC to turn much of it into rubble, leaving Prime nowhere to run and hide but also giving the Hypersonically Speedy, super-strong beast a very long “swing” range when coupled with Lyssa’s TK.

Fortunately, that first strike missed, and I was able to get Star-Lord into the fight properly by first using Galactic Marksman’s AV bonus to ping Superbrat off his Invincible click (which reduces all damage to 1) and then using it to lay down 4+ damage on the bruiser thereafter. Prime was sent running to the opposite end of the field.

Manhunter laid a critical hit on Star-Lord, but not enough to KO him, so he was able to help shoot down Arkillo (who’d Charged in on Bug and Rocket). One-Who-Knows tangled with Lyssa Drak and Phyla-Vell pursued Superman Prime, who got a perfect Regeneration roll to become a renewed threat.

In the end, though, the tide was too much against the Corps. I’d lost Bug but got the wipeout.

FINAL: 2-1 (3-0 officially)

LESSON LEARNED: Guardians of the Galaxy work best together when multiple pieces can make attacks each turn. Because there’s currently no starting or early Outwit on the team, they really have to dig through enemy defenses. That also means they’ve got to expose themselves to the enemy in turn.

This is why the new ATA is so excellent for them. Bug, Rocket Raccoon, Yondu and One-Who-Knows are much better when they don’t have to fret about their Super Senses or Energy Shield/Deflection being countered, and their ability to share their solid 17 DV helps the normally 16-or-less DV Star-Lord immensely. The big gun of the team, Phyla-Vell, can push freely as her Power Cosmic team ability allows — something she couldn’t do with the old GotG feat. And fragile little Aleta, who’s such a linchpin for this team due to her TK, holds up just a little better under fire.

My only regrets are that the ATA left absolutely no room for feats and that this build can’t be used in Modern Age. Perhaps the upcoming member Groot in the soon-to-be-released Web of Spider-Man set will help the team out!

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They’re looking down on me in contemptuous disappointment. (Except Venus. She’s laughing at me.)

Last time I wrote about this themed team, I fretted about feats. But in the new Modern Age format, feats (and battlefield conditions) are disallowed. Fortunately, the team still works fine — in theory — with just a few bystanders and Special Objects.

Jimmy Woo 46
M-11 59
Gorilla-Man 61
Namora 76
Marvel Boy (Hammer of Thor) 102
Venus 125
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
Thug (Avengers) 7
+ Yellow Lantern object 5
+ Indigo Lantern object 5
+ Tombstone 0

= 500 points. (Or so I thought.)

FIRST ROUND: As the odd player out, I took a bye round, facing the judge Thomas’s League of Assassins: Ra’s Al Ghul, Talia Al Ghul (both from The Brave and the Bold), Merlyn, a Man-Bat Assassin and two each of League Assassin and League Elite. My first mistake was not caring which end of the Stealth-friendly Dawn of Time map I picked. Bad decision against a dangerous sniper like Merlyn. I crept behind blocking terrain to go after safer game until Thomas came after me.

Marvel Boy had to break away for his life while only a clutch Regen roll saved M-11 from the junkheap. Gorilla-Man went down swinging, and Namora finally got untied to deliver a key blow to KO Ra’s al Ghul.

I lost Gorilla-Man and a pair of Thugs but KOed Ra’s, an Elite and the Man-Bat Assassin for the win. 1-0.

SECOND ROUND: Young Brandon was my opponent. I picked the BPRD water map against his Lex Luthor and Brainiac, Kryptonite Man, BN Atom and Goodness & Mercy. I lost Marvel Boy but somehow got a win anyway by KOing Goodness & Mercy. And it was a win I didn’t deserve, because although the boy has picked up the game very quickly, he was still green enough to thoroughly forget to use the Superman Enemy team ability, which could have wreaked utter and absolute havoc on my team. 2-0.

CHAMP ROUND: It was the League of Assassins again, this time vs. Andy. He ran Bronze Tiger, The Sensei, BB Talia al Ghul, BB Ra’s al Ghul, Merlyn, a Man-Bat, and finally some Assassins and Elites. He picked the Graveyard and arranged his team in a solid defensive formation.

This game was fraught with FAILs.

  • Namora never made an attack due to my inability to get within Charge range of possible targets and my unwillingness to push her…positioning FAIL.
  • I completely forgot about Gorilla-Man in a late-game tag-team round that absolutely cost Namora her life…actions FAIL.
  • I wasted round after round Incapping an Elite with Venus instead of, say, Mind Controlling the guy (or picking a different target to do her bidding)…supreme power-use FAIL.

So while I KOed Ra’s and Merlyn, the loss of my pogs, Marvel Boy, M-11 and Namora were way too much to handle.

FINAL: 2-1. Despite the technically winning record, this wasn’t a good outing for this team at ALL. In addition to the FAIL-infested final round and the preying on Brandon’s inexperience/TA FAIL, I was hobbled by my chosen Special Objects. The Yellow Lantern, while great for M-11 when he took a hit and Marvel Boy’s late-dial, kept the robot from making some needed close attacks early on. The Indigo simply sat uselessly in a corner somewhere. Worst of all, the Tombstone deprived Namora of her much-needed heavy object boost, as she inevitably was the first targeted. She really needed the Kinetic Accelerator to be able to get into the fight earlier.

But, as I insinuated earlier in the team build, I inadvertently overbuilt by a 7-point pog. It didn’t end up making a difference, but I say it’s appropriate that I didn’t win the tourney. I’d be having to return a prize.

I’m determined to run Atlas again in Modern Age. Next time, I’ll use only the Yellow Lantern (it’s still quite useful; if M-11 gets hit off Super Strength and onto Psychic Blast, he actually gets an AV boost), the Accelerator and a normal heavy object to give Namora a real shot in the fight. And I’ll remember that Venus has Mind Control, and use the power, darnit.

In the meantime, I ran half the squad in a rare 200-point tourney:

Wouldja believe this is pretty much the only image of these three together alone?

Namora 76 + Warbound 5
M-11 59 + Warbound 5
Jimmy Woo 46 + Warbound 5 + Book of Destiny 4
+ Kinetic Accelerator, Eleha’al Vine and Generator.

= 200 points. I’d never used Book of Destiny before, and I never will again, because of the first round: my pal Lenny with a typically min/maxxed team of Captain America (Hammer of Thor)+ Contingency Plan, Iron Fist (Secret Invasion)+ Lunge, and R Mantis. He picked the Graveyard map and set up most of his team behind the wall. Namora failed her Accelerated Charge on Fist and she fell to his and Mantis’ combined assault when the following M-11 was forced to drop Lenny’s Shield Disruptor nearby after Cap knocked him off Super Strength.

  • In retrospect, I completely should have left the Disruptor where it was. Namora was well out of its range and it affected neither M-11 nor Woo. FAIL.
  • It was also foolhardy to make the Charge without enough Acceleration speed to take M-11 along and ensure the Warbound effect could continue unabated. Warbound FAIL.
  • Finally, I neglected to put Namora in adjacent water terrain during the Charge, where she may have had a chance to heal via her SP. Positioning FAIL.
  • Oh, and Book of Destiny, which I thought would negate Iron Fist’s Super Senses? Well, it does nothing of the sort, so I cursed myself for not putting Inside Information on Woo like I started to, which would have been incredibly useful against this enemy team of Martial Artists. Bonus Feat FAIL!
  • Bad as those gaffes were, though, the biggest FAIL here was my actually forgetting to use Woo’s Leadership, robbing him of an absolutely critical shot attempt on a weakened Iron Fist that may have saved Namora. (Seriously, I’m the type who rolls for Leadership when it’ll have no effect at all, just so I won’t forget it when it matters. And here, I forgot it when it mattered. The hell?!?) EPIC FREAKING FAIL.

It came down to Woo against a battered Mantis and full-health Cap; the latter just stood by nursing Contingency tokens while Mantis healed on the Vine from all the damage Woo dealt her (enough to KO her at least twice if not for that dang special object). Woo won the battle but Cap won the war. 0-1.

SECOND round was against young teenager Conrad, who, despite playing steadily, is still a bit reckless and careless. He ran a one-woman team of LE Nova (Critical Mass) who, despite her Power Cosmic team ability allowing her not to be completely outactioned or Outwitted, simply could not stand against the effectiveness of my Warbound combo. Nova dealt damage to Woo but was a relatively quick KO. 1-1.

THIRD, I faced veteran Paul’s bug team: Wasp (Infinity Challenge)+ Contingency Plan, Yellowjacket (Secret Invasion human) and LE Ant-Man. I won the roll and picked the water map. Scored a first strike on YJ, and though he was able to retaliate and take down Namora, M-11 caught up to finish the job. Then it was a matter of rolling high enough to get Ant-Man or Wasp (with their DVs of 20 and 19, respectively), who had to come to me to stand a chance of winning. Both fell.

FINAL: 2-1. I actually ended up winning the tournament, so it wasn’t completely full of FAIL. Still, the sheer number and severity of mental pratfalls in that first round leaves me unsatisfied. Atlas will rise again!

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Left to right: Ant-Man, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Beast, Nova, Steve Rogers, Black Widow. (Not pictured: Sharon Carter (

I love the Secret Avengers lineup and comic. It’s the best of Marvel’s Heroic Age Avengers launches. But I thus far cannot truly make the team work in HeroClix.
Part of the problem is that they’re not all made, yet. Ant-Man Eric O’Grady is a different guy from the five versions of Dr. Hank Pym as Ant-Man in the game. He’s decidedly not smart enough to rate even the Supernova Rookie’s single click of Outwit or the Experienced’s and Vet’s multiple Perplex clicks. (Maybe one. But not multiple clicks of it.) The old Stealth-heavy LE, on the other hand, could work as O’Grady, who’s a bit of a coward and would hide out until the battle’s done. But the points don’t quite work out. Consequently, I tried crossing universes to sub in The All-New Atom. The movement’s a little low, but he works for the character, right down to the surprising close combat ability.
(gallery or-figure-046)
(hoping the official heroclix.com script works here. If not, you know where to go to see the official dial.)
The other character who’s not quite right in his existing clix forms is Nova Prime. Whether of his Vet  Nova version or the LE Super-Nova, they simply don’t represent the character’s power level well at all.

This guy...

…does not equal…

...THIS guy. At ALL.

But looking over other figures with the Nova Corps keyword, I find that Air-Walker from Hammer of Thor is absolutely a match for the current character. He’ll work for builds of 800 or higher.
(gallery th-figure-044)
(In fact, I was inspired to make a Nova Prime mod to go on this dial. You’ll see it eventually in My Custom Mods feature, updated every Monday!)
Steve “Ex-Captain America” Rogers isn’t in the game, so one must substitute an existing Cap. The Hammer of Thor version is as good as any.
Here’s the base 800-point team I played, then:
Air-Walker 201 (as Nova Prime)
Valkyrie 145
HoT War Machine 137
M+M Beast 73
HoT Captain America 72
CL Black Widow 59
Sharon Carter 50
AV Moon Knight 38
R The All-New Atom 24 (as Ant-Man Eric O’Grady)
= 799 points. It went an anemic 1-2, due to multiple mental FAILures.
FIRST game, I picked the Space Map but faced a team of Kingdom Come Flash, Superman & Flash, and The Flashes that was able to first-strike me from clear across the board anyway. It cost me Valkyrie and Black Widow for a loss that even taking out SuperFlash couldn’t prevent. My main FAIL, besides giving up the alpha strike, was running Atom-as-Ant-Man well away from everything to tie-up The Flashes. Um, WHY? They’re Hypersonic. It worked a little bit, as he drew some attention and survived thanks to a Super Senses roll. But still…bad move, when he could have blocked some line of fire to bigger targets.
SECOND game was on the Junkyard against my bud Lenny. His team of Green Scar, OOTS Batman, BB Wizard Shazam, M+M Marvel Girl, Gamora and someone else I can’t recall was formiable but beatable. But I made two terrible FAILs that cost me everything:
  • Did not cover Air-Walker-as-Nova, giving OOTS Bats a free shot that killed his move+attack powers and blunted the cosmic hero’s effectiveness for the rest of the game.
  • Forgot that Green Scar had the Unstoppable feat and so did not use the 24-point Atom-as-Ant-Man to tie up the monster. Cost me Air-Walker and the game.
  • On top of that, every potential KO hit was Probability Controlled into a miss by The Wizard Shazam via his no-line-of-fire-needed Special Power.
THIRD was on the Graveyard against The Wizard Shazam AGAIN, SR Loki, and some other characters I can’t remember that gave my range-heavy team fits. My FAILs?
  • Moving Atom-Ant-Man first, leaving Valkyrie with no cover when I moved her last. The enemy Wiz got an improbable hit on her to immediately send her running for the Vine. Atom-Ant at least eventually tied up Loki to keep him out of the fight, but I truly lacked much opportunity to lay fire on the one guy I could safely attack.
  • Again getting Nova-Walker pasted early and often through careless positioning. A must-hit RCE shot (instead of a more conservative HSS run)negated by WizShazam left him open to multiple counterblasts taking him out in short order.
Other general FAILure:
  • Moon Knight was useless in these battles, as I thoroughly FAILed to use him as the Stealth wall or tie-up piece he is.
  • Really needed Outwit a time or two. FAILed to realize Beast has it on his 2nd click.
Disappointed by this outing of my newest favorite team. But I recently got a chance to make amends with a feated-up 900-point version!
Air-Walker 201 (as Nova Prime) + Elite Sniper 20
Valkyrie 145 + C.Plan 12 + Inside Info 4
HoT War Machine 137 + Warbound 5 (Soldier)
M+M Beast 73 + Lunge 5
HoT Captain America 72 + C.Plan 12 + Warbound 5 (Soldier)
CL Black Widow 59 + Opportunist 10
Sharon Carter 50
AV Moon Knight 38 + Warbound 5 (Soldier)
LE Yellowjacket 41 (as Ant-Man Eric O’Grady) + Takedown 6
= 900 points (82 in feats).
FIRST game I beat the Asgardian team of Thor & Loki, the Warriors Three, and 2 each of Asgardian Warriors and HoT Valkyries I’d brought as a backup team(which the young host of the shebang played against me in this bye round). I picked the Prison map which helped me against the big duo’s range even though it hampered my Cap. Once Thor & Loki overextended, I was able to Charge with Valkyrie for big damage (using the Com Dish) and others got him to his final click. A final click Moon Knight pushed to use his self-damaging SP to KO the duo first for the margin of victory.
2nd match was on the Junkyard (my pick) against HoT Ronan the Accuser, Immortus, BN Wonder Woman, 2 Jason Bloods, Clark Kent and someone else I can’t recall. I dealt plenty of damage but no KO blows due up to 4 PC rolls per attack. We had a draw and I won the roll-off. My FAIL in this game was not pushing Beast to Outwit sooner to make sure more of my damage stuck (as Immortus did a lot of Masterminding to Ronan and/or PC’d my rolls) or attacking softer targets for easier points.
3rd and champ match was against veteran Paul’s Skrull team of Ms. Skrullvel, two Warskrulls, Capt. Skrull-Vell, Skrullojacket, and a passle of Skrull generics on his choice of the Lab map. My FAIL? “Nova” critmissing the game’s first attack, stranding him in full view of the enemy team and forcing me to drop his passenger Moon Knight in front as a sacrifice. It was only dumb luck that Nova didn’t take any damage after Moon Knight was gone. My next FAIL was jumbo-sized Valkyrie blocking what little line of fire I had after fairly clobbering Ms. Skrullvel with a key Charge, preventing my team from ganging up on her and enabling the impostor to break away and run just as the time ran out.
We played on, though, giving me still more opportunities to FAIL:
  • After successfully using Yellowjacket to tie up and block enemy Outwit, I got extra careless and gave a Warskrull a narrow view to counter Valkyrie’s defenses, enabling enemies to easily gang up on her and take her down. Ant-Man FAIL…AGAIN.
  • Earlier Outwit FAIL with Beast also contributed to that tragedy.
  • Feat FAIL. Because this tournament was at a slumber party full of mostly kids, I didn’t use the superior Trick Shot feat over the slightly less-useful Elite Sniper. But really, feat use is optional. I didn’t have to use it against the kids, and I needed it against Paul thanks to the Valkyrie-in-the-way FAIL.
  • More feat FAIL. I forgot to use Inside Information. It would have helped against the Warskrulls.
  • And MORE feat FAIL: Warbound kept Cap from taking more shots. Maybe if Moon Knight had been around to take a token for Cap…but no. FAILed to make that happen, even before the unfortunate loss of Moon Knight.
  • One more bit of feat FAIL: Similarly, building up Opportunist tokens kept Widow from making more of an impact. This team can’t afford the lost actions, it turns out.
In the end, I still won, getting Paul’s whole force. But all that FAILure troubles me.
SECRET AVENGERS sum-up of FAILure.

Ouch!

“Ant-Man”
Played by two stand-ins — The All-New Atom and LE Yellowjacket — he did fine as a tie-up piece and cheap blocker. When I actually used him as such. These games probably go a lot better if I were consistent in this tactic.
Beast
I used him as what he is — the team’s ONLY source of Perplex and Outwit. Trouble is, he really ought to offer more for his points while the cheapies  should fill his role. But they don’t. So inthe backfield he must remain.

"I'm not a cowardly lion...why must you treat me as one?"

Black Widow
She ought to be great. She really should. Anti-Stealth, Willpower, 3 damage and Incap…but she really only took damage early and often. Only the Opportunist feat, which held her back at first, made her worthy after taking the damage (since she retains the prerequisites most of her dial). I guess that’s something, but…

Oh, for--! Stop being so dramatic and GET UP!!!

Captain America
He invariably never seemed to get into the game until far too late. Was I being too conservative with him? But then, I’m forgetting that in at least half these games he was hampered by walls.
Moon Knight
He’s pretty much just a meat shield or diversion. He’s either a total non-factor or he’s 38 points given up.

This is what happens when you try to sneak up on armed criminals at night wearing all WHITE, boys and girls.

That’s what I want to say, anyhow. But he did land the KO blow on a piece 9.5 times his cost and saved Nova “Air-Walker” Prime from near-certain death in that last game. So he’s won a permanent spot on this team in my book.
“Nova”
Air-Walker was a huge bust. Best used for that opening HSS but unable to take so much as a critical miss or Mystics feedback, he’s way too fragile at over 200 points with 17 DV and Super Senses. On the other hand, he’s the 1st strike piece this range-heavy team kinda needs when faced with constricting maps and Stealth.

Hypersonic FACEPLANT.

Sharon Carter
Another cheap Stealth shield I could never quite leverage for anything ELSE. But that’s mainly due to Wizard Shazam (or just plain poor rolls) causing her SHIELD beneficiaries to miss whenever she made her damage-enhancing action. I wonder if I should push her more freely to get to her diet Perplex SP.
Valkyrie
Ah, Brunnhilde. So versatile with both Charge and hit&run skills. So mighty. So fragile. The team fairly rises and falls with her. If she does fall, or can’t hit, they’re done. If she can land at least that one titanic hit while on her topdial, they’ll win.

Alas. It's all too often this.

War Machine
His reliance on range is a problem. He’s only been KOed in one game so far, but he hasn’t laid down the KOs he really ought to be, either.

I don't think I'm using him right.

Actually, that’s not it. It’s that these Secret Avengers lack a dedicated brick or two. (Compare to this Heroic Age team.) They need someone who can Charge a big ol’ rock into someone’s face and stay there to deliver continued beatdowns despite retaliation. War Machine could be that guy, if he weren’t such a Running Shooter. Valkyrie could do it, if only she weren’t stuck with Super Senses. Ditto for Air “Nova Prime” Walker.
The team is also short on support powers. (Again, compare to the Heroic Age Poster team). No PC. No starting Outwit…and to get it, you give up the only real Perplex. No Support. No TK. Val’s mid-dial Enhancement you hope you never see. And Sharon’s SHIELD ability is only good for range, which is not the S.Avengers’ weak point.
(Maybe I really should relent and use the Rookie Ant-Man anyway. Eric O’Grady’s not that stupid.)
Ah well. I love the comic so far, and I think the team still has what it takes to be competitive. Just need to watch out for those FAIL moments. Speaking of which…my next article looks to be about the Agents of Atlas. And yes…it’s also kinda full of FAIL. Keep an eye out.

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I cropped out Drs. Light and Fate because they were not worthy of my team (translation: I ran outta room for her and didn't have him at all).

Nostalgically beloved, sometimes maligned, the humor-focused era of the Justice League was a daring experiment in mainstream comics. For the first time, one of the Big Two’s marquee team books focused more on the relationships of the characters than on the villain(s) of the month. It proved surprisingly popular (for a while, anyhow), spawning a spin-off or two before it collapsed under its own ridiculous weight. Perhaps if writers Giffen and DeMatteis had dialed back the humor and played it a little bit straighter, the novelty wouldn’t have worn off in only 5 years. After, Brian Michael Bendis has essentially done the same thing with his team books for the past 6 years, with no sign of real fatigue in sales.

But I digress. This is supposed to be about HeroClix.

Now, with the release of several new pieces in The Brave And The Bold set, one can play a solid Justice League International themed team. Here’s mine, from a recent tournament:

JUSTICE LEAGUE INTERNATIONAL
Martian Manhunter (Brave and the Bold) 202 + Camouflage 8
JL Green Lantern (Justice League) 133
Fire & Ice 131
Mr. Miracle & Oberon 115
Blue Beetle & Booster Gold 82
Batman (Justice League #001) 75 + Inside Information 4
Black Canary (Justice League) 50
= 800 points.

Each round I picked the JSA Museum map from the DC Origin set. Using Mister Miracle and Oberon’s (MMO) Perplex, I boosted Blue Beetle and Booster Gold (B+G) to Charge a hole in the wall so Green Lantern could ferry Canary and Bats to hindering and himself to my Kinetic Accelerator. Then I moved the rest of the team to various set up points.
In Round One, that nearly went terribly south for me against my opponent Wil’s team of Green Arrow and Red Arrow (both from Crisis and both equipped with the Stealth-busting feat Trick Shot), The Wizard Shazam (The Brave and the Bold), Hitman, Songbird (Hammer of Thor), Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion) and Max Mercury with Armor Piercing and Swingline.

Ugh — three shooters who see through hindering terrain and characters and one who sees anything for Probability Control purposes. I didn’t help myself with my colossal mental fail of the evening; not using MMO’s Indomitable ability to freely push to safety and not be wide open to the Arrows’ line of fire. MMO immediately took big damage and had to flee to the nearby Eleha’al Vine for eventual healing.
To stop the twin Trick Shots, I used Green Lantern to taxi both A) Black Canary in base with both of them and B) Batman nearby to make a follow-up attack next round. The first tactic was thwarted when Canary was KO’d the very next turn and the second, when Songbird built a Barrier to stop Batman.
I thought I was thoroughly hosed at this point; the Barrier would fall and the free Trick Shot pieces would murder Batman with impunity. But I saw an escape route. Batman shadow-warped to an adjoining room to shoot out a wall and counter Songbird’s Barrier, giving Blue Beetle & Booster Gold a chance to take Canary’s place as the tie-up. That was all the stall time I needed to get Martian Manhunter, Green Lantern and Bats into the fight for real so they could clobber Green Arrow for the win before I could lose any more characters. 1-0.
—————-
ROUND TWO was vs. Zach, Wil’s son, running Iron Man (Secret Invasion) + Elite Sniper, Zauriel, Yellowjacket (Secret Invasion #006b), Talia (The Brave and The Bold), Punisher (Secret Invasion), Batman  (The Brave and The Bold), Venom (Hammer of Thor) and Pawn 502. I stuck with the Museum.
I was more careful of my placement this time. Zach wasn’t, putting Zauriel and Iron Man in a spot where my Batman could harass them immediately with “Out of the Shadows.” I decided to swarm Iron Man, taking care to avoid Talia clear on the other side of the map. Pounding and pounding Stark until he was down, I then followed suit upon Punisher and Yellowjacket  (although his high % of Skrull rolls made that take a lot longer than it should’ve). I again lost Canary but she did her job of drawing fire and taking theme PC tokens. 2-0.
—————-
FINAL ROUND was vs. Bradley’s not-quite-themed team of Spectre (Crisis), Wizard Shazam (The Brave and The Bold), Phantom Stranger, Deadman, Jason Blood and Scarlet Witch (Avengers SR).

After surviving Spectre’s first strike on MMO by burning all three of my theme PC rolls, I shot back with Fire & Ice for a successful RCE hit of my own. I again used GL to carry Batman in closer, pushing Fire & Ice to compound the damage to Spectre.
From this point, with Spectre neatly tied down by GL, I began to advance my force in earnest to rid myself of Phantom Stranger, whose 18 Defend was making further hits on Spectre unlikely — especially with 1-3 enemy Probability Controllers to get through. But despite a crit miss or two, I got the Stranger off Defend, took down Spectre and eventually added Phantom Stranger and Scarlet Witch for a commanding win, losing only Green Lantern when my young opponent used Deadman to Possess Fire & Ice into blasting the stuffing out of GL.
Final: 3-0. The prize, appropriately enough, was the Justice League International alternate team ability. :)
Much like the characters in the comics, this is a more effective team than it looks on the surface!

Yes. The cookie throne sculpt IS comic-accurate.

Martian Manhunter (The Brave and the Bold)
After some 5+ versions in HeroClix, they’ve finally gotten J’onn J’onnz exactly right (in spite of the humorously thematic nature of his cookie-mad dial). Hypersonic Speed is a power he’s always needed in ‘clix but never gotten until now because his more iconic Phasing ability has always taken up the slot. Now that and Shape Change are tucked away in a Trait, freeing up his Speed slot for HSS and Mind Control. That trait makes him perfect for the Camouflage feat, which makes him utterly invulnerable to ranged attack (when he’s next to a wall or blocking terrain) since his Shape Change can’t be countered by enemy Outwit. If he gets hit, “Telepathic Invisibility” offers a hefty defense boost. He can sport as high as a 20 DV!
Both appropriate and effective, “Cookie Martian” is thoroughly essential for JLI teams 400 points or higher.
JLI Rating: Bwah-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!

Words of unintentional hilarity and uncomfortable truth.

Green Lantern (Justice League SR)
The sole representation of bad-boy Green Lantern Guy Gardner in HeroClix is mediocre. He starts with Charge but his damage is low, his Enhancement shows at the worst spots, and his Flurry SP arrives when his defenses are soft.
But for this team, the Green Lantern Corps TA was invaluable for carrying Black Canary and Batman, and he was able to draw a lot of fire thanks to his starting Invulnerability. I’m not overstating matters to say that at least one game would’ve been lost without him.
(Great. Now he’ll get the swelled head.)
JLI Rating: Bwah-HA-HA!

So HAWT!!!!! And so coooooool.

Fire & Ice
Can you say “damage cannon?” ‘Cause that’s what these babes are, able to hit for 5 via Ranged Combat Expert or 3 and 2 with the Duo Attack. Even better, they can push off it to gain their Barrier+Poison combo SP, making them super versatile. They’re also JLI fixtures, theme-wise. Fit ’em in if you can!
JLI Rating: Bwah-HA-HA-HA-HA!
Don't worry, Scott Free. You and Oberon totally belong.
Mr. Miracle & Oberon
Lots of Perplex really helps the team’s stats. 18 DV + Combat Reflexes also helps the team by tying up someone and being nigh-unhittable. But it’s the combo of Duo Attack and Indomitable that makes MMO a fixture on any team, and with Perplex that means he can deal 10 clicks in two turns. He certainly dealt a lot of clicks in this tourney. (Lunge is a super feat for him, but I didn’t have room for it this time around.)
JLI Rating: Bwah-HA-HA-HA-HA!!

These truly Super Buddies are way better than the slackers they appear to be.

Blue Beetle & Booster Gold
Their damage is low and their starting AV is just an OK 9. But the good news is that they push well to 10 AV and Outwit to help that damage stick. They also sport Perplex on other clicks.
But the reason they, perhaps more than any other member of this team, should be the first to add to your force is “Super Buddies Forever,” which gives adjacent keyword sharers +1 AV. Their double base offers a lot of said adjacency, and it frees up Perplex for damage. YAY!!! And, of course, there’s no piece more worthy for this themed team than the Blue & Gold.
JLI Rating: Bwah-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!!

Not really happy to be here. But then, when IS Batman happy?

Batman (Justice League #001)
He’s a key piece of course, delivering plenty of clutch moves and yet he’s not the biggest threat. He’s also not as iconic for the team as some of the others.
JLI Rating: Bwah-HA-HA-HA!!
Black Canary (Justice League)
She was only filler. But she was Stealth-shielding, theme-PC-taking, shooter-locking-down filler well worth her points.
JLI Rating: Bwah-HA-HA!!
Hope your own JLI games have Bwah-ha-happy endings!

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Seriously. I can’t believe some of the utter FAIL I’ve still been experiencing in HeroClix games lately.

Black Adam. I seem to make stupid tactical FAILs with this character more than any other. Back when he was new back in the Crisis events, I’d do ridiculous things like:

  • use his Impervious 254-point body to shield a 61-point medic from Outwit-equipped snipers. Barely escaped that game with a victory thanks to the time limit.
  • Hit Crisis Spectre hard with a Hypersonic hit and neglected to use the rest of his movement, leaving him completely vulnerable to the wounded but still-dangerous giant. I lost that game, snatching defeat from the very jaws of victory. Giant Hypersonic FAIL.

Lately, I’ve pulled Black Adam back out of the tacklebox. And I’ve made the same sorts of utter FAIL:

  • Used Exploit Weakness on a near-dead KC Shazam instead of HSS, leaving him vulnerable to repeated Lunging Stunning Blows from HoT Daredevil. Utter Hypersonic FAIL.
  • Didn’t use his full HSS speed with a full-health enemy V Icons Superman on the board, and didn’t really have much of a reason why I didn’t get him out of reach. Worse…I didn’t use his lower-pointed passenger to block line of fire to him. About three different FAILs. In one action.

Now with a new Black Adam as part of the Shazam! and Black Adam duo, I had another chance to do well by him…or not. See, I put Lunge on the guy (since he has Close Combat Expert much of his dial) and went to town, using the feat to get a quick one-hit-KO of Max Mercury. But later, I took a HSS chance to try to take out an enemy Brave + Bold Superman and lacked the speed to get back to relative safety.

Wasn’t until much later that I realized I’d forgotten Lunge, that would have given me the extra movement to not get so easily ganged up on by BB Superman and Wizard Shazam. Amnesiac FAIL.

In the same game, I utterly forgot BB Metallo was Indomitable, thus losing crucial attack chances. Lost that game. Double FAIL.

In the game previous, I didn’t use Goodness & Mercy’s SP Willpower to chase down a healing enemy. SP FAIL.

These FAILs paled next to today’s though.

Scenario: My Extant, way up on points and on his 1st click against enemy Flash (Justice League Super Rare) has a shot at long range. Afraid my 10 AV isn’t enough hit an 18 DV + Super Senses, I Phase in close. Flash proceeds to alternately Flurry, Hypersonic and generally pummel my weakening Extant to KO.

I wasn’t finished. Same tournament, tired of trying and failing to hit an enemy Black Flash, I pursue and base a wounded Max Mercury hiding on an Eleha’al Vine. Max uses Flurry to land 8 consecutive attacks to deal (with the other White Knight) my reducer-less Extant a bitter defeat.

Extant has full-dial Phasing and a 10 range. 10 RANGE! WHY WAS I BASING NON-STEALTHED CHARACTERS THAT COULD USE FLURRY….TWICE?!?

Worst bit of FAIL since forgetting to play my TKer in the last FAIL article.


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Yes, I ran them again, in another 900 point game (as in Chapter 4 of this post):

V Starhawk 144 + Spotter 5
Phyla-Vell 138 + Protected 8
LE One-Who-Knows 123
Star-Lord 90 + Protected 8
V Major Victory 84 + Contingency Plan 12
Rocket Raccoon 65
Yondu 53 + AP 10
R Aleta 51
Bug 44
+ Warbound (Guardians of the Galaxy) 45
Lila Cheney 6
Lila Cheney 6
=900 points.

FIRST, I faced Andy’s Infinity Watch themed team on the Asgard map: Thanos (Supernova), Adam Warlock (Secret Invasion) + Brilliant Tactician, E Drax the Destroyer, Moondragon (Hammer of Thor), Gamora and Pip the Troll. He used Cosmic Interference Field to kill my Barrier ability, and I didn’t bother to theme-cancel it.

I would regret this.

Landed some solid hits on Thanos in spite of Adam Warlock’s boosting defenses +2 with Brilliant Tactician (a tactic I hadn’t realized he could do with his special power “Him”). But Thanos landed his own hits back in return, and I was never able to finish the mad Titan. Same went for Moondragon, who was hit hard but never eliminated. KO’d Drax but lost Rocket, One-Who-Knows, Yondu and someone else, I think. 0-1.

SECOND match was against Chadd’s Avengers: Dr. Strange (Secret Invasion)+Brilliant Tactician, Captain America (Hammer of Thor), Thor  (Hammer of Thor), U Iron Man  (Mutations & Monsters), Ms. Marvel (Secret Invasion) and Hercules (Secret Invasion). He picked the Arkham Asylum map, not realizing it’d hinder Cap’s effectiveness.

Frightened of all that Running Shot, I proceeded to build Barrier after Warbound-juiced Barrier* between shots with Starhawk (love that 12 range) until the final moments of the game, when Chadd finally quit hiding behind his own walls and took some shots on my barely-exposed team. In the end, though, there were zero KOs. Chadd conceded the match to me since I’d dealt nearly all the damage (Cap was on his final click and Ms. Marvel was on her last Toughness click).

FINAL: 1-1. Not too bad, actually. Maybe would’ve done better had I been able to use a Barrier once or twice (or three times thrice :p ) in the first game to hold off Thanos. BFC cancel FAIL. But I really didn’t mind losing to a proper Infinity Watch team.

* I got some flak for my infinite Barrier action, but considering I was up against four move-attackers, each (thanks to a Brilliant Tactician) able to hit my no-damage-reducers-on-top-dial team for at least 4 clicks from more than 10 squares out? Um, yeah. I’m gonna fight that crew on my terms, thanks.

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I am sick of the increasing darkness in modern comics of recent years. So the promise of, if not lighter, at least more heroic fare in Marvel Comics is very welcome in this reader's eyes.

As a HeroClixer, I’m always inspired to make teams based on comics. So when I saw this promo art, I immediately started team-building and ran it only a few days later in an 800-point tournament (from right to left):

Gorilla-Man 61
V Black Widow (Ultimates) 59
Benjamin J. Grimm (Secret Invasion) 100
V Beast (Mutations & Monsters) 73
U Hawkeye (Avengers) 56 + Alpha Flight 0
Captain America (Hammer of Thor) 72 + Alpha Flight 0
Thor (Hammer of Thor) 226
Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) 50
U Iron Man (Mutations & Monsters) 100 + Alias 3

= 800 points.

ROUND ONE: Cosmic Clash! starring Silver Surfer (Avengers), Firelord (Avengers), Stardust (Avengers) and Air-Walker.

No Battlefield Conditions used on the Junkyard map. The player was a bit reckless, immediately pushing to KO Black Widow in a single turn. That left him unable to respond as my whole team attempted to pound his with Running Shots. Aside from some odd misses on Thor’s part (two crits?), it was a very systematic takedown. Wiped his team with Widow being my only loss. 1-0.

ROUND TWO: Siege of Asgard? starring Namor (Secret Invasion), Arkillo, The Riddler (Arkham Asylum), Green Arrow (Justice League), White Martian, Hercules (Secret Invasion) and Iron Fist (Secret Invasion).

This match so named because of my opponent Stephen’s choice of the Rainbow Bridge map, early in it my Running Shots were miserable failures (though not critical) and it seemed I might be heading for a slow loss. But a timely Alias roll saved Iron Man’s Invincible click and soon I started landing attacks while Stephen missed many of his (most notably Namor’s Charge+Flurry on Ben Grimm). KO’d Hercules, Namor and Iron Fist, losing only Alias. 2-0.

ROUND THREE: When Cheese Goes Bad, starring V M’onel, Ms. Marvel (Secret Invasion B) + Protected, Batman (Justice League common) + Protected, Nightshade (x2, one + Armor Piercing), Spider-Man (Secret Invasion) + Vault (x2), Dawnstar, Gee.

Player Charlie freely admitted this was a total cheese team, mitigated only by the lack of Probability Control or Perplex to really make it stinky. So after completely dragging the first teams he faced in the tournament, he took it completely in stride when V M’onel’s Hypersonic alpha strike  with a Meteorite critically missed. He didn’t roll much better all game long (calling it karma for his cheese), which saved Thor by a hair and got me the victory. I’d KO’d Batman, a Nightshade and both Protected feats while losing only Alias.

FINAL: 3-0.

To be a team just tossed together from a piece of promotional art, it performs surprisingly well together! Gorilla-Man is a great tie-up piece for the shooters, being highly survivable on his own. V Black Widow was key to the last win by seeing through Stealth (and loaning the Ultimates TA to Spidey for same). Benjamin J. Grimm provided the additional punching power this otherwise range-heavy team needed. (I selected Grimm over the similarly capable Thing from Secret Invasion because of his Indomitable adding to his ability to press the attack. His trait could also have been useful to give Spider-Man, a fellow Fantastic Four keyword-bearing piece, a damage reduction, though it never came up.) Beast was brilliant as mobile Perplex, of course, and a simple push would provide Outwit if needed.

Avengers Hawkeye, a piece I’ve never respected before (due to his unusable-with-Running Shot SP), proved to be a key extra attacker; when the high AV shooters missed easy shots, the law of averages would make his pithy 9 AV an improbable hit. More importantly, his starting 3 damage made sure it was an effective hit.

Cap and Thor, as evidenced by my recent Top Ten list, were a great tag team of shooting (even though, as I implied above, some of my dice rolls with them weren’t so hot); the latter was the main damager while the former made the sneakier shots needed against targets the thunder god couldn’t reach.

M+M U Iron Man I selected not only because his 100-point cost is slim enough for the build, but also because this new armor should not have the Extremis powers the excellent 188-point Secret Invasion piece does. (I put Alias on him to represent some sort of holographic misdirection.) His SHIELD TA was highly useful because he usually taxied Spider-Man around. The wild card then frequently copied SHIELD TA to boost Tony’s damage. That’s when he wasn’t using the original Avengers TA to help deploy, or to potentially heal or be healed via X-Men or Fantastic Four TA. I’ve already mentioned him using Ultimates.

This is a perfect team for me. It’s theme-y and powerful without being terribly un-fun to play against or too complicated to use effectively. What do you think?