Friday, August 14, 2009
Hammer of Thor!(Updated 8/15 to include the ad poster above, including a Loki, the long-awaited appearance of a Captain America sculpt we saw over two years ago, and further confirmation of the set list we'd seen leaked last year, with the special spotlight on Runaways.)
Okay, I haven't written anything in here in months despite trickles of information here and there. To bring you up to speed -- there really isn't a great deal, but after this long, long drought of information there's sufficient, corroborated news to make it worth noting:
- Neca Toys has purchased Wizkids from Topps.
- They've already been selling the Chariot of Thor vehicle, originally intended as a Buy It By the Brick mail-away. They started selling it at Comic-Con in San Diego last month, simultaneously pre-selling it on Amazon.com.
- They waited until GenCon Indy, running this weekend, to try to make an official announcement. There's apparently still some legalese being ironed out in their official announcement, but they are there - in their booth as Wizkids - running events and displaying the Chariot of Thor, along with clix of Volstagg, Surtur, Daredevil and Thor, along with a prototype for a Batmobile that's pending some tweaks and approval from DC.
- The long-awaited Hammer of Thor set is scheduled for November.
- The next DC set, Brave & the Bold, loosely scheduled for next February.
Still, we'll work with that we have. Before getting into the latest pics, here are the dial details on Thor's Mighty Chariot (As with any of the images, if you click on it you'll shift to a larger version):
Its major flaw is the combination of it being a 500 pt piece, and it neither having Power Cosmic nor is it eligible for Fortitude, as that card requires a standard fist Attack symbol, while the Chariot is a Duo, and so has a different Attack symbol. The result? A piece that's going to be taken apart with ridiculous ease by any team with Outwit. Among those who've reported playing it so far many have already house ruled Power Cosmic onto it. I'd be more likely to house rule an exception for Fortitude. I don't mind spending the extra 25 points once I've already gone that far. I'd probably even kick in an additional 25 for Repulsor Shield, so the Chariot would not only be immune to Outwit and Exploit Weakness, but also Psychic Blast and the Damage-boost from Ranged Combat Expert.I'm not one of those who've been chomping at the bit, waiting for the advent of vehicles in Heroclix, but they will have some uses, and I'm glad they've approached them as it seems they have: Making them high-point pieces, so they can be interesting accessories in large point games, but won't make an impact on standard game builds.
Surtur is fairly obviously a giant, and seems nicely sculpted, with the flaws (such as they are) looking to be more a case of the choice of source artwork. Still, it's a dynamic pose and what I can see of the musculature is attractively detailed. I've picked up a second shot of him, over on the right, making it clear that Surtur is wielding a sword.
So far our information on the set list leaked months ago appears to be good. One of the many nice things about that is that we appear to have a number of generics coming in this set, including Fire Demons and Rock Trolls, and it appears the generics this time out tend to have Special Powers that activate when specific leader types (Surtur for the Fire Demons and Ulik for the Rock Trolls), and early on started to raise thoughts of a huge, apocalyptic battle if enough pieces come my way.
The generics -- again, if the list holds true, and so far it has -- are: Asgardian Warrior, Valkyrie, Hand Ninja, Rock Troll, Fire Demon, and Phalanx Soldier. That's six generics out of the 18 Commons, which really helps raise the value of an average pull. Even if one doesn't care for generics he's going to be able to find people interested in trading for them. Spot number 16 is the robotic M-11 (Agents of Atlas), and could prove to be a good, loose-themed generic, too, if one's not too much of a purist.No good shot of this set's Thor has made it my way so far. The combination of so much armor, and the set including the likes of Malekith, Kurse and Thor's Chariot, at least, strongly suggests the set designer was drawing on the Simonson run of the 80's so this may be Thor when he was cursed and having to increasingly rely on magical armor.
The heavyweight member of the Warriors Three, Volstagg makes an appearance in this set. A flagon of ale in his left hand and a joint of mutton? A ham? Well, something meaty in his right. A great boot rests on the chest of a fallen troll, and without a doubt the big V's already spinning it into another battle legend to regale the bored with in one of the feast halls of Asgard.The long-ago leaked dial and cost is sufficiently ridiculous that I'm not going to bother getting into it here. I'll be interested to see what they've actually decided to do with him.
According to the set list, Volstagg will be one of the Super Rares, which isn't a terrible spot for him inasmuch that some won't be interested in him at all, while others will be very interested in completing their Warriors Three.
The set also includes a new Daredevil. What's most interesting about what we've seen so far is that a zoom-in on the dial gives us a Special Power square on the Speed slot.Aside from thoughts of him having a mix of Leap/Climb and Running Shot (and/or maybe Charge), most of us are watching for something else that would be criminal to not have on a DD in an age of Special Powers: An anti-Stealth power. A man who doesn't rely on his eyesight (he's blind) but instead on a synthesis of the remaining senses, ampllified, should know not only when someone's hiding in the shadows but even if the person's invisible.
We'll see...
For the moment, I'm happy to see the game getting a continuation via a new company, and the very promising Hammer of Thor set getting its chance.
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Oh thank you, thank you, thank you! I've been lost in the metaphorical desert searching for Heroclix news. You've made my day! :-)
You're absolutely welcome! Thanks for taking a moment to comment. Sure, I'd probably still do these for myself - sort of an archive - even if no one else was reading, but it's always nice to know that mine and those of a couple casual clix-playing friends aren't the only ones who see this.
The only thing I didn't bother to post was a pic of a rough for a Batmobile - it looks like the one from the early seventies, more sporty and with a hard top - was also in the case, with a handwritten sign letting us know that it's pending approval from the licensor.
So far, so good with the transition. I'm looking forward to Hammer of Thor, which will become my early Christmas present to myself this year.
As we get closer to November I'll check to see if my usual online dealer is on board with the return of Heroclix.
The only thing I didn't bother to post was a pic of a rough for a Batmobile - it looks like the one from the early seventies, more sporty and with a hard top - was also in the case, with a handwritten sign letting us know that it's pending approval from the licensor.
So far, so good with the transition. I'm looking forward to Hammer of Thor, which will become my early Christmas present to myself this year.
As we get closer to November I'll check to see if my usual online dealer is on board with the return of Heroclix.
I just got back from Gencon. I missed any sign of this in the dealer hall, but I wasn't looking for it either.
I did buy a Heroclix set (the Legion starter) because it was cheap, and most Legion stuff is irresistible.
I did buy a Heroclix set (the Legion starter) because it was cheap, and most Legion stuff is irresistible.
Ha! Yeah, the Legion starter set was nicely done.
I can only judge from what I was shown and told, but the pics I saw had the booth's backdrop as a large, mostly yellow banner with "WIZKIDS" at the top and multiple Thor images, including the Chariot of Thor. Still, I have no clear sense of the scale of GenCon.
For some reason I thought that DragonCon, less than three weeks away, would have been more of a draw for you... though I see that is off in Atlanta. Really never much of a gamer, though, I haven't given any of these that much attention.
I can only judge from what I was shown and told, but the pics I saw had the booth's backdrop as a large, mostly yellow banner with "WIZKIDS" at the top and multiple Thor images, including the Chariot of Thor. Still, I have no clear sense of the scale of GenCon.
For some reason I thought that DragonCon, less than three weeks away, would have been more of a draw for you... though I see that is off in Atlanta. Really never much of a gamer, though, I haven't given any of these that much attention.
For me, the news is a mixture. I'm working again, and could, feasibly, start buying some clix again, and the concept of the HAMMER OF THOR set was interesting to me. So I'd been scanning the news lately waiting for developments.
But what I was hoping for wasn't simply some other company picking the game up wholesale and simply continuing it the way WizKids had. I was hoping for a reboot; someone to take the basic concept and give us a better rules system and some revision/reversions to the early days in terms of sculpt philosophy and such.
So, while it will be nice to see clix in the stores again, for however much longer the world can continue to spare precious petroleum for non essential purposes, I won't be buying any, as it seems the game will continue to be just as frustratingly inconsistent with how combat seems to work in the actual comics the game is based on.
But what I was hoping for wasn't simply some other company picking the game up wholesale and simply continuing it the way WizKids had. I was hoping for a reboot; someone to take the basic concept and give us a better rules system and some revision/reversions to the early days in terms of sculpt philosophy and such.
So, while it will be nice to see clix in the stores again, for however much longer the world can continue to spare precious petroleum for non essential purposes, I won't be buying any, as it seems the game will continue to be just as frustratingly inconsistent with how combat seems to work in the actual comics the game is based on.
I'm glad to see it continue and I'm also glad to see there's apparently no sudden shake-up in the offing. Having someone come in with an agenda of "fixing" the game could easily be a disaster. If they continue to nudge and tweak the rules as they'd generally been doing during the most recent two years of actual operation, I'm more in favor than not of it continuing that way.
They made improvements to the Giants rules so as to do away with the ridiculous movement problems they had, and they finally came around to making Telekinesis work much more as it's supposed to, rather than limiting characters to only moving items in their own or an adjacent square it's a much more sensible 8-square reach approach. They also got rid of the ridiculous destroyed object = debris rule that used to leave Batman stealthed. Additionally, they increased the number of squares an object can be thrown, helping grounded, muscled bricks a little more.
Sure, at the same time the "wildcard abuse!" whiners got them to go overbaord on limiting Wilcards when it came to many TAs, but as the solution was a clumsy one I could see that being changed back or otherwise altered again once the new folks get their legs under them.
I know that any such crude approximation of comics combat is going to continue to have shortcomings and inconsistencies, and I'm at peace with that. I wouldn't want it to move into a more elaborate, RPG-style game with additional dice rolls and even additional stat categories to better define each character.
I've not spoken with anyone at Neca, much less those who are at the core of the new Wizkids, but I'm guessing that since Neca (via their emphasis on collectible action figures) is intending to look at linking Clix-style gaming with some of the considerable raft of licenses they're signed up with, many of which have me thinking their ultimate emphasis may be more on a Horrorclix relaunch.
So far Wizkidsgames.com continues to redirect to the almost useless stump that Topps cut it down to. Hopefully the domain was part of the deal, and they'll relaunch that within the next couple months. So far Neca hasn't gone the messageboard route itself, and has instead had a web presence that's been entirely product showcasing and press releases, an even that isn't very lively.
One way or another, we'll see.
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They made improvements to the Giants rules so as to do away with the ridiculous movement problems they had, and they finally came around to making Telekinesis work much more as it's supposed to, rather than limiting characters to only moving items in their own or an adjacent square it's a much more sensible 8-square reach approach. They also got rid of the ridiculous destroyed object = debris rule that used to leave Batman stealthed. Additionally, they increased the number of squares an object can be thrown, helping grounded, muscled bricks a little more.
Sure, at the same time the "wildcard abuse!" whiners got them to go overbaord on limiting Wilcards when it came to many TAs, but as the solution was a clumsy one I could see that being changed back or otherwise altered again once the new folks get their legs under them.
I know that any such crude approximation of comics combat is going to continue to have shortcomings and inconsistencies, and I'm at peace with that. I wouldn't want it to move into a more elaborate, RPG-style game with additional dice rolls and even additional stat categories to better define each character.
I've not spoken with anyone at Neca, much less those who are at the core of the new Wizkids, but I'm guessing that since Neca (via their emphasis on collectible action figures) is intending to look at linking Clix-style gaming with some of the considerable raft of licenses they're signed up with, many of which have me thinking their ultimate emphasis may be more on a Horrorclix relaunch.
So far Wizkidsgames.com continues to redirect to the almost useless stump that Topps cut it down to. Hopefully the domain was part of the deal, and they'll relaunch that within the next couple months. So far Neca hasn't gone the messageboard route itself, and has instead had a web presence that's been entirely product showcasing and press releases, an even that isn't very lively.
One way or another, we'll see.
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