Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

Victory or Be Damned!

(Part I)

Having had him for a month, I finally decided to at least start setting up a battle against The Spectre.

Introductory note: Yes, I'm sure that if I were to check the appropriate boards at Wizkids' site or over on HCRealms I'd find no shortage of strategies, including team builds and maybe even map selections for taking on the Spectre. Those are wonderful resources for someone who's looking for tips prior to a local gaming scenario at their venue. For people looking for shortcuts to a possible prize. Me, I'm just doing this for fun. I'll fumble my way through the process.

Deciding to go whole hog -- rather than battle against one of his weaker forms -- I'm opting to build a team to take on the full-powered Spirit of Vengeance -- the 1800 pt. representation of the Spectre during the time when he wasn't tempered by a human soul. (Think Donald Rumsfeld after he helped himself to W's coke stash.) A frightening figure of tremendous power acting without the constraint of a human conscience.

If you're at all familiar with Heroclix stats, well drink in this dial:

For the scenario Spectre - the one where he's a menace to all - the Speed values are irrelevant because he never moves. Since he's set in the middle of the map, has three targets and a Range of 16, though, he doesn't need to move. He can see into Stealth, no terrain or character blocks his view, none of his powers can be Outwitted, and he ignores an astounding array of powers: Earthbound, Exploit Weakness, Force Blast, Incapacitate, Mastermind, Mind Control, Plasticity, Poison, Psychic Blast, Shape Change and, as mentioned before, Stealth and Outwit. Basing him (placing a character next to him) won't prevent him from making ranged attacks against others. He ignores Mystics Team Ability damage. He's a nightmare. If you're interested, the full rules for him are here as a pdf.

With Attack Values that start at a staggering 15 (his first seven clicks) and don't drop below 11 until his thirty sixth click, high defense values on the opposing team initially seem almost irrelevant. Even someone with a Defense of 19 and Energy Shield/Deflection (providing an effective Defense of 21) still leaves the Spectre only needing to roll a 6 to hit -- something he has a 72% chance of doing. With a Probability Controller, though, that drops his odds to 52% -- better than average, but, still, it's an improvement for the other side, and you don't need to have just a single Probability Controller. Indeed, given that getting the Spectre to roll a Critical Miss (snake eyes) is perhaps the only way to get him to take damage that won't generate a new Angry Spirit being placed on the map, Probability Controllers are something to spend points on. Your mileage may vary, but from my perspective spending as much as two hundred points on a ten rookie Destiny pieces and calling them a coven of witches brought in to help the heroes sounds reasonable. (There's little point in buying experienced or veteran versions because they only have four clicks of consciousness on any level. With the Damage the Spectre's dealing if he wants to take one down completely he's going to do it... though the farther he's taken down it becomes less likely since he has to devote at least 50% of his damage to whoever attacked him, providing he actually hits and is able to do damage.)

Similarly, having ample Perplexers available to help the heroes makes sense, both in terms of game mechanics and since one's facing a magical foe. So, Probability Controllers and Perplexers (Con Artists make the most sense, though getting them ready in time won't be practical since all the common REV ones have to get past their starting click) are witches with specialized skills, and healers could be likewise, or more pedestrian practitioners of the medical arts.

So... elements for a possible victory begin to come into focus.

Along with the above, it seems sanest to lead with at least one powerful Pulse Wave piece, preferably with Running Shot. Perplex both his Damage and Attack Values by +3 each (the maximum) and send him in, bringing one or more Probability Controllers to bear to ensure the hit. Of course, all Hell will break immediately thereafter, since not only will an Angry Spirit be generated, but the Spectre gets to act and attack immediately following a successful (damage-dealing) attack against him.

All elements considered it might not be completely out of the question -- providing one figures the Spectre's a big enough threat -- to consider fielding a 301 pt. Unique Braniac up front. "301 points?" you may well ask. Well, that's because he's going to almost require 25 points for Fortitude to prevent having his powers Outwitted and and 25 more for Repulsor Shield to protect him from all the piercing Psychic Blast the Spectre's packing.

Both are there to give his opening click of Impervious an opportunity to protect him. While the Probability Controlling witches can't force a reroll of his Impervious roll, (PC pieces can force one's opponent to reroll his dice on his turn or let you reroll yours on your turn, but that's all) it'll still be a one third chance that the attack will leave him unscathed, and even if that fails the Spectre will be required to direct at least 5 of his 9 Damage points at ol' Brainy, and the fall-back protection Impervious offers will drop that to 3 clicks of damage, while leaving Spectre with just 4 potential clicks to distribute between two other targets. Of course, you could save the points because the Spectre won't attack him until after he causes damage, and count on being able to heal him. As with anything in the game, it's a gamble based on the percentages.

Indeed, the Fortitude/Repulsor combination is worth at least considering for any of the big guns, especially if they have Impervious.

Of course, Braniac's offered purely for his combination of stats and powers. Not that it's inconceivable that he would take up arms against such a menace, but it becomes far more difficult to imagine why he'd throw himself out as the first wave of the assault.

Another Feat worth giving the main guns is the 8 pt. Protected card. It's a single-use card that a character can only get one of, but getting a free pass on an attack... hey, it's buying time. Yes, using it'll put an action token on the piece, but it's still a very useful option and the player doesn't have to use it the first time he's successfully attacked if he doesn't want to. He can save it for later.

So, several things to consider.

Also, while Barrier, Outwit, etc. are ineffective against the Spectre himself, it's important to remember that once the game gets rolling the team will have to contend with the Angry Spirits, too, and many powers will work on them. Being able to put barriers around an Angry Spirit or Outwit a key power on one in a dangerous spot, will prove critical in surviving the Spectre. Technically they can be hit with Incapacitate, but since they don't take pushing damage at least in the way I'm reading the rules it would be irrelevant; it wouldn't stop them from acting. So, Incapacitate isn't something to spend any points on on this team.

I'll be assembling the team more for fun -- as in setting up a story -- than with serious consideration of winning against so powerful an opponent, but I haven't yet decided to go with a DC team (the Spectre's home reality), a Marvel one or a combination. I suppose I should stick to a DC one for all the named characters given so many heavy-hitters being over there, and them being more appropriate to the situation. Start with a JLA/JSA foundation and building out from there, bringing in some select villains if they appear to fit a story and trying to make the best of it. Okay, so there's one decision made.

As of my latest check Wizkids' figure gallery appears to be screwed -- maybe someone there is putting in some overtime on a fix so early this week they can appease their customers with info on the two collector's sets they're about to start hawking. In any event, the easy access to dials for team-building reference (as opposed to sifting through mine physically) being cut off is actually a mercy, making this an opportune point to end this opening piece and save the actual team selection for part 2... whenever I'll get to that.

For now, though, Deadwood's coming up and I have a couple things to quickly do before that.