fenway
05/06/2010, 18:55
Avengers vs. Atlas (2010)
How is Atlas, a team rooted in the 1950’s fighting a 1960’s version of the Avengers? How does this play out in a ‘clix game in 2010? This is for the player that may want to re-create this GREAT mini-series.
As this series opens, it becomes clear that a ‘time-space anomaly’ (what else?) is at the heart of this conflict. The New Avengers are drawn into the anomaly, and out pops the classic line up, ready to face the Agents of Atlas.
Read a review of issues 1,2 and 4 of the 4-issue mini here:
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/126391267335317.htm
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/126671312351627.htm
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/127216532171874.htm
Atlas offers no real choices here, as the team is set:
HoT Jimmy Woo – 46 pts
HoT Gorilla-Man – 61 pts
HoT M-11 – 59 pts
HoT Venus – 125 pts
HoT Namora – 76 pts
HoT Marvel Boy – 102 pts
Total – 469 pts
So given the Atlas player has no real options (unless you want to consider a 400 point team by swapping out Jimmy and Ken for their pogs from the Avengers set), they may brush up on their strategy from the following eloquent realmsers:
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267866&highlight=atlas
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=268835&highlight=atlas
…but what about the Avengers player? Are there any figures that are ‘must plays’ in our search for the perfect clix simulation?
As probably the pair of central characters in this story, Hank and Janet Pym have several clix incarnations, however, their best representations for this story are (fittingly) from the same set – Avengers. At 37 points, AV SR Wasp offers a cheap taxi for Captain America or a shrunken Hank (umm….), and an occasional, ‘I may as well try’ Incapper. Av Giant-Man, on the other hand, is a more valuable team player. A little early mobility with SS makes him a decent second-stringer. Late perplex and ‘super-perplex’ make him a best friend for Tony (you’ll see), at only 82 points.
I can’t help it – if the point of this is to (at least) occasionally break out some dusty clix, I have to consider, for Iron Man, the Xplosion REV. He’s the one representing Tony through the middle parts of the story. The horrid attack/damage values can be helped by Hank (see above), but you really don’t want to sink too many points into this abomination. I’ll suggest the Xp R Ironman, at 117 points. Just remember – if Hank’s not near, you’ll be lucky to have a 7 attack.
But what about our heavy hitter, you ask? We need a 616 Thor with a classic look. Right away, we can only consider the CT REV or the SV REV. Obviously the offensive star of the battle, Thor needs to be over 125 points (Venus) by a decent amount. That being said, a 180-200 point Thor will (for this comic) uncharacteristically dominate Atlas, and steal too big a portion of available points. CT Rookie (109) and SV Rookie (112) are too light. CT Vet (187) and SV Vet (235) are too heavy. The ‘experienced’ Thors? Just right. Given a choice between the CT E Thor (144 points) or SV E Thor (163 points), the latter seems the obvious, more competitive choice.
Time for a point check – 163 + 117 + 82 + 37 = 399 points. Ideally, that leaves 70 points for Cap for the two teams to be ‘equally valued’. More reasonably, though, given the relative age of these Avenger pieces, ‘capping’ Cap at 101 might be a better option, bringing the team to 500 max. Though the newer HoT Smokey Cap is right around the former thought (72 pts), the older AW E Cap (90 points) takes age into account, brings a click of Inv (which will HAVE to be a consideration for the Atlas player, as the only click of that uber-defense in the game) as well as some late dial Outwit. Offense and utility!
So:
Av Giant-Man – 82
Av SR Wasp – 37
Xp R Iron Man – 117
Sv E Thor – 163
AW E Cap – 90
Total – 489 points
The Battle:
Other than just a slug-fest, this battle had a few key features that should show up in some form or another in this clix battle:
a) The ‘anomaly’ (Let’s create a reason for the misunderstanding!)
At the beginning of the game, place a SMOKE marker (the centre of the anomaly) in a mutually agreed upon square in the middle of the map. Roll a die – on a 1,2, or 3, place a BARRIER marker above the centre – 4,5, or 6, place it below the marker. (Agree also on what ‘direction’ is ‘above’, ‘below’, ‘left’ and ‘right’) Repeat the process for a second BARRIER marker – 1,2, or 3 on the right, 4,5, or 6 to the left of the centre marker. This L-shaped formation represents the anomaly. Treat the anomaly as blocking terrain. After each round, roll a six sided die – and re-locate the centre marker that many spaces (rolling a second die to determine its direction: 1,2,3,4 = Up, down, left, right, 5,6 = roll again). Use the original process to determine the placement of the other two markers.
When moving the anomaly, treat the map as if it ‘wraps around’, so that a piece of the anomaly might be on the far right of the map, with the rest ‘wrapping around’ to the far left. The anomaly moves through all terrain, and can be placed on any terrain.
If the anomaly would be placed on a figure, it takes one unavoidable damage, and is moved, by its owner, to an adjacent square of their choice. A character knocked back into the anomaly also takes a click of unavoidable damage.
If, at any time, a character moves, or is moved adjacent to the anomaly (except by the above effect), it stops movement immediately, and is given an action token. The effect is the same if the anomaly appears adjacent to a character.
NET EFFECT: Three squares of blocking terrain, the centre of which moves up to 6 squares per round. The two edge squares move randomly about the centre. Action tokens or damage are the result of figures coming too close.
b)The Hulk (Let’s create a reason to co-operate)
Once the first figure is KO’ed, roll two dice at the beginning of each round. On an 11 or 12, the Mu062 Rampaging Hulk enters the game, and is placed on the centre of the anomaly (he is immune to its effects on this turn). After the first turn, the Hulk feels the effects of the anomaly as above. At the beginning of each round, both players roll a die. High roll controls the Hulk for that round. Rampaging Hulk offers no points for being KO’ed. If the Hulk is KO’ed, the teams decide to co-operate - the game ends, and Victory is determined by the player that currently has the highest KO total.
Optional rule: ‘Boozy Millionaire Bum’ – On a successful attack by Iron Man, if Gorilla Man is within 6 squares, Iron Man must re-roll the result. ‘Boozy Millionaire Bum’ may only be used once per game.
Optional Rule #2: ‘You could have told me – I created this suit!’ – Once per game, Iron Man gets a free use of Outwit
Optional Rule #3 – ‘Water in my Ears’ – Wasp can’t be MC’ed by Venus. Damage to Venus, from Wasp, can’t be MM’ed.
Employ Optional rules as necessary to level the playing field as you see fit.
Any realmsers get the chance to play this scenario? Any ideas on how to make it more comic accurate? …more streamlined? LET ME KNOW! :)
Also, want to check out my interpretation of a classic, Avengers-Defenders War (1973)? :
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273956
Thanks for reading!
How is Atlas, a team rooted in the 1950’s fighting a 1960’s version of the Avengers? How does this play out in a ‘clix game in 2010? This is for the player that may want to re-create this GREAT mini-series.
As this series opens, it becomes clear that a ‘time-space anomaly’ (what else?) is at the heart of this conflict. The New Avengers are drawn into the anomaly, and out pops the classic line up, ready to face the Agents of Atlas.
Read a review of issues 1,2 and 4 of the 4-issue mini here:
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/126391267335317.htm
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/126671312351627.htm
http://www.comicsbulletin.com/reviews/127216532171874.htm
Atlas offers no real choices here, as the team is set:
HoT Jimmy Woo – 46 pts
HoT Gorilla-Man – 61 pts
HoT M-11 – 59 pts
HoT Venus – 125 pts
HoT Namora – 76 pts
HoT Marvel Boy – 102 pts
Total – 469 pts
So given the Atlas player has no real options (unless you want to consider a 400 point team by swapping out Jimmy and Ken for their pogs from the Avengers set), they may brush up on their strategy from the following eloquent realmsers:
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=267866&highlight=atlas
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=268835&highlight=atlas
…but what about the Avengers player? Are there any figures that are ‘must plays’ in our search for the perfect clix simulation?
As probably the pair of central characters in this story, Hank and Janet Pym have several clix incarnations, however, their best representations for this story are (fittingly) from the same set – Avengers. At 37 points, AV SR Wasp offers a cheap taxi for Captain America or a shrunken Hank (umm….), and an occasional, ‘I may as well try’ Incapper. Av Giant-Man, on the other hand, is a more valuable team player. A little early mobility with SS makes him a decent second-stringer. Late perplex and ‘super-perplex’ make him a best friend for Tony (you’ll see), at only 82 points.
I can’t help it – if the point of this is to (at least) occasionally break out some dusty clix, I have to consider, for Iron Man, the Xplosion REV. He’s the one representing Tony through the middle parts of the story. The horrid attack/damage values can be helped by Hank (see above), but you really don’t want to sink too many points into this abomination. I’ll suggest the Xp R Ironman, at 117 points. Just remember – if Hank’s not near, you’ll be lucky to have a 7 attack.
But what about our heavy hitter, you ask? We need a 616 Thor with a classic look. Right away, we can only consider the CT REV or the SV REV. Obviously the offensive star of the battle, Thor needs to be over 125 points (Venus) by a decent amount. That being said, a 180-200 point Thor will (for this comic) uncharacteristically dominate Atlas, and steal too big a portion of available points. CT Rookie (109) and SV Rookie (112) are too light. CT Vet (187) and SV Vet (235) are too heavy. The ‘experienced’ Thors? Just right. Given a choice between the CT E Thor (144 points) or SV E Thor (163 points), the latter seems the obvious, more competitive choice.
Time for a point check – 163 + 117 + 82 + 37 = 399 points. Ideally, that leaves 70 points for Cap for the two teams to be ‘equally valued’. More reasonably, though, given the relative age of these Avenger pieces, ‘capping’ Cap at 101 might be a better option, bringing the team to 500 max. Though the newer HoT Smokey Cap is right around the former thought (72 pts), the older AW E Cap (90 points) takes age into account, brings a click of Inv (which will HAVE to be a consideration for the Atlas player, as the only click of that uber-defense in the game) as well as some late dial Outwit. Offense and utility!
So:
Av Giant-Man – 82
Av SR Wasp – 37
Xp R Iron Man – 117
Sv E Thor – 163
AW E Cap – 90
Total – 489 points
The Battle:
Other than just a slug-fest, this battle had a few key features that should show up in some form or another in this clix battle:
a) The ‘anomaly’ (Let’s create a reason for the misunderstanding!)
At the beginning of the game, place a SMOKE marker (the centre of the anomaly) in a mutually agreed upon square in the middle of the map. Roll a die – on a 1,2, or 3, place a BARRIER marker above the centre – 4,5, or 6, place it below the marker. (Agree also on what ‘direction’ is ‘above’, ‘below’, ‘left’ and ‘right’) Repeat the process for a second BARRIER marker – 1,2, or 3 on the right, 4,5, or 6 to the left of the centre marker. This L-shaped formation represents the anomaly. Treat the anomaly as blocking terrain. After each round, roll a six sided die – and re-locate the centre marker that many spaces (rolling a second die to determine its direction: 1,2,3,4 = Up, down, left, right, 5,6 = roll again). Use the original process to determine the placement of the other two markers.
When moving the anomaly, treat the map as if it ‘wraps around’, so that a piece of the anomaly might be on the far right of the map, with the rest ‘wrapping around’ to the far left. The anomaly moves through all terrain, and can be placed on any terrain.
If the anomaly would be placed on a figure, it takes one unavoidable damage, and is moved, by its owner, to an adjacent square of their choice. A character knocked back into the anomaly also takes a click of unavoidable damage.
If, at any time, a character moves, or is moved adjacent to the anomaly (except by the above effect), it stops movement immediately, and is given an action token. The effect is the same if the anomaly appears adjacent to a character.
NET EFFECT: Three squares of blocking terrain, the centre of which moves up to 6 squares per round. The two edge squares move randomly about the centre. Action tokens or damage are the result of figures coming too close.
b)The Hulk (Let’s create a reason to co-operate)
Once the first figure is KO’ed, roll two dice at the beginning of each round. On an 11 or 12, the Mu062 Rampaging Hulk enters the game, and is placed on the centre of the anomaly (he is immune to its effects on this turn). After the first turn, the Hulk feels the effects of the anomaly as above. At the beginning of each round, both players roll a die. High roll controls the Hulk for that round. Rampaging Hulk offers no points for being KO’ed. If the Hulk is KO’ed, the teams decide to co-operate - the game ends, and Victory is determined by the player that currently has the highest KO total.
Optional rule: ‘Boozy Millionaire Bum’ – On a successful attack by Iron Man, if Gorilla Man is within 6 squares, Iron Man must re-roll the result. ‘Boozy Millionaire Bum’ may only be used once per game.
Optional Rule #2: ‘You could have told me – I created this suit!’ – Once per game, Iron Man gets a free use of Outwit
Optional Rule #3 – ‘Water in my Ears’ – Wasp can’t be MC’ed by Venus. Damage to Venus, from Wasp, can’t be MM’ed.
Employ Optional rules as necessary to level the playing field as you see fit.
Any realmsers get the chance to play this scenario? Any ideas on how to make it more comic accurate? …more streamlined? LET ME KNOW! :)
Also, want to check out my interpretation of a classic, Avengers-Defenders War (1973)? :
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=273956
Thanks for reading!