Today's match features some fast forces characters from the All New X-Men vs the Clix FX X-Men. The All New X-Men team didn't consist entirely of fast forces characters because the goal of these Head to Head's is to test out a variety of characters all throughout the set. The X-Men, however, were focused on trying out the new Clix FX markers. Both teams were not built optimally again, and this was done to prevent the same characters from being used in the future. As more time passes you'll notice a pattern of always wanting to reach for the same characters over and over again. That's because over several games you'll start to notice which characters are better than others, and in order to prevent burnout we're giving some of these characters a shot to prove their worth. So here are the teams:
Clix FX X-Men
60 UXM044Nightcrawler
90 UXM040 Magneto
90 UXM045 Storm
75 UXM054 Quicksilver
70 UXM034 Professor X
15 X-Men Blue ATA
400 Total
All New X-Men
100 UXM024 Cyclops
100 UXM036 Iceman
50 FFUXM006 X-23
50 FFUXM004 Beast
50 FFUXM003 Angel
50 FFUXM002 Jean Grey
400 Total
The Battle:
The Clix FX X-Men won the roll and chose the "Gamma Range" outdoor map to fully utilize Storm's Thunder & Lightning special power. The Clix FX X-Men's plan was to try and use the Clix FX markers when possible, so Magneto started by placing his Magnetic Shield on Quicksilver to give him Energy Shield/Deflection for extra protection. Quicksilver looked to be the strongest member of the team who could potentially dish out a lot of damage, so it was a natural choice to choosing him to have Magneto's protection. Nightcralwer left his BAMF marker in the starting area as that is where he started his movement, and he carried Professor X with him and Storm carried Quicksilver into battle as well.
The All New X-Men's plan was to strike hard and to strike fast. With Jean Grey's Coordinated Movement special power she flung X-23 eight squares forward after getting a +1 Perplex boost to her attack thanks to Beast. Angel carried Beast to get close enough to use a theme team Probability Control if needed, and Iceman got on elevated terrain and placed a free Barrier of 2 tokens blocking Professor X and Nightcrawler's line of fire to prevent them from using their own theme team Probability Control on x-23. She charged at Quicksilver, got past his Super Senses and hit Blades/Claws/Fangs for 2 damage.
In order to prevent Quicksilver from bleeding out Storm pushed to use Running Shot carrying him back towards Professor X to use the X-Men team ability and heal him of 1, and Storm hit her attack as well on both Beast and X-23. Storm placed her wind marker on Beast to try and do more damage to him. Magneto capitalized on X-23 being weakened and pushed to use his own Running shot and knocked her out.
Jean Grey used her free Telekinesis, this time on Cyclops who used Running Shot to knock out Professor X. Angel carried Beast closer to the action, and as part of Angel's Swooping In trait Beast got a free attack on Nightcrawler and hit. Since Jean still had no action tokens she took a move action and got closer to her teammates.
Quicksilver, finally free to act, used his Faster Than You'll Ever Be special power that allows him to use Flurry instead of making a close attack when using Hypersonic Speed, but he ended up missing both attacks on Iceman. Nightcralwer also missed his attack on Beast. Once this turn was over for the Clix FX X-Men it was all down hill from there.
The All New X-Men's dice were hot and they hit every single attack, and even getting a critical hit on Storm too. It didn't help that Quicksilver only hit one attack the whole game, but in the very least were able to knock Beast out of the game as well.
Lessons Learned:
* Free is free. The free actions that the All New X-Men can take is backbreaking. Angel, Jean Grey, and Iceman are definitely worth their points thanks to these free actions.
*Special FX. The Clix FX markers were hit and miss. Nightcralwer's for example never came into play, and Professor X had an opportunity to use his but keeping Quicksilver healthy was a priority if they wanted to whittle down Iceman and Cyclops. Quicksilver's has potential but like anything else he has to hit his attacks for it to be worth it, and unlike Storm who did hit her marker was the reason Beast was knocked out! He was never able to get rid of it as he kept attacking rather than moving to remove the marker. Magneto's was great, but it never really helped Quicksilver because of X-23's Charge, and later in the game Iceman's Plasticity made him untouchable.
*Time stands still for no one. The trait most of the All New X-Men have was probably the clincher of the game. There were several attacks that never should have happened where they needed 9's and 10's to hit, but the Clix FX X-Men were not able to use their theme team Probability Control because of it.
Tips:
* The X-Men team was definitely lacking someone sturdy like Wolverine or Colossus. At best they had Toughness and as a result took a beating. This serves as a lesson to those who are new to team building, unless you're planning on using a broken strategy you're going to run into problems without the proper teammates and having a balanced team.
*The All New X-Men's Cyclops felt out of place. Even though he did do the bulk of the damage, he just didn't synergize well with the rest of the team. His Enhancement would be better geared towards helping the 100 point Jean Grey from the set since the 50 point Jean Grey just wants to be using her Telekinesis, and Iceman doesn't mind getting in close and dirty, whereas Cyclops likes to keeps his distance and his Enhancement would be wasted. He was a good hammer though, so build accordingly.
We have 1 more X-Men team to test out against the Brotherhood of Mutants, and after that I could be open to suggestions if you want to leave a comment. Until then keep on casually clixin.
