Batman Arkham Origins HeroClix Set Review: Rare Experienced Villains

The Batman Arkham Origins HeroClix set just released and with it 21 new figures will be making their way on to maps soon.

Who do you need to own? Who should you fear on the map? Today we start the rare reviews with 3 of the Experienced ranked Batman villains:

017 - Firefly

Firefly's second appearance in HeroClix is not a disappointment. As one of the few flying villains in Batman's Rogues gallery his ability to carry allies makes him a phenomenal investment (especially when used with Black Mask's special movement power).

Firefly scorches the battlefield with Improved targeting, and makes for a handy Stealth buster allowing his allies to draw lines of fire to targets he has already hit.

Add in Enhancement to boost damage values of allies, and the av sharing Batman Enemy TA, and you have a nice mini-tentpole to build around that will find a home on many Bat-Enemy teams.

A few other Ranged Combat oriented powers (RCE/EE/ESD) make him a standard hang back and shoot villain, and the Assassin trait gives him a little more teeth on the field, or at least gives an opponent some added worry.

He's not the toughest Bat-Villain, but has so much synergy that you'd be remiss no to field him on a ranged oriented Bat-Villain team.

Rating 4/5

018 - Shiva

Shiva the Destroyer earns her name with a plethora of destructive powers, from Precision Strike to Charge, and Exploit Weakness. Leadership feels a little out of place, but is nonetheless welcome.

A strong close combat oriented defense backed by Stealth makes her a hard target for anyone that can't see her to take down, and Indomitable will let her take out just about any figure in the set after 2 strikes. Really, for 90 points this figure is an under costed giant slayer, and a steal of a deal.

if there was only one figure that you MUST own from B:AO, it is Shiva, goddess of war, harbinger of death and destruction.

Rating 5/5

019 Killer Croc

Killer Croc has had a lot of representation in HeroClix lately, from the NML vanilla suited mob boss, to the GC Strategy game, to the SoG "Society" cellar dweller. It's nice then, that the B:AO version does not disappoint.

What sets Croc over the top is his movement trait - Sidestep and Charge when occupying water terrain is too good of a combo and gives him a huge swing when waterlogged - free moving two squares and then Charging 5, or Charging in, then breaking away to sidestep into stealth.

It's unfortunate that there's no Stealthy water terrain, which means once he's in the drink, he's easy to spot. It's also good then that his scales are thick. Invulnerability, followed by Invincibility only give way to regen, which will put him back on top.

He's no slouch of an attacker either, with B/C/F and CCE to supplement his damage he should easily be able to earn his Assassin bonus. The only real detractor is his need for water terrain to be uber-effective. Without it he drops one on the ratings scale.

Rating 3/5

Why Arkham Origins is an exciting Batman HeroClix set (for now)

Let's face it - like most of you,  I'm burnt out on Batman. 

Since the Superman expansion, we've been subjected to Bat-set after Bat-set with the Movie figures, Strategy Game, NML, SoG, Vehicle Super Boosters, Tab App packs, TV series, and now the video game franchise. 

Normally my wallet would be safe, as it was from most of the above releases, but this time, there's a few things that have my attention. 

1.) Story/Theme play:

The game appears to have a number of characters that inject a little bit of added "threat" onto the board for my opponent with the Hired Assassin trait:

Hired Assassin: During your first turn, choose an opposing character. If XXXXXXXX KOs that character, you score an additional 50 victory points.

This reminds me of the old (and flawed) Arch Enemy system, and sort of steers the game a little towards an alternate win condition. Competitively, I've played at large attendance venues, where you can go 3-0 and lose based on points (I recall a recent 3 round, 300 point event where a player timed out in several games without getting more than 100 points in all 3 rounds, but managed the wins!).

I'm curious to see how opponents react to the added point incentive of figures I'm fielding. Will they not care? Will they try and steer their targeted character away from my threat? Will they try and take out my Assassin first? There's a psychological aspect to HeroClix, that I love and this helps bring that out.

If nothing else, it gives me something else to concentrate on in games, in addition to the win. I wish there were more "objectives and rewards" in HeroClix - things like battlefield promotion, artifact rolls, etc. 

Magneto crosses the board to launch missiles from Cape Citadel? Marvel Girl promotes to Phoenix? That's awesome. Moloid picks up a Crimson Gem and KO's Sinestro by himself? That's something to talk about. It's these type of moments that make for great game play.

2: Character Selection:

I can't speak so much on this as we've only seen a few figures, but so far this looks promising, based on spoilers from the video game. A new Black Mask is promising (considering the SoG version is a bit of a wet rag), as is a new take on Anarky (unconfirmed in the set).

The update of Copperhead has me intrigued, and I know that while some aren't happy with the point bloated Deadshot, I'm glad to have another version of him. 

The thought that we might get an unclixed figure like Electrocutioner, or perhaps an updated Creeper? That would be amazing. I can't wait to see the full set list, and I'm hoping it doesn't double dip too much into the bat-well that we've been subjected to lately. 

#3: Sculpts: 

This is a toss up right now - I don't know what these look like in hand, but DC has had a better track record with sculpts (aside from DC75 Superman), specifically the micro sets like 52, DC10. 

If these sculpt stay on the same track, if the character selection is robust, and if there's a lot of fun to play mechanics it's going to be hard to pass this set up.