My week in Clix

Which only amounted to one afternoon!

This was a quick and really fun game - I decided to do a terrible tentpole build (which I don't do too much of because I don't believe in it) and ran it quite predictably well, until I made a wrong decision and my opponent rolled two unpredictably miraculously high BCF rolls! One of my most fun losses in thr game so far!

This was a build I'd been wanting to run for months, slowly collecting the Witches and devicing strategies and whatnot, til I finally played it yesterday, and they were amazing, the number of Probs and Perplexes at any given turn, and those Hex tokens, my goodness. Didn't lose a fig in this fight! And against an Indigo Lantern build, to boot! These last few months, I'd been slowly developing a play style that's mainly conceptual and largely strategy-heavy, non-tentpole, with pitbull capabilities. It works for me!

This was fun to run, too - a gang of really effective snipers against two giants in a cramped space. Was still amazed I managed to dish out close to 15 damage in two turns! But this Thunderbolts build has a tendency to set the pace of the gameplay, regardless of who it's fighting.

A tag team fight against Master Mold! One team was a SHIELD build, another team was built of three from the Mighty, and my team was Nick Fury SR, Felix Faust, and Tiamat. Master Mold controller was distracted by some RPG games in his phone, but the game was still slow to build, and ultimately Tiamat based Master Mold with Charge+Exploit then followed-up by Flurry, dishing out 18 damage in a turn. Not bad!

Battle report short #008

Cersi and the Black Knight with Jarvis and seven Avengers IDs for 300 points: I admittedly built this team around the Black Knight and his really excellent dial but fate had other plans - my opponent ran AOU starter Hulk and Captain America with the Round Table with three IDs and thanks to some placing prowess, two Perplexes, and Ant-Man's Charge, I managed to whittle down the Hulk to his magic dial with only one Rage token, but Black Knight's attack went tits up with an unProbbable critmiss, leaving him vulnerable to Giant Man's and Hulk's smashing, which he died of fairly swiftly.

The fig who carried the game was Cersi with her +2 Perplex and Prob - after calling Classic Avengers Iron Man for another Perplex and then blasting Hulk away with a 3-damage Penetrating/Psychic Blast, disposing of Captain America was surprisingly easy. New found respect for this character, I must say. Currently thinking of other builds for her, and not necessarily with the Black Knight.

Red Wolf & Lobo, Victor Mancha, the Protector, and Hercules for 500 points flat: I ran this team against a team of aquatic monsters - a lot of Trenches, a couple of Manphibians, an undead Aquaman, et al - and once again, Lobo performed well, killing three Trenches all by himself. Victor Mancha was great, too, but when I reached his middle dial, the one right after Pulse Wave, I was treading water with him, but he did outlast Red Wolf & Lobo so he's not half bad.

The fig that really shone in the fight was the Protector with his Sidestep+Defend and Prob - I paired him with Hercules and they both did pretty well, between themselves killing at least half of the opponent's team. I played Herc full dial, and I finally made him work down to his last click - his Plasticity and decreasers worked pretty effectively, and his Quake injured quite a number of enemies, almost as effective as Pulse Wave. The final fight came to these two versus an errant Manphibian - chased the guy across the map but then finally cornered while pushed-out, with the Protector delivering the coup de grace. One of the more enjoyable games I've played, and one of the few I've won against a team that had twice as many figs as I had.

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.

Battle Report in Brief: The CW Flash and Arrow Characters with theCosmic Treadmill VS the Wrecking Crew with Pandora's Box

This is going to be brief: it was a fun game that went on for two hours, but we both did a number of mistakes in our gameplay, so it's not worth recounting in detail.

What's worth mentioning, though, is that the Pandora's Box is a pretty good support resource to round up figs that lack some certain powers and abilities to make them more viable for strategic things, all the while remaining reasonable and not abusive. The Sins themselves grant Sinners mainly placement bonuses - Combat Reflexes or Energy Shield/Deflection rounded off with Sidestep, with some Plasticity - while the dial granting only one other bonus power or ability - Probability Control, Phasing/Teleport, Running Shot. A good majority of the game is played with only two or three bonuses per fig - Sidestep, CR or ESD, then whatever power is activated in the dial - with no plusses on the combat ability values, up until you reach the end dial, something you'll only achieve if you fulfill certain conditions. I really really really like this resource. It appeals to how I play the game.

The Cosmic Treadmill, too, is a pretty good strategic addition. With its special Leadership power (all friendlies in the map clear one action token) and extra Probability Control, it's kinda like having an extra ATA for your whole team, and used well (and correctly) will give the player placement and attack advantage (but not to the point of unfairness). The main trick is to use it after you've given everyone their actions. If used well, you wouldn't have to push your figs at any turn, and you'll arguably have the option to do one or two extra actions every turn. Worth remembering is that the Cosmic Treadmill is not a resource nor a relic, but a 3D object, which means you can have this while having a Pandora's Box or a Sloth relic. This also means that even your opponent can use the Treadmill for its game advantages.

The MVP from my team was Firestorm, with his damage reducer trait (you ignore all damages from figs tapping a resource or relic when you roll 4-6, and only take one penetrating damage when you roll 1-3) more or less making him a pretty good sponge. If he has extra Damage powers like Combat Reflexes or Shape Change or Super Senses, he's going to be annoying quite a number of players. I think we'll be seeing him being used in some melee capacity in tourneys, likely with a power battery (maybe Star Sapphires' battery for the Shape Change, or the Red one with Decoy for the Giant Reach and Poison and Shape Change?). Tie-up potential for resource-and relic-heavy fights.

The second MVP was Vibe, with TK and traited Quake, a very good scrapper and melee support piece for his point value. I feel like we'll be seeing more of this guy in tourneys (maybe with Hammers or the Green Power Battery). Just imagine two of these guys with Willpower with a 100-point fig, like, say DEADPOOL booster Typhoid Mary, doing placement shenanigans by yoyo-ing Typhoid Mary with Telekinesis - one Vibe catapults Mary, Mary does her Charge-BCF combo, then the other Vibe pulls Mary back in - quite annoying!

A pretty decent team, but they need something to round them off, especially against a force with a complement of a resource. Ultimately, I lost to the Wrecking Crew, but it wasn't easy!

Battle Report: Mysticals and Inmate with Pandora's Box VS Luthor, Bizarro, and Telekinetic Bruce Wayne with Phoenix Force

Build:

* 500 points

* My force: Mazahs!, Abra Kadabra, Tim Hunter, Detective Chimp, and Blackgate Inmate with Pandora's Box and three Sins

* Opponent: Lex Luthor, Bizarro, and Telekinetic Bruce Wayne with Phoenix Force

Map:

Black Mercy map from WOL

Report:

I rolled for initiative and assigned Sloth to Mazahs!. I moved Inmate forward to begin interference, then moved Abra Kadabra for support. Mazahs! Sidestepped to begin placement. Bruce Wayne then TKd Bizarro in place then Bizarro flew to the forefront of my half of the map. Luthor then flew and Carried Wayne to the bushes for placement and possible TK support.

Mazash! Sidestepped twice thanks to Sloth and Inmate then approached Bizarro for Pulse Wave. The Pulse Wave hit Bizarro in full force for five damage, also Outwitting all of his powers except for Charge. I then assigned Wrath to Abra Kadabra, then used his power to whittle down Tim Hunter for one click. Detective Chimp moved to the bushes.

Bizarro then Charged Mazahs! with a heavy object, but he misses. Luthor sneaked to the back then Pulse Waved Mazahs! for five damage, critically injuring him. Wayne moves out of the bushes to provide support.

Abra Kadabra deals one more damage to Tim Hunter. Detective Chimp pushes himself as he moves around the bushes. Mazahs! clears. Luthor, Bizarro and Wayne clear.

Mazahs! attacks Bizarro, killing him. Abra Kadabra pushes Tim Hunter one more time, activating his magus setting. Tim moves into the bushes to provide Mazahs! some support. The Inmate moves into the bushes. Abra Kadabra and Detective Chimp clear. Luthor Pulse Waves Mazahs! full force, killing him. Wayne then TKs Luthor close to Tim.

A class war ensues when Inmate moves out of the bushes and bases Wayne to negate his TK capabilities. Abra Kadabra moves into place to provide Tim with Probability Control. Detective Chimp moves to the middle, is then whittled down by Abra Kadabra one life, pushing Chimp to his special Perplex. Chimp then Perplexes Tim's Attack by +2 for 14 Attack, then Tim Perplexes his Damage +1 for 5. Tim then Pulse Waves Luthor full blast, critically injuring him. Tim then dies a martyr's death thanks to Luthor's Mystic damage from the Magik shard.

Luthor attacks Abra Kadabra but misses, while Wayne tries in vain to injure the Inmate. Detective Chimp then Perplexes Abra Kadabra's Attack +2 then Kadabra shoots Luthor, killing him. Detective Chimp and the Inmate both clear.

Wayne clears. The Inmate tries to hit Wayne but he misses. Abra Kadabra moves in place to target Wayne. Detective Chimp Perplexes Kadabra's Defense +2.

Wayne tries to hit the Inmate, misses. Detective Chimp Perplexes Kadabra's Attack +2, then Kadabra shoots Wayne. It kills him.

Winner:

My team of Mystics with an Inmate and Pandora's Box! Mazahs! proved to be a very effective sponge while Kadabra powered Tim up. Detective Chimp's special Perplex also proved to be a boon. Full force Pulse Waves also allowed circumventing the Phoenix Force Defense power granted to Luthor and Bizarro. Pretty good team with placement- and timing-minded gameplay.