Oct.13-19 - More Returns and Changes

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

[Heroclix]

The previous post still has some odd elemtns when viewed with Internet Explorer. At first it wouldn't show the bullets, and once I fixed that it's interpreting I'm using Mozilla Firefox, though, and I've reached the point where I'm not going to worry about how it looks to IE users.

A slow, late start to the day. A large pot of chicken noodle soup completed, selection of some clix extras to take with me, then off to a trading session.

All in all, it worked out well.

Trades netted me several pieces I was missing:

vet Ultimates Cyclops. Two targets, 8 Range, 4 Damage with Energy Explosion. Two opening clicks of Running Shot make him a dynamic piece, too. The Ultimate X-Men team ability also helps his Attack Values in some cases, as the player can make a choice during the game, selecting either a particular opposing piece or team symbol; against that piece or members of that team, he'll get a +1 to his Attack Value, which means it's more likely he'll hit the target. Ranged Combat Expert appears as soon as Running Shot disappears, increasing Cyke's damage at range. Six clicks of consciousness. A wonderful damage-dealer for 69 points.

exp Icons Raven. The white-cloaked version is a terrific supporting piece who can also deal some damage on her own. She can get where she needs to go with Phasing, put up protective or restricting Barriers, tie an opposing piece up with Incapacitate, lead off with Probability Control to force an opponent to re-roll, and then for the remainder of her 6-click dial can heal teammates with Support. Two, final clicks of Regeneration potentially allow her to heal herself to full health. All that, and the damage-trading Teen Titans team ability for 68 points.

exp Icons Cheetah. Charge and then Leap/Climb combined with Blades/Claws/Fangs makes her a nice damage-dealer for 45 points. Battle Fury protects her from Mind Control but also prevents her from being carried. All in all not bad for 45 points.

unique Icons Ras al Ghul. A durable, swiss army knife of a character, Ras remains useful over nearly his entire 8 click dial. He starts with Leadership, to potentially add an action to a turn, then picks up Perplex, to change one of his or another character's stats, then a couple clicks of Outwit. A 79 point piece one can build a team around, especially with more cards reinforcing teams with the same Team Ability symbol.

LE Critical Mass Invisible Woman. A reasonably good supporting piece for 50 points. One of the "you can't see her" gimmick pieces, with no sculpt on top. The Fantastic Four team ability, Stealth, Energy Explosion with a 6 Range, Defend with an 18 Defense (so she can protect anyone she's next to by sharing that 18 with them), while she's 13 points more than Clobberin' Time's rookie Invisible Girl, she's also potentially more useful since this newer version has the ability to deal some damage at range, too.

LE Clobberin Time Johnny Storm. A choice made via a combination of liking the chaarcter and not seeing this available often more than any utility for the piece. It starts out with one of those irritating activation clicks discussed on Friday. Still, he's not a useless piece, and since his design is from well before they came up with Earthbound, even while he's on his opening, human (unpowered) click he still has flight, so putting a 5 point Double-Time on him and letting him carry the above mentioned Invisible Woman (his sister) into battle he could fly up to 12 spaces onto the map and be immediately pushed onto his second click, where he has Energy Shield/Deflection, which on top of his sister's shared 18 Defense gives him a very tough to hit 20 Defense from range. If the Alternate FF Team Ability card is being used he wouldn't even need to carry his sister, as he'll share her defense simply by being on the same team.

LE Ultimates Patsy Walker. For 37 points the Defenders team gets this special, paranormal variant form of Hellcat, with a click of up-front Phasing, two of defense-piercing Psychic Blast, and three of Super Senses.

All in all, a good set of acquisitions without my having to lay out any more money.

Also, I picked up some info about the new Marvel starter set due around the middle of the year. One is that, like the previous two starter sets (Universe and Icons) there will only be 6 figures in the box. I'd been hoping for more, but it's not to be.

Another, more significant change concerns the rules -- there'll be a new rule book in the box, and several changes will be in place. One of them will be to Combat Reflexes, which every player I've ever spoken with has been looking for; the power as it currently exists is entirely too passive, and people don't see it as a positive addition to a dial. The change will be to turn it into a close combat version of Energy Shield, which is to say that in the face of a close combat attack the Defense value will be increased by 2. I know that will be met with much appreciation, and some degree of vinidication by those who've done this or something similar with their own house rules.