Thanks for coming back to Clix Bait, after missing a week, and missing a Facebook page. I’m grateful that you’re sticking with me, and I hope that you’ll continue to contact me if you have any questions or suggestions. I’ve made a temporary home on the Mid-South Heroclix Facebook page that I have linked here, but you can also contact me more directly by emailing clixbait@digitaledengames.com.
For someone who has so much on his plate, I seem to love to load it up! I have a new project I’m coordinating with a group on called Untap Upkeep Brawl. As the title implies, it is about Magic the Gathering, and more specifically the Brawl format. I know not all my readers are Magic fans, but if you are, I hope you’ll take a moment to follow this link to the group’s Facebook page. There you can follow announcements relating to our videos, make suggestions or comments, or post deck ideas. We post our video content on YouTube, and you can follow this link to subscribe to the channel. We’d love to have you visit us!
But enough about things unrelated to Heroclix! That’s not what you’re here for! Especially in the weeks leading up to Nationals. I’ve probably mentioned it before, but I will not be attending Nationals. Finances and a shortage of paid time off are limiting my ability to go to an event at Gen Con, so I’m going to have to miss out. I’m still helping my teammates out through discussions and practice, and I’m looking forward to a nice practice session tomorrow. I like what Randy’s been working on, and I’m anxious to learn more about what Jay is planning to drop on the world when I see him next week.
Which leads me to a couple of reminders, as there are some nice lead in events to Nats, at least within my travel area. I’m willing to bet there are some within your travel radius, too, but if not, Brad Broyles always has online events going on to help you tune up your game. First for me, however, is a trip to Columbus and Heroes and Games to try my favorite budget team against what I suspect will be some stellar competition. I expect to see so pretty prominent players show up, and while I may not be preparing for Nats, I DO plan to attend Worlds, and want to see if my team stacks up. Here’s a link to the event if you want to know more.
Closer to the event, there’s a Wednesday release event for X of Swords. It may not be directly priming you for Nats, but any play time helps you improve your game in general, and who isn’t excited to start scooping up X of Swords pieces? If you want to learn more about this event, here’s a link – if you get to Indy early, I highly recommend going!
Sorry, I don’t have a lot more to talk about as far as an open goes – I need to get some games in for that! The good news is that I’ll have plenty to talk about next week. I’m also hoping to have video to share. I think I have figured out the technical issue that seem to plague me, and Columbus seems to be where I have my worst results, so if I can fix them there, I can fully say I have the technical issues licked! Keep your fingers crossed!
What I do have for you this week is a collection of my standard features! In Strategy Bytes, we’re going to talk about a subject that may offend you, but I do hope you’ll read the full segment – it will make much more sense than the opening paragraph! Celebrity comes to Clix Bait, as we look at a build that’s almost famous! I’ll also talk a bit about a piece that I should have realized the value a long time ago, before going into my personal experiences in painting that piece. So we’ve got some fun stuff to look at – let’s get to it!
My opening statement here is going to tick some people off, so I hope you’ll bare with me and read on beyond this opening paragraph. If you do, you’ll recognize that the statement is made as much from my own moments of ignorance as it is moments that we, collectively, as players have made bad, uninformed assumptions in regards to the game of Heroclix, and the pieces we use to play that game. So understand I mean no disrespect when I say this: The Heroclix community knows more than you do.
This isn’t a bad thing…ignorance is no great sin, and we’ve all experienced what are commonly referred to as “gotcha” moments thanks to not fully understanding how a rule or a power works. This ignorance shows itself in several ways, which I’m about to discuss, but the good new is that realizing you don’t know everything, you can take steps to resolve that particular problem. So let’s look at the common problems, and how they might be resolved.
“I don’t see what the big deal is…that’s not really that good…” If a lot of people are playing something, there’s a reason why they’re playing it. While you may be tapped into the local scene, there are very few of us who follow every online and out of area event going on, and so we probably don’t see what’s going on to make these teams and pieces so great. Furthermore, while every piece has an answer to it, the question becomes how does that answer fare against everything else being played, or is the answer point prohibitive to be included in a standard build? If you see a piece getting a lot of play and you’re not getting what’s going on, then don’t hesitate to ask someone. There are a lot of top players that are happy to take some time to clarify as best they can what makes a figure or a build work. Believe me, I know from experience! It took me a while to really get a handle on just how good Blackheart is!
“This interaction is amazing! I’m going to take so many people by surprise, because no one’s tried it yet!” I can’t say this is 100% true, but most time the answer is yes, yes they have. And it’s not working for one of two reasons – the rules don’t work quite the way you thought they did, or there is something else that is frequently being played that disrupts the interaction. My favorite example of this is the one we most often catch ourselves on without having to ask anyone. “Why isn’t anyone playing (Prime A) with (Prime B)?” Yeah, pretty obvious, but that leads into the broader discussion of our recollection of the rules when we’re building a team. We get excited over a potential interaction between two characters, but we miss a word in the text, and once we have that misread in our heads, it’s hard to get it out. Odds are if you’ve found a game-breaking mechanic that no one is playing, you might do well to check with someone (someone you trust, if you’re the secretive type about your build-tech). It never hurts to have another set of eyes look over your idea. That will also help you catch those odd rules interactions you didn’t know about…not all of us have read the comprehensive rules three or four time to be really confident about understanding everything in there!
“This piece is super-good! Why is no one playing it?” In my Under Review section, we’ll look at a particularly powerful example of this, but this is the flip side of our first topic. It’s just in this case, the answer to what you’re looking at is readily available, or is already sitting atop the power pyramid of Heroclix. This doesn’t mean that your pet piece doesn’t have value…it just means that where the meta sits right now makes it a less appealing option than you might initially think. It may very well be that later, as things cycle out or new pieces enter the meta, that your initial thoughts on the piece come to fruition, and it becomes a top-tier threat.
The point is, there is always something you don’t see. You can catch it before you sit down at the table (although you can still expect the occasional surprise), or you can obstinately refuse to ask questions, and end up in the middle of an event thinking someone is being a rules lawyer and not playing in the spirit of the game. I promise you, most players are not out to screw you over, and I’ve run into several who are willing to walk back actions due to a rules misunderstanding. But why take chances? I’ve said it many times in the past, and I remain firmly convinced, that the Heroclix community is one of the nicest, most supportive and helpful, communities in gaming. It’s the reason I keep playing despite some decisions I’ve felt were questionable by WizKids, and I will continue to support not only the game, but more importantly, the community.
Let’s have some fun! I just had a completely off the wall, and budget friendly, idea that I feel is worth exploring, and I hope you have as much fun trying it as I did putting it together. It blends mobility with defense, and has the potential to really get a nice punch in, but can be a little quirky, but its tricks can potentially have your opponent seeing stars (yes, that’s a celebrity pun). Let’s dig into what I like to call Fifteen Minutes of Fame!
Link: Chris Cottrill – Fifteen Minutes of Fame
OK, so this team is fairly budget, but doing research, it might take some work putting together, as some of the pieces are part of sets that others might not want to break up, and some pieces you need to find from gaming stores, rather than the secondary market, to get them at a good price. The map is also something that I found a bit of price variance in, but it’s a necessary evil. This map has an indoor and an outdoor option, and you want that flexibility depending on which team you’re playing against. The indoor segment of the map is also very well set up to allow your team to do what it wants to do without being too restricted, so I splurged a bit more on the map than I normally do. But enough about the financials…let’s talk about the build!
There’s something amusing about three Human Torches sharing a connection with Senor Scratchy to allow them to be rather dangerous. The thing is, if you have the first approach carrying the cat, the second can come in carrying Dazzler to potentially get a two point damage buff (although typically, your actions will require you to just settle for her Enhancement), and then the third carries in Mary Jane, who uses her Autonomous action to add a damage buff through the S.H.I.E.L.D. TA. It’d be better if their damage was penetrating, but they have the bonus of being able to throw up Barrier squares to cover the group after making their attacks.
That’s a lot that you’re leaving behind…so what are they doing? Well, Agnes is providing Senor Scratchy, and one the first turn is TKing the Radioactive Clay to Mr. Fantastic. Mr. Fantastic is there primarily for Leadership, but his 11 attack will combine with the Radioactive Clay to let him grab someone who gets too close and hopefully disrupt their approach. Since Mary Jane is going with the main group, you still have one other character that Dazzler gives S.H.I.E.L.D. to that can give another bump to Mr. Fantastic’s range for the mind control. The two Invisible Woman pieces will alternate barrier, and give the home team Defend of 19 to further assist with the defense. The whole team is likely to give you +3 to map in most games, and there isn’t a piece on the team that will destroy you points-wise if you lose it.
Again, I wish the Torches had penetrating damage, but there are enough of them to stack damage pretty well, and they’re a bit more resilient than people give them credit for. Plus, their Barriers are more than just defensive measures…they allow for some movement shennanigans, and allow you to disrupt opponent’s placements. Staying on budget, the sideline is bare, which really is a Heroclix sin. If you try this team, I highly recommend at the VERY least adding a Secret Identity for Mary Jane. She-Venom would be best, and she’s less than $5, but worst case scenario, you can add Iron Man for less than $1, and you’d still stretch Mary Jane’s dial and add utility. And Iron Man has the benefit of having the Celebrity keyword, so she can still take advantage of Senor Scratchy!
The team is mobile, and can bump out damage on the move, despite being a bit shallow. It also forces your opponent to choose to go after your damage or your support, which gives you some opportunities as well. Agnes might be a little on the high side for some of my builds, but she’s definitely worth the investment, and won’t break the bank.
Since I’ve been on my budget kick, there are several people who have mentioned that I should be trying to build around a certain piece, and while I may attempt to do that just as an exercise in team building, I don’t like the piece as much as people think I should. Maybe tent poles just aren’t my thing, or maybe I’m not appreciating the piece as much as I should, but I just see a lot of flaws in Dr. Strange Supreme that make him difficult to use as a focal point for any team. Let’s take a closer look so I can explain why.
I won’t argue that there’s a lot to like in Dr. Strange. Cosmic Power, a deep dial paired with Mystics, and some potent offensive stats make him a force to be reckoned with on the map. Invincible makes that dial even deeper, and a 12 attack for five penetrating damage from range is something that will make your opponents really have to consider their approach. His range plus Running Shot gives him a base reach of 14 squares, which is a lot of map, and the fact that he ignores hindering for targeting makes it harder for opponents to hide from him.
But that Running Shot is held back by a lack of Flight. If we weren’t looking at him from a budget perspective, then that would be fixed by the Cloak of Levitation, but if you look at it outside of the budget world, then you can get a lot more value out of 200 points. In the budget world, you’re left with 105 points that are hard to figure out what to do with. Theme is rough, with since it HAS to be Mystical if you go that route. I’m not saying that there aren’t a lot of Mystical pieces available, but there aren’t a lot that will either make Dr. Strange Supreme substantially better, or that will greatly benefit from his presence on the map. You might be able to get a good secondary attacker in there, but you’re left little room for support in the build.
Yes, you can run him at 75 points, but the issue there is that he loses Invincible too quickly, and past that, he’s nowhere near as dangerous. Precision Strike threatens his Super Senses, and the nerf to Pulse Wave makes his RCE/Penetrating/Psychic Blast combo the more intimidating mix. If a hit does land on him, Mystics means less, as the lack of damage reduction means you’re getting less damage out per click on his dial. This isn’t a major consideration, but it is an aspect that makes the piece overall weaker. He also loses Running Shot when he drops off the first click on the lower dial, severely limiting his mobility and reach.
I don’t HATE Dr. Strange Supreme, and I will make a team with him for next week’s blog just to see if it is viable, but I don’t think he’s the slam dunk that people thought he would be for the cheaper builds. Pulling him in a battle royal would be awesome, but in constructed, I just think the points can be spent more efficiently. We’ll see if next week’s build changes my mind!
This week, I actually DID something! That’s right, I’ve done some work of my own, and I wanted to talk about the process, and the ups and downs involved in it. I’ve talked a few times about the usefulness of the Deep Cuts Human Torch, so I decided it was time to get a few for myself. And since I had them, well, it only made sense to do what you’re meant to do with Deep Cuts pieces, and paint at least one of them. Perhaps my experience will educate how you go about painting your own Deep Cuts pieces, but I will tell you, this turned out to be surprisingly more challenging than you might expect.
The base coat was simple enough. I just wanted a solid orange foundation to build upon, with a darker orange to allow me to lighten up the high points on the piece for the contrast. Once I mixed up the right tone I was looking for, I applied it to the entire piece evenly, and worked around the transparent bits. This has been a problem that I’ve observed with Deep Cuts pieces…if they have transparent bits to them, then it’s rough making the base look even, as you can see primered bits showing through the transparent plastic. It’s not as bad on this piece as I’ve seen on others, but it’s still noticeable.
In all the comics, I’m used to seeing the Human Torch’s boots and belt looking darker than the rest of his body (although looking at picture online lately it looks like I have a faulty memory), so I tried to get a more red color to touch up these parts of the miniature. To this point, everything was going as well as I had planned it in my head, and the piece was coming along nicely.
Sadly, this was not to last. My plan was to do some layering to highlight the details on the mini, but I had a lot of difficulty finding the right color to make the details pop. In fact, the closer I approached to yellow, the less consistent the results I saw. Eventually, I had to just step away from it, and either move on to the next section, or make another attempt at layering. I decided to move on, as I just felt that orange seems to be a bad color for getting layered effect in.
Sadly, I ran out of time before this was published, so you’ll have to check out the final results next week. The plan will involve not only the paints on the transparent sections, but the detail work and inking to try and bring out some better definition. But I’m still looking for more projects to feature, so feel free to email me at clixbait@digitaledengames.com and I can look it over, and maybe include it in a future volume!
OK…that’s it. Nothing more to say this week, except to look out for next week’s blog! I’m going to have come actual game talk to discuss, examining not only how my budget build performed, but also a good look at things other people are bringing to the table. Given that my normal writing time might be spent on the road (I get a lot of writing and editing done on Saturday), don’t be surprised if the blog is a little later than this week. Have a great week, everybody!
Clix Bait 