Hulk, Angela, Rocket Raccoon, and Maria Hill

Build:

AOU gravfeed Hulk at 250 points, GOTG Angela for 94 points, CA:WS Maria Hill for 60 points, and GOTG movie starter Rocket Raccoon for 75 points equipped with Full Utility Belt for 14 points. 493 points all in all.

Plan:

Assign UBelt to Rocket Raccoon for Indomitable and special TA Outwit. Rocket Raccoon piggybacks on Angela, Angela piggybacks on Hulk. Hulk acts as taxi for the two. Rocket Outwits a TA within ten squares and Outwits a power, all from behind Hulk and Angela.

Hulk will act as formidable tank, and Angela as more sophisticated more mobile brawler. Rocket ignores hindering terrain and other characters for targetting purposes so he will act as sneaky sniper especially with his Stealth and double ranged attack power, further enhanced by the UBelt.

Maria Hill will hang back at the starting area Outwitting opponents through their own lines of fire.

Addendum:

Run the team without Angela for 400 points. Swap AOU gravfeed Hulk with AOU starter Hulk at 150 points for 299 points.

April 2015 haul: not bad!

Finally found the AOU movie gravfeed Hulk. Thinking about his viability when teamed with AOU starter Hulk for 550 points, then maybe Moira and Pandora's Box to round the team up to 598 points.

Also found two TRINITY WAR gravfeed figs I've been looking for (and even thought would never find), gravfeed Green Arrow and Lex Luthor. I'm thinking of a good 300-point team with Luthor at 100 points and FLASH Harley Quinn at 65 points, a surprise-KO-surprise-boost team.

While Green Arrow, with those values and the two traits ... he's a bit of an asshole. Not quite WATX Fantomex, but surely more than halfway there. A very good fig to lead the initial charge.

One year later.

Photo by Carl, commemorating my (and Francis's) first ever HeroClix game. Not seen here is the guy who hooked us all up, Poldo. I remember I used the Warriors Three and Francis used the DARK WORLD villains (but not Loki, if I remember correctly). Got my ass kicked, but it was fun! And two days later, I ordered the AVX AVENGERS starter pack from Amazon. Time flies!

Team-ups to consider, #003 - UPDATE

Overall, I failed gloriously using this team with the Red Lantern Battery. The Punisher-Grasshopper strategy worked, but I was rolling a lot of duds. Thinking I need to play Punisher more aggressively, and that I need to give him enhancements for mobility and defense, instead of for range and targeting. I've already built a team addressing these issues, and looking forward to playtesting them soon.

Team-ups to consider, #004

For 300 points? Hoping Hulk's Rage tokens will function kindasorta like a resource. Thinking of adding AVX Scarlet Witch for Prob, Perplex, Support, and an 85% assurance of a fig not being able to use any team abilities.

Team-ups to consider, #003

This team features a few convergences of contemporary interests: to run a team with Moira Mactaggert, to run a half-way effective Red Lantern Corps team, to run a team using some of my earliest figs.

Basic plan with this team is Grasshopper with Stop Sign construct is a penetrating Poison-dealing map-hopping tie-up piece backed-up by Venom with Net and Nurse constructs. Punisher with Spotlight and Sniper Rifle constructs lays low racking up the Guilty tokens until he has at least three, giving him Running Shot with Ranged Combat Expert with basic 13 Attack and 3 Damage (upgradeable to 5) with chance at Penetrating if targeting only one opponent. Then Moira with Catapult construct for placement and Support. Good on paper.

The Kree Army

Readying the troops for some multiversal war.

Figs in Review: John Constantine and Tim Hunter

I think the figs I'm happiest about from the TRINITY WAR set are these two, John and Tim. Aside from these two being key figs in some of my recent games, my reasons for being happy about them are mainly sentimental, these two being some of my constant companions growing up as an angsty teenager who enjoyed non-superhero comic books - I once had a complete set of the John Ney Reiber and Peter Gross BOOKS OF MAGIC and an almost complete run of HELLBLAZER (my faves being Delano's, Ennis's, Ellis's, and Azzarello's, in that order) back in the day, those two books becoming fundamental on my understanding of the story possibilities of the form (mainly horror and nonD&D fantasy) so I'm very happy that they've been Clixed, and that I have them in my stash. Pity it's their New52 variations, but still.

I think they dialed John well enough, in the sense that his dial alternates between effective magician that plays with synchronicity - he has two Probs, his Outwit-Perplex outwits the opponent's Outwit and Perplex (depending on which you pick) - and conman you shouldn't trust at all - Exploit Weakness for an assured hit. I think they should have traited his two Probs (John has always been lucky that way) and that they should have given him some locomotion trait like Spiral or Shatterstar, and maybe some form of Mind Control and Regen (an Ennis reference). But still, all in all, a pretty good fig.

I think they did a good job with Tim, too, although not as well as they did with John. I like the concept of pushing Tim to turn him into a magus, and I like his early white powers, but they should have turned his magus click into a stopclick, and they should've given him an owl token which he could use a la Fantomex and EVA, and they should've given him the Mystics team sumbol. I love his traited anti-Prob, though, and all this for the cheap cost, that's very very generous already.

As for the sculpts, I think they're both great. Again, Tim lacks Yoyo, his owl, but the books are a great detail. These two make me wish they'd make Clix on PREACHER and V FOR VENDETTA.

Battle Report: the Mystical Justice League Dark with Pandora's Box and the Cosmic Treadmill VS Iron Patriot and Wolverine

Build:

* 400 points

* My team: Frankenstein, Tim Hunter, John Constantine, and Abra Kadabra with Pandora's Box and the Cosmic Treadmill

* Opponent: Iron Patriot and Wolverine

Map:

Hellhouse map from the DEADPOOL OP kit

Report:

I rolled for initiative and assigned Frankenstein the Sloth sin. He Sidesteps to the portico. John Constantine joins him as Prob support. Abra Kadabra and Tim Hunter both move around in their room. Iron Patriot and Wolverine move to the middle of the map, aiming to destroy the Cosmic Treadmill.

The Wrath sin is assigned to Tim Hunter, pushing him. Abra Kadabra pushes himself to move, then forces Tim to push again. Tim Sidesteps near the door. Frankenstein Sidesteps against the wall, positioning himself for a potential Charge. Constantine then clears.

Iron Patriot and Wolverine both clear.

Abra Kadabra pushes Tim one more time, activating his magus setting. Tim sidesteps. Constantine walks to Frankenstein for Prob support. Kadabra and Tim both clear. Iron Patriot and Wolverine walk and hide behind hindering terrain.

Tim Hunter then Perplexes his damage, Sidesteps, then Running Shoots and Pulse Waves full force for five damage at Wolverine. Frankenstein Sidesteps then Charges and BCFs Wolverine for five damage, reduced to four, activating Frankenstein's special BCF power where if you roll 4 and above, the target can't be healed or Supported at any point in the game. Abra Kadabra pushes himself to go to the Cosmic Treadmill. Constantine moves to the middle of the map.

Iron Patriot Running Shoots Constantine and Frankenstein but misses. Wolverine tries to wave his claws around but hits only air. Abra Kadabra runs in the Treadmill, activates its powers, clearing everyone of one action token each, freshening both Frankenstein and Tim. Frankenstein hits Wolverine for 3 damage, killing him. Frankenstein Sidesteps to Iron Patriot. Tim Hunter then Sidesteps and Running Shoots Iron Patriot, hitting for 4 damage, whittling him down.

Iron Patriot tries to shoot Frankenstein, but he misses. Frankenstein hits him with his sword for 3 damage. Tim Hunter shoots Iron Patriot, and it hits for 4, sending him to the scrap heap.

Winner:

The Mysticals won. They basically outmaneuvered Iron Patriot and Wolverine, with four figures moving against two high-cost figures. By the second half of the game, I had five Probs per turn for everyone (six if the Cosmic Treadmill activates), and having established a killbox, it was relatively easy to pick people off the map. The Justice League Dark figs also have really good synergy with each other - Tim and anybody beside him can't be targeted by the opponent's Prob, Constantine and anybody beside him can use Stealth, Frankenstein has a nasty trait where if he KOs a character, all Justice League Dark figs can do any move actions for free - and the Sidesteps from the Sins really really helped me control the map. Pretty good game, pretty fast kills, all done in 15 minutes.