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 2: Amazing Spider-Man Vol. 1 #300

Welcome back to another episode of Comic Book Battles!  In this series, I recap comics both new and old and attempt to recreate those battles using Heroclix.

This week's episode is another classic 1v1 match-up from my childhood.  I was already engrossed in all things Spider-Man by the time this issue came out, but I distinctly remember this being the turning point for how I perceived him as a character.  Let's see how it stands up today.

One note before we begin is that this comic isn't available digitally yet, so I had to take pictures of my actual issue.  I'm no photographer, unlike our protagonist here, so bear with me.

The Comic Book

"Venom"
Writers David Michelinie
Pencilers Todd McFarlane
Inkers Bob McLeod
Colourists Bob Sharen
Letterers Rick Parker
Editors Jim Salicrup

This cover is another classic piece of McFarlane art.  His take on Spider-Man was unmistakable, even when drawing the less-detailed black suit.  The way he drew Spider-Man's webs are the way I will always imagine them, because this is what I grew up on.  Before we get into the story, though, I wanted to do a very brief preface on the history of the black suit:

During the 1984 Secret Wars crossover event, Spider-Man's red and blue costume gets pretty much destroyed while on Battleworld.  There's a machine there that can repair clothing, but he accidentally uses the wrong machine and puts on what he thinks is a material that he can will to take whatever shape he wants.  In reality, it's a symbiotic life-form that wants to fuse with Parker and often controls his actions.

He goes to the Fantastic Four and they are able to help him remove the symbiote using sonic weaponry and fire.  The symbiote later escapes and tries to bond itself to Peter again, and Peter uses the sonic vibration of church bells to force it off of him.  The symbiote is pissed.  Free of the symbiote, Peter decides to stick with the black costume look since Black Cat thinks it's sexy.

Years later, as we open in this comic, Mary Jane is terrified when Peter comes home.  It turns out that someone else in a black Spider-Man costume came into their house and terrorized her (spoiler alert: it was Venom).  I'm not exactly sure what Venom did to her, maybe told her she was fat (she's a supermodel at this point in the comics), or maybe that her husband cares what Black Cat thinks of his costume.  Either way, she's pretty distraught.

They decide to sleep in a hotel that night, and Spidey swings over to the Fantastic Four to grab a sonic gun.  He's pretty sure that the black-suited dude has something to do with the symbiote at this point.  As he's returning to the hotel, he feels someone is following him, so he ducks into an alleyway.  We then cut to Venom, who breaks into a church and kills a guard.  Overall, they do a really good job of characterizing him in this book.  For example, they are able to show that he's an obsessive maniac with an addictive personality all in one panel.

Peter and MJ decide to move into a new apartment, and while they're moving Peter sees Venom swing past the building.  He races off to deal with him.  Venom leads him to a church, and they begin fighting.  Spider-Man is beaten down by the musclebound Venom, and things are looking pretty bleak.

At this point, Venom reveals his identity as Eddie Brock.  Brock was a journalist who was writing about a guy named the Sin-Eater (which I'm not going to go into) a while back, and wrote an article after a call claiming to be the Sin-Eater.  Later, Spider-Man revealed the identity of the Sin-Eater, which inadvertently proved that Brock's source was not who he claimed.  Brock was fired, and blamed Spider-Man.  He had gone to a church to attempt to commit suicide, when the symbiote literally fell on him from on high!  The symbiote hated Spider-Man just as much as Brock did, and better yet, it knew all of Spidey's secrets!  Back in the present, Spider-Man lunges for the sonic blaster, and Venom knocks him out cold.

When Spider-Man awakens, he finds himself webbed to the very bell that he used to rid himself of the symbiote.  Venom has changed the symbiote to look like priests clothes, and he's looking as crazy as ever.  His master plan is to ring the bell and squash the spider.

As venom descends into the church to avoid the sonic damage the bell would cause, Spider-Man manages to stop the bell clapper a couple of times using his super-strength, but knows he can't keep it up for long.  He manages to grab the bell and uses it's momentum to pull himself out of the web ball.  Time for round two with Venom.

Spidey realizes that the symbiote must have a limited amount of webbing that would take time to regenerate, so as Venom tries to use his webbing, Spidey keeps cutting it.  This results in Venom effectively being out of webbing, and when Spidey kicks him off of the roof, he falls to the street below.

Spider-Man takes the unconscious Brock to the Fantastic Four, where they put him and the symbiote in a containment unit.  That takes care of him.  Probably forever.  Right? Right.

Meanwhile, Spidey determines that he has had enough of the black suit, Black Cat's sensibilities be damned!  So he goes back to the good ol' red and blue!

Result: Spider-Man wins! 

The Battle

The map for this battle was easy enough to choose: The Bell Tower map from the Amazing Spider-Man set, of course!  The primary features on this map are elevation changes that go up towards the center of the map, and some "open air terrain" on one of the long edges of the map that cause damage to anyone who occupies them without leaping or flying.  While I doubt that will affect either of our combatants, I thought it was fitting.

I chose both characters from the Web of Spider-Man set.  They are both close enough in point value, and being from the same set, they should be...more balanced maybe?  I guess we'll see!

ws022  Spider-Man
Team: Spider-Man
Range: 0
Points: 95
Keywords: Avengers, Reporter, Scientist

(Special) Back in Black: Spider-Man can use Leap/Climb and Stealth.

(Attack) Web: Web Cocoon: Spider-Man can use Incapacitate as if he had a range of 6. If he hits, you may place a Web special marker in the target character's square.

ws009  Venom
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 4
Points: 87
Keywords: Monster, Reporter, Sinister Syndicate

(Damage) Web: Web Tendrils: Venom can use Telekinesis option 1. If he hits, after Telekinesis is resolved he can place a Web special terrain marker in the destination square.

(Special) Trait: Venom can use Plasticity.

Venom brought along some objects to make use of his Super Strength.  I saw that as one big advantage that he had over Spidey.  My hope was that he could get in there, cause some big damage early with one of the objects, and then wail on the poor wall-crawler from there.

As for Spidey, I wanted to try and choose the time and place to engage Venom.  If I could get some incapacitates in before he hit me, hopefully that would reduce the damage he could do.  Avoiding the web tendrils would go a long way as well.

Spidey wins the first turn, and sets up on F23.  Venom sets up on H2.

Spidey moves to F18, sitting on one of the heavy objects that Venom brought.  Venom moves to K12 and picks up a heavy object.

Spidey clears his action tokens, noting that he has no line of fire to Venom right now.  Venom charges to F17, and rolls 20 for attack as well as doubles!  Spidey rolls a 5 for his Super Senses and avoids some big damage!  The heavy object is discarded, and Venom takes a push damage.

Spidey tries to break away, which was probably a mistake on my part.  Leap and Plasticity cancel each other out, but I probably should have just beat down on Venom while I had the chance.  Venom clears his action tokens.

Spidey tries to use his webs to incapacitate Venom, but rolls a 14 and fails.  Spidey takes a push damage.  Venom attacks and rolls a 19, which hits.  Spidey rolls a 6 for his Super Senses and avoids yet even more damage.

Spidey and Venom both clear.

Spidey uses Flurry and rolls an 18 and doubles!  The 3 damage gets reduced to 2 thanks to Venom's Toughness, but he does knock Venom back 2 spaces to F15 since he had lost Charge.  Unfortunately, Venom is out of range for Spidey's second attack.  Venom has Charge back after that bit of damage, and charges to F17, and rolls an 18 to attack.  For once, Spidey's Super Senses fail him and he takes 3 damage from the attack.

Spidey uses Close Combat Expert to pump his Attack by +2, and rolls a 17 to hit Venom.  The 2 damage is reduced to 1 by Venom's Toughness.  Spidey doesn't take push damage due to having gained Willpower.  Venom attacks back, but rolls a 15, which misses.  He takes a push damage for his trouble.

Spidey and Venom both clear.

Spidey uses Close Combat Expert again to pump his Attack by +2, and rolls an 18.  No Toughness this time, so Venom is dealt 2 damage, which KO's him.

Result: Spider-Man wins!

That was a fun battle, and I felt I played reasonably well.  Those two successful Super Senses rolls certainly helped Spidey quite a bit.  I used these first two episodes to get back up to speed on Heroclix, since I hadn't played in months.  This marks the last 1V1 battle we'll see for quite some time.  Coming up next, we've got a full-on 500 point battle!

Questions for you: It should be abundantly clear by this point that I know much more about comics than I do about Heroclix, so is there anything you would have done differently in this battle?  Are there any rules I messed up?  Also, I'd love to hear suggestions on comics that you would like to see featured in this series.  I have about 20 ready to go, but I can always use more ideas!