Heroclix LOCKDOWN Randomness - Scenes

Heroclix LOCKDOWN Randomness

Okay, something a bit different now.  After all, I'm not great at play advice; I'm lucky if I win one in three games. 

So something silly for the weekend.

STAR TREK

The Next Generation

"Skin of Evil"

That fateful episode where Tasha Yar is killed by the monster Armus.  In this scene Commander Riker, Lt. Commander Data and Lt. Tasha Yar confront Armus.  At 200pt with full dial Invincible (unless double-out-witted) and a constant 4 Damage the crew of the Enterprise will have a tough fight on their hands.

STAR TREK

The Next Generation

"Sins of the Father"

In this Episode Worf returns to Qo'noS to defend his family honour from House Duras.  Things don't go as planned and he is forced to accept Discommendation in order to preserve the Klingon Empire, where the only other options were death or throw the Klingon Empire into Civil War.

Batman: The Movie (1966)

Batman's arch-villains Penguin, Joker and Riddler come face to face with Hecate, Catwoman's pet black cat.   Meow.  These figures are from the Classic Batman set, with the Black Cat from DC:World's Finest.

Spider-man: Homecoming

Spider-Man Homecoming sees our friendly neighborhood web-slinger up against one of my personal favourite Spidey villains, Mysterio.  And in Heroclix you can pretty easily re-create this scene, as I have done many times before the movie came out, with Mysterio 026(b) from the Amazing Spider-Man set.

Heroclix LOCKDOWN Randomness - The Fantastic Four

Heroclix LOCKDOWN Randomness

Secret Invasion

The Fantastic Four

Starter Set

101 Mr. Fantastic
102 Invisible Woman
103 Human Torch
104 The Thing

If you've never heard of the Fantastic Four maybe this page isn't for you.

Since their introduction in The Fantastic Four #1 in November 1961 (as a reaction to DC's Justice League of America) they have pretty much been a main stay of Marvel comics, despite the off copyright issue here and there.  And were even drawn by my favourite artists, John Byrne.

Comics, cartoons and films, some good, some not so good. The main cast includes Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Susan Storm (Invisible Girl), Johnny Storm (Human Torch) and Ben Grimm (The Thing).

But Heroclix has been mixed bag this super team.  Maybe the upcoming Cosmic Clash set will make them great again, but for now let's look at what have probably been the best version of the Fantastic Four from the Secret Invasion Starter Set.

The set itself came with map, rules, dice, tokens along with Doctor Doom and a couple of Doombots, but I'm just look at the FF themselves.

At 100pts each they make a round 400pt Team.
And their Team Ability means that if one gets defeated the rest of the Team heal.

Top dial these really are still a fun team to play;

Mr. Fantastic has his excellent +2 or -2 Perplex.
Invisible Girl has Telekinesis to get the Team into place.
Human Torch has a Range 8 Running Shot/Energy Explosion.
And The Thing... well... it's Clobberin' Time!  Move 7 and Attack.  Super Strength.  Quake.  And Damage 4.  Not to mention he's Invulnerable with an 18 Defense.  You'd take that top dial on a Modern 100pt figure.

They work well, as expected, as a Team.  But yes, like most older figures they do drop significantly once they've taken a few clicks of damage.

Nevertheless, there really is nothing to say or do to improve on this Team at 400pts.  You probably won't win against a full Modern Team, but you'll probably have more fun.

Heroclix LOCKDOWN Randomness - Arachne

Heroclix LOCKDOWN Randomness

Secret Invasion 011

Arachne

Julia Carpenter, first appearing in Secret Wars vol. 1 #6, October 1984.  She has been know as Spider-Woman, Arachne and Madame Web.  She has been associated with many teams in the Marvel universe, just look at her Keywords below.
Personally, I remember her from West Coast Avengers.

Team Ability: Avengers
Keywords: Force Works, Freedom Force, Omega Flight, West Coast Avengers

Force Works - we're talking use alongside Modern character this is of little use, there have been not Clix with this keyword since Web of Spider-Man, end even then only a handful of Clix have it. 
Freedom Force - more options here, even making a round 300pts alongside Clix from X-MEN THE ANIMATED SERIES: THE DARK PHOENIX SAGA.
Omega Flight - okay, probably ignore this one.  Only two 'Oreo' Base Clix, and one of those is the Beta Ray Bill chase figure.  And teaming Beta Ray with Arachne brings you up 25pt short of 300pts.
West Coast Avengers - sadly the West Coasters have been largely ignored recently.

So, her Keywords are not great.  We'll move on (again with help from HC Realms)...

Leap/Climb but no move and attack.  That does mean potentially leaving her in danger for a Turn, although she does have a nice 19 Defense to protect, bare as it may be.
The Super-Strength is okay, meaning a potential 5 damage, but she is sadly only Attacking on a 9.

And that Special; PSI-WEBS: Arachne can use Incapacitate as if she had a range of 8.

Well a Range 8 on a 50pt character is always welcome, and Incap does have it's uses.  Shame she is still only Attacking with 9.
Now she does have two clicks of 10, but with a bare Defense you likely be skipping right past those, and her end dial isn't looking great.  Flurry, but only for 2 Damage and with an Attack 8.

Now I loved her character in West Coast Avengers, and the sculpt is also good for an older one.  But she is not standing up well at all and is offering little in the way of support like Ambush Bug does for the same points.

So, let's see her in a team with Modern Clix;

Theme Team: Freedom Force

XDPS021 Blob 60

XDPS031 Avalanche 50

XDPS038 Mystique 60

XDPS041 Spiral 80

SI011 Arachne 50

TOTAL 300pts

In this Team she is replacing Pyro (who I don't own).
Spiral has (at no cost) Telekinesis when she uses Phasing Teleport, which can be used to bring Arachne into Play.

Keep Arachne 8 squares away, Perplex down Target Defense with Spiral, and hit with that Incap.  Or if you hold Arachne back a couple of Turns she can pick up a Heavy Object so Spiral can move her in for a possible 5 Damage with possible re-rolls available.

So now you've thrown forward your weak link with the possibility of doing some damage.  If you Push her onto her second click you have the 11 Attack (with Spirals Perplex) and Super Sense to Protect her, tying up an opponent for a Turn or two while the rest of your Team positions for damage.

Pretty much the best I can think of right now while keeping her mostly Comic Accurate.
While there is a newer, and better, version of Julia Carpenter in Avengers Assemble maybe we'll see an new Arachne in the upcoming Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage set.

Heroclix LOCKDOWN randomness

Armor Wars 068

Dazzler

Alison Blaire is a mutant who first appeared in The Uncanny X-Men #130 (February 1980).  As well as the X-Men she has been affiliated with other teams including SHIELD and New Excalibur.  Her powers are primarily converting sound vibrations into light and energy beams.

There have been several versions of Dazzler in Heroclix, the most recently being an O.P. Kit Limited Edition prize.  
But the figure I randomly pulled from my box of Heroclix is the Rare 068 from Armor Wars.  Yes, quite an old figure.  But can she still be played today?  Sure she can.

Lets have a look at her dial (with help from HC Realms http://www.hcrealms.com)

Well that Team Ability won't help much as no new figures have it, but it will give you a once per par -1 to an opponents Defense.
And that Keyword, Ultimate X-Men, means being on a Theme Team with new characters is unlikely.

8 / 9 / 16 / 3 with a Range 8 for 68pts.
Not great by today's standards, but she has six clicks.

And Energy Shield/Deflection meaning in cover from ranger she is a sweet 19 Defense.
8 range with 3 damage is also not bad.  She does lack a Move & Attack, and only 9 Attack means you'll probably want to use her Perplex onto her Attack.

An 8 Range Energy Explosion is pretty good though, even by modern standards.
Or you could choose to Push her onto that Pulsewave.  So using Perplex that is a standard 10 Attack with a Range 4 Pulsewave. A bit of Telekinesis to get her in position and she can certainly hurt your opponents Team.

The most obvious way of getting her into position would seem to be Exospex to give her Running Shot.  I'm not a great fan of using the Exospex, especially on already high point characters, but it's perfect for bringing life back to some old favourites.

So, while not a Theme Team, this is at least nearly Comic Accurate;

AW063 Dazzler 68

WKMP19-S001 Exospex 12

WKM-022 Pete Wisdom 100

EAX031 King Britain 120

TOTAL 300pts

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dazzler_(Marvel_Comics)

Heroclix LOCKDOWN randomness

Collateral Damage 088 

Ambush Bug

With a top dial Attack 7 / Defense 15 Ambush Bug probably is not going to be a go-to figure.
But hang on, 50pts for 5 clicks is still about average.  

But what does he bring?

With a Speed 10 Phasing/Teleport Ambush Bug brings Outwit wherever you want it.  

And he may seem like an easy 50pts to your opponent, but he does have Super Senses that may just waste a few attacks off your opponent.

Basically he's a distraction piece that brings outwit, or push him for Probability Control.  And a fun looking figure.

First appearing in DC Comics Presents #52 (1982) Ambush Bug is a mischievous adventurer with teleportation powers who was breaking the fourth wall long before Deadpool was a dream.

Ambush Bug may not be a hugely famous character, but he's appeared in enough issues to certainly warrant an up to date Heroclix.  He even appeared in Batman Brave and the Bold animated series.

But for now we have just the one, and he can still be a bit of random fun.

Here is a small team I may well run post-lockdown;

CD088 Ambush Bug 50

EW026 Batman 100

EW002 Superman 90

EW018 The Flash 60

300

https://dc.fandom.com/wiki/Ambush_Bug

Stourbridge Wargames Club 16/08/19

Okay, I've changed my opinion slightly about this set.  Still not a big fan, but I feel the disparity between rarities is not good for the game.  I like the Black Order, so their inclusion is a plus, as is Elders of the universe and a decent Hulk with a nice sculpt.  That's about it, the pre-release was terrible, two appalling and unplayable boosters.  I'm not a fan of Black Panther, and the Illuminati would have been good if Reed Richards was in the set.

As for playability, I don't like to include Super Rare & Chase.  A set needs to have playable figures in the more available Common, Uncommon and Rare slots.  Sadly, this set only has a couple of figures, A.I,M. and Voyager.  Sure, add in the SR & Chase and you have a nice set, but gamers are not all made of money.