The joys of *random* HC gaming

[Crow]

I'm a first time poster... I justed wanted to share a new way of playing that I found rewarding.
I have jumbled together in a bag (delicately) all my "good" hc figs, including ones I don't normally play with, but leaving out the real garbage (like Black Widow and most of the nobodies). Then agree on a point-limit, and reach in to randomly pull a hero :) My friends and I have ruled that you must pull it out by the base (no cheap feeling up of your characters... even White Queen, hee). Keep pulling until you find one who takes you over your point limit.. leave that person out of the bag and fish blindly, pulling more until you hit limit within maybe 10 points.

I've had some hysterical games like this, it really teaches you to work with things you ordinarily wouldn't. I had a real romp the time I found my E White Queen psychic-blasting at an E Hulk being Wasp-taxied my way. The only drawback is once in a while you end up with some clown who has Impervious and the other team simply lacks a way to cope with it (this is rare, though, will all the RCE out there). I had a game with a V Solomon Grundy who just sat on his ### to win because I had already busted my opponent's Cyclops and T.O.Morrow.

Anyways, a fun way to play, no stress from building your team, and way less cheese-play (unless you play against someone who owns 10 Firelords).

[Logan 5]

This is how my friends and I love to play.

I wrote a utility in PHP that used a mysql database w/ all of our figures. We would select the sets we'd want to use, select a point value, Maximum Points, Minimum Points then it'd generate a random team.

I have the code, if you're interested I could instruct you on how to set it up.

I e-mailed the HC realms guys suggesting it, and offering the code I have (which isn't much and I'm sure it could be improved) but never got a reply. Didn't think anyone else did this :)

[Tautology]

My group does the same thing, but we set up all the figs on a map grid, and roll for our teams, using the die as coordinates to find our random figure.

[drop19]

A little less random, but a friend suggested we try randomizing where figures are placed at the start of the match. If I remember right the maps measure 24 squares by 24, so if you roll 4 dice it will give you a placement on the map (minus squares 1-3 unforunately). We would break our teams into 3 sub-units, then roll once for each sub-unit. This led to some interesting situations (two Shield agents tied up by Clayface, Unique Batman starting next to Vet Hawkman, etc.) and really required some quick thinking. The match played out in an extremely even fashion with some quick kills necessitating changes to strategy. In the end it came down to Unique Wasp vs Vet Wasp with the Unique taking it.

[Crow]

In a case like a random map-dropping of the characters, I would strongly recommend a no first-turn attack policy (or else the player to go second could have a brutal disadvantage). Actually, I've always played with no first-turn attacks, it's just not as aggrivating.

[JoFo]

I've done this a couple of times before, but I used pieces of paper instead of the actually figures (you can't feel them up and they won't get broken). Very fun indeed. :)

BTW, Black Widow isn't garbage.

[checkeredman]

I too enjoy random (or restricted) play. Sure a well-built slugfest is always fun, but the scenarios my friends and I play usually favor Team-aligned play, random Force generation, and other forms of play that limits dim-witted FL cheese teams.

Sure setting up a platform for random force generation takes an hour or two (creating a way to roll for figures) but in the end we find it well worth it.

In random generation, we (as players) are challeneged a bit because we MUST deal with a force that may be rotten, with a small pool of powers/abilities and up a against a more well-rounded force, but them's the breaks. It makes for much more creative play -- it makes you have to think a whole lot more...

...and thinking seems to be what a lot of these crying, petty "boys" don't want to do, or at least are incapable of comprehending.

On the other hand, maybe, just maybe some guy is a bit cheesed because his favorite character didn't "translate" properly/well into Clix form. That's too bad. Some of my favorite characters are so-so, but that's the game. My challenge now is to put these so-so characters together with other figures to make them a winning force. That's the game.

It's too bad no one can see the fun in that...

[skforeman]

i love the idea!

one of my favorite things about the game is the challenge of assembling a team, and by setting limits like that, it makes it even more interesting.

great idea - i'm going to try it soon!

[Spikor]

used to do this all the time, back when I played all the time. I'd be interested in that code of yours, too Logan 5.

[HotSauce]

My friend and I play games where we make eachother's team. It's alot of fun because it's a team of loosers. Thugs and criminals vs black mantas and skrull agents.

marc

[Logan 5]

You can look at the example aqui (http://www.nxrecords.com/heroclix/).

Go ahead and contact me on AIM: Logan5nx if you want me to send you the code or have further questions :)

I was originally doing it w/ the bag pulling idea w/ slips of paper. The map grid is pretty good idea.

[Jackalope]

Wow that looks like a cool program. I'm liking this idea already! Since I don't know your guy's collections are all the figures there? Is there a chance that for a 200 point team the ony figure you'd get is like a V Doom? Is this code you can 'transport' and incorporate 'new' expansions and figures for? Maybe LE support? Sorry to hit you with so many questions but I really liked this and am interested in it.

[Jackalope]

1 other thing. Playing with it I just got:

Moondragon
Nightmare
Dr. Strange

as a 300 point team. Would be cool but Nightmare and Dr. Strange are AE. Are there any plans to 'improve' this or expand it? And as far as distrubuting it have you talked to HC ARmy builder guys? Maybe they'd like to incorporate it or include it in thier program. Would go hand and hand with it I'd think.

[CyberVenom]

Man, I love playing random/sealed deck type games! VanceMadrox has made a system (for online play of course) where you can play sealed. This includes promo figs, Big figs, and Limited Edition! It's soooo awesome! I use that now every time I play online. He even set up where you could get only IC Starters, IC Booster, CT Booster, HT Starter, and HT Boosters. (He's gonna have to update it for XP), and he's working on Team boosters, based on what Team the figures are alliated with.

But that isn't even the best part.

My favorite is called the Uber Starters and Boosters. It has all the figures, including the Big figs, promo, and such. Like a giant Grab Bag!

[Crow]

Ok, as a n00b to the forums and the world of HC, can I ask how people play online? Is there software written for this? I doubt it would be too hard to make a little graphic grid, a text window and a random-number generator for dice, so I bet someone has. I would love if someone could explain how I can get into some of the sealed-type games mentioned online.

That grab-bag thing is *exactly* what I would love to play with... it puts the focus totally on your strategy and improvisation skills.

[CyberVenom]

The way to play online is to go to a website like CreationMatrix.com. They've got maps and figs to where you can follow the game. Dice rolling: you can either use a dice generator website or use AIM Instant Messaging, which has a roll feature. All you need is an opponent and a team.