The Coming Of Galactus: Week TwoPictured here is the participation prize - Terrax the Tamer - from this week's Coming of Galactus tournament, which, for me, began at 11:30 Saturday morning. The sculptor is to be commended for capturing the look of the character from John Byrne's original presentation of the character.
As with last week's kick-off, the turnout was good and the event was fun.
Not pulling an assortment I really felt like fielding straight from the booster, I fielded last week's participation prize, the Silver Surfer, along with the 65 pt Grim Reaper, who was present as a Perplex assist to the Surfer and a secondary attacker.
I was amazed that so many of the Surfer players (though quite a few didn't play him) didn't seem to have a clue about Soaring. My first round was against a Surfer, Crossbones and a Ken Hale bystander. He was definitely one of those competitive players who did not take the road to defeat well - not that anyone enjoys a loss. I swept his team despite pulling a critical miss at one point with my Surfer.
Second game, against a Surfer-less team, I held back a little and lost by 3 points. At the start of that match we had an entertaining run of dice rolls as we were trying to see who would go first. He would roll, then I'd roll the same total. We did it at least five times in a row - enough that it became a momentary spectacle for the players to each side of it.
Third game I was up against Ares and two pogs. The Impervious rolls weren't kind to him, and I was able to stay out of harm's way one way or another. The bystanders went down by round two or three, and I managed to whittle down the god of war soon after that.
I came in in second place, and as Aaron (the judge) and the venue had put up prizes I received a KC Shazam.
Last week and this, I must remember, each saw me playing strong teams against much less certain ones in matches people weren't trying their best to win. It would be foolish to become overconfident based on this, as I remain a mediocre player who finds the competitive nature of gaming to be, by far, its least savory aspect.
Our venue's judge has taken a stand and has said that we will only be able to use the previous week's herald in our builds. That was one of the messages passed down from on high at Wizkids along the long, waffling way, and he wants us to feel there's something other than the Surfer we can play in coming weeks. So, next week the special ingredient will be Terrax. Impervious rolls working out could make Terrax a true beast with no Surfer around; any of the other Hypersonic Speed pieces in the set has a max base Damage of 2, after all. Flight will make him much more mobile than Ares, the Power Cosmic TA will enable him to work in two consecutive turns and be immune from Outwit, and there will still be 82 points to play with in terms of rounding out a team.
This could be fun.
Comments
HeroClix related question: I've got a Vet IC Captain America and an Experienced Ultimates Cap. I have no need for another Ultimates Cap, especially an Experienced, and am currently using the Vet IC Cap as a centerpiece for my Invaders display.
I'd thought of just switching sculpts, but then I end up with an okay sculpt of the mainstream Cap on a dial with an Ultimates TA... it doesn't matter, because I'll just houserule an (imaginary) Invaders team symbol onto the dial should I field the team, but cosmetically, it's displeasing to me. But then I thought, okay, I can just crack the dials on both and switch the paper discs.
This works beautifully; my only problem now is, the Vet IC CA is only 62 points, while the Experienced Ultimates CA is 89. So... what do you think... is the Ultimates Team Ability worth 27 points?
No, I don't think so either. ::sigh:: I hate it when a plan won't come together.
Still, there's just no way I'm going to let that hosebag IC Cap lead my Invaders squad with his own dial. It's, like, humiliating.
I was almost going to suggest the 72 point Armor Wars rookie, but once one's gotten used to the stats given the Ultimates version it's difficult to go to a peak AV of 9 and Damage of 2, and that sans even some late-dial Outwit.
The IC vet... yeah. Even Feated up to maximum -- Force Field to build some Toughness into that ES/D, Armor Piercing to make those 2-Damage slots functional, Protected to give him an extra one-shot of Defense... even ICWO (though it would have to be more him feeling inspired) to allow a +1 here or there at will... it would be a series of stretches and likely still a thin result.
Oh, here's a thought: How acceptable would it be to transfer that IC sculpt onto the US Agent base from AVENGERS? Possibly not, as there's no Leap/Climb nor Outwit, and there are three clicks of Super Strength. It had just occurred to me because he's 75 points and had the Defenders TA built in (since he's in this mix primarily due to his being tapped as a Cap stand-in for the Invaders revival a couple years back) and he's so strongly based on Cap that it was a natural leap.