The Thunderbolts roster has changed many times over the years. A year ago, the Marvel Universe was recovering from a civil war and a Skrull invasion. During that time, the Thunderbolts underwent a sinister transformation: seek out and capture superheroes. Some of the most dangerous criminals were banded together with teammates of different morals, to hunt the heroes down. Hammer of Thor gave us four of these Thunderbolts. How well do these guys get along, and how playable are they? Step inside to find out!

This article will be done slightly differently than other team line-ups we’ve looked at. First, the Thunderbolts have an entirely new and different line-up than the one looked at here. This article will focus primarily on the HoT offerings, but will stray a little off-course as we look at team builds from this fairly short era of the Thunderbolts (from issue #110). Secondly, I’ll try not to get into the Dark Avengers territory, although I really want too! Lastly, I plan on ripping into a couple of these pieces. Enjoy!

From a gameplay perspective, let’s take a look at perhaps what might be the best piece in the game (no, seriously she’s that good):
ha022 E Moonstone
Team: Avengers
Range: 8
Points: 76
Keywords: Celebrity, Masters of Evil, Thunderbolts

10 10 17 3

10 10 17 3

9 9 16 3

9 9 16 2

9 9 16 2

8 8 15 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

Running shot, psychic blast. It’s an expensive combination, and not too many figures can pull it off. Moonstone has got it where it counts: 10 movement with an 8 range gives her a swing of 13 squares. PB with a 10 attack will make that 3 penetrating damage hurt, and she begs to be pushed to do it again! If she does take a little damage, Phasing and outwit make her a useful piece all the way down her dial. All this is found in a very compact cost of 76 points. Throw on an additional 5 more points in unrestricted tournaments, and you can make the most with this piece by Thunderbolting her to most any TA in response to who see‘s facing: Hey, I’m borrowing the Ultimates TA! I can see you now Ms. Skrull-vel!!! Chick fight!

Does she play well with others? As long as there is money involved, she'll be a team player.

This brings us up to perhaps the greatest tie-up piece in the game:
ha038 V Venom
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 4
Points: 73
Keywords: Celebrity, Thunderbolts

9 9 17 2

9 9 17 2

9 9 16 3

9 9 16 3

8 10 15 3

8 10 15 3

8 9 15 2

8 9 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Special: Venom can use Leap/Climb
There are certain pieces in this game that beg the use of feats. Even those players out there who are reluctant to touch cardboard may feel the need to box venom up. Not to say Venom needs to be enclosed in enough cardboard to stock a Mailboxes Etc; Venom is playable all by himself. But, it’s just too much fun to make this guy a monster! (speaking of, shouldn’t he have that keyword?).

Venom is very feat-friendly, and has had many threads devoted to the different bits of cardbaord you can slap on him. Although you’ll undoubtedly have your favorites, I think the best feat to use on him was recommended by AnonymOuse: Vendetta.
Venom’s only major weakness is his starting AV. With Vendetta in play, you’ll not only make him much more of a menace than Spider-Man ever was, but you’ll probably rack up some extra points. Adding in Entangle will make him much harder to hit. But, adding on Takedown as well, will make your opponents throw their dice in your face.

*I’ll attempt a close combat attack against Venom*
*Really?!, Bwahahahahaa! Roll for Engtangle.*
*Okay, made it.*
*Now I’ll roll for Shape change. Okay, you can target him*
*Aha! I hit your 17 defense!*
*Okay, rolling Super senses . . . I rolled a 5! Now take a two tokens because of Takedown!*
*Throws dice and leaves game*

The only bad thing I can say is about Venom is his sculpt. He is way too malnourished to be the T-bolt’s Venom, but as the skinny-surfer, he fits well as the Dark Avengers, ‘Venom as Spider-man’. Sculpting Foresight? Probably not. Does he play well with his team-mates? He'd rather just eat your brains instead.

ha043 R Penance
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 6
Points: 58
Keywords: Celebrity, Thunderbolts

6 10 16 2

6 9 16 2

5 9 15 1

5 8 15 1

5 8 14 2

5 7 14 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) 612 Souls: Penance can use Force Blast. If he does, he can target all adjacent opposing characters and make a separate roll for each or choose a single target character up to 6 squares away to which he can draw a clear line of fire.

(Damage) Pain is My Power: When Penance takes damage from an attack made by an adjacent opposing character, the attacker takes 2 damage. This is not an attack.

Robbie, the current Marvel poster child of Emo, is a pain to use. While is dial is not horribly ineffective, it requires some teammate support and finesse, which is entirely unlike the character. Even SI Speedball could punk him. At the least, you’ll have to have a dedicated taxi toting him around the board. Used in this way, you’ll be able to make the most out of his awesome ranged force-blast power, which will let him wreak clusters and throw unsuspecting snipers off rooftops, as well as to keep your own team from being tied up. Lastly, while his ’Pain is my power’ ability is nice, it will rarely see play. However, if he is used as a late-game tie up piece, it might cause your opponent to change strategy during the last few turns. At least he has his uses.

Does he play well with others? No. He runs with scissors.

As for being fairly useless:
ha037 V Songbird
Team: Avengers
Range: 8
Points: 83
Keywords: Celebrity, Masters of Evil, Thunderbolts

10 10 16 2

10 9 16 2

10 9 15 2

9 8 15 3

8 8 14 2

7 7 14 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) Screaming Mimi: Songbird can us Running Shot and Force Blast.

(Damage) Punch Through!: Songbird can use Barrier. Each time Songbird places a blocking terrain marker and before she places her next, remove all blocking terrain markers placed by other characters adjacent to the marker she just placed.

A great sculpt. A lousy paintjob (mine’s got a mustache, yours too?) and perhaps the second worst dial to come out of HoT. Running shot, dual target incap is what you are paying for when playing this piece. But, it is simply not enough. Her dial is too short-lived, with a terrible starting defense and a plummeting AV. She’s going to be a big 83pt feast for your opponent, and there isn’t much she can do about it. Oh, force blast the character away? That wastes an action and just delays the inevitable. Incap? Too many characters with indomitable or Power Cosmic. Attack? 2 damage will barely get through toughness. If she had 10 range, or a better defensive power, or even 3 damage to start, she would be playable. I would have even preferred Songbird to get the Force-blast-at-range power. As for getting along with the rest of the team, she may have been the moral center of the group, but that didn't stop her from tricking Bullseye into paralyzing himself. Yeah, she really needed a better dial.

Tangent 1
Let’s face it, it's better to leave Songbird in her cage. For the team build below, you will find this character suspiciously absent. I just can't recommend that you play this piece. For instance, you could play both the FF R Songbird AND R Sin Bullseye for the just under the cost of HoT Songbird. So, bye-bye birdie! And she’s so fun to play on Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2!!

The Line-Up:
Per request, the first team is sans feats:

Moonstone, 76
Venom, 73
Penance, 58
E Sin Bullseye, 48
R FF Songbird, 44
TTL: 299

It isn’t keyword theme, so go ahead and throw on the FF LE Norman Osborn for 398pts. Simple and effective, this team will bring those heroes to justice (wait, what?).

For more competitive play, be sure to leave room for Venom‘s cardboard friends, and the few figures with the actual Thunderbolts keyword. Your team might look something like this:

Moonstone, T-Bolts, 81
Venom, Entangle, Vendetta, Takedown, 93
Penance, 58
R FF Songbird, T-Bolts, 49
V FF Green Goblin, 119
TTL: 400pts

Tangent 2
You might want to consider ditching keywords. Both Sin LE Lester, and FF LE Norman Osborn are much more maximized for their points.

Tangent 3
If you can't play the Thunderbolts without your daily dose of radioactivity, consider modding the Horrorclix Scrubber vet slightly (remove the gun) and use that in place of the sculpt on your Sinister Radioactive Man dial:

Tangent 4
Or, you could forgo this line-up altogether in favor of a ‘Best of” or dream-team Thunderbolts line-up. Or simply play them competitively such as this line-up Sheild001 recommended in his recent article:
Back on Track!
No matter what line-up you use, team play is quite straightforward: Tie-up your opposing team’s primary attacker with Venom, and blast away with Moonstone. Songbird can carry/TK teammates into position, and can't be ignored with her 3 damage, 8 range, even with her paltry attack. Hit, she makes a great barrier piece to keep her teammates safe. Penance will most probably be your weakest link, so don't be afraid to push him or run him up to get the most use out of him. Overall, this is a very well rounded group that plays well on most maps and should fair well against other rounded teams, but will absolutely shred teams built around 1-2 figures. Just be wary of your team turning on each other, mid-game. But, have fun, and strike against your opponents like a Thunderbolt

So, what line-up did you play? How did they do? Please comment below, and thanks for reading!!!

I like the last team, but the problem is that penance is 58 points, not 53 so you cannot fit all of those feats. You need to drop lunge to make it fit. I would also suggest including the Alpha flight ATA on this team to help cure some of the low AV's that are the major drawback of the T-bolts when facing the high defenses of some of the newer figs.

Curse you Sheild001!!!!! Well, the good news is, Songbird is only 83 pts, so you can drop Alias from her and still play the team Sheild recommended. If it makes him feel any better, I kept going over by 1 pt during several incarnations of my team builds.

Edit. Nevermind. I see where the math made Songbird 86 pts. Yep, you'll have to drop Lunge on Venom.

wouldn't this be a better 300 point team due to more move attack powers?

76 HA022 Moonstone
73 HA038 Venom
5 AAF002 Lunge
8 SNF003 Entangle
138 SV081 Photon
300

If you really want to crazy with Venom, add Pounce and Vampirism. He still gets that +1 attack and +1 damage, and if he hits, he (in layman's terms) doesn't take the pounce damage (thanks to Steal Energy, he gains a click of health if he deals damage). Entangle, Takedown, and Vendetta, while a lot of cardboard, make him a very difficult character to deal with (and doesn't really take away from his accuracy).

Wasn't going for competitive play on that first team. Going for a particular roster. Still, a decent team, although I would still probably use LE Norman + Songbird and drop feats.

Thus the reason why Feats have gotten out of control, and just plain deters others from getting too involved with the game. Feat loading sucks...

If you want to put all a large number of eggs in one basket, yes perhaps. Frankly, I'd have stuck with an exp or vet FF Songbird myself... applied vendetta and gone from there. I've seen the potential for vendetta with Venom... but... Might I offer something that might really ruin someone's day, when stacked with it?

Blood Oath

He's got blades most of his dial... he can sure enjoy that extra +1 attack... and when the cards come down and those doubles roll, he gets to turn his damage into penetrating damage.

He'll still take a click from Pounce as that happens last. There are so many good feats that work well with Venom. But, since there have been numerous threads on that already, I simply chose the feats that worked well for the team-build. Feat Venom however you best see fit. (as an aside, if you forget about feat limits, Venom would've made a great Box it Up article. Forgot who wrote them).

good thing pounce comes last, Venom would be the most played figure EVER

That'd be me (link to those in my sig!). The point of "Box it up" was to take an R or E figure, and make it more useful than the V version. At the time, sets like Origins, & Supernova featured many REV figures with Vets that weren't vastly improved from their E's or R's. So much so, that with a few feats, you could improve the R's and E's to be better than the V's, and still have points left over.

Green Lantern particularly comes to mind, with a Vet ranking in at 200+ points, and topping off with a 10 attack. Yuck. That figure has a place in the game, just not in *my* game.

With the deathknell of REV, BiU went to the wayside. Still, HoT Venom does like the cardboard.

I played a T-Bolt team last week in a 300 point constructed tourney that was:

Moonstone
Venom
Baron Zemo
Hawkeye
300 points exactly so no feats!

The team won all 3 games. Moonstone and Venom won them almost single (double?) handedly. Hawkeye got in the occassional shot but usually missed and Zemo was more useful when pushed to his outwit click. Opponents spent most of the time trying to hit Venom who is every bit the tie up monster everyone says he is. Moonstone has shape change and that came in handy as well.

Eh, repeating stats on clicks 1 and 2 make up for that.

Thanks for the great article. I keep putting together Thunderbolt teams(mostly unrestricted) with the Norman Osborn LE. Haven't had a chance to use the new Venom but he looks nasty. Also thanks for trashing Songbird, now I will NEVER get rid of the three dupes I have