Clix Conundrum

2009-08-17T06:38:00.003-04:00

Hammer of Thor
Back to the set list

No new info here. This is just my looking over the set list we're expecting so as to get myself back up to speed after this long, long dry spell of new sets.

With the set likely due out around Thanksgiving (that's the U.S. one, in late November, not the October celebration our neighbors to the North have) I wanted to drag out and dust off the set list as we understood it to be for this set months and months ago.

So far all confirmed info's backed it up, and indications are that since this set was all but produced at the time Wizkids was shut down by Topps the new owners are starting things off by essentially flipping the switch on the process. That they're apparently also aiming to produce Brave and the Bold (roughly next February) - the set originally planned to follow HoT, this line of thought has so far stood up.

We don't know how the new owners will be dealing with many things, including whether they'll continue the Buy It By the Brick mail-away piece promotions. If they are going to do it, it seems unlikely they're planning on using the Thor's Mighty Chariot for that as they've sold them directly at Comic-Con International and GenCon so far, and people can buy them from Amazon.com. If you don't go via that link, be careful not to just casually search for "Chariot of Thor" or somesuch, because another store is one of those selling items through Amazon and the wrong search could bring their ad up instead (my frist stab did), which would be the same piece for $34.99 instead of $19.99. I ordered mine last month, but the order's bundled with a book that' isn't due out until next month, so I'll see mine in late September, which is fine with me.

Anyway, the Hammer of Thor list as best we know it, with some parenthetical notes where I thought they might be helpful) is seen below.

I've done some color-coding.

In green are those directly to do with the set's titular character, Thor.
In red are Runaways -- a series of characters I know virtually nothing about.
In blue are Agents of Atlas.
In orange are the Guardians of the Galaxy/Infinity Watch "cosmic" heroes and villains.
In purple are Thunderbolts-related characters.

Common
#001 Bug (The Micronauts/Guardians of the Galaxy)
#002 Kingpin
#003 Asgardian Warrior
#004 Valkyrie (AFAIK this will be a generic)
#005 Hand Ninja
#006 Rock Troll
#007 Jimmy Woo
#008 Fire Demon
#009 Pip the Troll
#010 Malekith
#011 Marvel Boy
#012 Enchantress
#013 Thor
#014 Bi-Beast
#015 Phalanx Soldier
#016 M-11

Uncommon
#017 Balder
#018 Fandral
#019 Chase Stein
#020 Karnilla
#021 Ulik
#022 Moonstone
#023 Beta Ray Bill
#024 Namora
#025 Starlord
#026 Pluto (Okay, I know he's from the Greek pantheon, but he first came into Marvel comics via a Thor tale.)
#027 Moondragon
#028 Rocket Raccoon
#029 Gorilla Man
#030 Owl
#031 Ronan the Accuser
#032 Daredevil

Rare
#033 Sif
#034 Hogun
#035 Loki (This is the newer, female form.)
#036 Heimdall
#037 Songbird
#038 Venom
#039 Surtur
#040 Captain America
#041 Molly Hayes
#042 Phyla-Vell
#043 Penance
#044 Airwalker
#045 Karolina Dean
#046 Fenris (This is the Asgardian creature, not the offspring of Baron Strucker)
#047 Nico Minoru
#048 Spider-Man

Super Rare
#049 Ultron
#050 Hela
#051 Odin
#052 Venus
#053 Seth (a character based on an Egyptian death god)
#054 Loki (classic look.)
#055 Valkyrie (This is the Defenders character, who - nonetheless - draws on Asgardian magic and certainly theme. I'm expecting her to be on flying horseback.)
#056 Destroyer
#057 Thor and Loki
#058 Gertrude Yorkes and Old Lace
#059 Volstagg
#060 Kurse

If they stuck to what had seemed to be the most recent standard operating procedure then we'd expect two of the conceptually wretched chase pieces, neither of which I have any idea about.

Looking at all the green this set's striking me as perhaps the most focused one yet, which may work against it for many.

Looking at where the red shows up, it appears that part of the plan was to pull Runaways fans deeper into the set as they chase the team. The first doesn't show up until the Uncommons -- still fairly easy to pull - three more among the Rares and one among the Super Rares. Hey, maybe one o both of the chase pieces will turn out to be a missing team member from that group? As best I can tell their line-up also includes Victor Mancha and Klara Prast. Well, that's one of many "we'll see" elements...

I generally like the list, especially including the generics. The Runaways characters aren't any I have a personal interest in, so maybe that'll work to my advantage if it comes down to trades, since one of them is a Super Rare. Among the Asgardians I can't say I'm especially excited about the Warriors Three (Fandral, Hogun and Volstagg) nor Heimdall -- seeing them generally just as supporting players, though I know I'm doing them some disservice in that.

Back before the summer a list of playtest dials emerged. With the caveat that many of them were very obviously still in need of changes and so shouldn't be what we'll expect, here's a link to those dials.

As a promotional item, Neca/Wizkids produced some "Mystery" cards that they began putting inside the Chariot Thor boxes, each one a mostly blank character card with s Special Power described on it, leaving it to the holder to gues which character it will be associated with in a Clix set. The ones that have been reported match up (albeit in one case the text was altered to improve the version we'd seen leaked earlier) further confirm much of what we know about the set list.

That's enough for now.

2009-08-14T18:37:00.005-04:00

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.

The pics that came out of the first day of the con -- at least the few I've seen -- haven't been really good ones. Presumably we're seeing cell phone cameras shots, and possibly ones taken hastily. (This was confirmed. Booth personnel are stopping anyone from lining up and taking clear and neatly-angled shots, so the ones we're getting are taken on the sly.) Sometimes they don't want a lot of really clear shots out there this early unless they've officially released the info. At previous conventions, even with sets on display that were less than a month from release, I've had booth personnel prevent me from taking clear, studied pics.

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.

2008-11-15T16:54:00.005-05:00

Should I Care?

Or, more accurately, should I be bothered?

In the wake of Monday's announcement by Topps (see previous entry) we've seen a great deal of activity from a fairly new front and backed by the fans. I remain too much in the dark, lacking information we're simply not going to have access to out here, but I'm trying to make sense of it and get some thoughts out.

The short form: Heroclix's final Brand Manager, Jake Theis, took up the banner of a Save Heroclix front. The thrust of the action is to form a company and make a bid to take over the property from Topps. He quickly set up a blog and began accepting donations (clearly solicited as such, not intended to be actual investments and completely, clearly un-refundable) to get the ball rolling. By the end of the work week the foundation of a new company, Pinata Games (apparently sans tilda over the "n") was laid. By Thursday the 13th they apparently bought the pinatagames.com domain, though so far they haven't done anything with it. At the pace they've been going, though, I wouldn't be surprised to see that change radically within the next few days.

The more detailed story as told by the insiders via blog posts can be found at their current website: Save Heroclix. Go there, go to the bottom and click on the last page to start reading from the beginning.

Anyway, my thoughts are as follows, and as I'd essentially posted on one of the fan sites early this morning:

It does seem contrary to reason that - if the product's been truly financially successful - Topps would pull the plug on the line if all of the sculpts, dials, etc. have long since been completed for a new set. Granted, it isn't as if poor or short-sighted decisions are unfamiliar territory in the world of business, and Topps may have simply decided that in the short term this would make an excellent fourth quarter tax write-off, though letting the brand/product line simply die would seriously erode the market value of what they bought.

It may be simple paranoia, a result of having felt "taken" too many times over the years, or the natural emotional reflexes born of just coming out of a roughly 24-month round of political campaigning, but there's a nagging sense of being played, possibly by more than one party.

If Topps does plan to jump back in, release Hammer of Thor within the first quarter of 2009 as originally planned, and continue Heroclix letting this fan tumult garner some extra attention for the line could work for them - though I wouldn't suggest letting it go too long.

I'm also concerned that Pinata Games could turn out to be more of a bit of opportunism than anything else. Indications are, based largely only on the speed of activity we've seen this week, that the new gaming company being formed on the focused good will of fans of a particular game wasn't a plan that just appeared from nowhere as the week progressed. There's an expectation that some other game or games is waiting to be pulled out of hiding as the "alternate" product for Pinata if no deal is forthcoming from Topps/Topps decides to move ahead with Heroclix on their own, sans the Wizkids brand. There's nothing wrong with that, but if things roll that way I'll likely always believe that that was the true, root intent behind this -- to start a gaming company -- and that the Heroclix situation simply provided an avenue to accomplish it more smoothly and quickly than would have been possible had he just decided to try to launch a company from a cold start. Especially in this economic climate, imagine how difficult it would be to pull cash and goodwill together - nevermind at this breakneck pace - if it was being done as just another business start-up.

I could see a scenario where it's to both Pinata and Topps' benefit for things to play out this way.

Jake gets a lot of good will, a marketing splash and start-up capital for a new company while simultaneously re-focusing fan interest in Heroclix - which will help draw more attention to the game, Meanwhile, Topps gets the opportunity to dissolve Wizkids if they found the last encumbrances of that company and its contracts to be a problem/burden, then either have a re-sweetened product line if they decide to come back in in "response" to the outcry of the fans/market to carry the game forward, potentially with (at least in the short term) less of a tendency for the fans to complain if there are further changes, say, to how Approved Play (or whatever Topps chooses to call it, if anything) is run. Oh, sure, some will hardly pause to draw a breath before complaining -- we're the Internet age, after all -- but I expect enough will jump on the complainers with "Dude, shut up. We almost lost the game completely. Enjoy the new sets or leave." We've already seen a great deal that over the history of the game even in the absence of the scare of a shut-down.

I suppose the end result is all that really matters - the fans are responding because they want Heroclix to continue, and if it does then to some degree it's ::ahem:: Mission Accomplished (will we ever be able to use that phrase again un-ironically?) - but I at least wanted to get some of these thoughts out as they've been persistent. I also wanted to get all of it down for my personal record.

While it'll likely only provide Pinata a better launch platform (and, hey, good for them) since they'll run straight press releases as articles, in hopes of shaking more details out and possibly forcing more hands I contacted Milton Griepp of icv2 (where I'd first seen the Topps announcement as an early afternoon newsflash on Monday) the other day to make sure he had all the particulars on Pinata's start-up, the Save Heroclix effort, etc. Milton got back to me early Friday afternoon to thank me for the heads-up and let me know he'd reached out to Jake and will be doing a story on his efforts and, presumably, the situation in general. Confirmations today let me know this will definitely be part of Monday's industry news.

2008-11-10T16:05:00.005-05:00

Wizkids -- No More!

Here's the press release today, in this case taken from their Blog site, though it initially came to me via icv2:

News from Topps…..
November 10th, 2008 by wkadmin

The following announcement is being released from Topps today. We’re all in a bit of shock and at a loss for words right now.

——–

The Topps Company announced today that WizKids will immediately cease operations and discontinue its product lines. Scott Silverstein, CEO of Topps, said “This was an extremely difficult decision. While the company will still actively pursue gaming initiatives, we feel it is necessary to align our efforts more closely with Topps current sports and entertainment offerings which are being developed within our New York office.”

Upon notifying our partners, Topps will immediately pursue strategic alternatives so that viable brands and properties, including HeroClix, can continue without noticeable disruption. To that end, WizKids will continue supporting Buy it By the Brick redemptions for Arkham Asylum, and the December Organized Play events for HeroClix.

For consumer announcements, please refer to www.wizkidsgames.com over the coming days for further information.

Over at HCRealms they're obviously going apeshit, as their server's being bombarded - periodically, beyond its capacity. Attempts to go launch Wizkids' own forum platform results in a "No web site is configured at this address." error.

Heroclix reportedly remains a profitable product line, but apparently Topps wasn't willing to continue supporting it. Why the rat bastards bought it in the first place eludes me, but who knows? The people who made that decision may be long gone by now.

Speculation's running rampant. Some have posited that this is a move by Topps to nullify the exclusivity deal with Diamond so that they'd then be free to either sell the other contracts and business. Whether or not Wizards of the Coast, Privateer Press or one of the other gaming operations would be interested in buying it remains up in the air. Whether or not anything for the Hammer of Thor expansion has actually been made beyond the prototype stage is also unclear.

2008-10-24T08:38:00.013-04:00

From the Asylum (and not.)

The latest Heroclix expansion - this one a DC one, the second for 2008 - hit the streets Wednesday. As noted in the previous few posts it was titled Arkham Asylum, even if done so largely for dramatic effect rather than as an accurate descriptor of the setlist... which doesn't bother me, but simply bears noting.

(As of this writing only Wizkids has finally updated their gallery with the set. So, here's the link to that gallery.)

For various reasons I cut my order in half this time. The reasons?

While there were many points of interest in the set (which I'll likely get to in a few moments), I simply didn't find myself frantic to collect all of the Super Rares, and collecting everything in the Common, Uncommon and Rare slots is fairly easy these days.

The rarity scheme for the sets is broken. The first 48 pieces are so easily come across that very light buying almost seems to be encouraged, while collecting a set of the 12 Super Rares has become more of a financial chore than is fun to pursue, and the now seemingly requisite 2 chase figures per set have the unpleasant effect of making much of the rest of the set appear valueless. Unfortunately, it has the effect because for the most part it's true. If one buys a booster of figures and doesn't pull a Super Rare, in terms of immediate market value one's largely been rooked; good luck being able to sell the components for half the retail cost of the booster.

Except for cheating trades with the unwary, for the most part anything from the Common, Uncommon or Rare level quickly becomes almost valueless (save for the generics, which, happily, they've begun to work back into sets) in terms of trading for the Super Rares. Meanwhile, the chase pieces tend to immediately command prices roughly three to six times what individual Super Rares do.

The chase pieces are a sort of "bonus" lottery with an ugly twist.

I could abide the Super Rares, but the chase pieces continue to cross the line. If one doesn't pull them (especially if one's bought a case or more) there's an almost inescapable sense of loss. Of waste.

If one does happen to pull a chase, it's an instant commodity. It's no longer simply a cool game piece offering a unique representation of a character, it's something that's worth over $100. Unless one's well-heeled it seems foolish to keep it, and if one does it's more likely to bring grief in play (between the resentment of some other players and having to be especially wary because it has that much cash value packed in a couple ounces of plastic), and the attraction that should be there -- the character -- becomes immediately obscured.

And even that's not the ugly twist.

The little extra marketing twist of the knife is in the choices.

In the Crisis set, some of the ads featured a gray-at-the-temples Superman, an Earth-2 version who was prominent in the original and one of the later Crisis tales. That ended up being one of the two chase pieces. The other chase was a Superman, too -- the Kingdom Come version.

In Secret Invasion, Spider-Woman (who's actually on one of the boosters) ends up being one of the two chase pieces.

In this set - Arkham Asylum, which is an immediate reference to the loonier elements of Batman's rogue's gallery - which features Batman as the prominent figure on half of their booster art (there are two booster designs) - is the subject of both chase pieces. The only other Batman in the set is a Batman Beyond version. (A cartoon set in a future where the legacy is being reluctantly handed over by an aging Bruce Wayne.)

I've grown weary of it. Even just revisiting all this is taking much of the wind from my sails.

Graaah.

Before getting into a light, irregular look at the set, I'll note that I did happen to pull one of the chase pieces, the #99 Batman on a lamppost. Whereas I held onto the Earth-2 Superman I pulled from Crisis (though I sometimes wonder why) I'm expecting to use this Batman chase as part of a block of clix auctions I'll set up this weekend/early next week. It looks very cool and brings some new things to the table for Batman, but I can't help but look at it in terms of what it can recoup for me in terms of outlays while also allowing me to buy a little later the couple additional pieces I'll still want from the set.

To the set...

As noted in an earlier post, the main set (Nos.1-60) breaks down this way (straight from boneyard's long-ago confirmed list. I've bolded all those I pulled; I have a complete set of Commons, Uncommons and Rares, and six (half) of the Super Rares.

Each piece may be followed by a bracketed clarification (to help pin down which version of the character it is) and the point cost of the piece.

If you're interested in a complete listing of the dials, the best I can do -- and it's fairly nice and complete -- is to link you to this thread.

I've yet to play any of them, and it's possible that won't change until a match on November 3

Commons
001 WHITE MARTIAN (generic) -90
002 MANHUNTER (Robot) - 64
003 MULTIPLEX -30
004 THE QUESTION (Renee Montoya) - 37
005 FLORONIC MAN - 47
006 GOTHAM CITY DETECTIVE (Crispus Allen) - 27
007 TWO-FACE - 75
008 STREET THUG - 19
009 KID DEVIL - 55
010 GORILLA GRODD - 157
011 THE RIDDLER - 90
012 AMANDA WALLER - 75
013 HUMAN BOMB - 45
014 SCANDAL SAVAGE - 60
015 PLASMUS - 80
016 BATMAN (Beyond) - 64

Uncommons
017 MAN-BAT ASSASSIN - 40
018 SOLOMON GRUNDY - 115
019 LASHINA - 72
020 ANARKY - 70
021 MISS MARTIAN - 76
022 HITMAN - 61
023 WONDER WOMAN (Diana Prince) - 248
024 COUNT VERTIGO - 74
025 JOHNNY SORROW - 55
026 NIGHTSHADE - 50
027 FIREFLY - 68
028 ARKILLO - 126
029 PER DEGATON - 90
030 AMON SUR - 70
031 CAPTAIN GORDON - 50
032 LIGHTNING LORD - 89

Rares
033 THINKER - 55
034 ROBIN (Tim Drake) - 66
035 GHOST FOX KILLER - 68
036 ZOOM - 130
037 ELEMENT LAD - 70
038 PENGUIN (classic) - 70
039 COSMIC KING - 85
040 DOCTOR DESTINY - 99
041 FRANKENSTEIN (from 7 Soldiers) - 98
042 VENTRILOQUIST (w/Scarface) - 70
043 CALCULATOR - 55
044 YELLOW LANTERN (Bizarro) - 65
045 CIRCE - 149
046 LYSSA DRAK - 72
047 ULTRA-HUMANITE - 177
048 BIZARRO #1 - 199

Super Rares
049 BLACK MANTA - 68
050 METRON - 195
051 MAD HATTER - 75
052 BATGIRL (Barbara Gordon) - 50
053 THE TOP - 80
054 DESPERO (original) - 88
055 SABBAC - 145
056 THE FLASH (Jay Garrick) - 120
057 SATURN QUEEN - 116
058 CHANG TZU (aka Egg Fu) - 107
059 THE JOKER (Straightjacket) - 97
060 SUPERMAN PRIME (Sinestro Corps) - 318

The generics having returned to sets in a significant way was the factor that helped tip me towards getting a case rather than retreating to a brick. They bring value to a potential booster buy, helping (however slightly) to bridge the span between boosters containing Super Rares. In this set the generics are:
001 WHITE MARTIAN (generic) -90
002 MANHUNTER (Robot) - 64
003 MULTIPLEX -30
006 GOTHAM CITY DETECTIVE (Crispus Allen) - 27
008 STREET THUG - 19
017 MAN-BAT ASSASSIN - 40

Six of them, with the first five being Commons and the sixth being an Uncommon. Granted, two of them are essentially cops and robbers - a level of generic I didn't expect to see - but they each have their uses.

The White Martians, while expensive for a generic piece, impressed me when I saw the sculpt. Sure, it's one of those pieces where one wouldn't have a clue it can fly without seeing the wing symbol on the base, but it's a super-powered shape-shifter and surprisingly nice visually despite the almost completely white paint job.

A fairly mobile, damage-dealing, damage-avoiding and resisting piece, I can see working these into an alien invasion force. Yeah, 90 points is a bit to pay, but a flying piece, seven clicks deep, three leading ones of Charge and three final ones of HSS, mostly AVs of 9 or 10, a 6 range, a late-dial return to 3 Damage along with several clicks of Exploit Weakness and Combat Reflexes and a final click of Regeneration that could conceivably restore it to its third click. They certainly look fun.

Manhunters, the robotic precursors to the Green Lantern Corps, who have most recently become allies of the Sinestro Corps, have also made it into the set.

At 64 points and only five clicks deep, it's packed in at least an interesting fashion. Three opening clicks of Toughness, starting at 17 and dropping for the the next two, he also has No Man Escapes the Manhunters!, a Special Power granting him Incapacitate and a modified form of Outwit which simply can't cancel Defense powers; not a bad combination. On clicks three through five he has a combination of Running Shot and Power Battery, a Special Power that not only grants Steal Energy but allows it to work with ranged attacks, too. Sure, his range is only 6 (with a single target), but the combination potentially allows him to be a mobile attacker who can simultaneously do a little damage and regain some health.

Keywords Robot and Sinestro Corps give him some themes to play with -- I'm inclined to go for Robot, but I haven't explored the synergy with Sinestro Corps pieces.

Multiplex - well, aside from cool-looking, if visually simple, sculpt - is a Suicide Squad member, including having that TA, so he could be healed - potentially substantially, if an ally is KOed adjacent to him.

At 30 points it's not an imposing piece. A single click of 9 Attack Value, two of 8 and then two of 7, combined with three clicks of 2 Damage and two of 1 make him more of a potential tie-up piece, but more of a clean-up piece. His Defensive Special Power grants him a form of Toughness so long as he's next to another of his duplicates, this on his first three clicks. After that it turns to Super Senses.

Two opening clicks of Leap/Climb, then two of Flurry give him initial mobility and then some small potential to be a close combat threat. In order to really have any thematic fun with a character whose power is to create duplicates of himself is to play with at least three of them, and 90 points would likely be way too much to spend at such a level in a 300 pt build, so I probably won't use him on a team lower than 400 points. Also keyworded as a Scientist there may be some possibilities there, too, but for now I've been waiting to run a Suicide Squad team and this is one of the new pieces to help that along.

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2008-09-05T07:37:00.008-04:00

Arkham Asylum: First Looks

Later today we're supposed to have the first of the official previews, but a bit past 4 this morning the latest icv2 email brought me pics of the sculpts and cards for three of this set's rogues: Riddler, Mad Hatter and Gorilla Grodd. (Yeah, I was too lazy to keep them proportional in the graphic, but you're smart folks and know to look to the size of the bases to get a better sense of relative scale.)

No dial info, but here are the three (click on each for a larger view) alongside their cards. They didn't show us the back of the Mad Hatter's card presumably because his powers all fit on the first side.

First: Riddler
An interesting package, especially at 90 points.

Stealth, then Leap/Climb, with Mastermind for Defense, he also has a couple of Special Powers:

Riddle Me This grants him the use of Incapacitate. If he chooses to gamble a little, it lets him do so as a Free Action against a single target providing he doesn't use another Free Action that turn (so, no Perplex or Outwit), and if he successfully hits the target he chooses a number between 1 and 6, then rolls two D6 dice. If the number he chose comes up once he can place one Incap token. If it comes up on both dice he can place two if the target doesn't have any. Considering that he could just use the first half of this SP to allow him to Incapacitate two targets (he has two lightning bolts on his base) and still be able to use Perplex and Outwit, I'm thinking the latter options aren't likely to be seen often.

His second Special Power is They'll Never Get This One, which allows him to use Outwit and Perplex. When he uses Perplex he can only use it to modify an opposing character's stat (other than Damage) by -2.

Will he be worth the 90 points? Show me the dial!

Next: Mad Hatter
Mastermind for defensive purposes is definitely thematic. A 6 range for Mind Control works well enough for him, as do two targets. Perplex is handier than ever these days.

His Special Power is Hypnotic Hats, allowing him to take no feedback damage if he decides to Mind Control a single target, but it also has a fun extra element for his fellow Batman Enemies. Anyone he's Mind Controlled remains for the rest of that turn a Batman Enemy, which means that if the target is next to a Batman Enemy (or someone copying that TA) they can borrow his Attack Value and use it against him. This could be fun.

...and then there's Gorilla Grodd

At 157 points it's hoped he has killer stats to back him up. He's something of a swiss army knife with Mind Control, Telekinesis and Outwit among his bag of tricks, and with Indomitable (the special symbol next to his Defense) he has the built-in Willpower to act two turns in a row without pushing. Some are concerned, though, when they see his point value and his having no damage-reducer better than Toughness.

His Special Power is Your Will Is Mine, granting him Leap/Climb and Mind Control with a range of 8, which strikes me as very character accurate. Hopefully while I expect him to start with this it won't be entirely front-loaded. I'd like to see Charge come in fairly soon, then fall back to this power again -- perhaps even more than once as Grodd shifts tactics between mind games and raw, physical attacks.

Eat the Hostages! (Steal Energy) is a tad gruesome, but fun -- hopefully it'll work well. We'll need to see what sort of Damage he's capable of on those clicks.

The Mastermind on Riddler and Mad Hatter is likely part of a trend for the core Batman enemies, and will underscore the utility of those 19-point Street Thugs we'll be seeing in this set.

2008-08-29T08:08:00.008-04:00

Into the Asylum

Recent posts steeped in foreboding aside, we still at the very least have a couple sets in the pipeline, warts and all, with the next of them being another DC set, Arkham Asylum, due October 22.

Official previews (written in advance by the set's designer, Seth Johnson, before he left the company) are set to start next week. This week, however, someone appears to have leaked the main set list, complete with numbering and experience level. The holder of the info's being cagey about details, though. For instance, he knows the point totals for each of the pieces, but is making a short-term contest of that.

Still, I'll present the info that's known. (Edit: A list with the point values for each piece is at the end of the post.)

Here's the named set list, complete with REVU status for each. I've provided the breaks for rarity levels, too.

It's an... interesting list. If one's not a fan of the Legion of Superheroes and/or up on recent arcs involving the Green Lantern/Sinestro Corps, etc., there are likely to be quite a few "Huh? Who?!" moments -- I must confess this is the first set where I found I had to Wiki more than one or two for clarification. Though it's over the top, I've included reference links for all but a few which were either too generic or vague.

I definitely like the rise in number of generics - pieces a theme player would have reason to hold onto multiples of.

COMMONS
001 Veteran WHITE MARTIAN (generic)
002 Rookie MANHUNTER (We don't know if these are the human versions or the robotic ones.)
003 Experienced MULTIPLEX (effectively a generic)
004 Rookie THE QUESTION
005 Experienced FLORONIC MAN
006 Veteran GOTHAM CITY DETECTIVE (generic, with a Crispus Allen LE)
007 Veteran TWO-FACE
008 Rookie STREET THUG (a surprising generic)
009 Rookie KID DEVIL
010 Veteran GORILLA GRODD
011 Veteran THE RIDDLER
012 Veteran AMANDA WALLER
013 Rookie HUMAN BOMB
014 Experienced SCANDAL SAVAGE
015 Experienced PLASMUS
016 Rookie BATMAN

UNCOMMONS
017 Rookie MAN-BAT ASSASSIN (curious generic -- these are League of Assassin members who've been given the Man-Bat serum.)
018 Experienced SOLOMON GRUNDY
019 Unique LASHINA
020 Experienced ANARKY
021 Rookie MISS MARTIAN
022 Experienced HITMAN
023 Veteran WONDER WOMAN
024 Veteran COUNT VERTIGO
025 Unique JOHNNY SORROW
026 Experienced NIGHTSHADE
027 Experienced FIREFLY
028 Rookie ARKILLO
029 Unique PER DEGATON
030 Veteran AMON SUR
031 Experienced CAPTAIN GORDON
032 Veteran LIGHTNING LORD

RARES
033 Unique THINKER
034 Veteran ROBIN
035 Experienced GHOST FOX KILLER
036 Unique ZOOM
037 Rookie ELEMENT LAD
038 Veteran PENGUIN
039 Veteran COSMIC KING
040 Experienced DOCTOR DESTINY
041 Veteran FRANKENSTEIN
042 Experienced VENTRILOQUIST
043 Unique CALCULATOR
044 Rookie YELLOW LANTERN
045 Unique CIRCE
046 Experienced LYSSA DRAK
047 Veteran ULTRA-HUMANITE
048 Veteran BIZARRO #1

SUPER RARES
049 Veteran BLACK MANTA
050 Unique METRON
051 Veteran MAD HATTER
052 Experienced BATGIRL
053 Veteran THE TOP
054 Unique DESPERO
055 Rookie SABBAC
056 Unique THE FLASH
057 Veteran SATURN QUEEN
058 Unique CHANG TZU
059 Unique THE JOKER
060 Unique SUPERMAN PRIME

061 Unique THE CLOWN PRINCE OF CRIME (Buy It By the Brick mail-away.)

Also reportedly (see that contest link earlier in the post) the point breakdowns for these 61 pieces group as follows (Point Value: Number of clix in the set at that value):

70 : 5

55 : 4

50,68,75,90 : 3

64,72,80 : 2

19,27,30,37,40,45,47,60,61,65,66,74,76,85,88,89,97,98,99,107,115,116,120,126,130,145,149,150,157,177,195,199,248 & 318: 1

...a fairly good point spread. Looking at it another way:

1-50: 10
51-100: 36
101-150: 9
151-200: 4
201-250: 1
251-300: 0
301+: 1

...we see that this should be solid for team-building, especially within 300 pt builds, which remain a standard tournament build.

Jake Theis, current brand manager, also released a promotional article that ended with some clues about the list. At the moment I'm mostly sticking with the guesses boneyard's presented below, though I've added one or two of my own:

A character with both the Past and Future keywords - Metron or Per Dagaton
A Special Power that begins "In Contact With..." - Calculator
A classic character that Alan Moore revitalized - Floronic Man (in Swamp Thing)
A classic character that Neil Gaiman revitalized - Dr Destiny (in Sandman)
The named power "EAT THE HOSTAGES" - Gorilla Grodd
An Uncommon figure with a starting Damage value of five … and Perplex - Bizarro #1
A named power written in German - Plasmus
At least one character chosen by a Top-16 player at the HeroClix World Championships - Superman (boy) Prime (To bad they didn't make the Ace the Bathound/Streaky combo instead)
At least one character that first appeared in Charlton comics - Nightshade
At least one character with the Batman-Enemy Team Ability and the Wing Speed Symbol - Firefly/Man-Bat Assassins
A trio of villains - Saturn Queen, Lightning Lord, Cosmic King
A soldier that’s a little late for roll-call - Frankenstein (a Sevcen Soldiers of Victory reference.)
A duo figure that isn't a duo figure - Ventriloquist/Scarface
At least one Golden Age villain - Ultra-Humanite/Per Degaton
The named power "GRRRRRAGH!" - Solomon Grundy
A figure that had the shortest comic book appearance of any DC HeroClix character done to date - Yellow Lantern
The highest-point version of one of the “DC Trinity” EVER done by a full 50 points - Wonder Woman (So that should be 248 points.)
A figure with 20 Defense! - Superman Prime, the Top, Zoom, Jak Garrick or the Thinker

Edit: Below is the list with the point values for each piece attached. I lack the time to edit them into the list above.

001 WHITE MARTIAN (generic) -90
002 MANHUNTER (Paul Kirk? Mark Shaw? Robot? clone Paul Kirk? Kirk DePaul? Kate Spencer?) - 64
003 MULTIPLEX -30
004 THE QUESTION (Renee Montoya?) - 37
005 FLORONIC MAN - 47
006 GOTHAM CITY DETECTIVE (Crispus Allen?) - 27
007 TWO-FACE - 75
008 STREET THUG - 19
009 KID DEVIL - 55
010 GORILLA GRODD - 157
011 THE RIDDLER - 90
012 AMANDA WALLER - 75
013 HUMAN BOMB - 45
014 SCANDAL SAVAGE - 60
015 PLASMUS - 80
016 BATMAN (crouching on gargoyle?) - 64
017 MAN-BAT ASSASSIN - 40
018 SOLOMON GRUNDY - 115
019 LASHINA - 72
020 ANARKY - 70
021 MISS MARTIAN - 76
022 HITMAN - 61
023 WONDER WOMAN (Diana Prince) - 248
024 COUNT VERTIGO - 74
025 JOHNNY SORROW - 55
026 NIGHTSHADE - 50
027 FIREFLY - 68
028 ARKILLO - 126
029 PER DEGATON - 90
030 AMON SUR - 70
031 CAPTAIN GORDON - 50
032 LIGHTNING LORD - 89
033 THINKER - 55
034 ROBIN - 66
035 GHOST FOX KILLER - 68
036 ZOOM - 130
037 ELEMENT LAD - 70
038 PENGUIN - 70
039 COSMIC KING - 85
040 DOCTOR DESTINY - 99
041 FRANKENSTEIN (from 7 Soldiers) - 98
042 VENTRILOQUIST (w/Scarface) - 70
043 CALCULATOR (Purple costume?) - 55
044 YELLOW LANTERN (Bizarro) - 65
045 CIRCE - 149
046 LYSSA DRAK - 72
047 ULTRA-HUMANITE - 177
048 BIZARRO #1 - 199
049 BLACK MANTA - 68
050 METRON - 195
051 MAD HATTER - 75
052 BATGIRL - 50
053 THE TOP - 80
054 DESPERO - 88
055 SABBAC - 145
056 THE FLASH (Jay Garrick) - 120
057 SATURN QUEEN - 116
058 CHANG TZU (aka Egg Fu) - 107
059 THE JOKER (Straightjacket?) - 97
060 SUPERMAN PRIME - 318
BITB Clix: 061 THE CLOWN PRINCE OF CRIME - Joker escaping Arkham Asylum - 150

2008-08-29T07:35:00.000-04:00

What Would Be As Bad Or Worse...

A year ago the Supreme Court decided that manufacturers could impose limits on the discounts retailers can give on the selling of their products, overturning an antitrust ruling that had stood for 96 years. The central argument revolved around product image, and wanting to protect retail outlets that the manufacturer approved of; the subtleties depend on the product line and the manufacturer in question.

Wizkids had already taken a preliminary step in the direction of controls earlier by unceremoniously gutting their distribution system a couple years back and signing an exclusive distribution partnership with Alliance/Diamond, restricting the primary (wholesale) sales of their product to brick and mortar retail establishments. This was the latest step in responding to such retailers' complaints that Internet-based retailers were seriously undercutting their sales by offering much deeper discounts than they felt they could afford.

While Wizkids has yet to take any more steps, in the past couple years they've vecome increasingly imitative of other "industry standard" practices, so today's announcement that Mayfair Games will be imposing a 20% cap on discounts offered by retailers could be worrisome.

My most recent bulk purchase - for Secret Invasion - was (including shipping) a 36.4% discount over MSRP, and a hair shy of 40% when one adds in the PA state tax that would have accompanied the higher price. Even at that, I've been gravely reconsidering my purchases due to the difficulty of completing even the basic 60-piece set, much less any notions of actually getting the damned chase pieces.

Were Wizkids to step in, especially after having raided their MSRP twice in the past couple years, and limit discounts to 20% -- or even 30% -- that would essentially mark the end of the line for me and new Clix.

For the sake of maintaining the archive, I've reprinted the two article links below, starting with the earlier decision:

Supreme Court Drops Ban on Vertical Pricing
Could Have a Major Effect on Hobby Gaming
Published: 07/03/07, Last Updated: 01/01/50 12:00am

On the last day of its term the Supreme Court reversed a ruling that had stood for 96 years and ruled instead that it was not automatically a violation for manufacturers and distributors to enforce minimum retail pricing on retailers. The case, Leegin vs. PSKS, was based on an appeal from Leegin Creative Leather Products of a $1.2 million judgment stemming from the company's decision to cut off Texas retailer Kay's Kloset for its refusal to adhere to Leegin's no-discount policy.

In deciding in favor of Leegin the Supreme Court overturned the flat ban on resale price agreements, based on the Sherman Antitrust Act, enunciated by the Court in 1911 in the case involving Dr. Miles Medical Company. In that 1911 case, the court decided that these vertical pricing agreements did not benefit the consumer and banned them outright. Now, in a 5-4 decision, the Court's new conservative majority has decided that in certain cases these pricing agreements may actually promote competition.

The decision does not mean that it is now acceptable for manufacturers to immediately implement programs that will turn their 'minimum suggested retail prices' into ironclad minimum retail prices, which, if not followed at the retail level, would result in the cut-off of supply or other punitive measures. What the Supreme Court decision means is that cases involving the imposition of vertical pricing by producers and distributors will now be considered on a 'case-by-case' basis in which courts will endeavor to determine the impact of such a pricing policy on competition. The only certain outcome of the precedent-shattering decision will be a slew of court cases as various groups of manufacturers attempt to establish their right to control retail prices.

The arguments cited by the Justices in the Leegin case do provide some potential insights in how the courts might decide similar cases in the future. Leegin's pricing policy was part of a marketing strategy for an upscale line of leather goods that were to be sold only in small boutiques that could provide copious amounts of customer service, so customer service can be considered an important factor. The court also cited 'product demonstrations' and the provision of specialized consumer services -- two elements that could certainly apply to hobby game stores that regularly provide demonstration of new games and hold organized play events, while losing sales on the very products that they are demonstrating and supporting to non-brick-and-mortar Internet discounters. Using this criteria the Leegin decision would appear to clear the way for game manufacturers to implement minimum retail prices, but the companies will have to be prepared to litigate to gain this right -- and under antitrust laws litigants face the possibility of triple penalties if they lose.

Now the Mayfair Games decision:

Online Discounting of Games—One Year Later
Mayfair Using Supreme Court Decision to Control Pricing
August 29, 2008

Roughly a year after the Supreme Court decision allowing companies to control the prices at which retailers sell their products under certain circumstances (see “Supreme Court Drops Ban on Vertical Pricing”), one game company that we’re aware of, Mayfair Games, has used the decision aggressively to control the prices at which its products are sold.

Mayfair has instituted a policy, the Mayfair Authorized Retailer Program, that restricts discounts above 20% off retail on its games. VP-Sales Bob Carty talked about the status of the program in the Future of the Hobby Channel panel at Gen Con Trade Day (see “The Future of the Hobby Channel”). “We're in the process of the second stage of enforcement,” he told the audience. “We’ve gone from 113 retailers discounting product in November… when we started releasing Third Edition [of Settlers of Catan]; we now have between six and 11 in any given week. And I think that's a big step. Six of them are habitual and on the blacklist but they're still getting product, and we know where, and we're going to deal with them very shortly.”

One other game company, WizKids Games, has made significant efforts to reduce Internet discounting by controlling sales to Internet-only retailers (it began this strategy prior to the Leegin decision, see “Joe Hauck, WizKids EVP on Internet Retailing”), although it is not using price controls based on Leegin to our knowledge.

2008-08-15T17:14:00.001-04:00

Footsteps In the Hall

A day for potentially dire information leaking from WizKids. Several elements remain speculative, but it's difficult to put a positive spin on this.

We recently (July 23rd) had the release of Secret Invasion, which was still a nicely-designed set (both in terms of character selection and dials) but had some rough elements in the area of production -- some issues with sculpts but mostly with paint. Some odd and even unfortunate choices made, too, but I've already talked about the set in a previous post.

We'd already known that Seth Johnson, the designer for the past several years, left a little while back, but that he designed everything through this fall's Arkham Asylum set, and had a shepherding hand on Hammer of Thor, which will be the next Marvel set (February '09), though Kelly Bonilla was actually the one to do the designs (stats, keywords, etc.) for that set. Kelly seemed to have Seth's full confidence, and I expect that in those respects at least the set will be solid.

Today, however, was the next big layoff date for WizKids staff. A fairly reliable, if admittedly biased, source ran a post this afternoon, which I'll reprint below.

Just to be sure everyone is on the same page, remember that Topps currently owns WizKids. Okay, here's Hair10's post. (Link is to the HCRealms thread.) I'll resume on the far side of it.

Here’s some more info from the inner workings of WK. I’ve known this for a bit but I promised the person who told me that I would hold on to it until at least the 15th. Why the 15th? As some of you may remember, it’s layoff day at WK.

As far as I know this information is accurate. I was told the below by a (now?) former WK employee and parts have been confirmed by other sources. But since it isn’t first-hand knowledge on my part I figured it was best placed in the “Rumor Mill” forum. It may be the last look at what goes on inside of WK as any contacts I might have had are now gone.

First, some old news but with some confirmation…

* Seth was let go, he didn’t leave of his own accord. When he was told he was going to be let go he chose his date rather than wait around until Aug. 15.
* Kelly Bonilla was given the helm of HC design. She’s a former MW lead designer and she did some Pirates too.
* Kelly has worked extensively on Hammer of Thor. In fact, the entire set was/is pretty much done by her.
* Kelly’s last day is today (August 15th) as she was also let go.
* There are two rounds of layoffs… August 15th and October 15th.

Now some new info…

* Anyone who may be left over now (after the Aug 15 date) is pretty much out the door on Oct 15. WK has cut something like 95% (guesstimate) of the staff.
* Pretty much the only people left are Jake Theis (HC Brand Manager), Wade and Rollie (Assistant Brand Managers), Justin Ziran (director of brand management), a few admin (such as financial and HR) people, and one other (who I’ll get to in a moment). Pretty much everyone else is gone. [Speculation – based on the Joe Huack article I saw early this month, I would expect the admin functions to be moved to Topps HQ in NY]
* Tiffany O’Brian was let go as well. As some of you know, she’s the Brand Manager for Pirates and Star Wars. [Speculation – both myself and the person I was talking to think that Pirates and Star Wars will be discontinued after whatever releases they have currently in the pipe.]
* All of the Consumer Experience Department is gone.
* All of the Editors are gone.
* All of the Marketing Department is gone.
* Some of those functions may go back to Topps corporate but there are no longer jobs in WK for them.
* Pretty much all of the Art Department is gone. Sculpting is being outsourced to China (we’re already seeing the effects in the SI set of that). Ben Misenar and Brian Dugas work will show up in Arkham and Hammer, but after that it’ll be Chinese sculpting shops. Ben and Brian will do some contract work only, but they are no longer on the WK payroll.
* The lease for the WK office is up in October (it’ll be interesting to see what happens there).

And now the 64 thousand dollar question… with Seth (and then Kelly) gone everyone wants to know who the new HC game designer will be? Well, it’s none other than Eric Engelhard (Caliban17), the current Consumer Experience Rep.

Before I say anything more, a bit of full disclosure… Engelhard is the guy that perma-banned me from the WK forums for “attempting to start an illegal mail campaign” when I posted that people should take their WF brick coupons that were getting returned and send them back to the WK offices to show that we were unhappy with the way it was handled.

I don’t really care about the banning (the WK forum is a joke anyway), but IMO the reasoning itself speaks volumes about the man. He was the person responsible for the CoG and Crisis events and all the screw-ups that went along with them (scheduling, mis-shipped prize support, lack of info, etc). The persons that I got this information from did not have kind things to say about him either (moron and brown-noser were the kinder terms used). A good many of the ex and current (at least until the 15th) employees were “horrified” to hear the news that he was taking over HC design (“horrified” was the exact word used). The kicker is that while he evidently reads a few comics, he barely knows HeroClix and he has no game design experience coming into this

The more I think about it, the more I realize that WK is an odd company. When faced with financial pressures, most companies refocus on their core products in an effort not to lose customers at the very least. If cuts are necessary, it’s middle management that usually takes the hit and not the guys in the trenches who are turning out product for you. But WK works in completely the opposite fashion. They farm out sculpting so the visual quality suffers. They sack the guys doing the work and turn it over to unqualified individuals to pick up the pieces and carry the future of your money makers. And somehow, through all of this, middle management remains.

Now, I realize I come off as a complainer here on these forums but I’ve never been a “THE END IS NEAR!” kind of guy. But I gotta say that it sure seems like Hammer of Thor might be the start of WizKids’ Ragnarok. We get one set designed by Kelly only to have the game handed over to a n00b after that. And IF Pirates and Star Wars are truly zombie game lines then that makes WK a one trick pony. WK appears to be in some pretty dire straights right now. Guess we wait and see what happens, but…

Whew.

My initial reactions weren't positive.

It seems amazing that they could so misjudge things. Am I the only one who is getting weird echoes of some bad decisions made in the history of the comics industry, as when some people decided that storytelling was relatively unimportant?

A completely inexperienced designer with little comics knowledge in charge of a game based on comics characters, and their sculptors let go..? Someone, somewhere up the chain apparently made the decision that these sets will sell on their own - just print anything with the comics connection and emphasize that it's going to be produced in limited numbers, and people will buy it. Yeah, it at least seems that whatever wasn't crushed under the boot of "Industry Standard" WotC approaches will be wiped out by the Topps "collectible" steamroller.

Some of the immediate speculation is that Topps may be making all of these immense trims so that the next two quarters come out as staggeringly profitable, and are intending to shop Wizkids to a new buyer. (Wizards of the Coast is the top postential buyer most are rushing towards.) All of that is strongly in the Speculation column.

I know I'm not about to just jump ship this early -- it at least appears we'll have some good things coming in Arkham Asylum and Hammer of Thor, so I'll deal with each as it comes and chart the course for the rest of '09 as information dictates. Worst case? This time next year I won't be spending any more money on clix, but I'll still have a huge collection covering the vast majority of the characters and plenty of extras to modify into characters that remained unmade.

Heroclix appears to continue to be a money-maker for the company, though, so I'm not expecting them to simply shut it down. What's more likely is that they'll push through what will essentially be more quality drops and increase the aggravation factor as concerns the true collectibility of the game.

As stated earlier, much of the info isn't heartening, but not all of it is immediately damning. None of it is immediately encouraging either, but I'm trying to step back from it and take a second look. It isn't as if we don't have time.

I'll be curious to see if any of the creative staff being let go will still be offered contract work. This wouldn't be the first operation that decided to cut its immediate overhead to the bone and then outsource most of it to people they have no long-term obligations to, including any benefits. However, if much of this is to be done post-HoT, they'll have to start dishing that work out soon. Hopefully WizKids' NDAs won't prevent the sculptors from saying something about it in advance -- even if it's just to say how many characters they have them working on -- and WizKids itself will start giving out heartening information about such things... though I guess they won't be likely to do that for at least a while, with two sets in the pipeline ahead of any such sets, which we've been given little to no info on.

Irking me a little is knowing that on some level the success of the next two sets will (likely) reflect positively back on those who remain, despite their having little to nothing to do with any of the aspects that matter. I shudder to think what little marketing tweaks might be coming from these muddled middle management types, especially if they're kowtowing to Topps' execs with their harder to get = more "exciting"/more collectible" mentality.

2008-07-25T08:10:00.001-04:00

In the Aftermath

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.

2008-07-18T19:52:00.003-04:00

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

2008-07-14T16:04:00.002-04:00

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.

2008-07-12T21:31:00.000-04:00

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.

2008-05-01T21:45:00.001-04:00

Adopt, Adapt... probably Overdone

This is one of those when given lemons, make lemonade deals. That, or I simply don't know how to use my time properly. These little excursions are almost completely for my own amusement anyway.

Since the most recent Marvel set, Mutations and Monsters, finally gave us a Super Adaptoid, it seems unlikely we'll see a remake anytime soon. What should have been a dynamic piece - a one-man team more or less - was instead delivered to us as something of a dud with a big target painted on him. The sculpt's nice, though, and I don't think he's completely beyond help.

Here I'll be seeing what can be done -- mainly via existing Feats, maybe with some quick notes at to allies -- to help bring as much of the threat he should have been as possible to the game.

The units section over at HCRealms has done such a nice job of placing all the info in one spot that I'll start by simply lifting their entry for the character:

So, for 143 points we have a character that's a flying giant for five of its nine clicks of life, though it's important to note that on his first click and on his final three he's grounded and normal-sized (due to Earthbound.) This is important as it allows him to be carried and makes him less of a target.

His Attack and Defensive Special Powers allow him to copy an Attack or Defense power from an opposing piece he gets within four spaces of, using a Power Action to do so. In the case of the Attack Drain he gets a free attack action with it, so he can copy and attack in the same action. Defense Drain is also triggered by a Power Action, so the same one that will allow him to copy an Attack Power will also let him copy someone else's Defensive power. The downside of this is that Defense Drain doesn't come in until the second click. Ideally, he'll be able to copy some potent powers, though if he's up against those without something that interesting or characters with Special Powers in their Attack or Defensive slots (remember, it's only standard or "named" powers, so only ones that relate directly to the Powers and Abilities Card), then the Adaptoid's dick outta luck. Once he does copy something, though, he gets to keep it until it's canceled, he loses the Attack/Defense Drain power from his dial, or he copies something else.

So, let's start with the most basic (and one of the most costly) fixes: Fortitude. For 25 points he now has his powers safeguarded from Outwit with the bonus that he also gets to ignore Exploit Weakness. For an additional 25 points he can also get Repulsor Shield, which allows him to ignore Force Blast, Psychic Blast and Ranged Combat Expert's +2 boost to Damage.

Next, since that leading click and those final three of human-sized status also have Shape Change, we may as well add for 8 points Camouflage. So long as he is on a click with Shape Change and "is adjacent to a wall or blocking terrain, any line of fire for a ranged combat attack drawn to the character is blocked." Handy.

The fact that aside from clicks two and three, where Damage peaks at 3, he's left with only a 2 Damage for the other seven clicks of his dial brings two feats to mind. One is Armor Piercing, since he should be able to deal some penetrating damage; this way if he hits he can at least get 1 click of Damage through. That's certainly worth 10 points. The other, especially since we're looking at a robot, or at least a technologically-derived pseudo-life-form, is Nanobots, which for another 10 points will allow him to turn an object that only he is adjacent to into 2 clicks of healing, removing the object from the game.

That takes the 143 pt Super Adaptoid and brings him up to a much more well-protected, potentially dangerous and resilient character at 221 points. I can live with that. The only other Feat that comes immediately to mind is In Contact With Oracle, which would allow him to boost a stat each round in which he takes an action. That would be another 10 points, though it would require at least one other member of the team also be such an "agent," too. For an AIM team this could be more or less In Contact With MODOK, for a Hydra team perhaps Red Skull or Baron Strucker, or for a Robot team... perhaps Ultron..?

Since he can't copy the powers of friendly characters the only really obvious power in an ally is to have someone with Telekinesis, since with no move-and-attack powers it'll be the only way to get him into position and active before an opponent has the opportunity to counter-attack. Just remember, he can only be carried or TKed while he's on his Earthbound clicks, hiding out more or less as a human being.

In terms of theme teams, well, at 221 points (231 if ICWO is employed) it's going to be very difficult to work him in within a 300 pt build except in unrestricted format, and even then it'll be with a bunch of low-point A.I.M. weenies. (Those with the A.I.M. keyword are a fairly small list.) Much better prospects - though one will definitely have to go for a higher build - await in the fairly voluminous Robot category.

2008-04-29T07:31:00.007-04:00

Free Iron Man

...this Saturday. (Edit: We-e-e-lllll it may not swing quite that way based on some late reports. It appears Diamond -- Wizkids exclusive distributor -- may have dropped the ball and some stores may not get theirs until after FCBD. Oh, those wacky scamps... Similarly, some stores may not be seeing their Anti-Monitor Action Packs this week either, despite tomorrow being the official sale date for them. Edit II: Dial added.)

Heroclix' contribution to Free Comic Book Day (May 3) will be an Iron Man piece using the sculpt from Armor Wars but with a new, 100 pt dial and SHIELD TA. It's an interesting combination, and unlike more recent FCBD pieces there's no purple ring, so it's eligible for team builds in official tournaments.

All info, along with commentary, below.

Not bad, both for 100 points and especially for a free piece. An interesting addition to SHIELD, and at least we have the Avengers connection there, too. Having Invincible pop back up in the middle of the dial is a nice touch, though one's likely to simply blow past it. A single target and the lack of Outwit or Perplex are steps back, but it's still a good set of options to have for a combat-mode Iron Man.

2008-04-29T06:47:00.002-04:00

The Coming Invasion

The following piece is from today's ICv2 report. (Reprinted at the bottom of this entry.) Not much new information of substance to those of us who've been watching, but this is the first time I've gotten to see the (not so pretty -- I'm not a fan of Yu's work) booster artwork -- presumably just half of it, since the pattern's been to split it up over four boosters.

As I'd dropped the Bendis-written Avengers series (New Avengers & Mighty Avengers) in '07 and have also been skipping the Secret Invasion miniseries by Bendis and Yu I've only been following it in some peripheral titles and occasionally checking the Wiki article on it for updates.

So far I haven't had anything shake me from the notion I went into this with: The core idea - that there's been a covert invasion by the shape-shifting Skrulls ongoing for a long time, recently kicked into high gear, was at the very least influential in the formation of the recent Avengers teams, that they've come up with a way to make themselves virtually undetectable, and that they're strategically targeting the greatest threats - is an excellent one, but that it will be much more enjoyable in a synopsis form, smoothed out. Hints of nuances of Skrull culture, including elements of religious fervor and how they view some of the Earthlings they know, Reed Richards ahead of all, are also appreciated. While I enjoy Bendis' work in some places he's much better off when he's handling relatively small casts and he really hasn't proven himself up to the task of handling a sweeping arc which tries to work with long-term character history.

And, if somehow, against the odds and experience, it turns out to be solidly crafted it's going to be collected in various trades by 2009.

Aside from the info below, the other info related to this set is that the MSRP will be taking another $1 spike, going to $11.99, and will almost certainly be felt by retailers attempting to sell product locally. I'm anticipating that those of us pressing on with Heroclix will be moving almost entirely to online sources, be that case buys and/or ebay bulk-buys of complete sets or subsets. Buying loose boosters with any serious intention of collecting a set has become the act of a lunatic or moron.

Indications are that this set won't have chase pieces (though October's DC Rogues set is supposed to have two, as Crisis did), but that as with Crisis we'll be looking at a limited edition, numbered Buy It By the Brick promotion. Given that that turned into a debacle when their limit of 5,000 turned it into a miserable race with far too many losers, I'll be interested to not only see what the piece is but what the production scale will be.

HeroClix Secret Invasion
Cross-promotion Planned
April 29, 2008

WizKids and Marvel are cooperating to incorporate a current editorial event in Marvel Comics into an upcoming HeroClix set. HeroClix: Secret Invasion will be released in late July, with special Secret Invasion packaging.

WizKids, Marvel, and Diamond/Alliance are collaborating on a cross-promotion to expose customers in stores that carry only games to comics; and to expose customers in stores that carry only comics to HeroClix. A display that will hold both HeroClix boosters and comics has been created. Alliance Game Distributors will select 400-500 game stores that don’t currently carry comics and send them the display with ten free copies of a special HeroClix edition (carrying the HeroClix logo) of Secret Invasion #1. Diamond Comic Distributors will select 100-200 comic stores that don’t carry HeroClix to receive the display with four free HeroClix: Secret Invasion boosters.

The Heroclix: Secret Invasion release caps off a busy two-month period in which three HeroClix products are released. Batman Boosters will release in June (see “HeroClix Batman Four Figure Booster”), and Fantastic Four Starters (which will include seven figures, six unique), in early July.

2008-04-29T06:30:00.001-04:00

Questionable Lessons
The Coming of Batman Alpha

In June, Heroclix will be releasing a mini set of clix centered on Batman. It's intended to be used as a gateway to Heroclix for new players, and will be available in more mass-market venues, so initially I'm expecting them to show up in spots such as Target and/or Wal-Mart.

The booster format will be four characters, a Batman in each booster, the Batman piece visible. There will be character cards, but no Feats or Battlefield Conditions. There will be no Special Powers, though there will be character cards. There will be keywords for theme team consideration for when players integrate these pieces into regular Heroclix play. The character cards will allow those who play under the vastly simplified Alpha rules to play without referencing a Powers and Abilities Card since it will explain the power mechanics; more on that shortly. There will be no Team Abilities.

It will be a 30-piece set - 31 if one counts a Batman version they'll apparently be using to lure people in to a special event - using previously issued sculpts with new point costs and dials. Nothing in the set will have a rarity level higher than Rare, so they should all be easy to come by.

My initial observations about the expansion are as follows:
Bringing people into a game and teaching them not only different rules, but significantly different mechanics, is probably not the best way to get them to play the full and official game of Heroclix. (Take a look at the power key, updated as far as I have info to do so, and ask how many players will want to go back to half-Speed Charge and Running Shot, or leave behind Evade or Cover, or drop the wonderfully passive protection of Alpha's version of Outwit, among others.)
While the Batman family of characters will be affected badly by the lack of the Batman TA's perma-stealth, the Batman enemies have a better chance of being more solid pieces without that TA adding points and dragging them down.
This is a good opportunity for newer players to get hold of versions of rare sculpts such as Oracle and especially Alfred.

Here is a key of the known Alphaclix powers. While some, such as Toughness, appear to work as Heroclix players expect, most of the others are altered:

Charge: If you move and punch, use your full speed.
Cover: After attack, move up to 2.
Expert Punch: Replaces CCE - deal +2 damage.
Explosion: If you hit an enemy, deal 1 damage to every enemy adjacent to it.
Evade: After an attack, move up to 4.
Flurry: Once each turn if you hit with a punch, you can punch another enemy.
Force Blast: After you damage an enemy with an attack, you move the enemy to an adjacent open square.
Good Luck: Reroll dice once when you attack; use the new result.
Heal: Instead of attacking, give an adjacent friend 2 health.
Mastermind: You can be attacked only once each turn.
Mind Control: If attack hits, move enemy up to its speed instead of dealing damage.
Outwit: Enemies can't use attack powers against you.
Poison: Instead of attacking, deal 1 damage to all enemies adjacent to you.
Rally: Friends adjacent to you get +1 attack and +1 defense.
Shield: Add +2 defense when an enemy shoots at you.
Slash: If you roll doubles and hit with a punch, deal +2 damage.
Stealth: If you're in hindering terrain, you can't be shot at.
Super Strength: If you punch while in or adjacent to hindering terrain, add +1 damage
Toughness: Reduce damage taken by -1.
Weaken: Enemies that begin their turn adjacent to you can't move and attack. Enemies that move on their turn can't attack only you.

And here's what we know about the actual pieces in the set. No ranges, targets or stats, and one of these Batman pieces will not be in the boosters, but it's a good start. There are some at least initially promising pieces in here:

Batman
rookie 50 pts
keywords: Gotham City, Justice League of America
skills: Running Shot, Leap, Toughness, Leadership

Batman (Icons starter)
Veteran 70 pts
Keywords: Detective, Gotham City, JLA, Justice League, Outsiders
Skills: Leap, Charge, Cover, Outwit

The Masked Manhunter (Batman Legacy?)
Veteran 60 pts
Keywords: Detective, Gotham City
Skills: Stealth, Mastermind, Shape Change, Outwit

The Caped Crusader (Dark Knight Convention clix?)
Rookie 50 pts
Keywords: Gotham City, Martial Artist
Skills: Flurry, Evade, Toughness, Expert Punch

The Batman (Origins)
Experienced 60 pts
Keywords: Detective, Gotham City, Martial Artist
Skills: Charge, Leap, Cover, Outwit

The Boy Wonder (Tim Drake - Icons?)
Veteran 60 pts
Keywords: Gotham City, Teen, Teen Titans
Skills: Leap, Charge, Weaken, Evade, Rally

Nightwing (Hypertime?)
Veteran 70 pts
Keywords: Gotham City, Teen Titans
Skills: Leap, Charge, Evade, Super Senses, Leadership

Batgirl (Barbara Gordon- Unleashed)
Rookie 30 pts
Keywords: Detective, Gotham City
Skills: Leap, Evade, Super Reflexes

Robin (Robin - Icon starter?)
Rookie 30 pts
Keywords: Detective, Gotham City, Teen
Skills: Leap, Cover

The Clown Prince of Crime (Joker - Legacy)
Veteran 70 pts
Keywords: Gotham City, Monster
Skills: Charge, Poison, Shape Change, Exploit Weakness, Evade

The Joker (starter) (Icons)
Experienced 40 pts
Keywords: Gotham City
Skills: Explosion, Poison, Mastermind, Evade

Harley Quinn (starter) (Icons)
Rookie 30 pts
Keywords: Gotham City
Skills: Stealth, Super Senses, Expert Shot

Catwoman (Hypertime? Hypertime unique?)
Experienced 40 pts
Keywords: Gotham City
Skills: Stealth, Flurry, Slash, Outwit

Mr. Freeze (Legacy)
Experienced - 60 pts.
Keywords: Gotham City, Scientist
Skills; Bind, Weaken, Expert Shot

Riddler (Hypertime)
Rookie 60 pts
Keywords: Gotham City
Skills: Cover, Good Luck, Super Senses

Penguin (Cosmic Justice)
Experienced 40 pts.
Keyword: Gotham City, Politician
Skills: Force Blast, Cover, Shield, Rally

Killer Croc (Unleashed)
Experienced 90 pts
Keywords: Brute, Gotham City, Monster
Skills: Charge, Slash, Toughness

Bane (Hypertime)
Experienced 70 pts
Keyword: Brute
Flurry, Charge, Super Strength, Toughness

Poison Ivy (Cosmic Justice)
Experienced 50 pts
Keywords: Gotham City, Scientist
Skills: Mind Control, Poison

Ra's Al Ghul (Icons?)
Experienced 80 pts
Keywords: Gotham City, League of Assassins
Skills: Stealth, Slash, Mastermind, Regeneration

Scarecrow (Icons?)
Experienced, 60 pts.
Gotham City Scientist
Mind Control, Mind Blast, Mastermind

Two-Face (Cosmic Justice)
Experienced 60 pts
Keywords: Gotham City
Skills: Cover, Mastermind, Leadership, Heal

Commisioner Gordon (Hypertime)
Veteran 50 pts.
Keywords: Gotham City, Police
Skills: Bind, Defend, Leadership

Mad Hatter (Hypertime)
Experienced 50 pts
Keywords: Gotham City
Skills: Mind Control, Cover, Leadership

Talia (Legacy)
Experienced 20 pts
Keywords: Gotham City, League of Assassins
Skills: Flurry, Slash

Clayface (Collaterial Damage)
Veteran, 60 pts.
Keywords: Brute, Gotham City
Skills: Bind, Toughness, Shape Change

Oracle (Legacy)
Veteran 50 pts
Keywords: Detective, Gotham City, JLA
Skills: Mind Control, Shield, Leadership, Rally

Alfred (Origin)
Veteran 40 pts
Keyword: Gotham City
Skills: Stealth, Explosion, Heal

GCPD (Hypertime)
Rookie 20 pts.
Keywords: Gotham City, Police
Skills: Bind

Huntress (Hypertime)
Experienced 40 pts.
Keywords: Gotham City, JLA, Martial Artist
Skills: Running Shot, Cover

The Dynamic Duo (Batman and Robin duo) (Justice League)
Veteran 80 pts
Keywords: Gotham City
Skills: Charge, Flurry, Toughness, Outwit

2008-03-14T21:26:00.001-04:00

Start Again

A first, brief look at 2008's Heroclix starter. (Click on the image for a larger view.)

We see Ben ready to throw a punch to follow the one he's apparently just thrown, Sue with a force field shield around one hand, Johnny bursting into flame, Reed carrying some high-tech weapon/device, Dr. Doom and one of those Latverian soldiers/early Doombots... and probably another of the same or something similar just a bit too far to the left for us to see.
The text accompanying the ad:

The Marvel Heroclix Fantastic Four Starter Game contains everything you need to join the exciting world of Heroclix. This Starter Game features the Fantastic Four vs Doctor Doom in an exciting, open-windowed Action Pack presentation, and it contains the latest and most up-to-date version of the HeroClix rules and powers and abilities card. This product is a must-have for all HeroClix players!

Starter Game Contents
- 7 HeroClix figures with character cards
- The 2008 Heroclix rulebook
- 1 powers and abilities card
- 1 two-sided, full-colour, 24" x 36" map
- 2 six-sided dice
- 1 set of object and terrain markers

...and this appears to be due in late June or early July.

I'm not thrilled with more generics being packaged in starters/action packs, but aside from that I'm looking forward to it. I'm especially interested in seeing how the team fits together and how the blend of special powers works out.

Update: Here's the way the starter will actually look:

2008-01-11T17:39:00.000-05:00

Return of the Titans

Wizkids ended the week with a preview of another of the original Teen Titans: Speedy.

...and it at least borders on ridiculously good for a mere 45 points.

Reasonably good base stats, Running Shot for two clicks, a good blend of Energy Shield/Deflection and Willpower, one Special Power that gives a +1 to ranged attacks and which will work with his Running Shot, and a second Special Power that enables him to remove up to three hindering and/or Barrier markers and make an attack in the same turn?!

Consider the latter power for a moment.

He could, providing the squares in question were within 8 spaces of him, open a hole in a Barrier (that he and any of his teammates could exploit) and potentially remove the hindering terrain one or two characters are using... and still make an attack in the same action. The wording at least strongly suggests that he can't make hindering terrain that's originally on the map disappear, but even so, many players pointedly destroy objects and walls in order to deny an opponent an objects and/or to give themselves some cover, especially for their Stealthed characters. Speedy can make that go away. Even just the ability to remove Barrier squares is a big one. Consider, too, that it doesn't say he has to remove them from in front of his eventual target; he could free a teammate within range who's had a Barrier thrown up around him, and then go after an opposing piece.

As with the power and efficiency of Kid Flash, it makes me wonder what their mentors and/or older selves will be packing the next time we see them in clix? We're supposed to be seeing a Barry Allen Flash in this set. If the scale-up is at all accurate... wow.

Time (and previews) will tell.

In the meantime, though, it does make me feel that the recent versions of Green Arrow we were given in Justice League were shorted at least a little.

2008-01-10T00:02:00.000-05:00

Mutations and Monsters
How it went (& where it's heading)

This shouldn't be a long post, as I won't be revisiting Mutations and Monsters in detail in this post. I'm just trying to look at how the experience of collecting it has gone, along with better determining where things stand as I look at the 2008 sets.

The set hit the streets the day before Thanksgiving, and the holiday along with the UPS shipping (UPS considers Black Friday to be something of a holiday, and will only deliver and significantly move high priority/air shipments that day and on weekends) conspired to see me wait until the following Monday for my delivery. I'd gone straight in for what I'd hoped would be a kill by getting two cases up front -- which is just 8 clix more than what we used to get in a single case under the pre-Avengers system. While in general I did well with the distribution, and even pulled above the statistical norm of 6 uniques/case, as with Justice League and Avengers I still ended up short by one Super Rare. Much as was the case with Justice League it turned out to be the one Super Rare that is more sought after than its fellows: Apocalypse. Though all manner of odd trades are possible, it's unlikely I'd find someone willing to trade an Apocalypse for any other, single Super Rare in this set, so my extras of Hulkbuster, Mastermind, Cassandra Nova, cosmic zombie Wolverine, zombie Iron Man or Silver Savage would not be likely to get me an Apocalypse... and I'm loathe to try trading 2:1 for him at this point.

This past Monday I played in the second sealed event (week five) of the nine-week M&M tournament series and didn't manage to pull an Apocalypse. At this stage I have no reason to buy any more boosters from the set -- it would be flatly stupid to do so in pursuit of one, super-rare piece. So, I'm essentially considering the booster-pullable portion of the set to be wrapped. Should one come to me in a trade or some other fashion, that'll be fine, but in the meantime I'm calling my set completed.

Despite being so mutant-heavy it was a fairly solid and enjoyable set which I'm still working my way through using. Next Monday night we have a 2007 event -- build a team of up to 20 characters, up to 2007 pts, using pieces from sets released in 2007. That should give me a good shot at using whatever pieces I want.

As predicted, the appearance of 6th element items (the Feats, Battlefield Conditions, Objects and Event Dials) made them individually sufficiently rare that one would be guaranteed to still at least be looking for four of them after buying a case (20 boosters), and depending upon extras of individual ones pulled and the desirability of having various items in multiples, even two cases of boosters is still likely to leave someone who likes to have multiples of Feats, Objects and some of the bystanders feeling rather anemic. The distribution of these within bricks and cases, though, seemed to be about as well done as they could manage, so those concentrated buys (along with considerations for discount pricing) remains vastly superior to any thoughts of buying loose boosters.

Speaking of pricing, the two cases, after all discounts and shipping were applied, yielded a per booster price of just under $7.19. Were I to buy them locally at a retailer they would be $10.99 + $0.66 tx = $11.65 per booster. A difference of $4.46.

While I still (minorly) lament having bought in at this depth without having come away with a truly complete set, I nonetheless am glad I went the way I did. Many of the extra cards were desired, and the set had several pieces I considered to be generic, and so would want to retail to build forces of: Brood, Cuckoo, Miek, Korg and Warskrull. While the last is a Super Rare (and I did end up with two of them) the first three are Commons and the fourth an Uncommon, so many of the boosters with familiar faces had one or more pieces that still went into my main collection rather than in with the extras.

As I look ahead to Crisis, a DC set, so far I'm left with less of a clear path. At the moment there are no pieces confirmed or even strongly rumored for the set that are generics. Indeed, two that were initially very likely - Shadow Demons and Thunderers - were pointedly removed from consideration because of a decision that straddles the line between the sadistic and the moronic: They were kept out of the expansion but one of each will accompany the Anti-Monitor in April's Anti-Monitor Action Pack.

So, instead of including them as commons in a set, where many of the collectors would be waiting to assemble large groups of them because that's how they appeared in the source stories in the comics, and so they would retain a value above their fellow Commons, a single one of each has been put in an Action Pack. A more obvious Lose:Lose move is difficult to conceive.

The decision on how deeply to buy into the set remains very difficult, especially when one knows that even buying two cases will not guarantee all of the pieces, but will most assuredly guarantee hefty numbers of extras in the Commons, Uncommons, and generally 1-3 extras of each of the Rares.

Well, it's hardly a life or death matter, or at least not until the next credit card statement...

2008-01-09T20:32:00.000-05:00

Crisis Countdown: Where We Stand

I haven't put anything since before Thanksgiving -- never even running a post on Mutations & Monsters post-release -- but I'm in the mood for at least a little catch-up and early considerations for this next, DC set, due to hit stores February 20th.

Ultimately, this, as with most of my blog entries, is a place for me to collect my thoughts on an issue. Hopefully it'll be of some passing interest to someone else, but if so that's a bonus. Here I'm in a run-up to whatever buying decision I'll be making on the set.

So far the Crisis gallery only has six items in it.

The first one shown to us was the Buy It By the Brick mail-away World's Finest duo. A duo piece on a larger (Sentinel-sized. covering 4 map squares) base, this 500 pt piece at least initially appears destined to be much more likely a collector's piece than a serious draw for gamers. More seriously dangerous, independently-moving Batman and Superman combinations are out there to be had, plus Feats, for much less than the 500 pts. While the dual TA (it has both Batman and Superman TAs) is a fun first for the game, it's important to remember that a base that size means they'll have to find a great deal of hindering terrain if they want to use the Batman TA effectively for protection. Any square not over hindering is a target.

As a side note on the piece, while I understand the thematic interest in having this piece represent those Batman/Superman team-ups, would it have been such an affront to have included some form of Justice League keyword? At it stands they're only open for Detective, Gotham City, Metropolis and Reporter theme teams. Granted, any theme team they'd be a part of would have to be huge and include a good number of low-point pieces, but I'm all about the options in this game.

Next shown was another piece with a large point cost: Mordru. As an official preview, it included a write-up by Seth.

At 245 points, the rare (piece #42) Mordru is ones sanity demands one put 25 points for Fortitude on in order to protect what those points were spent on. The lack of any move and attack powers will most likely mean considerable time as a target. Indeed, while it's still around (Armor Wars will be retiring this summer) I'd be tempted to go whole hog and spend another 25 points on Repulsor Shield. While Fortitude imparts protection from Outwit and Exploit Weakness, Repulsor Shield extends that protection to Force Blast, Psychic Blast and and Ranged Combat Expert.

It would help if we had a clarification whether he has the 10 range Seth mentions in his write-up or the 12 shown on their site.

The next two were added earlier this week: Batwoman and Kid Flash.

To be honest, I don't care about Batwoman enough to spend the time on the piece just now, so the confusion from having at least the base in the picture on their site plainly being for Batgirl, with a seventy-something point value and the Batman Ally TA... I'll at least wait until clearer info is up for her.

As for the Kid Flash (Wally West), this is a neat-o little 45 point piece, which I think sufficiently highly of to take the time to represent it below:
Really, while the lack of Super Senses and/or Energy Shield/Deflection might give one pause, the 18 Defense and ability to move over and through everything, added to the 18 Defense, helps considerably. This is a fine package for 45 points. Two clicks of Hypersonic Speed Option 1 followed by three of Charge. On his second and third clicks he gets a Flurry effect built in, and on those three Charge clicks he also gets a special power that enables him to use Force Blast as a free action, so if he wants to shift an opposing piece during his turn -- perhaps even the one he just finished Charging, creating some space between them -- he can do it without having to burn an action on it.

Today, Dawnstar and Jericho were added.

Dawnstar's an effective addition to the Legion of Superheroes team. At 60 points she's a flying Hypersonic Speed (via the Special Power: Tracker) piece with front-loaded Willpower and another Special Power, Quarry, which lets her choose one opposing piece at the start of the game which her and all of her teammates get a +1 against to their Attack Values. While her maximum Damage of 2 won't see her striking fear into the hearts of pieces with Invulnerability or Impervious, she's going to be very useful. Cheesy players may decide to play more than one of her, since (unless it's FAQed away) her Quarry could be stackable. Put two of her on the team and one could either get a +1 boost against two of the opposing pieces or a +2 to one, if there's someone with a high Defense Value to crack.

It's going to take a little time to get used to fliers not having flight stands anymore. I know that the case was there Mordru and the World's Finest team above, but it really stands out when someone with wings comes up.

Jericho has the same, wordy Possession special power Deadman was given in the Justice League set, which is to say that many may not want to field him. Though Jericho can at least do some direct attack damage. At least with opening Willpower he can theoretically move into position on one turn and roll to take possession the next, providing his clock hasn't been seriously cleaned in between.

General write-ups for Harbinger, Uncle Sam and the Infinite Crisis Event Dial were really the first things given to us, just before the holidays. I've still not used any of the Event Dials -- more a matter of opportunity than desire -- and the final call on Harbinger and Uncle Sam awaits seeing their stats; How cool dial tricks and options are vary considerably with the stats.

So far the only confirmed pieces are:
Commons:
#2 Classic Titans Kid Flash
#7 Jericho

Uncommons:
#17 Red Hood (Jason Todd)
#19 Batwoman
#22 Dawnstar

Rares:
#35 Uncle Sam (Transporter) 140 pts
#39 Harbinger 50 pts
#42 Mordru

Super-Rares:
#53 Black Adam
#60 Monitor
Spectre (Giant) Super-Rare
Nightwing (disco costume)and Starfire (Duo) Super-Rare

And those we don't yet know the rarity of:
Superman (unknown version)
Batman (unknown version)
Forerunner
Flash (Barry)
Wonder Woman (Titans of Tomorrow Armor?)
Green Lantern (Kyle Rayner - new costume)
"evil" Mary Marvel
Supernova

At 20 -- many of them still very poorly defined -- that's theoretically one third of the set. Still, only five of those are full reveals. It's still far too scant a list of info for me to make any order decisions about.

Going back to this past November, we had a sneak peek article in a gaming magazine that was really more of a press release, given that it was written by Brand Manager Mark Tuttle (click on the image for a larger view):

... the key points of which are that this set will contain:
* A character that's over 300pts
* TWO Full superhero teams
* ONE Full super villian team
* ONE double based figure
* more than one giant
* more than one Duo figure

Of course, we don't know if counted among the giants will be Uncle Sam, who gains giant status, or Harbinger, who gains Duo status, each at some point on their dials due to Special Powers.

Current front-runners for the 300+ piece are the new Spectre and Superman Prime. I'm hoping for the latter, as it'll be more representative of a piece with Silver Age Superboy/man abilities, and I'm hoping to have a Spectre I might more readily field as part of a Golden Age JSA team and be able to play the team at or below 700 points.

Hopefully the accelerated previews we're seeing this week will continue, with a main write-up and official sneak peek happening each Friday.

So far the set's looking good, but I've not been bowled over yet. The new rarity scheme is making cold-buy collecting problematic -- something I've talked a bit about before and plan to again when I do a quick catch-up piece on Mutations & Monsters perhaps later this week.

2007-11-08T23:14:00.000-05:00

Mutations and Monsters: The List?

This appears credible, so I'm running with it. Based on the info -- which could certainly go wrong in the details -- I'm glad I ordered strongly into this set.

The Commons (1-16) Two to three per booster:

1. Marvel Girl - 40 pts
2. Cyclops - 50 pts
3. Beast - 50 pts
4. Iceman - 60 pts

Hmmm... those are all from their first appearance. No Angel from that period in the mix, though. Those four make a 200 pt team... and the Danger Room Angel is 50 pts.

5. Strong Guy - 124 pts (Oh, it'll be nice to see Guido.)
6. Pete Wisdom - 33 pts (Odd little choice.)
7. Brood - 49 pts (Terrific! Another generic common!)
8. Box - 125 pts
9. Cuckoo - 40 pts Already known and still awaited.
10. Maverick - 63 pts (I'll be interested to see how his kinetic energy-absorbing powers will be handled.)
11. Dazzler - 48 pts
12. Colossus - 158 pts (Interested in seeing how the rumored, built-in Fastball Special will work.)
13. Agent Brand - 44 pts (Eh.)
14. Bishop - 100 pts (A new version? Well, it makes some sense since the other was from Mutant Mayhem)
15. The Hood - 28 pts (At the smallest point value in the set I'm maybe expecting something along the lines of what we had in Armor Wars with Ghost.)
16. Miek - 60 pts (Potentially another alien generic, and still among the commons.)

The Uncommons (16-32) One to two per booster:

17. Hulk - 143 pts (Gray with tattered shirt. We might have a First Apperance Hulk -- hopefully one with an Avengers keyword.)
18. Korg - 82 pts (An uncommon, and a little pricey for the role, but another potentially used as an alien generic.)
19. Absorbing Man - 184 pts (Ah! Oh, let's hope they've gotten the special powers worked out well. Also I'm hoping for a cool sculpt.)
20. Morph - 90 pts
21. Mimic - 148 pts
22. Gorgon - 110 points (At last! That leaves Triton and a proper remake of Medusa.)
23. Cyclops - 75 pts (Age of Apocalypse)
24. Shatterstar - 57 pts
25. Zaxx - 126 pts
26. Chamber - 45 pts
27. Beast - 73 pts
28. Giant Man - 97 pts (a zombie, reportedly eating the Black Panther. Eh.)
29. Iceman - 100 pts (Ah! A newer - modern? - version?)
30. X-23 - 35 pts (Look! Teen Wolverine with a sex change!)
31. Professor X - 131 pts
32. Gambit - 90 pts (This'll likely make some people happy.)

Rares (33-48) One to two per booster:

33. Green Scar - 230 pts
34. Archangel - 95 pts
35. Ahab - 88 pts
36. Fabian Cortez - 61 pts (Hmm... a mutant who could amp up the abilities of other mutants, sometimes to levels dangerous even to themselves. This could be the basis for an intriguing Special Power.)
37. Jean Grey - 90 pts (Age of Apocalypse)
38. Omega Red - 124 pts
39. Danger - 124 pts (Ah. The Danger Room made robotic.)
40. Devil Dinosaur and Moon Boy - 151 pts (And the world asks "Why?")
41. Spiderman - 41 pts (Zombie)
42. Unus the Untouchable - 90 pts (At last!)
43. Black Tom Cassidy - 55 pts
44. The Leader - 116 pts (Oh, hopefully a vast improvement over the earlier version.)
45. High Evolutionary - 143 pts (Interesting.)
46. Arcade - 86 pts
47. Super Adaptoid - 143 pts (Classic Look)
48. The Wrecker - 230 pts (Ah! I'll reserve judgment, though, since this game doesn't tend to do grounded bricks well.)

Super Rares (49-60) Roughly one in three boosters:

49. Cassandra Nova - 142 pts (Brrrrrapp! Well, Seth seems to have a thing for Grant Morrison jags, so I suppose this was inevitable.)
50. Hulkbuster - 165 pts
51. Silver Savage - 96 pts
52. Mastermind - 117 pts (As with Unus -- At last!)
53. Emma Frost - 107 pts (Reportedly in her diamond form. I'll be interested in seeing the interpretation in the dial.)
54. Living Monolith - 104 (Ha! Well, there's an interesting choice.)
55. Iron Man - 70 pts (Zombie)
56. Wolverine - 148 pts (Zombie)
57. Storm - 100 pts (Mohawk and black leather version)
58. Warskrull - 110 pts (I'm a little confused, since this appears to be a special class of Skrull... which would make it a lousy choice for a Super Rare.)
59. Apocalypse - 250 pts
60. Maestro - 195 pts (Hmmm. Under 200 pts? I'm curious!)
61. Dark Beast - 69 pts
62. Rampaging Hulk - 128 pts

Only 4 zombies in the mix - 5 if you count the Wasp bystander - which was welcome news.

Apparently three functional generics in within the commons - Brood, Cuckoo and Miek. Wonderful!

Plenty of pieces I've been waiting for. It remains to be seen how well executed many of them are, but I'm encouraged.

2007-11-04T16:27:00.001-05:00

rarer than Rare?

One thing I'd noticed in collecting the first two sets of Heroclix under the new set construction - Avengers and Justice League - is that it can be a pain in the ass to collect the cardboard items that are the 6th element in a booster. With Mutations and Monsters that's about to go up a notch.

This isn't at all a doomsaying post, but just something I think it's important for people to anticipate as they look towards collecting the new set starting in less than three weeks.

We all know that under the new set structure the Super Rares have become chase pieces. Certainly not at the rarified level of the at least questionable (I'm trying to be charitable here and not turn the thread down a side-path) move they did with Supernova and Origin, but most people who weren't either very lucky or had LEs to trade have found it difficult to collect a complete set of SRs. No news there. At that level we're still watching for the list to be filled in so we can see which ones are likely to be hot and which are less likely to be seen as solid trade material.

Also, I'm sure I'm not the only one who's noticed that collecting a complete set of cardboard elements from Avengers and Justice League didn't tend to prove easy, all the less so if one wanted to gather multiples of any of them. The new booster design dropped their occurrence noticeably now that there's only 1 per every 5 clix instead of 1 per 4.

In both Justice League and Avengers we had 18 of what I'll refer to as 6th element items (something beyond the 5 clix in a booster, which for those first two sets were only cardboard), and as noted above I'd never had as much difficulty getting a complete set of cardboard, including some multiples of interesting Feats, in any set before the structure change. Once I heard about the Events Dials being in the same slot I'd hoped they would trim other card elements so that we at least would only be dealing with the same level of difficulty.

Not so, it appears.

With Mutations and Monsters, it seems, the mathematics of the set are going to make accumulating multiples, especially more than two, of any of the 6th element bits (not that one would have much use for more than one of the Event Dials or even BFCs, but objects, Feats and perhaps a few of the bystanders may become sought after as multiples) more difficult than any earlier set.

I'm estimating roughly 23-25 of these elements in M&M, so even if meticulously distributed through a case (and we know they've done this before when they set their minds to it) that still wouldn't be a complete set of 6th element pieces in a case. Chances are, it won't be that even-handed. As with the Super Rares these elements won't have a parity of value, so the poor shmuck whose luck brings him a plethora of bystanders and maybe BFCs and a deficit of the other items is likely to find it difficult to trade those extras directly for Feats, Objects and perhaps even Event Dials.

I'm figuring 7 bystanders, 3 BFCs, 2 Special Objects, 6 Event Dials and 6 Feats, the last based on partially pulled information found on a Spanish Heroclix site - so that's 24 pieces occurring in that extra spot beyond the 5 clix in a booster. Since there are only 16 Rares and they, too, are 1 per booster, the individual 6th element pieces are now solidly, technically rarer than Rare. (We won't discuss the three LE Feats that will be out there, because whether they're there to be won or handed out as participation pieces they're not going to be in boosters, so they're not part of this discussion.)

So, for now, I'm just mentioning that collectors/players should keep in mind that what's of value in the set may be changing in a way that may seem odd. Most of the Commons, Uncommons and Rares under the new set structure have dropped in trade value. I'm expecting Cuckoos and perhaps Korg, who could be viewed as a generic in some circles despite the specific name, will hold more trade value, but most of the rest will be fairly easily found and soon will be lightly esteemed by the average clix buyer. The 6th element bits, though, I'm suspecting more of those will be sought after. During the summer and early fall events I increasingly saw people causally giving away commons, uncommons and even rares, considering them so worthless and not useful in the least for trading for the pieces they really wanted (the SRs) that they didn't even try lining up a trade. Some where that way with the cardboard, too. I'm... just advising that you may want to revise your estimate of what trading value these extra bits beyond the clix may end up having before you go tossing things away because you have an outdated illusion that they will be very easy to come by.

2007-11-03T01:26:00.000-04:00

Mutations and Monsters: The (Curious) Bystanders

A leak via a Spanish Heroclix site gave us the seven bystanders from the upcoming set. I'll have something to say connected to the slot they fill in the set, but I'll do that as part of another post when I get around to it. These are really all simply for my amusement anyway.

For now, it's onto Seth's sometimes curious choices for beings with not long to live in most games unless they stay out of the way.

First, we have Val Cooper, a government operative whose specialty has been mutant relations of one stripe or another since Claremont and John Romita jr. created her almost 25 years ago. Seven points for a Stealthed character with a 6 range and 9 Attack Value -- albeit with a 1 Damage, so who really cares about that? -- could be useful. I expect her to mostly be carried around as a stealth shield. As a normal human she's reasonable game for being a bystander.

Next, at 6 points, is Lila Cheney, she's a musician, thief and mutant, using her teleportation powers for personal gain. So, it's another bystander with a power, Phasing/Teleport, and a Speed of 10, so she can get places if you need her to.

Another Claremont creation, she's been around almost as long as Val has. Not likely to be any good as an attacker, unable to take a punch and likely to be hit if one's thrown, her main utility appears to be as a highly mobile blocking or tie-up piece or simply as bait. Either way, she's going to be a sacrifice piece on a team. Still, if she can do any of those things with the right pieces, she'll have been worth more than her 6 pts. I have no doubt that fans will be irritated that she received such shoddy treatment, especially when another mutant musician she sometimes played with - Dazzler - will be getting a sculpt and more than one click of life.

One last note: While bragging about one's own ignorance is generally not a good trait, I must confess that I'm feeling good about not even recognizing that despite the name and powers being Lila Cheney that the image is, in fact, Jubilee from her Age of Apocalypse incarnation.
The third bystander's a strange choice. Swarm is a composite being, a human intelligence that was essentially consumed by mutated bees and whose intelligence now controls them. Hardly a major villain, but to be fair he gave both the Champions and Spider-man some grief, so this is a sad state to find him in. Leap/Climb allows him mobility and Super Senses potentially helps him avoid being hit, so he's potentially a tie-up piece, but for 11 points his 8 AV, 6 range and 1 Damage he's hardly a shoo-in. Still, I suppose one could play multiple Swarms as a composite being... if you happen to pull more than one. (There's that element I'll be doing a separate post on sometime soon.)
In the fourth spot we have Jarella, once-beloved of the Hulk when he was shifted to that microverse and magic imbued him with Banner's intelligence. She's long dead, and looking at her bystander token there doesn't seem to be a great deal of life either. Need 5 points for Mastermind fodder or as a meat shield, well, here it is. I can't even get myself to bother working up a Hulk scenario for using her.
Recent comics star (at least over in the Hulk line) Amadeus Cho, teenage supergenius. Well, that way everyone can hate him. A recently-created addition to the Marvel universe, Reed Richards tagged Cho as the "seventh smartest person in the world." Basically, revive all your loathing for Wesley Crusher, plug that in and multiply it by some random whole number and you'll have the right attitude for him.

What makes Cho stand out a little is that he's the first bystander with a special power. Well. See? Now you can die in peace and fulfillment. It grants him Outwit as a Power Action, so he has to get into place and then Outwit on a separate turn. Certainly, one can potentially make it work, but he's ultimately going to be an easy 11 points for one's opponent in most teams.

Next we have a Native Warrior, and by this we mean an insect-like native of the planet Sakaar. Again, we're looking at an 11 pt pog. Leap/Climb and Toughness, I suppose these could be useful, but that 1 Damage... Really, would it have been terrible to make them 20-25 pt, full-sculpt commons in the set? Finally, remembering that the Marvel Zombie plague is also part of this set, we have what remains of that world's Janet Pym: A zombie head in a protective bubble atop a robotic body. Apparently a fairly crappy robot body. Only six points and at least she can't infect anyone. To paraphrase another dead guy, "She's dead already."

Anything especially inspiring? No, not really. Some bits of potential here and there, but I'd be in favor of not making any more bystanders.

2007-11-02T20:42:00.000-04:00

Mutations and Monsters Battlefield Conditions & 1 Object

Another preview today, it's the Battlefield Conditions and one special object.

Including the Battlefield Condition to be given out at the pre-release (fourth one down in this list) we have three BFCs to be found in boosters.

The first is the reprint of an old favorite for many players: Deep Shadows. For line of fire purposes all squares of clear terrain are considered hindering, so by itself it can be a stealthed team's dream. All ranges, including those for powers such as Outwit, Perplex and Probability Control are dropped to 6. This will be a terrific card to play with a theme team and then ignore it. A non-theme opponent will have his range chopped while you'll still be able to see clearly through the clear terrain.

Next, we have the first of the new BFCs with one old (well, middlin' at least) X-Men fans will recognize: Krakoa the Living Island.

With Krakoa in play each player can, at the end of his turn, choose to use an adjacent, unoccupied square of outdoor hindering, blocking or elevated terrain and make an attack roll with an Attack Value of 9 and a Damage of 2 against the target. The target cannot be knocked back by the attack. If the attack succeeds but the target takes no damage (if it has Invulnerability or Impervious) and has zero or one token on it, give the target an action token.

Wow! The only question I have here is if "target" offers any defense for Stealthed pieces. It's as if the terrain's come alive and made a close combat attack, so I'm thinking it won't, but we'll need an official word on that.

Next, it's Sue Richards in her bondage gear thanks to some serious tinkering by the Psychoman -- it's Malice (The Battlefield Condition.) Try to hurt your opponent or else you'll hurt yourself!

Those going to the pre-release events will receive the Planet Hulk-themed The Great Arena. Any successful attack where one rolls doubles is a critical hit. A little spice that isn't biased toward either player, but which can help provide some upsets. Cool.

An object in the set is the second (so we know there's at least one more) and it's the Shield Disruptor. Anyone within 4 spaces of this object has no damage-reducing powers. Simple and potentially deadly; place it near where one expects one's opponent's forces will try to gather as they move out onto the map. This will be an interesting one for Arcade to give marching orders to with his Murderbots power, too, come to think of it.