The Rule Of Three

Heroclix: Mutations & Monsters

2007-11-23T16:45:00.000-07:00

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!

2007-11-23T07:15:00.000-07:00

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

2007-11-03T17:40:00.000-06:00

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?

2007-04-17T11:36:00.000-06:00

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!!!!

2007-04-11T16:33:00.000-06:00

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!

2007-04-08T20:44:00.000-06:00

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

2007-02-08T08:35:00.000-07:00

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

2007-02-08T07:35:00.000-07:00

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

2007-01-23T14:24:00.000-07:00

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

2007-01-23T09:17:00.000-07:00

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...

Superman Returns: Hits & Misses

2007-01-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

Here's what I liked and what I didn't like about last year's Superman Returns flick:

New Costume: Hit! I'm not a big believer in costume changes, but these were subtle enough to maintain the classic look of Supes.

Continuity: Hit and Miss. I appreciate what they were going for with a continuation of the characters and storylines that were presented in the original Christopoher Reeve films. Brandon Routh and Kate Bosworth did very well with their portrayals of Clark Kent and Lois Lane, respectively, and the film included many lines and situations that we've already seen in previous films. But I almost would have rathered they tossed out all the stale, old stuff and given us nothing but fresh new stuff.

Lex Luthor: Miss. Frankly, I'm tired of Lex as the "big bad" in Supes' life. They need to bring in more antagonistic characters like Darkseid, or Parasite, or even [gasp!] Doomsday!

Special Effects: Hit. Especially the scene where the bullet bounces off of Superman's cornea. That was sweet.

Bastard Child: Miss. That was dumb. Really.

Parker Posey: Hit! Parker's awesome. If it wasn't for the restraining order, she'd be my girlfriend right now.

Superman's Lifting of a Kryptonite-laced Continent: Miss. A big one as far as I'm concerned. Duh! Kryptonite makes him weak! It's not just a "state-of-mind" limitation he has...it physically affects him and he WOULD NOT be able to accomplish such a feat. It's outside the realm of Superman's reality, even if that reality is based on pure fiction.

Dog Eat Dog: Hit! "Didn't there used to be two of those?" Comedy...I loved it.

I'm sure I'll think of more later, but that's all I've got at the moment.

'Nuff Said!

The Justice League on Smallville

2007-01-04T05:34:00.000-07:00

The Justice League is coming to Smallville.

Of course, I'm behind on the show's storyline, having not seen any episodes of the current season (I prefer to wait until they come out on DVD), so I don't yet know how Clark managed to escape the Phantom Zone and save the world from General Zod, nor have I been introduced to their version of Oliver Queen, aka, Green Arrow.

Being the Fanboy that I am, I love it when other super-powered characters are introduced in shows like Smallville. Over the past 5+ years, the creators of the popular CW series have brought other DC Comics superheroes to life on the small screen, such as Bart Allen (Kid Flash),

Victor Stone (Cyborg),

and Arthur Curry (Aquaman).

The ucoming episode featuring this early version of The Justice League is aptly named "Justice" and airs on January 18th.

To hell with storyline continuity...I'm watching it.

Superhero Movies: The Good, The Bad, and The Alicia Silverstone

2006-12-29T06:42:00.000-07:00

For Christmas, I bought some superhero movies for the kids (okay, and me) to enjoy. Among them were Superman Returns, Batman & Robin, and The Justice League Unlimited: Joining Forces.

I remember being somewhat disappointed in Batman & Robin when I first saw it in theatres way back in 1997, but I don't remember it being as bad as it actually is. Holy Hell Batman! It's visually appealing, but that just leads me believe they spent more on the sets and costumes than on script writers. Even an all-star cast couldn't save this sinking Titanic of a superhero film...a great actor can't do much with a lousy script.

While the kids were enjoying B&R (they're too young to know any better), my mom and "stepdad" came over for a brief visit. Alex made the comment that Alicia Silverstone looked pretty hot. Yeah, I used to think so too, but her mouth really creeps me out. She's always doing these weird things with her lips...it detracts from her beauty.
My mom even said, "she looks better with the Batgirl mask on." Hah! How funny is that? To say that wearing a mask ON YOUR FACE only improves your looks!

I've heard some people make the comment that either Elektra or Catwoman is the worst superhero movie ever. IMO, Catwoman is 10 TIMES better than Batman & Robin!!!

Now, about the Justice League movie. This is actually a collection of 3 episodes from the JL:Unlimited cartoon series and is really fun to watch. I loved the episode
"The Greatest Story Never Told" in which we're introduced to the character of Booster Gold and his quest for fame and fortune as a superhero. In this episode, BG is stuck on crowd control duty with Elongated Man who is voiced by none other than JEREMY PIVEN!!! I've been a Piven fan ever since PCU, so I got a kick out of that.

I'd like to give a brief review of Superman Returns, but I think I'll devote an entire post to that.

Anything less would be uncivilized.

What I Really Wanted For Christmas

2006-12-27T06:51:00.000-07:00

Well, my friends, Christmas 2006 has come and gone. We got a ton of great stuff, but I didn't get what I really wanted from Santa:

Awesome, isn't it? Scott would have a blast on that thing!!

Anyway...we're going to try for a game at Neal's house this Friday night. Bring your 10 sided dice and your character sheets because we'll try to knock out a couple more chapters of our current Marvel RPG campaign.

Did y'all get what you wanted for Christmas?

Stan Lee's Game Show Appearance

2006-12-22T07:10:00.000-07:00

Okay, did anybody watch the new game show Identity last night?

For those of you who aren't familiar with the show, it's hosted by the magician guy Penn Jillette (you know, of Penn and Teller fame. Penn's the annoying one...oh wait, they're both annoying) and the contestants are to guess the "identity" of 12 strangers just by looking at them.

Last night, the fans of comicbookdom were given a pleasant surprise because one of the "strangers" was none other than Stan "The Man" Lee.

He was stranger #12 and his identity was "Creator of Spider-Man." It was obvious that Penn knew who he was (and I think a good portion of the audience did too the way they cheered for him), but the contestant was clueless. She guessed his identity correctly though, but only because she was smart enough to realize that Spidey's been around for several decades already and Stan was the oldest guy up on the stage.

I had to call my kids into the room so they could see Mr. Lee. I always get a kick of telling Scott that his middle name (Stanlee) was directly inspired by the living legend of the comic book world. As the co-creator of some of the biggest and best superheroes of the Marvel U (Spider-Man, The Fantastic Four, The Hulk, The X-Men) Stan is reveared by fanboys worldwide as somewhat of a demi-god.

Oh, and by the way, today is Stan's 84th Birthday!

Get on down wit' yo' bad self Stan! You Da Man!

Supernova Map

2006-12-19T09:21:00.000-07:00

I remember reading on the WizKids website several months ago that they would release a new map with each new Heroclix expansion set.
The first two maps released after said promise were only available on the website and had to be printed out and pasted together (for the Collateral Damage and Armor Wars sets, I believe.)
After the Supernova set was released, I wondered what the map would be, but I couldn't find it on the website (at first, anyway) and pretty much figured it was just the one that came with the Days Of Future Past boxed [starter] set. Then, last week, I was on the WizKids site yet again and read how the new map for the Supernova set was printed ON THE BACK of the set poster that comes with each case.
"Ah-hah!" I thought. Since I'd bought a case and had the poster (which I'd just tucked away on a bookshelf somewhere since I've ran out of room on my walls to hang it) I knew I was good to go. I pulled it out and opened it up...sure enough, there was the Deep Space Outdoor map. Check it out:

How friggin' cool is that? Taken straight out of the pages of the Infinity Gauntlet, we have a map with the throne Thanos constructed for himself and his lover, Death. And it looks like that's the X-Men's Blackbird jet poised up at the top of the map, waiting to ferry the triumphant heroes back to Earth.

Now our cosmic battles involving Galactus, Dark Phoenix (or the regular X-Men version of Phoenix if you prefer), and Thanos will have the perfect setting. My only complaint is that the map is a little small for a battle on such a large scale. Oh well, we'll make do, I suppose.

Anything less would be uncivilized.

Post Game Post

2006-12-09T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last night's Heroclix games were AWESOME!!!

Matt was kind enough to lend out his parent's house as the venue (since they were out of town) and we played two great games.

The first game was Christmas themed, requiring teams to be constructed with characters with the colors Red, Green, Gold, Silver, or White to be in their names or their costumes.

My team consisted of the Kingdom Come Green Lantern, a customized Kingdom Come Red Arrow (got it on ebay), and the Veteran Green Arrow. I was getting hit pretty much on all sides by Beau's, Matt's, and Nate's forces. Well, at least Nate didn't come straight for me, he took advantage of every opportune target, lashing out with his Kingdom Come Flash. He actually won the first game and I offered up his choice of some of my extra custom figures as a prize. He took home a custom version of the KC Green Lantern.

Matt won the second game and chose my custom "running" Superman (which is a repainted Quicksilver with a Superman cape. I'm pretty proud of that custom...he has some kick ass stats, and is perfect when teamed with another, flying version of Supes who can taxi him around.

For those of you who weren't there, you missed some good games.
Hopefully we can have better attendance at next week's game.

I think we'll be playing Marvel RPG again, so stay tuned for updates!

Clixerama

2006-12-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

"Gentlemen...start your engines!"
Oh wait, that doesn't apply to Heroclix. Let me try again.
"Huddle up!"
Nope, that doesn't work either.
"Fall in!"
Sorry...that was an army flashback.

Damn it, just get ready to play Heroclix this Friday night at Matt's house.

I would post the build totals and themes here, but Matt hasn't decided on what those are yet.

Chop chop Mattamus! I like to build my teams early in the week! I can't stand waiting until right before game time to try to piece something together.

I have some ideas for some games, if you're interested.

Theme: "Stealth" At least one member of your team must have the Stealth power or a team ability that mimics this power (i.e. Batman Allies). Then we play the movie Stealth for background noise.

Theme (or Battlefield Condition Card???): "Captain Universe" Once, at the beginning of each player's turn, each player rolls 2 dice. The player with the LOWEST roll acquires the Captain Universe Card and can IMMEDIATELY apply the card to anyone on his or her team. That character gains whatever powers and/or abilities that come with the card. (I haven't decided yet what those would be, but I imagine it would be something like increased stats...maybe a +2 and a power or two.)

Whatcha say?

Game Night

2006-11-30T07:56:00.000-07:00

We have a session of Marvel RPG scheduled tomorrow night for those of our gaming group who are interested. I've only seen commitments to play from Beau, Matt and me, so we may end up postponing game night again...or throwing together an impromptu clix game.

We'll assemble at Beau's house again...around 7ish. Bring your character sheets, dice, rule books, chips, drinks and whatever else you think is necessary. Matt promised to bring pizza.

We still need to get confirmation on:
Neal
Nate
Victor
Dustin

C'mon guys, don't leave us hanging!

Supernova Thanos

2006-11-28T09:39:00.000-07:00

Concerning the Unique Thanos found in the Supernova Heroclix expansion set.

He's definitely an improvement on the original Infinity Challenge figure, but he's not exactly what I was hoping for.

I mean, this is supposed to be The Big Bad Infinity Gauntlet wielding mad Titan Thanos, right? His stats are a little weak, even for game playability. This is the guy that killed off a bunch of Elders of the Universe, smacked Galactus around like a red-headed stepchild and took Death as his lover!

What do we get? A 267 point intergalactic wussy who doesn't even fly! Pshaw!

Sure, they did give him the Power Cosmic Team Ability, so at least they got that right, but it just isn't enough, IMO. Anybody who knows how to use a Superman fig in a game should be able to take this wimp out in no time!

It's a good thing I have an extra Unique Infinity Gauntlet Thanos so I can design some better stats for the would-be god of the Marvel U.

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Supernova Satisfaction

2006-11-22T06:08:00.000-07:00

Sweet! My case of Supernova boosters arrived yesterday and I didn't waste any time bustin' those bad boys open!

I was able to get a complete base set, but alas, no Zombie figure.

I have a few extras, but not many, especially once I pulled out a figure for my custom LE for each character.

I'm surprised at how rare some figures can be. I only pulled 4 Silver Surfers, 4 Thors, 4 Drax's, 4 Dr. Spectrums, and just 1 Starhawk.

Oh, and we're getting together for a game this Friday at Beau's house. Since most of us have the day off, we might even be able to assemble a little earlier than usual if y'all want to.

Beau was the only one who came up with suggestions for the games, which are:

"Since it is Thanksgiving this week maybe the main Clix game should have a “bird” theme. Figure names should have “bird” (such as Warbird) or a type of bird (Batman, Robin, ect) I think if the choice seams too limited we could include figures with wings or wings on their costumes like Capt America has wings on his cowl.

Lets say 400 point “Birds of a feather” game and then 500 point anything goes."

Personally, I would be fine with any flying character for the first game.

Man, now I have to build some teams...that could take hours.

Supernova Madness

2006-11-16T08:33:00.000-07:00

Well, it's finally here. The highly anticipated Heroclix expansion set Supernova is now available to Clix players and collectors everywhere. This set promises some extremely valuable pieces for the game, including new and improved versions of Thanos, Thor, and Silver Surfer.

Perhaps the best aspect of this set are the extremely rare Marvel Zombie figures which are found in only 1 out of 100 boosters (approximately 1 in every other case). The Zombie characters include Hulk, Colonel America, Spider-Man and Wolverine (of course...hasn't he been in every set now?)

The interesting fact about these Zombie figures is that they come with a card that allows them to be used in another WizKids game: Horroclix (which I have yet to even play).

Because the Marvel Supernova expansion set was already sold out even before its release date, online sales have skyrocketed. It was available for pre-sale at iconusa.com for it's usual price of $220 per case until Tuesday (its release date) at which time it jumped to almost $290. On ebay, I've seen cases range from $250 to $350 (Buy It Now).

The Zombie clix are going for well over $100 (EACH!) so its obvious that those are highly sought after.

I went ahead and ordered a case and should I be lucky enough to pull a Zombie figure, I have no reservations about selling it on ebay. I mean, c'mon...100 bucks (or more!) for a single figure? That pays for almost half the case! Besides, I may never even play with the damn thing.

It's madness I tell you. Sheer madness.

The Future Is Now

2006-11-10T08:52:00.000-07:00

Within our gaming group, we've often discussed the superhero characters that we think should be made into heroclix figures.
I've always maintained that WizKids should design and devote an entire Heroclix expansion set to the 2099 characters of the Marvel Universe.
I discovered today that the following collector's set will be released to coincide with the upcoming Supernova clix set:

So let me just say now: Woo Hoo! Bring on the Punisher 2099!

A Day Late And A Dollar Short

2006-11-08T09:03:00.000-07:00

Well, I'm always a dollar short, but it would seem that I'm almost always a day late as well. At least when it comes to things of the "pop culture" genre.

I was a late comer to all wonderful things Joss Whedon (Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Astonishing X-Men).

I was a late comer to the adventures of a young Clark Kent in the thrill ride that is Smallville, and I was slightly tardy to the wild parties thrown by Veronica Mars and Commander Adama on the Battlestar Galactica (I'd be willing to say I was only "fashionably late" to those programs).

And most recently, I discovered that I had missed the initial throws of the internet bash that is Red Vs. Blue. Thanks to Matt and Beau, I'm caught up through Season 3 and I've gotta say without any reservation or hesitation, that I LOVE THIS SHOW! It's simple and it's beautiful. It's simply beautiful. I laugh until milk squirts out my nose then I laugh some more.

At first, I didn't want to love these characters, but I just couldn't help doing just that. And the story isn't too bad either.

For the two of you out there who read this and haven't yet jumped on the band wagon that is Red Vs. Blue, I highly suggest watching the series, either online or just do what I'm going to have to do now and just buy the DVDs. (I'll have to see if they're available on Amazon and add them to my wish list.)

Don't make me sic Sheila on you.

100th Post!

2006-11-04T05:44:00.000-07:00

Sweet! This is the 100th post for our blog.

Wait, is it still "our" blog if I'm the only one who contributes to it?

Okay, last night's heroclix games went pretty well. Nate took home the gold medal for the themed game and I think Matt won the open build game...he was the last one standing at any rate. Beau whipped out his Unique Ganthet armed with the Construct card, while Nate played with a Veteran Superman loaded up with cards. Matt used the custom Unique Spectre I designed, while I used the Unique Man of Steel and a Superman Robot combo.

Things were going very smoothly until I tried to make some microwave popcorn tripped a fuse again.

Damn that microwave popcorn! Always causing problems...

We agreed that we'd try for another round of Marvel RPG next Friday, so stay tuned for more exciting scenario updates!

Go Team Hard Corps!

Oh and Matt...the word "corps" is pronounced the same as the word "core." It's not pronounced like the word "corpse" which is of course, a dead body.

Just thought you'd like to know.

Superman's Dad, Batman's Sidekicks and the Squadron Supreme

2006-11-02T09:58:00.000-07:00

As per Beaucifer/Psycho:

"Okay Friday at my place Heroclix 500point Parent/Child or hero/sidekick teams and Maybe a 300point open build. All are welcome who want to play."

I keep hinting that I'll be using a Superman/Jonathan Kent team for the theme game, and I'm sure that no one really believes that I will.

I'll show them! I'll show them all!

Pa Kent with the Infinity Gauntlet. The most powerful old dude in...well Smallville at least. Maybe Metropolis as well.

Maybe I'll use a Batman and a bunch of his sidekicks. I'm a sucker for that Batman Team Ability.

I'll build my team(s) tonight.

Hmmm, 500 points. That's a lot of sidekicks. For Batman, there's Robin, Batgirl, Nightwing...maybe Oracle? Oh yeah, I'll have to include that Agents of Oracle card, or whatever it's really called. Maybe it'll give me somewhat of an edge.

Superman needs a sidekick, don't you think? He's got plenty of family to watch his back though, right? Supergirl, Superboy, Krypto...damn, I wish I had one of those clix figures.

Have you guys seen the exclusive Super Skrull Skymaxx clix figure available through Wizard magazine? I went to the website today to try and order one, but I didn't see a link for the Skrull clix, only the Snap Wilson Falcon one. I thought I might at least order one of those, but the link wasn't working...gave me a "Page Not Found" error. I'll have to check back again later. Maybe they're out of the Super Skrull fig.

I think that this Skymaxx character is the Skrull that was part of the Squadron Supreme. It's appropriate since they're introducing some of the Squadron members in the next Supernova set. I've always liked the Squadron, so I'm looking forward to the Hyperion and Power Princess figures. I wonder if there will also be a Dr. Spectrum figure. I can't remember seeing one on their figure list on the Wizkids website, but that doesn't mean there won't be one.

The Squadron does have it's share of lame ass characters though. Like Ape X. A super smart Ape that's bound to a wheelchair ala Professor X. We don't need that character immortalized in a heroclix sculpt, methinks.

Okay, enough rambling.

Who's planning on playing tomorrow night?

Me + Fantastic 4 PS2 Game = Tired Thumbs

2006-11-01T07:44:00.000-07:00

I recently ordered some new games for my PS2 console from Amazon and two of them arrived yesterday.

Of course, I had to wait until we got home from taking the kids trick-or-treating before I could try them out, but I was finally able to pop the first game into the machine at about 8:30.

Fantastic Four (based on the movie)

This game is so fun, I actually started giggling like a little girl. After the somewhat lame opening mission, the action really takes off as you play each FF member battling security robots as you attempt to escape from Doom's research laboratory. Mr. Fantastic whips his elongated arms around in a frenzied attack, The Thing does what he does best: pounds everything with his massive fists, The Invisible Woman sneaks around making stealth kills when not using concentrated blasts of her force-field against opponents, and the Human Torch hovers through the hallways tossing fireballs like he was in a snowball fight (with really, really hot snowballs!)

Even on the easy setting, the game can get challenging, especially when your characters is literally surrounded by security droids intent on your destruction. My thumb was getting pretty tired from all the fighting action and I had to take frequent "pause" breaks.

I don't know, maybe I'm just getting old or something.

I let Cosette and Scott take turns playing the superheroes, and while Cosette seemed to catch on pretty well, Scott was having difficulty just getting Sue Storm from one end of the hallway to the other. His hands are a little small for all the buttons and analog sticks on a PS2 controller.

I can't wait to head home after work today and start wailing away on the thugs of the Yancy Street Gang.

"It's Clobberin' Time!"

Return of the Supermen!

2006-10-28T09:47:00.000-06:00

So it would appear that our gaming group hasn't flatlined yet!

Nate, Matt, and I all descended on Beau's house last night to play another 2 chapters of our current Marvel campaign. Our superhero team The Hard Corps was a little short handed with the absence of Neal, but we managed alright without him.

In this latest episode, a low-level maggia thug helped free some of our dastardly opponents, including Beetle, Blizzard, Constrictor and Scorch. Spider-Man, Kevlar and Blacklight were able to subdue all of them rather quickly, except for Scorch who fled the scene and escaped somewhere in the concrete jungle of Manhattan.

But our battle was not without incident. During the confrontation, Blacklight was shot by the maggia henchman, then whipped by Constrictor, then webbed up on accident by a dazed and confused Spidey (he must have been D&C to roll as low as he did) and when he managed to take refuge behind our company car (our shiney Humvee all decked out with surveillance equipment that even James Bond would admire it) the bad guys kept at him, destroying our vehicle in the process. Oy.

After 5 game rounds had passed and we had pretty much incapacitated the enemy (Spidey had webbed up the thug, Kevlar stunned Constrictor with a concussive grenade and chased down a fleeing Blizzard) the armored character Guardsman finally showed up and took the villains into custody...hopefully for good this time.

The next chapter was quick and painless. Our heroes met up with a petty criminal named Tack who had been coerced into trying to take us out with a bomb that was strapped to his chest. We tried to calm him down, but our popularity rolls weren't high enough and he pressed the detonation switch. Luckily, there was a delay in the explosion and my character, Kevlar, was able to yank it off the kid and fly up over Chinatown where it exploded without injuring anyone. Thank god for my Monstrous body armor!

All in all, it was a good night of gaming and we're looking forward to finally wrapping up this adventure book.

MUST PLAY THIS GAME!

2006-10-24T08:03:00.000-06:00

I saw a full page ad for this game in the latest issue of Maxim magazine.
Then I saw it sitting behind the glass doors in the game section of Wal-Mart.
Then I saw the preview on Windows Media Player this morning.
I'm going ape-shit over this game already and I haven't even played it yet.

Dudes, if you haven't seen this preview yet, bring up your online Windows Media Player and click on the link for this game (you can't miss it - it's got a pic of Supes, Bats, and Martian Manhunter) then sit back and enjoy.

I don't know who I want to play first: Green Lantern or Flash.

I wonder if there's a multi-play option or if it's just for a single player. If there's multi-play, I may have to go out and buy a bigger television.

Check it out!

Death of Supermen

2006-10-21T07:32:00.000-06:00

Is our gaming group dying?

Once upon a time, we'd get together to play clix twice a week. Then it became once a week, and now we're lucky if it's once a month.

The suggestion was made, oh, maybe a year ago or so, that we alternate between heroclix and Marvel RPG, which is what we played back in the good old days (you know, High School?). We all agreed that was a decent idea and re-played an old campaign with some kick-ass new characters. Go Hard Corps!

Then that sort of fizzled out too. At least for me anyway. I'm not sure why. I still think Marvel is fun, but it's just taking way too long to get through the damn campaign.

Once upon another time, we'd email each other back and forth NUMEROUS times throughout the day, discussing a little of this and a sampling of that, but usually we focused our thoughts on the random aspects of our geekness (geekocity?) but that has been diminished significantly as well.

This past week for example: I sent out an email on Tuesday morning asking everyone in the group to play on Friday. There were a couple of immediate responses (Beau and Nate with an affirmative, Dustin with a negative and Victor with an ambiguous "maybe".) Nothing from Matt until Friday morning.

We briefly discussed the type of game to play (Marvel or clix) and I tried to take a vote, but that was never really decided.

Then, nothing more was said for the rest of the week until Friday afternoon after I'd already left work for the day.

Sorry fellas, but I need to know if our plans are solid well in advance (by Wednesday preferrably, but by Thursday at the latest) so I can plan accordingly and find someone to watch my kids for me. Friday afternoon simply does me no good.

I know we get busy. I understand that. But are we just getting too busy to keep our gaming group alive?

I guess some of you got together at Neal's last night for...Marvel? Beau called me at home around 6:45 last night asking if I was headed out to Neal's and I said "No, I wasn't sure if we were actually playing tonight, so I didn't make arrangements for a sitter."

Part of this problem is me, and I recognize that. It seems like I'm always the one to try to initiate a game each week and then it's a struggle to plan for it. I'm tired of doing that. Someone else can take the reigns and steer the pack.

Another issue is that I'm afraid we're not getting along as well as we used to. This is just my perspective, but since we don't always agree on things (game related, or not) it's more difficult to spend time with each other. Again, this is probably just one of my own personal hang-ups, but it's affecting my desire to "hang with the guys" lately.

Okay, I've rambled for far too long. Just needed to get some of that shit out there.

Not that any of you read this blog anymore. Just another casualty, I suppose.

Airborne Buddy

2006-10-19T09:13:00.000-06:00

For anyone who doesn't know, these are Airborne wings, also called the "parachutist badge."

These can only be earned by members of the armed forces (though primarily those of the Army branch) who attend (and successfully complete) a 3 week course appropriately dubbed "Airborne School" at Fort Benning, Georgia.

I went through the course in June of 1995, immediately following my Basic Training and AIT (Advanced Individual Training) classes on the same Army base. My MOS (Military Occupation Specialty) at the time was 11C (Infantry Mortarman) with an Airborne contract. In other words, I was Airborne Infantry.

Airborne School itself consists of 3 phases, each phase lasting one week.

Week 1 is Ground Week: Mostly running and practicing PLFs (Parachute Landing Falls) in sawdust pits. This is where we're taught how to land without hurting ourselves. We're also taught how to maneuver in our parachutes using what are called "pulling a slip". By pulling down on 1 or 2 of the 4 "risers" you can [somewhat] control which direction you'll drift. We may have practiced exiting the aircraft during this week as well.

Week 2 is Tower Week: More running and PLFs, but this time with the more realistic drills of jumping from the 30 foot towers and for some of us, the 150 foot tower. (And if you hate heights, these drills downright suck because you can SEE THE GROUND RIGHT THERE!) The 30 foot towers are just a mock up of the aircraft and we're taught the proper procedures of exiting the aircraft - step out, tucking your chin to your chest and grasping the reserve 'chute attached at your stomach, and couting to 4 as you slide down a wire to the mound about 50 meters away.

Oh, and just a side note, if anyone "falls out" of a platoon run for any reason, they are automatically ejected from the course.

Week 3 is Jump Week: No more running or sawdust pits or towers, but a lot of the same old drills. This is the week when we're taken up in either a C-130 Hercules or C-141 aircraft and actually get to jump. One of the jumps is a mandatory "night jump" which usually just takes place shortly after dusk so we can get an idea of jumping in the dark. This is the preferred method of troop insertion in real-world missions so it's harder to get shot at by the enemy while airborne.

There are two types of Airborne School graduates: The "5 Jump Chump" who only gets in his or her 5 aircraft jumps in order to earn the coveted wings and get back to their Non-Airborne unit, and the "Career Airborne" troop who, upon completion of the course, is bound for an Airborne unit. I was of the latter.

My first duty assignment was with SETAF (Southern European Task Force), specifically the 3/325 ABCT (Airborne Battalion Combat Team) which was based in Italy...ah, Italy!
I spend my first two years of active duty service there.

My final 13 months of [initial] active duty were spent at Fort Bragg, North Carolina which is home of the mighty 82nd Airborne Division. I was assigned to the 1/504th PIR (Parachute Infantry Regiment) and went from being a mortarman to a TOC (Tactical Operations Center) driver and RTO (Radio Telephone Operator.)

Don't you just love all those acronymns?

All in all, I had around 33 jumps. I lost count after awhile and I don't think my jump record accurately reflects all the jumps I did in my airborne career.

I've jumped from a number of aircraft including the C-130, C-141, C-5, CH-47 Chinook helicopter and the UH-1 Huey. The helicopter jumps were my favorites.

I've landed on several DZs (Drop Zones) with a myriad of terrain from soft sand, to gravel, to the pavement of a runway, to a 6 inch puddle of water (why is it that I'm seeing stars when I look down? Oh shit! It's water!)

But I was lucky. No major parachute malfunctions. No major injuries to speak of (just the one minor static line injury that yanked off my watch and a layer of skin from my wrist).

My father was Airborne, so I wanted to be.

I call my son my "Airborne Buddy" which I hope doesn't force him to think he has to follow in my footsteps.

Airborne Infantry was certainly a worthwhile experience, but I want better things for my children.

Stay out of harms way if you can help it.

Airborne!

Adventures in the Phantom Zone

2006-10-13T06:57:00.000-06:00

So I get a phone call from my brother-in-law at about 7:55 last night.

“Are you watching Smallville?” he excitedly asks.

“No, I’m watching The Office.” I reply.

Slight pause.

“Are you recording Smallville?” he inquires. He sounds confused, probably because he knows how much I like this show and can’t understand why I’m not keeping myself up to speed with this season.

“No. I’ve already missed every episode this season so I’ll just have to wait to watch it when it comes out on DVD.” (I had to do the same thing with season 5, which we just finished this past weekend.)

“Oh.”

“Did you have a question about something?” I ask. My brother-in-law likes superheroes, but isn’t as well versed in them as I am (not that I’m an expert or anything, I’ve just been into comics since the 6th grade…I won’t say how long ago that was.)

“Yeah…what’s Green Arrow’s real name?”

Ha! I knew this one! “Oliver Queen. Was he in tonight’s episode?”

“Yeah. They introduced him as an old college roommate of Lex Luthor’s or something.”

“Oh.” (I actually don’t know much about Ollie’s background, so I couldn’t refute this, but I’m sure the Smallville writers used their all-powerful creative license to tweak the character’s origins a bit.)

I considered pressing for more details, but decided I didn’t want anything from this season revealed to me prematurely. When I last visited that world, General Zod had possessed Lex and stood on the brink of conquering Metropolis while Clark floated helplessly away in his window-shard of the Phantom Zone.

Can’t wait to see how Clark returns to kick some evil Kryptonian ass!

Oh, and kudos to Chloe for finally swallowing her pride and planting a soggy goodbye kiss on Clark before he ran off to “save the day.”

Go Chloe! You’re babe-tastic!

Hot Wheels

2006-10-11T08:11:00.000-06:00

In my previous post, I mentioned how satisfying it was to introduce the toys and movies of my youth to my own children.

Last night, I realized that the door swings both ways.

A few weeks ago, I'd decided I was tired of listening to the same old movies that our kids watch in the family van (Toy Story and Toy Story 2) and buy a couple new ones I thought they might enjoy. One of them was the animated movie Hot Wheels: World Race.

To listen to it, it's mostly just the sounds of squeeling tires and roaring engines mixed in with a few lines of commentary. I figured it couldn't have much of a storyline or a plot. Being based on the popular toy cars, how could it?

Scott wanted to watch it in the house last night and since I couldn't find anything else to watch on television (we still don't have cable or satellite, so our channel options are severely limited) I said okay and watched it with him. It was actually pretty fun to watch.

The computer animation is very well done and is easy to watch. Some of the characters are a little cheesy, but that can easily be overlooked, especially when most of the emphasis is on the cars and what they can do (there are teams of racers who are assigned cars with special abilities.)

And there's a decent plot! Complete with an evil female mastermind who's after the Wheel of Power (a source of limitless energy) and an army of sleek robot racers!

Scott was kind enough to fill me in on some of the details that I wasn't aware of (such as a well crafted Wheel of Power decoy to fool the drivers) It's always fun to hear a 3 year old's running commentary.

What I really loved though, were all the elements of the toys put into the movie, to include the orange racetrack that the cars run on. Remember those? Piecing together all the segments of track leading from the top of the couch, down into a loop-de-loop and across the front room floor! It's all in the movie!

Anyway, it was a sweet ride, from start to finish.

Then & Now

2006-09-30T07:23:00.000-06:00

Kids are great...especially when they're your own.
While I'll freely and openly admit that my kids can be a rambunctious lot and at times difficult to handle, I'll also confess my unconditional love for them. More often than not, they're fun to be with and they can make me cry with laughter without even trying to be funny.

One of the things I love about being a parent is sharing with my children the things that I loved as a child. I saved most of the toys I had growing up including all my Hotwheels cars, He-Man figures (and both Castle Grayskull and Snake Mountain playsets) and G.I. Joes (although I haven't let them play with any of those yet).

It's fun to watch them find joy in the things that I once did.

Most recently, I ordered the Cloak & Dagger DVD from Columbia House and when it arrived, I was eager to play it for the kids. I loved this movie as a kid and thought they would enjoy it as well.

As expected, both Cosette and Scott were glued to the screen throughout almost the entire duration of the film. While it's not overtly frightening, there are some moments of intrigue and suspense, during which Cosette would excitedly begin asking questions. "What's going to happen? Who's that? Are they going to kill him?"

My wife had never seen the movie before so she could only give "I don't know" answers, and I only issued my now typical response of "Just watch and see."

It's such a treat to help my children find joy and wonder in the things of the not-so-distant past.

The Punisher on PS2

2006-09-17T07:43:00.000-06:00

As a hopeless geek, it is one of my goals to own and defeat any and all superhero video games that are produced for the PS2 platform. I haven't made much progress towards that goal, however, since there are several games I have yet to purchase, and the ones I do own, I have yet to even finish.
My latest attempt is with The Punisher.

As with most games, it takes a few missions to really get the hang of the controls, and The Punisher was no exception. I wasn't sure I'd be able to punch all the buttons correctly in order to help Frank Castle wage his one man war on organized [digital] crime. But now, after several missions, I can successfully employ the ex-Marine's combat tactics against foes such as Bushwacker, Ma Gnucchi, or The Russian (who was somehow resurrected after his death in the movie...maybe Ra's Al Ghul dragged his body to a Lazarus Pit or something).

While the nonstop action quickens the heart, the Special Interrogations, Special Kill Regions and the character cameos are the best features of the game. So far, I've teamed up with the Black Widow and Nick Fury in my quest to rid the world of the criminal element.

I'm just wondering where Microchip is.

Mystics and Mythics

2006-09-01T08:17:00.000-06:00

I know I'm bringing up an already stale issue, but I wanted to make those of our gaming group aware of my decision concerning custom Heroclix figures and their team abilities.

The issue is my ongoing concern about Mythological gods like Thor and Hercules who are lacking team abilites that I feel would best represent them and their abilites on the battlefield. Of course the Avengers TA is applicable to the God of Thunder and the Champion of the Greek Gods, but what of the other gods of the Marvel U? They're getting jipped out of what should rightfully be theirs.

In my conversations with Psycho, we thought it would be good to assign a Marvel version of Mystic Team Ability which has proven to be extremely valuable in any game. He suggested we call it the "Mythic" TA and I thought the logo could be a small pic of Mjolnir or a lightning bolt.

However, after printing up some test logos, I wasn't very happy with how they looked. Since the ankh, which is used for the Mystic TA is linked to ancient Egyptian religious beliefs, it just seemed a logical choice to stick with that.

Having said all that, be prepared to see some custom god figures armed with the Mystic TA in some future games. I have designs for LE Hercules (much stronger than the ridiculous version of him from the Infinity Challenge set) and my custom LE Thor (in his female form...all thanks to Loki, that rat bastard.)

Party on Wayne!
Party on Garth!

My Super Ex-Girlfriend

2006-08-29T12:03:00.000-06:00

The wife and I went to see My Super Ex-Girlfriend last night. We both liked it since it had elements that appeal to us both: Romance, comedy, and superheroics (there were capes and costumes, but no tights, which was a nice change of pace.)

Where films like Spider-Man and Superman Returns give us a view of life inside a comic book, My Super Ex is more of a glance of what would happen if someone from real life was to attain super powers. Since there is no mention of any other super heroes flying around, the audience is left to believe that G-Girl, played by the effervescent Uma Thurman, is the world's only superpowered individual. Even her nemesis, the diabolic Professor Bedlam (Eddie Izzard) is just a regular Joe who relies on dim-witted thugs and nifty gadgets like a robotic pidgeon in order to spy on his super powered foe (sort of like the bird used by Syndrome on his island fortress in The Incredibles.)

My favorite performance was that of Rainn Wilson (from Sahara and The Office) who played best friend and confidant to Luke Wilson's protaganist character, Matt Saunders. Although the best line of the film was Luke's line when he says to Hannah (Anna Lewis): "Get out of town. Go to San Diego or Tahiti, or Utah. Well, not Utah. Utah sucks." I wanted to stand up and cheer after that one.

Oh, and I thought it was interesting to realize that Eddie Izzard also played in the wannabe superhero flick, Mystery Men, with Janine Garofalo, who played with Uma Thurman in The Truth About Cats and Dogs, who then played in My Super Ex-Girlfriend with Eddie Izzard. I'm sure that if I think about it, I could figure out the degrees of separation of any one of these actors to Kevin Bacon.

Anyway, it's not the biggest budget superhero flick out there, but then again, it's not intended to be a superhero story, just a love story with a superhero twist, which is all the rage these days (and for the record, that's okay with me.) But it is fun, and can be enjoyed by members of both sexes.

Anthing less would be uncivilized.

What Religion Does YOUR Favorite Superhero Belong To?

2006-08-24T10:06:00.000-06:00

I stumbled on an interesting website today, in which you can look up the religious affiliation of various fictional comic book characters. You can check it out here:
http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/comic_book_religion.html

I've inserted the following characters just for fun.

Quasar is listed as an ATHIEST

I don't know what religion they had on Krypton, but good ol' Supes was raised as a God-fearing METHODIST

Mr. Crabby himself, J.J.J. is listed as "HATES SPIDER-MAN" religion (heh, heh...that's funny, right?)

And for all you Mormon folks:

The Power Pack claims membership in the LATTER-DAY SAINTS.

I guess the family that fights crime together, earns Celestial Glory together, eh?

Anything less would be uncivilized.

Infinity Challenge of the Super Friends

2006-08-23T08:31:00.000-06:00

Get ready for another action packed evening of clix, chips and chicks (yeah, right!) this Friday! The location has not yet been determined, but we'll decide that well in advance of game time.

The build totals are as follows:
Game #1: 300 points (No figure over 100 points.)
Game #2: 500 point open build (Bring your Superman figs...you know you want to!)

We'll decide later if we want to include BCC's or not.

In other news, I received the case of Hypertime boosters I got on eBay yesterday. I pulled the Unique Superman from booster #3 and thought I was well on my way to getting some Unique figs I didn't yet have from the set, then was a little frustrated when I went through another 36 boosters without pulling any more Uniques! I was about ready to go Buffy...er, I mean Angel, on somebody for this incredible oversight on the part of Wizkids and their total lack of quality control. I mean, the ratio for this set is supposed to be 1 Unique for every 6 boosters!

Finally, at the bottom of the box, I start pulling the remaining 7 Uniques: 2 Darkseids (got him already), Parasite (got him already too, but I think I'll insert a custom dial and give him some better stats, since their version sucks fish guts) and then 4 that I've been wanting: Batman, Flash, Commissioner Gordon and Joker. So it was definitely worth the 50 clams I paid for it.

Anything less would be uncivilized.

Weekly Clix Fix!

2006-08-18T06:09:00.000-06:00

Allow me to issue the call: "Geeks Assemble!"

Heroclix games at my house tonight.
We'll play a 400 point open build game, then a 500 point open build game.
Maps and Battlefield Condition Cards will be decided once everyone arrives and gets set up.

Nate has offered to bring the traditional Chili Cheese Fritos and Matt has volunteered to buy the pizza (just kidding, Matt.)
Oh, and Beau? Don't spill any beer on the map, okay? Thanks!

Cosmic Powers

2006-08-16T05:05:00.000-06:00

What is a God?
What attributes does one claiming godhood posess?
We know that in the Marvel U, certain space-going characters have the Power Cosmic, which, according to Wikipedia, includes the ability to defy all known Laws of Physics.
Characters like Galactus, Silver Surfer, The Celestials, and the Elders of the Universe wield this awesome power.
But are they Gods?

What of characters based on the mythological gods of days gone by? Folks belonging to the pantheons of Mt. Olympus...

...or hailing from Asgard, just over yonder Rainbow Bridge? Are they not powerful enough to posess the Power Cosmic?

Let's look again at some of the powers of Galactus, the world devourer, as stated in Wikipedia:

Some of Galactus' more commonly displayed abilities are size-alteration, molecular restructuring, conversion and transmutation of matter, the projection of energy with incalculable concussive force or heat, the teleportation of objects — even entire galaxies — across space and time, the erection of impenetrable energy-screens and force fields, the creation of interdimensional and intradimensional portals and wormholes, a virtually unlimited capacity for telepathy and telekinesis, and cosmic awareness on a universal scale. Galactus has even shown the ability to create sentient life, resurrect the dead, manipulate mortal souls, and remake dead worlds in every detail.

Even Galactus' heralds, whom he has endowed with a minuscule fraction of his awesome power, are able to manipulate matter and energy in ways far beyond human comprehension. Indeed, Galactus is so powerful he must always wear his armor to help him regulate his internal energies or else they could run rampant with the potential to change him into a star.

So, is the ability to manipulate matter and energy an attribute of the Power Cosmic?

My final question is this? Should the "god" characters in the Marvel U posess the Power Cosmic for purposes of the Heroclix game?

I think that team ability would suit characters like Thor and Hercules just fine.

Anything less would be uncivilized.

Greased Lightning

2006-08-10T06:47:00.000-06:00

Yes, the Marvel: Sinister Heroclix expansion set has been out for a few weeks now and I’m finally getting around to writing a review of it. Well, one character in particular: Whizzer/Speed Demon.

At first, I was upset that the “geniuses” at Wizkids had gotten two separate characters mixed together: Whizzer, a member of the Squadron Supreme and Speed Demon, a member of the Sinister Syndicate. But, after some research in my handy dandy Marvel Universe Handbooks, I discovered that Speed Demon had in fact gone by the name of Whizzer early in his career. Chalk one up for Wizkids…they got this one right.

One thing I don’t fully understand however, is the gross imbalance of speedster characters as they are converted into the Wizkids realm. Why is it, that Jay Garrick, the original Flash could reach a land speed of 480 mph* has a movement value of 20 in Heroclix and Wally West, a subsequent Flash, could run as fast as 750 mph but the highest value of other Flash figures in Heroclix only reached a modest 14?

(* He is given the rank of CL1000 according to the game mechanics of the Marvel Superheroes RPG – stats were pulled from www.classicmarvel.com)

Let’s compare another speedster, Quicksilver:

His stats in the MUH show him as having hyper running with a rank of Shift X speed (but then it says 750 mph, which means the power rank should really be CL3000, just like good ol’ Wally West mentioned earlier. Either that, or if it really is SHX, he can only run a measly 180 mph.)

However, his stats on the Classic Marvel website credit him with only a rank of CL1000 for running, meaning his land speed is equal to Jay Garrick: 480 mph.)

However you slice it, Quicksilver is still pretty fast and his powers didn’t translate very well into the Heroclix ‘verse, since his first incarnation in the Infinity Challenge set gave his R/E/V versions starting movement values of 12/13/14, respectively.

They cleaned him up a bit in the Armor Wars set, however, when they gave him starting values of 12/13/13. Yes, his Veteran level is just a tad slower than the previous version, but they finally give all three levels the Hypersonic Speed power in addition to the Flurry power that was the only movement power they gave to the Infinity Challenge version.

It is the opinion of this fanboy, that the Unique Flash from the Hypertime set should be the standard for the rest of the speedster characters in the Heroclix game. These guys are fast! Granted, there aren’t many other Heroclix figures that have a movement value as high as 12, but there are some out there, such as 2 Veteran versions and a Unique version of Iron Man. HE’S NO SPEEDSTER! Let’s give the speedsters the powers they deserve, even in a fantasy based game like Heroclix.
Speed Demon, for one, definitely deserves a movement value faster than a mere 10. That’s par with a ton of non speedster characters and it’s just a slap in the face for fans of speed-based superheroes (or villains).

That’s why, why I make my custom LE version of James Sanders (Speed Demon), I’ll give him a starting movement value of at least 14.

Anything less would be uncivilized.

Heroclix Scenario: Danger Room Dangers!

2006-07-14T07:47:00.000-06:00

X-Men Assemble! Tonight's Heroclix game will be held at Psycho's (AKA: Beaucifer) house at the usual time. Bring your X-Men or X-Men related mutant characters (no bad muties, just the good guys!) Professor X has decided that you all need to hone your combat skills in the recently upgraded Danger Room (now lemony fresh with 20% more deadly excercises!)
The roster of controlling players should include:
Ryan
Beau
Matt
Victor, Victoria (Sorry, man, had to do it.)
Nate
Neal (maybe)

You'll all be working as a team on this one - you against the Danger Room Computer (I think maybe I'll control that, if no one has any objections.)

Build a 200 point mutant team, with a reserve team of 100 points. If things get too hot in there for you, you can send in re-inforcements!

Regardless of how many players present tonight, we'll all have to squeeze onto one map. Monkey in the middle, perhaps?

I've outlined the basic scenario to y'all in a previous email, but here are the highlights:

A. Each player will be controlling a SQUAD, but all combined SQUADS are part of the overall FORCE, ergo, all powers and team abilites will be interchangeable with each SQUAD (for example, if Neal controls Jean Grey, he may move Matt's Wolverine with her Telikenisis, if they are both in agreement of the move.)

B. Prior to each player's turn, a threat will be randomly determined and placed by the person representing the Danger Room Computer. If threats 3-6 happen to land on a square already occupied by a Player Character (PC) figure, that figure AUTOMATICALLY takes a click of damage and is knocked into an adjacent square.
The threats are as follows:
1 - Battlefield Condition Card. Only one BCC can be in effect at any given time. Each new BCC pulled will supercede the previous one.
2 - Bystander Token. These are "innocent bystanders" caught up in the fray and they are a PRIORITY. PC's must rescue the bystander token (by a successful attack roll against their defense - they might resist) and escorting them to the NEAREST designated starting area.
3 - Low Threat: Wild Sentinel Token.
4 - Medium Threat: enemy mutant figure <100 points.
5 - High Threat: enemy mutant figure >100 points.
6 - Maximum Threat: Sentinel or Nimrod.

I think that's about it. I will need a 20 sided die to determine the placement of threats on the map, so if anyone has one they can bring to the game, please do so.

Sinister Endeavors

2006-07-13T08:40:00.000-06:00

Ah finally! My case of Marvel Heroclix: Sinister arrived yesterday! I was excited to find that I got every figure from the main set, except the Experienced Bullseye. I even pulled a few extra uniques, so I consider myself fortunate indeed. Of course, I'll never get the LE figures, or the mail-away Venom fig, or even the Armored Spidey, since that's only available at "new guy" night as hosted by a Wizkids sanctioned venue. Oh well, maybe I'll ebay them. Or make my own customs.

I must admit, for as many mistakes that the head honchos at Wizkids make, they make an equal amount of corrections. For instance, they're using a better quality of plastic for the figures. Now, they're more flexible and won't break as easily as previous releases. As always, the quality of the sculpts continues to improve as do the combat dials. Gone, I think, are the days of expensive (with regard to point values) figures with low stats and lame powers. I'll cite Rookie Superman from the Hypertime set. He's a worthless figure that costs 155 points! I don't think I'll ever use him in a game. Why would I, when I've got later versions of Supes to choose from that offer more bang for the buck, so to speak. And I still maintain that the Ultimates Thor is the best figure for the point value. He's a stone cold killer for only 189 points (or is it 186?). Damn, Gina!

With the recent Danger Room Starter set that was released, my friends and I have a couple of minor complaints. For one, they glued Angel and Storm into their flight towers, making them more difficult to store in our craft boxes. Secondly, the map that came with the set is labeled with letters and numbers along two sides, allowing for multiple scenario possibilites. However, the brainiac at the Wizkids QA department failed to notice that the numbered side goes from 6 to 8. What the hell? Maybe I missed the math class that announced that the number 7 is no longer needed.

But Stilt Man is cool. For being such a lame ass character in the comics, they did a good job transferring him into the heroclix realm. He's a guy in an armored suit that can extend his legs so he can peek into 5th story apartment windows. "He's a peeping Tom!"

Oh well. Onward and upward to greater glory I always say. Oh wait, that's Stan Lee. Excelsior! (Damn, I did it again, didn't I?) I need to find my own unique catch phrase that no one else uses.

Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories (Yawn!)

2006-06-08T07:21:00.000-06:00

I'll admit, I let myself get hooked on the GTA games. I'd never played a game quite like GTAIII and the storyline missions notwithstanding, I got a huge kick out of the freedom of the game. I could just wreak havok for kicks, dodging cops all the while.

Then came Vice City. New missions, new map. More fun.

Then San Andreas, which had a HUGE new map and added tons of new features to the mechanics of the game. You now had to keep your character in shape by exercising and eating right - oh, and you could now swim in the water instead of just drowning right away.

When I heard about Liberty City Stories, I fooled myself into thinking it would be another gateway into hours upon hours of Playstation fun. And with a price tag of $20 (I got mine on sale for $15), it was a steal for a new release game. Win-win situation, right?

Wrong.

Yes, there are new missions and there are some minor differences to GTAIII, but otherwise it's the same damn game. If you loved GTAIII as much as I did and it's only been collecting dust on your shelf for the past couple of years, save yourself some cash and just pop it back into your gaming console. You'll have the same amount of fun as you would with LCS.

Trust me.

New home?

2006-06-03T00:27:00.000-06:00

I've imported all our old posts to Wordpress. Check us out here, we're trying this out to see if this will make us a better home.

Which X Man (or Woman) are you?

2006-05-31T08:57:00.000-06:00

You Are Cyclops

Dedicated and responsible, you will always remain loyal to your cause.You are a commanding leader - after all, you can kill someone just by looking at them.
Power: force beams from your eyes

Which of the X-Men Are You?

I am Cyclops!!! Now, why doesn't that surprise me?
http://www.blogthings.com/whichofthexmenareyouquiz/

X-Men 3: Hits and Misses.

2006-05-30T11:53:00.000-06:00

Warning! This post contains "spoilers".

X-Men 3: The Last Stand.
Or is it? Anyone who's seen the film would agree that it's ending easily allows for a continuing storyline. Whether we'll see any more mutant-related films on the big screen will remain to be seen, although I have heard mention of rumors of a Wolverine spin off flick. Plenty of potential there. He could return to his Alpha Flight roots up in Canada, hooking up with his old super chums of Department H, or head to the oriental island of Madripoor for some adventures under one of his psuedonyms: Patch. A Wolvie film would be fun, as long as they reserved the role for Hugh Jackman who has excelled in the role thus far.

But what of the latest X-Men adventure as presented on the silver screen? With Brett Ratner at the directing helm (replacing Bryan Singer who abandoned the project in order to direct the upcoming Superman Returns film), many fans and critics were expecting great disspointment in the third installment. While I didn't Love X3, I didn't hate it either. I think if I watch it a few more times, I'll gain more appreciation for it.

Now, on to my list of hits and misses:

Killing off two major characters within the first half of the movie: Miss
Special effects of Angel's wings: Hit
Finally showing us the Danger Room: Hit
Only showing us the head of a "Sentinel" during the Danger Room melee: Miss
Rebecca Romijn in her latex body suit: Hit!!!
Introducing characters such as Psylocke, Arclight, Spike, and Callisto: Hit
Failing to tell us which characters they were, however (with the exception of Arclight): Miss
"Fastball Special": Hit!
Madrox the Multiple Man and his special effects: Hit
Juggernaught and his special effects: Hit
Making Juggernaught a Mutant: Miss, but we're willing to overlook it.
Jean Grey as the powerful Phoenix: Hit
Failing to show her fiery bird aura: Miss
Giving Colossus and Shadowcat more screen time: Hit
Giving Storm more screen time: Miss
Failing to bring back Nightcrawler: Miss
Stan Lee's signature guest appearance: Hit!

Well, that's all I can come up with for now.
Excelsior!

Custom Master Mold Heroclix

2006-05-24T09:05:00.000-06:00

While on vacation to St. George last week, my wife and I decided to let our two oldest kids have 20 dollars of "vacation cash" to spend on whatever they wanted. While making a trip to Wal-Mart for supplies, Scott picked out a Spider-Man figure and a Cyclops figure, both from the Marvel Legends Sentinel series. While I can't bring myself to open action figures just to play with them anymore (hoping to maintain their collectability factor), I didn't mind ripping into the packaging and handing the figures over to my son. This gave me two pieces of the Sentinel, the chest and head and the left arm.
What can I do with these? I asked myself. I decided I would have to just bite the checking account bullet and buy the rest of the figures in order to complete the large figure with the intention of converting it to an oversized Heroclix figure.
Once I had the thing assembled, I designed the stats for it, which I think will go over well should I ever decide to use him in a clix game. My next challenge was, how the hell do I create a base with a dial for him? After some deliberation and experiments, I solved my little dillema.
Taking an extra DVD case, I cut out the "L" window used on every Heroclix battle dial so the "1095 hours free" AOL CD could be seen inside. Then I carefully carved out an opening on the side so I could easily insert a finger in order to rotate the CD. I printed out the stats on some address labels, then cut and pasted them onto the CD, added on the other "printed" features of the dial and viola! Instant Master Mold Heroclix!
He has 25 clicks of play and comes in the usual ranks (Rookie/Experienced/Veteran) with point values of 600/900/1200 respectively.
Since this little project worked out so well and I have so many extra DVD cases, I now endeavor to create oversize heroclix for the other Marvel Legends giant figures (Galactus, Apocalypse, Giant Man) as well as the Marvel Select action figure, Uatu the Watcher.
I shall be the king of oversize and giant Heroclix figures! Bwahahahahaha!

Baron Samedi and Free Comic Books

2006-05-07T12:37:00.000-06:00

Baron Samedi (aka Colton "The Sandman" Saunders) is back in Salt Lake City! After spending a few years in Texas, he finally decided to give up his dreams of becoming a rich oil tycoon and return to the city of his roots. A few of us got together with him at my house Friday night and enjoyed Neal's margaritas and a rousing game of Scene It. Beau won, of course. The man is a walking encylopedia of movie trivia. And I'll be damned if I couldn't think of Marlon Brando's name! Stella!!!!
Welcome back Colton! We're glad to have you back. Let the wild time and pee pee dances commence! Ha ha!

Saturday was Free Comic Book Day! Arguably, one of the best days of the year for geeks like us.
I threw the wife and kids in the van (yes, we drive a van...another testament to my lack of cool) first thing in the morning and we were off to Hastur Games and Hobbies. I grabbed the few comics that looked somewhat interesting and made sure my kids had copies of Bongo comics (The Simpsons) and The Justice League, then made a beeline for the free Promo Wolverine heroclix (pictured at right, duh!) I was under the impression that there was only this version with the black shirt available, but when we got to Dr. Volt's comics an hour later, I realized there was also a version with a white shirt (same stats, however.)

As much as I like Wolverine, he's becoming quite common in the Heroclix realm. He's been in all 9 sets of Marvel Heroclix to date, in one form or another (Patch, Logan, Weapon X, or Wolverine) and will be in the upcoming 10th set. How much Wolvie do we need? Give us a better Apocalypse and his four horsemen for crying out loud! (To include Warren Worthington III as Archangel) Seriously, my X-Men box is filled with Wolverines - pretty soon I'll have to have a box for just his figs.

Oh, today is Beau's (Psycho) birthday. Happy 30th bud! Welcome to the club!

Goodbye Kellie Pickler

2006-04-27T08:10:00.000-06:00

She's as cute as a button, but she just didn't have what it takes to be the next American Idol.
Miss Kellie Pickler was given the boot in last night's results show, which didn't really surprise me all that much. My original prediction placed Kellie in the top three finalists, but her last two performances were downright awful. I figured she might have established a big enough fan base to keep her in the running, despite her poor performances, but I must have overestimated the power of her adorable charm and southern innocence.

Katherine Mcphee is my personal favorite and I'm confident she'll make it to the final two. (I gave her 50 votes this week!)Last night's results placed her and rocker Chris in the top two, and I'm sure they will remain at the top until the bitter end. Next to go is Paris, then Elliot, then Taylor (I like his unique "bluesy" style, but he doesn't have what it takes, either.)

Go Katherine! I've got McPheever!

Avengers Assemble! Sort of...

2006-04-17T06:19:00.000-06:00

For my birthday, my kind old mother gave me the hardback book of Young Avengers: Sidekicks (collecting the first 6 issues of the series) and I recently finished reading it. I gotta tell ya, I really enjoyed this book! In the aftermath of the Avengers being disbanded (and The Vision getting ripped in half by She Hulk), these young heroes step up to fill the void, but they aren't exactly what they appear to be...
The storyline is fun ,the dialogue is awesome ("Where's my superhero handbook? Oh, right, I left it in my other tights"), and the characters are interesting. My only complaint are the names. While "Patriot" is fitting for the Junior Captain America, I'm not very fond of "Iron Lad" or "Hulkling" (probably because it makes me thing these guys should belong to the Legion of Super Heroes and the Teen Titans (Marvel rules and DC drools!)
"Asgardian" was an okay name, then they went and changed it to "Wiccan" after it was revealed that this kid had no connection to the Norse Gods whatsoever and was only a novice magic user. And "Hulkling" isn't even Gamma radiated, but is actually a shape shifter (again, very similar to another green teenage superhero who bore a name ending in "ling.")
Whatever this book lacked in originality, it made up for in plot, character development and fantastic artwork. I would recommend it to any Avenger fan and it's well worth the $20 price tag.

As for game news, I wasn't able to play with the fellas on Friday night. The wife took the night off from work and I decided to spend some time with her and the chillun's. I guess my absence sort of altered the original plans of continuing the Marvel RPG campaign, since they played video games instead. Sorry guys, you could have gone on without me - I really wouldn't have minded! We'll have to see what sort of craziness we can involve ourselves in this Friday...

The best part of waking up...

2006-04-08T06:06:00.000-06:00

I'm always in an odd mood at 0530 on a Saturday morning.
Probably because I know I have no business being at work this early on a day usually considered a part of my weekend. I know I should be at home, snuggling with my wife or trying to coax baby Xander back to sleep, or a combination of the two.
But instead, I sit at my computer at work, sipping the bland Aramark brand coffee provided by the company (hey, the price is right) while surfing the internet instead of working - trust me, I'll get around to it.
I've already had what I will call the "coffee incident" of 2006, which is undoubtedly a foreshadowing of the day I have ahead of me. The first two things I do when I walk in the door each day is:
1) Brew a fresh pot of "coffee".
2) Turn on the copy machine.

Now, anyone who makes coffee on a regular basis knows that you have to dump out the old coffee left over from the day before as well as the old filter and grounds, rinse out the pot and put in a fresh set of filter and grounds. Well, this morning, I negleted to dump out the old stuff and just hit the "brew" button before leaving the break room. When I returned about ten fifteen minutes later, I walked into an full pot and a puddle of coffee on the counter.
In the words of the immortal Homer Simpson: "D'oh!"
So, a roll of paper towels and a string of obscenities later, the break room was returned to normal.

But all is well now, because I have X96 playing on the stereo and I have the office to myself for a couple more hours. (Bring on the ladies!)
Speaking of music, I've recently changed my personal soundtrack from Don't You (Forget About Me) by Simple Minds to Hate Me by Blue October. I don't know why, but it strikes a deep, melancholic chord of an all-too-familiar self-loathing I've struggled to live for half of my existence. Either that, or because it has the word "porno" in it. Ha ha.
Here are the lyrics:

(Verse 1)
I have to block out thoughts of you, so i don't loose my head
They crawl in like a cockroach leaving babies in my bed
Dropping little reels of tape to remind me that I'm alone
Playing movies in my head that make a porno feel like home
There's a burning in my pride, a nervous bleeding in my brain
An ounce of peace is all I want for you, Will you never call again?
And will you never say that you love me just to put it in my face
And will you never try to reach me, it is I that wanted this
(Chorus)
Hate me today
Hate me tomorrow
Hate me for all the things I didn't do for you
Hate me and wait, yeah wait for it to swollow
Hate me so you can finally see whats good for you
(Verse 2)
I'm sober now for 3 whole months, it's one accomplishment that you helped me with
The one thing that always tore us apart is the one thing that I won't touch again
In a sick way I want to thank you for holding my head up late at night
While I was busy waging wars on myself, you were trying to stop the fight
You never doubted my warped opinions on things like suicidal hate
You made me compliment myself when it was way too hard to take
So I'll drive so fucking far away that I'll never cross your mind
And do whatever it takes in your heart to leave me behind
(Chorus)
Hate me today
Hate me tomorrow
Hate me for all the things I didn't do for you
Hate me and wait, yeah wait for it to swollow
Hate me so you can finally see whats good for you (
Verse 3)
And when the sad hard eyes say bye to you and wave
Kicking shadows on the street for every mistake that I have made
And like a baby boy I never was a man
Until I saw your blue eyes cry and I held your face in my hand
And then I found out I can't make it go away, just make it stop
Come back and shine just like it used to be
And then she whispered "How could you did this to me?"
(Chorus)
Hate me today
Hate me tomorrow
Hate me for all the things I didn't do for you
Hate me and wait, yeah wait for it to swollow
Hate me so you can finally see whats good for you, for you, for you, for you...

Well, Frak Me Running!

2006-04-04T05:16:00.000-06:00

My friend Beau was kind enough to lend me Battlestar Galactica 2.0 last Friday night, which I eagerly viewed over the weekend.
This is really a great show, for any of you slackers out there who haven't gotten around to watching it yet.
I vaguely remember the old series, which I hope to someday go back and watch again, but in the meantime, the revamped version is kicking Cylon ass and entering their names into the ship's log book. The special effects are great as are the storyline, plot, and character development (take notes, will ya George Lucas? You could learn a thing or two about how a sci-fi story is supposed to go.) Actually, I'd like to see a dog fight between squadrons of X-Wings and Vipers, just to see who would win. While we're at it, let's throw some Original Cylons in a pit with some Stormtroopers to see who comes out on top. We can then have a match between the new Cylons and some Battle Droids. Sounds like fun to me! They should do a comic or a cartoon with that idea...

Game night last Friday was awesome, despite the fact that the only players who could make it were myself, Neal (Hobbes), Beau (Pyscho, or Ohcsyp if you're dyslexic), and Victor/Victoria. We played the Spectre scenario a couple of times since I got the massive Heroclix fig delivered early last week, and had a total blast with it. It's similar to the Galactus scenario, except that The Spectre throws out angry spirits against anyone who attacks him (little bystandar tokens) who take pot shots at the offensive figs. I used my custom LE Nova (a copy of the Wizkids version) and my custom Unique Death which turned out to be a pretty deadly 600 point team, while Neal weilded his Infinity Gauntlet Big Fig Thanos. Vic tried his luck with the Phoenix/Dark Phoenix Big Fig combo and Beau borrowed my Galactus who almost perished! A good time was had by all!

Collateral Clickage

2006-03-10T07:44:00.000-07:00

Greetings and Salutations all you True Believers!

Since Hobbes (aka: Neal) won't be able to make it to our weekly game night tonight, we won't be hitting the streets of Chinatown this evening. Instead, we'll play a couple of Clix games. It's been several weeks since we rolled the dice for this game, but with the newly released Collateral Damage set, I think we're all getting anxious to take some of the new figs out for a test drive.

Game 1: 500 point Open Build

Game 2: 300 point "Flyers Only"

We'll meet up at Psycho's (aka: Beau) house around 7ish and lay the smack down. To quote Chandler from Friends:
"You're little plastic men are gonna get scored on more times than your sister!"
To which Joey replied: "Hey, hey hey!!! Which sister?"

Game on!

They put the "ASS" in Fantastic Four

2006-02-26T07:20:00.000-07:00

I recently got a used copy of the Fantastic Four on DVD from a guy on ebay. At only 10.50, I figured it was a good deal. I missed seeing these episodes on t.v. and was looking forward to all the battles involving Marvel's First Family and their gallery of rogues (to include the world-devourer, Galactus!)

Sadly, this show got the cancellation it truly deserved. It's fun for kids (my two oldest were glued to the screen for about 5 straight episodes, but no one over 8 or 9 can really take it seriously. Yes, it's a cartoon based on a comic book, but I was hoping it wouldn't be so, well, cartoony. The art is choppy and the ever-lovin'-blue-eyed Thing looks like something that just needs to be flushed down the toilet. And it really bothered me that Galactus had the Silver Surfer, Firelord and Terrax as his heralds simultaneously. Oh, and the Silver Surfer, cosmic being that he is, should have been just overflowing with the Power Cosmic, let's himself get bitch-slapped off the roof of the Baxter Building by the Thing with his own damn board! He turned out to be quite the pussy in this show.

I haven't watched all the episodes yet, or watched many of the special features (it's always kinda' cool to see interviews with Stan "The Man" Lee, though) but on a scale of 1 to 10, I'd have to rate this sad sack of a cartoon collection a mere 3.5.

Radioactive Blood

2006-02-24T08:21:00.000-07:00

Last week's Marvel RPG session went, as White Goodman would say: "swimmingly." We actually managed to keep the meta-game small talk to a minimum and got through 2 chapters!! There's no stopping us now!

Our heroes are still patrolling the streets of Chinatown, trying to prevent as many casualties as possible in the ongoing gang war.
The gangs, known as the Faces of Fear and the Dragonlords are battling for supremacy of Chinatown and have each employed various super-villains as extra muscle. Fortunately, our heroes, the H.A.R.D. Corps, Manticore (a helicopter pilot for The Vault), and Spider-man, have proven successful at stopping them, almost at every turn.

This photo by Peter Parker (as it was published in Monday's issue of the Daily Bugle) shows that one of the baddies employed by the Faces of Fear is none other than The Beetle.
The Hi-Tech criminal was shut down by the form-altering Alchemy when the H.A.R.D. Corps member blasted his armor into mere fragments.

Kevlar, the group's gravity manipulating and gun-toting spokesman for the group did his best to subdue the mysterious blade-coated Whisper with his rotting touch (most of Whisper's face was burned off, but his fast regeneration healed that up) but the super-villain eventually escaped into the sewer system.

Unfortunately, we'll be postponing this week's adventure until next Friday since two of our players are out battling real-world illness.

Excelsior!

Enter the Dragon

2006-02-11T10:54:00.000-07:00

Ah yes, another chapter of the Gang Wars Trilogy under our belts (at the rate of 1 chapter a night, it will take us two more years to finish this campaign.)

Last week's adventure found our heroes facing off against the teleporting Japanese warrior, The Silver Samurai, but he made his escape from us all too quickly.

Last night's episode brought our valiant heroes to a theatre in Chinatown where a deadly battle was being waged between the Faces of Fear and the Golden Lords gangs. We stepped in and laid the smack down, managing to aprehend Constrictor and almost all of the gang members. None of these guys went down without a fight and it took us the better part of 4 hours to wrap up the chapter.

Stay tuned faithful listeners for a recap of next week's exciting battle!

Down These Mean Streets...

2006-02-08T04:58:00.000-07:00

New York City's Chinatown.
Ordinary tourist attraction and way of life by day, but a playground to the Oriental underworld by night.
These are the streets our heroes must patrol and protect from the deadly Si Fan assassins and the Dragon Lords.
Will they be able to save the day (or in this case, night) in time?
The adventures of Spider-Man, Kevlar, Alchemy, Facade, BlackLight and newcomer Manticore will continue at Ryan's house this Friday night at 7 p.m.
Bring your stats and snacks (I don't want you mooching off of me!)

It's Hammer Time!

2006-02-02T08:29:00.000-07:00

Excelsior! It's time we got back to our geek roots and played some Marvel Super Heroes Role Playing Game!
Our current campaign finds us smack dab in the middle of a giant gang turf-war on the streets of New York City as found in Book 2 of the Gang War Trilogy: Night Moves!
Game time will commence promptly at 1900 hours at Neal's house.
Those of us who are planning to attend are:
Beau (who's in charge of Judging this book)
Neal
Me
Matt
Victor
Nate
Everyone else in our group who aren't coming are slackers.
Bring your 2d10s and a desire to smack up some gangsta' bitches!

My Next Quest

2006-01-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm halfway done with the novelization of Crisis on Infinite Earths, I'm preparing myself to dive into another DC novel: Hero's Quest starring everyone's favorite Emerald-clad superhero, Green Lantern! Reading these kinds of books makes me believe that I could write one myself. But what hero would I choose for the story? I'm tempted to start small, keeping it somewhat down to earth, and since I'd pick a character I'm familiar with, I would lean towards the Punisher.
If you were to write a book about your favorite super hero, who would you choose? What kind of story would it be? Would it be suitable for a young reader or be strictly adult oriented?
Inquiring minds...

Nightly Crisis

2006-01-26T05:59:00.000-07:00

So I went and joined the Science Fiction Book Club - the introductory package included 5 books for .50 each and a 6th book for free, so it seemed like a pretty good deal. I wouldn't have joined except for the fact that they carry graphic novels, trade paperbacks, and novels based on comic books. I was able to fulfil my commitment with my first order (only have to buy 2 books at regular club prices within a year) when I bought the novelization of Crisis on Infinite Earths, a Green Lantern novel and got a 3rd book, Queen of the Slayers - a story that takes place shortly after the closing of the Hellmouth at the end of the Buffy series - absolutely free!
I'm enjoying the club already.
I've already dived into Crisis and am about twelve chapters in. It's pretty good so far. I just had to find out what all the fuss was about with the whole Crisis storyline. It can get pretty confusing, what with all the multiple earths floating around out there in the multiverse. Earth 1, Earth 2, Earth 3, Earth D. I wonder if characters from these alternate earths ever take offense at being labeled such as that. Wouldn't they all consider their own Earth to be Earth 1? It's all a matter of perspective.

Geek Zodiac year of the Comic Geek

2005-12-28T21:25:00.000-07:00

The inner comic geek in me (I know, it looks a lot like the outer comic geek) is in Heaven lately for several reasons. To start, my preorder of the Flash Complete TV Series DVD set will be here in less than a month. Upon receiving, what will be my most prized and coveted DVD box set, will mark fifteen years of impatient waiting paid in full. To add to my much awaited DVD enjoyment over the next few months will include The Justice League animated series season one, and the beginning of its next season on Cartoon Network. Batman beyond Season one and Teen Titans season one DVD box sets are shortly following. And to show that Marvel is not lacking the quality animated products Ultimate Avengers: The Movie will be released on Feb. 21st. to top off geek DVD's, Adult Swim series The Venture Bros. and Robot Chicken are on deck to be released before the year is out.

Speaking of movies, the next year is chalk full of comic geekdom. Top of the list is of course is Superman Returns and it’s about time. This eagerly wanted film has been in development hell for over fifteen years as well. My favorite Marvel character makes his film debut this year, unfortunately Ghost Rider is being played by Nick Cage, but all of my opinions are on hiatus until I see the movie. X3, V for Vendetta and 30 Days of Night for a few more. In development; Batman 2, Spiderman 2, Fantastic Four 2, Sin City 2, The Darkness, Y: the Last Man, Invincible, Wonder Woman being done by Buffy/Angel and Firefly/Serenity god Joss Whedon, The Flash by comic worshipper David Goyer. I tell ya, I’m getting hot just thinking about it.

In Heroclix gaming Galactus gets a run for his money when DC releases the Spectre. Fourteen inches of “God Damn” will take to the tables and judge all who stand against him. We will also see the next DC set Collateral Damage, to round out more of my favorite characters made figures like; Captain Cold, Ragman, Blue Devil, Red Tornado, and Green Lantern: Kyle Rayner.

Not to forget my source of this obsession, Comics! This year is starting off with DC’s twenty year anniversary tribute to Crisis of Infinite Earths, with Infinite Crisis and it's follow up, know only as 52. The ground work for this story began a year and a half ago and has since left me with an urge to either kiss or kill Geoff Johns. Yes, the architect of my pain has a name. Marvel also making hearts race faster with Civil War coming from the ruins of House of M. To the Indy side of things, Invincible’s father Omni-man returns to further complicate the hero’s home life. And for all the Seth Green fans out there, be sure to pick up the last few issues of The Freshman to remind you why college is a bad idea.

Tis the year to Geek out.

CliX-Mas

2005-12-16T05:29:00.000-07:00

For tonight's game, we'll do a 400 point game with "Colors of Christmas" as the theme. Only figures with the colors Green, Red, Silver, Gold and White in their name are allowed. Figures whose costumes or physical description have the majority of one of these colors (or a combination of them) will also be allowed (i.e. Hulk, Wendigo.)
If you'd like to use any characters who can also somehow be linked to Christmas by their name, I'll probably allow it (i.e. Typhoid Mary, Angelus, Northstar, etc.)

After that, we'll do a 300 point open build with Battlefield Condition Cards.

Webslinger?

2005-12-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

I am Spider-Man

You are intelligent, witty,a bit geeky and have great power and responsibility.

Spider-Man		80%
The Flash		70%
Robin		65%
Hulk		65%
Batman		60%
Green Lantern		60%
Catwoman		55%
Iron Man		55%
Superman		50%
Supergirl		45%
Wonder Woman		40%

Want to know what Superhero you are?

To all our friends..

2005-11-24T20:02:00.000-07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!

Let's try this again...

2005-11-14T22:29:00.000-07:00

This Friday 11/18, we'll do this "Nine-Tenths of the Law" senario as a 400 point game.

Nine-Tenths of the Law:
A grudge match is about to be settled. Both sides bring an ace in the hole—a bodiless spirit with the ability to possess others!

• "Ace in the hole" Each side has a ghostly spirit as one of their characters. This spirit costs 40 points, but does not have a figure. Instead, it is represented by a special marker, called a "spirit counter," and is placed next to one character onyour team.

• "He's acting funny." The character with the special counter next to it is treated as if it had the Mind Control power for as long as it has the counter. If the character makes a successful attack, the attack causes no damage and the counteris moved to the attacked figure. This figure becomes the "possessed" figure, switches sides, and is considered to be part of the controlling spirit's team. The spirit counter may be moved only once per each player's turn. A character withthe special counter cannot be "possessed" by an opposing spirit.

• "Jumping Out" If the figure with the spirit counter is knocked out, the spirit has the chance to jump into another body, even if it has already been moved this turn. This is an immediate attack, and the spirit counter's attack value is considered tobe 9 with a range of 4. This attack does no damage, but instead transfers the spirit to the new body if the attack is successful. If there is no figure within range of the spirit counter, then the counter is considered knocked out.Victory ConditionsAs per the standard rules.

Following that I'd like to suggest a 1000 point game, open build with BFC's. That's right One Thousand! Bring your industrial sized can of Whoop Ass!

Game Friday 11/11

2005-11-10T14:19:00.000-07:00

Let's do a 200 point open w/ BFC and a 600 point open without BFC. If we have time, we'll do a 400 point "Nine-tenths of the law" scenario.

Nine-Tenths of the Law:
A grudge match is about to be settled. Both sides bring an ace in the hole—a bodiless spirit with the ability to possess others!

• "Ace in the hole" Each side has a ghostly spirit as one of their characters. This spirit costs 40 points, but does not have a figure. Instead, it is represented by a special marker, called a "spirit counter," and is placed next to one character onyour team.
• "He's acting funny." The character with the special counter next to it is treated as if it had the Mind Control power for as long as it has the counter. If the character makes a successful attack, the attack causes no damage and the counteris moved to the attacked figure. This figure becomes the "possessed" figure, switches sides, and is considered to be part of the controlling spirit's team. The spirit counter may be moved only once per each player's turn. A character withthe special counter cannot be "possessed" by an opposing spirit.
• "Jumping Out" If the figure with the spirit counter is knocked out, the spirit has the chance to jump into another body, even if it has already been moved this turn. This is an immediate attack, and the spirit counter's attack value is considered tobe 9 with a range of 4. This attack does no damage, but instead transfers the spirit to the new body if the attack is successful. If there is no figure within range of the spirit counter, then the counter is considered knocked out.Victory ConditionsAs per the standard rules.

Last Crap Standing

2005-11-04T05:42:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, I noticed a trade paperback called "Last Hero Standing" at Dr. Volts and thought it looked pretty good. Finding a good deal on the original 5 issue run on ebay, I picked them up and anxiously read them when they arrived a few days later.
Allow me to sum up my review in 2 words: total crap.
The storyline was too predictable and all the characters were at their lamest. And just when the hell did all the mainstream Marvel characters get replaced ("supplemented" might be a better word) by females?
Spider-Man now has Spider-Girl.
Cap's young blonde doppleganger is called American Dream.
Quicksilver's spot has been replaced by the fully clothed (dammit!) Blue Streak.
Wolverine's daughter Wild Thing is running around with just all the wrong crowds (kids!)
No more Henry Pym as Ant-Man or Yellowjacket, now its Cassie Lang: Stinger!
The Fantastic Four is all skewed with Ms. Fantastic (a Skrull - yikes.)
And the Falcon's seat at the Avengers conference table is crammed with the twin superhero chicks called Ladyhawks.
Anyway, the whole thing was one big yawn, from beginning to end, so for the love of Stan Lee, refrain from reading these books.

For Those Who Ride The Lightning

2005-11-03T22:01:00.000-07:00

I began reading superhero comics in late 1990 and have been a better person ever since. My favorite comic book character has almost exclusively been The Flash. With that year I was able to see my new favorite hero running across my TV screen as well. I saw all of about four episodes before the end of the season. Not to be reshown over the summer and canceled before season two. Now fifteen years later and the rumor of a Flash movie by Batman Begins scribe David Goyer(pimp), we finally get this. I've waited too long for another fix.

Not that this is an important post, just something I wanted to share.

Post Game Recovery

2005-10-25T16:41:00.000-06:00

Well the "Masked Man" game was the conquest of Ryan. Starting as the monkey in the middle, his pitiful band just happened to lay the smack down on poor Nathan, as my "wait and see" strategy led to very little assistance. While on the other side of the map "Clash of the Bennett’s" was taking place between Matt and Neal, guess ho was the victor. (And no, Victor was not there)

As for the 500pt open build; Matt's medic heavy Spider friends did considerably well until his untimely end at the hands of Ryan and Nate who then turned their aggression toward each other. Neal and I stayed safely out the way attacking all targets of opportunity from a distance.

We were attempting to end the night with the second 200pt open build that not only turned into the game that would never end, but inspired the Last man standing game just to go out on a better note.

Stay tuned for the next exciting game this Friday at my place.

“Who is that masked man?”

2005-10-17T21:04:00.000-06:00

I know I'm interupting the flow by posting this before the game recap, but just go with me here.

This week in appreciation of Halloween, the 1st game will be 300pt no fig over 100 points no BFC’s and every fig in play has to be a masked character. Masked figs include Batman, Flash, Captain America, Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), etc… Non masked figs include Superman, Hulk, Bizzaro, Namor, etc…

Second game 500 point open build with BFC’s randomly chosen at game time.

And if there is time left we’ll have a 200 point open build no BFC’s, or single fig “Last man standing” with 300 point max.

For A Limited Time Only

2005-10-13T07:14:00.000-06:00

I didn't think of this until I got my case of Indy clix, but I figured out a way to
1.) Enhance my clix collection quite substantially while,
2.) Continuously finding custom projects and,
3.) Making the most of extra figures.

How, you might ask? Simple...inasmuch as they release Limited Edition figures, but since these are so difficult to acquire without paying up the wazoo on ebay, take an extra figure of the character in question, paint the "gold" ring on the base and insert a custom dial with the stats and powers of your choosing. We always talk about how we would have made the characters a little different and this allows us to do so!
For instance, I designed, what I think, is a kick ass Scarecrow. I haven't factored the point value of him yet and he might end up being a little more expensive than his R/E/V versions, but I think his stats represent the increasing fear he inflicts on victims of his fear gas.

Custom LE Dr. Jonathan Crane
Range: 6 Targets: 1 Team Ability: Batman Enemy
Speed 6 6(MC) 6(MC) 5(MC) 5(MC) 4(MC) 4
Attack 7 8(Inc) 9(PB) 10(PB) 9(PB) 8(Inc) 7
Defense 14 15(T) 16(Inv) 17(Imp)16(Inv) 15(T) 14
Damage 1(Out) 2 3 3 3 2 1(Out)

Not that he has any real Invulnerability or Impervious, but victims of his fear gas just think he does and their intense fear of him just makes him that much harder to hit.

If anybody has extra figs they'd like to assign custom stats to, let me know and I can fix 'em up right good for ya!

Game on!

2005-10-12T08:44:00.000-06:00

Ok, this Friday we're going to play a 200 Pogs of War scenario. For those of you who don't know, this means you have a 200 point team and a single bystander token. You mission is to protect the token. It's worth 100 points. If an opponent captures the token and returns it to their starting area, they get 200 points.

For the second game I'd like to play Ryan's Champion scenario. This will be the original 600 points. Designate one fig as champion who will be archenemy to all other champions and thus worth double the points. If two figs are already archenemies, then a KO will get you triple the points. (This is a minor deviation from Ryan's scenario)

If we have time we'll play a 200 point open build with BCC.

See you at my place at 1900 on Friday.

The game everyone missed

2005-10-11T05:39:00.000-06:00

Yep, there were only 3 of us present for clixing on Friday night: Neal, Matt and me.
We played the Clash of the Champions scenario in which each of our champions was randomly assigned a variety of powers that not only replaced the current powers, but lasted the entire length of their dial.
Neal used a Big Fig Sinestro as his champion, who was awarded all the brown powers of the game. This fig is dangerous enough, but grant him Hypersonic Speed, Poison, Impervious and Perplex, watch the hell out. Between Sinestro and KC Supes, Matt didn't stand a chance. Of course, he was taking hits from both flanks since I came around from the other side with my army of Darksieds. My champion, Big Barda, wasn't all that effective. She had all the purple powers: Force Blast, Smoke Cloud, Willpower, and Close Combat Expert, but got knocked around pretty easily.
Matt declared his Custom Doomsday as his champion and wound up with the green powers: Charge, Super Strength, Energy Shield Deflection, and Enhancement. He also had Obsidian and I don't remember who else.

The second game was borderline laughable. We used the mini-map and Battlefield Condition Cards, but since Matt and I both threw down the "Disbanded" card in an effort to offset Neal's Fantastic Four and Wild Card team (with Invisible Woman as the base and everyone sharing her wicked defense) those cancelled each other out. The only BCC in play was "Atlantis Rising."
Matt, with his custom Robotech figs (?) immediately went after Neal's figs in an attempt to seek justice on the previous game, and I followed suit. We managed to knock out Neal's Loki fig, but that was it. His Invisible Woman took a single click of damage and once he put them in hindering terrain and increased defenses with that lousy "In Contact with Oracle" card, they were untouchable. His Doctor Strange and Doombot were on their way out, but we kept failing our rolls against them. I think at some point, we needed to roll a 21 just to hit them. Insane.

Jumping on the Bandwagon

2005-10-07T21:26:00.000-06:00

To capitalize on the card idea I purpose this:

Maximum Yeild

Prerequiste: Energy Explosion

When this charactor makes a ranged attack using Energy Explosion, all successfully hit figures are dealt the attackers full unmodified printed damage value.

15pts

Ryan's Artifact Cards

2005-10-06T05:28:00.000-06:00

My cards aren't as fancy as Neal's will be, but each one has a little picture or symbol just to brighten them up a bit.

Captain America's Shield:

Choose a character.

This character gains Impervious (which replaces any defense power already appearing on the dial) and +2 to his or her defense value.

30 RAC001

Batarangs:

Prerequisite: Batman Team Ability

Choose a character.

During a ranged combat or power action, this character may use the Energy Explosion, Smoke Cloud, or Blades/Claws/Fangs power (Optional.)

15 RAC002

Uni-Power:

Choose a character whose point value is 50 points or less.

This character gains the following powers and abilities:
+2 to all printed values.
A range of 8 if the printed range value is
less than 8.
The wing symbol..
The Power Cosmic TA (replaces printed TA.)

This character may be given any one power at the beginning of the turn and another power at the end of the turn.

100 RAC003

Kryptonite:

Choose a character.

This character gains the Exploit Weakness power (Optional.)

If the target of an attack is a member of the Superman Ally Team Ability, this character gains a +2 to his or her attack value.

15* RAC004
* 10 if assigned to a character with the Superman Enemy Team Ability.

Punisher Armory:
Choose a character that does not have a team ability and does not have a damage value greater than 3.
This character gains the following powers and abilities:
-1 to printed movement value.
A range of 10 if the printed range value is less than 10.
Energy Explosion (Optional.)
Ranged Combat Expert (Optional.)
Toughness (Optional.)

20* RAC004
* 10 if the chosen character is Punisher.

Mandroid Armor:

Choose a character with the SHIELD or Police Department Team Ability.

This character gains the following powers and abilities for the duration of his or her dial.

Telekinesis (Optional.)
Toughness (Optional.)

15 RAC005

Outwit This!!!

2005-10-06T05:05:00.000-06:00

I woke up this morning with heroclix on the brain. More specifically, the use of Feat Cards and our upcoming custom Artifact Cards. We had discussed the possibility of being able to use the Outwit power to "turn off" a card just as you would with a regular power. I think that if the card grants a specific power, then that power can be outwitted, but not necessarily the card itself.
I guess I'm thinking about this because I went ahead and developed a few Artifact Cards last night and they basically give a character at least one power that they may not have had otherwise. Let's say Spider-Man picks up Cap's shield, (which, in my card, grants Impervious as a replacement defense power and a +2 to the Defense value). An opposing figure with Outwit could outwit the Impervious, but Spidey still gets the +2 to his defense, instead of the whole card being outwitted. The question that arises then is, if the Impervious is negated, would Spidey's printed defense power (assuming there in one on that particular click) of say, Super Senses, reappear or would he lose all defense powers altogether? I would like to think that the powers would layer (not stack and be used in conjunction with each other) to where if the top layer is stripped, the second layer would still apply. So if you really wanted to outwit Spidey's defense before trying to smack him around with a Texas sized fly swatter, you'd need two figures with outwit: one to outwit the Impervious and another to then outwit his Super Senses.

As for regular Feat Cards, I suppose outwitting them is possible, but should only be allowed with the successful role of the die. When attempting to Outwit Spidey's "Pounce" card, the player attempting the outwit must role one die. On a result of 4, 5, or 6, the outwit is made, whereas a result of 1, 2, or 3, the outwit has failed. I'm assuming then, that if the outwit fails, that figure may re-direct his or her outwit power to another figure or power. That decision may have to depend on a decision from the "Great and Powerful" Tribunal.

Any thoughts on this?

Power Cosmic Potentials

2005-10-04T05:12:00.000-06:00

I need a Tribunal ruling on characters who should have the Power Cosmic Team Ability.
Galactus, Silver Surfer, Nova and Dark Phoenix aside, who else should be granted this mighty ability to inflict great pain and destruction upon their enemies while having panic attacks aboard the mother ship?
I'm thinking, Celestials, Elders of the Universe, and while most Asgardians shouldn't, what about Odin?
And what about stronger versions of Adam Warlock, Captain Mar-vell, and Quasar?

Discuss.

Clash of the Champions

2005-10-03T15:03:00.000-06:00

Start planning now for this week's games.

#1: Clash of the Champions. 600 point build total. No BCC's.

The Grandmaster has assembled several teams of various heroes and villains from throughout the multiverse and pitted them againste one another in mortal combat.
Each team must select one character to act as their "champion." this character will be endowed with special powers and abilities which will be randomly determined only immediately prior to game play.

Champions are considered to be arch enemies with each other. If the Champions are already arch enemies to each other (Doomsday and Superman, for example) then a KO will be worth four times their point value.

Game 2: Open Build. 400 point build total. BCCs.

Any questions?

Game 2 results Part 2

2005-10-03T14:09:00.000-06:00

Here's an idea of what happened on the other side of the map in game 2. Matt used only his custom Doomsday and Brainiac against Dustin's forces of Superman, Judge Dredd, Judge Hershey, Sauron and a couple medics. Both Matt and Dustin were hoping for the arch enemy points since this version of Doomsday is an arch enemy to any Superman figure, but in the last round, Dustin missed his final attack on Doomsie by one point. It would have been a KO.
Jason won this game as well, walking away with a whopping 900 points (300 of which once belonged to my figures.)

Game 2 results

2005-10-03T13:40:00.000-06:00

This one was a bloodbath. My 600 point team proved no match for Victor and Jason's combined 1200 point teams. They came after me but good with heavy hitters like Superman, Dr. Strange, Nova, Magneto, Firelord, Carnage, Nightcrawler, Rasputin and Abbey Chase. I was being outwitted and hit like there was no tomorrow.
Here's an elevated gauntlet I had to run through to try to hit Supes.

Superman just occupied the space where I had my Black Widow. She got knocked back out of the bushes then finished off by a blast from Nova.

Another view of the slaughter.

Game 1 results

2005-10-03T13:35:00.000-06:00

Here are some more pics from the 1st game.
Here's the team I played. Matt called it a "KKK" team. That's my custom Fantomex flanked by Scourges and my custom Cardiac and Ghost providing support in the rear. I liked this team because The Ghost has a defense value of 19 with Defend and Cardiac is able to heal up anyone that takes some damage.
Here's Matt's KC Flash and Veteran Sinestro doing battle with Dustin's speedster force of Kid Flash, Jesse Quick and Nightcrawler.

Matt and Jason are plotting their next moves.

Jason ended up winning the game just by KO'ing Moonstar. I don't think there were any other casualties to speak of.

Friday game overview

2005-10-03T13:11:00.000-06:00

Friday's games went well at Vic's. His wife was very hospitable and provided us with many snacks and goodies.
There were only 5 of us present, meaning one of us would have to be "monkey in the middle." Matt volunteered for the crap position on the first game.

To the left is Jason's team consisting of Ulitmate Captain America, Black Widow, Daredevil and Hawkeye. He took on Vic's forces of Avalanche, Firelord, Wasp, Raven and Moonstar (not pictured because she got KO'd.

More to follow.

As per Matt:

2005-09-28T12:40:00.000-06:00

Okay gents this Fridays game will be a 300 point street brawl, figs over 150 cannot be used. (so use that Wolverine he's been eager to sharpen those claws.

Game #2 will be a save the pedestrians [Pogs of War] and at the same time kill your enemy: When you attack a pedestrian and then pick them up and take them back to your starting position you get double points, if you are holding a pedestrian and your opponent attacks you if the attack is successfully you drop the pog. It doesn't matter if damage is dealt or not, then you can pick up the damsel and make like the wind. Oh and the points will also be 300. This second one is in case you don't want to do the first one. Final game will be a 600 point BFC game.

Daily Bugle

2005-09-25T11:42:00.000-06:00

Promised pictures from last weeks game. All the Heroclix pics I've taken can be found here.

Above the legal limit

2005-09-24T12:30:00.000-06:00

This much fun should be a crime. Game night was a ton-o-fun, as usual. I'll let Beau fill you in on the details, as it was his night to host, but I wanted to tell you about my new cards and how they went down. We played a 600 point game that I was going to use a completely different team for, but I realized at the last minute, that everyone else was pulling out the big guns. Mat tried to use his custom Doomsday and KC Supes but we realized that Doomsday is an archenemy to all Superman figs so he swapped it out for the KC Shazam. Now that's a scary combo. (I'm digressing and treading on Beau's recap. I'll refocus now) So I decided that my newly approved Infinity Gem cards needed to be broken in. I applied all six cards and the Infinity Gauntlet card to U Thanos. This moved his point value to 385, which borders on ludicrous. (He almost turned plaid) So you can see what I'm talking about, take a look at the cards below. Now, the way these play is you can only use one Gem card per turn. It lasts until the next turn, but only one at a time. UNLESS...dum dum dum...You have the Gauntlet card (which I did). So I got all the +2 bonuses and all the powers to use together. This was painful to others. But, there is hope. We've discussed a Card Outwit Card which will work like Outwit, but just for cards. So there will be ways to take out a Gauntleted god.

Pic limit

2005-09-24T00:50:00.000-06:00

I guess 5 pictures is the max per post. Here's the other two gems, plus a special treat!

Expensive Plastic

2005-09-23T07:53:00.000-06:00

I'm looking into making another custom fig (Gasp!) The Punisher as a SHIELD agent as seen in the pages of What If...? Since it won't work to just repaint a Punisher fig, I'll take a SHIELD trooper, add a few minor changes, and put him on a Punisher dial, to which I'll add the SHIELD TA logo and custom stats. I only have 4 SHIELD Troopers, so I went to http://www.iconusa.com to look into just buying a loose rookie. It's only like .49, which I have no problem paying. It's the other loose figs they have listed that I have problems with. I never got a Veteran Thor, so I scrolled down to check out their asking price. 24.99! I checked out a few more: Unique Spiral - 49.99. Unique Nightcrawler - 99.99! Cripes! How do we afford this plastic crack habit?

For example

2005-09-18T15:20:00.000-06:00

I came up with a way to help balance the Infinity Gems that I would like the other Tribunal members to ponder. I'd like to make these a separate card set with a new color. Blue or green or something not orange. Each Gem Card would need to be "activated" before you may use it. It would be a free action to "activate" a Gem Card, but you may only have one active Gem Card at a time, unless you played the Infinity Gauntlet card (for 50 points) which lets you use any number of Gem Cards simultaneously. So to get the full effect for all the Gem Cards it would be 200 points, or you could use 100 points to play two Gem Cards at once, or you could use two Gem Cards for 50 points as long as only one was in effect at any given moment.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

World Saved! (sort of) Pictures to follow

2005-09-18T00:13:00.000-06:00

We ended up playing the Galactus scenario three times. Three. We all had so much fun that we couldn't stop. Well, actually the first game went faster than we thought it would. Ryan used his Dark Phoenix fig and I used my custom Infinity Gauntlet Thanos. Everyone else went for a healthy mix of heavy hitters. The most surprising fig of the night was the new Icons Superman. Nate played him well and he ended up doing some real damage to Galactus while managing to avoid a lot of it himself. As impressive as the custom Doomsday was the dice just did not cooperate and Mat ended up breaking a lot of objects in missed attacks, but there is some serious potential there. My custom Thanos was re-speced for an 800 point game, but even then he seemed a bit too powerful. I mean, he does 9 clicks of Psychic Blast damage and he can attack 3 times in one turn. Come on, who can stand up to that? I may need to lower that a bit. But, I wanted him to be able to tangle with Galactus in PVP mode. Galactus has so many more clicks of life that I compensated by boosting the Thanos numbers. Well, back to the drawing board.

The second game we reduced our build total to the 400 that the scenario called for. This was a tough game. We went all the way down to 0 on the timer dial and then 3 more before we beat him. So we didn't save the world but, man, it was close. Again, Icons Supes surprised us and made an impression. We picked up our collective asses and put together new 400 point teams and tried it one more time. This went a bit quicker, partly because we took off the kid gloves and pulled out things like our custom Infinity Gem Feat Cards. These each give one stat a +2 bonus and bestow some kind of power, and they stack. Between that, the 2 KC Supes and one Icon Supes and all the other high point figs, Galactus went pretty fast. I almost think we were overlooking something.

Game night this week made me realize how much the Feat Cards can build onto an already great fig. We've decided we need a way to approve our custom figs and Cards for our gameplay so Ryan, Beau and myself have formed a tribunal, if you will, to review and approve and custom rules, figs, cards or any other deviation from the official game. So get your ideas polished up and submitted.

I Hunger!

2005-09-14T13:30:00.000-06:00

Friday's games will be a Galactus scenario and a 600 point open /w BFCs.

Galactus will be at "Mighty" level which is 1800 points and each player will get an 800 point build total. If you need a refresher of what the Devourer of Worlds is capable of, brush up here and here.

Also, Friday is BYOA-S. Bring your ass-sling for when Galactus hands it back to you.

Fat game on a little map...

2005-09-11T14:58:00.000-06:00

Friday's games went extremely well, especially our "Last Call" game which was played on the 1/4 sized map. Neal was the Monkey in the middle, only his monkey looked an awful lot like the Big fig Sinestro (he threw lightning bolts instead of poop.) Beau sported his new Rookie Superman, Matt had his custom LE Doomsday, Nate played a borrowed KC Superman and I used my Unique Mongul. Matt, Neal and I decided on an "us verses Supermen" alliance and wasted little time KO'ing Beau's Rookie and Neal captured the KC Supes for twice his point value. Once it was just down to Sinestro and Doomsday, the killing machine ravaged Sinestro like a nuke on Hiroshima.

Assuming Neal will be playing next week, it's his turn to decide the build totals and themes for the next games.

Doomsday

2005-09-08T05:06:00.000-06:00

Matt had an extra Rookie Doomsday that had come off it's base that we thought would make an ideal candidate for a custom LE version that would more closely resemble his immense powers (c'mon, the guy killed Superman for crying out loud.) So he entrusted me to design the stats, print out and insert the custom dial and of course, glue the figure back to the base. I'm very satisfied with the result. He starts out with a movement value of 12 with Hypersonic Speed, an attack value of 10 (which gradually increases to 15! before dropping back down to 10) with Super Strength that lasts the entire dial, a defense value of 19 with Willpower (he then gains Impervious for 2 clicks, Invulnerability for 1 click and the rest are Toughness) and his damage value is a whopping 6 clicks for 4 clicks, then drop to 5 for another 4, and it never drops below 4 (which later is supplemented by Close Combat Expert.)
The guy is a monster. Total point value: 269.
Oh, and I'd like to suggest to the rest of the group that he is considered an arch enemy to any Superman figure, not just the ones from the Hypertime set.
Matt will be the first to take him for a test drive, you know, since it's still his figure and all...

Hosting Rotation

2005-09-07T12:34:00.000-06:00

Ryan
Neal
Beau
Matt
Dustin
Victor

Y? Because we love you.

2005-09-06T23:38:00.000-06:00

Today’s little rant is all about Y: the last man. If you’re not familiar with the story at all, shame on you. It’s fantastic; it’s about a man and his monkey… really!
Yorick Brown is out of work, living in Manhattan and manages to get by with his occasional street magic, escape artist performances and training a helper monkey named Ampersand. His girlfriend Beth is in the middle of the freaking Australian outback, and he misses her like crazy. His mom's a congresswoman, his sister's an EMT name Hero, and his dad's a literature professor with a penchant for giving his kids weird Shakespearian names. Though he has his quirks, Yorick's a regular guy... a regular guy who's about to become the last man alive in a world full of women. It’s all a fun and games in this paradise fantasy until reality sets in.
So check it out here: http://www.dccomics.com/features/ylastman/

I have just finished the latest collection titled Ring of Truth. I have found that aside from the amazing story telling and enticing plot, my favorite aspect is the very real approach Brian K. Vaughn has created in these characters. I see this story as “if this happened, this is how it would happen”.

The Game

2005-09-06T05:43:00.000-06:00

Friday's games were awesome! It was cool to have Alan join us for the first time in a few months, and Vic made it in time for the last two games.
The first game, A Hero's Beginning, went as smooth as butter on a summer afternoon. I chose a team of Rookie characters who all had kick ass upgrade levels. As luck would have it, my Sinestro was the randomly chosen upgrade, so I was able to replace him with his 300 point construct level at no extra charge to my build total. Suh-weet! I used him again in the Last Call game and got stomped by Matt's Amazo who kept coming back into the game after being KO'd thanks to that lousy Lazarus Pit. He got KO'd once by me and once by Alan who was laying waste with his KC Green Lantern. The battlefield was getting pretty bloody. I still feel sorry for Vic who was using a Veteran Thor for Last Call and he kept getting bitch slapped by Beau's Terrax.
Last I heard, we would try to have this Friday's game at Victor's place and he would be responsible for the build totals and themes, but we're still waiting confirmation on that.

Game Night 9/2

2005-09-01T14:23:00.000-06:00

This is the game per Matt:

Okay gentlemen we will play at my house
at the appropriate time and the game will be as followed:

Game #1
"A heroes beginning." Build Total: 400
You can only have rookies and then you give each
fig a number, then you roll a die (if you have more than six
figs than you use both die and don't label any of your figs as
1) and the shown will allow you to turn that fig into say for example:
Rookie Iron-Man into U Iron-man. Or rookie Superman into either
SOD Superman, KC Superman, Bizarro, or General Zod. That sort of thing.

Game #2
"Monster Mash" Build Total: 500
You use Terrans, Kree, Skrull, Vampires, Snakes (serpent society),
Kryptonian, Tameranian, etc...
I'm not going to assign a different race to everyone because I don't know
what you have in your collection but it would be nice if everyone tried to
be a different race.

Game #3 (if we have time)
1 fig 400 points or under, no BFCs.

Please send your complaints on this matter to the
recycle bin on your desktop, Thank you.

Watch this!

2005-08-30T12:45:00.000-06:00

This looks like a cool action figure. Think it would make a decent heroclick? I'm thinking he would have to have some special rules, like he can only attack when attacked, or something. Just an idea I'm knocking around right now.

Post Game Show

2005-08-30T10:25:00.000-06:00

I have pictures. They will be posted later today. The game on Friday was very enjoyable. With the number of people playing we were able to split up and play two games on two maps. This is a good because when you have six people on one map it tends to trigger any claustrophobia that anyone may have, also there ends up being a real game played in the 50 minute time span rather than the two or three opening moves that we usually get to with such a large group.

the first game we still played one game, but that was because we had five people. Nathan showed up for the second and last game.

Last call was a barrel of fish. Beau brought out the KC Green Lantern with it's 20 defense and had us all worried. Nathan, borrowing my KC Shazam did a bit of damage to him, however and even though Beau KOd Nathan while Ryan KO'd Matt, I eventually brought down the GL. Point-wise, Beau won. I was last man standing. I *could* have won if I wasn't retarded. Ryan's General Zod was on his last click and edging away from the GL. I used my Probability Control to make him reroll a missed attack because I thought it was a success. I was trying to help. But I made Beau make his failed attack and Ryan went down. Damn it. Oh well. But this has caused me to think the Last Call through and wonder if we should go for points or last man or a hybrid. I'm thinking that for Last Call when you KO a fig, you get all it's points, including any he got for KOing anyone before that. But I'll need to work out the bugs.

All-in-all, a fun game. Thanks to everyone who came and played.

Keep 'em rollin.