Happy New Year! Thanks for giving me a little time at the start of your new year, and I hope you’ll make it a resolution to read every week! Yeah, I’m not as trendy as some of those fancy podcasts, but I do still have a Facebook page, and you can follow this link to get in on the conversation! You can also check out some interesting videos on my YouTube channel, of you want to follow this link.

New Year’s Resolutions are always fun, so before I even posted this, I went ahead and made that the Weekly Clix Topic – what is your Heroclix New Year’s Resolution? I have a few, myself, so I thought I’d share them.

First and foremost, I’m resolved to get the Canadian Division for the Pauper Circuit up and running, complete with updates from the States/Provincial events. Someone suggested it might be a good idea to actually hold the event in the US for travel reasons, and I will be honest, I’m not opposed to that. My goal is to make sure that I can get as many players there that want to be there. I know I won’t be able to get everyone, but I vow to work to figure out the best scenario for the players that have supported the format.

My second resolution is to win a State Championship this year. Yeah, I know I should probably aim big and look at Nationals or Worlds, and I will do everything that I can to be competetive there, but I want improvement! While I did win (unofficially) Indiana States a few years back, I’ve not really had much success since then, and I’d like to change that. Sadly, the biggest obstacle to this is the time needed to get my game in the shape that it needs to be, especially to compete in the area I live in. Running into players like Tylor Spees, Jay Major, Daniel Powell, and PJ Bolin at every event I go to makes for an uphill battle, but it’s not impossible, and I’d love to make it happen this year.

Finally, in regards to the blog (and by extension, the Facebook page), I need to make an effort to get you more information about the game as it’s coming out. I resolve to get more news in the ramblings, so you folks know what is going on! So, I’ll be looking to expand my sources, and try to get on some mailing lists and such, so that I can share things as I get them.

Speaking of news, there have been some previews running about for the new Captain America set, and I thought I’d share with you the preview that Clixed Off did for the pieces they got to see. Interesting stuff, and you can see more for yourself by following the link to the post.

With that, it’s time to get to work and earn that non-existent Clix Bait paycheck! This week, I’m tapping a teammate for an interesting team, so I’ll be giving you a look at Randy Carter’s Falcon reboot. There’s been a lot of talk recently about a colossal rules interpretation, so I’m going to look a little deeper at that before sharing some truly inspired Mortal Kombat mods by Murilo Sanches. And there’s always some Fringe, so let’s see what’ going on!

Team of the Week – Animal House

A while back, Randy Carter made a pretty nice build based on the rare Falcon from the Black Panther set. It was an animal theme, and took advantage ot the pick-a-power from the Gauntlet to allow the Falcons to share powers. The problem the team ran into was that there were a lot of bigger themes out there that could get to the Gauntlet before he could get it equipped, and so he dropped the team and looked at more feasible builds. And then came Wendigo. So let’s see what that changed.

Link: Randy Carter – Animal House

The theme went from +5 to a +8, making winning map a bigger likelihood than it had previously been. Yeah, he could have gotten this bonus from more Tribbles, but that would be the only thing they’d be doing, so it didn’t really make sense. Monsters still has an edge, but it doesn’t go after equipment as ruthlessly as Cosmic does, so the odds are pretty good the Falcon will get to equip the Gauntlet. From there, the mechanics of the team are easy. The Falcon with the Gauntlet (we’ll refer to him as Falcon Prime) picks a power from the Gauntlet, and the other Falcons get to share that power. Redwing has to be killed twice, and gives you a little bonus offense, as well as an easy tool to help equip the Gauntlet from the starting zone. Wendigo is just cheap and mean, and gives a boost to the initiative while still posing a significant threat. The WWE Ring gives a little defense as the team approaches, while also giving the Gauntlet a means to access the WWE powers. And each Falcon, due to that annoying STOP click, will take at least two turns (not attacks, turns) to kill.

The map bonus is good, but dice are involved in the game, and losing map really hurts the team. For one, if you lose map, many teams will be able to get rid of the Infinity Gauntlet, which significantly reduces the team’s flexibility. Teams can then, also, choose an open map, exposing the animals to ranged attacks. The lack of range is somewhat balanced by all the Hypersonic Speed on the team, but it is a definite drawback. The defensive values are a bit of a problem, as well, with base 17 defenses. This puts a lot of pressure on you to place well in order to limit exposure.

Still, it’s a team that really makes you have to think about your approach, as you don’t want to get the Wendigos started healing and getting multiple attacks. The Falcons may get hit, but they don’t drop easy, so one decoy to pull your opponent into position can make for some pretty brutal counterstrikes. Plus, it’s a fun team to play, and one that should make an opponent or two cross their eyes figuring out what to do against it.

Strategy Bytes

Recently I read a Facebook post declaring the ping is back due to how recent rulings have had us re-evaluate some colossal retaliators such as Surtur, and even went so far as to mention it as a possible replacement for min Shredder. There’s a lot to digest in a statement that big, and I can tell you the thought process behind it was a bit off, but it gives me a great starting point to discuss the what the rulings mean, and how it still doesn’t live up to the awesome that was Mini Shredder.

So let’s start with the ruling, and how it effects the operation of certain colossal retaliators. While I’m going to focus on Surtur, since that’s where the comparison was made, keep in mind this will hold true for any retaliator that has “after resolutions” effects. You can follow this link for a ruling that illustrates the points I will be making. The important part to this is that it was determined that while Tri-Sentinel could not legally target Black Panther, the retaliation still activated, and while Tri-Sentinel could not be placed, its after resolutions effects then took place. So now let’s look at Surtur in the same light:

“COLOSSAL RETALIATION: WATCH THE WORLD BURN: FREE: If no other Colossal Retaliation power has been activated this turn, choose an opposing character that attacked Surtur or damaged a friendly character since your last turn. Place Surtur such that he can make a close combat attack targeting the chosen character, then do so. After resolutions, deal 1 penetrating damage to each opposing character within 2 squares.”

What this means is that you could take a standard move action to get Surtur where you want him, then activate his colossal retaliation as FREE, even without a legal target. If there is no legal target, you would not get to place Surtur, nor would you get the close combat attack. However, you still resolve the action, and therefore would get the secondary effect, which is to deal penetrating damage to each opposing character within two squares of Surtur. So yes, like Mini Shredder, you get to deal penetrating damage without rolling any dice, which is very nice.

But Surtur lacks many of the things that made Mini Shredder so very potent and flexible. First off, you lack the other Shredders, such as the Shredder clone, to give you multiple pings in a turn. This FREE has greater reach, but that reach is outweighed by a three ping turn, where Mini Shredder moves adjacent for one ping, Shredder clone moves in for the second ping, then Sidesteps carrying Mini (or Overdrive does it for both of them), allowing Mini to Sidestep and ping again. You may be getting more targets with Surtur, but Mini and the team deal more damage overall. Even on Tylor Spees’ Monster team, while you only have Mini doing the pings, he still gets two a turn, as the whales are carrying him off to get away in order to do that second ping.

And let’s not forget another way the Monster team used Mini Shredder. At 90 points, he’s a great call-in battery, all while still doing a ping after a Sidestep. He could call in some truly heavy hitters, and then be carried away so the call-in would disappear before anyone could snag the points.

Finally, let’s not forget he could be a pretty solid attacker in his own right. That’s not saying Surtur isn’t a good attacker, but as a retaliator, you are very limited in targets he can attack, so he doesn’t have near the flexibility that mini Shredder had. While the original statement was probably meant to be a bit of an exaggeration, you can see why the comparison kind of got my antenna up, and how significant the differences are. Pinging is great, but you had best have something else going on now that the Shredder Elite pieces are gone.

Miniature Mutations

I was sincerely hoping this week to be able to share a few words with you in regards to the Mortal Kombat customs that Murilo Sanches created, but I’m afraid a combination of language barriers and time zone differences looks to have derailed that from happening. Still, he did give me permission to show off his work, and I have to say, I think the pieces are very cool.

Murilo informed me when I first reached out to him that he did not take any pictures of the mod process, which is unfortunate, because I would love to show you the steps that went into making cool pieces like this Sektor. He did a great job painting the piece, especially when you consider the difficulties of painting modded Heroclix pieces. In case you were unaware, the sculpts are designed to be easily painted in the manufacturing process, meaning that there are lines and grooves in the minis that will help keep the paint where it is meant to be. This is great if you’re just trying to highlight the existing paints (brighten them up, add shading, etc…), but it can be problematic if you’re trying to change the paint scheme.

And that’s just painting on a piece you haven’t done anything to. When you add elements, as Murilo did with this Cyrex, then many times you will cover up features that you may have wanted to use paints to bring out. You also will lack clear sculpt lines for any washes to pool in, which is the easiest way to get your minis the appearance of depth and shadow. This is something very much worth considering when you are making modded pieces and a reason to look to use pieces of other figures rather than sculpting something entirely new.

That’s not to say custom sculpting aspects of you model is not effective, as you can see Murilo did an excellent job sculpting Sub-Zero’s robes here (by the way, this one is my favorite!). The raised aspect of the robes made the blue easier to paint, and I suspect that he had painted the underlying black either prior to adding the robes, or before painting them. However he did it, the result is outstanding!

Remember, if you’ve got some mods or custom pieces you’re especially proud of, let me know. I love showcasing the work of my readers in the blog, and it saves me time hunting them down, too, so you get the blog posted earlier, too! Just email me at clixbait@digitaledengames.com and I’ll be in touch as soon as I can!

View from the Fringe

I had a rough time finding something Fringe worthy this week…with no new sets being released, I feel like I’ve already talked about the interesting pieces. So what I’m going to talk about this week is a bit of a stretch, even for me, but it does have some interesting potential. Still, Citizen Steel has some merits.

I don’t see playing him at 110 points…I just don’t see the juice being worth the squeeze. But at 35 points, he has some merit. First off, his trait makes retaliation a little bit trickier, which is always a good thing. Also, he deals damage if hit in close combat, which further complicates the retaliation. He starts with Impervious, which is great at 35 points, and his Close Combat Expert makes him a viable threat, especially with Sidestep to help get him in position. After Impervious, he goes to Invulnerability, so he can soak up a little damage on those three clicks.

But, he is only three clicks, and penetrating damage can bypass his reducers. His defense value of 17 is a bit soft, as is his attack value of 10, but for 35 points, what can you expect? A bigger problem is his keywords – I’ve stated in the past that I like Justice Society, but that’s just me. It’s still a limited team build…and celebrity isn’t much better, I feel like soldier would have fit, but no one asked me! If you do run a JSA team, he also has the team ability, but again, right now it’s not as good as I’d like, especially after Joker’s Wild cycled out of rotation.

So, if you’re planning on countering colossals, this guy might help a bit. He’s got issues, but there are worse options out there. If nothing else, he’s something to consider.

That’s all I have this week. Next week will be a late edition on the blog, as I’ll be travelling (non-clix related, so I won’t have any stories) and will have to cram in a blog. Hopefully this one is good enough to tide you over until I have more interesting stuff to talk about. Have a great week!