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What is HeroClix? HeroClix is a licensed collectible miniatures game of superhero combat. It technically has three main "universes," which are Marvel, DC, and Indy. Indy is basically a catchall for anything that isn't owned by the Big Two, such as characters like Hellboy, Witchblade, and Danger Girl. Indy hasn't had a release of any kind since 2007 with the Hellboy and the B.P.R.D. Action Pack, so while it exists in the game on paper no modern releases fall under it. There's also a sort of a sort of scattered "other" universe, with Street Fighter, Star Trek, and other licensed material. The universes are all playable with each other because it's all one unified game system, so yes, you can play Superman, Wolverine, and Hellboy all on the same team. Now you can even throw in Master Chief, Gandalf, M. Bison, the starship Enterprise, Gipsy Danger, Dark Magician, and later on maybe even Hello Kitty (we're not sure yet)! It was produced by Wizkids Games, which Hasbro bought, ran for a few years, then abruptly shut down in late 2008 despite HeroClix being a cash cow. NECA bought the assets of WizKids and brought the game back with the Hammer of Thor release, which came out in November 2009 to much fanfare of HeroClix players. Over the years it's evolved from being pretty simple— with the philosophy that everything you need to know about the figure is on its base and dial— to being pretty complex. The Mutant Mayhem set (released in 2004) introduced Feats and Battlefield Conditions, which give figures special abilities (or change the way their existing abilities work) or change how the game works for everybody, respectively. The Fantastic Forces set (2005) also added giants (tall characters who can punch two squares away; they technically debuted in Mutant Mayhem with Giant-Man), double-based figures (who take up two squares instead of one), transporters (who can carry other figures even if they wouldn't otherwise be able to), and duo figures (representing a close team, like Hawk & Dove, Batman & Robin, or Cap & Bucky) which all come with their own special sets of rules via combat abilities granted by the combat symbols that make them special. As of the release of the Avengers set and Legion of Super-Heroes starter (late summer of 2007), figures now have character cards, which have enabled special powers and "keywords," around which players can build teams that are themed around something about the characters they're using. This could be as readily-identifiable (a "Named" keyword) as the character's team affiliation(s) or background such as Avengers or Kryptonian, or it could be something simpler and more broad (a "Generic" keyword), like "Scientist," "Politician," or "Ruler." The rulebook has a list of the Generic keywords. It seems now with every couple standard booster releases we get a new mechanic of some kind with no signs of slowing down on it. Lord of the Rings gave us Horde Tokens, Batman gave us vehicles, and the Teen Titans set gave us team bases, which allow you to play a cognizable team not just as a themed team but as essentially a single character, like the Justice League or the Shi'ar Imperial Guard. Everything seems at first like it's horribly broken and the thing that's finally going to ruin HeroClix, but players eventually learn to deal with it and form strategies to which the new "broken" thing is vulnerable. It bears mentioning that you absolutely need the current rules [  currently 2014], especially a copy of the Powers and Abilities Card. I keep seeing people using old PACs so they know which powers are which and using an old one is fine for at least that. However, in the 2013 rules they added pink powers which won't be on old PACs, plus the wording on existing powers isn't current. I repeat, DO NOT use an old Powers and Abilities Card for rules reference. The link below lets you download it for free. Print that off and use it. They changed a LOT of things in the 2013 PAC, but not so many in the rulebook, attempting to rebalance powers so they'd all be useful, so as of 2013 it's turned into a whole new ballgame in terms of figure utility. Lots of old figures become dynamite under the new rules where before they were maybe sort of O.K. It also helped some old crap figures become at least playable.What do I need? Obviously, you need the figures. To be more helpful, like in pretty much any other miniatures game you build to a certain point total, the default of which is 300 in organized tournaments (discussed below). The best way to just be able to learn how to play the game is to get some figures and assemble them into a couple teams of equal point value. This will be easiest if you get the Man of Steel starter, or maybe another one if you can find it. A Fast Forces pack is not a starter. It comes with figures and a map, yes, but it doesn't include rules, object tokens, or anything like that. The big advantage is that they're cheaper and you can download the rulebook and PAC as well as object tokens from the print-and-play section (more on that later). Other than starters and Fast Forces packs, figures tend to come in either 5-figure boosters or single-figure packs from a type of display known as either "gravity feed" (GF) or "countertop display" (CTD). Both are essentially the same thing, just with a slightly different method of physical delivery of the single boosters. Some sets only come as a GF/CTD. These are typically the smaller sets like Lord of the Rings or  Iron Maiden. Yes, you read that right: Iron Maiden HeroClix, a 9-figure gravity-feed set of the various incarnations of Eddie from album covers. The sculpts generally look like rear end but the dials are pretty good. They also did Pacific Rim, which to date are the only single-based characters printed as colossal characters and their sculpts are by contrast pretty good. Some CTDs are a "primer display" that comes out two weeks ahead of the main set. Primers are a sort of sub-set with collector's numbers of 201-210, using the same sculpts but different stats.Buying a starter (for the 2014 rules: the Captain America: the Winter Soldier starter was the first, and later Guardians of the Galaxy Movie) will give you the most recent rulebook and Powers & Abilities Card— a.k.a. the PAC— which explains what all the little colored boxes mean depending which slot they're in. Note: Apparently while both of these have the rulebook, the CA:tWS one didn't have the PAC and I've seen reports that the GOtGM one was missing it as well. I haven't personally bought either to confirm. You'll also get maps, which are pretty critical for playing the game. Having the most recent rules is important because they can evolve pretty sharply in particular aspects between yearly revisions. You also get a map (you need these to play), dice, terrain markers (specifically Smoke, Barrier, and Special markers), and you used to get a ring for turning the bases, which except for the first couple Marvel as well as all the NECA-era (except for the LoSH starter and Avengers) sets turn by little ridges on the bottom of the base, though some turn by holding the figure and rotating the dial with an outer ring on the base (the "cup-style" base). Some figures from sets with the bottom-turning bases have cup bases with colors other than black, but this is because of the now-obsolete Archenemy mechanic. Note that as of the Superman set they've moved to the seemingly far-superior "Oreo-style" bases, where you hold the top half of the base and turn the bottom. Protip: don't hold the figure itself and turn the dial or you could break the figure. Some of them are kind of fragile. Gods above and below, more rules crap? Yep. HeroClix is a fun but complicated game. A particularly good resource— once you've got your head wrapped around the rudiments of the game— is the Player's Guide. It updates the wording on absolutely everything in the game and is a great resource with answers to almost any question you could think of. Even better, though, is that it tries to teach you how to figure things out yourself, like if Power X and Power Y can be used in conjunction with each other. You can get the Core Rulebook, the PAC, Comprehensive Tournament Rules, and the Player's Guide for free on the Wizkids download page. However, the most recent (as of the posting of this iteration of the thread) Player's Guide is only available in its component sections via the HeroClix Rules Downloads page. The new format was supposed to make updates much faster, but hasn't. They're on roughly a semiannual schedule for PG updates now even though there's less work to do. Also, due to its sheer size, you likely won't want to print the Player's Guide— even double-sided— because it totals in the upper 300 pages, though most of that is a reference section for current wording of every special power on every character or other game element. Additionally— and this is important if you're going to play really old figures— you can get the document that gives keywords to the figures predating character cards here. The "Rules Deputies" have pulled out of HCRealms entirely and now post on a single account (which sometimes conflicts itself as a result) on the new WizKids Rules Forums. However, existing HCR forum rulings stand unless later contradicted. This has been happening a bit recently, though I think it's mainly to maintain consistency. The problem is that they're sort of making stealth edits to existing rulings without bumping the threads announcing that the ruling changed. The Watch List is something they've implemented to try to fix absurdly broken game elements. It's essentially a list of elements they've noticed make a huge impact on the meta and require inclusion in pretty much any serious competitive team because they're kind of game-breaking, or at least perceived as such. For example, the Utility Belt was originally pretty broken because you could use Prep Time to put it on any click with a +2 to all combat values and set up a serious alpha strike with it, possibly even keeping the belt on that same click given the right game effects. They've since fixed both aspects of that brokenness, the latter with a general Player's Guide entry and the former by giving the Utility Belt errata so that you couldn't turn it onto any click with a power showing, striking the word "special" from the rules text of Prep Time. That's an example of what the Watch List can do. Another is Spiral, who also got the errata-hammer for her Dimensional Portals. You could set up a devastating alpha strike with this if you had some way of using Pulse Wave on multiple characters at full damage (like IH SR Black Bolt or in Golden Age the Nova Blast feat) by just opening a portal, having your Pulse Waver go through it, and then let loose. They instead made it so you couldn't use the portals the same turn they're made, making Spiral's utility much, much more in line with her point cost. They've recently (as of November 26th, 2014) added more elements to the Watch List, which as of this post include among others the War of Light Entities (Parallax, Ophidian, Ion, Black Hand, etc.) and Iron Pharaoh. They only update the Watch List a couple times a year, usually announcing the results around a month or two later. Note that just because something gets put on the Watch List that doesn't mean they'll do something about it. Where do I play? You can, of course, play at home. However, that might be a bit of a challenge. Check with your local game or comic book store (basically, wherever you buy the figures, assuming you do so at retail) to see if they hold Organized Play (OP) tournaments. Wizkids has set up an event system to help you find local venues at https://www.wizkidseventsystem.com. One of the best ways to learn the game is to get your rear end kicked over and over again. This teaches you tactics, though you should make sure you at least know the basics— turn sequence, line of fire, how powers and team abilities work and interact [ClownNote: especially the power interactions— DEAR SHAFT, the power interactions are a must-know], etc.— first. Tournaments will allow you to both learn the finer points of the game and find people to play and trade with. Try to make sure you read the Player's Guide entries for any figures, feats, etc. you plan on using so you're at least familiar with them. If you have a smartphone, bring the Player's Guide with you on it in case you need it, but don't look everything up on it. Technically, you're not supposed to use electronic devices at tournaments anyway. You can generally trust your opponent. There's also a good free Android app called HeroClix Rules, but it's third-party and not official. In late 2011, Wizkids began "Storyline" organized play, which are tournaments themed around a particular storyline. The first of these was Infinity Gauntlet, which gave players the Infinity Gauntlet resource, which was a new type of game element at the time. Each month players got one of the Infinity Gems to go on the Gauntlet. After that was the No Man's Land event, which gave players the Utility Belt and various items for it along with a couple costumes for the Belt's costume slot. Fear Itself was the first time they had boosters that were specifically for OP use. The most recent event was War of Light, which was _____ Lantern-based and gave out the various Corps rings in boosters like the Invincible Iron Man set did with the Rings of the Mandarin. Each Corps also has its own central battery as a resource, but the Green one is the only one you got just for participating. You have to buy the rest in paired kits, with Black/White as a con exclusive. They seem to want to move toward supporting storyline play more as the events have a higher proportion of sealed (at least as WK suggests), so they've been shrinking the contents of the standard OP prize kits. In fact, as of The Flash they seem to have now moved completely away from set-based OP kits and toward their "Monthly" OP kits, which have one resculpted character, one redialed character, and one completely new character each. Yu-Gi-Oh Series 2 (I wish I were kidding) is supposed to have its own "Battle of the Millennium" event series (see previous aside), but that seems to have been delayed until next year sometime. The next event series that won't involve (as) horribly broken characters is Age of Ultron, coming in summer of 2015. Thankfully, they've promised one event series a year instead of maybe giving players a month between the end of one and the beginning of another, as they got loads of feedback indicating they were causing event fatigue. What's coming up? Most recently we've had Guardians of the Galaxy— with a gravity feed set (commonly abbreviated as GOTGM) for the movie and a full booster release (GOTG) for the comics— for Marvel and the Flash for DC. Here's what's coming up (including special events) at the time of this posting. Note that we're not necessarily sure if Hello Kitty and The Nightmare Before Christmas are Clix or not— they're probably just collectible figurines. Dates aren't merely subject to change— you should assume they will, probably with little if any notice because Wizkids these days has the communication skills of Helen Keller with a broken hand. Some sets have what's called a CTD "primer display" that comes out two weeks ahead of the 5-figure boosters. Other than what's listed here WK's been pretty quiet about upcoming releases. My guess is that they released so much product so fast in 2012-14 they started running out of ideas about what to put out next. quote:Current So why this thread? There are a good number of HeroClix-playing goons here in BSS, so this is a thread for us to discuss the game. Join in! Inkslinger is Seth Johnson, who used to be the lead game designer for HeroClix under Wizkids and came back into the fold for a few sets under Wizkids/NECA. Don't ask him a bunch of "why" questions, like "Why did you give Figure X this power?" or the like, because he doesn't answer those for various reasons. He also rarely posts anymore anyway. Morand's an excellent player (and the 2011 and 2013 REPEAT WORLD CHAMPION, maker of Chaos War Mr. Sinister and GotG Shriek). Sanschel is pretty active in these threads, as is CapnAndy, who plays against Morand regularly. Torrent gets to help with judging at Worlds. I live in South Dakota and I'm too broke to go to GenCon or Origins and thus can't make Worlds. Torrent's the usual source for release dates. I'm the one who always starts these threads. Come and join us!Just as a final note, this game is not like Magic. Sure, there are some team builds that work very well, but the game is played at varying point levels and in either Modern Age (what Magic would call "Standard", where sets past a certain point are retired and there are no bystander tokens, special object tokens, feats, or battlefield conditions allowed) or Golden Age, where anything goes except the ships of Star Trek: Tactics (for some reason). There really is no standard killer build. It all depends on what your venue plays in a given week, plus the release schedule means the metagame can change significantly every couple months. Also, the Units section of HCRealms lets you search characters and build teams. It's quite useful, though the forums can often be a shrieking den of high retardery. Oh, and as a note on play etiquette, please mark your characters with their action tokens on the map instead of on their cards. First, the rulebook says you're supposed to. Second, when you mark on cards but your opponent is looking at the figures and not the cards (I know the cards don't figure into my battlefield strategy) it's a bit misleading. Maybe it's just me, but marking on the map is just proper. Our venue had about 5 or 6 people who all started playing during Fear Itself who do this and it drives me up the wall. ManiacClown fucked around with this message at 07:06 on Dec 9, 2014 |
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Dec 8, 2014 21:04
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I played in a tournament a few days ago for a Captain Britain. 400 Silver age, and at least one of your characters had to be from the UK. Not knowing comics very well, I went with the first guy I saw who was definitely British- Manchester Black. Manchester Black Fiddler Amanda Waller Captain Cold (core, with Society ATA) Harley Quinn 400 points even, and this team wrecked face like crazy. Round 1 vs Excalibur team base at full and Calendar Man. This team turned out to be overbuilt by two points, but it definitely didn't matter. I lost map roll, and it went to the Danger Room. My opponent put the team base up in the control room and popped Megan. I played it defensive, sidestepping Fiddler up and holding Manchester Black in reserve while everyone else moved to huddle around Fiddler for that sweet Defend. Harley picked Captain Cold as her puddin', and we closed ranks. The team base moved up and whiffed an opening shot on Harley, leaving it double tokened. Megan moved up behind it. Manchester Black ran up and popped the base for 3, Waller Outwitted their Defense power, and Fiddler popped it for another 3. He had to clear, and then the rest of my team resumed whittling down the base. With that done, Captain Cold ran out and hit both Megan and Calendar Man, trapping them in ice blocks, and then it was just a matter of taking them down the rest of the way. Round 2 vs Black King, White King, full dial Emma Frost, and a straight jacket. White King went for the straight jacket while Black King moved up to base my team. We all managed to back off, then position for a Running Shot from Captain Cold, which locked the King down until we took him out. With that done, Captain Cold froze out Emma and White King, leaving us to ping them down, since the only ranged attack they had was Emma's Mind Control. Only four people showed, so we only played to two rounds and then played some teaching matches with a couple of guys who wandered over to see what we were doing. I'm seriously impressed with this team- with Manchester Black's trait, he was popping tokens off pretty reliably to keep cranking out the damage, Fiddler kept people's defenses high, and ignoring characters and elevation for LoF means that it's hard to actually get at and damage my team to start with. I wouldn't be surprised if Captain Cold finds his way to the watchlist eventually, since he can completely neuter a close-focused team, and his ice blocks never go away until he dies.
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Dec 8, 2014 21:32
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So I'm slowly playing more after years of strictly collecting, and at first, you pretty much get tossed around. At OP events, I do notice that I tend to get wiped out in the first round, but am holding my own relatively well in the third. Part of this is just getting to learn how to use the pieces you've selected, but I do feel like I'm improving, too. It really seems to me that the outcome of the game is heavily dependent on the first 1-2 turns. Your movement and opening actions (carrying, TK-ing a piece into place, taking refuge in hindering using a character with stealth, picking up objects, etc.) basically determines how the game plays out. So with that in mind, what are your rules of thumb for opening movements and actions?
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Dec 8, 2014 21:58
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Red posted:So with that in mind, what are your rules of thumb for opening movements and actions? Don't place pieces into stealth if the stealth spot is within strike range of a potential TKed melee character*. Doesn't matter what your DV is or if you have reducers/super senses, Murphy will get you. Do not overextend. *Stealth-busters also apply here (Superman Ally, e.g.). "Move and attack" (Transporter symbol, Running Shot, Charge, some specials) is a big thing in modern play and you need to incorporate it when thinking about a character's range of attack. Think about it 1-2 turns down the road. What piece (if any) is your opponent going to prioritize defending, and how can you manipulate their board position to your advantage? All important questions. I usually play in the neighborhood of 800-1000 points and have cheap <50pt TK pieces to help position my backfield. Lots of more defensive play centered around midfield with a few pokes here and there. Large fan of sniper pieces, so I usually nest in hindering somewhere during T1-T2 and bait opponents out. Might lose a piece or two, but as long as I end up ahead it's all good.
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Dec 8, 2014 22:45
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Red posted:So with that in mind, what are your rules of thumb for opening movements and actions? Have you noticed your opponents asking you about certain powers, counting out squares, or maybe even putting a dice or some other marker on a specific row? That's what they're doing. You should do it too. As soon as the game begins, make an inventory of the other guy's pieces, asking yourself the following questions: 1) Do they have charge? 2) Do they have running shot? 3) Do they have HSS? 4) Do they have TK? 5) Do they have some special power that lets them move and attack in the same action and isn't covered in the first four questions? 6) What are their ranges? 7) Does anyone have perplex? Now use that information. You want to know their threat range. Does a figure have 9 speed charge and perplex? They've got a swing of 6 squares. 10 speed running shot and an 8 range? 14 squares. 12 speed hypersonic and another figure with TK? 20 squares. Count out that many squares from the figure and see what row you stopped counting in. You need to stay at least one square back from that row, or else you've opened yourself up to an alpha strike. There's more advanced levels of thinking as you move up -- maybe you can use the terrain to get somewhere in their threat range but they can't attack you there, it might be worth it to bait them out (that TK/HSS example is a really good case of that, actually: you'd leave the speedster 20 squares away from the rest of his team and right inside the swing of all of your guys) -- but for a start, just concentrate on playing keepaway.
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Dec 8, 2014 22:59
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Red posted:So with that in mind, what are your rules of thumb for opening movements and actions? It depends on what I'm running, but lately I've been favoring teams that are aggressive in moving upfield early on, like Red Lantern Corps. A lot of people have been playing teams that require spin-up, like Battery teams, especially Indigo, so being able to close the gap early is really helpful for me. Clever aggressive placement is also something I've been doing a lot of- position yourself where your opponent is either currently threatened, forcing them to move or allowing you to push for the opening hit, or where they'll move into a threatened area. Parking behind blocking or one back from the rim of elevated is excellent for this. Carry also factors in completely as part of my opening strategy. If you can get figures upfield without putting tokens on them, all's the better, especially when you lack Willpower or have more figures than you have actions. Knowing what grants Carry is crucial as well- Tiny characters can be carried by anyone, and lots of people tend to forget that Giant Reach grants Carry in addition to its other perks. The only exception is if I have a character with Super Strength and I absolutely, positively need to get them an object right out of the gate.
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Dec 8, 2014 23:08
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Also remember that a character that can use Carry can carry a character of its own size or smaller (unless the character is holding an object, multibased, has a prohibited speed symbol, etc.— read the PAC for the rules text of Carry). This means that a team using the Red Lantern Battery with its Emotional Spectrum active can position very effectively after a couple turns, as it grants all Corps Members Giant Reach.
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Dec 8, 2014 23:31
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For upcoming sets: February should be JL: Trinity War, Age of Ultron movie set is listed for April, and Age of Ultron OP event starts in may. Avengers Assemble says February, but having two standard booster sets drop in the same month would be a new precedent; May would fit more with the standard 3 month release schedule, which we know from Fear Itself and War of Light that the booster-based OP event sets don't adhere to. Really I just want the listing to be wrong as I can barely afford a set every three months, let alone two at once.
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Dec 9, 2014 01:33
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Sanschel posted:For upcoming sets: February should be JL: Trinity War, Age of Ultron movie set is listed for April, and Age of Ultron OP event starts in may. Avengers Assemble says February, but having two standard booster sets drop in the same month would be a new precedent; May would fit more with the standard 3 month release schedule, which we know from Fear Itself and War of Light that the booster-based OP event sets don't adhere to. You and me both, pal. I've tentatively fixed the OP. Thanks.
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Dec 9, 2014 07:07
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How does the Utility Belt (plus BM/SoG items, minus con-ex stuff) stack up to other single-character resources in terms of point value? Picked one up for a little under eBay price today since running Book doesn't help me much in games where I'm running less than four figures. Angrir's Hammer on my tentpole is nice and all, but when I'm already down on actions per turn I don't want to be taking power actions (I don't have Splitlip, so I go with the sure method) to auto-equip relics that only benefit me from the next time I attack onwards.
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Dec 9, 2014 08:15
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zgrowler2 posted:How does the Utility Belt (plus BM/SoG items, minus con-ex stuff) stack up to other single-character resources in terms of point value? Picked one up for a little under eBay price today since running Book doesn't help me much in games where I'm running less than four figures. Angrir's Hammer on my tentpole is nice and all, but when I'm already down on actions per turn I don't want to be taking power actions (I don't have Splitlip, so I go with the sure method) to auto-equip relics that only benefit me from the next time I attack onwards. It definitely took a hit after the change to prep time but it is still good and has its uses. The focus has shifted from flurry and stat mods to using the objects and occasional stat mods. Here's a neat trick I tried to do at worlds. Speed Demon with a belt. Slot 2 has the grapnel gun and slot 3 has handcuffs. First turn DPA and turn to click 7 where there's a x 2 showing of 2 and 3. Clear next turn. Now you TK out speed demon and announce you are doing a x2 object combo. The first object will be the gun which grants a move action. Guess what a move action triggers? Speed Demons tornado. So tornado something you hate. Pull them away from the group. Then when you finish the move and tornado you get to do the second object, and cuff them. No matter what you roll you'll end up on a special power which is a guaranteed +1 since they are stop clicks. So you screwed their formation, did some damage, AND locked them down. Combine with leech or unspoken in golden age for maximum face punching. Morand fucked around with this message at 13:37 on Dec 9, 2014 |
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Dec 9, 2014 11:36
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Oh man, that's evil when it works. Gotta try it sometime. On a related note, I looked up Leech, whose comments on shutting down Book's power actions led me to Splitlip, and if this rules guy is still right jesus h. christ what a broken piece.
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Dec 9, 2014 16:40
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zgrowler2 posted:Oh man, that's evil when it works. Gotta try it sometime. Yeah, people weren't buying The Mighty scenario pack for Iron Man and the Uru Forge, that's for sure. However, I will say that the Uru Forge is a nice relic, giving quite a lot of flexibility. I used it once on an Assassin-themed team. Anyway, yes, Splitlip means you can drop and pick up two hammers in a turn, even on the same character if you've equipped four hammers already by the time you drop the fifth. Note that even if a character with a Hammer's been KOed, that still counts as having equipped it. Note that it says "have been equipped" and not "are equipped."
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Dec 9, 2014 16:52
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If I have some Amazon points laying around, is the Blackest Night starter a good buy?
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Dec 9, 2014 16:55
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Red posted:If I have some Amazon points laying around, is the Blackest Night starter a good buy? The only really good piece out of that set is Blue Flash and maybe the Atom. Beyond that there isn't anything that hasn't been done better elsewhere. Morand fucked around with this message at 17:15 on Dec 9, 2014 |
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Dec 9, 2014 16:59
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Red posted:If I have some Amazon points laying around, is the Blackest Night starter a good buy? I'd agree with Morand. Get Indigo Atom and Blue Flash standalone, leave the rest. Atom is a great support for the points and Flash has some attributes people won't expect from speedsters. I've got friends who talk up Star Sapphire Wonder Woman (who is definitely better with a Ring), but I've taken her out with sniper pieces half her point value - her dial, while strong, changes too much to really fend off attacks. GL is potentially worth fielding, but there are better uses of 150pts. Scarecrow is OK for Sinestro Corps if you don't already have enough of those from WoL. Lex and Mera are mediocre. Of the seven of these, Atom is the only one who's given me consistent trouble. Flash is up there, but he draws too much attention (doesn't help that the guy playing him didn't back him up with TK). e: the starter set map has really indistinct lines since it's a bunch of dark black/green gradients, but it's a good laugh if you play a tentpole. Park a smaller piece on one of the two special tiles that allows your force to use IT: Ignores Hindering, Ignores Characters and go to town. zgrowler2 fucked around with this message at 17:19 on Dec 9, 2014 |
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Dec 9, 2014 17:15
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On another front, those pieces look loving awesome. My daughter loves looking at my HeroClix under a blacklight and those really pop, especially The Atom. It really brings out the detail in his clear bits. I haven't gotten to play any of them yet as I only just got them recently myself. They're the first figures that were digitally sculpted.
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Dec 9, 2014 17:50
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ManiacClown posted:On another front, those pieces look loving awesome. My daughter loves looking at my HeroClix under a blacklight and those really pop, especially The Atom. It really brings out the detail in his clear bits. I haven't gotten to play any of them yet as I only just got them recently myself. They're the first figures that were digitally sculpted. My only real hesitation is that the bases suck (they're pre-oreo), and Lex Luthor's dial looks like a big brightly-colored punching bag.
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Dec 9, 2014 17:52
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Red posted:My only real hesitation is that the bases suck (they're pre-oreo), and Lex Luthor's dial looks like a big brightly-colored punching bag. At least they're not H-dials.
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Dec 9, 2014 17:57
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ManiacClown posted:At least they're not H-dials. I think I'd rather have those, actually. I still have the decoder rings to turn those, whereas the BN dials almost force you to grip the figure to turn it.
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Dec 9, 2014 17:59
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Alright so I've been collecting Heroclix for a little while now, and I'm very hyped up about the Avengers sets coming out next year. I don't have a local store when I'm at college during the school year so I need to look into online purchases. Where would you guys recommend I purchase in bulk online? I'm talking a case of the Assemble, the starter, a full gravity feed of Ultron and the accessory packs. I'm new to eBay Heroclix and want to know if I should look at a specific retailer instead.
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Dec 9, 2014 18:08
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EGSunBro posted:Alright so I've been collecting Heroclix for a little while now, and I'm very hyped up about the Avengers sets coming out next year. I don't have a local store when I'm at college during the school year so I need to look into online purchases. Where would you guys recommend I purchase in bulk online? I'm talking a case of the Assemble, the starter, a full gravity feed of Ultron and the accessory packs. I'm new to eBay Heroclix and want to know if I should look at a specific retailer instead.
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Dec 9, 2014 18:09
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If you're just going for the collection, assembling a set rather than buying sealed product will save you money in the long run. A CUR will run $50, and after a few weeks the prices of most SRs, primes, and chases will plummet. A month after a set drops you should be able to get a CUR, most SRs, and probably a chase or 1-2 primes for what a case would cost you on release day. With rare exception, pieces in this game don't hold value, a minor blessing to the collectors.
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Dec 9, 2014 21:40
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Red posted:So I'm slowly playing more after years of strictly collecting, and at first, you pretty much get tossed around. At OP events, I do notice that I tend to get wiped out in the first round, but am holding my own relatively well in the third. Part of this is just getting to learn how to use the pieces you've selected, but I do feel like I'm improving, too. I don't have quite as much free time as I used to, but I made this offer in the last thread to a newbie too. If you want to do a teaching game via Skype, I am happy to give it a whirl, I'll let you build both teams if you like.
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Dec 10, 2014 05:00
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Finally pulled it out for Nekron. Our venue had a surprisingly low turnout for its second WoL Month 2 event, with only 4 people showing up. With that in mind, we only did 2 rounds. Build was 500 Points, no resources, relics (except if you pull a ring or construct in the packs) BFC's or feats. I took two Wave 1 Boosters as it seemed like the overall stronger wave (Unless you pulled the duo. Yeesh.) My team was: Parallax Hal Tomar Tu w/ Net Arisa GL Recruit Round 1 was against assorted Red Lanterns. No real heavy hitters in the bunch, Bleez was the biggest threat. He managed to take out Tomar and the Recruit, but Arisa kept Parallax moving close to the entire game by destroying blocking terrain. Round 2 was a bit tougher and I was facing down a First Lantern possessed by Black Hand, Sister Sercy, and a Blue Lantern Recruit and something else that escapes me at the moment. I managed to pick off some of the support between Tomar, Hal and the Recruit, but Tomar and the Recruit went down. He still had Sercy completely untouched and First Lantern on his 5th click when Arisa went down. I rolled a crit miss on my next attack to be tokened out, and Hal was on his 6th click after that. I figured I was sunk. Only then, his dice went cold. I managed to bring it back, kill First Lantern and Sister Sercy a few turns later. First major tourney series prize I won, and granted, I would have liked to have won it with more people there, I'll take what I can get. Now to get the stuff I'm missing from WoL.
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Dec 10, 2014 06:41
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What are you looking for? I've got a pile of extras (WoL and otherwise) that are just taking up space. My gmail is showlinfunk.
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Dec 10, 2014 13:40
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The Grammar Aryan posted:What are you looking for? I've got a pile of extras (WoL and otherwise) that are just taking up space. My gmail is showlinfunk. Sent you a message.
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Dec 11, 2014 03:10
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Questions: anybody know how much the monthly OP kits cost? And has anybody encountered an issue with a venue not getting them do to long-term cost? As of this month I've taken over judging at my oldest venue and the store hadn't been buying them, as the prior judge hadn't told them to. The owner asked me to make a list of stuff to order for the next few months, and I'd like to have a suggestion or option just in case she balks at the idea of monthly kits. I'd rather not resort to sealed games or buy-ins if possible as people don't show up to those unless it's an event game anymore (GotG and Flash sealed saw four people each, including the judge), but if an occasional sealed pays for a few months of LEs I imagine I could scrounge up the players to cover it. Or should the store just be happy to have "butts in seats," even if said butts don't spend any money there? 
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Dec 11, 2014 08:01
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Sanschel posted:Questions: anybody know how much the monthly OP kits cost? And has anybody encountered an issue with a venue not getting them do to long-term cost? The monthly OP kits cost $12. At that price, I'd imagine 'butts in seats' are enough recompense for a venue. That being said, I do try to run a sealed event each month, to be sure that those costs are covered. Granted, with War of Light, new set releases, and all that, I would've been running a sealed each month, anyway...
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Dec 11, 2014 18:44
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Morand posted:I don't have quite as much free time as I used to, but I made this offer in the last thread to a newbie too. If you want to do a teaching game via Skype, I am happy to give it a whirl, I'll let you build both teams if you like. I may just take you up on that offer. Speaking of World Champions, a local shop near me (one that I only visit once in a blue moon) claims that a Heroclix world champ plays there - the guy who had Stargirl and himself made into a dial in the SLoSH set.
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Dec 11, 2014 19:18
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Red posted:I may just take you up on that offer. That would be Alex. He is one of the most quirky and awesome dudes I've ever met.
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Dec 11, 2014 19:26
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Alex is cool, George is cool, Jetery is sort of a dickbag, that Dan Joynes guy is loving insufferable
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Dec 11, 2014 20:57
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I like Ben Cheung. Worked with him at Gen-Con for a couple years now, and he's a good guy. Although it is always hilarious when a former World Champion comes up to me and asks how a rule works. Constantine made him quit 'Clix, though, so now he pretty much just does Attack Wing.
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Dec 12, 2014 07:04
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How much under CUR prices would modern CU sets go for? I've got a friend and potentially his friend who are looking to get into the game. Friend has the IH starter and not much else, his friend has nothing but is tentatively interested. Gonna try and sell him on the game Saturday with some demo play. Managed to stop said friend from blowing his money on REV lots on eBay, but he doesn't have much to spend and is looking to maximize his investment if he can get the money up. I'd estimate he'll be putting less than $30 in if that. I'll be selling him a partial Book (no Kuurth's, Nerkkod's, or Skadi's) down the road so he can boost what figures he does have, but right now he's just looking to broaden his options. e: example CUR prices I pulled off HCRealms. He thinks they're reasonable, but I think he'd rather get CU sets and piece rares together. Incredible Hulk $25 Galactic Guardians $25 Invincible Iron Man $29 The Dark Knight Rises $40 Chaos War $30 Batman: Streets of Gotham $35 Man of Steel $30 e2: friend wants to build a 1000pt team out of Worldbreaker, GG Thanos, and TDW Odin. Good grief. All great tentpoles, but he'll get eaten alive if he runs that against any half-decent team that uses the full action pool at that level. Gonna try and talk him towards a more balanced team. Hell, he could just get Worldbreaker and put the other $60ish in that price tag towards a full complement of themed secondaries and supports with a resource to boot. The guy really likes Hulk pieces and would probably spring for IH stuff over other sets, given the opportunity, but I've gotta drill the idea of balance into his head so he can at least tentpole effectively. zgrowler2 fucked around with this message at 10:48 on Dec 12, 2014 |
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Dec 12, 2014 07:57
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Got a Modern Age 400pt constructed event tomorrow. I've done a bit of playtesting and I think I'll be going with the following:code:
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Dec 14, 2014 04:41
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Finally has our last War of Light event today. Format was 500 points, 3-booster sealed; you had to buy at least one WoL wave 2 booster, and you could split the rest between wave 2 and Flash. I went two Flash for my optional boosters, since I've never pulled anything better than a rare out of a wave 2 booster. Didn't pull any super rares, or anything fancy, but I did get two of my most wanted rares in Etrigan and Zoom. Ended up going with: Etrigan Zoom Ragdoll Swift Doctor (50) Round one was against a massive swarm of cheap Red and Violet figures. Lots of penetrating Poison hiding behind Mystics as they crossed the field looks pretty intimidating. Zoom and Swift managed to clear out the Poison, though, which left Ragdoll able to tie up five characters and keep them useless while we picked from the edges. The Doctor's Force Blast actually came in pretty handy for slamming Violet Recruits into walls to get them off the Mystics clicks, and I actually spent a decent amount of time with Etrigan as Jason, just for the Outwits. Lost the Doctor and Ragdoll, but took the field. Round two was full-power Sinestro & Hal, half-power Sodam Yat, and Soranik Natu. Lots of jockeying for position to begin with, as we both respected the other's threat range. I finally had to leave a shot open on the Doctor to bait him in. The duo wiped the Doctor out, and Sodam knocked Swift to click 6, but then it was game on. Used Swift's Air token to get her out of there, leaving Ragdoll to keep Sodam busy, and took her over to the Duo for Empower purposes. Tried to strike with Zoom, but couldn't crack the 19. Got drat lucky, as the Duo whiffed a duo attack, and Etrigan finally made it across the board to back up the others. Pretty much buried Sinestro & Hal under a pile of PC that they couldn't climb out of, and my opponent conceded after Swift hit a Blades for 6. Round three was Black Lantern Spectre, Laira prime, Rankorr, and another Soranik. Actually won the map roll for the first time, and went to that mountain map from month 6. Knew that I had to strike quickly, before Spectre could pick up any KOs and gain powers, so I just blitzed on turn two. Got all of my PCs in order, sent Swift over with a free action for an Empower, and had Zoom run up to crack the big guy for 4. Swift followed up with another 6 on Blades to get him to his last click, but I was out of attacks. His team evacuated the area, and Spectre landed a Pulse Wave on my whole team, healing 5. Ragdoll pinged the big guy for 1, Doctor whiffed, and the rest of my team cleared. Laira came roaring in and dropped Zoom to his Charge/Imperv clicks, and Soranik flew down to plug up the only open square adjacent to the Spectre, leaving me with no way for Etrigan to attack him. Little Ragdoll Perplexed up his damage, and then hit a huge crit on the Spectre. Swift's CCE was able to finish the job off, leaving just the mopping up. That was enough to land me Nekron, who I'm planning on turning right around and giving out as the prize for my 2014 Year in Review event on the 1st (2,014 points, 8 actions per turn, only game elements released in 2014 are legal). And, boy, I'm glad to be done with War of Light... my pulls were abysmal. Through the entire thing, I played in 12 events, and ended up pulling: 0 primes 1 super rare (First Lantern, who I got twice, since I got duplicate boosters) 0 chases Here's hoping that Age of Ultron will be a better series for my booster luck!
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Dec 14, 2014 07:13
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Went up to an event, came back with a ton of loot. First round was a battle royale with WOL / WOL / GotG / GotG, went with the following: Abin Sur BL Aquaman BL BL Reanimate Ikon Lockjaw Red Lantern Ring Killed a Red Lantern Recruit, took second after Lockjaw got KOed on last action, would have killed a Munk and taken first if I'd looked at my options properly on the undead sharks power. Walked away with Abin Sur, Aquaman, Salaak, the red ring, and a Star Sapphire Ring. Not bad. Went on to go 3-2 in 400pt Modern Constructed with Jenny Sparks 125 Speed Demon 110 Captain Marvel 82 STAR Labs Tech 33 Splitlip 20 Book (complete) 30 Round 1 AvX X-Men starter (on TB) Opponent won map roll and chose the Apokalips map with the blocking fires. I'd never played against a TB before or seen one in action, so I grouped up and waited. Opponent detached first Magneto, then Cyclops. I lost the Technician about 45 minutes in, focused his TB instead of killing Cyclops, and lost at time. Interesting match for sure. Round 2 Trinity of Sin TB (non-Flash pieces) gently caress gently caress gently caress gently caress. Guy wins map roll and picks an outdoor map with several building roofs for elevation. No way to negate his double Mystic damage and my clix are 8/6/6/3/3 deep, respectively, so attacking without busting him down and disabling a retaliatory attack is out of the question. He's more than happy to let me hammer up all the way to Power Cosmic without really moving into range. He moves into HSS range and I take the shot with less than five minutes left, thinking I can at least pull Speed Demon back far enough to avoid getting hit. Wrong. He uses Working Together to close the distance and hits me twice, once at range and then once with close combat. Speed Demon dies on last action. Fml. On the bright side, I was disabused of the notion that buying the ToS TB is in any way a good idea for friendly play. Round 3 Spider-Man and Amazing Friends TB I'm stuck with the same guy and he decides to change his force. I'm thinking "oh boy, something I can Round 4 Captain Marvel 82 (w/ Belt) GotG020 Ronan 153 WXM033 Forge 90 CATWS11 Maria Hill 60 Playing against a friend I drove up with. Finally, something that isn't a team base. I win map roll and go with Dark Asgard Indoor, a map we've both played to death. Set up mid-map out of his swing, he decides to turtle and pulls his force short right into walled-off hindering. I clear and hammer up a bit, then send Speed Demon to pull off Forge from an exposed corner so I can bust him down before the Neutralizer Gun special starts cramping my style. I hit him for 3, killing the special in question, but decide to run back behind a parallel wall instead of overextending for Speed Cyclone Uplift. Ronan and Marvel follow me over, with Ronan missing and Marvel shooting me to last click since he'd gotten a +2 blanket modifier off the Belt. I respond by pushing Speed Demon to death with HSS, running a circle around Marvel for guaranteed Cyclone, rolling a 4 to pull Marvel forward off his top click (1-2 are identical), then using RS with Jenny to take Marvel out in one shot. I've pushed Speed Demon and one hammer to death, but Marvel and the Belt are off the table and my positioning is way better. From there, I stack hammers on my two remaining attackers and start moving in with RS/Charge, moving the Technician backfield to avoid a last-minute hit from Ronan. Pick off Forge, charge into hindering to get Maria Hill. Ronan runs out into mid-field and gets slain. Full force scored, feels good man. Round 5 BMAO016 Deadshot 150 (PF Invuln) GotGM106R Ronan 100 (PF RCE) DOFP011 Destiny 50 (PF Mystics at range) WOL006 Star Sapp Rec 45 (PF TK) More pieces I was pretty familiar with. Opponent won map roll, picked a multi-elevation pit-shaped frozen map with two-column elevated rows along each side and wider sunken areas in the center. He moved his force into position on one of the side columns and forced me to move up into his range in order to get sufficient distance from my own starting area. I take one of the two intended range hits with Jenny and the other kills my Technician for an early score - Deadshot is stealthed and Ronan is behind him and one over, so I've got to close the gap. Speed Demon, with IM: Elevated, Characters, runs up from the side of the column and hits Deadshot, running back down to elevation 2 and pulling Deadshot one square out of stealth with Cyclone. Jenny blasts Deadshot and Marvel follows up for the kill and the lead. Ronan blasts Marvel down to mediocre clicks. Speed Demon runs up, punches Ronan, then runs a circle around Destiny and flings her off five squares away and three clicks + two elevations down because gently caress that noise. Marvel goes down - I'm left with Speed Demon, a mid-dial ranged character, and completely meaningless Splitlip who has never moved from his starting area. People clear. Speed Demon KOs Destiny and fails a Cyclone attempt on Ronan, but lands beside him. Jenny gets her damage up to 5 and uses her attack special to blast Ronan for 6 total (+1 damage for each adjacent character), which halves to 3 and gets Ronan off his Invincible clicks. Speed Demon survives the coming punch, then goes Two-Fer to kill Ronan. Move in on Star Sapphire Recruit from there and it's all over. Didn't play a sixth round because people wanted to call it, so we snake drafted a ton of loot the store had lying around (the whole reason we drove up - all of us were too broke to do more cash stuff than the one battle royale). I walked out with [another] full Book minus Skadi's, two Phoenix Forces, nine assorted participation/LE pieces, an Avengers team base, eight or so other hammers, and six to eight other relics, as well as eight maps. Both friends I brought along got similar hauls. Merry Clixmas, one and all.
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Dec 15, 2014 06:22
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Morand posted:That would be Alex. He is one of the most quirky and awesome dudes I've ever met. And, oddly enough, I ended up playing against him tonight! I played in a "Naughty or Nice" game, where you'd roll two dice at the beginning of each turn - a 12 would have all characters on the map turn to their first click, while a 2 would turn everyone to their last click. I never landed on either the entire night, but I still went with a team that didn't invest too much in any one character. GotG Thane WXM Big Bertha GSX Skullbuster DP Spider-Bot Mark 1 DP 202 Daredevil ASM 004 Blade DoFP Destiny I went 1-2, good enough for 5th place out of 6. Round 1, I rolled two consecutive crit hits to win a pain in the rear end game on the Wundagore Mountain map. This was after my team took a tumble down the mountain from knock back off of a pulse wave. Round 2, I did okay, but lost a good game to a Sinestro Corps team. The Weaponer of Qward is a huge pain in the rear end. Round 3, I faced off against Alex's Trinity of Sin and Chase Question team - he decided to pull everyone off the base, which made things more competitive. I did okay, but the Mystics team ability pretty much chipped away at my entire team. What I learned is that Big Bertha is a big beautiful indestructible punching bag. Red fucked around with this message at 06:19 on Dec 18, 2014 |
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Dec 18, 2014 05:18
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Red posted:Round 3, I faced off against Alex's Trinity of Sin and Chase Question team - he decided to pull everyone off the base, which made things more competitive. I did okay, but the Mystics team ability pretty much chipped away at my entire team. Wait what? Did he solo adventure everyone or just not play the team base at all?
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Dec 18, 2014 17:18
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Morand posted:Wait what? Did he solo adventure everyone or just not play the team base at all? Just ditched the base. I think his previous rounds against other people took less than 30 minutes each, so he wanted to be a bit more sporting.
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Dec 18, 2014 18:14
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