Heroclix: Mutations & Monsters

The latest Heroclix expansion set was released this week. With several new characters added to the roster and a few (much needed) remakes, Mutations & Monsters looks to be very promising.

With a base set of 60 characters, the set is configured the same as the previous two expansion releases: Avengers and Justice League. The breakdown includes 16 Common, 16 Uncommon, 16 Rare, and 12 Super-Rare figures. There are 2 Limited Edition figs thrown in for good measure, but I can only assume those will be made available only at official WizKids sanctioned events. (Translation: I won't ever see them unless I a) actually attend said event, or b) buy one on eBay.)

I'm just hoping that the distribution of the core set is fairly equal. Before WizKids changed the booster/case format, I used to buy a single case of boosters for each expansion set and usually got an entire set, including all the Uniques. With the new format, I'm forced to buy two 20 booster cases in order to get an equivalent result. So far, it's been hit and miss.

With the Avengers set, I was shy only two Super-Rare figures, whearas with the Justice League set, I came up short a whopping FIVE Super-Rares. I realize that there are no guarantees when it comes to randomly-inserted figures, but I had simply hoped for a more even distribution of characters, and thus a more complete set with my bulk purchase.

I don't yet have my M&M boosters - they should be delivered next Wednesday if the UPS website is to be trusted - so I can't make a distribution comparison yet. What I did do however is carefully pore over the collector's list and decide on which figures I'm most looking forward to. With Murphy's Law undoubtedly in effect, these will be the characters I won't pull:


Apocalypse (it's well past time we got one with some decent stats!)


Hulkbuster (I made my own custom version of this Iron Man armor awhile back - but it would be nice to have the offical version.)


Living Monolith (I honestly don't know anything about this character, but it just looks cool.)


Silver Savage (this is probably the figure I want the most, thus making the one I'm least likely to get.)


Wolverine (okay, so this ties for the #1 spot. A Wolverine dressed like Galactus with the Power Cosmic TA. How kick ass is that???)

What will most likely happen is that I'll be stuck with 2 or 3 Cassandra Novas (who the hell is THAT?) and/or Emma Frosts and/or the effing zombie Iron Man character. I know I'm in the minority here, but something about the Marvel Zombie storyline really creeps me out. I'm just not a fan.

Coming of [custom] Galactus event 2007!

Last Friday, the core members of our gaming group assembled at Neal's house for my own version of The Coming of Galactus Event. I had purchased an extremely well-made custom Galactus Heroclix fig on ebay a few months ago (it was a pretty good price and I couldn't pass it up) and I figured it would make an awesome prize at a kick ass game night.

Unfortunately, not everyone was able to attend (Dustin was off getting some "strange" somewhere and Vic probably had his hands full with his new baby.

Our good friend Colton even made an appearance halfway through the event, although he's not a clixaholic like the rest of us are. But that's okay though - it's always a party with that guy around!

I wanted to document the event, so here are some pics:


Neal and Beau strategize during round 1.


Beau manhandles his Green Lantern while Matt (background) comtemplates his next move.


Neal (background) is kicking ass with his Thanos team as Nate is getting his ass kicked by Beau's Green Lantern Corps.


I made Beau pose with the can of Dr. Pepper he kept dropping. Thank God he hadn't opened it yet. Quit spilling stuff on my maps, Beau!


Neal's Thanos team did pretty well. The core figs took some damage here and there, but the Paramedics were always able to patch them back up to their starting clicks. Matt didn't stand a chance.


More of the Thanos team. Mr. Smirnoff and the Cosmic Cube witness the carnage.


I snapped this one shortly after Colton arrived. He finally sat down after insisting on smacking everyone on the ass. That's just the kind of guy he is.


After winning all three rounds of the event, Neal was given the option of two prizes: the Galactus or Colton's impromptu Beercock.


The champion!

Halloween Pics

I love Halloween! You're never too old to play pretend and dress up as something spooky or cool.

My family has tried to maintain a theme for the past few years. We've been characters from the Dukes of Hazzard, The Incredibles, The Scooby Gang, and the Fantastic Four. This year, we wanted to be the X-Men.

I was going to be Professor X, but I couldn't get the bald skull cap to look right and I had to stay late at work on Halloween anyway and wouldn't be able to do any trick-or-treating with the kids, so I just went as the Punisher. (I was the only one in my office to dress up...where's the holiday spirit?)


I LOVED the wife's costume. Obviously, she was Rogue. We couldn't find a brown jacket for the costume, but I think the denim one worked out well.



Here's a group photo of mom and the kids. Shadowcat (complete with her pet dragon Lockheed on her shoulder), Havok, Cyclops and a little Wolverine. We would have liked to put claws of some kind on him, but he just would have poked himself in the eye.

Want to be a Marvel(ous) movie star?

Marvel Studios is doing something very cool... giving you the chance to appear in an upcoming superhero Movie! They're also giving away some great first and second prizes. For more details and to enter the sweepstakes, click here.


Yes, I know I stole the whole news story, but I'm okay with that.

Late Summer Lobo Fun!!!!

Finally after 5 years we will get the Main Man, The Baddest Bastich, the Master of Frag, the last Czarnian… Lobo.

The only custom fig I’ve ever made was out of my desperation for this dude, living near the top of my top 5 favorite comic book characters of all time. I only hope the wait was worth it.

August 2007 we’ll see the release of DC HeroClix: Justice League. This set heralds a new era for HeroClix! Each Booster Pack will contains five figures and new price tag of $9.99us and 60 individual characters representing one million years’ worth of JUSTICE LEAGUE characters!

I can’t wait to see who else is included in this set.

This issue: Attack Of The Henchmen!

I know it's been awhile since I last posted on this blog.

But no worries...nobody reads it anyway.

We had game night at my house this past Friday night. Beau, Matt and Nate and I played a 100 point "Henchmen Only" game which turned out to be a nice change of pace. No 200+ heavy hitter figs running around the map this time.

We used the new map that came with the Hellboy Collector's set that Beau picked up recently and that was fun. There's a lot of water on that one, so it pays to have figures with the wing and/or dolphin symbol (and there are only like what, eight of those?)

Beau's forces consisted of some Kobra Fanatics and some HIVE Troopers which clashed against Matt's forces...Matt had a couple of Sentinel Troopers and I can't remember who else. Nate utilized the outwit that comes with the Superman TA since he had a couple of LexCorp Battlesuits floating all over the place and I took potshots at him with my two Dreadnaughts. I threw in a Hydra Medic to keep the 'droids lubed up and in working order. That seemed to work out well. Plus, I was able to take advantage of the Hydra TA and increase my attack value on almost every turn.

I need all the help I can get since I tend to roll low.

Consistently.

So, during the battle, one of Matt's Sentinel Troopers made a successful attack on one of Beau's figs and since he rolled doubles, it was an attack with knockback.

Except one of Beau's other figures was directly behind the targeted figure, thus rendering the knockback result ineffective.

I thought about that for a second and came up with the following solution to this problem...possibly something to be considered for a house rule.

In a situation such as this, the figure BEHIND the successfully hit figure is assigned an action token. If the figure already has an action token, he is then assigned a second token and is given pushing damage (unless he/she possesses a power or TA to nullify said pushing damage.) What this does is reflect the targeted character being pushed into an adjacent friendly figure and throwing that figure off balance or otherwise interfering with his/her person during the heat of battle.

This way, the effects of the knockback aren't nullifed, but rather re-directed onto another opposing figure.

Any thoughts or comments on this?

Anyone?

Bueller?

Bueller?

Game Night: Friday February 9th, 2007

For those of you in our gaming group, I will be hosting a Heroclix game tomorrow night at my house, approximately 1900 hours MST.

I know Beau can't make it due to his vacation plans, and Dustin may have other plans, but I hope the rest of you are able to attend.

Game 1 will be "Marvel Ultimate Alliance" in which only characters from the kick-ass game are to be used to construct your teams. There are about 140 characters in the game, so you shouldn't have any problems here. For a list of the characters see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marvel:_Ultimate_Alliance

Build total: 500 points. Break out your Ultimate Thor if you've got him!



For the second game, let's just do an easy 300 point open build. No character over 100 points. Let's give a few of our lower-point figures some game time! (Maybe I'll build a team of Elektras and Hand Ninjas! No, seriously.)

I'll email everyone to give you a head's up.

Updated Infinity Gauntlet Thanos

As promised in an earlier post, here are the stats I designed for a better version of the Infinity Gauntlet wielding Titan Thanos:



I inserted this dial into an extra Infinity Gauntlet Thanos. I kept the outer dial stats the same (10 Range, 2 Lightning Bolts), but added the Power Cosmic Team Ability and gave him a point value of 388 - perfect for the Automatic Regeneration Feat Card to round him off to an even 400 points!



Teamed up with my custom Death figure, they comprise a very deadly 800 point team.

I'll admit, I originally believed that the Supernova version of Thanos was supposed to represent him with the Infinity Gauntlet. I was thrown by the Power Cosmic Team Ability, the fact he's a grounded character (I don't think we saw him fly at any time during the Infinity Gauntlet series), that the Supernova map looks an awful lot like his deep space base of operations (complete with the temple he constructed for his mistress, Death) and that I thought Wizkids declared the inspiration for this expansion set as being from the Infinity Gauntlet, among others (it turns out they said "Infinity War" not "Infinity Gauntlet.")



Having said all that, my custom Gauntlet-wielding Thanos still kicks ass.

All I need to do now is paint the gems onto his glove.

2007 Convention Exclusive Heroclix Colossal Figure

As reported on the WizKids website, the Colossal Heroclix figure for the 2007 Wizard World Conventions is Fin Fang Foom.



Um....really?

They need to do one of a Celestial, like Arishem The Judge.



Actually, I think we've discussed the potential for Celestials as Heroclix figures. They should be introduced as a set of giants (like the DC Giants Collector's Set) and include 6 or 7 different Celestials.

Are you paying attention WizKids?

Gun Shy

After about a week and a half of playing it, I beat GUN last night. (Okay, so it was on the EASY setting, but still...!)

I'll admit, I had some difficulty beating Macgruder in the final mission, but I persisted and finally saved the day. There are still some side missions to complete, but those won't take long.



Overall, this was a great game. Excellent storyline...graphic violence (very bloody - not for children!) and free-range gameplay similar to the Grand Theft Auto games. Once you get the hang of the controls, it's fun to horseback ride through the old west, taking down bad guys with your six shooters, and even playing poker at the saloon (you can cheat!)

The one thing this game was missing was a good ol-fashioned showdown at high noon. Well, I discovered that if you piss off the towsnfolk enough, you can start a showdown, but it's just you against a posse, not a one-on-one gunfight on Main Street.

Oh, and does anyone know how I can go about getting more ammunition for my rifles? I haven't found a place to get that...