Venue: Comics & More

Build & Stipulations: 600 points; No Relics, Resources, Team Bases or Colossals. No vehicles bigger than a peanut base.

What I Played: Deathlok Prime (WXM) w/ Maximum Carnage ATA (154+4); Iron Pharaoh (IIM) (110); Cul Borson (FI) (190); Psimon (TT) (123); GCPD Motorcycle–Autopilot (SoG) (19) = 600 Points

Why: There were two high-costing figures that I had acquired over the last few months that l really wanted to play at this event:

Fear Itself LE Cul Borson and Thor: The Dark World Chase Odin. I tried every way I could think of to play both, and towards the end, I had settled on playing Odin at full points (I really wanted to try his “Attack Anything Anywhere” double power action). But I ended up falling in love with Deathlok Prime and Psimon, two other figs I had recently acquired but not gotten to play. Eventually, that became the basis of my ragtag army–I was going to play as many cool figs that I’d never played before as I could fit into the army. Out went 350 point Odin, in came 190 point Cul Borson.

With Deathlok Prime, the Pharaoh & Psimon, I figured that I’d have a nice range superiority over most opponents (even my close combat bruiser, Cul, has a 9 range!) AND be able to Outwit Stealth thanks to the Pharaoh; that proved to be true, but it didn’t always matter.

Match 1:

The first game, I went up against a Sinister Syndicate team, albeit one running normal ASM Kraven (as opposed to the Prime that makes the Lizard just disgusting). I was able to hit virtually at will with Deathlok Prime using Sniper Stance, and my opponent eventually based him with Lizard and Kraven. That was a big turning point, as Deathlok Prime used Sharpshooter and his Maximum Carnage ATA to pop 5 damage on both (which, at that point of the game, would have killed both if not for his “No Killing” Trait). They were both dead by the next turn.

Psimon was able to keep most of the Syndicate from basing my guys by mind controlling enemies away from my core group. I don’t think Cul got touched. Iron Pharaoh did a little damage, but it was his Falcon and Outwit that I used the most.

In the end, I took out about half of my opponent’s force while losing only Deathlok Prime when the judge called time. Anything can happen in big games like this, but I’m confident I would have wiped out my opponent’s army with Cul & Iron Pharaoh had play continued.

Result: Won on points

Match 2: Played a hodgepodge team of Justin Hammer, Detroit Steel, White King, Indigo & Lady Deathstrike. Lots of Armor & Robot figs going at it in this game; my opponent kept his team balled up on elevated terrain in the middle of the map. He kept Deathlok from maximum effectiveness by using Indigo’s Outsiders TA on him, and using Justin Hammer’s “Anywhere” Outwit (provided the target is a Robot, Hammer Industries or Armor keyworded fig) to Outwit Iron Pharaoh’s Outwit caused a lot of problems for me.

I got Iron Pharaoh into the fight (this was actually me being impatient; had I just waited for his Special Terrain marker to get there, things would have been much easier for me), but any damage I did to Justin Hammer just got Masterminded to the White King. I believe I killed him three different times before time was called. I sent in Cul Borson via the GCPD Motorcycle, and the very next turn he Charged and Flurried with his 4 damage. He was beastly. Detroit Steel and Lady Deathstrike each took swipes at Cul, but he ended up making not one but TWO Super Sense rolls and survived the game.

In the end, Justin Hammer and Indigo fell, White King had been KO’d 2 times and was on his last click when time ended.

I didn’t lose any figs, but this was a deceptively clever team that my opponent put together. Had I not made both Super Senses rolls, Cul probably would have fallen.

Result: Won on points

Match 3:

I played the same Skrulls team that Ninwashui mentioned. My opponent made an average amount of Skrull and Super Senses rolls, but he used his Skrull Black Bolt exceptionally well. This game came right down to the wire, with Iron Pharaoh left standing on his last click against a very damaged Replica and a mildly hurt Super Skrull on his poison click.

Result: Lost

So I went 2-1 and ended up placing 3rd, which was good enough for:

What I Learned:

I learned a lot about these figures.

—Cul Borson: I was much too passive about getting him into the fight in a couple of matches. His damage ability that hoses opposing attack values and damage values is based entirely on how many action tokens he has, so moving or attacking with him each turn you can is crucial. There were a couple times I waited too long to deploy him. His Range is fantastic, but his lack of Improved Movement of any kind (Hindering would have been helpful; Elevated would have been divine) or Flight makes playing a dedicated taxi or TK’er a must with him. He feels like he could have been an awesome 160-point character; at 190 for his Experienced version, he’s a lil’ expensive, but man, if you want a guy who’s going to bring the pain, you could do a lot worse than Odin’s crazy bro.

—GCPD Motorcycle: Must people already know how good this lil’ motor is. It was effective even sans a GCPD ATA. For only 19 points, you get a great taxi that can even throw out a Barrier every other round. Great piece.

—Psimon: Psimon is great, but with his potentially devastating 8 range double target Mind Control ability, he was almost always targeted first. Still, his TK enabled a LOT of Cul’s destruction. And at 123 points, I’m confident I can work him into another army soon. He also brings a first-click Perplex. He was solid, but squishy, especially in a game with so many actions.

—Deathlok Prime: He might as well cost 4 points more, cuz you MUST also play his ATA. It’s just so devastating. He can’t kill anyone first (because of his Trait), but he is an absolute beast who is capable of dishing out HUGE amounts of damage. I would play him again as well–I’m just not sure how I’ll do with a primary damage dealer who potentially has to kill things twice. One downside–Outsiders TA hurts him more than most figs. His abilities provide so many great modifiers that just get shut down by that TA. Still, his dial is very solid on its own, so he’s still very playable. But Outsiders is a bad matchup for him.

—Iron Pharaoh: Very interesting figure. Kind of the opposite of Cul Borson in that you want him to hang back and fire through his Special Terrain marker, which, like the Machine in Person of Interest, sees everything.. Damn good dial for the points.

Well, that’s all for tonight. Had a lot of fun. I’m back Saturday for the weekly round-up