Teaching Kids to Clix

[Bij-man]

Hey Everyone

Just wanted to share my experience I have had teaching kids Heroclix.
For those that don't know I am a teacher and my nearest game of Heroclix is 2 and a half hours away in Adelaide so I decided I would teach my kids at school how to play and get a game occasionally.

I started last year and on a friday lunch we would play. This gave us 40 minutes to have a go. I teach year 6/7's so these are the guys that play. Some times we have 12-14 come in but a I have group of regulars that look forward to Friday Lunch.

We use my collection and they have mostly been from the REV sets. We started just playing simply with numbers and learning about movement. The basics. I then introduced things like pushing in the next term and then we started using super powers.

We still have lots to learn and the new people this year have had a steeper learning curve as we added powers this term. I am not using feats and BFC as it is still a bit much but some are starting to inquire.
It has been great fun and enjoyed by all.

I ran a couple of lunchtime tournaments and used my trades as prizes and the kids enjoyed getting something.

Tonight I held our second stay back and we had a tournament after school til 7 o'clock. I managed to get a cheap case of Icons boosters and we had a sealed event. The kids got 3 boosters for 10 dollars and had to create a 300 point team to use in 3 games. Keef gave me some prizes to use and I also added some of my HOT trades to fill it out so everyone took home a prize.

We had an awesome night. 10 kids stayed back and were just great. They enjoyed putting together teams and just opening boosters (we all know that feeling). It was pretty simple event but it was played in great spirit and sportmanship. They were willing to help each other out and they just had fun.

The winning team of the night was this
Cheetah V x2 (110)
Wonder Woman R (84)
Aquaman R (39)
Scarecrow R (36)

The first match was against a team of
Wonder Woman R, Darkseid E and Scarecrow E
They took out this team and only lost Woner Woman

The second match was against a team of
Darkseid V, Raven E, Scarecrow E and Lian Harper
They only lost a Cheetah in this match but I saw some of this one and watched as Raven who was the only player left against 5 took out a Cheetah and staved off attacks from Wonder Woman and Aquaman. It was great to watch but she eventually sucumbed.

Last match against another unbeaten opponent was
Wonder Woman R, Blackfire E, Scarecrow V, Cyborg U, Snapper Carr and Renee Montoya.
They manged to take this team out losing only Wonder Woman and a Cheetah.

We did Fellowship and everyone took home a prize. It was a great night and I will run a constructed later in the term. I have got so much out of working with these kids and look forward to it continuing.
Just wanted to share

[zero_cochrane]

Good work. :classic:

[WakandaMan]

Awesome. Sounds like the way most people start judging- nowhere to play, so start up a gaming group and get a following happening. It just happens that as a teacher you've developed a young group. :)

[Bij-man]

Hey just thought I would update you on things happening in my area.
The kids are still enjoying playing and we have been continuing to play at lunch. We play a 3 week tournament and at the end everyone gets a prize which is always great.

Before I go any further I would like to thank Keef and Than0seid for maps and figs that I have been able to use as prizes. It has helped to make it really successful and also boost the kids collection.

This week will see the 3rd week of this tournament. It is a 500 point game and the teams for what I expect will be for first place are

Thor (hot) 227
Hulk (mm) 143
Wonder Woman (i) 127
Snappar Carr 4

vs

Lightning Lord (aa) 89
The Flash (aa) 120
Cheetah (i) 55
Ulik (hot) 118
Batman (aa) 64
Human Bomb (aa) 45

This should be an interesting match. This will be one of 5 matches and because there are only 9 players this time I play the odd one out and give hem help with their team for the next game.

The other team that is in contention for 1st is playing
Trickster and Pied Piper 133
Crimson Dynamo (aw) 75
Human Bomb (aa) 45
Hercules (si) 145
Banshee (aw) 90

It continues to be a great time

[Than0seid]

Hey just thought I would update you on things happening in my area.

It continues to be a great time

It sounds like everything is going great, and I'm really glad the kids are still enjoying it.

I'd also like to comment that I love the fact that a team with Pied Piper and Trickster are in contention for first place! Go the Rogues!

(Though I'm sure it had more to do with having SI Hercules on the team, as he's a beast)

[Bij-man]

Yeah Herc has been doing most of the damage in his games but I am liking the diverse nature of some teams. I never expected to see Pied Piper and Trickster but he has been doing his thing which is enjoyable to see.

I played against a Stardust, Rampaging Hulk, Nico Minoru (a fig I love) and Green Arrow team.
We had a great game and Nico used a range of powers including Hypersonic which the guy hadn't tried before which was cool to watch.
I will keep you posted on the outcome.

[Bij-man]

So had the final matches on Friday
The winning team was

Lightning Lord (aa) 89
The Flash (aa) 120
Cheetah (i) 55
Ulik (hot) 118
Batman (aa) 64
Human Bomb (aa) 45

They clean swept the other team and only lost Lightning Lord.
This was pretty impressive as both of the players are good and they only have 30 minutes to play a match.

The Trickster and Piped Piper team also won their match and came in second.

The other thing that happened was I played against a team of
Gorilla Grodd (aa) 157
Wonder Woman (i) 127
Aleta (sn) 51
White Martian (aa) 90
The Flash (jl) 70

My team was
The Mighty Thor (sn) 286
Jakeem Thunder (o) 126
Cheshire
Mockingbird
Spoiler

The cool thing in this one was that Gorilla Grodd used his mind control to take The Mighty Thor and then with the controlled Thor he proceeded to bash Jakeem Thunder with a heavy object. I was using Jakeem to boost The Mighty Thor's defence so he was right next to him. The Flash then ran in and finished the job. I enjoyed this as it was the first time he had used mind control and it was a total success for him.

Tell ya more when we play again

[Bij-man]

Well we have been playing again this term.
We held a 3 week event that we played at lunch with 300 point teams.
It went well and I had 11 players.

On Friday night we had a 600 point event where the kids played 3 matches. Again I enjoyed the range of game play and the teams the kids made. I had 10 players for this one.
The winning team was
Hercules 142
Crimson Dynamo 75
Clea 59
Captain America (aw) 72
Dr Strange 149
Justice 94

He played this team really well and won all 3 matches and finished with 1784 points. The final match was played on the Gridreality Centre of the Earth map.

There were some great matches with one match decided by 15 points and another by 6. Very close affairs.

This one we added in a hit and miss tally and I was able to give a prize for the most critical hits and critical misses. I had a LE Clark Kent and Diana Prince for these prizes. (Got these in the US but that is another story)

We plan to continue on as long as we can stay in contact as 7 of my players move onto High School.

The one problem we have is getting product. The kids have got things through ebay as no one here sells Heroclix. I have resorted to buying cases on line to sell off. I want to keep it cost effective for the kids. Is there a better way?

Thanks for reading

[Bij-man]

It has been a while since I have had a chance to post but thought I might start again for those who are interested.

Firstly
During the school holidays I ran a day for the children to play in. I had 8 turn up and we played all day.
In all the kids played 6 games.
First was a 300 point event for 3 rounds
Second was a 600point make your own Fantastic Four. Teams could only have 4 characters.
It was a great day and lots of fun was had.

We have continued to play at school and have invited the new years 6's to join. There have been 8 who have taken up this offer. We are in the process of teaching them to play and we are having a stayback next Friday.
This should be interesting as I could have up to 19 kids who want to play if all the High Schoolers come back. For me it will be really interesting to manage this many games.
We are having a 300 point Indy event where I will give all players 10 Indy clix from which to build their team. Thought this was a good way to start for the new guys as it isn't too complicated.

I will try to keep things updated and I hope to make it somewhere else for a game soon for myself.

[Bij-man]

Last Friday we had our Indy tournament. It was a great night and all the kids enjoyed the chance to play. I had 15 players which meant that I could fill the 16th spot and have a chance to play.
It was interesting as I had 9 first time players and 2 of these were kids that had never played before. The other 7 had had learning games at school previously.

The winning team was from one of the experienced players and consisted of
Witchblade 58
Magdalena 30
Judge Mortis 60
Stix 26
Hellboy 73
Lobster Johnson 53

This team went undefeated in 3 games.
I look forward to holding more stayback/events as the year goes on.

[Bij-man]

Okay so I thought I would post an update.
We have continued to play at lunchtimes during the term with the kids learning all the time.

On Friday we had a full day of clix with 2 events
In the morning we had 300 point matches where the children played 3 games.
The winning team was
Wolverine (Ulti) 52
Cyclops (GSX) 110
Impossible Man (SI) 72
M-11 (HoT) 59

This team cleaned up in all games taking out a strong team in the final which was
The Thing (SI) 100
Bombastic Bagman (WoS) 90
Spiderman (SI) 50
Gargoyle (A) 58

In the afternoon we had 500 point matches and again they played 3 matches.
Winning team was
The Holiday Killer (BB) 43
Superman (I) 251
Beast (GSX) 95
Nightcrawler (Wos) 86
Code Blue Officer 24

It was a good day and saw some great teams. GSX Phoenix made an appearance through the day and all the kids had fun.

As we had an odd number I filled in bye.
My teams were
300 Points
Thor the Reigning 168
Gharskygst 61
Fire Demon 33
Asgardian Warrior 37

Went 2/1 with this team

My 500 point team
Hulk (GSX) 199
Cassandra Nova (MM) 142
Mole Man (SI) 50
Moloids x7 (SI) 105

Had fun with this monster theme team with the moloids providing cover and having fun. It gave the kids things to kill off.

Best move of the day for me was I had Cassie Nova and hulk pound on the Phoenix. Managed to KO her and she healed back to click 8. She had already regened twice on me. I only had a Moloid next to her so had a go and rolled a critical hit. So a Moloid finished off Phoenix which was cool.

Over all the day was great and we plan on more when time allows.

Thanks for reading

[Bij-man]

Had another event tonight.
It was a 400 point event where you could use what ever clix you had.
Had a good turn out and the night ran smoothly and everyone had fun.
I had some GSX boosters for the kids and I enjoyed watching the frenzy as they opened the boosters and admired there pulls.
Some of the SR I saw pulled were
The Captain
Juggernaut
Storm
Armour
Wolverine
Cyclops and Jean Grey

A couple boosters were taken home for brothers but I will find out what they pulled.

On to the games
The winning team for the night was
Thor and Loki (HOT) 362
Asgardian Warrior (HOT) 37

This team clean swept all his matches but was pushed had in the first match.
In this game the opponent had a team of
Juggernaut (GSX) 193
Dr Strange (SI) 149
Tarot (GSX) 47

It was a close affair with Juggernaut and Strange taking on and eventually taking out Thor and Loki but not before losing Juggernaut and Tarot. It was then Strange vs Asgardian Warrior and the Warrior got the better of Mystical Avenger. Great game to see.

Report more when we have more.
Thanks for reading

[Bij-man]

I have come to a critical juncture witht he group of kids I have been supporting to play the game.
I have taken a new job which will take me out of the area (2hrs away) and I was wondering if anyone had some advice on what I can do to keep Clix alive after I leave.
I have spoken to the kids a little about it and I will be coming back to see family at times and plan on running something for them when I am there but does anyone have any more thoughts.

I hate to leave them.

On a positive note I will be closer to the big smoke and able to play myself more frequently.