Friday, July 25, 2008
My bulk order of Secret Invasion arrived yesterday and I dug into that after work. I'm still at the early edge of absorbing the possibilities and even reacting to the sculpts now that they're in hand.
I'm currently left lacking the Nick Fury and Gamora Super Rares and the Skrull version of Elektra in terms of what's in the main 1-60 set. I'll take my extra Magus and Impossible Man, along with various other extras to next Monday's Secret Invasion game and see about possible trades.
My Mole Man has a serviceable group of 7 moloids - one to drag around for Mastermind fodder (taking a bullet for the chief) and two squads of three - while Attuma and Namor have an anemic force of five Atlantean Warriors to split, and there are four Spider-Slayers, each with JJJameson's face in the viewscreen, ready to hunt for Spidey. I also have five or six Sharon Carters, the extras of which I believe I'll keep as potential, generic SHIELD agents.
Before getting into any specifics, I do want to note once more how the chase figures remain the feel-bad element of modern clix sets. Not pulling even one of them leaves especially the collector who buys at the case level and above feeling less positive about the rest of the set. It's bad enough that under the current rarity scheme one can buy two cases and still be hunting for Super Rares (and, in my situation, even a rare this time out, though I expect I'll be able to trade for that readily enough.), but add in a couple of supremely rare bits and there's no reasonable way of collecting a set.
Even when someone pulls one, unless money's flowing like water or it's a character the collector really, truly has been waiting for, it's not something easily folded into one's collection. Instead, it's an instant commodity. Most have to at least be given pause at the notion that this one piece could be traded for a large chunk of the entire set. Moreover, if one decides to keep it and goes to play it at a venue, aside from having to be concerned about keeping it from being stolen, if it's a particularly effective game piece there's going to be some level of resentment coming from some of the players. Ask anyone who went to a venue and played one of the Crisis chase Superman pieces.
Chase pieces break the collector's spirit -- market madness drives these pieces into fiscal/trading territory that simply isn't realistic for most of us -- and once the spell of a completionist is shattered, well... then everything comes up for question.
Feh.
Well, I have what I have -- and whatever I'll pull in the few boosters remaining in my buying path, such as the sealed match I'll be going to next Monday in part so I can get the new map and the Nowhere To Hide BFC they'll be handing out to the first 16 of us who registered and show up.
Time for some early comments on the set, post-release.
There are some terrible sculpts - Yellowjacket comes immediately to mind, with the legs, trunk and head all appearing to be misproportioned, along with the pose being so half-hearted. There's not even enough vigor in that to want to caption it with a "Get off my lawn!"
He also serves to illustrate a lousy choice Wizkids made with respect to most of the pieces with Skrull variants: They sculpted them as Skrulls. Anyone giving it half a thought would realize that sculpting them as the original characters would be what makes the most sense. My honest opinion of why it went the way it did? It was easier to sculpt the faces as shape-shifting Skrulls than as humans. As a result, we're left with human versions (based on the dial) who are mysteriously disfigured. Interest in modding techniques and paints is already climbing sharply.
The very cartoonish Spider-man sculpt that kicks the set off is also drawing some understandable flack. The proportions better resemble the grotesque Hasbro line of "mini" figures. The dial itself is solid for 50 points, though there's little in it to really call up Spidey's usual methods -- no late-dial Outwit and no ranged Incapacitate. Instead, we get a pound and tie-up Spidey... but still, it appears to be a highly efficient 50 points. I expect to see him worked in often.
In general, though, I feel good about the bulk of this set, at least in terms of character selection.
We finally get a Jim Hammond Human Torch, Triton, Attuma, Atlantean Warriors, Immortus, Mephisto, a more recognizable Adam Warlock, along with his more malevolent possible future-self, Magus, Grey Gargoyle, Goliath (Bill Foster), Sharon Carter, Dum Dum Dugan, Ms. Marvel, Psycho-Man, the Skrull Emperor Dorrek, vintage Spider-Slayers, Morbius and even Howard the Duck. Okay, part of me even wanted the horribly-named She-Thing, and I may end up having some fun with the Impossible Man. I know some others have been awaiting Power Pack, and somewhere out there is someone who wanted Thor Girl -- I haven't met him yet, but there must be. Big fans of the original Secret Wars can now recreate the battles, now that Arachne has been made. Doom wannabe Kristoff is in the mix, too, as is Gravity and Spier-Girl.
Along with that, we have some interesting Skrull composite-power figures in the Super Skrull: X-Men and Super-Skrull: Avengers, each of which strikes me as cost-effective pieces that work well enough for being purely PAC-driven, which is to say they would have been better with Special Power combinations. Ultimately they are what they are, and I've bought far enough into the idea that these newcomers haven't had much time to adapt to the powers invested in them and so aren't so smooth on the transitions and power combinations. Also, I can't blame the sculptor for the SS:Avengers piece, which looks as if he's simply mimicking Thor -- no sign of any of the other characters in his appearance.
The 126 pt Avengers piece seems to have a much better first-strike advantage, but I'm expecting the 106 pt X-Men composite to have more staying power and prove more frustrating to an opponent.
Also, we have a solid assortment of characters who've been made previously in clix, among them Dr. Strange, Namor, Iron Man, Dr. Octopus, Punisher, Annihilus, Cloak & Dagger (this time as a Duo), Iron Fist, Power Man & Iron Fist (the other Duo in this set), the Mole Man and his Moloids, Captain Marvel, Hercules and the "Unthinkable" version of Doom, where he traded the life of his only human love in exchange for vast mystical powers. There's even a new version of Sentry which is designed so character-appropriately that I find myself wanting to field it somewhere down the line despite my continuing to see the character as a dreadful mistake for the Marvel Universe.
Dr. Strange, Namor and Hercules may be three of the remakes I most want to field, though hardly the only ones. Along with these it's important to remember that while they came in their own pack (this year's starter) we also have as an official part of this set a new Fantastic Four, Dr. Doom and two (somewhat lackluster) Doombots... all of which finally came into my hands this week and none of which I've gotten to play!
With the new Namor and a Golden Age Human Torch we can now field the original Invaders, though it'd have to be in a 500 pt build, adding Union Jack in as a thematic guest star. We're still lacking a proper Hulk (including appropriate keywords) for a Defenders team... maybe next February.
Yeesh. Yeah, that's right. This is the first year in clix where there's only one Marvel set in the year. It's going to be a loooong stretch between now and next February's Hammer of Thor.
Right, right, there'll be DC's Arkham Asylum in October or November, and I'm sure there'll be items in there I'll want, but it won't feel the same heading into the final third of the year without another Marvel set imminent.
I'll likely have more to say on the set after I wade into it with teams.
Labels: Heroclix, Secret Invasion
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Friday, July 18, 2008
Secret Invasion: The Set List?
A reasonably solid report arose today concerning the full set list for next Wednesday's Secret Invasion set.
I've split them up into the ones that were revelations du jour, those we knew were coming thanks to mentions in the Fantastic Four starter set rulebook, and those we've had full reveals on.
The ones listed as a character and then a Skrull version are reportedly the same sculpt, but with different dials, coming with a tri-fold card with both the regular and Skrull info. No word yet on how relatively rare the Skrull and regular versions are, but the gist seems to be that the Skrull versions may be true chase elements. Fucking Wizkids bloodsuckers. Whatever their rarity, the dials will be marked a and b following their number in the set, marked on the dial in the KO slot directly before the first click, designating which card to use with them.
The only other notes to make at this juncture is that the person who reported on this case said that there was no set poster and no set list in the boosters, and that the case only had BFCs and Feats as 6th element items in the boosters. On that last point, if true, this means either some absolutely horrible collation or they've kept Event Dials, bystanders and special objects out of this set, save for the Event Dials they'll be using as prizes for some events.
Surprise!
Arachne - Those strange people who've been waiting years to recreate the original Secret Wars will now be able to do so.
Captain Mar-Vell/Skrull Captain Mar-Vell - I'm going to be interested to see how this one's laid out.
Dum Dum Dugan/Skrull Dum Dum - As with Sharon Carter, I'm going to be interested to see how adaptable the piece is in terms of point cost and utility for use as a generic SHIELD agent -- presumably of some higher rank.
Hawkeye - This is the new, female version, who's part of the ill-named Young Avengers. We've seen the sculpt and card - so far so good. She and Wiccan will likely be the only two, really capable Young Avengers. The array of powers (both close and ranged combat) seen on the card has me thinking that a second one of these might end up with a Clobberin' Time Hawkeye glued onto the base.
Hercules - I'd reconciled myself to not seeing him until next February's Hammer of Thor set!
Human Torch - This is Jim Hammond, the Golden Age Torch, one of the original Invaders, at long last! Finally - especially along with the excellent, new Namor in this set - the original, core Invaders can be fielded.
Jarvis - Hey, if DC can have Alfred as a figure, why not? I was slightly surprised this one didn't come as a duel-purposed human and Skrull version, but upon quick reflection it would be difficult to come up with a single point value to cover the game impact of each of the two versions.
Morbius - Hopefully it'll be a solid piece, if for no other reason than it'll quiet down the ones who've been groaning about his absence so far, especially from Mutations and Monsters.
Psycho-Man - Another of the FF's foes going back to the Lee & Kirby era!
Tarantula - This is the current, female one.
Thor Girl - Terrible name and a fairly forgettable character. Hopefully it'll be a nice sculpt and a good dial, though.
Triton - In one form or another, this completes the Royal Family of the Inhumans... though Black Bolt, Medusa and Lockjaw are retired, and at least Medusa needs a serious overhaul from the original version.
Yellowjacket/Skrull Yellowjacket - Will we finally get a suitably clever and capable Hank Pym?
Rulebook mentions; still waiting for info:
Adam Warlock - Will we finally be getting the more powerful, truly cosmic version?
Clea - I'm going to keep my expectations low, since most of her time while on Earth saw her as a fairly minor magician.
Dr Octopus - I'm looking for some style and utility.
Elektra/Skrull Elektra
Energizer - Power Pack makes its debut, like it or not.
Gee - Another Power Pack kid.
Goliath - Apparently this is Bill Foster.
Gravity - Eh.
Immortus - Could be very cool, could be lame. Only Seth knows.
Iron Fist - We've seen the sculpt and card already. The card has us expecting something similar to the Fantastic Forces version -- very cool -- but the sculpt is a newer, stripped-down version.
Kristoff - Another Doomesque piece.
Lightspeed - Another Power Pack kid.
Malice - This is the Sue Richards version.
Mass Master - The last of the Power Pack kids.
Ms. Marvel/Skrull Ms Marvel: Let's see if she finally gets her due.
Ringmaster - Hopefully he won't be lame. Sure, he should be easy to harm, but hopefully he won't be useless.
Sharon Carter - How will Agent 13 fare? Moreso than with Dum Dum Dugan I'm hoping she'll do double-duty as a generic SHIELD agent. Update: She's a 50-pt. piece starting with a SP granting her Running Shot and Stealth. No stellar stats - max Damage of 2 and AV of 9, though she has a special form of Perplex that only lets her affect herself or friendlies, but she can't use it on Damage. All in all, she could be a reasonable, if a tad expensive, SHIELD generic in a pinch.
She-Thing - Another terrible name, though to be fair she was officially known as Ms. Marvel (II) during most of that time. Still, I became fond of Sharon Ventura during her stint with the Fantastic Four.
...and the ones we already have the details on:
Spiderman
Moloid
Tombstone
Atantean Warrior
Grey Gargoyle
Captain America
Iron Man
Spider-Slayer
Attuma
Punisher
Mole Man
Dr Strange
Howard the Duck
Speedball
Cloak and Dagger
Doom
Spider-Girl
Super-Skrull X-Men
Namor
Skrull Emperor
Gamora
Power Man and Iron Fist (Duo)
Sentry
Impossible Man
Super Skrull Avengers
Mephisto
Nick Fury
Annihillus
Spider Woman
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A reasonably solid report arose today concerning the full set list for next Wednesday's Secret Invasion set.
I've split them up into the ones that were revelations du jour, those we knew were coming thanks to mentions in the Fantastic Four starter set rulebook, and those we've had full reveals on.
The ones listed as a character and then a Skrull version are reportedly the same sculpt, but with different dials, coming with a tri-fold card with both the regular and Skrull info. No word yet on how relatively rare the Skrull and regular versions are, but the gist seems to be that the Skrull versions may be true chase elements. Fucking Wizkids bloodsuckers. Whatever their rarity, the dials will be marked a and b following their number in the set, marked on the dial in the KO slot directly before the first click, designating which card to use with them.
The only other notes to make at this juncture is that the person who reported on this case said that there was no set poster and no set list in the boosters, and that the case only had BFCs and Feats as 6th element items in the boosters. On that last point, if true, this means either some absolutely horrible collation or they've kept Event Dials, bystanders and special objects out of this set, save for the Event Dials they'll be using as prizes for some events.
Surprise!
Arachne - Those strange people who've been waiting years to recreate the original Secret Wars will now be able to do so.
Captain Mar-Vell/Skrull Captain Mar-Vell - I'm going to be interested to see how this one's laid out.
Dum Dum Dugan/Skrull Dum Dum - As with Sharon Carter, I'm going to be interested to see how adaptable the piece is in terms of point cost and utility for use as a generic SHIELD agent -- presumably of some higher rank.
Hawkeye - This is the new, female version, who's part of the ill-named Young Avengers. We've seen the sculpt and card - so far so good. She and Wiccan will likely be the only two, really capable Young Avengers. The array of powers (both close and ranged combat) seen on the card has me thinking that a second one of these might end up with a Clobberin' Time Hawkeye glued onto the base.
Hercules - I'd reconciled myself to not seeing him until next February's Hammer of Thor set!
Human Torch - This is Jim Hammond, the Golden Age Torch, one of the original Invaders, at long last! Finally - especially along with the excellent, new Namor in this set - the original, core Invaders can be fielded.
Jarvis - Hey, if DC can have Alfred as a figure, why not? I was slightly surprised this one didn't come as a duel-purposed human and Skrull version, but upon quick reflection it would be difficult to come up with a single point value to cover the game impact of each of the two versions.
Morbius - Hopefully it'll be a solid piece, if for no other reason than it'll quiet down the ones who've been groaning about his absence so far, especially from Mutations and Monsters.
Psycho-Man - Another of the FF's foes going back to the Lee & Kirby era!
Tarantula - This is the current, female one.
Thor Girl - Terrible name and a fairly forgettable character. Hopefully it'll be a nice sculpt and a good dial, though.
Triton - In one form or another, this completes the Royal Family of the Inhumans... though Black Bolt, Medusa and Lockjaw are retired, and at least Medusa needs a serious overhaul from the original version.
Yellowjacket/Skrull Yellowjacket - Will we finally get a suitably clever and capable Hank Pym?
Rulebook mentions; still waiting for info:
Adam Warlock - Will we finally be getting the more powerful, truly cosmic version?
Clea - I'm going to keep my expectations low, since most of her time while on Earth saw her as a fairly minor magician.
Dr Octopus - I'm looking for some style and utility.
Elektra/Skrull Elektra
Energizer - Power Pack makes its debut, like it or not.
Gee - Another Power Pack kid.
Goliath - Apparently this is Bill Foster.
Gravity - Eh.
Immortus - Could be very cool, could be lame. Only Seth knows.
Iron Fist - We've seen the sculpt and card already. The card has us expecting something similar to the Fantastic Forces version -- very cool -- but the sculpt is a newer, stripped-down version.
Kristoff - Another Doomesque piece.
Lightspeed - Another Power Pack kid.
Malice - This is the Sue Richards version.
Mass Master - The last of the Power Pack kids.
Ms. Marvel/Skrull Ms Marvel: Let's see if she finally gets her due.
Ringmaster - Hopefully he won't be lame. Sure, he should be easy to harm, but hopefully he won't be useless.
Sharon Carter - How will Agent 13 fare? Moreso than with Dum Dum Dugan I'm hoping she'll do double-duty as a generic SHIELD agent. Update: She's a 50-pt. piece starting with a SP granting her Running Shot and Stealth. No stellar stats - max Damage of 2 and AV of 9, though she has a special form of Perplex that only lets her affect herself or friendlies, but she can't use it on Damage. All in all, she could be a reasonable, if a tad expensive, SHIELD generic in a pinch.
She-Thing - Another terrible name, though to be fair she was officially known as Ms. Marvel (II) during most of that time. Still, I became fond of Sharon Ventura during her stint with the Fantastic Four.
...and the ones we already have the details on:
Spiderman
Moloid
Tombstone
Atantean Warrior
Grey Gargoyle
Captain America
Iron Man
Spider-Slayer
Attuma
Punisher
Mole Man
Dr Strange
Howard the Duck
Speedball
Cloak and Dagger
Doom
Spider-Girl
Super-Skrull X-Men
Namor
Skrull Emperor
Gamora
Power Man and Iron Fist (Duo)
Sentry
Impossible Man
Super Skrull Avengers
Mephisto
Nick Fury
Annihillus
Spider Woman
Labels: Heroclix, Secret Invasion
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Monday, July 14, 2008
On the Maps
This is a completely unsolicited plug post for a friend who's formally phasing himself out of Heroclix for a combination of reasons not mine to go into here. It's very easy to recall how enthusiastic he once was about the game (though never so much about the official rules, prompting him to expend great efforts on alternate rules for home games) that it's a little sad to see all this going. It wasn't a decision he came to easily, but he came to it firmly and rationally, and I'd like to see it go well for him especially as it should also be to the benefit of the clix-playing buyer.
I'm not allowed to plug such things over on HCRealms, but I can do what I wish here, so I wanted to point out the excellent deal he currently has running on ebay, which has a bit less than two days to go.
The bidding is only up to $10.50 plus shipping as of this posting, and as this includes such a wonderful assortment of items a clix player might be looking for I'd hate to see it go by unnoticed. A mix of maps, 3D objects and bystander tokens that would take some hunting to locate and would cost far more than the current bid price and shipping to acquire.
Granted, most of the choice items are now retired from the formal game, but with so many venues running unrestricted events - not to mention home games - there's a great deal to be had in this mix and it's unlikely to be a combination one's going to have a shot at all at once.
He's selling his entire set of HeroClix battlemaps and other play accessories, including action markers in two different colors (to make it easy to keep track of turns), dozens of object tokens and temporary map terrain tokens (BARRIER, SMOKE, SPECIAL) and 100+ bystanders, along with a dozen 3-D objects from both Adventure Kits and the DANGER ROOM and LEGION starter sets.
The Adventure Kit 3D objects include the indestructible dumpster, the lamppost, which deals an Incap token on top of the heavy object damage it deals in the attack, a desk to raise one's Defense by 2, a Soda Machine, which hits for a +3 Damage.etc. These have recently been retired from formal tournament play, but as mentioned many venues aren't being that strict about such things.
Maps are --
Outdoor Map 2 (construction site side A/museum exterior side B)
STAR Labs Side A/Batcave Side B
Metropolis Outdoor Side A/JLA Watchtower Side B
Shopping Mall inside A/Intersection w/Rooftops and Park Outside
Xavier’s School Outdoor A/Avengers Mansion Outdoor B
Japanese Garden Outdoor A/Secret HQ Indoor B
Avengers Mansion Indoor A/Danger Room Indoor B
Indoor Map 1 (Factory Complex w/Big Machines and Offices) A/Indoor Map 2 (House w/Pool & Garage) B
Map C Indoor (Museum w/Dinosaur Skeletons) A/Map D Outdoors (Four Adjoining Rooftops) B
Centennial Park Zoo Outdoor A/Axis Chemical Indoor B
JSA Museum Map (ORIGIN set poster on back)
Deep Space Outdoor Map (Supernova set map)
Anura Temple Outdoor (BPRD Hero/Horrorclix Map)
Institute Grounds Outdoor/Training Complex Outdoor-Indoor
Map A Indoor (Office Complex)/Map B Outdoor (Gas Station)
Map 3 Outside (Park)/Map 4 Inside (Warehouse)
Small Town (Outdoor)/Central Port (Indoor) (LEGION map).
That’s 31 MAPS!
Maps show varying amounts of wear but all are very playable.
3-D Objects are dumpster, lamp post, computer, soda machine, packing crate, mailbox, desk, bookshelf, broken assault droid, power cell, newsbot, and energy transmitter/receiver. Included is sheet from Adventure Pack explaining uses of first 8 items.
Bystander tokens include characters from both Adventure Sets, including Alfred pog with Batman TA, Mary Jane Watson-Parker with Spider-Man TA, Alicia Masters with FF TA, Jarvis with Avengers TA, and Security Guard with PD TA, any or all of which can give instant TA options to Wildcards on your unrestricted team.
The object tokens (pogs) include custom objects like Mr. Terrific’s T-spheres and Green Lantern power battery.
As mentioned up top, I wasn't asked to do this -- indeed, he didn't even mention to me that he was selling these things -- but I thought attempting to bring this to the attention of more Heroclix players would be a service to both the seller and some possible buyers.
If you have any questions for him, contact the seller through the auction on ebay.
7/16 Post script: I see it didn't go as high as I'd hoped (though I hadn't put a number to it, so that's so much smoke from me), but I don't know what the seller's target estimate was either. Such a massive lot deserved attention, though, and I'm hoping I was responsible for channeling a bidder or two that way, though I'll likely never know.
With the maps, etc. gone he's cemented his withdrawal from the game, reducing the still considerable remainder of his collection to pure decorations - something he's not enamored of, so I have little doubt that there will be more auctions up from him in the coming weeks.
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Saturday, July 12, 2008
Secret Invasion: The Countdown
In the way of too many blogs, I'm sure, I started putting some info into would-be posts months ago but never got around to posting anything. In part it's because I already get much of my thoughts out in posts over on HCRealms. In part it was simple distractions. In part if was just that sense that I would be wasting time and filling cyberspace with nothing of any importance.
I'll pepper some shots of various sculpts from the set throughout this piece.
Today, I've just decided to spill out what I want to about the upcoming set and recent changes, knowing that few will ever see it and that it's here entirely because I wanted to type it out.
We've been getting sculpts and dials from the July 23 Secret Invasion expansion, a Marvel expansion where Wizkids and Marvel have worked together to tie in a clix expansion to an ongoing story arc. Skrulls have been infiltrating Earth's military organizations and superhero teams and now a more open invasion has commenced. While I'm not thrilled with the creative forces behind the event, and so have been largely skipping the central comics elements thusfar, the concept's a good one and offers the theme for what could be a solid clix set.
Shown above is this set's Iron Man, a 188-point piece, a fairly powerful one as would be hoped for the point investment. His Special Power allows him to use Perplex and Outwit on his first three clicks, with the proviso that if he hasn't used Outwit that turn he'll also have Super Senses.
While I don't expect to see mine until about the 22nd - as part of my comics order in this five-week (for purposes of comics releases) month - the Fantastic Four starter set came out. Along with it came a revised set of rules, including some significant changes, some of which want to note before coming back to the upcoming set.
Potentially the most significant change is that Perplex - the ability to change a stat on a dial up or down by 1 - now lasts until the beginning of that player's next turn. Previously it was something that evaporated at the end of the player's turn, and so would mostly be used to ensure an attack or increase its damage. Sometimes it would be used to get a little more reach out of an attack or boost one's Speed, but that was largely it. Now it can be meaningfully used on Defense stats, potentially helping characters to avoid being successfully attacked. Via more than one Perplex piece - or by one of the few capable under special circumstances of altering a stat by 2 - the opportunity is now in hand to frustrate an opponent anew.
Some players have declared this a huge mistake, something that will see virtually unhittable Defense numbers as ones with already high Defenses of 18 are boosted to 19, 20 or 21, and with special accommodations even higher. I suspect we'll find out if this is the case soon enough. For my part I'm mainly seeing it as an additional bookkeeping elements -- something else we'll need to keep track of from round to round.
Additional changes involve some new breakdowns in and limitations on abilities.
We now have a Carry ability, which is automatically granted to those with appropriate symbols - pieces with the wing and any of the Transporter symbols - and now including Giants. Some new limitations come with this. Anyone carrying someone takes a -2 to his Speed, which makes sense. It will especially cause people to second-guess whether or not to have Charge, Running Shot, Hypersonic Speed or Transporter pieces carry anyone. This will especially be a concern for the Charge/Running Shot pieces because it'll cut down the ground covered markedly. A Running Shot piece with a Speed of 10 would see his normal Running Shot max Speed of 5 (half of the original Speed) further cut by 2, so he can now, while carrying someone, only move up to 3 spaces and then attack.
Standard (non-flying) Giants can only carry when they have no token on them. And... the Carry ability is open to being Outwitted.
In fact, Outwit now has more potential targets. In addition to the powers and abilities that were always options, Outwit can now be used to shut off the above mentioned Carry, or the completely separate Flight ability. It can be used to turn off Giant Stride, which is to say the new combined ability to carry another character and to not have to stop upon coming adjacent to an opposing character.
While on the subject of Giants, I'll also note that they no longer need to stop two spaces away from other characters -- although they still can, since they can still make close combat attacks from that range -- and other characters no longer have to (absurdly) stop two spaces away and be forced to roll for breakaway before being able to Charge or otherwise move adjacent under their own power. Friendly Giants (those who are on that player's team) can now be moved Telekinetically, too.
Telekinesis is now largely altered, too.
TK range is now cut to 8, but characters with TK can now also reach out up to 8 squares away to grab objects or characters, and a careful observance of that 8-space limitation has to be made. I've found it easiest to think of it as drawing a triangle with sides a maximum of 8-spaces long, the vertices being the character with TK, the target of the TK action, and the final location of the character or object being TKed; of course, the character using TK has to be able to see each of the other location.
If one's trying to pull a friendly character out of a tight spot (the character is adjacent to an opposing piece) via telekinesis, it's necessary to roll for breakaway. Previously it was just an easy yoink!
Another change involves the destruction of common objects: They no longer leave debris. So, if Batman's hiding on or behind a desk, destroy the desk and Batman's now revealed.
Some additions to the game are Traits -- an inherent ability that can't be countered. A superb example is on the new Doctor Strange we're getting in Secret Invasion. (Look closely at the pic -- his astral form is rising from his body.)
Strange's Trait is Eye of Agamatto, which allows him to ignore the effects of characters and hindering terrain when determining line of fire. So, if someone's within 10 spaces of him and not blocked by blocking terrain, Strange can see them and use any of his powers on them.
Other additions are special variations on the Attack and Defense symbols on the dial. One is a diagonal bar running across the Defense shield symbol, which stands for Indomitable. It's built-in Willpower. Another is a crosshairs in place of the Attack symbol, indicating Sharpshooter. A Sharpshooter is now the only type of character who can use ranged attacks while based. The old rule of allowing flying characters to use or be the target of ranged attacks with adjacent pieces while based is gone, which is a tremendous relief to characters with Combat Reflexes, helping to make the power worth its cost.
Indomitable and Sharpshooter are also among the items that can be Outwitted.
As of yesterday, we have twenty seven of the sixty pieces previewed in one place or another from the set -- twenty eight if one includes the brick mail-away.
Along with the new and very welcome Dr. Strange, mentioned above, we have several new team-powered Super Skrulls (X-Men, Avengers and Illuminati - that last one being the brick mail-away), a Cloak and Dagger Duo, a fantastic Namor, a Punisher, Howard The Duck, Impossible Man, a somewhat less clever than he should be Mephisto, a proper Nick Fury, Attuma, Atlantean Warriors, a first appearance Spider-Slayer (complete with JJJameson's face in the viewscreen), a new Annihilus, Mole Man and Moloids, among others. The official set gallery only has some of the info. The best collection point for info is the HCRealms SI dials thread, which is current as of today with the dial info we've seen via various sources, which starts with the pieces in the FF starter, since they're officially part of the Secret Invasion set.
The list, such that we know so far is:
Commons:
001- Spider-Man (Not quite right, this is more like a cheap-but-potent Guest-Star Spidey.)
002- Moloid
003- Tombstone
004- Iron Fist (Haven't seen the dial yet, but it's the modern, very stripped-down costume - pragmatic, but unattractive, it may as well be painted on him - and the card we saw indicates it's going to be similar to what we saw with the Fantastic Forces version -- which should work nicely.)
007- Atlantean Warrior
010- Grey Gargoyle
Uncommons:
019- Captain America (The Truth version.)
021- Iron Man
024- Spider-Slayer (No powerhouse, but an interesting, nostalgic choice.)
028- Attuma
030- Punisher
031- Mole Man (Fairly cool Special Powers to allow him to tunnel, be stealthed and carry someone, but lacking any Damage above 2 and even a single click of Incapacitate, so Ben can just laugh him off. At 50 points he's super cheap for what he brings, but he and his Moloids will absolutely need allies and/or Feats if they're going to be anything but a minor nuisance.)
Rares:
033- Dr. Strange
035- Howard the Duck (Pretty much destined to be a dead duck unless allies can keep the heat off him, but if they can then he might be a good source of Perplex once he gets off that first click.)
038- Speedball (Fast, hopefully difficult to hit, able to deal at least a couple clicks of 3 Damage and, with luck, able to bring some surprises with the right dice rolls. Not someone to count on, but he might be a fun 77 points to field.)
039- Cloak and Dagger (A Duo and a Transporter. A good combination in general, they may prove a tad too easy to damage for their 109 points. Powers give them the potential to deal damage to anyone, but the max Attack Value of 9 may make that difficult.)
040- Doom (The "Unthinkable" version, where he briefly made a Faustian deal to see how he would have been had he concentrated solely on the dark arts and been willing to make inhuman sacrifices, including killing and tanning the skin of his girlfriend to make mystical armor.)
041- Spider-Girl
044- Super Skrull: X-Men
045- Namor (Not an inspiring sculpt, but a generally marvelous 150 points; it's unlikely anyone will ever bother pulling out the Fantastic Forces vet again.)
Super Rares:
051- Nick Fury (A tad ugly in the face/jaw, and perhaps a bit more Fury than some might have wanted at 100 points, but a clever dial and a good leader for some SHIELD force.)
052- Impossible Man
053- Skrull Emperor
054- Gamora
055- Mephisto
056- Annihilus
059- The Sentry (The sculpt has a repulsive "look at my super package!" aspect, but the dial's both fairly potent and representative of the character. Unfortunately, he's still a character that shouldn't be in the mainstream Marvel U...)
060- Super Skrull: Avengers
BIBTB:
061- Super Skrull: Illuminati
Also nearly certain to be in the set, as they're referenced in the FF RULEBOOK as part of examples:
Lightspeed
Gee
Energizer
Mass Master
Gravity
Dr. Octopus
She-Thing
Adam Warlock
Clea
Ringmaster
Sharon Carter
Immortus
Kristoff
Malice
Elektra (Skrull)
Goliath
Ms Marvel
Spider-Woman
July 23rd is a just a week and a half away, so it's really just a matter of when the complete set list and more details breaks. We're fairly sure there's going to be some twist in the bunch - most likely some hidden Skrull versions that are likely to be too close to another Chase piece mess for comfort. But... we'll see.
As this will be the only Marvel set of 2009 I'll likely be trying to milk this one for enjoyment as long as possible. Maybe it'll help lift me out of the long, dry spell on these blogs.
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