The year of Villains starts here!

As promised, in 2012 I will be playing nothing but villains on all my Heroclix teams. It's two weeks into January, and I'm kicking things off at last.

I'll start with the general format of this blog. Mostly I'll be posting teams, the rationale, and how they did. Or to use more flavor text...

The Caper, the Crew, and the Conclusion.

The Caper is the explanation of the event. It might be as simple as 300 points Modern, or it might be as complex as 755 points, no characters whose main book is on even numbers as of the most recent publishing.

The Crew is the group of rapscallions I've recruited to perform my nefarious deeds.

And the Conclusion is the breakdown. How did my master plan work out? Did I conquer the board, or is it my fate to shake my fist and blame Richards?

The Guardtower in Columbus is the venue I get to hit most often. It's a good mix of players and always fun. The judge likes to throw curveballs at us to keep us on our toes, and I'm a lot happier with that than just 300 Modern week in and week out. So for this entry, here's

The Caper:

Obscure theme day.
300 points.
Your team must be thematic in some sort of way that isn't keyword related.
Examples: The Thing, Batwoman, and Atom Smasher (all Jewish characters); Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and Blue Beetle (all characters created by Steve Ditko); Captain Mako, Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, Captain Marvel (all "captains").
Extra prizes for most obscure theme and favorite theme (based on group vote).

10% Feat cap
No Theme bonuses
No BFCs

I puzzled over this one for a while, and tossed around a few ideas that just didn't make me smile. I've also got a pesky itch that compels me to use at least one new figure per game. Then I hit on this. Skittles-Fear the Rainbow. A different villain to represent the 5 different flavors of candy.

The Crew:
Green: Madame Hydra.
ca105 R Madame Hydra
Team: Hydra
Range: 3
Points: 75
Keywords: Hydra, Ruler

7 10 17 2

7 11 16 2

7 10 17 3

7 9 16 2

7 10 15 2

6 9 15 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Damage) Psychedelic Presence: Madame Hydra can use Perplex. She can use it normally, or if she targets a friendly character with the HYDRA keyword or possessing the HYDRA Team Ability, she can modify a combat value by +2, except damage.

Remember, characters are always friendly to themselves. Step right up heroes, this lady has a 19 defense and Mastermind. Stealth means you (should) have to base her, and the Blades means you're going to be in trouble if you do. And who is she going to dump that damage off to? Let's go old school.

Orange: XP Rookie Hand Ninja
xp007 R Hand Ninja
Team: Hydra
Range: 6
Points: 14
Archenemy: Daredevil (Orange)
Keywords: Martial Artist, Past, The Hand

6 7 14 2

5 6 13 1

5 6 12 1

4 5 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Do you know how tough it is to find 14 point villain characters with any redeeming qualities that have some sort of tie with the color Orange? Actually, it's kind of everywhere. I had this guy, a U-Man to offer Toughness, or an 11-point Hellfire Guard to use EE with. In the end, I chose extra Stealth and the Hydra TA. If he gets cut down, who cares? And if he sticks around next to Madame Hydra, that 8 attack, 6 range, 3 damage might surprise someone. Wait, 3 damage?

Red: Red Hood
lg215 LE The Red Hood
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 6
Points: 26
Archenemy: The Joker (Blue)
Keywords: Gotham City

7 7 15 2

6 7 14 2

6 6 13 1

5 5 12 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Yep, Red Hood. 26 points for Stealthed Enhancement. Sure, there's some MM there as well, but it probably isn't going to be used. He's not there to shrug off damage, he's there to hand extra bullets around as I shoot with people. Including the mobile, sour lemon flavor...

Yellow: Scarecrow
bn003 V Scarecrow
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 8
Points: 85
Keywords: Sinestro Corps

8 10 16 2

8 10 16 2

8 9 16 2

7 9 17 2

7 8 17 2

7 7 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Speed) Yellow Fear : Scarecrow can use Penetrating/Psychic Blast. All damage dealt by Scarecrow generates knock back equal to the damage taken.
This fear-monger might be my favorite figure from the Blackest Night set. He's certainly earned his points in the past, and now we're going to see how much mileage I can get out of him. 8 range, 12 attack, and 4 damage is going to be pretty hot. What, you don't understand how I can get that? Well, remember when I said I wouldn't be using Red Hood's Mastermind? I lied. Villain, remember? Let's look at this formation real quick.

HXN
XRX

Madame Hydra (H) can stand in Hindering. Red Hood (R) can hang back and to the right, and the Hand Ninja can hang around Hood's right shoulder, leaving a gap that Scarecrow can Running Shot into. Best of all, I can chain Mastermind from Hydra to Hood to Expendable. That's a pair of Hydra boosts for his attack (yes, I know, it's dropping defense of the target. Work with me) an Enhancer boosting his damage, and a free Perplex to amp the damage even higher. Not bad for a straw man. But who's the grape?

Purple: Purple Man
sn086 U Purple Man
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 8
Points: 100
Archenemy: Jessica Jones (Orange)
Keywords:

7 9 15 1

7 8 15 1

7 9 15 1

6 10 15 1

6 9 14 .

5 9 14 .

5 8 13 .

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

No, I haven't lost my mind. I'll just take yours though, thank you. Purple Man gets a bad rap (he is a bad guy...) for being kind of a poor Mind Controller. Let's look at what he brings to the table instead of what he leaves off it. In a 300 point game, he's got 3 targets. That might be enough to grab EVERYONE on the other side of the table. 8 range isn't bad, and his attack never drops below an 8-and could get as high as an effective 13 with Hydra and Perplex hanging around. I'm not going to care about Feedback damage either, as he has MC his entire dial. Purple Man is my ace in the hole. Shadow King and N'astirh might trump him in offense, but I'm saving them for something special. Mr. Kilgrave here is going to push, and push, and push some more until the heroes are so banged up and bleeding-from each other-that the mopping up isn't going to take more than a round or two. He gets an aneurysm, but I get the game.

The Conclusion.
So how did the candy-colored team of cads do?

Awful.

Turns out these guys just couldn't deal with all the HSS and Super Strength everyone else brought. I honestly didn't expect to see so much of that since today's game was more of a "build an interesting team" type of game, but c'est la vie. The high point was probably Mind Controlling Non to smash Buckey-Cap's head through a wall, but even that didn't last as Non then finished the last game by turning Purple Man into a Purple smear.

But I'll be back!