Are you tired of the same ole cutthroat thing, when playing games or building your Heroclix teams? Do you long for the opportunity to play a more comic accurate game, but lack inspiration? Would you like to add an extra element to your game, the next time you and your friend slap down a map?

Well, my friends step right up to this installment of Sabre’s Lair, and let Darth show you the way…………uumm a second time?

(Bumper Here)

Welcome Back to Sabre’s Lair.

Tying HeroClix to Its Roots: Comic Accurate Teams! # 7: Teams Revisited Part 2

Welcome ! Thanks for joining me in my continuing effort to get players to use more comic-based teams.

This is the second part of my “Theme Teams Revisited” article. The first part can be found here:

• Theme Teams Revisited #1, Part 1

My first four articles for HCRealms focused on comic-accurate themed teams based on the X-Men, JSA, Alpha Flight, and the Justice League.

Because of all of the recent releases, I thought it would be a good idea to go back and update some of the teams that I posted in those articles, or just add some new ones. Last time, we looked at the X-Men and the Justice Society. This week, we’ll take a look at the Justice League of America and Alpha Flight.

These teams are designed for fun, and are designed to be played at specific point levels. Since they are themed teams, they will not make use of points to action efficiency. They are also designed to include figures that have actual team symbols on their dials that adequately reflect their affiliations to specific teams, whenever possible. Figure levels, will only be looked at, to determine how a figure fits on a team within a specific point total, not as a representation of where a character was at a particular point in their career. I will try in earnest, to make teams that use figures that are more easily available, so that everyone has an opportunity to run the teams that I post. However that will not always be possible, depending on the subject matter.
I hope you find as much enjoyment and inspiration within these articles, as I find great pleasure in bringing them to you.

Darth Sabre’s Theme Teams: Revisited Part Deux!

Darth Sabre’s Theme Teams: The JLA

This is a continuation of an article that was originally posted in 2 parts. The first part was posted on 4/26/05, and the second part was posted on 7/20/05. Both parts of the article can be found here:

• The JLA pt. 1
• The JLA pt. 2

The “Magnificent 7” 1000 pts, as shown in JLA: Liberty & Justice (A Silver-Age Story)-, November, 2003

Story Summary: When a dangerous, fast -spreading alien disease threatens to wipe out all of human existence, the Justice League find themselves being blamed for the spread of this plague. Can the League stop the threat from spreading further, and keep world-wide panic and hysteria at a minimum?

Note: This team was posted in the original article, but has been revamped.

• Aquaman E (HT) w/Haymaker- 46 pts.*
• Green Lantern E (Hal Jordan) (UL) w/Trick Shot & Force Field- 155 pts*
• Flash E (Barry Allen) (HT) w/Armor Piercing & Swingline- 102 pts.*
• Wonder Woman E (Ic)-109 pts.*
• Martian Manhunter U (CJ)-177 pts.*
• Batman E (LE)-94 pts.*
• Superman E (Ic) w/ Fortitude-247 pts.*
• In Contact with Oracle (Figures marked w/ *= agents)-70 pts.

Total=1000 pts.

*Note: The Atom made a brief appearance towards the end of the book. So for those of you that have him, you can use him on the team, and stay comic-accurate.

Recommended Battle Field Conditions:

• Ordinary Day
• War Zone
• Radiation Leak
• Assembled
• Rally
• Disbanded
• Atlantis Rising

Pros: 5 fliers + 1 figure with Hypersonic Speed= Mobility, mobility, mobility. 5 figures that can move and attack in Superman, Wonder Woman, Batman, Flash, and Green Lantern. You have 4 of “the 5” support powers- Perplex (Manhunter), Outwit (Flash), Telekinesis (Green Lantern), and Probability Control (Batman). With solid attack values across the board and PC, you can use your Perplex and your ICWO bonus to increase damage values or defense. 4 figures with Super Strength and Rip it Up, means that you can have them tote objects around when they move. Batman and GL’s Willpower, makes it seem like you have two additional figures on the board. With the exception of Martian Manhunter, and Aquaman, everyone else has at least a 17 defense (with Superman & GL having an 18). Superman Wonder Woman and Martian Manhunter have Impervious. Good range of ranged combatants, with only 3 figures lacking any range (Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Flash).

Cons: No Support available to heal your figures. This team is likely to be outnumbered, and out-actioned in a 1000 pt game against most other non-themed games.

Strategy: In Contact With Oracle represents J’onn’s ability to telepathically link the team, to allow Batman to fire off directives. Object placement can be crucial, as you should put them in a position, where your Super Strength figures can get to them. You can maneuver the team on the first turn, into position. Move Flash, Batman, and Manhunter out, and use the ICWO bonus to up their defensive values. Move Superman, Aquaman and Wonder Woman out, so that they can grab objects and go back to GL, so he can TK them out when your opponents’ figures are in range. Flash and your Chargers are great for dealing with the stealth figures. Ordinary Day is for dealing with cards like Poor Teamwork and Crosswinds. Use Radiation Leak and War Zone to neuter your opponent’s medics and Regen figures. Assembled helps increase your AV by 1, if team members are adjacent to one another. Rally can be a good card, sine there are so many high priced JLA’ers on the team. Disbanded could be great against other teams, whose TA is important, since the JLA TA is not so useful at this point total. Atlantis Rising is great for causing other teams movement difficulties, since your team is able to move around the board, without difficulty.

Darth Sabre’s Theme Teams: Alpha Flight

This is a continuation of an article that was originally posted on 4/17/05, and can be found here:

• Alpha Flight

Alpha Flight 600 pts, as shown in X-Men/Alpha Flight #1- Dec,1985

Story Summary: A plane piloted by Scott Summers and Madelyn Pryor, carrying a group of scientists mysteriously goes down on its way to the Arctic Circle. At that same moment, Snowbird is also inexplicably struck down. The X-Men, a group of mutant heroes and Alpha Flight, Canada’s super group join forces to find out what is behind all of this.

• Vindicator U (Ult) w/ Armor Piercing*- 114 pts
• Northstar E (MM) w/ Armor Piercing- 71 pts
• Puck V (MM) w/ Unstoppable & Haymaker- 72 pts
• Walter Langkowski LE/SR (MM) w/ Unstoppable- 98 pts
• Shaman E (AW) w/ Brilliant Tactician, Force Field, Swingline- 106 pts
• Snowbird R (MM)- 64 pts
• Aurora E (AW)- 60 pts
• Fastball Special FC- 12 pts
• Alpha Flight FC- 0 pts

Total=597 pts

*Note: The timing of this series, falls before Heather Hudson became Vindicator and the leader of Alpha Flight.

Recommended Battle Field Conditions:

• Ordinary Day
• Bright Lights
• War Zone
• White Noise
• Overconfidence
• Power Dampening Field
• Armor Wars
• Assembled

Pros: Aurora, Vindicator and Shaman provide the team with some range, while the rest of the team is great for dealing with threats up close and personal. Shaman is a great support piece with some offensive pop, and his usefulness only increases with Brilliant Tactician. Vindicator, Aurora, Northstar, and Puck can all move and attack. The Alpha Flight TA card helps deal with the average to low attack values that the team members suffer with.

Cons: Low attack values, low defensive values, and no one does more than 3 damage naturally. 4 Figures with 6 or less life.

Strategy: Push Walter early, to get him to his good clicks. Then carry him with Snowbird, into stealth to protect him until he clears. Use Aurora’s HSS and Range to zip around the board zapping figures, while using Vindicator’s Running Shot to either target formations with Energy Explosion, or smack a figure for 3 damage. With either Aurora or Northstar, carry Puck out so that he can do a follow-up attack. If you get the chance, use Walter and Puck to perform a Fastball Special. Keep Shaman centrally located, and behind the team so that he can use BT to help boost the attack values of his teammates. He can also use his Psychic Blast to help whittle figures with damage reducing powers, down a little. Once your team starts taking damage, he can be pushed to get to his Support clicks.

Well, I hope you’ve enjoyed this article. Feel free to discuss and exchange ideas. Let me know what you think. If you see any place where I can make improvements or have ideas for future articles please feel free to PM me.

Be here next time for another article from Sabre’s Lair!

Visit the Lair’s Library of Past Articles:

• The Uncanny X-Men
• The Justice Society of America
• Alpha Flight
• The JLA, Pt. 1
• The JLA, Pt. 2
• The X-Men vs. The X-Sentinels
• Superman & The Fantastic Four
• Theme Teams Revisited #1, Part 1

Apologies in advance for the rant:

How can you put In Contact With Oracle on a theme team without blushing? Every team is in contact with somebody. You can always make up a reason as to why the characters might get a bonus. But it doesn't fit the theme. The point of building a theme team is that you don't drop in Con Artists unless one of the characters is a gangsta', and you don't drop in Oracle unless Babs Gordon might actually be on the phone.

The less ranting version of the same point: What makes a team a theme team, as I see it, is that the choices of who and what goes on the team are made for some reason besides their ability to dominate the battlefield. Effectiveness might be a factor in adding something, but it's not the only factor. In Contact with Guy Mentioned in the Team Description is always just about upping some numbers.

I believe ICW'Oracle' isnt meant to be taken so literally. Forget Babs, and youve got numbers getting up'd due to a well coordinated force.

The Emporer in Star Wars did a similar thing with his abilities in the Force, esentially using a broad mind control power to increase the effectivness of his TIE Fighter forces, turning a bunch of random conscripts in cockpits to a formidible armada.
If I was going to make an Empire team (with Desaad as the emporer, rock!), I'd have ICWO to showcase his behind the scenes talents.

First of all chill out, it's not the end of the world. Secondly, I have a more liberal interpretation of what ICWO is for, but don't place on every team just to use it. In the JLA's case the card represtents Martian Manhunter's abilitiy to link the team telepathically, and then having Batman command the team. It works for me, sorry if you don't see it that way. But it does fit the theme, and just because I use it doesn't mean you have to. So I don't really see the need for the rant.

The team is not there for you to use, but rather to give you an idea of a team in a comic. It's up to you to decide where to take it from there.

As you can see, it's a matter of opinion,and I think that if you spent more time looking at the teams I've posted in all articles, I don't just put things on there, to allow a team or figure to dominate the battle field. Otherwise, the JLA would look more like:

V Icons Superman
V Legacy Batman
V Icons Aquaman
U Martian Manhunter
V Icons Wonder Woman
U Icons Flash
V Green Lantern Hal

And ICWO on each one.

I really have to agree with everyone else on this one. I am a strong advicate that ICWO can be made to represent something on every team. For example:

X-Men-Professor X or Emma Frost using Cerebro to relay info.
Alpha Flight-Department H (or the absent Guardian) sending info
Society of Super Villians-Calculator
JSA-very loose, but it could be Nabu helping
Titans-Thier teamwork skills aiding them, plus Oracle could feed info to Robin
Avengers (also SHIELD)-Shield feeding them info, or for the Avengers, Iron Man giving them info on things.
Hydra-They are an Organization, it stands to reason that they would be giving each other info.

I could keep going, but I think that if ICWO was only intended for themed teams that were Batman or JLA, it would have had a Prerequisite of Batman or JLA team ability on the dial.

BTW, great article, I always like the theme teams.

Wow. Talk about ranting without a clue.

Oracle did help the 'Magnificent 7' JLA during Morrison's run on JLA on numerous occassions. She was even a member of the team during that time. So, you could use her card (and her on it, if you had the points) on a JLA team and still be entirely thematic.
Next time, please do a little research -- perhaps something as simple as typing someone's name into wikipedia -- before you 'rant'.

I was kinda hoping you would do the "Big 7" with Kyle since we have him now. But I guess with just a 4 point difference between him and Hal it's pretty easy to change.

In his defense, Yes oracle has helped out JLA before. However NOT that team. That is a team themed from a single comic issue,and she wasn't in it.

However, I am more than agreeing with the Manhunter mind link as a reason for it to be there.

No Doubt.

Another solid edition, DS! Thanks once more for taking the time to do these.

i 'd have to say i agree with him. I understand Darth's POV & i i think his theme team articles are great but I just see this happen to often. I didn't read the peticular arc so I can't say if she was or wasn't in the story but if she wasn't I don't think she should be on the team. Sure you can say it represents Telepathy but in that case every team can come out with it's own excuse. Which means ICWO belongs on everything theme team. Plus it takes up 70points. And right undeerneath the main article it says the Atom was in it. Why not just add him for some perplex(because that is all OCWO is) and fill up the other 20 points withsomething else? I just don't think it fits thats all. still a great article though Darth, good job.

Atom's role was more of a guest appearance in that comic, than as an actual participant. But the option is there, and you can certainly choose to go with Atom instead.

I don't see why people get up in arms about these types of things. I mean. so what? So just because you see it too often, or choose to use the card a certain way, means that everyone else should?

To me ICWO represents the info and cohesivness of teams. So yeah, I'll use it when I have the points for it. Everytime. So if you intend to read my articles, your going to see it alot, because it's one of my favorite feats, and it applies.

Thanks! Though I do need to proof read these things better. Rip it Up was part of the original JLA team article, and I forgot to take the blurb out of the update.

your articles are good darth, not complaining just chiming in.