Agreed. In most cases, take out a fig if possible. You're taking capability away from your opponent, scoring points, and he'll find it more necessary to push his figs to use up his actions.

I've taken quite a few very nasty (and telling) hits from weakened, mostly-KO'ed figs. With my luck, NEVER rely on the odds.

Erilar

Thought I'd through in my 2 cents..

- Practice what you want to be good at. If the next tourney format is a 200 point marvel only, then build several teams for that format and play as many games as possible, taking notes of good and bad outcomes.

- Play as many different people as possible.

While we're chipping in pennies, let me get rid of my change jar.

First, I suggest attempting to take out your opponents medics fairly early on. I'll even dedicate a character or two at the beginning of the game to just hunting down and destroying their healing. This will cause your opponent to play more cautiously and really think about whether or not they wanna push that FL.

Second, make sure you know the stats for all you pieces on all their clicks. That way you know when you can push and when you should run for your own healers.

Third, try to set it up so that you can use every piece on your first turn. Through leadership, free move team abilities, and mirror team abilities this isn't too hard. This will allow you to keep your entire army together and fighting to your strategy.

Fourth, keep your pieces closer together. Don't move your pieces around the board like wandering drunks. They become very easy to pick off independently. It is much more effective to attack from one or two united fronts then to try and surround your opponent leaving you weak on all sides.

Fifth, don't be afraid to trade off pieces with your opponent. Just make sure that your trading a lesser piece for a greater piece.


I'm sure I have more to say about this, but I just read the probability thread and now .... my ..... bra....in ..... FSSZZZTTT!!!

Ok well I have a bit of unconventional advice. Three weeks ago I decided to play in my first tourney. So to prepare I made a pretty novice like post on the boards and carefully read the responses. I also scoured the entire site for anything that talked about the type of tourney that I was going to be in. I have followed that strategy for 6 tournaments now and have 4 1sts and 2 2nds. I really think the best tip that I could give anyone is read the forums. If you are going to play in a 300pt dc then read every article you can find about 300 pt dc teams. Try to find out what kind of teams you are going to be facing, find out what people say are those teams weaknesses, find out what figures are the ones you can really build a team around at that point level. Chances are there are two or three figures that everyone will say to include on a certain type of team. ex V nightwing is almost always good for a 300pt dc team. Does this mean you have to use these figures. Not at all but learn about them so you know what to expect. The best forums to read are the ones where people try to decide what team could take out this or that team and you can really learn a lot of stratgey this way. Being a teacher I will be the first to say studying in heroclix is as important as studying anything else and it will really help you to do well.

It really helps if you know who you are playing with, and how they play. This is good for casual games and tournament play, as well. Do they have a favorite figure (or better yet, one they only use a certain way)? Take it out first and rattle your opponent. Do they have a weakness for a certain power? Find its counter and exploit it. Do they not like to be rushed? Gently remind them of the time.

I'm not saying you have to be a jerk, but the better you know a person, or at least their playing style, the more likely you are to be able to counter and defeat them. You might need to know the playing styles of several of your friends, but it will also mean that you use four different ways to defeat them. This will make you look like Genghis Kahn to the rest of them!

I think one of the best peices of advice I've seen here was something along the lines of: go to a tournament and copy the champion's team. Mimic the winning team and learn why it is so effective.

That has been invaluable to me in DC, and has allowed me to put together a very solid team.

As to my advice, keep a close eye on movement and character positions. When I put together a team, I try have characters with the highest average movement possible. On top of that, when you move to shoot or attack, keep an eye on your characters position and consider who you are going to be attacking next. Free moves are good, but a chracter with a 10 movement can cross the board in two turns, tying up your opponents resources. Characters with a 10 move can cover the greatest area, and be anywhere you need them at a moments notice.
This also gets into the value of taxis. A character with a high move is primarily good for backup and getting to where you need him, but he won't be much good for fighting. He has to move, then attack, but if you've got a long range flyer and a big bruiser, you can often take out very expensive figs for a fraction of the big figs point cost.

Do NOT underestimate the value of Telekenisis or Force Blast. I've recently found Force Blast to be particularly invaluable in dealing with invoulnerable bruisers. The prime advantage of Force Blast is it's automatic. You declare your blast, and *poink* knock someone off the top of a building, or toss them into the side of a building. Thus, someone who normally has no chance of touching Doomsday, like Blue Beetle, could be taxied into base to base and automatically deal two damage, but only if you are very careful about positioning. This tactic is especially effective at seperating the brawlers from their taxis. Suddenly the brawler is left all alone on the killing feild while his taxi has to spend a turn moving back up to base. It's wasted actions that give you a marked advantage.

TK may not cripple your opponents team, but used properly, it can leave him exposed. Like force blast, TK can be used to seperate a big brawler from his lower defense taxi. You know those huge figures like Juggernaut that you don't have a chance to deal damage to? Suddenly they aren't so effective when you TK them 10 squares away to some back corner of the map.

Also, when selecting characters, it's always good to look for versatility. Pyro is a decent range combat attacker that moves for free in his veteran versions, but he also has barrier, so he can aid other characters. He costs you nothing to position, and has two uses. Any character with TK has the versatility of knocking your opponents figures out of alignment, moving your characters around (allowing them to move and attack as if taxied), or manipulating heavy objects; throwing them into people, or repositioning them (so your super strength character with a high attack can grab it, drop it under someone to up their defense by 1 against ranged attacks, or drop it under a stealthed character so no one can shoot them). Characters with free abilities like Perplex have the bonus of not only being able to move or attack, but they can later change the numbers of other characters (which is why I like to attack with perplexers last, that way if they have no good target they can use it on themselves). Also keep in mind that perplexing your enemies bruiser's attack value down is going to make things that much harder for him next round.

I'm not sure how valuable my advice is, for I refuse to learn from, my mistakes or from other players
First of all, don't rush into battle. It takes up your actions, and leaves you vulnerable to your opponent's attack. Instead, fiddle around a little bit, and let the other guy come to you. We call it turtling amongst my friends and I, but it is effective. If you hear a strange note in my words, it's because I don't follow these words. I rush headlong inot battle whooping and screaming all the way, cuz that's the way they do it in the comix

Usually, I size up my opponent's team and decide whether I'm gonna go for their big hitters (in most cases) or if they have really annoying support pieces (probability control and outwit being the most annoying) taking out the little folks first.

Oh, and one last thing, to comment on Pandaro's advice, Perplaex only lasts for YOUR turn, so there's no point in perplexing the other person's attack down, since it doesn't work that way. Sorry

I would also add that you should scrutinize any piece you are thinking of using that is over 100 points. Now there are certainly figures over 100 points worth using, but all too often I see someone throwing in a high cost fig, to fulfill a strategy that could easily be filled by one or two lower point guys.

This really ties in with the idea of picking figs that deal maximum damage for minimum price...


You also need to weigh out strategies with each "type" of figure. For example, for a taxi, you need to decide what is more important, a movement range of 10 with a defense of 15, or a movement range of 8 with a defense of 18.

I've only been to two tournaments so far, so my advice isn't as "tourney tested" as others may be. However...

One thing a friend of mine does really well is to keep an eye on your opponent's action tokens. Sometimes you can get away with a risky move knowing that your opponent will have to push to retaliate, and some people hate to push. Also - I won't say NEVER, but if your target is pushed, don't push to attack it! Unless there's some avenue of escape for the opponent's pushed figure, he isn't going anywhere. Let your stones clear, and keep your figs on a better click.

One thing I learned the hard way - pay attention to the tempo of the match. I played a 300 point mixed against a Nightcrawler/Perplex team, and took out the Fuzzy Elf on my Second turn. Instead of realizing that I was ahead, and the pressure was now on my opponent to retaliate, I pressed the attack. I figured that without his main attacker, it would be an easy mop-up job. I ended up losing - badly. You find yourself up on points, let the opponent take the risks.

Team abilities are paramount. When in doubt over this taxi or that taxi, take a Doombot. The Vet. has leadership, which can help the rest of your force's actions.

You may be thinking of going to a tourney and playing some figs that you like, and that aren't necessarily "game breakers". Unless you are just in it for the fun, don't. Losing repeatedly gets old fast, and you may find that your "favorite" figures stink in a tournament setting. Make a competitive team. Abuse Wildcards as much as possible.

Oh, and have fun!

One more thing to add..
Know which characters are pushable.
Their extra click of damage takes effect after their action.
Taking that extra attack or movement can save the day!

having more than 1 level (r, e, v) of a fig you like to use is good. you might find a lower or more expensive version gives you added ability and also gives you flexibility in team building and point crunching. (that is, if you're like me and dont try to collect every click from every set, and collect more to fuel battle opportunities)

Just a couple of basics that would have helped me if I had followed them in earlier tournaments.

COUNT THREE TIMES BEFORE YOU MOVE! Count where you want to go. Count the range to your opponent. Count where your opponent can move and determine what the new range would be. If I had done this I would have saved myself lots of pain.

The smaller the point value of a game the more valuable Leadership becomes. And the more valuable free movement is to the team build.

KNOW THE RULES OF THE TOURNAMENT YOU ARE PLAYING IN! I recently missed the finals, (and my opponent made them), of a tournament because my last opponent ran away from me late in the game before I could finnish off a kill. He had no medic so I wasn't worried and rested instead of pushing to pursue. Instead of playing another 5 turns at the end of 10, as I expected, the game was determined a draw! The point he gained got him into the finals and the 2 points I did not get for a win kept me out. Learn from my pain! KNOW THE RULES OF THE TOURNAMENT YOU ARE PLAYING! ASSUME NOTHING!

Dirty tricks that can help.

Force blast can force stealthed characters out of hiding for other characters to pound on.

Mind Control is evil if your opponent has it. Consider MC pieces every turn before you take an action. Conversly MC on your team is very valuable. (You can MC a character with MC and then MC another character. Extreemly annoying if it happens to you!)

A character behind a stealth character in hindering terain is hidden from line of sight.

Hope my pain will help someone.

Rooftops provide great advantage.

There are three things that determine the winner of a match - The team and how well you know to use it in any given situation, How well you know your opponent and his pieces, and more importantly his mindset, And of course as any great player who just lost a tournie will tell you, "It was the #### dice."

The only one I am going to talk about here is the team. First, HAVE A GOAL IN MIND BEFORE YOU BUILD A TEAM. Too often are teams put together willy nilly like, "oh hey he does damage. cool" Know the dials. Figure how you're going to play once you get hit for a few clicks. Damage reduction is good. Willpower and leap climb/phasing is better. Another point of advice, COMBOS. Not just one combo, you want your team to be a combo. You want it to work well enough together to dominate, do tons of damage or render your opponent helpless. That means the game is not dependent on a single character. Each character needs to complent every other single one on the map so that when one dies, the rest of the team functions. There are two ways to build a team. One, with a combo in mind. Two, make the whole #### team a single giant combo. Guess which wins, the one trick poney? nope.

To reenforce this point. 7 out of 10 matches are over before they begin. You need to build a cohesive force to compete.

The other 3 out of 10 are just luck, good or bad. Part of this game is accepting that no matter how good your team or strategy, sometimes it's just not your day. If you want to remove luck from your gaming play chess.