Comic Book Battles - Episode 10: Avengers Vs. X-Men #4 pt. 3

Welcome back to Comic Book Battles!  Man, it has been...well, almost a year, but I'm back!  We're going to pick up right where we left off, in the middle of the biggest hero battle since Civil War!  This week, we have an AvX skirmish taking place in the middle of Dr. Doom's nation of Latveria!

The Comic Book

"Avengers Vs. X-Men (Part Four)"
Writers Jonathan Hickman
Pencilers John Romita Jr.
Inkers Scott Hanna
Colourists Laura Martin
Letterers Chris Eliopoulos
Editors John Denning, Lauren Sankovitch, Nick Lowe, Tom Brevoort

Here, again, we're seeing a skirmish in progress through the telepathic visions of Emma Frost, who is scanning the globe for Hope. 

The Battle

For this battle, I'm using the Latveria map from the AvX event.  It doesn't necessarily represent the battlefield depicted above, but it's interesting nonetheless.  As you can see below, it has our teams facing off from corner-to-corner.  In between are a couple buildings and a giant fountain statue of Dr. Doom himself!

Here are our teams:

X-Men

avx012 V Colossus

Team: X-Men
Range: 0
Points: 175
Keywords: Armor, Mystical, X-Men

(Improved) Mantle of the Juggernaut: Improved Movement: Ignores Hindering Terrain, Ignores Blocking Terrain and destroys Blocking Terrain as the character moves through it.

(Speed) I Believe In The X-Men: Colossus can use Charge and Plasticity. If he has two action tokens, adjacent friendly characters that can use the X-Men team ability can use that team ability as a free action.

(Defense) Steel-Skinned X-Man: Colossus can use Defend and Impervious.

wxm008 E Dazzler
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 6
Points: 75
Keywords: Celebrity, Excalibur, Mojoverse, X-Men

(Speed) Charge of the Light Brigade: When Dazzler has no action tokens, she can use Running Shot. When Dazzler has one or more action tokens, you may give her a free action and characters within 4 squares can't use Stealth until your next turn.

dp027 V Domino
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 6 :bolt:
Points: 89
Keywords: Six Pack, X-Corps, X-Force

(Speed) Infiltration Assassination: Domino can use Running Shot and Stealth. Give Domino a free action when she has no action tokens, and until your next turn decrease her speed value by any amount and increase her range by the same amount. 

  

And that comes out to 339 points.  Unfortunately, no theme team bonus since Domino isn't a member of the X-Men.  Colossus is the only one with a team affiliation as well, and it's X-Men, which requires another character with the X-Men team affiliation to be useful.  That said, Colossus is a monster, and Dazzler and Domino can provide decent ranged support.

Avengers

ffcw005 E Mockingbird
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 2
Points: 50

(Special) October 12th: When a friendly character named Hawkeye is adjacent to Mockingbird, they both modify their attack values by +1 if not already modified by this effect.

avx004e E Spider-Man
Team: Avengers|Spider-Man
Range: 5
Points: 100
Keywords: Avengers, Scientist, Spider-Man Family

(Special) Whatever a Spider Can: When Spider-Man is the target of a ranged combat attack, he can use Super Senses, but evades the attack on a result of 4 - 6.

dp015 V Daredevil
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 4
Points: 108
Keywords: Avengers, Martial Artist, Marvel Knights, The Hand

(Improved) Rooftop Acrobat: Improved Movement: Ignores Elevated Terrain, Ignores Hindering Terrain, Ignores Characters; Improved Targeting: Ignores Hindering Terrain

(Special) Ally of Heroes: At the beginning of the game, choose Enhancement or Empower. Daredevil can use that power this game. A Heroes for Hire themed team may include Daredevil and is still a theme team.

(Special) Radar Senses: Daredevil can use Super Senses.

cw037 V Spider-Woman
Team: Avengers
Range: 5
Points: 82
Keywords: Avengers, Detective, Hydra, Lady Liberators, S.H.I.E.L.D., Spy, S.W.O.R.D.

(Damage) Pheromones: Give Spider-Woman a free action. She may modify the attack value of an adjacent friendly character by +1 and she may modify the defense value of an adjacent opposing character by -1 until your next turn.

That comes out to 340 points.  This team features my favorite incarnation of Spider-Man that I've played in Heroclix, so I have high hopes.  Daredevil is pretty mean as well, and Mockingbird and Spider-Woman are great harassment characters that opposing teams can't afford to ignore, despite their cheap costs.  All of that, combined with four Avengers Theme Team Probability Control uses and Avengers team affiliations, means the X-Men have an uphill battle ahead of them in this one.

Before the game starts, Daredevil chooses Empower for his "Ally of Heroes" special ability, in case I need him to support Spidey or Mockingbird in melee.  

Avengers win the roll-off for first turn

Spider-Man moves to I19

Daredevil moves to I20

Spider-Woman moves to F14, making herself a tempting target that far out

Mockingbird moves behind cover at C14 to support her in case things get rough

Colossus wastes no time, picking up a super-heavy object and smashing through the buildings in his path, moving adjacent to Spider-Woman at F13

Domino moves to K9 in cover

Dazzler moves to O1, hanging back until a decent target presents itself

Daredevil moves to M14, since he has indomitable

Spider-Woman uses her Pheromones on Colossus to reduce his defense and increase her own attack by 1

Everyone else clears

Colossus uses that super-heavy object to great effect on Spider-Woman, hitting on a 17 for 7(!) damage.  Ouch!  Even with Spider-Woman's toughness reducing it to 6, that one hurt.  

Dazzler and Domino clear

Mockingbird moves to E14 to support her teammate against Colossus

Spider-Woman uses her pheromones again on Colossus

Spider-Woman uses Close Combat Expert to attack Colossus and give herself +1 attack and +1 damage.  She hits on a 17, but Colossus rolls a 6 on his Impervious roll, reducing the damage to 0.  Tough break!

Spider-Man uses Perplex to increase his own attack by 1 and Charges to G14, missing Colossus with a roll of 15.  So close!

Daredevil clears 

Domino uses Running Shot to move to K14 and attack Daredevil, hitting on an 18.  Daredevil rolls his Super Senses and gets a 6, evading the attack!
Dazzler moves to K9
Colossus clears

Spider-Woman uses Pheromones on Colossus, and gives the +1 attack to Mockingbird
Spider-Man perplexes Mockingbird's attack by +1 as well
Mockingbird uses Exploit Weakness on Colossus, hitting on a 17 for 2 damage.  It can't be reduced, so no impervious roll for big C.
Daredevil charges to L14, hitting Domino on a 19 with a Precise Strike, which Domino attempts to use Probability Control on, forcing a reroll.  The reroll is a 22!  3 damage is done to Domino.
The two Spider-peeps clear their action tokens

Colossus attacks Spider-Woman, but misses on a 16 thanks to her Combat Reflexes.
Domino and Dazzler clear

Spider-Woman keeps using those Pheromones on Colossus, giving Spider-Man the +1 attack.
Spider-Man uses Perplex to give himself another +1 attack
Spider-Man uses Precise Strike on Colossus, hitting on a 16.  Colossus has impervious, but Spidey still deals him one damage thanks to the Precise Strike
Spider-Woman uses Close Combat Expert to give herself +1 attack and +1 damage, but misses on a 14
Daredevil uses Precise Strike and hits Domino with a 21, dealing 3 damage, enough to KO her

Dazzler uses Precise Strike on Daredevil, hitting on a 19.  Daredevil misses his Super Senses roll, so he takes 2 damage thanks to his Toughness
Colossus hits Spider-Woman on an 18 for 3 damage, KOing her

Spider-Man uses Perplex to increase Mockingbird's damage by +1
Mockingbird uses Exploit Weakness, but misses Colossus with an 11
Daredevil and Spider-Man clear

Colossus and Dazzler clear

Spider-Man Perplexes Colossus' defense by -1
Spider-Man uses Precise Strike, hitting Colossus on a 16.  Colossus still has Impervious, though, and takes only 2 damage
Mockingbird uses Exploit Weakness, but misses Colossus with a 14
Daredevil moves to K9

Colossus attacks Spider-Man, but misses on a roll of 13
Dazzler uses Precise Strike on Daredevil, but misses on a 13 as well

All the Avengers clear

Colossus attacks Spider-Man, but misses on a 14
Dazzler clears

Spider-Man uses Perplex once again on Colossus, reducing his defense by 1
Spider-Man uses Precise Strike, hitting on a 19 for 1 damage thanks to Colossus' Impervious
Mockingbird attacks using Exploit Weakness, hitting on a 15 for 2 damage, KOing Colossus
Daredevil uses Flurry on Dazzler, hitting on an 18 with doubles, dealing 2 damage and knocking Dazzler back into a wall for another 1 damage.

Dazzler uses Penetrating Blast on Daredevil, critically missing, dealing 1 damage to herself.  She wants to end this as much as I do, I think.

Mockingbird moves to I8
Spider-Man and Daredevil clear

Dazzler uses Precise Strike on Mockingbird, but misses on a 16

Spider-Man charges to J9, hitting on a 21 for 3 damage, KOing Dazzler.

Winner: Avengers

This fight was very one-sided.  It quickly became clear that while Colossus is really great, his teammates were not.  If I were to play this again, I might group my X-Men together so Dazzler and Domino could take advantage of Colossus' Defend ability.  Alas, I still think it would be tough for the X-Men to claim victory.  

I hope that you enjoyed this return to CBB.  Next time, we have another AvX skirmish in the Wundagore Mountains!

Comic Book Battles - Episode 9: Avengers Vs. X-Men #4 pt. 2

Hello again!  This week, we take a brief tour of Tabula Rasa with a few of our friends from the X-Men and Avengers.  As you may recall in last week's episode, Captain America gave everyone assigned locations to have really cool battl...err...to find Hope.  He then took Wolverine with him to the Savage Land and kicked everyone's Canadian little person into the middle of the antarctic.  But we'll talk more about that later.  For now, let's enjoy some mindless violence!

The Comic Book

"Avengers Vs. X-Men (Part Four)"

Writers Jonathan Hickman

Pencilers John Romita Jr.

Inkers Scott Hanna

Colourists Laura Martin

Letterers Chris Eliopoulos

Editors John Denning, Lauren Sankovitch, Nick Lowe, Tom Brevoort

This episode is going to be short and sweet.  There's not really much exposition or story to cover.  It's all action this week!  We'll get back to the Hope saga soon enough.  For now, let's just enjoy watching Benjamin Grimm punch Namor in the face.  Really hard.

Also, I've got some gaps in my X-History, but I would love for someone to explain to me what Hepzibah's doing hanging out with the X-Men.  Last I saw her, she was a Starjammer making outer space whoopie with Cyclop's space-pirate dad.  I have a knowledge gap from about '95-'12, so...yeah.  Space-cat!

On a side note, for those of you who aren't familiar with Tabula Rasa, it was introduced during Rick Remender's run on Uncanny X-Force, in Uncanny X-Force #15.  In Beaver Lake, Montana, the mutant named Genocide basically blew the whole town up.  Dark Beast (Beast from the Age of Apocalypse dimension) used one of the Celestials' Life Seeds, which created a domed structure with a ten-mile radius.  The dome collapsed the next day, but inside of it, 130 million years had passed.  It's an unforgiving and deadly alien environment in the middle of Montana, basically.  That run of X-Force was great, by the way.  You should read it.

The Battle

The map for this battle is Krakoa again.  Yes, I realize that makes two weeks of Krakoa in a row.  Sue me.  It was the only map I had that contained both jungle terrain, and a way for the map itself to beat the crap out of both teams.  In case you missed last week, it's a giant jungle with a face.

Now let's take a look at our X-Men:

X-Men

avx011 V Namor

Team: X-Men

Range: 0 :bolt:

Points: 225

Keywords: Atlantis, Defenders, Illuminati, Ruler, X-Men

(Improved) Boiling Rage: Improved Movement: Ignores Characters

(Special) Imperius Rex!: When Namor is hit with an attack or given a second action token, put a Rage token on his card. Before Namor rolls for an attack, you may remove a Rage token from his card so that the attack deals penetrating damage.

(Defense) Entrenched Recovery: Namor can use Toughness. When Namor occupies water terrain, he can use Regeneration and, when it's not your turn, opposing characters can't draw a line of fire to him.

cm018 V Hepzibah

Team: No Affiliation

Range: 6 :bolt:

Points: 27

Keywords: Martial Artist, Starjammers, X-Men

wxm018 V Sunspot

Team: No Affiliation

Range: 0 :bolt:

Points: 76

Keywords: Fallen Angels, Hellfire Club, New Mutants, X-Corps, X-Force, X-Men

(Damage) Secondary Mutation: Sunspot has "Wing Symbol" and a range value of 6.

Boy oh boy, that Hepzibah is garbage, huh?  We really need modern remakes of about half of the Starjammers, to be honest.  I'm shocked that they weren't in the Guardians of the Galaxy set that was just released.  Hopefully, Namor and Sunspot can pick up the slack.  The total point value comes out at 328.

Avengers

ca014 V Luke Cage
Team: Avengers
Range: 0 :bolt:
Points: 98
Keywords: Avengers, Heroes for Hire, Marvel Knights, Thunderbolts

(Defense) Bulletproof Skin: Luke Cage can use Willpower and Toughness. When a character attacks Luke Cage with a ranged combat attack, he can use Invulnerability instead of Toughness.

m10a003 E Thing
Team: Fantastic Four
Range: 0 :bolt:
Points: 128
Keywords: Avengers, Brute, Celebrity, Fantastic Four, Soldier

(Damage) Lemme Grab Somethin': Thing can use Super Strength.  Give Thing a move action when he has no action tokens and is not holding an object; after actions resolve, give him a standard light object from outside the game.

ih007 V She-Hulk

Team: No Affiliation

Range: 0 :bolt:

Points: 105

Keywords: Avengers, Fantastic Four, Heroes for Hire, Lady Liberators, S.H.I.E.L.D.

(Special) Breaking The Fourth Wall: When She-Hulk makes an attack, after actions resolve you may destroy one square of blocking terrain or one wall that is adjacent to a targeted character.

And that also comes out to 328 points.  Hooray for point symmetry!  Luke Cage is one of my favorite characters in comics and I love this clix of him as well.  We saw Thing tear it up in AvX #1, so we know he can dish out the pain.  I've never used She-Hulk before.  All in all, I would say the X-Men have their work cut out for them.

The X-Men win the roll-off for first turn.
Namor moves to C15 and picks up a Super Heavy object
Sunspot moves to J16 and picks up a Super Heavy as well
Hepzibah moves out to I14
The Island doesn't do anything

Thing moves to H8 and grabs a heavy object
Luke Cage moves to L8
She-Hulk moves to L9
The Island does nothing

Sunspot moves to K9
Namor moves to I9
Hepzibah clears

Luke rolls a 1 for his leadership
Everyone clears
The plants come alive on the island, but no one is in hindering terrain.

Hepzibah moves to J8
Everyone else clears

Luke punches Sunspot and hits on a 17 for 4 damage, reduced to 3 by Sunspot's toughness

She-Hulk hits Sunspot on an 18 and deals 4 damage, KOing him.  Ouch.  I was way too aggressive with my X-Men here.  

Thing punches Namor and hits on a 18 for 5 damage.  Namor rolls for his impervious and fails, taking 3 damage.

The Island comes alive and shoots at Namor, missing on a 14

Namor punches Thing with Imperious Rex!  Thing fails his Shape Change roll, and Namor hits him on a 16 for 5 damage. 

Hepzibah shoots with Ranged Combat Expert pumping her damage by +2, but misses Luke Cage with a 15

The Island comes alive and shoots at Thing, but misses on a 15

She-Hulk charges Hepzibah, moving to K8.  She hits on a 17, but Hepzibah makes her Super Senses roll on a 5, so she takes 0 damage and She-Hulk takes 1 push damage.  She now has Outwit, so Namor can kiss that Impervious goodbye

Luke Cage charges to K9 and hits Hepzibah on an 18.  She makes her Super Senses roll again, because I'm the best ever at Super Senses.  Again, 0 damage to Hepzibah and one damage to Luke for the push.

Thing punches Namor and hits on a 16, dealing 3 damage since Namor's impervious is gone thanks to She-Hulk   

The Island does nothing

Namor tries to flurry Thing, using Imperious Rex! for the first attack, which misses on a 14.  He then misses the second attack on a 13

Hepzibah clears

The Island does nothing

All our Avengers clear
The Island does nothing

Hepzibah uses Ranged Combat Expert to target Thing with +2 damage, but misses on a 15
Namor clears
The Island does nothing

Luke hits Hepzibah on a 14.  Yes, a 14.  She fails super senses and takes 3 damage
She-Hulk hits on an 18, dealing another 3 damage which KOs poor Hepzibah.  Better luck next time, space-cat.
Thing finishes things up by hitting Namor for 3 more damage, KOing the fish-man.

Boy, space-cat, fish-man and sun-spot all had it pretty rough, huh?

Winner: Avengers

This one went way faster than I would have expected.  I honestly think the X-Men never stood a chance.  All the heavy lifting would have had to come from Namor, and if rolls didn't go his way (which they didn't), he wasn't long for this world.  Meanwhile, the Avengers had 3 big bruisers, all of them credible melee threats in their own right.

Next week, we have another round of senseless violence!  Stay tuned!