The Clown Prince of Crime

I don't know about you guys, but when I got home yesterday, I had an unpleasant surprise waiting for me. My Arkham Asylum envelopes had been returned to me. They're out of The Clown Prince of Crime figure. I still haven't received my Secret Invasion envelopes though and I'm surprised that the Arkham envelopes came back quicker. So, I guess if you haven't gotten your Clown Prince of Crime figure than you probably won't.

Waiting on that Super Skrull Illuminati?

I shot off the following email to WizKids asking about my Super Skrull Illuminati figure - the Buy it by the Brick figure for Secret Invasion (if you're on this site you probably didn't need that explained!).

Wizkids -

I was wondering what the status is with the Secret Invasion buy it buy the brick figure. I know that the SSI figure was being reprinted and both I and a coworker have not received our figures.

I've received the last few buy it buy the bricks within a few weeks and I was getting concerned that this figure was not being sent out, etc.

Thank you for your assistance!

Bill

Their reply was:

Hi Bill,

Unfortunately there will be no reorder of this figures due to circumstances beyond our control. I apologize for any inconvenience this has caused.

Thanks!

Rose

So I guess they were closing up shop a while back because around late August they were telling people that they would have the figure reprinted.

SI was by no means my favorite set and the SSI figure would have been cool to have , yet kind of unplayable. I don't think there are any playable BitB figures and aside from the Dark Beast. I think the BitB figures are really more collectible than playable - hence World's Finest. I do want my Clown Prince though - but that's only 'cause I think he'll be fun to play even though he'll probably give my opponents at least 300 points thanks to his 'KO' ability.

WizKid's announcement is quite timely...

I kept this to myself and Brian - only because we work a few desks away and he always hears my bitching.

I think I'm done with buying HC for now and if the company is going away then I feel like a winner 'cause they quit before I did. I got my credit card bill and only then did I feel the 'owww' of a $125 purchase - for a hobby that I haven't participated in and probably will not be able to for the next few weeks. Additionally I've reached a sort of critical mass with these miniatures as they occupy most of my closet.

I am not thrilled with HoT aside from getting the Runaways. I really don't want any more duplicate Marvel heroes (aside from a damn Wolverine - am I the only one who doesn't have one?) in the set. I don't want Thor or Hulk or Cap or Iron Man or any incarnation of Hank Pym. I want them to complete their sets - I would have been thrilled if SI had included X-Men:FC Angel to complete the set. I'd also like a Illuminati Black Bolt as well as some way to make the Illuminati figures all not suck (for their total point cost) but hey - whatever.

I really am not thrilled with the preview of '09 - Batmobile?!?! WTF! Bold and the Brave - team ups - can we say Wonder Woman and Superman for a total ass kicking? I'm sure that would be the chase in that set with a point value of at least 350. I would have loved a GA & Batman duo - which would have probably been the SR, but hey - whatever, we got Worlds Finest. The '09 Marvel set also looks/sounds dumb - it celebrates the 70th aniversary of Marvel. The figures include the 'Fastball Special'... NO! You have Colossus with that as a power already - just give us the Wolverine which negates that damage and I'll be thrilled. I really want a new (Out Of the Shadows class, re: common and semi-overpowered for points) Wolverine.

The upside to WK folding is that this allows us to construct new scenarios, have different game formats, etc. during the 50 or so weeks that WK had tournament / release games scheduled. I think that killed the game a bit, especially during Crisis. I think 5 weeks to celebrate a new set is good and then switch to open tournaments with legal sets. I know we all tried to keep the Marvel U and DC U separate during the tourney but it always seemed to showcase the same series of figures.

Sadly, even though I enjoy the redesign from Avengers on - each newer set, especially SI, seems to have over powered the new sets vs older ones. Indomitable as well as various charge+flurry combos don't seem to have the proper point costs assigned to the figures making each of them a damn steal! Just give it up for Spiderman or Hercules! Now let's pit any of the new figures against figures from older sets and see which wins.

I just foresee this trend increasing and in a few years we'd have a broken Amazo, for instance, with all powers available on every click with high stats and that figure would probably cost around 250 or so points. Hmmm, that'd be a great design - Amazo has a white power that reads "wild card ability - he possesses all powers of any figure that he can draw line of fire to within 8 squares" or something like that. He'd have a replacement value for his stats which would give him the highest value for figures within his line of sight. It'd be a totally cool figure as he'd be a clone of the best of the team that he is facing off against. Damn, I now want this figure.

Anyhow - I digress, it's sad in a way that the company that produces new figures may be wrapping up shop - but that does leave us with a ton of figures that we've all acquired as well as the freedom to use them as we want to for future games. I don't see this as a bad thing - I'd love for Topps to end the line, retool it, and bring it back in a year for HC 3.0.

What I'd love to see represented in a relaunch or modification, is a change of how some figures work. Mr. Incredible should have a laughable attack but a beefy 20-22 defense, ie. you need box cars each time to hit him. That's his comic representation. You don't need to KO everyone in the time limit.

I'd also love to see constructs enter the game - like scientists can build things (Mr. Incredible again!), etc. Add a little RTS element to the game. I've mentioned this with Brian as well - I don't see how the current rules can support this. HC's gameplay is you bring everything at the start of a game and nothing new enters the game after deployment.

Them's my $.02.

Annoucements!

http://www.wizkidsgames.com/wk_article.asp?cid=41914

So yeah, what does this mean?

Will we see the LE figures for Arkham Asylum?

Will Hammer of Thor come out somewhere close to on time?

Will Hammer of Thor come out?

If it does come back, will Topps take the opportunity to make a HeroClix 3.0? Will these be sweeping changes, incompatible with old figures, or rolling changes like the cards and special powers?

Can we put together good games without WizKids? (Answer: Yes)

See everybody Friday!

Last Night's Game

Last night was the last 300-pt sealed tournament this year (I think). Ferru and I were the only participants. Ferru pulled a team of Jay Gerrick Flash, Penguin, Nightshade, and Kid Devil. I pulled a team of Bizzaro #1 and the Riddler (unrelated note: Does anyone else think it's weird that Bizarro doesn't have Super Strength?).

I played Deep Shadows in the beginning thinking I could hide Bizarro behind a Stealthed Riddler for awhile, but I blew that plan really early on. I instead sent Riddler out by himself to start Incapacitating Kid Devil, but then the Flash started beating on him. I suppose that served as a nice distraction that allowed Bizarro to knock out Kid Devil and Nightshade in three punches (Nightshade, thankfully, went down in one, minimizing Mystics-based damage), but the Riddler went down after that, allowing the Penguin to Outwit Bizarro's defense while Flash dealt a couple of blows and knocking him down to his Toughness clicks. Now, Bizarro's Toughness clicks have Defense values that start at 18 (I think) and keep getting worse, so Flash and Penguin had a tough time getting in any blows after that (even with Flash's Probability Control to help his side and confound Bizarro's attempts to hit Penguin), so, for the endgame of the fight, Ferru and I basically rolled dice at each other for who knows how long trying to beat some ridiculously heavy odds. Ferru won with a last hit from the Flash after I finally decided to Force Blast the Penguin out of the way, not for any good reason, just because I wanted to actually hit something.

I like the Penguin figure in this set, it's tougher than it looks and even gets a little Willpower near the end of its dial. Bizarro is a little strange Defensive-wise, I may just have to play as him again just to get a grip on how to (and not to) use him. Riddler should have more Stealth and less Leap/Climb (and wouldn't Psychic Blast make more sense than Exploit Weakness for a back-row manipulator/confounding variable?), but his ability to (IF the dice roll right) Incapacitate as a free action is a neat interpretation of his shtick.

Next week is a 300-pt, 50% floor event. Who's bringing the all-Multiplex team?

Namor

I really like this piece. No, really. I think this piece is the best in the set. It's incredibly well balanced - with move and double-attack (flurry) as well as a pretty beefy defense (values and powers) and a deep dial. This is what I want in a primary attacker. You throw on fortitude and you're looking at what pieces like Doomsday or the Hulk could have been. I would LOVE to see a new Doomsday with a dial like this - just to get him on even keel to take down Supes.

Without Fortitude, Namor runs the risk of being mopped up by a Batman-esque team easily. Throw in a perplex or 2 and some outwit to get rid of the charge power and you're Namor's practically toast. At 150 points, he's one of the best valued pieces in the set for what he does. You don't get indomitable but I mean really, do you need it. His dial doesn't dip much - in fact it goes up at some point and since it's so deep you can push a few times and not worry. Lastly this piece rounds out two teams that have been lacking a piece of sizable strength, or defense - the Defenders and the Illuminati. The Defenders, obviously, since Namor possesses that team's symbol - which gives a much needed boost to the Defenders defense pool. The Illuminati, which should be a dominant theme team, finally get a piece worth 150 points. I don't think anyone will be whipping out Professor X or Iron Man in a competitive game; Mr. Fantastic is decent for the points but doesn't really get to be game breaker. I would love for a bonus if you field all 5 - like infinity gems or some other condition that let you form Voltron, but alas that is not part of this fine game. A great Illuminati team is probably at least 3 years away - pending that comics remembers that the Illuminati exists.

This brings me to open up the conversation I had with Brian, who asked what I might play this week if I played. My team would have been a "fuck this Marvel set, I'm taking it out on everyone" and the team would include:
Skrull Ms. Marvel w/ Protected
Namor w/ Fortitude & Protected
Gee
Spiderman x2

That comes out to 499 points. I'd have used Ms. Marvel to pick off secondary attackers while launching Namor w/ Gee at the primary attacker. Ms. Marvel would end her move at some point near Gee so that she can pick Gee up and place him next to Namor when he has to move on to another target. We've already established that Ms. Marvel is a bitch of an attacker - this would be a total dick move because she'd get reduced to a transport / harassment piece. Spidermen on the other hand would just tie up any piece that doesn't have a breakaway for free (leap/climp or hypersonic) or get in between the line of sight of a support piece w/ outwit or probability control so they can't affect the main battle.

This team is incredibly offensive with no support on its own - just remember to use protected when you need it and not to push Namor too often until the protected is popped.

Secret Invasion Week 5

It was a full two weeks ago that we played the Johnny Storm week of Secret Invasion! The rules were as follows:


The upshot was that you got lots of replacement pieces, and a 300 point game went at the speed of 400 points. On to the teams!

I played a Fantastic Four Abuse team: Thing, Mr. Fantastic, Gee, Lightspeed, and another Lightspeed. This was designed to use Skrull Yellowjacket and Skrull Infiltrators as replacements. This team was nakedly based around Defense 20 Thing walking around being unhittable. But Lightspeed was awesome! And Lightspeed that turns into a Skrull is an incredible tie-up piece!

Ferru played Dr. Strange, Punisher, and Morbius. Is there a theme here? Anyway this was a pretty good team, helped by the awesome Skrulls that he had waiting around. Namely, Super-Skrull: X-Men and Jarvis.

Jeff mixed up his LEs and his boxed set to create a Fantastic Four team. Human Torch and Mr. Fantastic were fielded with Sue Storm. Or was it Human Torch and Invisible Woman with Reed Richards?

Bill played an Invaders team, or was it an All-Star All-Winners team? Namor led his pals Toro and Human Torch. Bah, Namor! I hate you whenever I am not playing you, Namor!

We played with choices of maps instead of just the Savage Land. Happy Harbor, bank vaults, temple ruins, we missed you, old friends.

Namor took Bill to victory for the night. I did pretty well, with Thing over-performing, but hiding behind defense is a waiting game and I couldn't stand up to Namor's assault. Jeff's F4s took out the Invaders in their game, though, so bravo! Enjoy the pics!

The post where Bill rants...

I hate Marvel Heroclix. It might just be the last 2 sets of Marvel that has me in a bind, but I just don't quite get the figures.

Marvel 'clix seem to be based around finding the strongest clix and putting them on the board and let luck run it's course. Silver Surfer, Spiderman, Ms. Marvel - put any one of these pieces down and the game will run around that figure. If it's a high cost game - you get to have 2 strong figures.

Contrast this with DC, which seems to work around strategy a lot more. Sure in DC you could put out that Earth-2 Superman and mop up - but if you didn't then you'd have to think about what pieces you're playing and how to play them effectively. OOTS Batman for instance, when we first saw him he was just a weak Batman but upon reading that OOTS ability - he's a beast. He won't win you games by himself but he will help out immensly by supporting your other characters. Rip Hunter is also the same way - he's awesome for his "you can't outwit me or my teammates" power. The only figure that comes close to this in Marvel is Danger and even she's reduced in power by having a range limit.

I know Doom and Reed Richards have awesome outwit powers but that comes at a huge cost. In addition to being a super outwitter, Doom costs a ton of points. Sure it's worth it if you're in a high point game, but in a low point game he's just too expensive. It would have been awesome if they made a cheaper figure with a similar power. I know Amadeus Cho was just made as a pog, but it would be awesome if he were a cheap clix with some super genius outwit power and cost < 100 points.

I'd also like it if they added something for the Marvel scientists - Iron man, Reed, etc. where they could build a construct to do something, like an outwit station or a perplex station. It's what they do all the time in comics to overcome obstacles yet there's nothing to represent that in this game! Batman on the other hand always has every toy because it's expected he's thought of everything ahead of time!

This set seems to accelerate a lot of the battles by stacking charge with flurry and running shot with pulse wave. It's welcome as it gets that figure into attacking space sooner, but it's also a potential one turn kill if used by the right click. I don't know if I like this element or not. Character wise, I can see a character like 'neck snappin' Black Adam KO'ing figures in 1 click, but Namor / Hercules - maybe not. They're more of the gloaters in the comics. I'm not complaining but I think it's really REALLY powerful. In a risky gambit with Namor, for instance, if you perplex him up 3 times for his damage, he can effectively connect for 14 damage. That's power we've seen only with Earth 2 Superman. If you add TK, Namor can be launched wherever. Add in probability control - free re-roll of a missed flurry. I'm sure that team can be made for < 400 points. Mind you - I think that this type of gambit is extremely cool and I'd love to see it used vs. Ms. Marvel - I hate that piece.

It's probably just the style of play that I like, DC offers a more planning strategy to the game where Marvel is now defined as a fast and furious game. They're both fun - but I just can't get into the Marvel rhythm...

Secret Invasion Week 7

This week we played Game 7 of Secret Invasion. It was just Ferru, Bill, and myself, so things went pretty quick. The scenario this week was that we secretly wrote down which of our figures were Skrulls, and which were human. Skrull killing Human and Human killing Skrull was worth double victory points... while like killing like was worth half. We also had to play without feats, battlefield conditions, and the like, although I would have killed to put Fortitude on Namor.

I played an Avengers theme team of Namor, Spider-Man, Hawkeye, Scarlet Witch, and FCBD Iron Man. I actually used my theme PCs this week (though not in my first game).

Ferru forgot his box at home, and had to make due with his doubles for this set. Hence Gray Gargoyle, Adam Warlock, Gravity, and Malice. I hate Malice so damn much...

Bill wanted to get human Elektra out, and supported her with Cloak and Dagger, FCBD Iron Man, and Storm.

Ferru played Bill in the first game while I sat out and tracked KOs. Elektra was predictably awesome, although Ferru mistakenly read Support as having the effect of Defend, and let Adam Warlock give his whole team an 18 Defense. Nobody caught it, because we always have a happy hour before we play.

Next I went against Bill. I won, but we forgot to take pictures. Namor was awesome, and Spider-Man sharing Namor's sky-high defense is also awesome. The Namor-Spidey duo took out Elektra first, moved on to Iron Man, then Cloak and Dagger, finally Storm. The rest of my team took some hits and watched. It's pretty rare that I beat Bill, rarer still that I wipe him from the map without losing any pieces. Outside of Ms. Marvel two weeks ago, it may have been a year since that happened.

Finally I played Ferru. I won, with Namor running around uncontested... but horrible die rolls kept interfering. It's total douchebag territory to win and still complain about luck, but at one point Namor needed a 7 to hit, had a flurry, and used 2 theme probability controls, and never got higher than a 6. I had two critical misses too... Iron Man got nearly all the KOs, but Namor did take out Adam Warlock in one mighty charge-flurry assault.

So I took first place, although everyone got Sue Storm as a prize. We looked at our KO totals after the game: for most of the game vs Ferru I got half points, totaling a high 200 out of 400 possible. But for most of the KOs against Bill I took double, getting over 600 points. So the mechanism didn't upset the win-loss records.

Next week, we play Skrull Scenario 3! Everyone bring your Skrull extras!

Secret Invasion Week 6

Last week we played Week 6 of Secret Invasion, the beginning of the second round! Before we were playing for cardboard, now it's alternate versions of the Fantastic Four. That's pretty cool. We used Skrull Scenario number 1, which means that each pair of opponents combined the figures they wanted into a big pool, and drafted our teams. With no guarantee you were playing the badass you brought, you'd better not bring that badass! We all pretty much brought scrub pieces we had never, and might never again, play.

Since everyone got to assign a team ability to the post-draft teams, I brought a team full of pieces without teams. Thor Girl, Captain America, Brood, Maverick, Grim Reaper, rookie Nova, and rookie Jubilee.

Ferru tried a Mole Man 'N' Friends thing with Mole Man, five Moloids, Spider-Man, Arachne, Tarantula, Captain America, Howard the Duck, and Spider-Slayer, who looks like Destroyer in this picture but I know he's not.

Jeff played Kristof, Clea, Power Man and Iron Fist, Impossible Man, and one of the Doombots. PM&IF was the most expensive piece on the map all night.

Bill brought the complete Power Pack, along with Spider-Man, Clea, She-Thing, She-Hawkeye, and Arachne. This is the game, by the way, that taught us to fear Spider-Man.


We rolled to pair up; I faced Jeff first, while Ferru went against Bill. We drafted, and Jeff chose Brood, PM&IF, Kristoff, Captain America, Nova, and Doombot. This team had the Skrull ability.

I took Thor Girl first, followed by Maverick, Grim Reaper, Clea, Impossible Man, and Jubilee, with the Fantastic Four ability.

As soon as we started, we realized that Brood had a Box base... which means he was much better than intended. My mistake had a noticeable effect on the game all night, so my apologies. BroodBox wasn't as strong as box, mind you, I didn't have Box's card, so he couldn't use his special powers. But that first click had an 18 Defense with Invulnerability. I had to put everything into hitting BroodBox, but Thor Girl perplexed by Grim Reaper was finally able to do it. Impossible Man's Outwit eventually gave me the win.


Feruu took pains to get all his Moloids together, plus Mole Man, Howard, two Arachnes, and Spider-Slayer. I think this was a Skrull team.

This Moloid strategy, however, gave Bill access to all the high-point pieces on the table. Clea, Spider-Man, Spider-Man, She-Hawkeye, Tarantula, Mass Master, She-Thing, Cap, Energizer, and Gee. I think this was humans, Fantastic Four.

With heavy hitters vs. Moloids, Bill tore Ferru apart.


Next, I played Bill, while Jeff faced Ferru. I went for BroodBox first, pairing him with Grim Reaper's Perplex to keep him unhittable on a battlefield full of 9 Attacks. The rest of my Human, Fantastic Four team was Jubilee, She-Hawkeye, Maverick, Gee, Lightspeed, and Arachne.

Bill identified Thor Girl as the heavy hitter, taking Spider-Man, Clea, She-Thing, Nova, Energizer, Mass Master, and Captain America as backup. This team was Skrulls.

Bill took out Arachne with one round of Flurries from Spider-Man, making me swear an oath to always field this figure forever. I tried to keep pinging away with BroodBox, but keeping his defenses up paralyzed my team. It was surprisingly close given my flawed strategy, but I fell to Bill in the end.

Ferru split his Moloids this time, taking Howard, Mole Man, Spider-Man, Kristoff, Spider-Slayer, Arachne, and two Moloids. I think this team was Skrulls.

Jeff went for PM&IF again, with Tarantula, Impossible Man, Clea, Captain America, Doombot, and two Moloids. I think this team was human, and when you're human, you always pick Fantastic Four.

I don't know how this game went, but here's a relatively focused picture. I think Jeff's downfall was the inability of the Heroes for Hire to live up to their price point.

Our final match-ups were me vs. Ferru, and Bill vs. Jeff. I took BroodBox and Grim Reaper again, with two Caps, Arachne, Tarantula, Thor Girl, and two Moloids. For the third time I got to be humans, Fantastic Four, natch.

Ferru went for Spider-Man first, followed by Nova, Jubilee, Spider-Slayer, Mole Man, Howard, and two Moloids. This team was Skrulls.

For me, this was just like the last game except my strategy worked! BroodBox was untocuhable, the Caps dominated, and Arachne poisoned the hell out of everybody. The team ability kept everyone in the fight.

I think this is Bill's team, but I don't know for sure. Spider-Man, PM&IF, Arachne, two Cleas, Energizer, and Mass Master. Skrulls?

Here's Jeff's Gee, Impossible Man, Doombot, Kristoff, She-Hawkeye, She-Thing, and Lightspeed. If it isn't obvious by now, I forgot my tripod this week, and it was rare to get a focused picture. I guess these were Fantastic Four.

I have no idea what went on in this game, but check out this scrum. I hope more scenarios favor these swarms of light pieces.

At the end of the night, Bill went undefeated, I had two wins, and Ferru had one. We took home Reed Richards, who is no Mr. Fantastic. We did some quick figuring, and Human Teams tied with Skrull teams for 3 victories each.

Secret Invasion Week 5

It was more than three weeks ago, so I don't remember a lot of the battles. In fact, I barely remember the teams... so Bill, Ferru, if I assign these teams to the wrong people, let me know.

I fielded Skrull Ms. Marvel and Warskrull. Yeah, they were warbounded together. Uh huh, Ms. Marvel had Takedown and carried a tombstone and launched off a Kinetic Accelerator. Oh yeah, I was that guy.

Jeff fielded Dr. Doom with Fortitude and three Hyrda agents. Doom with Fortitude was tough!

Ferru fielded Jarvis, Captain Marvel, and Dum Dum Dugan. I'm pretty sure these were the human versions.

Bill fielded Hercules and Dr. Strange. I like Hercules, especially his current book, but he's such a second fiddle to Namor.

Anyway, we played and it was pretty good, here's the pictures. I won and I didn't get off my first click. This piece is too good! We ran some simulations later and Namor may be the anti-Ms. Marvel piece. But still, too good. How dare I. The first, second, and third place winners took home Invigorate, soon to rewrite the landscape of the game.

Here's some pics:

Clix List for Arkham Asylum

Found on the Absorbacon. Hopefully I'm sharing the Clix Spoiler love and not stealing content. Bill and I have met Scipio, and he seems a trustworthy sort.

THE LIST OF THE FIGURES IN THE NEXT DC HEROCLIX SET, "ARKHAM ASYLUM":

001 WHITE MARTIAN (generic)
002 MANHUNTER (As in "No Man Escapes The")
003 MULTIPLEX
004 THE QUESTION (Renee Montoya)
005 FLORONIC MAN
006 GOTHAM CITY DETECTIVE
007 TWO-FACE
008 STREET THUG
009 KID DEVIL
010 GORILLA GRODD
011 THE RIDDLER
012 AMANDA WALLER
013 HUMAN BOMB
014 SCANDAL SAVAGE
015 PLASMUS
016 BATMAN
017 MAN-BAT ASSASSIN
018 SOLOMON GRUNDY
019 LASHINA
020 ANARKY
021 MISS MARTIAN
022 HITMAN
023 WONDER WOMAN (Diana Prince)
024 COUNT VERTIGO
025 JOHNNY SORROW
026 NIGHTSHADE
027 FIREFLY
028 ARKILLO
029 PER DEGATON
030 AMON SUR
031 CAPTAIN GORDON
032 LIGHTNING LORD
033 THINKER
034 ROBIN
035 GHOST FOX KILLER
036 ZOOM
037 ELEMENT LAD
038 PENGUIN
039 COSMIC KING
040 DOCTOR DESTINY
041 FRANKENSTEIN (from 7 Soldiers)
042 VENTRILOQUIST (w/Scarface)
043 CALCULATOR
044 YELLOW LANTERN (Bizarro)
045 CIRCE
046 LYSSA DRAK
047 ULTRA-HUMANITE
048 BIZARRO #1
049 BLACK MANTA
050 METRON
051 MAD HATTER
052 BATGIRL
053 THE TOP
054 DESPERO
055 SABBAC
056 THE FLASH (Jay Garrick)
057 SATURN QUEEN
058 CHANG TZU (aka Egg Fu)
059 THE JOKER
060 SUPERMAN PRIME
BITB Clix: 061 THE CLOWN PRINCE OF CRIME - Joker escaping Arkham Asylum

LE's
101. Crispus Allen (as Spectre)

PRIZES: "No Man's Land" Event dial prize for Winner, Fellowship and Envoy, as well as an exclusive "Bizarro World" BFC card and "The Asylum" map for all players (up to 16)!


End of List, Brian's thoughts following:

This looks like a pretty good set. White Martians, Multiplex, Detectives, Street Thugs, and Man-Bat Assassins are great uses of Common figures (well, the Man-Bats are Uncommon). Arkillo and Amon Sur make it possible to field a Sinestro Corps team. Ms. Martian and Kid Devil come in just before Wonder Girl and Blue Beetle retire. Human Bomb finishes off the Freedom Fighters (because we don't need Dollman). The chase is Bearded Spectre, whom I do not care one whit about. Oh, and mother fucking Hitman, which is the best news ever.

The only thing that made me roll my eyes was another Robin. But if he's a 40-point way to give the Batman team ability to a wild card, I'm onboard.

Skrull Scenarios

Everyone seen these? These are crazier rules than anything we would have made up! I especially like the bonus scenario.

Skrull Scenarios at WizKids

Secret Invasion Week 4

Three weeks into Secret Invasion, and we're finally posting a battle report! But the cool thing about battle reports is the pictures of teams, and we didn't get our full choice in the Sealed events. Also I missed week 1 for San Diego, and in Week 3 it was just me and Jeff, and everyone kept forgetting cameras, anyway, here's Week 4!

I brought a Defenders team, built around Howard the Duck. Or possibly built around Dr. Strange. Strange, Howard, Gargoyle, and Goliath came to 300 points even. I love this Dr. Strange piece, but the SI map is not for him. Blocking terrain everywhere, he could rarely use his full range.
Ferru had a cosmic team, with Magus, Gamora, and Jarvis the Butler from Space. That's also a super-rare-themed team! We all learned a valuable lesson about Magus this game: he is bad-ass.
Jeff had just gotten his Illuminati Super-Skrull, and wanted to play him. She-Thing was added to get up to 300 points.
In game one, I played Ferru. I went first, moving Dr. Strange into what I thought was a good firing position, with Howard the Duck and Gargoyle blocking shots to him. I had Gargoyle pick up a tombstone so that his defense was now a 21 against ranged combat. Goliath went to the other side of the map to try and draw Ferru's team out. Ferru moved up behind some of the blocking spaceship wreckage, so that all I could shoot was Jarvis. Fine, killed him, but in the meantime Magus went around and took out Goliath, while Gamora picker her way towards my Defenders behind blocks.
I tried to pounce on Gamora, pinning her against her hiding place with Howard and Gargoyle with Strange firing through them. But my shots all missed her 18, giving Strange a click and causing him to lose the Defend power that was keeping my team together. Magus shot across the board and based Strange while holding a heavy object, so now the doctor was on borrowed time. I'm not sure if he ever hit, or maybe I gave Magus a click or two. What was cool was Howard the Duck trying a desperate swipe on Gamora, then critically hitting, knocking her back into the terrain for a net 4 damage. But she was still strong enough to kill the duck and the gargoyle. Magus finished Strange and that was game.
Next, Ferru brought his team to Jeff. Both teams cautiously advanced on the left side of the map. She-Thing ran ahead, and Gamora met her charge, with Jarvis hanging in the wreckage to Outwit her armor. Magus meanwhile engaged the Super-Skrull in the back. The two heavy hitters chipped away at each other, with the Illumnati Skrull taking more damage. She-Thing hit once but went down, and Gamora and Jarvis joined the main event. Once two Outwits were trained on Super-Skrull, there wasn't much he could do. Ferru got another win to sweep the night.


Finally, Jeff and I played each other for second-place. I had slightly improved placing, but I was still at the mercy of the map for my lines of fire. Jeff sent She-Thing into my lines, but Super-Skrull hung back. I had She-Thing facing four combatants, and while they all didn't hit, she was out in a turn. Super-Skrull had a good shot but rolled low. Next Goliath charged up and my other Defenders aligned themselves for a good shot. In a few rounds of shooting, I defeated SSI and won the game.

So, we all got, uh, the feat in question that we won't use, and everyone was happy. Next week, the battle for Invigorate!