Author: ninwashui

Infinity Gauntlet? Uh, he’s already got one, you see. Oh yes, it’s very nice! (Or, a second opinion for The Build–02/08/2014!!)

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I told him we already got one.

I told him we already got one.

I’ll love to write a huge rebuttal article about how I decided what I am playing against Hypefox in the 600 point tournament, but it would be a huge lie. The truth is I got two team bases given to me over the holidays that total exactly 600 points and there will never be a better opportunity to play them at my local venue. So I will be playing the New Mutants and Trinity of Sin Team bases. What really needs deciding is a team name. “New Mutants of Sin”? “Trinity of New Mutants”? “Susan“?

This will be the first time I will be playing any team base in any format. I still need to brush up on my strategy and knowledge of the rules for team bases. Don’t quote me on this, but I think I can just pop off Warlock and Question turn one and use them and the team base dials the rest of the game. That’s a ton of perplex. Riddle me this Thanos… I will have to roll into something nice on the asset dial for the New Mutants, but the Trinity of sin will have all their powers available from the get-go.

Win or lose it should at make for a great tournie report. Can Warlock’s Techno Organic Virus assimilate Thanos? Stay tuned.

Word press shows me that we’ve started to get some traffic, but most everyone has been pretty shy about posting a comment. If you’re reading this, what would you play in a 600 point modern Tournament? Be sure to tell me why.

Who’s the Boss? Tony is the boss!

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Iron MN

So a few weeks ago when ranking the IIM pieces I rated IMM015 Tony Stark 8th most powerful in the set. In my original review I told you his defensive specials made him well-nigh invulnerable 1 on 1. I missed the part where his auto regeneration only works if he doesn’t take damage on your opponents turn. He’s still very strong defensively, but he’s not the support version of IIM103 Absorbing Man that I thought he was.

In that same article I said “There has to be a way to break this piece and it’s Mole Man-like ability to make you armor pieces awesome. I think I’ve found it. I call this team...

photo (5)

Golden Falcon, Destroying!

  • IIM015 Tony Stark
  • IIM015 Tony Stark
  • IIM051 Iron Pharaoh (1500 BC)
  • FI301 Splitlip
  • FIR100C The Book of the Skull (complete)
  • Total =300

How It works: This team is centered around turning Iron Pharaoh’s gentle golden falcon into something akin to the Terminator from Terminator 1. Slow moving, but indestructible and able to take out anything that gets near him. Yeah that guy. The power reads, “GOLDEN FALCON, SOARING: When Iron Pharaoh is first placed on the map, place a Falcon special terrain marker in an adjacent square. Give Iron Pharaoh a free action to move this marker up to 3 squares. Iron Pharaoh can draw lines of fire and count range (up to 3 squares) from the Falcon marker using Improved Targeting: Ignores Hindering Terrain, Ignores Elevated Terrain, Ignores Outdoor Blocking Terrain, Ignores Characters.” Now imagine funneling you entire team’s attacks through something that ignores any movement restrictions (even walls are meaningless), any targeting restrictions (stealth is meaningless), and most importantly can’t be hurt back! At least when GSX Professor X stayed in his starting zone you could kill the guys he sent out. The falcon ignores everything!

Imagine this scenario:  you start the turn with your falcon 6 squares away from your opponents best figure. You move the Falcon up 3 squares and you are in range. Start with outwit. Use Split Lip’s Enhancement and the two Tonys’ perplexes to up Pharaoh’s damage by 3. Nul’s Hammer ups his attack by 2. You attack through the Falcon for 6 damage. Then Tony Stark does mind control and you attack for 5. Then the other Tony mind controls and you attack for 4. That’s 15 damage that you can spread around and you got to use outwit first! The next turn the Falcon moves for free and you can do it all again! Against some teams you could KO everyone before they are even in range to attack any of your figures! Try to always keep the falcon between your real team and the opposing team.

What if the opposing team manages to get past the Falcon and get you your actual team? Well the your team should be positioned with the hard-to-KO (and Stealthy) Tony Starks as a wall in front of Splitlip and the Pharaoh. The Pharaoh’s 9 range and hammer-granted running shot should still give you an alpha strike of 3 attacks totaling 15 damage with outwit in the middle. That much damage should give you an edge. If your opponent does manage to somehow kill the Pharaoh the two Tony Starks can be dangerous on their own. They can mind control each other. Drop Skadi’s hammer on one, use perplex, and swing for the fences… twice!

I think this team would have a fighting chance in any competitive tournament. Someone should take it to the next ROC. It can also be used casually at your local venue to make everyone hate you and make your friends give you the nick-name “cheese whiz”.

If you want something more casual that doesn’t say “I lack a moral compass“, try this team:

Bowling for action tokens!

  • IIM015 Tony Stark
  • IIM002 Rescue
  • IM3014 Iron Man Mk 40
  • Total = 300

How It works: This team is much simpler that the one above. Use Rescue’s TK to put Iron Man in position and then use Tony’s Stark Mind control to activate his SONIC BOOM. (Give Iron Man Mk 40 a move action and modify his speed value by +3. Iron Man Mk 40 must move along a horizontal or vertical path until he can’t move. All other characters occupying squares Iron Man Mk 40 moved through are dealt 1 damage and are given an action token. Characters in squares adjacent to the path are given an action token.) Once you sonic boom through the opposing team, have Iron Man use the same power again to get back to where he started. That should double action token and slightly damage the entire opposing team. The next turn you can push and do it again! Eventually you will need to use the perplexes to have Iron Man start attacking, but hopefully the other team will be severely weakened by then. Win or lose, it should be fun.

Local Tournament Report – 1/08/14 Comics & More

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20140110-105552.jpg

I’m tired, but I will give a quick and dirty run down of tonight. I leave the 4000 word introductions to Hypefox.

The Format: 600 point modern. No Colossals. No Resources. No special items. No vehicles larger than a peanut base. 40 minute rounds.

What I played:

BM031 Alfred Pennyworth

NML002 Batgirl

BM016 Batgirl

BM025 Batgirl

FFBM003 Nightwing

BM001R Batman

BM206 Red Robin

ATA074 Batman Family * 7

(side boarded) BM100 Nightwing and Batgirl

Total = 598 Points

Round 1: Played against  IIM001A Iron Man, IIM029B War Machine, IIM016 Pepper Potts, and FI301 Splitlip. The first few turns went like you might expect. I knew he would get the first shot(s) with his huge ranged advantage. My 5 perplexes all went to defense for my approach. War Machine moved up, fired, and missed. Iron Man shot batman for 6 through a wall while he was sitting in hindering with increased defense. On his last click Batman ran to Alfred. It reminded me of the movie. “Alfred I need you!” Everyone else ran to base the other team because they had pushed for their alpha strike. The next round NML002 Batgirl got a perplex to hit and 2 perplexes to damage. She charged/flurried on Warmachine and hit both times. He went to click 7. The other two Batgirls took up firing positions. Iron Man Hit BM025 Batgirl and she ran to Alfred. Red Robin finally got to the fight and used running shot to knock WarMachine up to Click 10. War Machine sidestepped behind Iron Man. Iron Man then Shoots NML002 Batgirl and KOs her. Nightwing finally shows up and Bases Iron Man. The next round with a Perplex he knocks Iron Man to Click 3. Over the next two rounds Iron Man breaks away and then he and War Machine KO Nightwing from range. Batman finally rejoins the fight and gets into firing position on a pushed War Machine and… the judge calls time. The match ends with zero points for me and 175 for the other team. I think I could have taken this match with more time, but it ends up a loss.

Round 2: Played against GG034 Super-Skrull, IH104 Black Bolt, GG208 Super Skrull, M10A022 Wolverine, GG035 Replica, and GG202 Skrull Assassin * 2. In theory I would have said this was a good matchup for me. However playing the game turned out differently. After Nightwing was so slow getting into battle in game 1, I decided turn 1 to merge him and Batgirl into BM100 Nightwing and Batgirl. My opponent’s Super Skrull and Black Bolt had running shot, but due to hindering and elevation we both closed on each other without any ranged action. BM016 Batgirl and BM206 Red Robin take up elevated firing positions. Once we started mixing it up I realized I had a big problem. On my first turn of real action I charged NML002 Batgirl into a Super Skrull. Shape change roll was made. No attack. Then BM100 Nightwing and Batgirl charged that same Super Skrull. Skrull roll made. No attack. Batman based Replica and the Skrull Assassins intending to flurry them to death. He make it to the next round unscathed but Skrull rolls and a miss mean that only one assassin took damage. The following round replica crit hits Batman. The BM100 Nightwing and Batgirl duo holds it’s own for quite a while, but everyone else is getting KOed as my opponents forces went from one side of the map to the other. That’s pretty much how the match goes. IH104 Black Bolt misses his first few attacks, but eventually his running shot and ranged attacks started KOing my figures. This match also ended with time expiring. I KOed roughly 200 points of his team and he got 400 points of mine. Had this match continued I definitely would have lost all my pieces.

Round 3: Played against ASM020 Rhino, M10A018 Green Goblin, ASM031A Kraven the Hunter, ASM029 Demogoblin, ASM002 Shocker, ASM030 Lizard. Immediately went to the BM100 Nightwing and Batgirl duo again. No ranged action due to elevation and hindering. I send out BM016 Batgirl as bait. The goblins both bite and BM016 Batgirl is down to her last click and heading to Alfred. Kraven uses leap climb to base Alfred. Batman and the Duo are sent into hindering near the opposing team with their defense perplexed up. The Lizard has no problem rolling an 10 to hit Batman’s 20 defense and a blades roll puts bats on his worst click (3rd click). The following round Bats runs to Alfred. BM016 Batgirl uses her outwit to take away Kraven’s defense and NML002 Batgirl and the duo charge up an elevation to KO him. Red Robin shoots a Goblin. Rhino and Lizard are left without opponents on their elevation and they starting walking. That elevation aggravation will continue for them the rest of the game. M10A018 Green Goblin does get off an awesome energy explosion on four of my guys around Alfred. But, no one is KOed and he goes down the following round. This match was eventually called for time. Being in the losers bracket we didn’t bother counting the points. I definitely would have KOed all opposing pieces with more time.

What I learned:

FFBM003 Nightwing is awful. I only played him to merge into the duo. I would say play Blackbat over him every time.

Skrulls are irritating and effective if you are lucky.

IIM001A Iron Man is really pretty good.

IIM016 Pepper Potts is pointless if your opponent read my earlier article and knows not to KO her.

If you play BM001R Batman he will always end up on his one bad click every game and you will hate it.

NML002 Batgirl is very good with some perplex backup.

Improved movement or a taxi are pretty must a must for stealthy characters.

What Batman Family team would I play if I could go back and do it all over again?

BM031 Alfred Pennyworth

NML002 Batgirl

BM201 Batman

BM010 Blackbat

BM206 Red Robin

BM100 Nightwing and Batgirl

ATA074 Batman Family * 6

(side boarded) BM205 Nightwing
(side boarded) BM025 Batgirl

Total = 600 Points

This team has 6 characters in a 600 point game so I can move them all every turn. All of the close combat attackers now have improved movement and all attackers have move and attack abilities. No more basing the opposite team and hoping they don’t hit me before I get a chance to hit them. Red Robin has a taxi now to get him into firing position. Batman has exploit weakness to help soften up impervious tent poles. The number one best improvement is no more FFBM003 Nightwing.

Meet the New Boss; Same as the Old Boss!! (A Second Opinion on the Invincible Iron Man set and a Quick Discussion About the Meta.)

/ ninwashui / 1 Comment

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Meet NinwaShui, our newest contributor! He’s a veteran of many Heroclix tournaments and has played the game for quite a while. His last tournament victory–Month 6 of Fear Itself–came at my expense and earned him a Colossal Serpent! Ninwa is here today to provide another perspective on a couple of my most recent posts.)

A SECOND OPINION!!

That's High Praise

About the set:

I liked this set a lot in terms of theme, but compared to WXM it had a slightly lower power level. There are a larger percentage of figures in this set that I feel I would never field on a team. The power level in the playable figures is definitely comparable. That’s nothing to be ashamed of, as I think WXM is the most powerful set we’ve ever seen.

The chases are cool and they are all playable, but they aren’t the super beautiful one man armies that the last set featured. For a causal player the WXM chases are better, but the chases in this set are much more likely to show up on tournament teams in the current meta.

The current meta:

In my listings below I judge the current meta based on what I’ve seen from recent tournie reports. At the moment, those are mostly from the ROC. Essentially right now you seem to have 5 choices:

-A 300 point team base (Hellfire, X-men blue).

-A 200 point team base (New mutants) and 100 points of something else.

-A 200 point Shuma Gorath and 100 points of something else.

-68 point Catwoman, a 14 point bat belt, and 218 points of something else.

-A 250 point team with at least 3 characters (or two and a bystander), splitlip, and a full book of the skull. This is the most common team you see. I commonly refer to this team and meta environment as “Hammers raining from the sky.”

My 5 figures that almost made the top ten:

5. IIM031 Crimson Cowl – This is a good support figure for MOE teams. Never play her without the Hammer industries ATA. She might have made the top 10 if IIM002 Rescue wasn’t in the same point range in the same set.

4. IIM051 Iron Pharaoh (1500 BC) – He is probably the best figure to use the SUMMON ANCESTRAL SPIRIT: IRON MAN trait to summon. But he lacks the trait himself which means you don’t want to start with him in play. Otherwise, incredible range and his lack of move and attack is easily fixed in a hammers raining from the sky environment.

3. IIM028 Death’s Head – I’ve seen this guy in action and he is deadly on every click. Park him behind the rest of your team and shoot straight through them with his improved targeting. He’s best played with small cheap supporting figures because of his SIDE JOB power mid dial. His average attack value and lack of a move and attack ability are easily fixed in a hammers raining from the sky environment.

2. IIM020 Detroit Steel – This guy made top 16 at a an ROC out of nowhere. I listened to a podcast where they thought it was a joke in the tournament report. Then I checked his dial. His TARGETING SOLUTION allows you to shoot a stealthy guy in hindering OR the guy hiding behind the stealthy guy in hindering. That second option is usually better. Precision strike means that super senses and mastermind are just as useless as stealth. The Hammer ATA is enough to make this guy a pretty darn good figure.

1. IIM030 Mandarin – This guy and his rings would be one of the best support figures in all of modern except that you can’t use other resources with him. He’s not powerful enough to warrant not running your own book of the skull. However in a tournament that doesn’t allow resources, but does allow special objects, this guy rocks. In particular there is one ring to rule them all. The ring binding all the others together in darkness is, appropriately enough, the Black Light ring. There are 3 reasons it’s awesome. “This character can use Smoke Cloud as a free action.” Normal smoke cloud sucks. Smoke cloud as a free action is awesome. “Opposing characters that begin their turn in a square with one of these terrain markers placed by this ability modify their speed and range values by -2.” These are additional bonuses to what smoke cloud already does when used on opposing characters. Go read the new 2013 version of that power again on your PAC card. And if you make opposing characters shoot through hindering, that is an additional -1 to their attack beyond the smoke cloud’s inherent -1 to attack. Also, remember that placing smoke cloud under characters without a way to avoid hindering movement penalties cuts their movement in half. Awesome. And here’s the best part: “This character and adjacent friendly characters can use Stealth if they occupy a square with a terrain marker placed by this ability.” That means if you use smoke cloud on your own team it gives stealth to Mandarin and anyone adjacent to him! Awesome.

In addition to being a competent ranged attacker Mandarin also starts with another ring besides black light. Mento Intensifer (mind control as a free action) is probably the best secondary ring.

The top ten most powerful figures from the Invincible Iron Man Set:

10. IIM002 Rescue – Probably the best support figure in modern not named Scarlet Witch or Tony Stark. The only thing keeping her from being higher on this list is that 65 is a lot in a 300 point army for someone who does zero damage.

9. IIM049 Iron Monger -Do you remember that time he sued the Scarlet Witch because she used the Mystics TA without his permission? Good times. With his ability to nullify any copy-able TA from the opposing team you may disrupt their whole game plan. His attack value looks sub par  until you take into account his -2 perplex to defense. Anyone he can target with perplex he should be able to hit.

8. IIM015 Tony Stark – There has to be a way to break this piece and it’s Mole Man-like ability to make your armor pieces awesome. Maybe “Send in the Drones” Ultron is the key? Also, you should consider that because of his stop click and automatic regeneration for 1 at the start of your turn a lot of pieces in this game can’t knock him out one-on-one. You need to either outwit him or attack twice in one turn. 255 point AVM Hulk can’t knock out this figure by himself. Think about that.

7. IIM048 Count Nefaria – I agree with Hypefox that this fig is great for all the reasons he listed. He’s not higher on my list because I believe IIM029B War Machine is better and he’s only 1 point more.

6. IIM029A War Machine – A great attacker at a bargain price. The trait he has is wonderful and Stark Industry theme units are really hot right now. He has Booklip written all over him.

5. IIM056 Iron Soldier (1910s) – I think this is the best character to start with for the SUMMON ANCESTRAL SPIRIT: IRON MAN trait. Full dial stealth plus the ability to move through hindering terrain–that’s been awesome since Hypertime Batman and it’s still awesome now. Rock solid attack values. +1 att and +1 damage versus armor, past and soldier keyword figs. Also a smoke cloud power you actually want to use. His lack of move and attack is easily rectified in a hammers raining from the sky tournament.

4. IIM029B War Machine – His ALPHA STRIKE power will let you hit the other side of the board in one turn, possibly ambushing the other team before they are ready for you. His RETALIATORY STRIKE is an interesting way to help him not get out-actioned by a more balanced team.

3. IIM041B Hyperion – If you just saw his starting click you might think this was a dial for Galactus. This is the Superman dial that we’ve been waiting for and that we know WizKids will never give us, because if they did there would be no reason to make another ever again. He is a one man army with enough room to still run a resource. The only thing keeping him from being higher on the list is the lack of a broken white power or a trait that needs to be sent immediately to the watch list without passing Go or collecting $200.

2. IIM103 Absorbing Man – Here’s that broken white power I mentioned was missing from Hyperion. I don’t know about the rest of you, but with the way I roll in tournaments getting a 7 or better on my dice is sometimes a long shot. There’s a 58% (roughly) chance of that. Well, there’s only a 16%(roughly) chance after hitting this guy to actually damage him (I know his defense is low, but you still have to make that roll first obviously, so when you look at it altogether, he has a very small chance of taking damage for every attack directed at him). He’s got 5 clicks so you will likely need to hit him twice to KO him and all the while he’s hitting your team for 5 damage a shot. If you build a team a around him (TK, taxi, outwit, etc…) he’s deadly. Nul’s hammer makes him even more unfair.

1. IIM001B Silver Centurion – With the Absorbing Man I said he was deadly when a team a was built around him. Silver Centurion doesn’t even need that much to win. His Torpedo trait will hopefully be watch listed soon and even if it’s removed completely he would still be very playable. His only real weakness is a lack of indomitable and that’s easily rectified.

The 5 worst figures in the Invincible Iron Man set:

5. IIM047E Titanium Man – 150 points for 5 clicks? Is he nearly indestructible like the absorbing man? No. 10 attack. 17 defense. Down to 3 damage after two clicks. His 250 version seems like an average figure. The 150 point version feels like they put the 150 point line in the wrong place.

4. IIM024 Centurius – His EVOLUTIONIZER power isn’t that great in a hammers raining from the sky environment and this guy literally has nothing else to offer. Play Rescue for 7 points less.

3. IIM021 Sasha Hammer – Sasha gives you a 1 in 3 chance to resurrect a 150 point character. Without that trait she’d be an average 50 point character. Unfortunately she costs 90. Hell, if you played a better 90 point character to begin with, your 150 point character might not have gotten KOed in the first place.

2. IIM036 Ghost – What is this guy’s purpose? Not really support. Mobile blocking terrain? He can push to click 2 and do some damage up close, but at that point you might as well play 40 point IIM207 Puck.

1. IIM016 Pepper Potts –  A 33 point character with 2 activation clicks. Sure, if your opponent knocks her out while she’s adjacent to Tony Stark she can turn into a low point Rescue, but why would you opponent ever try knocking her out first?