Crocodile Dundee Concedes Knife CompetitionThe Avengers Sneak peak of the hour is: Ares.
I am not going to spend time today on the possibly dubious merits of inducting a former god of war onto one of the Avengers teams, but will instead simply look at the latest addition to the Avengers set gallery.
Like his DC counterpart, Ares is among the priciest of clix. Indeed, they are exactly the same cost at 275 pts.I've marked with a red dot the clicks where is special power is in play. On those six clicks he can Perplex one of his stats by +2, and do so without any penalty. The restriction is that he can only do that for himself. This should come in handy, not merely in pumping up Damage if desired, but instead it could be used to kick up his Speed for a surprise approach during his Charge clicks, or to make his Attack Values more certain. It could also extend his range from an 8 to a 10, once again potentially surprising an opponent who thinks he's out of reach.
Two targets at 8 range, and with Damage Values to make it sting, his first two clicks of Running Shot are likely to come in handy.
Eleven (11) clicks of life, and a dial that ends with an 11 Attack Value, 17 Defense, Impervious, a 2 Damage and a special power that will let him pick one of his values and kick it up by 2, Ares could be in the game for the long haul.
Here's the card, spelling most things out.
Ares is a unique (as if we need someone telling us to only put one of these on a team) and a Super Rare.
Here's what set designer Seth has to say about him:
Ah, yes. "The attitude of Wolverine."Marvel HeroClix: Avengers
Ares preview
by Seth Johnson, HeroClix Lead Designer
When Tony Stark reformed the Avengers following the civil war between the heroes of the Marvel universe, it was determined that his new team needed someone who could bring the power of Thor and the attitude of Wolverine to the team. The unexpected answer: Ares, the Greek god of war and a frequent opponent to Thor.
The keywords given to Ares reveal the three crucial facets to his role on the Avengers: while one of the Mighty Avengers, Ares is still both a deity and a soldier, loathe to follow orders and more than able to set and execute his own strategies.
That power and ability plays out on his dial. Ares' hefty point value of 275 points pays for godlike ability values, with an opening attack value of 13 and a defense value of 18. More than adept with both ranged and close combat weapons, Ares can use Running Shot to charge into battle (with two targets, letting him spread the pain) or the GAUNTLETS OF ARES (Super Strength) to pick up an object or piece of debris and attack his opponents.
That combo is paired with Impervious at the top of his dial, giving away to Invulnerability four slots into his eleven-slot dial as he switches to a close-combat focused mode using charge and his innate skill as a WEAPON MASTER (Blades/Claws/Fangs). Though his attack, defense, and damage values may have slipped to only 10, 17, and 3 respectively, Ares remains dangerous due to his mastery of combat tactics, represented by his special power:
Tactics Ares can use Perplex, but he can target only himself and modify one of his values by only +2 with each use.
In the bottom half of his dial, Ares sets aside tactics for flat-out fury, pounding away on his opponents with Flurry. His Invulnerability gives way to Toughness, but the end of his dial sees the return of both Impervious and Tactics (as well as a closing upswing in both attack and defense values) to help ensure that when the dust settles, as has been the case many times over the centuries, the god of war will stand victorious.
Why, yes, chef! Yak musk is exactly what this soup needs! You're a genius!
Just try to convince me Tony's not under the influence of something.
Anyway...
Considering that for five weeks starting around the 4th of July there will be weekly sealed tournaments for Avengers it's inevitable that someone will pull both an Ares and a Fortitude card, creating a one-figure team whose powers will be beyond Outwit (even if in constructed games there will be at least one loophole, that won't exist here) and able to ignore Exploit Weakness. I'll be interested in seeing how well he fares, and since in the first four matches players won't be playing for prizes, and will instead be going at it for fun (imagine that!) this one could make for a fun romp.
I don't believe that I'd ever field him without Fortitude to protect his powers, especially the damage-reducers. Paying so much for the piece to start, this is one of those I'd be likely to tart up a bit with Feats. Along with Fortitude another 10 points for Shellhead to increase his Defense values when he's pushed, and another 5 to Thunderbolt his Avengers TA to something more useful. Ultimates/Superman TA would be most thematic, allowing him to ignore hindering and see enemies hiding in the shadows.
For those interested in doing side-by-side comparisons (at the moment I'm not going to, but I may decide differently later), here are the Marvel and DC Ares' dials side by side. Remember the new one's special power and that he's grounded, while the DC version is a flier. The only immediate thing I'll mention is that the DC version is still an active god of war, and as such is cast as shrewd, calculating, manipulative and somewhat mysterious. The Marvel version is on Earth in search of a different life and wants to hit things. Sign of the times, I suppose.
Comments
My knuckles are getting white, I'm holding onto to the mere HOPE of that Giant-Man so hard lately...
What bothers me is that the powers are so unintegrated. Why waste the points on Super Strength on his first two clicks? Why not give him Energy Explosion or Incapacitate, to let him make the most out of his two targets? Charge and B/C/F are good, but the calculated sadism of giving him a three damage value on every B/C/F click really bugs me. Yeah, use his fancy Perplex to amp up either his attack or damage, or maybe even his movement, I get that. But on a 3 damage, who is ever going to use the B/C/F? Unless you can roll a d6 and add 2 with his power; that might be worth it. But I'm sure you can't.
That last click stat jump seems nice, but how often is anyone going to land on it after four clicks of Toughness? And I can't tell you how much it irritates me that you CAN'T use that fancy Perplex power any time Ares has Flurry. That's just cruel.
I gather the buzz is that this new Ares would take the previous version apart, but I don't see it. One on one, under WK's rules, maybe the movement powers give Ares-M an edge, but in a 300 point match, Ares-D can throw a handful of low cost pog-minions in to tie up his poorly dressed doppelganger and then pick him apart from range.
Not that it matters. If this is the best that the set has to offer, I'm preparing for a pretty serious disappointment, overall.
The Avengers TA I understand from the comics and can simply roll with the way I would an Ultimates TA on an Avenger. In this case, courtesy of T-Bolts, it's an open option for 5 points. Ultimates to let him move more easily, see those hiding in shadow and take away hindering terrain advantages from targets? A suitably bellicose Masters of Evil TA to give him the option to move and/or attack in three successive turns (along with almost must-do Shellhead to make the defensive most of all that pushing.)? He could play the copycat and go for Mystics, but it doesn't seem to be his style.
Knowing that Wizkids employs the type of photographers the Department of Motor Vehicles was traditionally infamous for, and seeing as how this shot is of a piece dropped on a generic, blank base and could easily be an quick mock-up, I'm not going to react to the sculpt until I see it in person.
The incompatible power match-ups are part of the way Seth handles these things. I don't believe he does them intentionally to bedevil but rather to provide options and keeping from creating pieces where there's only one really clear use on a given click. In this case the +2 modifier on clicks 3-5 can be used to give him an extra square of Charging Speed, be used to pump his 10 AV to a 12 - leaving it to you to decide whether to risk the BCF or simply go with the safe 3, or simply pump the 3 Damage to a 5.
Sure, the way it stands keeps BCF from being the fairly obvious odds-on choice the way a Damage of 1 or 2 would, but it also makes an Outwitter unsure of what's the most threatening power to turn off.
On the Flurry clicks, yeah, again, it would have been nice the other way, but he has Super Strength so if he picks up an object he can hit the first time for 4 or 5, then the second for 3 on a close combat attack.
As for the cross-universe battle, it becomes a convoluted run of What Ifs. Under Heroclix rules, unless the player using the Marvel version does something stupid he'll get the first attack in sine the DC one would have to move within range and attack on a separate turn, leaving the himself open for at least one turn.
I believe I've used my Legacy Ares once. The new one is probably more likely to see play, but it's unlikely to be in a lower point game. By the time I'm comfortable with him he'll likely be at least 305 points (Fortitude and T-Bolts), another 10 points for Shellhead... and probably 5 for Unstoppable (that's 320) -- possibly another 20 for the Damage Shields and Armor Piercing combo...
Or just go with T-Bolts, Unstoppable and Shellhead for a 295 pt piece and let his allies take care of Outwitters.
If one does play the paramilitary group that is the current Mighty Avengers, then T-Bolting to Masters of Evil TA would be appropriately bellicose -- a thematic element I'm hoping in the long run will help turn the Marvel universe's current direction around 180 degrees once it's in better hands.