Abilities: Hydra VS Shield

[The Stinger]

I played a 400 point game against my friend last night. I took Shield, and he took Hydra. He had 12 various Hydra support figures, I had 8 Shield support pieces, including a R Mandroid for taxi purposes.

Otherwise, teams looked like this.

Shield:

Nick Fury
V Cyclops
E Jean Grey
R Wasp
V Yellowjacket
R Skrull Agent

Hydra:

R/E/V Doombot
E Kingpin
V Klaw

I thought myself to be at a disadvantage because of his numbers. He would position an AIM agent in between 2 medics. THe aim Agent was able to do 2 damage, with the Hydra boosting his attack to 10. he had 4 "cells" of hydra like this. Hydra ability not costing an action was in his favor as well.

But, I had gotten Cyclops into position, based by Fury and 3 other Shield members. With a successful leadership roll, I was able to target all 3 members of a hydra cell, and connect for 5 damage to each figure, wiping out the entire cell.

I was able to do this twice, until he was able to get Klaw into position to cripple Cyclops with his RCE, and attack boosted by 2. A failed healing attempt spelled the demise of Cyke on the next turn.

However, I was able to eliminate his doombots in the next couple turns with a double shot with nick fury, in the same fashion as I had used Cyclops. It basically degraded into his V Doombot and Klaw trying to hold off Fury and 8 Shield figures by himself, plus we had the Taxi services of Mandroid, wasp and Yellowjacket.

It was over in a few more turns. In short, while the Shield ability costs actions, I think it is more valuable than the Hydra ability. While Hydra could get you a better chance to hit, the shield figures, if they connect, can do massive damage. I was outnumbered in the beginning, but due to the enhanced damage of Shield, his Hydra members fell quickly to the multi target/shield boosted attacks of Cyclops and Nick Fury.

Has anyone had any different ways to use Hydra effectively against a Shield team? It seems to me that Hydra pales in comparison to Shield.

[CapSpalding]

The Hydra team would benefit from Red Skull, but I agree that the SHIELD team ability is more useful. I often use the two teams abilities together--my ranged guy flanked by Hydra with two or three SHIELD agents behind him. I realize this is almost sacrilege (if any two teams could have Archenemy bases, it would be them), but its effective.

[ludd_gang]

Main problem with SHIELD is that missing means you lose that extra action. To negate this use high attack value figs that don't miss very often. Cyclops is a good choice for such an army (11 AV, 3 targets) but Ultron is nice too (13 AV, Energy Explosion). Furthermore, SHIELD ability is more powerful in higher point games where you have more actions available to spend.

There are some problems with the Hydra team:

1. Too much Hydra + Wild Card. You simply can't take advantage of all the figs with the ability because you can't use more than 2 at once.

2. Your big gun Klaw already has an 11 attack value, so the Hydra effect is marginal. The only thing it helps him hit on your opponent's team is the Vet Cyclops who has deflection. All the other enemies should be easy picking for Klaw.

3. Kingpin would help the situation if he was the Vet (Sinister Syndicate) and Klaw was the Exp version (Wild Card). Kingpin is a pretty weak fig anyway, I'd use V Bullseye and the LE Hydra Operative #218 for Leadership if you can get them.

Which ability is more useful wholly depends on the army it occupies. I'd argue that Hydra is at its best in 300 pt or less games when paired with mid-value AV figs or when competing against high DV armies. SHIELD is at its best in 300 pt or more games when paired with high AV figs and when competing with armies that clump together alot (like Hydra).

[The Stinger]

Great input guys.

I agree, his main characters didnt really benefit from the Hydra ability that much. Klaw was basically given a free hit, and he was mostly using his Hydra ability to boost the rather low AV of his other Hydra figures.

And, in a lower point game, such as 300, the Hydra ability could be more useful I agree, because the limited action totals you have in those games really makes it difficult to Maximize the Shield ability to Massive damage numbers.

He wants a rematch, with some different figures to headline the Hydra team, so we will see what happens. His Kingpin was basically just a leadership figure, and a waste of points considering the V Doombot has leadership as well. Just doesnt keep it as long as Kingpin does.

[CapSpalding]

I would dump Kingpin for Red Skull. He's some 20 odd points more but its in games like this that Mastermind really pays off, and Poison is always fun.

[The Stinger]

Originally posted by CapSpalding
I would dump Kingpin for Red Skull. He's some 20 odd points more but its in games like this that Mastermind really pays off, and Poison is always fun.


Yeah, Im still working toward getting a Red Skull. That would be really cool because I have Nick Fury.

Fury and Shield VS Skull and Hydra. That would be great. I really like team themed battles.

[CapSpalding]

Originally posted by The Stinger



Yeah, Im still working toward getting a Red Skull. That would be really cool because I have Nick Fury.

Fury and Shield VS Skull and Hydra. That would be great. I really like team themed battles.

Well, I still haven't come across a Nick Fury, so I can feel your pain. :)