Saturday May 5th 2012 was Free Comic Book Day. One of the materials made available this year is an awesome new Thor, so this week's installment of Teams from the Longbox builds a 500 point force of characters from Thor 341 that features this great new addition to HeroClix.

To see the force and the surprising cast of characters backing up Thor, follow the link!

Synopsis: The 4-issue arc that introduced Beta Ray Bill concluded with Thor free of his Dr. Donald Blake alter-ego. Upon his return to Midgard (a.k.a. Earth) Thor was set up with a new identity: construction worker Sigurd Jarlson! The identity was established by Nick Fury, and consisted primarily of a white t-shirt and glasses. While leaving Nick Fury's office, the pair bump into a couple of very familiar looking reporters. What if this group teamed up with Sigurd's 'girlfriend' Melodi?

250 Veteran (Free Comic Book Day) Thor
100 Unique (Secret Invasion 051) Nick Fury
62 Veteran (Armor Wars 009) Lorelei
48 Alter Ego (Brave and the Bold 002) Clark Kent
17 Limited Edition (Origin 215) Lois Lane

= 477 Points

Melodi is really Lorelei, the Asgardian Enchantress' younger sister, who has come to Midgard and adopted a mortal secret identity with the hopes of enthralling Thor. She spends a significant amount of time with Thor in his Sigurd indentity, but for assorted reasons she is never able to 'seal the deal'.

In case you missed the news, since 2002 tradition has the first Saturday in May set aside as "Free Comic Book Day" a.k.a. FCBD. Comic book stores can purchase bulk quantities of comics and other merchandise to offer as an enticement to bring new customers into comic book stores and to celebrate all aspects of the comic book industry. WizKids has a long history of participation in this event: retailers have been able to buy limited edition HeroClix figures to distribute to their loyal customers for most of the past decade.

This year's FCBD figure is Thor from the just released Avengers film, and following tradition for high-point dials, it can be played at two different point values. To best mimic the head-strong Thor from this comic issue, I'm going with the full-powered bruiser 250-point dial that doesn't offer much initial finesse. The yellow line on the dial shows where the 150-point version of the character starts. The back half of the dial's emphasis on ranged attacks is probably more comfortable for a majority of HeroClix players, but there is something to be said for a Thor dial that has to be played in close combat to deliver the most damage possible.

V Thor Points: 250 Range: 8
Team: Avengers Initiative
Keywords: Asgardian, Avengers, Deity, Warrior

11 11 18 5

10 11 18 4

10 10 18 4

10 10 17 4

| | |

9 10 17 3

9 9 17 3

9 9 16 3

9 9 17 3

8 10 17 3

7 11 17 3

KO KO KO KO

I feel as if I could write a thesis on the spymaster Nick Fury's role in the earliest issues of Walt Simonson's Thor run, but I will restrain myself. Let's just focus on the interesting HeroClix representation of the character from Secret Invasion. I've chosen this version of Nick Fury because I think this dial is the one to go to when most of the rest of the force needs the extra oomph provided by this version's Spymaster power and S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability. This figure is going to hold the rest of the force together behind Thor, so be sure to use the Mastermind whenever possible to keep Nick Fury on his top click.

U Nick Fury Points: 100 Range: 6
Team: S.H.I.E.L.D.
Keywords: Politician, S.H.I.E.L.D., Soldier, Spy

6 11 17 2

8 10 16 2

8 10 16 2

8 9 16 2

6 9 16 2

6 9 16 1

6 9 15 1

KO KO KO KO

L.M.D.: Nick Fury can use Mastermind. When Nick Fury is dealt damage, you can reduce the damage by 2. If you do, after the attack resolves immediately put Nick Fury in an unoccupied square in the corner of the map (or as close to the corner as possible) that does not share an edge with the starting area used by Nick Fury.

Spymaster: Nick Fury can use Leadership, Outwit, and Perplex.

One of the most unappreciated figures in all of HeroClix is Lorelei from the Armor Wars set. The reasons are many: Distribution of figures within Armor Wars was poor: As the first set with sealed 'bricks' it was unfortunately common for each brick to be over-saturated with certain REVs...and as a common, the Lorelei figure is not nearly as exciting as the long-hoped for remake of the 616 Iron Man. Within the Armor Wars set, this was a dial that was hard to use as part of a winning sealed force. Let's face it...the dial doesn't look very imaginative either.

Once you get past the complaints, it is easy to see this dial as an elegant example of a low-cost, long-lived character capable of great surprises throughout the dial. The deep dial may come as a shock to modern players, and when the powers start appearing on Lorelei's damage track, they may well begin to wonder what they have gotten themselves into. Her best trick is the top-dial Mind Control. With it she has the default 4 range, and she won't fear feedback damage because of her long dial.

V Lorelei Points: 62 Range: 0
Team: No Affiliation
Keywords: Asgardian

6 9 16 2

6 9 15 2

6 8 14 2

6 8 14 1

6 7 13 1

5 7 12 1

5 6 11 1

5 6 11 1

5 6 10 1

KO KO KO KO

Clark Kent and Lois Lane only appear for a few panels of this comic, but I enjoy the opportunity to build a force using the earliest alter ego figures from The Brave and the Bold, especially when the force may be able to use them successfully. The Clark Kent figure is a little difficult to get 48 points of value from, but careful study of his dial and keeping him close to Nick Fury (to take Mastermind damage) may allow you to successfully turn a mild-mannered reporter into a Superman!

Clark Kent Points: 48 Range: 0
Team: No Affiliation
Keywords: Metropolis, Reporter, Trinity

5 8 16 1

6 8 16 1

6 9 16 2

8 9 17 2

9 9 17 1

KO KO KO KO

Alter Ego: Superman: Give Clark Kent a power action and replace this character with a Brave and the Bold #017 Superman on its orange starting line. Existing action tokens from this character, as well as action tokens and pushing damage for this action are applied to the replacement Superman. If replaced, no victory points are awarded for this character and the replacement Superman is considered to be 48 points for all game effects.

The Alter Ego portion of The Brave and the Bold #017 Superman dial is shown below. It's not the greatest three clicks in HeroClix, but all of a sudden you have another flier as well as a figure capable of 8 ranged attacks for 4 damage!

(Alter Ego) Superman Points: 48 Range: 8
Team: Superman Ally
Keywords: Metropolis, Reporter, Trinity

| | |

10 9 17 4

9 9 17 3

8 9 16 3

KO KO KO KO

One the original DC 'chase' figures is this Lois Lane figure from the Origin booster set. Once considered one of the most sought-after figures (for the 17-point ability to add the Superman Team Ability to wild card forces) it has come down substantially in price on the secondary market. This figure is also wonderfully simple to use: when not granting a team ability to copy, this figure's best use is to cross the map (ignoring hindering terrain on movement) and base opponents. The Combat Reflexes help to keep her alive, and the Willpower becomes just an added annoyance to deal with.

LE Lois Lane Points: 17 Range: 0
Team: Superman Ally
Keywords: Metropolis, Reporter

7 8 15 1

6 9 14 1

6 8 14 1

6 7 15 1

5 6 15 1

KO KO KO KO

This force is 23 points shy of 500 points. You could add a 19-point Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D. from the recent Avengers movie set to get closer to a typical build value, to represent one of the assorted silent agents working with Nick Fury in this issue. Alternatively, if feats are allowed, there is always this favorite that can be assigned to Thor...


...and the following is a good choice for Nick Fury.


Assigning these two feat brings this force up to 499 points, and offers a little something extra on offense that it may need to compete in 500 point games.

Nice article, and the fcbd Thor is awesome. Problem with the team is if Thor drops, your pretty well screwed. Support him well,lol

Great team from one of my favorite all-time story-arcs! Simonson-ized for your pleasure!

Love this team and this issue. So much love for Thor knocking over Clark.

Creative substitution.

Glad to see the change of theme!
Interesting use of Lorelei. I can honestly say I have NEVER seen her used on any team here.
Who was he battling in that issue?

The major baddie of this and the next few issues was Fafnir the dragon.

To be completely fair, this run of Thor has many strands running in and out of each issue, so there are often appearances by other characters (especially Asgardian ones: both friend and foe) in any given issue. I'm trying to build forces of those that were more-or-less in the same place at the same time.

I love how this article was timed with the release of FCBD Thor, so people who are new to Heroclix and the site can see an example of how to build a comic-accurate team with their new figure.

Cool idea, and great article!

Lorelei is an underated effective use of 62 pts.

Aw009 lorelei 62
Ha011 enchantress 141
Ha020 karnilla 64

267pt asgardian badgirl team

An interesting force and a fine interpretation. You've really kind of grazed among the oddities here and come up with something that looks like fun. A FCBD figure, a forgotten V, an underutilized AE and a chase whose price tag previously made it impractical to obtain... personally I'd like to have seen Classics Fury and perhaps a brick figure LMD to round out the oddballs, but I concede to the need for some kind of support in that force. Great job.

Too bad the closest comic store did not even get any Thor. They even charged $1 for each comic book beyond the first for a non optional "donation". Charging for FCBD Wtf