Superman: What did you pull, what did you play?

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood
and sorry I could not travel both - Robert Frost

The Road Less Traveled is one of my favorite poems, and a great metaphor for HeroClix sealed events, where one must calculate the odds and opportunity costs of running with one particular team formation.

Because players never get to field everything they get from a booster there's a question that follows them after an event - What If I had used something else? I'm not the only one to think this as Northblade writes in response to my last post about the Superman Sealed events:

Forget Darkseid in your pulls, what would you have played if he wasn't there? What else did you get and what would you have built?

It's a tough question, especially because I have a hard time remembering what my force choices were. I'll break it down figure by figure, for both 300 and 400 point builds.

Setting Darkseid aside, I think these were my choices. I confess that I may be remembering wrong on Bizarro, but for the purposes of this exercise they work.

Here's my pulls:

• 78 Kryptonian Infiltrator
• 153 All-Star Bizarro
• 99 Maxwell Lord
• 67 Element Woman
• 90 Bruno Mannheim
• 125 Superboy
• 40 Hope Taya
• 92 Libra
• 70 Princess Projectra

Maxwell Lord was immediately dismissed as a choice thanks to his low damage values. He was a possible ally of Darkseid (they share a ruler keyword) but in my opinion can't really compete in this format without some kind of beatstick backing him up. Black Adam for instance would double the Outwit, and help shut down a 300 point Superman.

Also dismissed? Princess Projectra. I confess that I've used her in constructed to great affect where her "loaner" Super Senses helped Wildfire out of a jamb. Like Max, I didn't see her Mind Control being of much use.

Libra was kind of a dud pull for me too. He's not bad, per se - he just can't do much that I would considering using Mastermind for. I want to get to that PC, and by that time he's lost his best combat values. I think it's telling that he was the only figure on my force to be KO'd in every game.

Bruno Mannheim, like the 3 above - just didn't seem like a viable choice for the first half of his dial. Sure, I could have some LoSH team synergy with the SE TA, but then I'm forced to use another figure that I didn't want, just to get some Outwit.

So I kind of immediately set those four figures to the side of my figure pool and took a look at the remainder. I can always go back to them if I need to.

Of all the figures I have here, Superboy stands out as the MUST play. Opening TK and Perplex seal the deal, but the Superman TA and strong damage output don't hurt either.

In a 400 point battle, I'd back him with:

Bizarro - Superboy's TK and Perplex would help me get an opening strike with the big brute.
Hope - again, TK and Perplex lends itself to a nice alpha atrike with a disposable piece
Kryptonian Infiltrator - a great dial for some sets this figure is just outclased here. Still, not a bad attack piece. I didn't read the fine print on the SP and thought it only worked with Kryptonian Keyword figures, but it also works with Superman Allies.

I'd play that 400 point team with Superboy starting as a TK cannon, coming into the fight fresh, later in the game after his teammates had softened up the opponent. I think it would do fairly well given average dice rolls (7's) and sheer damage output. My hope would be that opponents would have such a hard time pegging down Bizarro that Hope and Infiltrator would get less attention on the map.

In 300 points, the decision of what to play is a lot less clear. I WANT to use both Bizarro and Superboy but have no filler. In 300 I can't even guarantee that Superboy will survive an alpha strike, so I'd steer towards Bizarro. At that point it boils down to who else I can fit on a team with him.

Element Woman and the Kryptonian are possibilities, but I don't like how they play (no move and attack!). I'd probably go back to my "cast offs" and sort through, picking up Maxwell Lord to play with Hope Taya and Bizarro.

Maxwell Lord might have a decent shot at surviving because of Super Senses and the inability to be targeted. Most importantly, he brings Outwit to the board, something Bizarro might need to stick damage to opponents.

In 300 points, I can see where my team would have fared poorly against Imperirex, but may have been average (or a little below average) otherwise. I think the key to winning with my 300 point team would be Mind Control/Incapacitate from Maxwell Lord as often as possible. I expect Max would get some serious nosebleeds from feedback damage and pushing, but to win he MUST use the opponents figures to deal damage.

Superman Sealed Review

Those of you who read the Superman Marquee Primer on HCRealms.com may be interested to read this follow up report, featuring the figures I rated after seeing them in play.


I played in a 400 point, two booster sealed event and pulled Darkseid, Libra, and Hope Taya as my force. Darkseid was a must play, and it came down to who else would fit. Hope was a shoe in for my team, and if I had anyone cheaper I would have tried to shoehorn Element Woman in as well. As it was I went with the not so obvious choice of Libra because he can attack immediately following Darkseid's Boom Tube.

The following are the teams I played against, and how I think they performed.

First Round:
Sun Boy - Performed exactly how I expected him to. He hit once and then crumpled like tissue paper. Opening Pulse Wave caught me by surprise (I had chosen to Outwit Manchester Black's TK instead), but fortunately he only rolled a 7 on his attack, hitting my Mastermind fodder.

Manchester Black - got his TK/PB Outwit often. Didn't get to do much, but put the hurt on Hope. I can see where he'd be a good figure to field, just not against the team I was playing. I think I rated him right, though maybe he's closer to 3.5 stars. When he gets based he's absolutely shut down.

Lois Lane, Superwoman got chased around the board by Hope. I was trying to get an Alpha Strike on her, but my opponent was far too clever to let me. Lois probably transformed a little too late in the game - by the time she had changed she was stuck with two tokens on her and had to clear while Darkseid set up and followed through with Omega Beams to vaporize her. She's sub par for this set unless you can push her and get her into battle right away.


Parasite couldn't counter any of Darkseid's powers. He got Mind Controlled by Libra to attack Manchester, and then was vaporized in short order by the Omega Effect. Parasite could have been more formidable against another team where he could have Outwit... something.

I think only Libra was KO'd this round. My opponent hadn't played much and was a little rusty. His combination of figures wasn't horrible, and with some strategy he could have really made a dent in my force (Parasite, for instance could have used Super Strength stolen from Hope).


Second Round:

All-Star Bizarro Moved a little too close on his first turn. Darkseid's Boom Tube, and Outwit, and an a followup attack from Libra for 3 damage softened him up. Bizarro pushed onto his 16D Impervious, and Darkseid finished him the following round with Omega Beams. Bizarro was more of a threat to me than Supergirl and had I not memorized his dial he could easily have torn me apart.

200 point Supergirl lasted the longest, but had to push to keep up (and away) from Darkseid. She also did enough damage to KO all my Mastermind fodder, and at one point if she landed one attack roll could have won the game by dealing 6 clicks to a bare defensed Darkseid. Overall a solid performer on her front dial, but one that fades fast.

Hope Taya Performed as expected - a minor annoyance who dealt a little damage and was quickly seared out of existence by Omega Beams. For the cost, and outstanding figure.


Third Round:

Seven Deadly Brothers - proved annoying. "Deal with me" he said, leaping next to Darkseid and shutting down the Omega Beams. Hope Taya softened him up before Darkseid opened a Boom Tube to reposition the team away from Imperirex's oncoming drills.


Brainiac 5 - put himself in the line of fire and suffered a round 2 Omega Beam. After Boom Tubing away from the drills Libra finished off the Colluan. B5 Proved to be a minor annoyance with Outwit/PC/Perplex and i could see where the Double Outwit (from Imperirex) wrecked may teams before me.

Imperiex was feared. Drills, high defense, and massive damage made Darkseid cautious on approach. Imperirex's downfall was positioning - Hope Taya destroyed blocking terrain that opened a line of fire for Omega Beams. Rather than retaliate, 'Rex repositioned the drills and the stony lord of Apokalips finished him with more Omega Beams.

Again, only Libra was KOd (notice a theme?).

Final Round:

Seven Deadly Brothers (x2) - fell fast to Omega Beams, but served their purpose - blocking Line of Fire to Zod and Non. In that sense they were better than I expected (but not great!).


Non - Left himself open to Omega Beams and didn't move close enough to charge on his second turn (he's a little slow). He fell, but not before dealing enough damage to KO Hope and injure Libra. Indomitable made both Zod and Non capable of pumping out a lot of damage very fast. Darkseid was angry that he could not counter Non's Super Strength.

Zod - suffered a dose of Omega effects, but then came back strong, critically hitting Darkseid. Darkseid never made the attack rolls necessary to recover and so Zod made Darkseid kneel before him. Had I been thiking strait, I would have based Zod and shut down his Psychic Blast. As it was, I didn't want to waste an action when I could have fried Zod at range. Whoops.

As far as impressions of my team go:

Libra was chosen over rulers Maxwell Lord and Princess Projectra ONLY for sharing another keyword with Darkseid to use with Boom Tube. Libra never used Mastermind so he could get to Probability Control faster. Libra never stole energy but did Mind Control once. Despite being on a winning team Libra did not do much to help win, except act as a meat shield. Libra did throw up all over himself (rolling a crit miss) on the first attack of my first round. I attribute it to motion sickness after being Boom Tubed, though it was, in effect, an accurate showing for his dial. I am unconvinced this figure will do well in constructed, as his performence in sealed was marginal at best.

Hope Taya earned her 40 points in every game, either hitting once for 4, or by tying up opponents and forcing them to move away from her. Hope was a solid investment, and only ended up as a bullet shield once.


Darkseid proved to be a stony lord of Apokalips, decimating everything in his path. I got lucky in the fight with Supergirl and rolled a Critical Miss with him, bumping him to better defenses after he had lost his minions. He's surprisingly fragile, though annoyingly mobile. The combination of Phasing/Teleport followed by a free "minion" attack really proved annoying to my opponents and let me get a first strike in when needed. It also felt dirty, like cheating the NAAT rules. Off his top dial, his attack values drop to average and he becomes less of a threat.

In every game my opponents let me get away with Psychic Blasting through damage reducers only to Outwit something more important. Had they based Darkseid, his PB would have been shut down forcing him to choose to use Outwit on damage reducers or move away. You don't win a lot of games by running, and so I wasted a lot of time frying the small guys - Hope, 7DB, etc. While the remainder of my team tied up the opposition.

In all, I feel like everyone at the venue had solid pulls and the set played well, if only lending itself to some very fast games. Oddly no one pulled a Common Superman.

My Gencon Experience: Friday

Friday during my free time I tried stopping by WizKids booth early to play a Battle Royal, and fell flat on my face as the lines just kept growing. I had what can only be described as a sour experience, waiting in a line just to sign up for an event, only to be told I couldn't wait to sign up because they had no sign up sheets out. They also didn't know when sign up sheets were going to be put out.

It turned into a catch-22 fustercluck, and I was told to wait at the back of a new line despite being first at the table for the next wave of sign-ups. By the time it was over I got moved to three different lines and ended up so far away that no one could hear their names being called. I also got chewed out by staff for making a mistake when signing up and asking "stupid" questions, which as a first time con goer with no clue what was going on was very disheartening.

I don't entirely blame them for the situation, but rather how they handled it was pathetic. I could see their frustration levels rising at a situation they had limited control over, and I know what it's like being an overworked, unpaid volunteer. Still, I can't believe how rudely I was treated by the staff, and official envoys of WizKids in the process of me trying to give them money. If I had been a casual or new player this experience would have turned me off for life.

After nearly two hours (and most of my free time that morning) I eventually got to play in a King of the Hill event against... surprise! 2009 World Champion Ben Cheung, the maker of the notorious Nightcrawler. Ben had great pulls and played a Soldier team with 2x Steve Rogers, Maria Hill, and a Howling Commando, to my somewhat lousy pulls (I played Klaw, Phobos, Adaptoid and Bucky-Cap). Ben won roll-off and picked the Crater Map making it a shooting gallery for himself. I trudged my team up the side hiding behind Adaptoid and with my average attack roll being 5's wasn't much of a threat.

My spirits were kind of defeated already from the long wait in line to finding out Ben was my opponent to his map advantage choice, and I think it translated to bad chi for my dice which never made a successful Leadership, Super Sense, or Shape Change roll. I pushed on, hoping he'd roll a critical miss at some point, but never got that lucky and I only managed to take out his Howling Commando.

I headed off again to help run Stratego and Stomple demos and decided I was pretty much done with HeroClix for the weekend. Too much disorganization on WizKids part. Still, I had bought enough generic tickets that I wanted to burn up, and I really wanted that convention exclusive Wonder Woman LE, so I sucked it up and managed to get in a Battle Royal at the end of the day, with a lukewarm partner that wanted to drop right away from the game after opening his boosters.

We lost the BR, and I lost most interest in playing competitive 'Clix at the convention which is expensive - I plucked down nearly 40 dollars to pick up figures I already owned just for a chance to win one of those gorgeous Horsemen of Apocalypse.

In hindsight I can see where WizKids tried to be too accommodating to everyone, offering more scenario play this year at the expense of table space for grinders and battle royals. There needed to be some penalty for people that dropped immediately from play (after seeing the contents of their booster and what an opponent pulled), and a better way to sign up for events so players could manage their time.

Scarlet Witch: Creeping Me Out for Years

I hated Brian Michael Bendis for taking one of my favorite characters and turning her into a raving loon as a vehicle for rebooting the Avengers. And then perusing some older issues of the Avengers I realized, maybe BMB wasn't that far off.

Wanda's always walked a fine line between helping her teammates and killing them with her uncontrollable "Hex" powers. Like the Witch from Wundagore mountain shows, she's forever been on the edge of losing her mind, a loose cannon capable of accidentally harming friend and foe alike.

Take this exchange between Scarlet Witch and Electro for instance.

Wanda pulls a Vader Force Choke on this poor two-bit villain, and could have easily killed him. It's not the act so much that bothers me, but her teammate's reactions.

Captain America for instance. A guy who has fought in the bloodiest war in history, and has no doubt seen gruesome dismemberments, Nazi torture victims and the like takes one look at Wanda and has a WTF moment.

Rather, it was "What the Blazes?!?!?!", but we know what you meant comics code Cap.

Is that fear in your eyes Steve? His response says it all. "UM.... Yes!" So what do you expect from someone who can bend reality to shape her will, giving birth to mutant twins from an android father, or wiping the mutant gene out of existence.

Or most of the mutants anyway (since we can't just get rid of Marvel's best selling titles!). Still, with that kind of power cap is right to be scared. Scarlet Witch could conceivably do anything, including making Steve Rogers her love slave. SHe wouldn't do that though.... would she?

So in hindsight, the crazy was there to begin with. Brian Michael Bendis just connected the dots.

Superman or Elseworlds?

So the Superman checklist was revealed, (awhile ago, I know...I know) and compared to my list there's actually a lot of difference. Many of the characters I figured would be in the set, didn't make the cut.

No Lana Lang Insect Queen? Now she'll never get made. And what about the Furies? And then there's just the bizarre choices. No Jimmy Olsen? No Mxyzptlyk? No Krypto? Sigh.

Here's where my list matched up with WizKids:

• #1 Intergang Agent
• #7 Superman Robot
• #8 Gangbuster
  
• #9 Zod
• #11 Sun Boy
• #14 Steel
• #18 Parasite
• #19 Ursa
• #20 Supergirl
• #22 Superman
• #26 Superwoman (Lois)
• #29 Maxwell Lord
• #31 Superboy (classic)
• #33 Silver Banshee
• #34 Non
• #35 Bruno Mannheim
• #37 Magog
• #39 Lex Luthor
  
• #43 Lobo
• #44 Brainiac 5
• #52 Eradicator
• #54 Darkseid
• #58 Cyborg Superman

24/60. In short, I suck at predicting these things.

It is interesting to note that this is the closest thing we've had to an Elseworlds set ever. Between the All Star contingent, the Flashpoint sub-theme, and the variant chases, there's no less than 15 out of continuity figures. And that doesn't even include the Kingdom Come guys, or the Legion who are constantly going through alternate timeline reboots.

There's also a few figures I suspect are holdovers from DC75. Human Target, for instance isn't exactly a Superman staple, and while Swamp Thing has had encounters with the Man of Steel, he more or less screams 75 years of DC! Swampy probably had to be delayed due to storyline reasons, I'm not sure it was known that he came back with the Brightest Day when 75 was released.

Seven Deadly Brothers feels completely out of place (and is another that was better suited for DC75, which just adds to my conspiracy theory that DC75 had a bunch of Skittle Lanterns shoved into it at the expense of a few other figures.

My GenCon Experience: Thursday

Thursday morning came fast and with it the long walk to the convention. Fortunately as insiders we bypassed the legion of gamers lined up to get in we helped set up the Spinmaster tournament area then had a couple hours to walk about and take in the 'Con, enjoying all the colorful costumes and people along the way.

We stumbled into the paint and take where I fell in love with this Hillbilly Goblin model from Wyrd miniatures,


while my wife painted this Mouseling pirate. Both minis and paint were FREE (with con admission).

Captain Frosttail of the Icy Seas...

We then went to work helping run the Stratego events while demoing Stomple at the next table over. Stomple caught on like a super-flu virus, contagious to passers by as the shine of the marbles, and the CLACK sounds they made when falling through the board, drew people in like rubberneckers at a train wreck.

The more people we taught, the more they wanted to show their friends how to play. Because the rules are so simple it got to a point where people I had just taught how to play were explaining it to their friends (and other strangers) and so on.

After the Exhibit hall closed and the last Stratego event ran, I quick changed into my Mouse tee


and we headed over to the Old Spaghetti Factory for the HCRealms.com member appreciation dinner, where I finally got to meet and greet many people I have only known through online communication. We sat with a table of gamers from the Boston area and enjoyed dinner and conversation that didn't just revolve around games.


Later in the hotel lobby we had a four player Battle Royal of Epic Proportions - my Mole Man was on the prowl looking for objects to steal, and I managed to snatch up a Scorpio Key, A Black Lantern, and the Crimson Gem of Cyttorak before XLII's X-men thwarted my heist.

Play of the night went to a Juggernaut-empowered Moloid who KO'd Larry's (HCRealms Tyroman) FF Sinestro - no easy feat with Sinestro being on his Invulnerable clicks and Molo-naut having only a 2 damage.

Heh.

My GenCon Experience: Wednesday

The Best Four Days in Gaming isn't just a hype filled slogan, it's truth. I realize I'm a bit late in posting this, but since this was my first big convention I thought it was worth sharing my experience.


My wife and I arrived in Indianapolis Wednesday night to help the Spinmaster team as demo monkeys, and I got on the floor just in time to see the exhibit hall as it was being set up, with forklifts dumping carpeting and crates everywhere in a flurry of activity.

The Redakai Booth

I made the rounds looking at booths and marking out where I wanted to go the next day, including the Cool Mini or Not area, Reaper booth, and WotC castle.

Reaper Minis

I also stopped by WizKids to geek out over some unrealesed 'Clix previews including the Pathfinder minis, Lord of the Rings sculpts, and Halo clix. My personal highlight - DC Superman sneak peeks including Sensor Girl/Princess Projectra, a split (100/200 point) dial Supergirl, and Silver Banshee.



We picked up our weekend uniforms, tee-shirts featuring classic Stratego icons and then strolled over to restaurant row where we enjoyed some boneless chicken wings.


Heading back to the hotel we found the lobby buzzing with gamers, including HeroClix and I got to chat up Mike and Mike from Calgary, who were both playtesting World Championship teams. I ended up playing a pick up game and had a lot of fun losing. Little did I know the fun was only just beginning.