Battle Report Shorts #001

Team Ragnarok VS Hyperion Prime and a Phoenix Force-emboldened Trick Shot - I won this game fairly quickly and without much stress thanks to Seyfert's Sentinel trait combo'd with Ragnarok's high combat values supported by Harley Quinn's Puddin trait. At any given turn, Ragnarok could attack twice for 5 damage each rolling from 12 attack (with Running Shot and Energy Explosion, and supported by Harley's Perplex and Prob [and his Impervious and Shape Change powers ain't too shabby, too]), which he did to both Hyperion Prime and Trick Shot. It took about five turns to win this game. No resources backing this team.

Hulkbuster VS The Phoenix Force-emboldened Rasputins - a tryout game to see how Hulkbuster handles himself in an actual match, and won this game fairly easily. It took me two turns to realise how strong his Charge+Exploit Weakness combo actually is, with 12 attack and 5 damage that easily goes through a lot of tentpole figs out there. He needs Super Strength, though, and maybe a special Knockback/Force Blast power. All in all an eye-opener for the Charge+Exploit Weakness combo - not the first time I used it (I use this fairly often, especially with Pied Piper's rats [which killed an X-Men teambase a few months ago]) but it's the first time I've used it abusively. It took exactly seven turns to finish this game.

The Hood and Red Wolf & Lobo VS Phoenix Force-empowered Douchebag Jones and Emma Frost - the Hood and Red Wolf & Lobo prove themselves to be really strong figs in this game, more or less a classic tight combo of a low risk low maintenance high returns durable brawler and a reliable moveable sniper that doubles as a sponge with a really good stopclick. The Hood is very playable in his 220-point setting, but the real revelation was the Red Wolf & Lobo combo - not quite Fantomex and EVA, but a more reasonable variation on the concept, but has meta potential. Someone to watch out for. This game took more than twelve turns to wrap up. No resources were used, so it's going to be interesting to see how the three will handle themselves with a Lantern Battery or Pandora's Box (and if Red Wolf & Lobo will see any meta-playing in tourneys).

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.

 

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!