Sometimes the basics aren’t enough. Sometimes you need a little something extra when it comes to your choice of team ability. And when that happens, you need an Alternate Team Ability. But which one suits your play style, and why should you even play it? Hopefully I can help you with that.

This time on Alternate Team Spirit: Alpha Flight!

Greetings, my fellow Clixers, and welcome to another episode of Alternate Team Spirit! Last time we covered an ATA that costs 1 point. Today, we look at an ATA that used to cost 0 points. That’s right, it’s time for Alpha Flight!


From the land of beavers, hockey, and several very tasty varieties of beer comes probably the most famous team of Earthly Marvel characters not based out of the United States. This ATA grants you the ability to pick an enemy character or team ability, and then make your guys more likely to hit them. The +1 to your attack can make or break some games (especially mine, for some reason) when it means the difference between a KO and having your opponent’s biggest guy come tearing through your team. The team ability thing is there for if your opponent is playing a team full of not-quite-worthy targets that mostly or fully have a common team ability; the Wrecking Crew is a good example of a team like this.

Unfortunately, in the case of our example with the Wrecking Crew, Alpha Flight is kind of a “weenie” team, to use the Magic: the Gathering term. A good chunk of them can’t crack Invulnerability, and there’re a similarly high number of them that have a low attack. Playing them at 500 points has never worked out for me, but I wasn’t exactly the best player at the time I was building all my Alpha Flight teams; if you have any success stories involving higher-point Alpha Flight teams, please share them with the rest of us. At least at the 300 point level you might be able to use the ATA to cover their whole army with one name. It won’t do you one damn bit of good when you can’t damage them, but it should provide you with the moral victory of hitting your opponent enough times to have KOed them, if that’s your thing.

In Action
Since we’ve only got “classic” Alpha Flight members to work with right now, we have to go old-school with this team, both in terms of who’s on it and most of the dials’ age. This time I’m going to stick with the 300 point limit, and present a few teams for you guys to look over. Nowhere to start but the first one, right?

aw041 E Aurora
Team: Avengers
Range: 8
Points: 60
Keywords: Alpha Flight, Mutant

12 9 16 2

11 9 16 2

10 8 15 2

10 8 15 2

10 7 14 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

I like Aurora more than Northstar for a few reasons. First of all, she has a ranged attack, which Northstar does not. This can mean a huge difference between losing the figure early or keeping points out of the hands of your opponent, especially since Aurora can strike from 14 squares away; since there’s no Telekinesis among the Alpha Flight characters, this is a HUGE deal. Aside from the range, and the Running Shot on the first click, she’s identical to her brother in almost every way; surprisingly, she costs less points than her brother of the same experience level, which is weird. Armor Piercing is your best bet for Aurora here, since you’re going to need it to crack heavy damage reducers. If you have it and can swap points around, the LE version of her is also very nice.

aw050 E Shaman
Team: Avengers
Range: 6
Points: 66
Keywords: Alpha Flight, Mystical

6 9 15 2

6 8 15 2

6 8 14 2

5 7 14 1

5 7 13 1

4 6 13 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

Alpha Flight’s mystic is a regular Doctor Strange of support powers. Perplex and Outwit are always useful and, if it wouldn’t put me over the 10% feat cap, would buy my man Brilliant Tactician to help boost all of his teammates at once. You’re probably going to use Barrier more than Psychic Blast or Incapacitate, but it’s always nice to have that option. The real winner here is Support; it’s better on him for three clicks than on the E Sasquatch for one click, and costs a lot less. The low speed and range are strikes against him, but he’s very useful for his points.

mm212 LE Walter Langkowski
Team: Avengers
Range: 0
Points: 93
Archenemy: Sasquatch (Green)
Keywords: Alpha Flight, Scientist

6 8 14 1

10 10 17 3

9 9 16 3

8 9 15 3

8 8 16 2

7 8 15 2

7 8 14 2

7 7 14 2

6 7 13 2

6 7 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Every team needs a brick, and Walter here qualifies as such. Once you get past that first click, you find a monster just waiting to tear into your opponent’s figures. His second click can be downright mean, and you really want him to not get damaged off of it if you can help it, as being able to deal 5 damage in close combat with a 10 attack is really going to be the saving grace of this team. Lunge just makes him downright evil, and should be an auto-include whenever you use him. Normally I’m not a huge fan of putting LEs, chase figures, or conventions exclusives in team write-ups, but this time it’s definitely the best option.

mm020 E Wildheart
Team: Avengers
Range: 0
Points: 50
Keywords: Alpha Flight, Brute, Martial Artist

8 8 16 3

8 9 16 2

8 10 15 2

7 9 14 2

7 8 14 2

6 7 13 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

With only one incarnation with the keyword, the E Wildheart proves to be a beast for his points. His sweet spot is his second and third clicks, where he has his highest attack values and Charge. This also eliminates his problematic “3 damage and Blades/Claws/Fangs” first click, though the Stealth is quite handy for keeping people from shooting your Walter Langkowski while he’s on his way in; using Wildheart as mobile blocking terrain makes for a much more survivable approach with the lack of Telekinesis. While his defense is a little low by today’s standards, Wildheart sports an 18 against close combat attacks for his first two clicks. And if that wasn’t good enough, he has Regeneration positioned to put him back up to the top of his dial, if you get lucky with your rolls. Definitely a good deal for the points, and he should be very effective in low-point games.

So, using the feats suggested in the characters’ write-ups above, we come up with the following build:

E Aurora – 60 points
-Alpha Flight – 4 points
-Armor Piercing – 10 points
E Shaman – 66 points
-Alpha Flight – 4 points
LE Walter Langkowski – 93 points
-Alpha Flight – 4 points
-Lunge – 5 points
E Wildheart – 50 points
-Alpha Flight – 4 points

300 points on the dot, and not a bad lineup, if I do say so myself. You definitely want Darkness in your battlefield condition slot, or Armor Wars if you’re feeling a little frisky; that bonus to damage when damage is reduced can really help this team out, and would help you free up points to change Aurora to her LE for a more aggressive team. Speaking of aggressive, how about building a higher damage team? It starts like this:

mu008 E Box
Team: Avengers
Range: 6
Points: 125
Keywords: Alpha Flight, Armor, Robot

10 9 18 3

8 9 17 3

8 9 16 3

8 8 17 3

7 8 16 2

7 8 16 2

6 7 15 2

6 7 14 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Defense) Assimilation: Box can use Toughness. Once per round, when Box is adjacent to an object, as a free action you can remove the object from the game and heal Box of 2 damage.

(Damage) Mass Absorption: When Box occupies hindering terrain, he has the {giant} damage symbol.

With the built-in ability to heal himself, the ability to carry other members of the team, and the only ranged attack on the team, Box definitely helps out in more ways than one. Being able to remove special objects from the game is good enough, but Box takes it one step further by healing himself whenever he does it. And unlike Nanobots, he doesn’t have to be the only one adjacent to the object to eat it! Being able to gain the giant symbol grants him an extended range of close combat attacks, and most of the clicks with this ability coincide with Super Strength and a natural 3 damage, just in case you needed another reason to make a close combat attack with him. The only gripe I have with him is that his attack is a little low for a character of his point value, but the Large Object feat can help him out with any nagging attack problems, as can the ATA itself.

mm027 V Puck
Team: Avengers
Range: 0
Points: 57
Keywords: Alpha Flight, Martial Artist

8 11 16 2

8 10 16 2

8 10 15 2

7 9 15 2

7 9 14 2

6 8 14 2

6 7 13 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

While he doesn’t have the most awe-inspiring damage track, Puck has an incredible attack track for his points. An 11 attack is nothing to sneeze at, and Puck can grab an object to make his attacks stick; it’s unfortunate that he can’t heft an ultra-heavy object, since that would make him nigh unto a god for his points. He doesn’t even really need the ATA until the back half of his dial, at which point you’re looking more to inconvenience people with his Incapacitate rather than just outright brain them with something. He also has a consistent damage track of 2 for his entire dial; it might not be the most frightening, but it’s nice to know you can always rely on him for that.

ca059 U Weapon X
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 72
Keywords: Alpha Flight, Animal, Weapon X

4 . . .

. 3 . .

. . 2 .

. . . 1

10 12 17 3

9 11 17 3

8 11 16 2

8 10 16 2

8 9 16 3

7 9 15 2

7 10 15 1

KO KO KO KO

(Special) Breaking out of the Tank: Tank is Attached, Weapon X can't be moved, placed, targeted, assigned an action, or damaged and at the begining of your turn, turn this dial once to the right. As long as the Fluid Tank is attached, any opposing character occupuing an adjacent square may be given a power action to turn the dial once to the left. When Click #5 is revealed, remove the Fluid Tank. At the beginning of your turn, if you control no other friendly characters, click Weapon X to click #5 and remove the Fluid Tank.

While I said I don’t like using hard-to-acquire figures in these write-ups, I just can’t resist with these guys, since Alpha Flight’s LEs and one chase figure are just sooo good. Weapon X here is an absolute house in close combat once he exits his tank, and there’s just not a lot I can say bad about him. Yes, he has a few clicks with the dreaded 3 damage paired with Blades/Claws/Fangs, but his Flurry Clicks are just begging to use Blades with them. He also has one of the most pushable dials I’ve ever seen, and there’s just no arguing with total immunity to Mind Control. Vampirism is just evil with this guy, since it makes him just that much harder to take down. You should get quite some mileage out of this figure.

So as it stands, we have a team that can really clean up in close combat. With the feats we had in the individual write-ups, we come again to the point of having not enough points for probably the best add-on to the team: Rip It Up. As it stands, I think we’ll put Maneuver on Weapon X for now, though if you want to experiment with Rip It Up you can easily tinker around with the feats. So what the team comes out as is:

Box – 125 points
-Alpha Flight – 4 points
-Large Object – 9 points
Puck – 57 points
-Alpha Flight – 4 points
Weapon X – 72 points
-Alpha Flight – 4 points
-Maneuver – 8 points
-Vampirism – 12 points

This build total is 295 points, leaving us 5 points to mess around with special objects. In terms of battlefield conditions, Darkness and Deep Shadows seem like the obvious choices. If you want to try something completely different, add Debris to the list; it gives you more objects for Box and Puck to play with without having to alter the existing feat lineup.

Final Assessment
One of the classic alternate team abilities, Alpha Flight shines in lower-point games, where it’s more likely that your opponent will be using all of the same team ability or just one character. It’s also fun to play with some of our brothers from the Great White North, so go ahead and give it a shot.

That’s all for this one; come back next time when Object of Desire holds out hope for the future, though I think we’ll be meeting again sooner than that. Until then, happy Clixin’!

Awesome write up!! I love the classics!

Damn those need a remake so badly !!
I love them

I can't understand why none of the Alpha Flighters have been remade. They're not A-list, but they're not exactly D-list either, and aside from Weapon X and Box, not a single figure from the carded era. Their old versions are just good enough that you can still field them, but they're still showing their age with all the lackluster end-dials.

I totally agree! Most are not viable in today's game environment. They are best for home games. However, it seems unlikely we will see them as they have no current comic book.

This is why I made 5 pairs of custum Alpha Flight dice. Even though the figures might not be as cool and trendy they still rock hard.

I just want to know... Why is Mac not on either of your builds? He is one of the few AFers who can still hold up in today's game. Both his Vet and LE are just awesome.

500 point Alpha flight team? 4x box. Bump it to 600 and use Rip it up to keep your Boxes hip deep in objects for eating or smashing.

An awesome team? Not really, but fun.

I dig Alpha Flight. But I'm surprised you didn't include Mac or Shaman in any of the builds. They are the first figs I go to when building an AF team. Here's a team that was really fun back in the day:

sv206 James MacDonald Hudson - 99
aw051 V Shaman - 74
aw202 Jeanne-Marie Beaubier - 66
mm026 E Puck - 42
ATA on all - 16
Total: 297

Nowadays I would add Not So Special to Jeanne-Marie to round it out. Lots of mobility, good damage potential. A good, cheap tie-up, and a great swiss army knife that starts with OW.

I always had good luck with Alpha Flight despite their somewhat weak dials. I always used the LE Jeannie Marie instead of E Aurora and used either V Vindicator or U Guardian and used Inspiring Command on them and then ran Jeannie Marie and Northstar back and fourth to them so they could push for free. Also kept LE Walter and Puck close to protect them to keep that leadership. I've done fairly well in the past with them.

That's it. Wizkids is not allowed to do another version of Iron Man, Thor or Captain America until they redo Alpha Flight. You can tell them I said so.

REMAKE ALPHA FLIGHT!!! Especially Vindicator!!

I've been saying this right along. Ever since their first appearance in the classic Byrne Uncanny X-men #108,120-121.Such great characters that need to be remade into Compitetive modern peices. Especially Vindicator- Canadas Champion, Leader of Alpha Flight, Super-genius, High tech alien infused suit. So much you can do with him.

Guardian's power suit allows for:

• increased strength and durability;
• cybernetic link-up and hacking abilities;
• advanced weapons systems, including (but not limited to) electromagnetic pulse projectors, beams of concussive energy from the gauntlets, bolts of plasma, ultrasonic beams, and a graviton beam;
• increased intelligence due to the fusion of his battle suit to his neural network;
• increased speed, reaching Mach 1;
• ability to create and travel through a wormhole.
• the ability to lock himself relative to the Earth's electromagnetic field. Essentially, he cancels out the effects of the Earth's rotation upon himself. This allowed him to apparently "vanish", while actually being whisked westward at the speed of the planet's rotation.
• the creation of a protective force field that dampens inertia and absorbs energy;

So If you agree, tell Wizkids you want New Alpha Flight, support my Thread:
http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=329449

A maple leaf printed team dial symbol would be Awesome. Make us Canadian players happy and get this done please!.

Nice article! I used to always love playing that V Puck with Haymaker. His attack could afford it, and it meant he was doing 5 with a heavy object charging in. Sure, it made him a primary target, but he was so cheap for that damage potential!

My friends and I were just discussing the merit of Alpha Flight yesterday! This is too funny. I myself live and breathe Alpha Flight. Great Article!