Since it was Saturday, and I wasn't going out of town, I figured I'd play some Heroclix. I'm telling you that in advance if you'd rather leave and come back when I post something comic-related tomorrow.
We're into more free-form games now, since the event that went with the Crisis set is finally done, and the Secret Invasion set doesn't come out until the end of July. I trotted out some Freedom Fighters (Uncle Sam, Phantom Lady, the Ray), and was paired off against Bob for the first round. Bob is someone I've rarely beaten (though that's true of pretty much everybody) and I get the sense he puts a lot more thought into the teams he uses, and what maps would work best with that team than I do. Actually, I know he puts more thought into it, because I never bother to worry about maps, period. Anyway, Bob put out a "Scientist" team of Niles Caulder, Tomar Re, Kang, and a HYDRA Technician. Only in Heroclix, folks. Well Heroclix and fan fiction. Putting it simply, I got smoked. This was not one of those games where I say afterwards, "Gee, if only I could have made that one attack roll, things might have been different." No, I just got crushed. It wouldn't be so bad, except Bob seems so joyless about it. I sometimes wonder if he's having any fun at all. Maybe it would help if he got more competition (he rolled through all 3 matches today without losing any of his characters even once). I don't know.
I did deduce from that game, that it was a bad idea to send the Ray charging out on his own, with his teammates left in the arrears, so for the 2nd game, I changed it up a little. I was playing someone I hadn't before, a fellow named Henry, I think. He was a nice guy, possibly inexperienced (or just out of practice), but he knew the basics, which puts us on roughly equal footing. He had a High Evolutionary/Saturn Girl/Ultimate Captain America team. I think I owe this victory entirely to favorable rolls of the dice. I was able to use Ray's Hypersonic Speed to zip out, take a shot at Saturn Girl (and actually hit her), then use my remaining movement to retreat back to my other characters, and out of range of Cap's Charge, forcing Henry to use a turn simply to get Cap in range (as H.E. was too far away to TK Cap right into my face). That gave me an opportunity to bring Sam and Phantom Lady up to Cap, and the three of them eventually bludgeoned Cap to death. I got very lucky, as Henry at one point had Saturn Girl boost Cap's damage +2, the High Evolutionary boosted his attack +1, and he was swinging a light object at Uncle Sam. Potential for 3 damage after Sam's Invulnerability, and he only needed a 4 to hit, with a 2d6.
He rolled snake eyes (critical miss). The object's wasted, and Cap takes damage. I was visibly relieved. Anyway, once Cap was out, I had Sam carry Phantom Lady over to Saturn Girl and the two of them pummeled her (after she missed a Mind Control attempt on Sam), then they went after the High Evolutionary, who scared the hell out of me by getting more dangerous the more I hit him. I managed to pretty well finish him in a round where I pushed Phantom Lady to flurry (two attacks, I hit with one), and pushed Sam to flurry (hit with both), and shot at him with the Ray (an 8 attack against 18 defense, and I got the 10), which was roughly 6 clicks of damage. Then Henry's Regeneration attempt didn't work, and I was able to wrap things up without losing any figures. There were only five players today, so I drew the bye for Round 3. I spent that time watching the other matches and listening to Ken chat with a friend about next year's Cape Comiccon (Yes, Ken's already making plans).
So I won for the first time since a February match against Jack. It had been 14 consecutive losses - counting today's match with Bob - in between wins. I am the Kansas City Royals of Heroclix*. Oddly, every match today was a clean sweep, by which I mean all of the loser's characters were KO'ed, and none of the winner's characters were defeated. Weird.
*Which is different from being the Arizona Cardinals of Heroclix. That would involve me having the advantage in the matches, or at least appearing competent, then doing something mind-bogglingly stupid to lose, which did happen once or twice, but most of the losses were just me being terrible. If you prefer, I would also accept the title of "The Detroit Lions or Memphis Grizzlies of Heroclix".
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2 comments:
I think the Royals comparison is the most apt, since you at least try and appear to know what you're doing. To qualify to be lumped in with the Grizzlies or Lions, you must be catastrophically stupid.
Or, to put a hopeful spin on it, just think of yourself as the 07 Devil Rays of Heroclix, meaning that next year, you'll turn it all around.
jason: I could handle being the '07 Rays, although that means I'm going to get in a lot of brawls with whoever is the Heroclix equivalent of the Red Sox. Fortunately, in Heroclix terms, I think that would mean we just throw our dice at each other.
So hopefully it's not Henry. His dice were made out of copper, that would hurt.
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