Dial “M” for Mutant Massacre!! (Or, a Top Ten Set Review of Uncanny X-Men!!)

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Morlock Massacre

Hello Again!! Been awhile, hasn’t it? I blame Ninwashui. Doesn’t matter though. Because today I’m back with an overdue look at the best pieces from the recent Uncanny X-Men set!

In fact, let’s just jump right in with…

SOME NOTES ABOUT THE SET!!

–This expansion continues the smaller-point, simplified wording and mechanics trend that started with TMNT (and continues unabated with the Civil War OP set). While you’ll find an occasional beater (UXM053B Phoenix is 250 Points… of something), the majority of this set sits between 60 and 110 Points.

–Also like TMNT, you really have to look hard to find any sort of Improved Targeting. Stealth means a lot more in UXM Sealed than it has in previous sets like World’s Finest or NFAoS. Which is fine. But it also puts a lot of these figures at a possible disadvantage in the Meta…

–Speaking of (well, not the Meta necessarily, but venue play), I wonder if shops will start running what would typically be standard Modern Age events as “TMNT-on” events. By which I mean, there was a definite shift in design and a scaling back of power creep when Turtles was released. TMNT, UXM and Civil War (both the Movie Set and the OP) all seem like birds of a feather in terms of power level, so they’re almost begging to be played without the added complication of, say, KC Chases from World’s Finest or Balls of Fury.

Alright then! Without further ado, let’s get into the…

TOP TEN FIGURES IN UNCANNY X-MEN!!

Sugar Man

9. UXM064 Sugar Man — 120 Points — Chase: Sugar Man is a hard piece to evaluate, because so much of what he does is ethereal text outlined in his monstrously-long-winded Trait (WHAT KIND OF SLAUGHTER DO I FEEL LIKE TODAY?: At the beginning of the game, if Sugar Man was not equipped with any other item during force construction, you may choose two of these three objects as described on this card: Axe, Hammer, Sword. Sugar Man may be equipped with both chosen objects. Sugar Man’s Weapons: When on the map, Sugar Man’s Weapons are considered heavy objects. A character in a square with our holding this object may be given a power action to equip it. If not equipped, this object can only be KO’d in an object attack. A character equipped with one of these objects may use the following effects: Axe Effect: Attack rolls of 10-12 count as critical hits. Hammer Effect: When character hits an opposing character, after actions resolve you may give that character an action token if your attack was 10-12 Sword Effect: Can use Blades/Claws/Fangs).

But his other powers start to get a lot more interesting if he has, say, B/C/F and all of his rolls of 10 or more are Crits. His Stop Click (SHRUNK MYSELF INTO YOUR BOOT: STOP. Sugar Man has Tiny Symbol and can’t be healed. When this click is revealed, place any equipped objects onto the map adjacent to Sugar Man. When an adjacent opposing character moves or is placed, after actions resolve you may place Sugar Man adjacent to that character.) and 8-Click long dial also give him lots of longevity for someone under 150 Points.

As Secondary Attackers go, he’s not elite, but he does offer just enough to make him really interesting if you get lucky with some rolls. If you can get him next to a potential victim and roll two 10’s with Flurry and B/C/F and hit two 6’s, you could deal 14 damage from one attack.

On the other hand, unless you’re packing TK, it’ll be tough to get him where you need him (he’s only got Sidestep top dial), and while his 11 Attack Value is a tick above average, it’s hardly a guarantee that either Flurry attack will hit, and he has no built-in way to counteract Impervious, Super Senses or Shape Change. Which means that even after doing all the work to position him for a big strike, there’s a half-decent chance that you may still end up dealing no damage or missing entirely, even IF you make your Attack Roll.

Nightcrawler

9. UXM002 Nightcrawler — 50 Points — Common: Kurt Wagner gives you five solid clicks for 50 Points, and if you can get him next to a key opposing piece, he can tie them up with his 18 Defense (with Combat Reflexes) and give them fits with his Precision Strike on offense.

But the reason he’s in the Top Ten is because he can do what almost no other figure in the history of the game can do thanks to his Damage Special (*BAMF*: Give Nightcrawler a power action and place him in any square within line of fire. If that square is within 4 squares of the square he began this action in, he may make a close attack.).

Yup. He can zip across an entire map (if it’s the right map) if he wants to. There’s not another piece I’m aware of yet that can do the same thing.

Sunfire Prime

“Yup. Even I’m an Avenger.”

8. UXM043B Sunfire — 120 Points — Rare PRIME: Honestly, all THREE versions of Sunfire from this set (are there that many Shiro Yoshida fans out there? Did we really need three versions of him? Especially since NONE of them have the Big Hero 6 keyword?!) are extremely good.

I decided to spotlight the Prime, who is almost impossible to hit from range (20-21 Defense), essentially has Mystics if you hit him with a close attack and sports Running Shot, Pulse Wave, Poison, Energy Explosion AND a natural 4 Damage top dial. That’s a hell of a lot going on with a figure who is still cheap enough to just be a Secondary Attacker.

And the best part? This iteration has the Avengers keyword, so he fits on a metric poop-ton of different teams.

Scarlet Witch

7. UXM055 Scarlet Witch — 75 Points — Super Rare: And now we start a run of Super Rare pieces that are 75 Points and awesome!

Ol’ Wanda here has five clicks of support-y goodness including her Damage Special (WINDS OF MAGICK: Scarlet Witch can use Enhancement and Probability Control.) and a Trait (HEX MAGICK: Give Scarlet Witch a power action to attach the Hex Magic marker to a character within range and line of fire, removing it from anywhere else. If that character is friendly, when that character attacks, a Critical Hit is an attack roll of 10-12. If that character is opposing, when that character attacks, a Critical Miss is an attack roll of 2-4. When Scarlet Witch is KO’d, remove the Hex Magic marker.) that can drive grown men to cry.

Quicksilver!

“Nope, Not what we meant by ‘gun control,’ Pietro.”

6. UXM054 Quicksilver — 75 Points — Super Rare: We can’t spotlight Wanda and not showcase her brother, right?

His Movement Special (FASTER THAN YOU’LL EVER BE: Quicksilver can use Hypersonic Speed. When he does he can automatically break away and he can use Flurry as a free action instead of the close attack.) makes his somewhat fearsome except that his top damage is only three. However, if you can Perplex that up (or equip him with, like, Proteus), pretty soon you’ll have a guy who can cover most of the board–actually, with his Trait (IT’S LIKE I’M EVERYWHERE AT ONCE: When Quicksilver moves through a square, you may immediately place the Speed Shadow marker in it, removing it from anywhere else. Whenever Quicksilver makes a close attack, he may target characters adjacent to the Speed Shadow marker.), he pretty much CAN cover most of the board–and gets to attack twice with a 12 Attack and 4 Damage.

Another case of a Secondary Attacker who can put up Primary Attacker damage.

Malice Polaris

5. UXM059 Malice — 75 Points — Super Rare: This set seems to be chock full of entities who can possess people [EDITOR’S NOTE: There’s, like, two. That’s hardly a “chock.” Whatever that is.].

This is Malice right after she took control of Polaris, as represented by her Attack Special (STILL FIGURING OUT YOUR POWERS: At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6. Until your next turn, on a result of 3-4: Malice can use Force Blast. 5-6: Malice can use Telekinesis.) and Damage Special (WHAT YOU SEE IS NOT WHAT YOU GET: Malice can use Perplex and Shape Change.).

Those two Specials combined with the rest of her dial make Malice a solid Secondary Attacker for a very reasonable point cost, but she has one last trick up her sleeve. Her Trait (I’M DONE WITH YOU, PRETTY: When Malice would be KO’d, you may equip her to another friendly character. EFFECT: Character can use Perplex and Shape Change.) means that even if your opponent takes Malice out early, well, that’ll only make your Primary Attacker that much better.

Pixie

“For what basically amounts to a group of ‘gifted’ high school students, you guys sure seem to encounter and then murder a lot of aliens. I mean, like, a LOT.”

4. UXM056 Pixie — 75 Points — Super Rare: Yeah, she’s only got five clicks of life, but those are five pretty darn efficient clicks! She’s probably one of the best hybrid figures of the last few years, in that she fills three roles for your team for the price of one.

First, she starts with a 12 Movement Value top dial along with a Special Power (TELEPORTATION SPELL: Pixie can use Phasing/Teleport. When she does she may carry characters with “wing movement symbol” and may carry 2 characters. She may carry 4 characters instead if they all have the X-Men keyword.) that makes her a damn fine taxi if you’re not playing an X-Men Themed Team and a RIDICULOUSLY GOOD taxi if you are.

She also is a half-decent supporting piece since she offers Perplex on her first 3 Clicks and her Trait (PIXIE DUST: Pixie can use Smoke Cloud as a free action but places only 1 hindering marker. Characters occupying this hindering marker modify their defense values by -1 in addition to attack values.) can either help shield friendly Stealth-ers OR essentially Perplex down two more values on an opposing piece.

Finally, with a starting 3 Damage and a second Click that offers B/C/F AND Precision Strike, she’s got the Damage Output potential (hell, she might one-shot a piece that has top dial Super Senses!) AND the defensive moxie (Super Senses to evade attacks and the Mystics TA to make it hurt if your opponent does connect) to be an effective Secondary Attacker as well!

 

Kitty Pryde Phased

Winner of the “2016 Han Solo in Carbonite” modeling award…

3. UXM023B Kitty Pryde — 65 Points — Uncommon (PRIME): Okay, so a couple years ago, Ninwashui wrote a piece wherein he made the case that Incapacitate was one of the worst powers in Heroclix. At that time, there were two types of figures with Incapacitate. Either it was a high-cost piece that you’d rather try and deal damage with anyway (so Incap was useless), or it was a low-cost piece that either had a bad Attack Value or a really thin dial so that they died before they were useful.

Well, Prime Kitty Pryde here doesn’t have Incapacitate–but she does have a Special Movement Power (PHASING ATTACK:  Kitty Pryde can use Phasing/Teleport and Stealth. When she uses Phasing/Teleport, after actions resolve she may make a close attack targeting all characters whose square she moved through. Hit characters are given an action token instead of normal damage.) that’s even better than Incap. All for just 65 points.

There’s no better way to get me excited about putting action tokens on my opponent’s pieces than giving me a weapon that potentially puts tokens on ALL my opponent’s figures at once instead!

And if you can find a way to give her Willpower…

Mags Proteus

“Pink is the new purple, not the other way around!”

2. UXM057P Proteus — 35 Points — Super Rare: It seems like a steep price to pay for an off-the-board +1 bump to all stats, all while risking a click of damage to the bumpee every turn, but in a world where all of the War of Light Entities have gone to pasture, Proteus is poised to become the new hotness.

There’s already a lot of theorycrafting on the best figures to break with his special Possession Trait (BURNING OUT HOST BODIES: EFFECT: Modify the combat values of the equipped character by +1. At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled 1-2: Deal the equipped character 1 unavoidable damage.); Taskmaster from Civil War OP works like gangbusters, and I tested the Sentry LE from the same set with Proteus just the other day and had positive results. Even Rage from Avengers Assemble seems like fun.

And when you get right down to it, his 35 Point off-the-board cost actually isn’t that steep, for a few reasons. First, of course, that stat-bump is huge. But secondly, consider the fact that his other Trait (HE’S USING ORDINARY PEOPLE LIKE PUPPETS!: When building your force, you may pay 35 points to equip Proteus to a character of 100 points or less. When the equipped character is KO’d, equip this to another friendly character of 100 points or less. If you can’t, place him on click #10 into the square of the last character he was equipped and he can’t be healed.) means he’s the first Possessor in the game who can hop from piece to piece as your army is KO’d AND the fact that he can actually pop onto the battlefield as a 11 Attack, 4 Damage Pulse Wave-r with Prob once he runs out of hosts. Yup! He’s the first Possessor who starts off-the-board but has a way to actually come into the game, so those aren’t just 35 dead points if your Possessed character gets KO’d!!

Even if you hate the X-Men or planned on skipping this set, this is a piece you’re gonna want for your collection going forward.

Iceman 1

So thaaaat’s where that sculpt came from…

 

1. UXM051 Iceman — 110 Points — Super Rare: A deceptively deep dial that keeps turning up new ways to terrorize your opponent.

First, since he flies and Ignores Characters on movement, there’s not much on the map that’s gonna impede his mobility.

Second, his first Trait (FROZEN SOLID: When Iceman moves, after actions resolve you may make a close attack targeting a single opposing character whose square he moved through and didn’t target with an attack that action. If you hit, attach the Ice Wall marker to that character, removing it from any other character. As long as the Ice Wall marker is attached, that character can’t be moved, placed, given actions, or targeted with an attack. At the end of the next turn, remove the Ice Wall marker.) basically gives him a shot at two legit attacks each turn. No, he does not come with Willpower or Indomitable, but you’re really not losing out on actions since he can do so much in one turn.

Third, even though ICEMAN doesn’t lose out on actions, that doesn’t mean your opponent won’t. Iceman’s Special Damage Power (ICY FATE: When Iceman hits an opposing character, after actions resolve you may give that character an action token.) means that on top of tagging his targets with damage, he’ll also keep them locked down with tokens–and that’s not counting the other piece he’ll be locking down with “Frozen Solid!”

In a set of smaller, efficient dials, Bobby Drake stands taller than the rest.

 

Well, that’s it for today. Lots of Builds to discuss, but I think we might wrap up our Uncanny X-Men coverage (finally–and less than a month before the next set drops!) with a spotlight on the WORST figures in the set. Keep it tuned right here, as that should drop later this week!

 

Patriotic Captain America!! (Or, Happy Fourth of July!!)

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Cap 4th

Too obvious? Probably, but hey, with $400+M in domestic grosses, $1.15+B in worldwide box office and a starring role in this summer’s 4 month long OP series, it’s a Captain America summer–we’re just living in it.

So I’m finally, FINALLY approaching something that could be called “healthy,” which means it’s time to get back to a more regular (or at least more frequent!) posting schedule, after missing most of June.

Next up is a belated Uncanny X-Men Top Ten Set Review, followed by a few thoughts on the Civil War OP figures and some Build articles, all of which should take us right to the doorstep of the Superior Foes of Spider-Man!! I’m really looking forward to that one.

I’d also like to give a big tip of the cap to all the servicemen and women who keep my country safe every day. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

So stay safe, watch where you draw your lines of fire (especially with actual fireworks) and meet us right back here later this week!!

 

Flash Fact #2: SPOILERS (Or, A Brief Intermission About the Flash Season 2 Finale!!)

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Flash Zoom Race

So, I swear, I’m hard at work on the Uncanny X-Men Top Ten Set Review (hopefully by the end of next week, but I can’t promise anything… yet!), but today we’re gonna take a break from our regularly scheduled programming and talk about some good ol’ fashioned superhero TV.

Why?

Well, the 2015-2016 TV Season just ended, and there’s a few things that need discussin’!

A year ago, I thought Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. was pretty consistently solid while The Flash (in its first season after spinning off from Arrow) was kind of cheesy, at least initially. I thought the show really found itself during the back half of that debut season and (like A0S) had a dynamite finale.

Fast forward a year, and both shows have just finished firing off their best seasons. When considering all the great comic-based TV we have these days, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had probably the best episode of the season (that would be its fifth episode, 4,722 Hours), but The Flash turned in an extremely solid run of 23 episodes that didn’t really have any turkeys in the bunch. The finale, in particular, is what I want to write about today.

ELIZABETH HENSTRIDGE

You were great, Agent Simmons, but we’ll talk about your show in a different post. (ABC/Tyler Golden)

At this point, like all other bloggers, I am contractually obligated to note that the rest of this post will SPOIL much of the Second Season finale of The Flash. If you wish to proceed from here and have not seen this episode yet, you have been warned. We’re jumping in:

5…

4…

3…

2…

1…

 

Okay!! Still with me? Good. So, if you made it to the end of the finale, you know that after defeating Zoom, Barry went back in time (again) to the scene of his mother’s death (again) and finally decided to do something about it.

Flash Reverse Flash

In the process of beating up the Reverse Flash, Barry SEEMS to have done some possibly irreparable damage to the Timeline and changed both the past and the future in ways we’ve yet to see. What does it all mean?

Essentially, it seems like we’re headed for “Flashpoint” in Season Three, or at least the Berlanti-verse version of it. The Flash has become the most interesting DC show on television, and the ramifications of this finale are potentially mind-boggling.

WHAT WE KNOW:

-There are four shows in the Berlanti-verse: Arrow, The Flash, Legends of Tomorrow and Supergirl. Of those four, the first two are closely connected and part of the same extended universe; Legends of Tomorrow is primarily populated with DC characters who were previously introduced as supporting characters on either Arrow or The Flash. It is seemingly connected to Arrow and The Flash, although it’s unclear even–or perhaps ESPECIALLY–if time travel on Legends of Tomorrow works the same way that time travel on The Flash works. For this discussion, it’s not really important though.

Supergirl is set on a completely different Earth where there is no Flash and no Arrow; this may be important later. Flash did randomly journey to Supergirl’s Earth during Supergirl’s first season, so the two characters have met at least once.

-All four shows were renewed for the 2016-2017 season.

DC Shows

–All four shows will crossover with each other at least once during the season; currently, the big crossover event doesn’t have an exact date (it’s still at least 5-6 months away), but sometime in mid-November would be a good bet.

-The presumed source material for The Flash‘s third season, Flashpoint was a major DC Comics crossover event from 2011 that completely changed the status quo and introduced the “New 52” universe (I’m not a huge fan of the New 52–I liked DC fine enough the way it was, but there are those who really dig it). One of the benefits for DC of remaking their universe was the opportunity to fold in Jim Lee’s recently acquired Wildstorm characters (WildC.A.T.’s, The Authority, etc.). Basically, DC used Flashpoint to incorporate an entire, newly acquired universe in the main DC hierarchy.

This may be important later…

WHY FLASHPOINT CAN’T JUST BE A STRAIGHT ADAPTION:

-So if you’ve made it this far, then you’ve probably either read “Flashpoint” at some point or else you just read the Wikipedia (read: Cliff Notes) version of it.

And you know that there’s an awful lot of folks who play major roles in that story who haven’t been introduced yet… and–(NOT REALLY A) SPOILER ALERT–are not getting introduced into the Berlanti-verse anytime soon.

For Example:

-Batman ain’t coming (he’s being portrayed as a petulant little twerp over on FOX in a show called Gotham). Moreover, there seems to be an edict from DC that Berlanti can’t introduce any of the Trinity characters on his collection of shows. Or at least that’s the rumor.

Its worse than you know

“It’s worse than you know.“

It usually is

“It usually is.“

I actually think it’s even worse than that.

I think Berlanti is forbidden from using any of the seven main Justice League folks except the Flash, since he’s already established, and I think if Warner Brothers could find a way to take back Barry Allen, they would, despite the show’s success. Why? Because unlike Marvel, DC wants their TV universe separated from their (theoretically) burgeoning film universe. There’s a few reasons why they prefer things this way, and a host of reasons why this is dumb. But that hasn’t stopped DC and Warner Brothers before, so why should it now?

Even though Batman V Superman was greeted with a critical thumping, it still performed juuuust well enough at the box office to keep DC from completely pulling the plug on this iteration of their movie-verse (we’ll take a page from the internet here and just call it Zach Snyder’s “Murder-verse” for short). And as long as they’re going to continue with that continuity, most of the big-name DC heroes (and even C-list characters like Booster Gold, who now has a Zach Stentz-penned movie in development) will remain completely out of reach for the Berlanti-verse.

-Thomas Wayne (Batman in the Flashpoint universe) ain’t coming (for the very same reasons Batman isn’t);

-Martha Wayne (and her Joker turn) ain’t coming;

-Wonder Woman and all the Amazons? Ain’t coming;

-Aquaman and his Atlantean army? Nope. His profile has gone way up since Smallville. I’m betting he’s off-limits too.

-Booster Gold was mentioned above; he had a big role on the periphery of Flashpoint… and I’m pretty sure he ain’t coming (it would make no sense to cast an actor to play Booster for TV when you’re dead-set on recasting the role for the movie version in a couple years anyway–if everything pans out, that is).

-Cyborg has a movie on the docket. He’s not gonna show up;

-Pick a version of Green Lantern. Who’s your favorite? Hal Jordan? John Stewart? Guy Gardner? Kyle Rayner? Guess what: none of them are coming, despite the fact that any of them would kill on the CW (“Blackest Night” done over the course of a 4-show crossover on the CW? Yes, please! Too bad it will never happen).

-You get the point. Despite all of the those characters making very specific and important appearances throughout “Flashpoint,” I’d bet dollars to donuts that not a single one will show up in the Berlanti-verse next year.

But here’s the surprise twist: you don’t need ANY of them to faithfully adapt “Flashpoint” on The Flash. Not a single one.

WHAT WE THINK WILL HAPPEN:

-When you think about it, Arrow on the CW is really just the story of how Bruce Wayne became Batman–it just doesn’t have Bruce Wayne or Batman in it. But Oliver Queen in Arrow is a rich playboy who suffers the trauma of losing his parents and decides to dedicate his life to stopping crime and saving his city. Oliver Queen would be a perfect stand-in for Bruce Wayne in the Berlanti-verse.

“But won’t Stephen Amell be hella-busy shooting his own show?” you might ask. Yes. Yes he will be. But remember, Bruce Wayne pretty much just showed up at the end of the story, so Amell really only needs to show up for the end of the “Flashpoint” storyline (which may or may not happen during that already-planned November crossover that Amell will be doing anyway).

Besides, the producers may already have a different actor in mind to play Green Arrow on The Flash:

Robert Queen

“Me?”

Yes you, Jamey Sheridan. Thomas Wayne was the man in the Batman costume during “Flashpoint,” and similarly, Robert Queen could be the man under the cowl in the new, altered timeline. In fact, I think the producers hinted at this possibility during one of the Earth 2 excursions we witnessed during Season Two, where Robert Queen was unmasked as Green Arrow during a news report.

Bringing back Robert Queen for a few episodes to actually be the Green Arrow would be pretty slick for two reasons: firstly, it would bring back a somewhat under-utilized Berlanti-verse supporting character for an awesome final run. Secondly, it would still maintain the original spirit of Thomas Wayne’s “Flashpoint” storyline.

And best of all, it would allow them to do that final envelope scene from “Flashpoint” where Barry puts the universe back together again (more or less) and then hands an emotional, handwritten letter to Bruce Wayne from his dead father, Thomas. That scene was a beautiful coda to the whole saga and is, frankly, one of the best reasons to try and adapt this particular storyline. Probably THE best reason, actually (“Heart, Humor and Spectacle,” indeed!).

But the only way that final scene lands is if the producers can get Mr. Sheridan to come back and suit up for a few guest-starring roles as Green Arrow on The Flash.

-In “Flashpoint,” Martha Wayne’s grief over losing her son Bruce eventually twists her mind until she becomes a psycho-Joker. Once that’s revealed, she pretty much just falls in a pit of bats and then dies.

If Berlanti’s team wants to bring back Moira Queen and have her do a similar heel turn, that would be fine. Could actually make for a cool sort of one-off “Villain of the Week.”

-No Aquaman and no Wonder Woman is trickier, since their respective nation’s escalating war threatens the whole world and without them, a major source of environmental tension would be gone. But once again, you really don’t need those specific characters–indeed, having them show up out of nowhere at this point would probably be kinda jarring.

What you really need is two large organizations fighting with each other on a scale that could threaten the whole world with how out-of-control their conflict becomes. What about the assassins of Nanda Parbat versus the shadowy intrigue of The Hive? Could one not argue that, if left unchecked by Oliver and his team, both of these organizations would have been on a super-powered collision course by Season Four of Arrow?

-And since we brought it up before, wouldn’t this all have to have a big effect on Arrow, Legends and Supergirl?

Yeah, to really hit home, it probably would. But Arrow could actually pull a fast one and basically start telling their Season 5 story without really acknowledging The Flash but showing subtle differences between the Season 4 status quo and the Season 5 status quo. Then, after the crossover, we find out the differences are because on Arrow, we’ve been watching the post-Flashpoint continuity all along!

Legends is already a time-traveling show and its central characters could show up at some point in November to help Flash put right those things that once went wrong, but they exist outside the normal flow of time to begin with, so, in theory,  they don’t really need to worry so much about the repercussions of “Flashpoint.”

And Supergirl? Well, Supergirl’s universe would suddenly and inexplicably–or perhaps even splicably–find itself on Earth 1 or Earth 2, ready to adventure with our

Flashpoint

CONCLUSION: This is all wild speculation, of course, but isn’t that what makes the internet so damn much fun at the end of the day? Anyway, whether Season Three of the Flash goes even something like what I’ve predicted here, or if it turns out to be completely different, I will be watching the CW this Fall with great interest.

 

And don’t forget to join us next time as we get back into Heroclix with our Uncanny X-Men Top Ten Set Review!

Until Then, Stay Safe, and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire!

 

Upcoming Games: The Return of SmashClix!!

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SuperSmashBros3

Just another quick game announcement for local SE Michigan ‘Clixers!

6/1/2016: The Return of SmashClix!!

Entry Fee: $5 (Prizes will come from LE Kits)

Army Construction: Each player brings up to THREE Golden Age teams. Each team MUST consist of THREE characters of 150 points each or less. Only one team will be used in any particular round.

We may play up to three 40 minute rounds.

For force construction, any carded figure will work with the following exceptions:

  • No figure bigger that a peanut base.
  • No Colossal Size figures or team bases.
  • Any figures with special powers that put out bystanders, other figures, special markers, or terrain markers. Examples include: Captain Cold and his hindering terrain markers, Sea King and his water terrain markers, Monsieur Mallah and the Brain, or WS007 Spider-Man and his web special terrain markers. Figures with smoke cloud or barrier are fine.
  • The following characters are banned: NFAOS056 Nick Fury, WKD-027 Felix Faust, WKM-028 Doctor Strange, WF041 Mary Marvel, SLOSH039 Bizarro, AAOU005 Thor.

Please note that we will not be including standard objects in the game. To compensate for that, figures that can use super strength deal +1 damage in close combat attacks.

How to Play: SmashClix is a Battle Royal variant with up to six players competing on the same map. A map will be provided by the judge with additional starting zones added for all players.

Before each round, you must choose which of your three teams you are going to play for that round. For each team of three characters, you must also assign an order of play to each character.

The character you designate as Character 1 will start the game; Character 2 will come into play in your Starting Zone if and when Character 1 is KO’d. Character 3 will come into play in your Starting Zone if and when Character 2 is KO’d. And Character 1 will re-enter the game in your Starting Zone if and when Character 3 is KO’d, and so on, until the game ends. When a player’s character is KO’d, his next character gains “First Turn Immunity” when it comes into play.

Once everyone has selected a team AND a team order, forces are revealed and all players roll 2d6 to determine which player goes first.

Note that you may choose a different team for each round if you wish.

Each player’s turn is limited to 60 seconds or less. The judge may move play to the next player immediately if a player’s turn lasts more than one minute.

You can score points by KOing opposing characters on your turn (or rarely by finding a heart container). Every opposing character that is KOed on your turn (by an attack or any other affect) adds one to your overall score. However, whenever you are KOed (whether or not it’s your turn) you subtract one from your overall score. For example, If you KO three characters during a round and you are KOed twice then your overall score for that round is +1. High Score Wins.

Smashbrositems

Weapons Falling from the Sky: To aid you in powering up your character, for this scenario, all characters gain the following Trait: “3… 2.. 1. GO!: At the start of your turn, if this character is at least 5 spaces away from its starting area, you MAY roll on the Equipment and Immediate Effects table.”

What that means is that at the start of your turn you MAY roll 2d6  and consult the following table:

EQUIPMENT AND IMMEDIATE EFFECTS TABLE:

  • 2 – Poison Mushroom – Immediate Effect – You are immediately KOed (lose -1 to your overall score due to KO)
  • 3 – Bob-Omb – Immediate Effect – You and any other figures within 2 spaces are immediately dealt 2 unavoidable damage.
  • 4 – Hammer – Equipment – While equipped your character has: -3 speed, Earthbound, and Improved Movement: Ignores Characters. The equipped character may use quake as a free action with a locked damage value of 4. Knock back caused by this use of quake is unavoidable and if damage is incurred from the knock back, that damage can’t be reduced below one. You may not make any other attacks besides the free action quake.
  • 5 – Beam Blade – Equipment – Equipped character can use Blades/Claws/Fangs and Exploit Weakness. Attacks by the equipped character cause unavoidable knock back and if damage is incurred from the knock back, that damage can’t be reduced below one.
  • 6 – Super Mushroom – Equipment – Equipped character gains the Colossal Size symbol (including giant reach 3), and they can use Close Combat Expert. Attacks by the equipped character cause unavoidable knock back and if damage is incurred from the knock back, that damage can’t be reduced below one.
  • 7 – Warp Star- Immediate Effect – You may immediately move to any square on the board.
  • 8 –  Fire Flower – Equipment – Equipped character ignores battle fury (if they have it), Range is locked at 8, they can use Energy Explosion, and they deal damage with Energy Explosion as if they had three printed bolts. Attacks by the equipped character cause unavoidable knock back and if damage is incurred from the knock back, that damage can’t be reduced below one.
  • 9 – Light Gun – Equipment – Equipped character ignores battle fury (if they have it), Range is locked at 8, and they can use Ranged Combat Expert. Attacks by the equipped character cause unavoidable knock back and if damage is incurred from the knock back, that damage can’t be reduced below one.
  • 10 – Screw Attack – Equipment – Equipped character can use Hypersonic Speed. Attacks by the equipped character cause unavoidable knock back and if damage is incurred from the knock back, that damage can’t be reduced below one.
  • 11 – Blue Shell – Immediate Effect – Choose an opposing figure. That figure and any other figures within 2 spaces are immediately dealt 2 unavoidable damage.
  • 12 – Heart Container – Immediate Effect – Immediately add +1 to you overall score.

SuperSmashBros3

Notes about the Equipment and Immediate Effects table:

  • You don’t have to roll on the Equipment and Immediate Effects table if you don’t want to. You can skip that step.
  • Immediate Effects are not optional.
  • Equipment you roll on to is immediately equipped to your character without any extra actions needed.
  • You may only have one piece of Equipment equipped at a time. If you roll a new piece of Equipment on the Equipment and Immediate Effects table you may choose to use that Equipment OR you may choose to keep using the equipment that you already have (or you can use nothing if you have nothing to start).
  • You may not “drop” equipment, but you may replace it with a different piece of equipment by rolling on the Equipment and Immediate Effects table at the start of your next turn.
  • If you are KOed you lose any Equipment you had.

 

Patriotic Steve Rogers!! (Or, Happy Memorial Day 2016!!)

/ HypeFox / Leave a comment

Patriotic Cap

Once again, I would like to wish a Happy Memorial Day weekend to our American readers!

For our international audience, as we mention every year, Memorial Day is an American Holiday wherein we celebrate the sacrifice of those who have fallen in defense of our country and in defense of the many freedoms we enjoy here–like going OFF in a Comments section when a certain comics company does something asinine with one of their best characters!

<Ahem>

I’ll be back later this week with a TV column about the Flash Season 2 finale (I have some thoughts on Season 3), and we also have the Uncanny X-Men Top Ten Set Review in the hopper!

Until then, Thank a Veteran or Active-Duty Serviceman, Stay Safe… and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire!!

Team Ideas: Let’s Kill Nick Fury!! (Or, How to Deal With the Most Dominant Meta Piece in the Game Right Now!!)

/ HypeFox / Leave a comment

Lets Kill Nick Fury

Greetings once more, friends of the blog!!

Today we’re going to discuss the heaviest hitter in the Meta right now… Nick “Balls of” Fury!

Why? Because we’re coming up on WizKids Open Weekend, and if you’re going, you’ll be seeing a lot of him!

(And probably a lot of Mary Marvel, but one problem at a time!)

I checked in with Ninwashui to see what he would play this weekend if he was going (he’s not–family obligations), and I thought what he had to say was interesting and creative enough that it should really be it’s own article! So take it away, Ninwa!

Ninwashui

Before you take his advice, just know that this is the last known photograph of Ninwashui…

NINWASHUI:

“Okay, so I would go with a team that had extreme mobility, so I could bum rush Nick Fury (or whoever the Primary Attacker is) at a time and place of my choosing. To do so, I’d run a little team I like to call…

We're back!

Team Name: Revenge of the Nerfed 3.0: Hit and Rann

Theme: None

Roster:

WKD-025 Adam Strange — 100 Points

(w/WOL063 Ophidian Possessing) — 25 Points

DP018 Blind Al — 13 Points

WF046 Klarion the Witch Boy — 70 Points

WXM010 Shatterstar — 73 Points

WOLR103 Power Battery (Orange Lantern Corps) — 2 Points

WOLR303 Orange Lantern Ring — 6 Points

WOLR203.03 Mallet (Orange) — 4 Points

WOLR203.12 Spotlight (Orange) — 6 Points

Total:                                                  299 Points

 

Why I’d Play This: If you’re a longtime fan of the blog, you know that sometimes I get on a kick where I like to “rehabilitate” nerfed characters from the Heroclix Watchlist, just like this article and this article show.

Now, for this Saturday’s Wizkids Open,  it’s come to my attention that a lot of people are planning to run teams where the pieces just move across the map one square at a time and from one side to the other. Those players will in fact have to spend time counting spaces, deciding their route and remembering to subtract two when they carry someone. So boring!

What they need is a real change of pace! Why move your figures in the manner dictated by rules and conventional thinking when you can simply just have them appear where you want them to appear and attack that same turn? Hindering terrain? So what. Elevated terrain? No problem. Walls? This team doesn’t even notice them.

How does it work? First, since Ophidian is Possessing Adam Strange, you can pump up either his Attack or Damage Value by one and also give him Sidestep or Pulse Wave. Your first move on the Map is to use Blind Al’s power to deal one damage to Strange and push him out of your starting area.

Adam Strange

“If I were a Thor character, I’d be Zeta Ray Bill! Geddit?!”

Now look at Adam Strange’s Trait (ZETA-BEAM: Give Adam Strange a power action. Place a Zeta Beam marker in the square that Adam Strange currently occupies, removing any other of these markers from the map. When you do, place Adam Strange in any legal square on the map and he may then make a ranged combat attack as a free action. After actions resolve, roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled. On a result of 4-6, immediately place Adam Strange in the square with the Zeta Beam marker and remove it from the map. During the beginning of your turn, if the marker is on the map, roll a d6 that can’t be rerolled and on a result of 4-6, place Adam Square in the square with the Zeta Beam marker and remove it from the map.).

This means that you can easily deploy Adam Strange to pick off your opponent’s best supporting pieces OR take a potshot at your opponent’s Primary Attacker, then have a 50% chance to return Adam Strange to the relative safety of your side of the board.

But since that’s not always gonna happen, we’re pairing Adam up with Shatterstar and Klarion the Witch Boy. If you send Adam out and he gets stuck on the other side of the universe board, simply activate Shatterstar’s Trait and escort Klarion to the other side of the Map, where Klarion can unleash Teekl (as a free action!) for some righteous Charge/Blades action!!

(And I haven’t even gotten to the fact that your Orange Battery can be used to take away annoying opposing powers that get in your way!)

Imagine taking out an opposing Fitz or Jason of Sparta before you opponent can use them to properly place a Nick Fury (or two). All of the sudden, Nick becomes a bit of a sitting duck (and his Stealth won’t help him against an Orange Spotlight-wielding Adam Strange!), and you are well on your way to a Match Win!!

HYPEFOX:

I have to say, I was a bit skeptical of this Build until I piloted it against Ninwashui himself in one of our house games. He wasn’t even playing Nick Fury and I still tore his KC Chase Captain Marvel AND 75-Point World’s Finest to shreds (I wiped him pretty quickly while only losing Klarion)! This is a legit team–if you pilot it right!

That’s all for now–I hope everyone has a great Open weekend! Come back here soon for some dueling Uncanny X-Men Top Ten Set Reviews!!

Until then, Stay Safe, and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire!!

 

 

Heroclix in a Half-Shell!! (Or, Let’s Review the Ten Best Figures in TMNT!!)

/ HypeFox / 4 Comments
Black and White Turtles

Oh man, Black & White OG Turtles? They should do these as Chases! … What’s that now?!

Goongala Goongala! And Hello Again!!

Sorry we’ve been radio silent for awhile–both Ninwashui and I have been sick puppies for most of the last 30-odd days. Ninwashui had strep throat, pinkeye, and God knows what else. I think he might’ve even turned into a werewolf at some point… I dunno. I lost track.

As for myself, I’ve had at least one sinus infection (possibly two), a terrible cough (possibly bronchitis) and I’ve produced enough mucus to sculpt a scale replica of Doop. And neither of us has fully recovered yet! Ahhhh, Spring… you can go #@$% yourself.

Annnnnyyyway, life–and Heroclix news–marches on. Wizkids released a bunch of news about some upcoming set themes, then they lost their minds for just a bit and decided to retire almost every set that didn’t come out, like, last week, and then they started previewing a bunch of cool new figures from both Uncanny X-Men (many of you probably have some of these in your hot little hands via the Pre-release tournament program or the release events going on this weekend!) AND TMNT.

The set rotation announcement really deserves its own article, so we’ll table that discussion for a moment. But since we’ve just celebrated the release of TMNT, the first non-Marvel, non-DC Modern Age set in ages (I think Street Fighter was the last such offering), we’re gonna talk about that today.

In fact, let’s talk about…

THE TEN ELEVEN BEST FIGURES IN TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES!!

Yup! Think of this as a stealthy, “mini” Top Ten article (yes, it’s still 2500+ words, but I mean, really, anything under 5000 for me still qualifies as “mini.”). The set only really has like 40 figures or so, so we’re going to skip the Honorable Mentions, and we’re only extending the Top Ten out to a Top Eleven (for me, that’s progress!). That’s right–if you want to make it into this review, you have to be Top Ten-worthy! But first, as usual…

SOME BRIEF NOTES ABOUT THE SET:

–Do you like dials under 100 Points? Do you hate Improved Targeting of any kind, especially when it’s passed out like candy at Halloween? Then this is the set for you. It plays remarkably well in Sealed formats. Outside of Krang (and oh, will we get to Krang–don’t you worry), there’s really not anything in the set that towers above everything else the way that the World’s Finest duo ran roughshod over everything in those World’s Finest release tournies. So it’s actually a pretty balanced set for Sealed.

Did you get a few Common Turtles and, like, a Foot Soldier? Don’t worry–you’re not out of it before you’ve even begun. Everything is relatively close to everything else in the set in terms of power level, with very few exceptions (again: KRANG!).

–Which leads us to our customary Power Level check. This set is nowhere near the Power Level of the stuff we just got in World’s Finest (forget the SR’s and Chases; even someone like Zatara or Mary Marvel would have their way with just about any one or even two pieces in this set at the same point level).

However… that doesn’t mean that there’s not Meta potential here. Especially since WizKids seems to be in the midst of scaling back Power Creep to, like, 2008 levels. You won’t notice it as much now, but it’ll become a little bit clearer after Guardians rotates out in, what, July? Then fast forward a year to 2017 when even more good stuff rotates out (like NFAOS, which will only be 2 years old at that point, but after the way WizKids just dumped Deadpool and GotG after the same amount of time–or even less, really–I would not be surprised to see Balls of Fury and all the rest of his rowdy, powerful friends given the heave ho), and suddenly you’ll be left with a lot of little pieces that are very efficient (and probably need to attack from up close).

Uncanny X-Men seems to be following suit with a lot of little 50-80 cost figures that are, point-for-point, the best pieces in the set. So if this is the new normal going forward, if small and efficient is the new, uh, big and efficient, well, you’re gonna want a lot of these TMNT pieces.

(And yes, I realize that World’s Finest and the big, powerful KC Chases are probably always gonna be in Modern at the same time as this Turtles set, so really, as always, forget everything I just said.)

–I really like the consistency of all the new ninja weapon Special Powers. Basically, whether it’s a Chase Turtle or a lowly Foot Clan robot, any character that uses a certain type of weapon has the same Special Power. It really adds a lot of ninja flavor to the figures.

And for the record, those five weapon Specials are:

KATANA: __X__ can use Blades/Claws/Fangs. If __X__ missed a close attack this turn, __X__ can use Sidestep.

SAI: __X__ can use Flurry. __X__ deals penetrating damage when making a close attack.

NUNCHAKUS: __X__ can use Flurry. Each time __X__ hits an opposing character, after actions resolve you may give that character an action token.

BO STAFF: All damage dealt by __X__ causes knockback. Giant Reach: 2.

CHAIN KAMA: When __X__ hits an opposing character with a range attack, after actions resolve you may place the hit character adjacent to __X__ and it can’t be moved or placed during its next turn.

I would love to see these show up even in a Marvel or DC set. Give me an Elektra with the Sai Special or a Katana from Suicide Squad with a, uh, Katana Special! I think these powers represent the effects of the weapons very well. Kudos to the Wizkids design team.

Anyway, without further ado…

April O'neil

11. TMNT019 April O’Neil — 30 Points — Rare: Okay, this is “scientist” April as opposed to the cartoon “reporter” April, which explains the tricksy, support-y dial. Yes, her base defense stinks, even with her Special Defense Power (THEY PROTECT ME, I GIVE THEM A HOME: UNIQUE MODIFIER – As long as one or more friendly characters with the TMNT keyword or named Casey Jones are adjacent, April O’Neil and those adjacent friendly characters modify their defense values by +1.).

But the reason to spend 30 Points on April is because she’s a mobile Outwit unit who can do her job from the BACK of the pack. Her Damage Special (SKILLED PROGRAMMER: April O’Neil can use Outwit and Improved Targeting: Ignores Characters when she does.) combined with her top dial Sidestep means it will be easy to both keep her out of harm’s way AND keep her in the right position to Outwit opposing pieces, which is a very rare combination.

Splinter

10. TMNT011 Splinter — 40 Points — Uncommon: Think of Splinter as the Toymaster of this set, only with slightly less trickery but slightly more offense. His Precision Strike is nice, but his Sidestep is actually the key to his dial.

His Trait (I HAVE TAUGHT YOU ALL I LEARNED: Splinter can use Empower. UNIQUE MODIFIER-Adjacent Friendly characters with the TMNT Keyword modify their attack values by +1.) means he needs to be adjacent to his sons to help them out, but that top dial Sidestep could allow you to boost two different Turtles in one turn even if they themselves are two to three squares away from each other (although many of the Turtles benefit from being adjacent to each other, so why are you separating them in my theoretical example?).

If you play him with some of the Turtle Chases, all of the sudden their Attack Values zoom up into the 12-13 area and they start doing 4 Damage top dial even though they’re all just 75 Points!

At that point, the trick becomes finding a way to move everyone efficiently…

Nobody Hobody

9. TMNT014 Nobody — 45 Points — Uncommon: Not to be confused with DC’s Mr. Nobody, clearly. He (or she, as there have been several “Nobody”‘s throughout Turtles history, although I believe this is the OG Nobody) sports a 5-Click Tertiary Attacker dial that’s just loaded with mobility and survivability–if you can get him on the right map (the “Jean Grey School for Higher Learning” Map that we just got in the Uncanny X-Men OP Kit has a plethora of walls and would be a perfect battlefield for, well, Nobody).

He ignores Elevated Terrain on movement and his Trait is just bonkers for a piece with such a low cost (SHADOWY AVENGER: Nobody can use Stealth. Nobody can’t be targeted by opposing characters if he’s adjacent to a wall.).

But that Trait just makes him hard to kill. Can your opponent just ignore him? Surprisingly, no. He has top dial Close Combat Expert, so he can pump his damage all the way to 4 if he so wishes. But even worse than that (well, worse for your opponents), Nobody has a top dial Attack Special (CAPE IN YOUR EYES: Give Nobody a power action and choose an adjacent opposing character. That character can’t make an attack during its next turn.) that can all but shutdown ANY opposing character to whom Nobody is adjacent! And since he starts with Sidestep, all you have to do is TK him to within two squares of your opponent’s Primary Attacker and all of the sudden you can attack with no fear of retaliation!

CATWS013 Agent 13 is the last piece I can think of who’s sole mission was to get adjacent to your opponent’s most important piece and stay there, but Nobody does that trick even better–and for 10 less points!!

Baxter Stockman Fly

8. TMNT030 Baxter Stockman — 60 Points —Super Rare: Potentially one of the best taxis ever created–but only if you’ve constructed an army of insect-sized figures.

His Trait (FOUR ARMZZZZ: Baxter Stockman may carry up to 4 “tiny damage symbol” characters.) makes him extremely useful in a Modern Age filled with Ant-Men and Elast-Girls. Honestly, I can’t think of a time when we had more useful, viable “Tiny Size” pieces then right now.

This Baxter’s only five clicks long, and his dial alternates between Tertiary Attacker and Support piece, but his mobility and his ability to potentially transport an entire Tiny-Sized army up to 12 Squares at a time is the best reason to play him.

Baxter Stockman No Fly

7. Baxter Stockman — 30 Points — Uncommon: Potentially one of the best taxis ever cre–wait a minute, I just did a Baxter Stockman write-up! Oooooohhh, this is the “evil robotics genius” Baxter, as opposed to the freaky half-man, half-fly version.

So why is this version even better? Well, in addition to Stealth and Outwit, his Trait (I DON’T NEED ANYONE EXCEPT MY MOUSERS!: When a friendly character named Mouser is KO’ed by an opponent’s attack, roll a d6. 4-6: You may place adjacent a TMNT #005 Mouser from outside the game if no other friendly character did.) will let you flood the board with ever-reincarnating Mousers, but the real reason you’ll want to play him is his Special Attack Power (ROBOTICS GENIUS: Give Baxter Stockman a free action to heal an adjacent friendly character with the Robot keyword 1 click. If it can’t be healed, modify its speed and attack values by +1 this turn instead.).

In a world where Juston Seyfert exists [EDITOR’S NOTE: Uh, like ours? Ohhh, I see what you did there. Nice.)], Baxter here is the perfect complementary role player!

Casey Jones

6. TMNT012 Casey Jones — 30 Points — Uncommon: Yes, he tops out with a Damage Value of 2. His Defense Value isn’t great either (it’s a 17). But his with a little help from someone’s Outwit, or if you just send him after support figures with little or no damage absorption, Casey Jones can actually get by as a Secondary Attacker… for just 30 Points!! How? His top dial Attack Special (GOONGALA GOONGALA: Give Casey Jones a close action and make a close attack. If he hits, after actions resolve move him up to two squares automatically breaking away, then make another close attack with his attack and damage values modified by +1.), that’s how.

This is probably the most dangerous 30 Point melee piece we’ve seen since Fear Itself Loki!

(Oh, and if you want to go the Outwit route to cancel opposing defenses, might we suggest Ms. O’Neil from slot number 10? She combos nicely with Casey.)

TMNT Jason Flowers

Click here for more info on this awesome Jason Flowers TMNT print.

5. TMNT034 Donatello — 75 Points — Chase:

4. TMNT035 Leonardo — 75 Points — Chase:

3. TMNT033 Michaelangelo — 75 Points — Chase:

2. TMNT032 Raphael — 75 Points — Chase:

Okay, we’re gonna talk about these four Chase pieces all together since they’re all really similar pieces. Each Turtle again has their signature Weapon Special, and they all share the same two Traits (we’ll use Mikey’s card as an example, since he was always my favorite Turtle): (SHELL TO SHELL DEFENSE: Michelangelo can use Stealth. If Michelangelo is adjacent to a character named Raphael, Donatello, or Leonardo, he can use Impervious.) and (ADVANCED TURTLE TECHNIQUE: When Michelangelo hits one or more opposing characters, after actions resolve Michelangelo can move up to 2 squares automatically breaking away, and then may make a close attack targeting a character he has not attacked this turn.).

So each Chase Turtle gives you six highly efficient Clicks for 75 Points that get even BETTER when played with each other.

Getting melee pieces to their targets in one piece has always and will always be a problem in Heroclix, but giving Stealth and Impervious to these Turtles when they advance in pairs is a huge advantage!

Krang

“Shredder, my eyes are down here!“

1. TMNT031 Krang — 170 Points — Super Rare: Wow. For everyone who looked at Super Rare Prime Ragnarok from Avengers Assemble and said, “Sure he can unleash unholy destruction when paired with Juston Seyfert, but I wish he was, like, 30 Points cheaper… ,” well, now you have your wish.

Yup, Krang has the “Robot” keyword. He has other keywords as well, I’m sure, but who cares? “Robot” is all Juston needs to go crazy with him.

Krang’s Trait (MOLECULAR AMPLIFICATION CHIP: Give Krang a free action and he has (Giant Damage Symbol) and modifies his combat values by +1 until your next turn. At the end of your turn, deal him 1 unavoidable damage. Give Krang a free action and he has Colossal and modifies his combat values by +2 until your next turn. At the end of your turn, deal him 2 unavoidable damage. You may only activate one of these powers each turn.) is really what all the fuss is about. By making him Colossal, you end up with even better stats than what Ragnarok starts with, and Krang also has top dial Charge, Impervious and Prob Control.

Not a bad little package… but it gets much better! His Attack Special (SHAPESHIFTING HANDS: Give Krang a free action to choose a standard attack power or (Wing Movement Symbol). Krang can use the chosen power or symbol until you choose again.) also gives him a TON of flexibility over how he’s going to kill you.

And if you do manage to knock him off of his first Click, he simply gains a Damage Special Power (IQ OF 968 – UNTIL HE GETS MAD: Krang can use Outwit and Probability Control. His powers can’t be countered by a character on an equal or higher click number.) that makes it REALLY hard to damage him again!

Oh, and speaking of damage, how about we just pair him with “Scientist” Baxter Stockman (number 7 on our list) and let him heal damage every freaking turn… for free!

I will be shocked if Krang doesn’t make a significant impact on the Meta!

 

Okay, that’s all for today. In the coming days and weeks we will be gearing up for our dual Top Ten Set Reviews for Uncanny X-Men, and Ninwashui has a special Meta Build article he’s working on wherein he brainstorms a way to counter everyone’s favorite gun-toting uncle, Nick Fury!!

Until then, Stay Safe, and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire!!

Night(lantern) Moves!! (Or, Flash Figure Review #2!!)

/ HypeFox / 16 Comments

Nightlantern

Okay! So today, we’re dusting off a gimmick we started allll the way back in early 2014: The Flash Figure Review (not to be confused with the Flash Top Ten Set Review, of course, which was a review of Flash figures, as opposed to a Flash Figure Review. Which is what this is. Okay, now I’m confused… )!

Nightlantern, the Prime Rare from the recent World’s Finest set, has to be discussed on his own merits; thus, I excluded him from my initial World’s Finest Top Ten. But now we’re gonna talk a bit about his special Trait and the best way to utilize it in the Meta.

First, let’s look at exactly what that Trait does:

“EVERY PERSON I KNOW IS AN AMALGAM OF TWO FROM YOUR UNIVERSE?: When building your force, you may pay 25 points and put a standard character on your sideline, called an Amalgam. At the beginning of the game, equip the Amalgam to a standard friendly character (other than Nightlantern) that is higher points than the Amalgam’s highest point value and link it to that character’s dial. For the rest of the game, the Amalgam provides the below effect when equipped: EFFECT: At the beginning of your turn or when when this character is clicked, you may choose a standard power on the equipped dial. This character can use that power until your next turn or clicked.”

Yup. For 25 Build Points, Nightlantern here turns any standard character into a Possessor (with a few more restrictions than Entities and those with the Possession Trait).

[EDITOR’S NOTE: See the WizKids “DESIGNINSIGHT” article for more information on exactly what qualifies a character as a “Standard Character” nowadays.]

So the question becomes, what are your best options for Amalgam figures? Well, that is obviously going to change depending on what figures you’re playing with Nightlantern and which powers you think they might benefit from the most.

But what might be more helpful is examining the parameters of the power and taking a look at all the useful Amalgam dials out there and categorizing what they can provide. To do THAT, let’s take a quick look at the Trait’s built-in limitations and what those mean when it comes time to pick an Amalgam.

In a 300 Point game, you’re probably going to be looking at Amalgam figures that are 99 Points or less, since whoever they’re going to enhance is probably only going to be a 100-110 Point figure (Nightlantern is 150 himself, and you have to add 25 Points to whoever his running buddy is going to be, so you’re probably not going to be able to fit any figure who’s more than 100 Points if you want to leave room for a Resource, Relic or additional supporting character).

We also know that the enhanced figure can only copy Standard Powers, not White Powers, so we’re looking for Modern Age figures (well, at least for most games) who are about 99 Points or less and have at least 3 (if not 4) useful standard powers on their top click, so you’re provided the maximum amount of options from which to choose. Even if you think you only need one or two powers to make a piece sing, having up to two more useful choices every turn can be a real lifesaver.

And remember, the Amalgam character MUST be less points than the character who is equipping them. I like to refer to this as the Amalgam’s Threshold. As in, “Hey, I’m playing Prime Captain Marvel and I’m going to equip an Amalgam to him. Mar-Vell is 82 Points, so I can’t go past the 81 Point Threshold when I’m picking a figure to be his Amalgam.”

[EDITOR’S NOTE: That, of course, was a terrible example, since you can’t play Prime Nightlantern and Prime Captain Marvel on the same force.]

Having said all that, the easiest way to search potential Amalgam pieces is to pick the power you most want to give your piece and then search HCRealms for that power. While I can’t list every useful possible figure in this space (we’d be here forever), we can go over a few really useful Amalgams.

For example, a problem I run into often is finding great figures who have no move-and-attack powers top dial. Well, there are plenty of ways to fix that. Let’s look at a few:

IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO GIVE A FIGURE CHARGE…

The upcoming TMNT set is an excellent place to look–and we still don’t know all the pieces in it. But all the Common Turtles offer Charge on their first three Clicks. Of those pieces, TMNT004 Donatello adds a top dial Outwit as well. But the real find here is TMNT012 Casey Jones (Uncommon) who offers Charge AND Willpower for his first 3 Clicks, along with Battle Fury if you find yourself surrounded by Shape Changers! If you wanted to take a low-cost Secondary Attacker and make them REAL dangerous REAL fast, Casey Jones is your man.

Also:

AOU017 Iron Man (Uncommon) costs 90 and offers your choice of Charge, Super Strength, Invuln AND Outwit.

AOU019 Hulk (Uncommon) has an 80 Point Threshold and offers Charge, Super Strength and Impervious.

And so on.

IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO GIVE A FIGURE RUNNING SHOT…

Might I suggest:

CATWS007 S.H.I.E.L.D. Commander (Common): 65 Points with access to four powers. Running Shot (Awesome! RS is difficult to find on decent sub-70 point characters); Energy Explosion (Pretty Good); Toughness (Meh); Leadership (Meh +)

GOTGM004 Nova Corps Officer (Common): 55 Points. Running Shot, Toughness and Enhancement. You would only choose this guy for the cheap threshold Running Shot, which he holds on to for 2 Clicks.

FFNFAOS002 Agent Coulson (Fast Forces Pack): Coulson here grants you Running Shot, Pen/Psy AND Energy Shield/ Deflection for the low, low cost of 75 Points.

OH, AND IF YOU’RE LOOKING TO GIVE A FIGURE HYPERSONIC SPEED…

Your options include:

AVAS022 Ultra-Girl (Uncommon): With a Threshold under 100 Points (98 to be exact), Ultra-Girl offers Hypersonic Speed on her first two Clicks along with top dial Invuln.

IIM013 Northstar (Common): Wow! Two top dial AND bottom dial Clicks of Hypersonic Speed and, best of all, Northstar only costs 75 Points. You want to give Balls of Fury Hypersonic Speed? Do it. Prime Captain Marvel from GotG? Uhhhh… no, since both he and Nightlantern are Primes.

However, for a Threshold cost of just 5 Points more…

IIM209 Aurora (Common): She’s 80 Points and offers Hypersonic Speed on her first 3 Clicks, Precision Strike on her first two AND Energy Shield/Defelection on every click! For her price, she’s awesome!

You can also check out JLTW043 Johnny Quick (Rare); FL001A Flash (Common) and WF002 Superman (Common)–they’re all great sources of Hypersonic Speed.

And here’s a few more cheap pieces with 3-4 really good power options for your Amalgam-ing pleasure.

CATWS013 Agent 13 (Mass Market Rare): A Meta piece on her own for just 55 Points, she offers Plasticity (important nowadays with all the great Hypersonic Speed pieces out there), Combat Reflexes and Shape Change.

GOTGM010 Nebula (Core Hobby Rare): Her 73 point threshold offers 4 top dial choices: Stealth, Precision Strike, Mastermind and Shape Change.

AAOU010 Scarlet Witch (Hobby Rare): She’s only 55 Points and offers Stealth, Willpower AND Perplex top dial. Willpower alone fixes the biggest flaw on a bunch of different characters in the 75-100 Point Range.

AAOU015 Nick Fury (Mass Market Rare): 45 Points. Offers access to Stealth, Willpower and Shape Change.

AAOU105 Black Widow (Starter Set): 75 Points with FOUR standard powers top dial. Sidestep, Precision Strike, Willpower and Shape Change.

AAOU106 Hawkeye (Starter Set): 75 Points, again with FOUR standard powers to start. Stealth, Pen/Psy, Willpower and Enhancement.

Whew! Okay then. As always, your mileage may vary when spelunking for good Amalgam pieces.

It’s probably also important to note that as the Build total in any given game rises, the usefulness of Nightlantern increases (since it gives you room to play larger Threshold Amalgams).

Any buried treasure that we missed? Sound off in the Comments section!

And, as always, keep it tuned to this space right here. With this year’s Modern Age Set Rotations already dropping (as of yesterday), we’ve got plenty to talk about going forward!

Until then, Stay Safe, and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire!

 

Upcoming Games: Team Spirit, TMNT and… Oh Yeah… MORE SMASHCLIX!!

/ HypeFox / Leave a comment

Just a couple of quick local game announcements for SE Michigan Clix’ers before we go back to our regular scheduled programming!!

Hello once more! Here is the upcoming schedule for Heroclix games at Comics & More in Madison Heights:

03/30/2016:

Team Spirit

Game: TEAM SPIRIT

Entry Fee: $5.00

The Setup:

Man, March is the month of the Hero/Hero faceoff! Batman vs. Superman! Daredevil vs. Punisher! Captain America vs. Iron Man!! Wait, that’s May…

Nevertheless, we will be playing “Team Spirit,” a 400 Point Golden Age game wherein each player constructs two Themed Teams–one Marvel Team, and one DC Team. But not just any Themed Team; you will be constructing Themed Teams that are comprised of members of an actual superhero team. Which superteams you choose to construct will be up to you–there is no master list we’re working from, so you can build any teams that appeal to you, so long as it’s a named supergroup.

NOTE: We are looking for superHERO teams, not supervillain squads. Having said that, please note that this rule only applies to the actual team you select. If, for example, you are playing a traditional Hero team (say, “X-Men”) and happen to include a figure who is traditionally a villain BUT HAS THE APPLICABLE KEYWORD (say, DoFP017 Magneto), that IS allowed.

NOTE PART TWO (ELECTRIC BUGALOO): Very much like the “Civic Pride” game we played previously, you can sort of tune this scenario to your preferred difficulty level. Want to go the easy route? Select Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D. and Justice League or Green Lantern Corps. Want to make it a little harder? Choose some teams like Marvel Knights or Heroes for Hire and Outsiders or Justice League International. Really want a challenge? Try and beat the field playing teams like Champions or All-Winners Squad and Team 7 or Legion Espionage Squad which–hey!–is actually a thing!

Each round, the LOSER of the Map Roll must select first which team–Marvel or DC–that they wish to play; then their opponent gets to choose which team they would like to play. Note that this could result in matchups of teams from the same universe.

Now here’s the important part: All points earned by DC players will be scored as “DC Points,” and all points earned by Marvel players will be scored as “Marvel Points.”

What do those points get you? Well, we will be giving out 3 Top Prizes for this event. And they will go to:

1st Place: 1st Place will go to the player with the most match victories as normal (total accumulated Victory Points–both Marvel and DC–will be used to determine any tiebreakers). This player will receive a Vampire Batman (wkD-012 Batman).

Overall Marvel Winner: This will go to the player who accumulates the most Marvel points through all three rounds. This player will receive 1 copy of each figure in either the Marvel Knights Monthly OP Kit (Ghost Rider, Daredevil & Punisher) or the Gamma Smash! Monthly OP Kit (Red Hulk, She-Hulk & A-Bomb).

Overall DC Winner: This will go to the player who accumulates the most DC points through all three rounds. This player will receive 1 copy of each figure from an OP Kit of the Judge’s Discretion (basically, it will be the new Brave & The Bold OP Kit IF THAT KIT HAS ARRIVED IN THE STORE AT THE TIME OF THE EVENT!! IF NOT, ANOTHER DC KIT WILL BE SUBSTITUTED!!)

(These prizes will go to three different participants; the 1st Place winner will be ineligible for the other 2 prizes.)

Some final thoughts on this game:

–Each player can bring up to 3 Maps if they wish to do so and choose one of those Maps if that player wins the Map Roll. Otherwise, a random assortment of store Maps will be provided.

–Remember, the LOSER of the Map Roll has to pick which of their teams they’re playing first; the WINNER of the Map Roll gets to see which team he or she is playing against before they choose their own team.

–Even if you lose in the first round, YOU ARE NOT TOTALLY OUT OF IT!! You can still compete for the Marvel or DC prize.

–Again, which team you play each round is up to you; if, for example, you don’t like the way that Marvel team you put together performed in Round 1, you can choose your DC squad in Round 2. Your fate is not determined by the Map Roll in this scenario.

–Because you can play either squad in a given round, you might think about the types of problem pieces you think you’ll face and construct your two teams somewhat differently. If, for example, you come up with a well-rounded Marvel team that you think can take on just about anything except, say, a strong bruiser with Hypersonic Speed, you may want to consider putting together a DC team that would act as counter specifically to Hypersonic Speed pieces (ie characters with Outwit or Plasticity, etc.).

In other words, if you can identify the main weakness of the first team you construct, it may be in your best interest to build your second team to combat any teams that could take advantage of the first team’s weakness.

04/13/2016:

TMNT Nick

As of now, this is the TMNT release date. We will be playing some form of Sealed TMNT–watch this space for further cost and Build details as they become available.

04/27/2016:

SuperSmashBros3

Yup! It’s the return of SmashClix!! We got some pretty great feedback and suggestions from the first go-round running this scenario, so expect even more carnage–and the ability to use more characters in each game!! We’re finalizing the details now, so keep watching this space for all the updated Build and game details as we get closer to this date!

 

That’s all for now for the upcoming game announcements!! And come right back to the main page in a few days for an article focusing in on Nightlantern–this one has been in the works for awhile, so you won’t want to miss it!

Until then, Stay Safe, and Watch Where You Draw Your Lines of Fire!!