Heraldry
The heralds of Galactus that will be participation prizes in a succession of four events starting next week have begun to arrive at venues, and the info's being spread around. (Updated: Wizkids posted the info.)
Week One: The Silver Surfer
A somewhat angry-looking Surfer, eh?
The special power (Cosmic Speed) is similar to the super rare Quicksilver's from this set, and presumably represents a savings over what simply giving him Hypersonic Speed for those clicks would cost. A very active piece, as with all of the heralds in this series the Power Cosmic's immunity to Outwit and built-in Willpower will allow him to be active two out of three turns.
He should do nicely in this format, and since a herald from the previous week can be substituted for part of one's team in the following week, I expect to see many Silver Surfers during week two, though perhaps the lack of a prize to be won will find more people deciding to simply have fun by playing teams made strictly from boosters.
Week Two: Terrax the Tamer
A steady 17 Defense for the first three clicks, two of them with Impervious, he's set up to be more of a close combat brawler than a run-and-gun piece. His defensive stats, powers and the fact that they can't be Outwitted will likely see him played by some during week three, but even with him being fewer points than the Surfer it's not such an obvious thing. Still, with the right 82 or slightly fewer points of other pieces to back him up...
Week Three: Firelord
The Power Cosmic on a 176 point piece is a nice plus, but if he gets knocked off that first click he's going to be doing a lot of positioning one move, taking a shot the next, then resting for a turn, and against some of the better opponents in the set he could be taken down. His fifth and sixth clicks with Flurry and 2 Damage... well, I suppose he could be doing some clean-up there in addition to Poisoning those who lack even Toughness, but that's a sad state for a stately cosmic being to be reduced to. With Toughness and ES/D he's going to be very vulnerable (increasingly to close combat attacks) once he gets halfway and more down his dial. Charging pieces with Super Strength (and there are quite a few of them in this set) could take him out in the end.
Week Four: Stardust
Stardust has the most artful dial of the lot, all the way down to the repeating clicks where he has to decide between making an attack (especially if he's near someone and can use the Pulse Wave) or trying to Regenerate himself. At 171 points and with those regeneration points he has the potential to be a royal pain to an opponent.
He will have his weaknesses - not the least of which is a complete lack of damage-reducers, so Poison or Toro's late-dial Flame Barrier power will cut right through to him. However, it's an intriguing combination of powers and tactics, and a 19 Defense with an un-Outwittable 33.3% chance of missing added to the odds of making the roll in the first place will definitely help him risk wading into enemy territory.
An opponent can tie him up to the extent of preventing him from making a ranged attack during any of his Phasing clicks, but that's about it.
The heralds of Galactus that will be participation prizes in a succession of four events starting next week have begun to arrive at venues, and the info's being spread around. (Updated: Wizkids posted the info.)
Week One: The Silver Surfer
A somewhat angry-looking Surfer, eh?
The special power (Cosmic Speed) is similar to the super rare Quicksilver's from this set, and presumably represents a savings over what simply giving him Hypersonic Speed for those clicks would cost. A very active piece, as with all of the heralds in this series the Power Cosmic's immunity to Outwit and built-in Willpower will allow him to be active two out of three turns.
He should do nicely in this format, and since a herald from the previous week can be substituted for part of one's team in the following week, I expect to see many Silver Surfers during week two, though perhaps the lack of a prize to be won will find more people deciding to simply have fun by playing teams made strictly from boosters.
Week Two: Terrax the Tamer
A steady 17 Defense for the first three clicks, two of them with Impervious, he's set up to be more of a close combat brawler than a run-and-gun piece. His defensive stats, powers and the fact that they can't be Outwitted will likely see him played by some during week three, but even with him being fewer points than the Surfer it's not such an obvious thing. Still, with the right 82 or slightly fewer points of other pieces to back him up...
Week Three: Firelord
The Power Cosmic on a 176 point piece is a nice plus, but if he gets knocked off that first click he's going to be doing a lot of positioning one move, taking a shot the next, then resting for a turn, and against some of the better opponents in the set he could be taken down. His fifth and sixth clicks with Flurry and 2 Damage... well, I suppose he could be doing some clean-up there in addition to Poisoning those who lack even Toughness, but that's a sad state for a stately cosmic being to be reduced to. With Toughness and ES/D he's going to be very vulnerable (increasingly to close combat attacks) once he gets halfway and more down his dial. Charging pieces with Super Strength (and there are quite a few of them in this set) could take him out in the end.
Week Four: Stardust
Stardust has the most artful dial of the lot, all the way down to the repeating clicks where he has to decide between making an attack (especially if he's near someone and can use the Pulse Wave) or trying to Regenerate himself. At 171 points and with those regeneration points he has the potential to be a royal pain to an opponent.
He will have his weaknesses - not the least of which is a complete lack of damage-reducers, so Poison or Toro's late-dial Flame Barrier power will cut right through to him. However, it's an intriguing combination of powers and tactics, and a 19 Defense with an un-Outwittable 33.3% chance of missing added to the odds of making the roll in the first place will definitely help him risk wading into enemy territory.
An opponent can tie him up to the extent of preventing him from making a ranged attack during any of his Phasing clicks, but that's about it.
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Comments
However, we're just not going to be able to afford it, and that's how that goes. Looking ahead to what little has been spilled at this point about MONSTERS AND MUTATIONS, I'm really starting to feel like this is the beginning of the end for me in HeroClix. A set that's all about the X-Men and Planet Hulk? It's not quite as bad as if AVENGERS had been called CIVIL WAR and held entirely to that theme, but, still, I don't think I'm much in that target demographic.
I enjoy reading your write ups, though.
Looking to M&M my main worries are depth of X-Men and pals, Ultimates representations of the same, and how many of the one-joke Marvel zombies will make up the set. The Hulk and related pieces I'm expecting to be the bright elements in the set, along with the Lee & Kirby era X-Men, I suppose.