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Captain Satire
May 3, 2005

Chris Cooley is my Life Coach.

thebardyspoon posted:

I'd say some basic stuff on teambuilding wouldn't go amiss. Maybe positioning as well since that's like the most important thing in the game.

I desperately need to know more about this.

Also I need more Dota 2 clix.

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Torrent
Apr 18, 2003
" . . . "
Here's a random pile of rules of thumb suggestions:

Is it the end of your turn? Before you clear your tokens, make sure that you've used all of your available free actions. NEVER let a free action go to waste.

Does the figure that you are shooting with have more than one target? If so (and you aren't using Ranged Combat Expert), ALWAYS dual-target. Sure, that Darkseid is the huge threat, but if you get a bad roll, you might still kill that Race Car. Or, on the flip side, sure, you can KO that Race Car easily, but you never know, you might roll that 9 to hit Darkseid!

If your printed damage value is 1 or 2 and you have Blades, ALWAYS roll for it. 3 is debatable. Don't roll if you have a printed 4 or higher.

Figure out who on your team is expendable. Using a low-importance figure (or a hard-to-hit figure) as a tie-up piece, as a human shield, or as bait isn't something to be afraid of. Chess has pawns; HeroClix has the Toad.

When moving your figures, ALWAYS try to either be in or have hindering terrain between you and your opponent's shooters. Even without Stealth, that defense bump can come in handy.

Prioritize. Figure out which actions are the most important for you to make, so that you can be able to sacrifice less-important actions for theme team re-rolls, if need be.

If you opponent has no Support, crippling can be better than KO'ing. If you knock a tentpole figure to uselessness, it becomes a drag on your opponent's available actions per turn, while you target the pit crew. Sure, you'll need to pick up those points sometime, but learn when it's okay to switch focus.

Be aware of everyone's range value, and their swing (which is move-and-attack plus range). Count the available Perplexs into your calculations. If you can't land the first shot on a priority target (note 'priority,' don't fall for bait; go for either the biggest threat or the best support), try to make them come to you.

Map roll! Seriously, many games are won by this alone. When building your team, figure out what sort of map would be best for you. Strong range team? Wide-open areas with small patches of hindering. Strong close combat team? As many walls or segments of blocking as you can find. Similarly, look at your opponent's team, and figure out what sort of map would be the worst for them. All-grounded team? Get a water map, or one with lots of levels of elevation. No viable taxis? Make it a shooting gallery. Lots of range? Pick plenty of walls and hindering.

CapnAndy
Feb 27, 2004

Some teeth long for ripping, gleaming wet from black dog gums. So you keep your eyes closed at the end. You don't want to see such a mouth up close. before the bite, before its oblivion in the goring of your soft parts, the speckled lips will curl back in a whinny of excitement. You just know it.
A Newbie's Guide to Powers and When/How to Use Them

Speed
Flurry - Always use this if you can. Remember that you can activate Flurry off of the close combat action Charge gives you; there is a reason why special powers love to give both powers at once.
Leap/Climb
Phasing/Teleport - These are passive powers. Just remember that you have the improved movement.
Earthbound/Neutralized - Sucks to be you. Get off those clicks, if possible.
Charge - See that guy you want to hit? Is he within half your speed value? Awesome; go hit him. Remember that you've got a close combat action, not an attack, to use once you get there, so all your other cool punching-people powers can still be activated.
Mind Control - Think about the absolute stupidest thing your opponent could do right now. Then make him do it. Usual standards are attacking an ally or making someone walk right into your killbox so your entire team can take him apart. You only get one action with the mind-controlled character even if it's a free action, so go ahead and force them to use Outwit or Perplex, just know that that's all you get to make them do.
Sidestep - Deceptive little power. Moving two squares every turn for free can really add up over time, but it's still only two squares and still bound by all the rules governing movement. Useful mid-dial to reposition during a fight; not so great to actually get to the fight.
Hypersonic Speed - Always use this. Always always always. You're more mobile than anyone else on the map; take advantage of this. Blaze halfway across the map and still make an attack. Hit a guy and then retreat out of his range. Just use it.
Stealth - Keep your guy in hindering terrain if at all possible. You can see out, but nobody can see in. Your unstealthy guys can hide behind a stealthy buddy, since they still block line of fire.
Running Shot - Charge, but for ranged combat attacks. Count your swing (how many squares away you can target someone from) -- high speed and high range can add up real quick, letting you threaten half the map.

Attack
Blades/Claws/Fangs - Is your damage value 1 or 2? You want to use this. If it's 3, it's very situational. Against a figure with no damage reducers, you probably want the guaranteed 3. Against someone tougher, you might want risk doing no damage against the possibility of hitting them hard enough to really feel it. At a printed 4 or higher, don't use this unless you have a special version that caps the minimum value (such versions do exist). Because it doesn't take an action to activate (it activates when you're given a close combat action to do anything), this power combos with any other melee power except for Close Combat Expert.
Energy Explosion - If two opposing characters are next to each other and none of your guys would be caught in the blast, use it. If some of your guys would be caught in the blast, you still might want to use it anyway, but now it's up to you.
Pulse Wave - If you have one and only one figure within half your range and line of fire, use this every time. There's nothing in the game more devastating than a single-target Pulse Wave. If you have multiple targets... it still might be worth it, but you'll only do 1 damage to everyone you hit, and that includes your own guys. You need to ask yourself if you'd rather do that or try a regular attack at full damage against a single target. Remember that Pulse Wave turns off everything. When you're making the attack, anyone you're targeting has no powers, no traits, and no combat symbols. This is why it's so devastating. Fear it.
Quake - Can you use Steal Energy? If not, there's almost no reason to ever use this.
Super Strength - Might as well carry an object around, if there's one nearby to grab. There's no downside.
Incapacitate - If you can't damage somebody, or think they can do more damage on their next turn than you can do to them this turn, by all means, give 'em a token. Incap turns great when being used on characters who are already pushed, because penetrating damage is always good.
Penetrating/Psychic Blast - There is literally no reason to not always use this. Even against characters who don't have damage reducers. Just get in the habit of always declaring it. Oh, and you can use it with Running Shot, too. Always use it.
Smoke Cloud - It's not really worth a power action most of the time unless you need to provide cover for a Stealth character who's suddenly been caught in the open. The -1 to attack is nice, and makes throwing smoke on your enemies viable just to screw with their aim. There's also a lot of ways to use this for free, and it's great as a free action.
Precision Strike - Passive power. Just remember you have it.
Poison - The damage is dealt at the beginning of your turn and if you forget to declare it, it doesn't happen. So don't forget. Since it's a free action and you control how free actions resolve during your turn, you can absolutely Outwit someone first and then call the Poison. This is a good idea.
Steal Energy - You don't get a choice. You have to heal the click. Sometimes you might wish this wasn't the case, but it is. This is where Quake shines, because you heal 1 damage for every character who takes damage from your close combat attacks, and if you can Quake a bunch of guys at once... well then.
Telekinesis - This is the A+ prime mobility power. You get to place -- place, not move -- someone up to 8 squares away, and they can take a non-free action after you do so. This is huge. TK out someone with Running Shot and it is quite possible that you can hit anywhere on the map. TK friendlies out of danger. TK objects into people's faces, even if they've got Stealth and are hiding, because you target the square, not the character. If all else fails, TK opposing characters, although that requires an attack roll. Remember that the TKer and TKee both need line of fire to where you're sending 'em.

Defense
Super Senses - If the dice roll your way and you keep on dodging attacks, nothing's better. If you miss a roll, though, you take full damage, so watch out. Turning that 6 damage alpha strike into a miss is great, but if you don't, you're likely crippled. Watch out for Penetrating Strike.
Toughness - You'll still take damage on all but the weakest hits, but at least you can soak minor annoyances like Poison.
Defend - Despite the name, what you really want to do is get behind somebody. Let them use your (likely quite high) defense, with the added benefit that if they get hit, they still keep on using your defense instead, making them just as hard to hit next time. Some healers will have Defend and a very low defense value; this is to make it easier to make their Support rolls, since you can replace your buddy's defense with a much more hittable 15 or 16 before attempting to heal 'em.
Combat Reflexes - Makes you very annoying up close. Also lets you ignore knockback, which can come in handy. Useless from range, so get into melee ASAP. If you have Stealth (and that's a popular combination), remember that they can't shoot you if you're in hindering terrain and will have to come to you, where your Combat Reflexes will help.
Energy Shield/Deflection - The ranged version of Combat Reflexes. Don't let anyone get into melee with you.
Barrier - Sort of an anomaly in that it feels much more like a power that belonged on the attack slot. Use it to hide your entire team behind the blocking terrain, or to isolate opposing characters from their friends.
Mastermind - Keep a bunch of lower-point minions around. As long as you've got someone else to take the hit for you, you get to stay on the top of your dial. When you run out of minions, you're in trouble.
Willpower - This should be pretty self-explanatory. Push away, just keep in mind you've got absolutely no defenses.
Invincible - Has an advantage over the damage reducer powers because it ignores damage, rather than reducing it, meaning Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Exploit Weakness don't work against it. On the other hand, unless you only get dealt 1 damage you will be taking some clicks.
Impervious - The cadillac of defense powers. It's basically Invulnerable with Super Senses added on, but the difference is that Super Senses evades the attack while Impervious reduces damage to 0. This matters for powers like Incapacitate that activate off of a successful hit, not damage being dealt. Also, since penetrating damage can't be reduced, Penetrating/Psychic Blast and Exploit Weakness will go right through you anyway, while Super Senses would have allowed you to dodge the attack altogether.
Regeneration - This takes a power action to activate and has 33% odds of not healing you at all, so if you're surrounded by enemies it might be best to go out in a blaze of glory instead of taking time out to try and heal. If you're safe for the moment, there's no reason not to try.
Invulnerability - Like Toughness, but better. Now people have to hit you fairly hard before you start feeling it.

Damage
Ranged Combat Expert - Judging whether to add to your attack value, damage value, or split the bonus between them is situational. You need to figure out if you're more concerned with hitting the guy or hurting him. Keep in mind that this takes a power action to activate, so you can't use it with Running Shot.
Battle Fury - Does more harm than good most of the time, but getting to ignore Shape Change, Incapacitate, and Mind Control can be great in the right situations.
Support - You're a medic. Keep this piece out of harm's way; it's built to heal up its friends, not deal damage. Has a minimum result of 1, unlike Regeneration, but you can't heal somebody if you or your target are based by an opposing character. The other team knows that and will try to get someone up there to interfere.
Exploit Weakness - Penetrating/Psychic Blast, except for close combat attacks. Doesn't work with Flurry, so when both powers are showing you need to decide if you'd rather deal regular damage twice or penetrating damage once.
Enhancement - Stay close to friendlies who are making ranged attacks.
Probability Control - The first of the big three damage powers. Works once per your turn and once per your opponent's turn. This is insanely powerful. Attack rolls, B/C/F, healing, anything that requires a die roll and doesn't say "can't be rerolled" -- you get to make them do it again if you don't like what came up the first time. Learn to use it or forever get whupped by those who do.
Shape Change - If the dice roll your way, they can't even target you. That's really good! But it's optional and your opponent will be hoping you forget you have it. Don't forget. Declare Shape Change and make the roll.
Close Combat Expert - The melee version of Ranged Combat Expert. Same decision to make, same power action to activate.
Empower - Enhancement, but for close combat. Stay close to the punchy guys.
Perplex - Second of the big three damage powers. Knowing what value you need to go up or down by one at the time is situational and will take practice to learn. They can all be useful. If you've got nothing else to do with it, Perplex up the defense of the friendly character you think is most likely to be attacked.
Outwit - Third of the big three. You can turn off any power you like. You can't turn off combat symbols, but you can get the abilities those symbols grant, so basically: whatever is annoying you the most? That goes away.
Leadership - Getting to add an action to your available actions for the turn is nice, but rarely the big prize. The big prize is getting to take an action token off an adjacent friend. Get lucky with that and you can change the flow of an entire match.

CapnAndy fucked around with this message at 04:52 on Mar 5, 2014

Red
Apr 15, 2003

Yeah, great at getting us into Wawa.

CapnAndy posted:

Things about abilities

This is what I'm talking about.

By the way, I stopped at my shop this afternoon, and they randomly had some Collateral Damage boosters out for like $8, so I grabbed one out of nostalgia. What a mistake - it slipped my mind that that set still had flying figures on stands (which are a pain, in my opinion), and I got three of them.

Morand
Apr 16, 2004

1: Start New Game
2: Start New Game
3: Start New Game


:aaa:

thebardyspoon posted:

I'd say some basic stuff on teambuilding wouldn't go amiss. Maybe positioning as well since that's like the most important thing in the game.

Depending on how busy I am tomorrow, I'll take a stab at this.

CapnAndy
Feb 27, 2004

Some teeth long for ripping, gleaming wet from black dog gums. So you keep your eyes closed at the end. You don't want to see such a mouth up close. before the bite, before its oblivion in the goring of your soft parts, the speckled lips will curl back in a whinny of excitement. You just know it.

Morand posted:

Depending on how busy I am tomorrow, I'll take a stab at this.
I was gonna nominate you for that, seeing as how you are literally the best player in the world.

I'll do a quick writeup on all the different resources tomorrow.

Red
Apr 15, 2003

Yeah, great at getting us into Wawa.

CapnAndy posted:

I was gonna nominate you for that, seeing as how you are literally the best player in the world.

I'll do a quick writeup on all the different resources tomorrow.

For the abilities, it might help to notate which are forced/required with a * or something.

Captain Satire
May 3, 2005

Chris Cooley is my Life Coach.
This thread is about to turn into a major resource I'll be checking every single game I play.

On another note: how often do people here buy individual minis from online sites? It seems to me it's a much better way to create a specific team, or am I missing out on some of the fun if I'm not buying boosters?

ManiacClown
May 30, 2002

Gone, gone, O honky man,
And rise the M.C. Etrigan!

Red posted:

For the abilities, it might help to notate which are forced/required with a * or something.

They're all considered in use, so to speak, at all times. However, they come into play in basically three situations. Mind you, none of this is official terminology.
  • Activated— These are the powers that say "Do X. Y happens/do Y." You have to do X specifically to activate the power. One example is Flurry. "Give this character a close combat action. [INSERT REST OF WORDING HERE]" For you to make the two attacks you have to give the character a close combat action specifically to activate Flurry. This is why you can't use it and Exploit Weakness together despite them both requiring a close combat action. Phasing/teleport and the movement portion of Leap/Climb are other examples. This is different from…
  • Triggered— These are the powers that say "When X happens, Y happens/do Y." The three I can think of without looking (which I think are the only 3) are Blades/Claws/Fangs (commonly referred to as either BCF or just Blades), Steal Energy, and Energy Explosion (or just "EE"). BCF and EE are what you might call permissive because they contain a "you may" clause, which means you don't have to use them. As Andy essentially pointed out, Steal Energy doesn't say "you may" so you have to do it. These powers just happen when the game state is right.
  • Passive— These powers are always on and don't require any action or game state to have an effect. Precision Strike and most defense powers are good examples of this. Another example is the part of Leap/Climb that allows you to make a close combat attack targeting a different elevation.
Just remember: due to the fact that the rules are basically written in what I call "HeroClix English" instead of standard English the term "can" means "must" or "does." For whatever effect to be optional, the text has to say "you may."

Captain Satire posted:

This thread is about to turn into a major resource I'll be checking every single game I play.

On another note: how often do people here buy individual minis from online sites? It seems to me it's a much better way to create a specific team, or am I missing out on some of the fun if I'm not buying boosters?

If you play in a store, you should buy some boosters. If you get lucky you'll pull a Super Rare, Prime, or Chase, plus you're supporting your local venue instead of some guy online where you don't play. I always buy at least a couple packs of a set when it comes out to support the store I play at, then I get a CUR set and whatever SRs I really want (like Solomon Grundy or ASM Ghost Rider) on eBay. As for the thread being a major resource, I'll let others contribute as well and probably end up compiling everything into a document.

ManiacClown fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Mar 5, 2014

Fritzler
Sep 5, 2007


I've only been playing for about 2 months. One of the things that helped me the most is this action flowchart:



I'm not sure where it is from, but it lets me know what powers I can use when, and easily categorizes the differences between actions and attacks, which is important, but kind of hidden in between the rulebook/PAC.

The Grammar Aryan
Apr 22, 2008

Captain Satire posted:

This thread is about to turn into a major resource I'll be checking every single game I play.

On another note: how often do people here buy individual minis from online sites? It seems to me it's a much better way to create a specific team, or am I missing out on some of the fun if I'm not buying boosters?

Since I'm a sucker and don't know what "Sunk Cost Fallacy" means, I generally buy 2-3 bricks (which is usually 10 boosters to a brick) of a set when it drops to support my home venue and drum up some trade for people in the area. If I can't trade for a piece I want, or don't have anything I'm willing to trade, that's when I usually turn to the online market, but it's strictly a "one piece to finish the set" or "want this piece nobody has" situation for me.

Fritzler, that chart looks great! I might steal it and put it in my game box to try and help out the recent newbies, though the ones who really need it will likely discount it.

An important note regarding things like Phasing/Leap/Climb- you have to give the character a move action in order to activate those powers, so you don't get to Phasing/Charge unless you've got a special power that lets you do that.

Morand
Apr 16, 2004

1: Start New Game
2: Start New Game
3: Start New Game


:aaa:

thebardyspoon posted:

I'd say some basic stuff on teambuilding wouldn't go amiss. Maybe positioning as well since that's like the most important thing in the game.

Ok. I am going to attempt to vomit out a ton of stuff on my keyboard here. It's likely to come off as the ramblings of a madman but here we go.

Teambuilding isn't an exact science. There's a million ways to build and a million ways to compliment things and there's always the factor of the dice.

But let's get into some basics. For new players, a good rule is to always remember to STOPP.

Support
Telekenesis
Outwit
Perplex
Prob Control

These are the core support powers in the game, and you should try to have some if not all of them on your team if at all possible.

As for teambuilding, theres a lot of different ways to go about it. I'll post a couple of examples and explain what type of team it is and why it works.

Team 1 - Tentpole. A tentpole team is built around one major damage dealer with a bunch of support pieces to make him hit better, or be tie up. This is one of the most popular team building strategies and one you'll see at all levels of play.

Some examples:

This is a team I recently played in an AVX sealed game (I had awesome pulls)

King Hyperion with Cyclops Shard
Unicorn with Colossus Shard
Maggia Goon
Phoenix Force

This is a quintessential tentpole team. You have one hyper mobile damage dealer and a TK piece to fling them into the fire. This team is RISKY AS poo poo. 0 prob, so if I miss, I miss. Huge vulnerability to outwit. No support so Hyperion really can't heal. With this team, my first priority to KO was TKers and Outwitters. Anything that could let my opponent get a shot at me or take away any of my powers. You have to be both hyper aggressive and pick your targets.

Here's another example of a tentpole team

Warstar
Lilandra
Bat Signal Special Object
Captured and Damaged Warbot

The theory here is that with B'nee, warstar can cross the map, smack whatever he dislikes and then be yanked back to his starting area by lilandra and the bat signal. Classic tentpole, as you fold faster then superman on laundry day if warstar goes down.

One more example from a recent ROC event

SM 057 Superman
Jor-EL
Lara Lor Van
M’Krann Crystal

This team is a tentpole team built around a single attacker and a hilarious one at that as you have to KO that Superman 4 times before he'll stay dead. KO 1 is stopped by Superman's Trait. KO 2 is stopped by the crystal (if he picks it up) KO 3 is stopped by Mom. KO 4 is the one that finally puts him down. Dad provides TK and prob, and Mom has support in addition to keeping superman alive. HILARIOUS tentpole team.

There's many more I could list, but any team overly reliant on one piece is a tentpole.

Team 2 - Swarm.

A swarm team is a team that overwhelms you with tons of cheap, yet effective attackers.

As an example of this, let's look at the winner of the Canadian 1K

Force List:
WATX023B Cerise
AVX001 Cyclops
FI101 Loki
TT208 Rose Wilson w/ ATA Ravagers
FI301 Splitlip
FI001 Thule Priest
Uru Forge
No theme @ 300 points


This is one of the smartest teams I've ever seen played. Unlike a tentpole, it has multiple sources of damage and isn't crippled when one of them goes down. Also brilliant is the playing of Splitlip and the Thule priest with the uru forge. Forge hits on a roll of 3-6. Splitlip makes it a free action AND adds +1 to that roll. The priest adds an additional plus 1. That means he succeeds on a 1-6. HE TOOK FAILURE OUT OF THE EQUATION! That is absolutely brilliant! This team would murder a tentpole team, unless the tentpole was able to get the right map and OHKO each piece he hit each time. The team can stand the loss of 1-2 attackers, but 3 or more and it's in trouble.

Team 3. Turtle

A turtle team is a team that is designed to stay in it's shell, make you come to it, and then murder you.

An example of a turtle team:

(Mystical Theme)
Iron Pharoah 110
Brother Voodoo 79
Scarlett Witch x2 100
Heroes for Hire ATA 8
(297)

This team will never leave it's starting area. It has 2 dedicated barrier pieces that will keep plopping barrier around themselves and Iron Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh will be shooting through his eagle. Get close and Brother voodoo will MC you to hit yourself or simply go away.

Turtling is often confused with stalling and there is a big difference. Turtling is refusing to engage which while distasteful is not illegal as long as you are making your moves in a reasonable amount of time. Stalling is deliberately delaying the game in order to run out the clock and win on points. Stalling is illegal and grounds for a DQ.

That is not the be-all end all of teambuilding, but it's a couple of good archetypes to think about.

Now general strategy.

You'll often hear the word "Swing" said when discussing figures and it is the most important thing you should know. A figures swing is the total number of squares the figure could reasonably attack in a turn. For example. Let's take AVX Cyclops on his 150 point line. He has a 9 speed with Running Shot and an 8 range. That means he can move 5 squares and then shoot his full range giving him a swing of 13 squares.

Why is this important to note? Because if you place yur most important attacker 14 squares away from Cyclops he can't attack you no matter what. Other things can affect swing though.

Same scenario, only you forgot that he had Jean grey who has TK. This adds 8 more squares to cyclops's swing, as he can be TK'd 8 squares, RS 5 more, and THEN shoot you with his 8 range. You could still place someone 14 away, but you'd have to deal with Jean's TK somehow. Perplex also messes with swing so look at that.

Once you understand swing you'll start to be able to see what your opponent is trying to do and place your figures to deny that. Once you do that, YOU start dictating the tempo of the game and what your opponent will do. I won a world title because I deliberately left a piece to die that was arguably very important to my team, but not as important as my tentpole. My opponent went for it, leaving his main attacker in a spot where I could OHKO it and end the game. Had he gone for my attacker instead (and he could have) we'd not be getting a Shriek right now but because I knew his swing and what he'd do, I was able to dictate his game and manipulate it to a good thing for me.

I am very certain there's more to say but I think this is long enough and a decent starting point, which is all I promised. Hope it's helpful!

Seymour Butts
Jun 26, 2003
I break girls in like baseball gloves
Thanks, Champ :D

Kadath
Aug 17, 2004

Put Your 'Lectric Eye On Me, Babe
Grimey Drawer
When you open a Darkseid and Mon-El in a single pack playing 400 point SLOSH sealed it doesn't really matter what the other 8 figures are. Destroyed my first two opponents, then lost in a close game for first vs Mordu, Cosmic Boy, and Lightning Lad (who ALL had mystics!).

Red
Apr 15, 2003

Yeah, great at getting us into Wawa.

ManiacClown posted:

They're all considered in use, so to speak, at all times. However, they come into play in basically three situations. Mind you, none of this is official terminology.
  • Activated— These are the powers that say "Do X. Y happens/do Y." You have to do X specifically to activate the power. One example is Flurry. "Give this character a close combat action. [INSERT REST OF WORDING HERE]" For you to make the two attacks you have to give the character a close combat action specifically to activate Flurry. This is why you can't use it and Exploit Weakness together despite them both requiring a close combat action. Phasing/teleport and the movement portion of Leap/Climb are other examples. This is different from…
  • Triggered— These are the powers that say "When X happens, Y happens/do Y." The three I can think of without looking (which I think are the only 3) are Blades/Claws/Fangs (commonly referred to as either BCF or just Blades), Steal Energy, and Energy Explosion (or just "EE"). BCF and EE are what you might call permissive because they contain a "you may" clause, which means you don't have to use them. As Andy essentially pointed out, Steal Energy doesn't say "you may" so you have to do it. These powers just happen when the game state is right.
  • Passive— These powers are always on and don't require any action or game state to have an effect. Precision Strike and most defense powers are good examples of this. Another example is the part of Leap/Climb that allows you to make a close combat attack targeting a different elevation.
Just remember: due to the fact that the rules are basically written in what I call "HeroClix English" instead of standard English the term "can" means "must" or "does." For whatever effect to be optional, the text has to say "you may."


If you play in a store, you should buy some boosters. If you get lucky you'll pull a Super Rare, Prime, or Chase, plus you're supporting your local venue instead of some guy online where you don't play. I always buy at least a couple packs of a set when it comes out to support the store I play at, then I get a CUR set and whatever SRs I really want (like Solomon Grundy or ASM Ghost Rider) on eBay. As for the thread being a major resource, I'll let others contribute as well and probably end up compiling everything into a document.

BCF is what I was thinking with the "you may" clause, thanks for the clarification.

Also, I've always thought Quake was an option - you didn't have to attack using that ability.

CapnAndy
Feb 27, 2004

Some teeth long for ripping, gleaming wet from black dog gums. So you keep your eyes closed at the end. You don't want to see such a mouth up close. before the bite, before its oblivion in the goring of your soft parts, the speckled lips will curl back in a whinny of excitement. You just know it.
Except for defense, the only non-optional powers are Steal Energy and Earthbound/Neutralized.

Red
Apr 15, 2003

Yeah, great at getting us into Wawa.

CapnAndy posted:

Except for defense, the only non-optional powers are Steal Energy and Earthbound/Neutralized.

Okay, thanks, that 'rule' makes much more sense.

Steve Vader
Apr 29, 2005

Everyone's Playing!

It may not be smart, popular or successful, but there is technically also my team building style, which is generally the "Play A Theme You Like and Hope Their Powers Work Together, But Don't Care Too Much If You Lose" style. Which means most of my team building is just figuring out how to squeeze the right comic-appropriate characters onto a team beneath the build total and not stressing too much about what powers they have. I like comics, and if all the teams on the map make comic sense (or just have a hilarious concept in general), it's more fun for me - and while I do pay attention to keywords for theme purposes since I'm the kind of guy they were invented for, they're not a straitjacket and I don't even really recognize generic keywords. Which means I've often stretched comic logic to find ways to put Bi-Beast on many different teams, as he only has generic keywords and he is my boy.

For example, I once went to a new venue and played Silver Sable and the Outlaws, and the people there were so stunned that I wasn't power gaming and "daring" to play a team with Prowler on it that they gave me the fellowship prize.

ManiacClown
May 30, 2002

Gone, gone, O honky man,
And rise the M.C. Etrigan!

Red posted:

BCF is what I was thinking with the "you may" clause, thanks for the clarification.

Also, I've always thought Quake was an option - you didn't have to attack using that ability.

Quake is another example of an activated power. It's "Give this character a close combat action. [STUFF HAPPENS]" which means you have to give the action specifically to do that. You can just straight-up clock a dude instead if you want or activate Flurry, Exploit Weakness, or any other "Give this character a close combat action" power.

Today's preview is Yu-Gi-Oh's Goblin Zombie. Stealth, Blades, and Super Senses? Hey, everyone, Indy HeroClix is back!

Red
Apr 15, 2003

Yeah, great at getting us into Wawa.

ManiacClown posted:

Quake is another example of an activated power. It's "Give this character a close combat action. [STUFF HAPPENS]" which means you have to give the action specifically to do that. You can just straight-up clock a dude instead if you want or activate Flurry, Exploit Weakness, or any other "Give this character a close combat action" power.

Yeah, that's what I've thought. If my Frost Giant is surrounded by opposing clix, a Quake is nice to break up the party.

Morand
Apr 16, 2004

1: Start New Game
2: Start New Game
3: Start New Game


:aaa:
By the way guys Wizkids already announced I switched to Shriek and what set she'll be in so I did not break NDA. (Though the concerned PM is appreciated)

http://heroclix.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/71462-MV24-GotG-Brick.pdf

Chumppell
Nov 9, 2007

CapnAndy posted:

Except for defense, the only non-optional powers are Steal Energy and Earthbound/Neutralized.

Battle Fury as well.

SublimeDelusions
Jun 19, 2005
Dentyne Fire + Dentyne Ice = End of World?
Well, monday night's game went craptastic. I wound up getting a booster with Tellus, Daxamite, Dawnstar (I think), Blok, and shrinking violet. The first game was me running Tellus, Daxamite, and Dawnstar against Darkseid at 300. That game was over immediately. The next game was against Grundy and Prime Cheetah. That one was also over relatively fast. The only game I won was the last one of the night where I played against Lightning Lad, Cosmic Boy, and Saturn Girl (I think). That one I won because my pieces stood a chance. All in all, not the most fun night, but still something to do.

Next week though is a 400 point, Modern Only, Constructed game with a minimum of one figure from the starter for AvX month 3. The only rule: No team bases. Other encouraged rules: Play the same faction you've been using, characters you use should be relevant to that faction as well as have either the Avengers or X-Men team abilities. The twist on this game: Power Cosmic is now allowed (provided the character is relevant to the AvX scenario) and the judge stated that he's hoping anyone with the Phoenix 5 chases will be using those.

So, I chose X-men as my faction for the tournament, and I have 0 of the chase figures. Anyone care to suggest a team for me that could handle any of the Phoenix 5 against it? In our tournaments, the faction you choose is usually ignored for pairings, so I may just wind up having to go against them.

I was thinking of running:
AvX Cyclops 150
M10 Dark Phoenix 100
AvX Emma Frost 125
Phoenix Force with the previous four shards

That should take me to 399. Does it seem like that team could stand a shot or would there be any changes you guys would suggest?

The Grammar Aryan
Apr 22, 2008
I much prefer Emma at 100 instead of 125, since any canny player is likely to whomp her straight past her clicks with Imperv/Shape Change. The Month 3 maps are going to be a beast for you, though- lots of elevated means that your booted figs are going to have trouble getting about, and the canyon-looking side is going to be rough for Cyclops, since his line of fire is going to be pretty well obstructed. It's going to be especially rough if you're going up in that environment against P5 figs.

CapnAndy
Feb 27, 2004

Some teeth long for ripping, gleaming wet from black dog gums. So you keep your eyes closed at the end. You don't want to see such a mouth up close. before the bite, before its oblivion in the goring of your soft parts, the speckled lips will curl back in a whinny of excitement. You just know it.
A Newbie's Guide to Resources and How They Play

Okay, so if you're just starting out, you don't have any of these. Everyone else does, and you're gonna see them frequently. You can get them on eBay if you want; they're pretty cheap for the most part.

Infinity Gauntlet: The first resource, and at 40 points, this is still the 400 pound gorilla of resources. It starts off great and goes up from there, slowly spinning up in power the longer the game goes on. Once it hits Apotheosis Obtained or Ultimate Godhood Approaching, watch the gently caress out. Characters with the Gauntlet will generally try to hang back out of harm's way while they power up. If you're facing one, don't let them do that. The guy with the big shiny glove is your priority target. Take them out before that's not an option any more.

Utility Belt: Ridiculously good for its points -- a mere 13 points for Willpower and the Batman Ally TA is a steal all on its own. Add to that the belt's propensity for giving out +1 or +2 to all combat stats, its extreme flexibility (you can change the item loadout on the belt before every match), and the sheer usefulness of most of the items, it's no surprise why you'll see it so often. There's not much you can do about it. Just get in there and beat up the guy wearing it; times when the belt isn't giving out any stat bonuses are the times to strike as hard as you can.

Book of the Skull: Unlike the Belt or Gauntlet, this is assigned to the entire force, not just one person. The Book itself is pretty negligible; it grants bonuses to one person per turn, the bonuses are pretty minor, and even if the book spins up to the good bonuses there's no way of stopping it from spinning right past them again and back onto the weak stuff. The real issue here are the hammers, which all give +2 to attack and an array of powerful abilities. The good news is, picking up the hammers is still a relic roll, which requires a power action, which will slow Book teams down in the beginning as they all move out, get a hammer dropped, pick it up, and then have to clear off those action tokens. You can use that time to get set up and maybe even ambush somebody. The bad news is, there's a figure named Splitlip who lets you make relic rolls as a free action, and nearly all Book teams will bring Splitlip along. The hammers are huge offensive boosts but do nothing for defense, so your best bet is to start crippling the hammer-wielders as soon as possible. Don't worry about KOs, worry about dropping attack and damage values so that they're not offensive threats even with the hammer. Oh, and watch out for falling hammers: a character with a hammer dropped in its square gets to Quake as a free action. Clever players will exploit this to get in free attacks.

Power Plant: This is the finesse resource. It's assigned to the entire force, like the Book, and hands out one Mandarin ring per turn to whoever its controller wants to have that ring. The rings go back to the plant when that character clears, making it very unpredictable; usually the player will have a plan to exploit free actions to keep at least some of the rings on one character, but the other rings will be moving back and forth constantly. The Black Light ring in particular will give you grief, as it gives free action Smoke Cloud that grants Stealth to the wielder and any friendly character adjacent to him. It's powerful as hell. If somebody's using free actions to stack rings, that character is your target -- take them out. Incap will work wonders here if you can use it, since that'll force them to clear tokens and send all the rings back to the Plant.

Phoenix Force: Assigned to up to five characters, this resource is unique in that it actually incentivizes knocking out characters assigned to it. Every time one character with the Phoenix Force goes down, the remainder get more powerful. Go for crippling over KOing here to avoid that, not actually taking anyone out until they've all been weakened. If they just assign it to one character and leave a bunch of fragments on the base, go after that one dude and take him out while he's still only got a bonus to his speed value.

Sanschel
Aug 9, 2002

WizKids is looking at doing a new weekly OP program for 2015: http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=500145

Sounds interesting, just one big event series per year would be a welcome change as long as the cost doesn't inflate to make up the difference.

I also need to think up a team for AvX which I didn't realize was this Sunday. 400 points, Modern Age, Marvel only, no Witch or Magik, no Tactics except theme teams and pogs brought in through powers (Aloysha), can't use any version of a figure from an opposing starter. I was thinking of Mole Man & Shuma or maybe something with Shaman to screw people out of Flight on those whack maps.

Sanschel fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Mar 5, 2014

SublimeDelusions
Jun 19, 2005
Dentyne Fire + Dentyne Ice = End of World?

The Grammar Aryan posted:

I much prefer Emma at 100 instead of 125, since any canny player is likely to whomp her straight past her clicks with Imperv/Shape Change. The Month 3 maps are going to be a beast for you, though- lots of elevated means that your booted figs are going to have trouble getting about, and the canyon-looking side is going to be rough for Cyclops, since his line of fire is going to be pretty well obstructed. It's going to be especially rough if you're going up in that environment against P5 figs.

Then that sounds very, very bad for me. Hmm... Any suggestions as to what would make a better team then? I'm really kinda lost on this one. The whole map thing screwed me over on the constructed month 1 too. The only thing I know I want to keep on the team is the Phoenix Force with the four fragments. Aside from that, I have no idea what to run.

Also, another stupid question. When the character is assigned the phoenix fragment, do they use the yellow or blue side of the card? People have been mentioning how they get the free flight and poison regardless just by being given the phoenix force. Which, I thought only came with the fragment when using it as a relic, not a resource.

CapnAndy
Feb 27, 2004

Some teeth long for ripping, gleaming wet from black dog gums. So you keep your eyes closed at the end. You don't want to see such a mouth up close. before the bite, before its oblivion in the goring of your soft parts, the speckled lips will curl back in a whinny of excitement. You just know it.

SublimeDelusions posted:

Also, another stupid question. When the character is assigned the phoenix fragment, do they use the yellow or blue side of the card? People have been mentioning how they get the free flight and poison regardless just by being given the phoenix force. Which, I thought only came with the fragment when using it as a relic, not a resource.
The fragments get assigned as relics, and only the character assigned can use them. When that guy dies, the fragment goes back onto the Phoenix Force as a resource, which everyone assigned the Phoenix Force can now use.

Morand
Apr 16, 2004

1: Start New Game
2: Start New Game
3: Start New Game


:aaa:

SublimeDelusions posted:

Also, another stupid question. When the character is assigned the phoenix fragment, do they use the yellow or blue side of the card? People have been mentioning how they get the free flight and poison regardless just by being given the phoenix force. Which, I thought only came with the fragment when using it as a relic, not a resource.

http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?p=7825761

SublimeDelusions
Jun 19, 2005
Dentyne Fire + Dentyne Ice = End of World?

CapnAndy posted:

The fragments get assigned as relics, and only the character assigned can use them. When that guy dies, the fragment goes back onto the Phoenix Force as a resource, which everyone assigned the Phoenix Force can now use.

That makes WAY more sense than how the Phoenix Force was ever explained to me. Thank you for explaining that for me.

Steve Vader
Apr 29, 2005

Everyone's Playing!

Don't forget the Penguin resource!

Volfogg
Dec 19, 2010

Some say she was raised by sentient birds, and that test subjects replicating her equipment were horribly broken.

All we know is she's called
The Hunter


Steve Vader posted:

Don't forget the Penguin resource!

Or the Batcave! :haw:

Captain Satire
May 3, 2005

Chris Cooley is my Life Coach.
I picked up some new Slosh boosters today. Really happy to finally get Colossal Boy and Ultra Boy.

I think I'll still try and build a legion team around Mon El, although I'm having trouble coming up with all the best support abilities for a team of 400 points.

The Grammar Aryan
Apr 22, 2008

SublimeDelusions posted:

Then that sounds very, very bad for me. Hmm... Any suggestions as to what would make a better team then? I'm really kinda lost on this one. The whole map thing screwed me over on the constructed month 1 too. The only thing I know I want to keep on the team is the Phoenix Force with the four fragments. Aside from that, I have no idea what to run.

Also, another stupid question. When the character is assigned the phoenix fragment, do they use the yellow or blue side of the card? People have been mentioning how they get the free flight and poison regardless just by being given the phoenix force. Which, I thought only came with the fragment when using it as a relic, not a resource.

I'd probably try and tentpole around Magneto. He's mobile, which is good for the maps, and the LoF shenanigans with all of the elevated will actually make it a little easier to line up single target Pulse Waves. Pairing him up with the 100-point Dark Phoenix is a good idea, too, since you pick up a figure that can heal everyone on your team when she gets KO'd. If I had to pick and choose between the two of them, I'd go with Magneto, though.

Building an X-Men team for this is a little rough- the maps favor Avengers, with all of their flyers and Improved Movement available, so I slapped something together to take advantage of the thing X-Men have that could help- TK.

AvX Magneto (150)
AvX Cyclops (100)
WatX Jean Grey (40)
WatX Hope Summers (75)
Phoenix Force with Cyclops, Namor, and Colossus fragments, assigned to Magneto, Cyclops, and Hope
395 points total

You get Perplex and the ability to copy powers in Hope, and it's Themed, so hopefully you get to play on the side that looks like a space vortex. I'd probably put the Cyclops fragment on Magneto and the Colossus fragment on Cyclops. You could also just not assign Hope to the resource and leave the Colossus fragment on to try and squeeze out the extra survivability. There's definitely better ways to go with this team, but it'll treat you better than a mostly booted team. You could also look at dropping Cyclops for the 100-point Dark Phoenix.

ManiacClown
May 30, 2002

Gone, gone, O honky man,
And rise the M.C. Etrigan!

My AvX3 is this weekend. It's 700 points, all carded Marvel sets are legal, you must use at least one character from your faction's starter (Avengers for me) the only resources allowed are the Infinity Gauntlet, Power Plant, and Phoenix Force. I have a Power Plant, but I only have the Disintegration Beam and Ice Blast rings (so far— I'll have a full one coming soon). The only colossals or team bases allowed have to have certain keywords and I don't have any that are viable. Playing either an Avengers or X-Men themed team gives you 2 extra points toward your AvX event standing. Here are three teams I've thought of so far.
pre:
AVX001	Captain America	200
	Fragment- Cyclops
CW173	Ant-Man		75
  w/Morphs
	Fragment- Colossus
AVX002	Iron Man	150
AVX004	Spider-Man	100
AVX006	Scarlet Witch	100
CW010	Donald Blake	33
Avengers (Heroic Age)x6	12
	Phoenix Force	12
	2 characters	6
	3 Fragments	9
The idea here is to use Ant-Man to lend a 20 Defense to Captain America by having them both use the Namor fragment, who can bump it up to a 20 with Combat Reflex or ES/D depending on what he's up against. Cap has the Cyclops fragment because Ant-Man needs the dependable damage reduction of Invulnerability. Iron Man's there despite the ranged limitations of the maps because of his auto-knockback screwing up enemy positioning and possibly dealing extra damage with knockback. Full-point Spidey can Move & Attack with a decent AV and do so despite terrain, making him a great harasser or even primary damage dealer with objects. Scarlet Witch of course is for general support duties, but may be hampered by line of fire problems. Donald Blake is filler who can turn into Thor or double up on Support duties with Wanda.
pre:
AVX001	Captain America	200
	Fragment- Cyclops
CW173	Ant-Man		75
  w/Morphs
	Fragment- Colossus
AVX007	Black Panther	100
AVX004	Spider-Man	125
GSX010	Beast		95
CW030	Wasp		77
	Phoenix Force	12
	2 characters	6
	3 Fragments	9
This team has the same basic idea, but it's much more close combat-oriented. The characters are supposed to get in close and tie up the opposition. Beast has a 17D/Combat Reflexes and traited Super Senses, so not only is he hard to hit but he can also use Outwit to counter reducers or the Invincible I'm sure to see on at least Magneto during the night. Because of the strong potential for LoF issues I ended up not putting Scarlet Witch into this build at all. Wasp is primarily ranged, but anyone can carry her up into the fight, which is where I'll definitely need to get Black Panther and his Outwit/Empower right away.
pre:
AVX002	Iron Man	150
  Secret Avengers	5
	Fragment- Namor
GG023	Blastaar	158
	Fragment- Cyclops
IM3103	Killian		75
WXM005	Oracle		49
MU033	Green Scar	230
	Fragment- Colossus
	Phoenix Force	12
	3 characters	9
	3 fragments	9
This team foregoes theme entirely and doesn't pull any funny tricks with the Phoenix Force. It uses the Colossus fragment to A) protect Green Scar from Outwit making him squishy and B) let him fly so he can ignore terrain to use Charge. Iron Man and Blastaar both auto-knockback (though it's a power for Blastaar), so they could really screw up positioning for the opposition. Starter Killian's Perplex and HYDRA TA helps Iron Man hit and lets him and Blastaar use Sharpshooter. Oracle's for Prob Control and Barrier to either protect my guys or set up opponents for knockback damage. Two likely problems with this team: Charge and Combat Reflexes. One potential advantage is that most people playing at the venue got in well after Mutations and Monsters so they don't know Green Scar's dial and that settling for hitting him for 2 or 3 is a bad, bad idea. His Speed power will also be very powerful with Flight, basically allowing him full-speed Charge for his top 4 clicks.

Captain Satire
May 3, 2005

Chris Cooley is my Life Coach.
How does this Legion team sounds for 400 points:

Mon El 175
Timber Wolf 97
Glorith 83
Science Police Officer 45

Total points 400

The team would work mostly around Mon El. I really wanted both Perplex and Probability Control so grabbed Glorith. I could be convinced to swap out Timber Wolf for either White Witch or Cosmic Boy, but I'd be counting on Mon El to do all the damage if so.

Captain Satire fucked around with this message at 08:53 on Mar 6, 2014

The Grammar Aryan
Apr 22, 2008
I like it! You've got a ridiculously solid piece in Mon-El, and that Timberwolf is fantastic if you can get him into the fray before he takes a hit and gets knocked off of Charge. Some things to keep in mind.

-Mon-El has Super Strength, so put two heavies and a light object on your force. With 12 speed and HSS on his top click, it'll be easy to pick up an object and whomp somebody with it.
-Keep the Science Police officer close to the action, but try and block others' Line of Fire to him. His damage special will pop anyone who makes an attack during Charge, Running Shot, or Hypersonic Speed within 8 of him.
-Don't forget to have people copy the Police Team Ability that the Science cop has. If you park Glorith and Timberwolf on either side of Mon-El, if he shoots at somebody that they have LoF to, regardless of their range, the target will have their Defense modified by -2, and that's huge.

ManiacClown
May 30, 2002

Gone, gone, O honky man,
And rise the M.C. Etrigan!

I agree. That Science Police Officer is worth breaking theme (mechanically speaking) for that ridiculous power. I just bought 3 on eBay for $1 apiece and I have a fourth coming in my CUR set. In a large game I'll gladly spend 180 points on "Oh, you used Running Shot? Eat 4 unavoidable."

Red
Apr 15, 2003

Yeah, great at getting us into Wawa.
So something I brought up earlier:

I have a ton of old "flying" Heroclix - that is, I have plenty of old clix that are on those pedestals, that can be separated, and have a little slider to indicate if they were grounded or soaring, or whatever the rules were back then.

So I've asked about them before, and the answer was "Still playable, much less useful.".

Can anyone expand on older clix? I have a bunch, but it's a pain in the rear end to have to color-match using the PAC, and it's even more of a pain in the rear end to match a miniature to the right dial. Do you guys mix them in for casual play, or do any translate well to competitive play (where allowed)?

Edit: I feel like my post is poorly worded, but I'm open to any suggestions/strategies involving older clix, especially "flying" ones. What do you guys do with them? Does anyone have any resources for clix that didn't have character cards printed?

Red fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Mar 6, 2014

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The Grammar Aryan
Apr 22, 2008
I don't have a ton of experience with older figs, since I started playing around Galactic Guardians, but talking with some of the old-timers, it seems like it's really down to a matter of utility.

Do you need a couple of cheap Mastermind fodder figs and don't mind breaking theme? Bring in a couple of IC Thugs for 6 points each. Want some useful TAs on the cheap? They're good for that, too, or maybe you want some cheap Perplex or Prob. Sometimes they've got a power that will help your team set up, but they're good for little else.

Take, for example, the Veteran Blizzard from Infinity Challenge. 6 clicks of life, 8 range, the Masters of Evil TA, and Barrier on his first four clicks for 53 points, but 1 damage across the board, and his values tank right out the gate. While he's certainly not going to be KO'ing anybody, he can continuously put up barriers because of the MoE TA. Throw in a cheap Support character, and he can keep that train rolling indefinitely. If you're playing on an Indoor map, this is a HUGE benefit.

There are probably older pieces that are really good in their own right, but I mostly view them as easy ways to drum up some support on the cheap if I'm not building specifically to theme.

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