Hello again! It’s been a solid month since we last rounded up everything there is to, y’know, round up! And, given that Thanksgiving is just about here, I figured everyone could use a Turkey Day Roundup!
So what’s been going on this last 30 days? Well, War of Light is finally done (at least at most venues); The Flash has finally released (after just a one week delay); and The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies should finally be out now at a Target or hobby store near you (or be coming very soon–depends on where you live, it seems).
All of which means we have a lot to talk about, so let’s get going with…
THE WEEKLY ROUNDUP!!
PODCASTS:
–Dial H for Heroclix is new every week; last week, in Episode 71, they opened up their Meta Toolbox to talk about all the Modern Age resources in the context of the Meta! And as a special Holiday bonus, they’ve ALREADY released Episode 72!
Yours truly was lucky enough to finish in the Top 4 of their Dial Design contest this month; if you want to get in on the action, December’s Dial Design should start around November 30th.
–As far as I can tell, Episode 27 is still the most recent ep of The Quarry. The ROC tab on HCRealms has a link to upcoming events and vaguely mentions an Episode 28, but damned if I can find it!
–Well, just as quickly as they came back, ClixCast seems to have gone away! They have yet to release an October or November ep, but you can catch their August and September offerings right here!
–You can find the latest ROC tourney announcements right here!
–Just announced on the Heroclix.com Downloads tab: there is going to be a “Spider-Man Symbiotes” Monthly Op Kit in May of next year! Looks like there’ll be 3 different versions of Venom!
–No other current Previews, but that’s to be expected as they JUST released Flash. I’d expect no real previews until WizKids’s annual 12 Days of Clix-Mas promotion, where we’ll get a look at next year’s offerings like Justice League: Trinity War, Avengers Assemble and both Avengers: Age of Ultron offerings!
Army of the Week:
So, we’ve gone on and on about the new R.O.C. Format, but sometimes I think we don’t put enough emphasis on choosing the best supporting characters for the Primary Attacker that you’ve chosen. Let’s take a look at how adding or subtracting a single supporting character can drastically alter a Build in this environment!
First, let’s look at the Iron Pharaoh Build from ROC’ing the Meta 2: Electric Boogaloo!
“NO! Golden Falcon, I just polished this armor!”
Team Name: Slowness as a Way of Death!!
Theme: None (Not Allowed in current R.O.C. Format)
Map Choice Preference: Ryut (from War of Light Month 6)
Roster:
IIM051 Iron Pharaoh – 110 Points
IIM040 Shaman – 92
DP020 Weasel– 27
FI001 Thule Society Priest – 21
FL031 Turtle – 50
=300 Points
What This Build Does:
It slows everything down!! Which, as everyone knows by now, is fantastic for pieces like Iron Pharaoh and Fantomex (who can’t really be played in the current format because E.V.A. is a bystander token, which is illegal in “No Tactics” formats). But the fact that Shaman disables flying and Turtle limits people to moving just 4 squares or less (unless they want to take an additional action token) is just an insane combo. And if you win Map Roll (which will happen roughly 50% of the time, since there are no Themed Team Bonuses), Ryut should be a nightmare for most teams you’ll face. Weasel is the best supporting piece (offers a very limited Prob, +1 to Attack and Range and Enhancement) in the game for Ranged-based attackers, and Thule Society Priest is just there to get pushed into another Prob’r.
Okay, now that we know what the default Build does, let’s change the roster a bit!
This is what’s known as a ‘Dark Future.’ (See what I did there?)
Team Name: “She Blinded Me With Science!”
Theme: None (Not Allowed in current R.O.C. Format)
Map Choice Preference: Ryut (from War of Light Month 6)
Roster:
IIM051 Iron Pharaoh – 110 Points
IIM040 Shaman – 92
FL031 Turtle – 50
SLOSH004 Science Police Officer – 45
=297 Points
What This Build Does (Differently): This is a Ninwashui variant. Okay, so we lost our main supporting piece (Weasel) and our secondary supporting/tie-up piece (Thule Society Priest), but we added Science Police Officer. What does this do? Well, it slows down the damage Iron Pharaoh can do by about 20%-25% (basically 3 instead of 4). You can make up for this a little bit by constantly keeping Shaman within range and line of fire of Iron Pharaoh, so he can use his Perplex there. But Science Police Officer combos really brutally with Turtle. Science Police Officer’s top dial Damage Special (TACTICAL DEPLOYMENT: When an opposing character within 8 squares is given a free action, if that character has been given a non-free action this turn, after actions resolve, deal that character 1 unavoidable damage.) means that your opponents best attackers are at risk of shutting themselves down before you even attack them!
Let’s run down everything your opponent has to deal with BEFORE you’ve even attacked them (assuming they don’t Copycat away Shaman–which is an unlikely matchup, but not an impossible one):
1. They can’t fly (after Shaman’s “No Flights” ability goes off);
2. They can’t move more than 4 squares at a time UNLESS they want to take a second action token or take 1 Penetrating Damage.
3. If they do try and burst through with one big move and attack (via Charge, Running Shot, Hypersonic Speed, etc.), they take an UNAVOIDABLE DAMAGE in addition to the extra action token/penetrating damage from Turtle!
With all this SLOWNESS going on, you should have plenty of time to get your Golden Falcon into position to start dropping 3 Damage Outwit Bombs!
What We’ve Learned:
While both Builds should be competitive no matter who you play, the first Build is fairly aggressive in terms of lining up its shots (with Weasel, Shaman and the available Probs, you’re trying to line up a 4-5 Damage shot that won’t miss after Outwitting a character’s Defense slot).
The second Build is more of a “take the opportunities that my opponent gives me” sort of army, where you’re basically turning the whole map into a spider’s web and waiting for your opponent to get themselves “stuck” (double-tokened and damaged).
That’s two nearly identical Builds with two significantly different styles of play based solely on which supporting character you choose to use!
–Just in case May 2015 wasn’t going to be a busy enough month for Marvel fans (Avengers 2: Age of Ultron; a ton of different Marvel Heroclix sets), that’s also the month that is currently set to be the premiere month for Daredevil, the first of Marvel’s new Netflix shows.
Let’s take a look at the vital stats!
Show: Daredevil
Showrunner: Drew Goddard (first two episodes); Steven S. DeKnight (current showrunner)
Known Regular Cast:
Daredevil/Matt Murdock: Charlie Cox
Karen Page: Deborah Ann Wolf
Foggy Nelson: Elden Hensen
Wilson Fisk/Kingpin: Vincent D’Onofrio
Claire Temple/Night Nurse (?): Rosario Dawson
Vanessa Marianna: Ayelet Zurer
Known Notable Guest Stars/Recurring Cast:
Stick: Scott Glenn
Ben Urich: Vondie Curtis-Hall
Leland Owlsley: Bob Gunton
Hachiro: Peter Shinkoda
Daredevil will go for at least one season of 13 episodes, with the character currently expected to play a major role in a planned “Defenders” mini-series which would feature all of Marvel’s Hells Kitchen-based heroes teaming up in an Avengers-like fashion.
It is entirely too early to know whether we’ll get a second season of Daredevil and/or when that would premiere. As of now, even the “Defenders” show is somewhat theoretical; if they four lead-up series bomb, you can bet Marvel and Netflix will find a way to can the mini-series.
On the other hand, if Daredevil is wildly successful (and only Netflix and Disney will really have any idea, since digital distribution success is almost impossible for folks outside the industry to determine), I’d expect Marvel to go ahead with both “The Defenders” AND a second season of Daredevil. And possibly even start added some mystical heroes to the Netflix slate, starting with Blade and Ghost Rider.
–The second Marvel Netflix series after Daredevil will be the as-yet-unofficially-titled Jessica Jones series. Casting has begun, with rumors swirling around who will play both Jessica Jones AND recurring guest star (and star of Marvel’s third Netflix series) Luke Cage!!
For the next Weekly Roundup, I’m going to start compiling season-long episode guides of current genre TV shows, starting with…
Upcoming Local Events:
Annnnd, welcome back to the latest feature category for the Weekly Update–Upcoming Local Events!
For any who have forgotten, this is the spot where we’ll post a few notices about interesting upcoming games at venues in and around Southeastern Michigan, where Critical Missives is based. If any venue would like us to announce an upcoming event anywhere in the country, you can hit us up on Twitter or let us know via feedback to this very post!
–RIW Hobbies in Livonia is hosting a Sealed Draft of War of Light on 12/05!!
–If you’re looking to try D&D Attack Wing, Month One of the Tyranny of Dragons OP is happening at Eternal Games in Warren on 12/06.
–Annnd, one week later, Eternal Games is running a really cool event that they’re calling War of Light: Month 7! This will happen on 12/13 @ 1pm, and will feature a 600-Point Constructed tournament as well as Battle Royal side events throughout the day!
Critical Missives:
–We were ROC’ing the Meta this past couple weeks. Part 1 is here; Part 2 is here!
Coming up in the next week, we should have a Comics & More War of Light: Month 6 Battle Report PLUS both my AND Ninwashui’s Flash Top Ten Reviews!
And that’s it for this week!! Until then, stay safe, and watch where you draw those lines of fire!
Critical Missives 