LoneWolf21
03/11/2003, 16:03
Howdy! Not to steal the thunder of the all-mighty Azs or RavenProject (and hey, if either of you want to review her yourselves, go right ahead, you'll probably do a much better job than I), but I decided to go and review some of the lesser figs (or in some other cases, just ones I don't usually see a whole lot of talking about) of the Marvel and DC sets. As you can see, I'm starting off with the Scottish werewolf, and soon I'll be popping into the DC area for a review on a young hero who hasn't had much lucky with the Earthy-type of woman, but might be more lucky with the fiery avian type, as well as two heroic, one-punch watching, Oreo swiping buddies, before hopping back to Marvel for a shady lady spy, and then moving back to DC for a look at a former underworld princess. (kudos for those who can figure out the identities of the figs!)
Now, then let's begin. The first thing that you'll notice about Wolfsbane, in all of her incarnations, is that she only has one power: blades/fangs/claws (which is odd, since she does actually have a healing factor), so she isn't exactly the most strategically deep character, but on the plus side, you don't have to wrack your brains trying to remember what power is on what click and how long it lasts. Of course, another thing you'll no doubt think is "Why Rahne when you have Spiral, Logan, IC Elektra and the ol' canuckle head around?" Well, for one, Elektra, Logan, and Spiral are all non X-affiliated (although you can always mimic the X-ability with Spiral), so when you want to do theme games they're all out, plus, her incarnations are cheaper (although in Logan's case, not by much) than the others with the exception of Elektra. Another plus, is that she doesn't have battle fury anywhere on her dial, allowing you to actually carry her around as needed. Also, because of her simple dial and (in my experience, anyway) sturdy figure, she makes a great piece to teach new players with (she's my younger cousin's favorite piece because she's simple and won't break on him)
Her rookie version is the young, getting a crush on Cannonball and falling in love with Cypher, being taught by Magneto (you know him as the Experienced version), afraid of hanging around her demonic teammate Magik, and best friends with Mirage, New Mutants Wolfsbane, rolling in at 28 points and as such, her dial isn't totally huge (5 clicks), but it's still not too bad. She starts off as a human on her first click, so try and get her off of that and onto her 2nd click as quickly as you can so she can bare her claws, where she gets two clicks of two damage before going back to one damage (although she still retains bcf on her second to last click), although the two is nice, don't be afraid to let the dice tumble, so she has the possibility of going all the way up to six clicks of damage. Her stats also stay up pretty well, not changing much as she receives damage, making her easy to heal but still allowing her to tear up into opponents, but it'd still be wise to not have her go at it alone though.
Her experienced version gets a four point upgrade, going now at 32 points, and as I see it, ushers in the time for when she was with Peter David's government x-team X-Factor (that's where her clix uniform is from, after all), where she had a crush on Havok (albeit it one that was forced on her. Long story), and hung around and made friends with a very strong guy and a guy who can be his own sports team. She gets an extra click of life over her younger version, although she doesn't gain anymore bcf, and still retains the three from her previous version. Still, the extra click of life is nice, and her speed and attack get a nice jump as well. She also still has the ever present X-symbol so she can heal up or aid a teammate should the need arise, and while she still needs to "wolf up", her slightly improved stats and longer life don't make it quite as much of a risk.
Finally, we come to her veteran version. Still an X-member, Wolfsbane's finally over her crush on Havok, and is now with Excalibur, only to now hang around with a robo-version of the aforementioned Cypher (who ends up being another former teammate entirely). Can't a girl ever get a normal relationship? I guess that's the price of being in the X-verse. At any rate, for 39 points, the veteran version isn't half bad, she gets yet another click of life, putting the total to seven, and her stats have gotten a nice boost as well, which also helps, as she retains a nice defense for most of her dial, and also finally gets another click of bcf, allowing you to do more damage if you're good with the dice (although her damage on her final bcf click is one, so I personally like to let it ride). However, her optimum click is her second though, so try and keep her on that one as best you can.
But, as a special bonus, we're also going to take a look at the LE-3 Rahne Sinclair. As she's not exactly a big name figure, and she is from IC, she's not exactly expensive, as of this writing (12:30 pac time), she's going for as cheap as 5 dollars, and as expensive as 10 dollars (not counting shipping), so no worries about busting you're bank account trying to get her. As for the figure itself, I figure this is the post Excalibur, pre-power loss (upcoming clix villianess Mystique zapped her with a gun that takes away mutants powers...although don't worry, Rahne is scheduled for a come back in a new "New Mutants" series, although since the blue skinned one not only took away her powers but killed her mum, Mystique ought to watch out) Rahne, and as such, gets two slight upgrades (and still retains the X-team ability), for a price increase to 42 points. What's that upgrade? Her second to last click (number six), gets an attack upgrade from a six to a seven, and is now in bcf mode. Not much, but nice as a last resort, although on the downside that's her only real upgrade from her V version. (although I suppose it could have been worse)
Overall, Wolfsbane and her LE work well as parts of themed teams (X-Men, New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur), good battle support pieces and X-healers (with the ability, just don't go overboard), and nice cheaper alternatives to Wolverine. Overall, I like to use the Veteran version the most (she was able to beat the full roster of bat allies around in my last mixed game, believe it or not), as she's pretty cheap, but also fairly strong, and she's the one I recommend the most for use.
This will end the review (my first), so comments, suggestions, or you're own thoughts on character use are welcomed!
Now, then let's begin. The first thing that you'll notice about Wolfsbane, in all of her incarnations, is that she only has one power: blades/fangs/claws (which is odd, since she does actually have a healing factor), so she isn't exactly the most strategically deep character, but on the plus side, you don't have to wrack your brains trying to remember what power is on what click and how long it lasts. Of course, another thing you'll no doubt think is "Why Rahne when you have Spiral, Logan, IC Elektra and the ol' canuckle head around?" Well, for one, Elektra, Logan, and Spiral are all non X-affiliated (although you can always mimic the X-ability with Spiral), so when you want to do theme games they're all out, plus, her incarnations are cheaper (although in Logan's case, not by much) than the others with the exception of Elektra. Another plus, is that she doesn't have battle fury anywhere on her dial, allowing you to actually carry her around as needed. Also, because of her simple dial and (in my experience, anyway) sturdy figure, she makes a great piece to teach new players with (she's my younger cousin's favorite piece because she's simple and won't break on him)
Her rookie version is the young, getting a crush on Cannonball and falling in love with Cypher, being taught by Magneto (you know him as the Experienced version), afraid of hanging around her demonic teammate Magik, and best friends with Mirage, New Mutants Wolfsbane, rolling in at 28 points and as such, her dial isn't totally huge (5 clicks), but it's still not too bad. She starts off as a human on her first click, so try and get her off of that and onto her 2nd click as quickly as you can so she can bare her claws, where she gets two clicks of two damage before going back to one damage (although she still retains bcf on her second to last click), although the two is nice, don't be afraid to let the dice tumble, so she has the possibility of going all the way up to six clicks of damage. Her stats also stay up pretty well, not changing much as she receives damage, making her easy to heal but still allowing her to tear up into opponents, but it'd still be wise to not have her go at it alone though.
Her experienced version gets a four point upgrade, going now at 32 points, and as I see it, ushers in the time for when she was with Peter David's government x-team X-Factor (that's where her clix uniform is from, after all), where she had a crush on Havok (albeit it one that was forced on her. Long story), and hung around and made friends with a very strong guy and a guy who can be his own sports team. She gets an extra click of life over her younger version, although she doesn't gain anymore bcf, and still retains the three from her previous version. Still, the extra click of life is nice, and her speed and attack get a nice jump as well. She also still has the ever present X-symbol so she can heal up or aid a teammate should the need arise, and while she still needs to "wolf up", her slightly improved stats and longer life don't make it quite as much of a risk.
Finally, we come to her veteran version. Still an X-member, Wolfsbane's finally over her crush on Havok, and is now with Excalibur, only to now hang around with a robo-version of the aforementioned Cypher (who ends up being another former teammate entirely). Can't a girl ever get a normal relationship? I guess that's the price of being in the X-verse. At any rate, for 39 points, the veteran version isn't half bad, she gets yet another click of life, putting the total to seven, and her stats have gotten a nice boost as well, which also helps, as she retains a nice defense for most of her dial, and also finally gets another click of bcf, allowing you to do more damage if you're good with the dice (although her damage on her final bcf click is one, so I personally like to let it ride). However, her optimum click is her second though, so try and keep her on that one as best you can.
But, as a special bonus, we're also going to take a look at the LE-3 Rahne Sinclair. As she's not exactly a big name figure, and she is from IC, she's not exactly expensive, as of this writing (12:30 pac time), she's going for as cheap as 5 dollars, and as expensive as 10 dollars (not counting shipping), so no worries about busting you're bank account trying to get her. As for the figure itself, I figure this is the post Excalibur, pre-power loss (upcoming clix villianess Mystique zapped her with a gun that takes away mutants powers...although don't worry, Rahne is scheduled for a come back in a new "New Mutants" series, although since the blue skinned one not only took away her powers but killed her mum, Mystique ought to watch out) Rahne, and as such, gets two slight upgrades (and still retains the X-team ability), for a price increase to 42 points. What's that upgrade? Her second to last click (number six), gets an attack upgrade from a six to a seven, and is now in bcf mode. Not much, but nice as a last resort, although on the downside that's her only real upgrade from her V version. (although I suppose it could have been worse)
Overall, Wolfsbane and her LE work well as parts of themed teams (X-Men, New Mutants, X-Factor, Excalibur), good battle support pieces and X-healers (with the ability, just don't go overboard), and nice cheaper alternatives to Wolverine. Overall, I like to use the Veteran version the most (she was able to beat the full roster of bat allies around in my last mixed game, believe it or not), as she's pretty cheap, but also fairly strong, and she's the one I recommend the most for use.
This will end the review (my first), so comments, suggestions, or you're own thoughts on character use are welcomed!