Marketing the sub sets

I recently posted a question on Wizkids Facebook page about buying a set with figures you never heard of. Would you? There weren't as many answers as I might have hoped for, but the ones I got were fairly diverse with good reasoning. I think they may be a good representation of the buying community for the most part.

Most said that they needed to know the characters and have an interest in them. One said he would probably buy and I do know of a few die hard collectors who will take anything Heroclix. Another commenter mentioned that the mechanics would have to be very good to get him to buy characters he had never heard of before. He would even research the character if he liked it enough. I found that interesting too.

When Invincible came out, I have to admit, I never heard of the characters in it before. What can I say? I just hadn't. I still bought the set. A commenter suggested that the sets at the time and Indy was a matter of experiment. That may be. I think the greatest failing of Indy was having awesome figures that you could only get in the UK or US. An interesting marketing ploy meant to work by geographic marketing sector, but a failed one. People were upset about having to go out of their way to get missing pieces for the set. Along with that, there may not have been too much in extra cost to do separate packaging for all that, but it had to be time consuming. Time creates cost.

Now there's some new subsets coming out and I wonder if there's any experiment intended with these or if some marketing research was done? Let's take a look at two sets upcoming.

STREETFIGHTER: I think this set is going to sell hot. There's been a long time cult following of this game. It's very well known and bridges genres from video game to table top. Not a bad idea at all. Cool characters with cool abilities. I'll be interested to see the translation. Could this mean other video game related clix in the future? Maybe, but licensing could be a nightmare. Streetfighter has all it's characters in one place. Halo saw some popularity, but I never bought it. Here's something to chew on, I think Streetfighter's sales could be hotter than Halo. What do you think?

MEGADETH: This one is tricky. Megadeth is popular, I like them, but music tastes are more fickle than gaming tastes could ever hope to be. I could see this as an experiment to see if music tastes could bring more players in for heroclix. It's a small set, so sort of safe as a test launch subject. There are plenty of metal collectors and there have been plenty of genre cross overs in the past with music to comics. Just look at KISS. Timing could also be crucial in getting a good sell out of a music based set. Megadeth's next major US tour is in July with them in Europe for March and April. It could be good for cross marketing of the tour and I could see that as a marketing tactic. I also wonder, is Dave Mustaine a clix fan? And does this mean we could see a KISS box set sometime? Rock and Roll clix? Hey, in the video game genre's Rock Star saw a nice long sell. Maybe, but I'm not counting on it and probably wouldn't buy it myself.

Our great big collections

So, how many figures are in your Heroclix collection? I've been playing and collecting from the very beginning and have a good couple thousand of those old pieces stored away in boxes. So you don't see those in the photo, this is my current collection not counting what's been stored. Suffice to say, Heroclix takes up a lot of room in my gaming library.

I've changed how I store them a few times over the years. It seems like I just can't find a way that I can really stick with as new sets come out and adjustments have to be made. I've seen pretty cool ideas though.

Lots of people use tackle boxes, tool boxes, and various forms of tool storage bins. Those work nice, but you will wind up with a lot of what ever you use for storage as you run out of room.

I currently have mine in bins by keywords as I would most likely use them. I have a small portable carrier that I use for all my tokens, objects, and any teams I take to a tournament. I prefer to build my team before I even go anywhere because of all the pieces I have. It's just too much to carry all at once (ha ha).

Some of the highlights of my collection include the original Galactus, Dark Phoenix, and the World's Finest brick mail away (Superman and Batman). I also have one of the original Sentinels, three of the updated ones, the Sinestro Corps Anti-Monitor, and yeah, Purple Pants Fin Fang Foom (useless against the others).

I have lots of the old uniques to include Clobberin Time's Nightcrawler and Spiral. I have a purple ring Thanos and Gladiator. I also have metallic Silver Surfer and Nova. Remember the first LE Superman from Hypertime? Yep, got him too. It sure gets hard to keep track after all this time and all these sets and pieces. How can our collections do anything but get huge? I wonder how many of you have had to put old pieces away in storage? I'm sure there's plenty of you. And the highlights change with the current collections; the chase figures, White Lanterns, Cosmic Spiderman, etc. I don't have a lot of the chase's these days because I just can't afford to dump as much money into it as would be required for a good chance. But I do have a decent collection to draw upon for play. I think that's more important than the chase figures.

So, how do you contain your bursting collection?

Click on above image for larger view.

Modders concerned over new dial type

Recently a new "oreo style" dial base was announced by Wiz Kids and I have to say it looks pretty sharp. You can see it at Heroclix World (<--click).

I was looking through comments on the article and the Wizkids facebook page and noted that there were two essential concerns with the new dial.

1: Will the cost of boosters go up?

2: How will modders do their thing?

While I understand the first one, I had to double-take on the second. As for the first one, it's been stated that the current intention is for price to remain the same. This may take some negotiation in manufacturing, but it's the intent as of now. I don't know how they'll do that if the dial costs more, but all we can do is wait and see.

Now for the second issue. I've done my own fair share of modding and have even done some figures that friends really enjoyed. Even so, with my own hobby in mind, I have to mention something.

Heroclix was never made with the intent of anyone cutting up figures to make their own figures. It's never been in the rule books or any advertisements. When you read the box it does not say " and you can chop them up to make other people out of them". Nope, that's never been an openly supported venue in any way (advertisement wise). Granted, they haven't said "hey, don't do that!" and I'm sure they've gotten a few sculpt ideas or set ideas from watching. And they have to be watching, it would be silly not to.

Yes, the facebook page allows you to share pics of your mods and there are pages and people selling them, but.... this is the land of copyrights and licensing issues. Modding is being tolerated and shouldn't be pushed.

I guarantee you that new sets are not formed with the idea of "Oooo this will be easy to hack up!" in any way.

So modders, I suggest we wait until we get our hot little hands on them and figure it out then. I suggest we not cry about it before we have all the facts. This is not a function owed to us in the least. It's not what we are paying for or what it's marketed for. Keep it reasonable and don't worry so much, let's just enjoy our game.

Photo is my easy mod of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Giant size X-men poster hits web

So this poster was recently released on the internet and is creating quite a drooling stir for the upcoming Heroclix set: Giant sized X-men. HCRealms sports page after page of excited dialogue in the forums and there's talk at the Wizkids facebook page too.

I was surprised to see such a spoiler released this early but I don't think it's going to hurt sales at all from the reactions. I'm pretty excited about this set too. There are certainly pieces coming out that have never been made before. Amongst these are Lockheed the dragon, Gatecrasher, and Ch'od. I do hope that keywords don't leave any of these newbies lacking for good team play.

Ch'od has a chance in golden age open formats if anyone has any of the older figures. Sadly, I find most of them unable to survive in current formats.

We've needed a new Magneto for a long time and having his original Brotherhood crew isn't shabby either. But where's Toad? Oh well, so long as this incarnation of Blob is better than the last, I can do without Toad thanks to having the rest.

I also don't see a few other key players for X-men or one for Hellfire Club. It's nice to have Siryn, but Banshee was a key player in the old X title this set is based on. Siryn is Banshee's daughter for those who don't know. And where's Shadowcat? I also realize that there are incarnations in recent sets, but what about Colossus? He was also a key figure in the Giant sized. It's also been mentioned that Strife will be a bit lonely without Cable to pick on. And how about Mr. Sinister? As for the missing man from Hellfire club, I'm talking about Sebastian Shaw. Yes, he's in an old set too, but he needs a revamp badly. There are plenty of figures who've seen way more remakes.

I will also be glad to have my hands on a new Juggernaut and Phoenix, I have to say.

Now, I note that we also don't see any of the giant pieces on this poster, like Apocalypse or the rumored new Sentinel. So what else are we not seeing? Makes you wonder doesn't it? Oh, and just click on the image to see it larger.

DC 75th, least favorite five

So, I've done my top ten favorites of DC 75th and now I'm going to show my top five choices for greatest disappointments of the set. This doesn't mean I think they're totally unplayable or gawd awful trash. Just that they were the least of the set for me and some of you may agree. I'm certain opinions may vary. So, without further ado, here they are from "best to worst".

5: The Wonder Twins: They are actually a cool collector's piece and I'm glad to see them get made. Still, it's unlikely that I'll ever play them. My first problem with them is keywords. They get just one keyword and that's "teen". Sure, that makes for plenty of teams they can play in, but how often were they actually teamed up with teens in the stories? Usually they were hanging out with the JLA as junior members. I think they should have had the keyword for JLA at least, if not the team ability. The second problem I have with them is the same issue I have with any dual figure. The duo attack ability is horribly watered down. For having two figures take a swing, it's a weak power. This may depend on the figures in some cases (and it should), but in this case it's a good example. The duo attack ability is a power action and cannot be used with most powers. It also weakens on the second attack with a nice minus one to damage. So, while there's plenty of cool powers for the twins to use, a dual figure is usually just as slow as a single figure and you won't see accurate team usage of those powers thanks to how dual attack works. That's why very few dual figures see gameplay. Two pieces are usually better than one every time.

4: Wonder Woman: I know, she's actually more useful than the twins, but still a disappointment to me for one major reason. Her defense power. I think she should have had defend as a trait. It would have had better strategic use and she wouldn't have the risk of getting knocked right past her invulnerability on the first hit she takes. Wonder Woman is a front line fighter, always has been. She needs her hardened defense first. If she lends anyone defense, it should be a secondary issue. On top of that, an 18 defense just isn't that hard to hit anymore, so you really can't count on it in opening combat. Another good power for her to have had for up close would have been combat reflexes. She is an Amazon warrior after all and one of the best. Sorry, but her defense just isn't character accurate. What are some other tactics that could be arranged for Wonder Woman? Well, for one, give her a power for that lasso that allows her to pull someone to her from about 6 range or so. That's what lassos have been used for with people you know. With Wonder Woman's strength that would be a cinch power. It could also be used for limited telekinesis to grab an object and whip it at someone.

3: Superman: Poor sad Superman. He looks like Lois turned him down for a date with Aquaman or the Flash. But really, he has good reason to look sad and worried because his chances of standing up to his main nemesis in this set is practically zilch. Who's that, you ask? Why Doomsday of course! I'm not the first person to mention this either, it's a pretty common opinion. While Superman's dial is "good", it's not Superman accurate at all. All he has on Doomsday is movement. He still has to hit a 19 defense with a 10 attack. Good luck, Supes, you'll need it. So what else is wrong with this figure? How about NO hypersonic speed? A Superman without hypersonic is like a Hershey bar without any chocolate in it. Just an empty wrapper. As for what he doesn't have, it's little use to have him using flurry or defend. His defense drops badly in that area and he has to stay up close and personal. At this point on his dial he's in desperate shape, for being Superman that is. As for defend, he does have a 17 defense for it, but again, not hard to hit at all. When you consider his points versus what size of a team he'll likely be in, Superman needs major back up and that's not accurate either. Just two hits from Doomsday is "bye bye" for Superman. Heck, most of the Green Lanterns are tougher than he is.

2: Aquaman: The one from the Brightest Day set is pretty cool. The one from the 75th... not so much. I gotta give props though, it's hard to make a good Aquaman. In this case, he should have had most of the powers from Supes' dial. Charge, super strength and flurry are all good ones for him. He should also start with invulnerability and go to toughness after that. He is, at least that strong. Past that, for all his tricks, his usefulness is limited. He needs to be in the water and against other Atlantis characters to be of the most use. Yes, he has the transporter ability, but let me tell you how much I value that. Not very much. First of all, a "transporter" (especially one that can fly) should not suffer the minus 2 penalty for carrying someone. It just doesn't sound right. Also, the minus two on attack with the move and attack ability isn't strategically sound when it drops your attack below a 9. I only use this ability out of desperation or to try and get in an early hit at a distance. Yes, it's a nice option, but just doesn't do much for me. A minus one for the attack value makes more sense than 2, honestly. Yes, it is cool that he can transport while he's grounded, but it's not enough for this piece in my opinion.

1: Ganthet: I know what you're thinking; "why are you bagging on Ganthet? He's awesome!" Sure he is. Except if he's in a 300 point match, he's alone. In a 400 point match he can have cheapo minions. A good 300 or 400 point team will annihilate him. In a bigger match, he gets better, but it takes a lot. And his Green Lantern team ability is virtually useless in those low point tournies that almost no one will play him in anyway. Now, he is powerful, I'll give him that. He can't be outwitted and has built in willpower, also very nice. But he's also slow. Putting him in range to do anything makes him and instant target. For his kind of power, an 18 defense is too easy to hit. It's another matter of accuracy in a way. For the kind of cosmic power we are talking about and to be worthy of a 299 point value, his stats need to be better. To me, he's worth 200 points and no more. Even with regen mid dial. One five click punch from Doomsday takes him right past that. So, too point heavy for the arrangement of his dial, his stats, and accuracy, puts Ganthet at number one for my least favorite, and least likely to use pieces of 75th.

Now I will give honorable mention to the one figure I've given the most credit in this posting, Doomsday. Why bag on Doomsday? For his six space opening movement, that's why. He can leap like the Hulk but only for six spaces? Well, I will give him this after playing him against Supes and Ganthet; he's still deadly. I guess the six space opener can be forgiven.

Heroclix spotlight: The White Queen

I have to say that Giant Sized X-men is looking like a very promising set. I like the look of the new Cyclops and love that he has sharpshooter. It makes perfect sense to me with his powerful optic blasts and capability of using them in the face and up close. But, this isn't about Cyke, it's about Emma Frost aka, the White Queen.

First of all, she gets two team abilities. X-men and Brotherhood makes sense because she's been on both sides of the fence. I think the free movement of Brotherhood gets underestimated at times, but it can really help to get a piece into position for a future move. It allows her to play both sides and she has always done that well.

Her dial is interesting to me. Opening with running shot and psychic blast makes her a more mobile attacker than she has been in the past. While this works for her very well, I think her mind control has been cut down a little too much. It comes late in the dial. With the cost of mind control (a click of damage for each hundred points of the target), her use of the power could be a suicide gambit. That's not like her at all. I think having mind control as a trait would have been super and certainly fitting to the new formats. Cool traits have been a great strategic add to lots of pieces.

She's not a useless piece though, far from it. And if you prefer her in mind controlling zeal, there is a very good piece from Mutants and Monsters that you can use. So there is a nice option. It may come to depend on what pieces are legal to use in what tournaments, but that goes without saying. And, of course, I have to mention the loss of her invulnerability from her diamond form.

So I like her, I just feel she could be better with how the environment of the game has changed.

A giant X-Men fan

Heroclix is coming out with Giant Sized X-men in the new year and it may be early to talk about it, but I can't help myself. I'm a big X-men fan.

I've been hoping for a better Cyclops and updates to all the X-men who showed up in X-plosion. It would be great to see a new Banshee and Storm too. I will be watching with great anticipation for this set. There almost isn't anything I don't know about classic X-men.

I know their powers in and out. I've seen a lot of inaccuracies (by my own opinion I realize) but I have high hopes for the new way they've been assigning powers. Traits and white powers could open up the X-pages in a whole new way. If 75th is any sign of how that will be, we have a lot to look forward to.

I already know of some we get to see if you check out the report at Heroclixworld.com, you can see them too. What I wonder about is how many giant figures will be made in this set for the giant boosters. I know Apocalypse will be there and likely sentinels, but who or what else? Maybe the Living Monolith? Well, who do you think will make an appearance. Giant size and classic have more than enough characters to work with.

Scenario: Blizzard Attack!

As I sit here, looking out the window at the snow from blizzard Aiden that's buried us, I think of a scenario. Is that they way of a true heroclix addict? I think so. Anyway, this is my suggestion for scenario: Blizzard Attack:

Special rules: All ranges are reduced to 6 on all powers and attacks, even outwit and probability control and perplex. All clear terrain is hindering terrain. All terrain that started out as hindering is now blocking terrain.

Icy grounds: All attacks result in knockback though combat reflexes still applies. No save applies to doubles. All move and attack powers are affected by slippage. When ever charge, running shot, or hypersonic speed are used to make an attack by a figure that does not fly, roll one dice (six sider). On a 5 or 6, the attack misses and the attacking figure must move two extra spaces past the target in the direction it was originally headed. The move is over for that figure, even with hypersonic speed.

Windblown: At the beginning of the game decide on one direction on the map (agree on directions such as North, South, etc). At the beginning of each turn, each player rolls one dice. On a 5 or 6, move each figure with flying two spaces in that direction.

Optional rule: Freezing Temperatures: Applies to all figures that don't have damage reducers. At the beginning of each turn, each player rolls one dice. On a 6, all figures that player controls that don't have a damage reducing power take one unavoidable click of damage.

Naturally, if you have a map with partial indoors terrain, indoors is protected from all the rules. Past that, it would be NO fun to play on indoor terrain would it?

So, enjoy this musing and I hope you are save and warm where ever you are! Enjoy!

Talking about Barry Allen

In the new upcoming set, DC75, just days away; we have some nice pieces coming. I have to say that the newest Flash, Barry Allen, gives more justice to the character than any dial they have made yet. That's even if you do have to wait until later in the dial to get the cool power.

Let's take a look at this power they are calling, "Around the World". It allows for Flash to us flurry, but before he does, you can just put him next to any opposing figure on the whole map. That has killer possibilities.

Getting tired of that stupid medic your opponent keeps running off to? No problem, land next to that Valkyrie or Nurse and start swinging. Just need one more good hit on a fig but it ran away, like Nightcrawler? No problem, Flash can keep up without breaking a sweat.

I also like that he starts out with 3 damage now, much like his Blue Lantern version. I mean, seriously, a 750+ mph fist should always do more than just one on openers. At least this way it has a chance at a minimum of one against big defense powers.

I still think that they could round off their point values more as the odd numbers just aren't necessary and make fitting some teams difficult. But then, they are doing my son a world of good on his math practice.

All the same, I'm looking forward to the new set. I hope you are too.

Scenario: The Magnificent Seven

I've been wanting to post this scenario idea for some time and I hope you enjoy it. I think it's a great way to play a higher point game without worry of someone landing a Phoenix or other wild powered fig on you.

In 700 points there must be 7 figures (no more and no less) and they must be themed. Custom key words are allowed, but must make sense. I've done circus performers and archers for example. The 10% feat rule applies and battlefield conditions are allowed.

Each player gets four moves and play continues until one person is totally wiped out. You can play time limit if you like, however. To enrich the play you can try adding some special rules as below. You may have difficulty keeping to theme if you do it that way. It seems to me that most of these "heroe's gathered" films have a few things in common and the ideas with special rules are:

The Leader: Must start with Leadership and will always have leadership. So long as it shows on the dial, his leadership counts for two extra actions instead of one.

The Rookie: Must have the teen or kid keyword. If a friendly figure within 3 squares of the rookie would take damage from a ranged combat attack, you may move the rookie in the path of that attack and he must take the full damage instead.

Explosives expert: Must have Energy Explosion and will always have energy explosion. So long as it shows on the dial, damage from energy explosion is penetrating.

The Sniper: Must have Ranged Combat Expert and always will. So long as it shows on the dial, the Sniper has free Trick Shot.

The Sneak: Must have stealth and always will. So long as it shows on the dial, this figure ignores hindering terrain for movement.

And then movies have a tendency to shake it up with different stuff like computers experts and disguise experts, you can fill it in from there. Have fun with this scenario. Got ideas that you would add? Put them in comments!

Heroclix World, a great site for a great game.

I think it's time I give honorable mention to a great website on heroclix. Yes, they did the same for me, but seriously, this is a great website

HeroclixWorld.com

Click it!

Heroclix world offers updates on all the going clix news you could want to see. Sneak peeks on upcoming pieces in new sets, articles, opinions, and great game scenarios that you can try out.

I personally like the neat scenario cards they put together to enhance their scenario suggestions. You can print them out and have them for your own games anytime. Also, Battle Field Conditions (like the one above), and bystander tokens. You can spend a lot of time with this website on all kinds of clix goodness. Currently, as I write this, there is a great article up on sneak preview of DC 75 (coming out in December). Incidentally, I have to agree with one poster there who mentioned that dials are getting shorter. But we'll see what happens when the set comes out. But the sculpts look good!

So I hope you will take the time to peruse the pages of Heroclix World where you can get your fix and fill on current information and cool heroclix ideas!

Todays feature: Superman/Silver Surfer

Duo figures are interesting. I think they could be better if not so watered down on some points, but they are interesting. Watered down as in the minus one damage that all of the duo figures suffer even if it really makes so sense in regard to the characters. You simply get better damage and attack capability by fielding two characters instead of one. Still, I made a slew of double figures myself. On one side, I did it to rebel, ha ha, because of all the complaints I saw about double figures. On the other hand, I saw possibilities for some pretty cool figures.

How I made my doubles is very simple. I just took two pieces and glued them to the same base. Well, it sounds simple, until you realize that getting them to fit right can be like doing a small jigsaw puzzle. But I've enjoyed making them, so that's what really matters for me. I also constructed house rules for playing them and you can do that as well. Today I'm going to tell you about a favorite of mine, one you won't see made anytime soon. I'm talking about the Silver Surfer and Superman.

The idea comes from a comic cross over event that I read several years ago. I used a veteran Silver Surfer base and glued on an extra flier post. I had to adjust Surfer's post over slightly to make room. The Superman is from a limited edition that had the Batman Team ability. You might recognize him. His base was missing anyway. One of my kids lost it long long ago. Oh well. I think these two look great together. As for play, I play them at 400 points. You might think that's too high, but let me tell you what other house rules apply here.

First of all, they get the Superman team ability on top of Cosmic. If that's not enough for you, try this. They don't suffer the minus one penalty to damage dealing when they make a duo attack. Still not enough for you? How about the idea that they can do a duo attack with any attack they do? Running shot? Yep. Hypersonic speed? You bet. Any attack they make gets a second attack for free. And if that's still somehow not enough to validate that 400 point price tag, I also play their dial at +2 to all numeric stats except range. That means their move is a 14, attack is 12, defense is 20, and damage is 6! Six damage without the minus one! Are they worth 400 now? I think so. But that's just how I play them. You might have other ideas. I know they can wreak havoc on my table. I've tried them out.

I really do think that the duo attack ability should not carry that minus one penalty for all figures. Some of them just don't make sense with it. But that's a story for another time. Hope you enjoyed Supes and Surfer!