Hot on the heels of Marvel's latest installment of their cinematic universe Captain America: Civil War, we'll take a look at the hero/antagonist (depends on whose side you're on) Captain America. More specifically #001 Captain America from the Avengers vs X-Men (AvX) starter set.
Special Powers, Traits & Improved Movement/Targeting:
Combat Training - His improved movement gives him a lot of mobility in the thick of things. While he may not have the mobility of a character like Batman, ignoring characters goes a long way as it prevents him from being tied up. At 200 points having this kind of mobility is very important because you never want to be bogged down by a 50 point tie-up piece. Ignoring hindering terrain is just gravy so keep him moving!
Avengers Assemble! - The first part of this trait allows him to use the standard Leadership power, but the second part is what puts Captain America over the edge on an Avengers team. Sure it only works on a 6, but when it works it is very helpful. Be sure to remember though that the second part only works on friendly characters with the Avengers keyword, within 4 squares, and you have to choose them to remove the token off your Leadership roll. It seems like a lot of restrictions but it isn't, because at 200 points he'll more than likely be the highest point character on your team and he doesn't mind being in the muck of things so he'll likely be within 4 squares of most of his allies. We'll touch up on this more in the team building portion.
Super Soldier & Shield - Two words, choose wisely. Always be weary of the biggest threat your opponent has and choose the appropriate power to keep him in the game. I've been in situations where I disregard their big guns who's tied up, and he ends up breaking away and smashing Captain America so choose the power that will help him against their biggest threat. And remember to choose! Since this triggers at the beginning of the turn if you forget your opponent might take advantage of that and hit him hard.
Take Down - Two-target Incapacitate with an alternate choice is killer. Even though the second portion of his power isn't Incapacitate it works much like it on the character you choose to add the 2 tokens on, but this only works like semi-Incapacitate on the character you chose to add the 2 tokens on and not the other target. The portion "that character" is speaking directly about the character you chose to put the 2 tokens on, but remember you can just opt to use the first part which is just Incapacitate.
Dial:
Captain America has 2 point levels to choose from, and while I think his 200 point starting line is the way to go, his 100 point starting line is just fine if you're limited in points but there are also better options at that point level. 200 points may seem like a lot of point to invest in him, but if you choose his Super Soldier & Shield trait correctly every turn he'll be very difficult to take down. 5 range may seem short, but with Running Shot coupled with improved movement: ignores hindering terrain and characters he more than makes up for his 5 range. His first 5 clicks are very team friendly with Incapacitate, Perplex, Empower, and of course Leadership as a trait to help out his team. His last 3 clicks with Exploit Weakness means you have to try and focus on hand-to-hand combat for efficiency targeting characters with Toughness, Invulnerability, and Impervious. You'll notice that he has 7 out of 8 clicks with move and attack powers, and with his improved movement: ignores hindering terrain and characters means he's very mobile. Keep him moving and position him carefully because his Leadership can come in handy so Charge him and use Running Shot to position Cap in areas where he will help the most with his Leadership. Avengers team ability has been pretty useless up until recently. With the release of Nick Fury, Agent of S.H.I.E.L.D., Avengers Assemble, and Age of Ultron we got plenty of Avengers on the lower point spectrum, so the Avengers team ability might actually matter on the right team!
Theme Teams: Avengers, Invaders, S.H.I.E.L.D.
We'll start with Avengers as he can benefit most from his Avengers Assemble! trait with an Avengers team. We want him to be the most expensive character for that trait to work, and at 200 points that should not be a problem.
Avengers Toolbox:
200 AVX001 Captain America
50 AOU003R Ant-Man
40 AVAS034 Jarvis
109 AVAS052 Ronin
109 FI016 Black Widow
85 CACW006 Hawkeye
5 AOUAUID-104 Thor
*free AOUAUID-101 Iron Man
*free AOUAUID-008Wonder Man
*free NFAOSNFID-008S.H.I.E.L.D. Level 1
598 Total
If you're not familiar with the gaming term "toolbox" it's pretty simple, as all it means is that you maximize your team to have the most options available when you swap, search, or choose something. Here's why this team is a toolbox team: Captain America can place anyone adjacent to him with his Avengers Assemble! trait, Ant-Man can morph into various options, Ronin has a trait that allows him/her to get replaced by 1 of 5 characters, Black Widow can use her Mighty Revert special power to change into another Black Widow that is less points, Hawkeye can shoot anyone with Ant-Man's help through Hawkeye's Riding On An Arrow trait and Ant-Man's Temporary Pym Particles special power, and with 4 ID cards to choose from you also have those options as well. This team is designed to be have answers to almost anything your opponent can throw at you. Need to bust Stealth? Hawkweye can shoot them with his Avengers Initiative team ability, place someone adjacent to that character who can take them out, and/or you can summon someone like Iron Man via his ID as his Inspiration gives adjacent allies Improved Targeting: Ignores Hindering Terrain and +1 to range attacks. Need to scatter a group? Summon Thor with Pulse Wave or Energy Explosion, and Hawkeye also has Energy Explosion. Need to do a ton of damage to your opponent's powerhouse? Summon Wonder Man, have him carry an ultra heavy object, morph Ant-Man into a character with Outwit to counter the enemy's defense power and smash them. All the Avengers ID characters have multiple starting lines as well so Captain America can summon their powerful version, or the rest of the team can summon them on their lower starting lines. See what I mean? Options.
Time Traveling Invaders:
200 AVX001 Captain America
65 NFAOS041 Radiance
80 NFAOS037 U.S. Agent
65 AOU020 Captain America
140 NFAOS054 Namor
45 NFAOS010 Bucky
5 NFAOSNFID-011Bucky Barnes
0 CRS003 Opened Hydrant
600 Total
This team is the "Time Traveling Invaders" because you have 2 Captain America's and 2 Bucky's. Okay one is via the ID card, but you get the point. The strategy behind this team is protect big Captain America and Namor. Radiance gives adjacent allies Shape Change and little Captain America gives adjacent friendly characters +1 defense against range attacks, so keep these two adjacent to big Captain America. U.S. Agent can block line of fire from one side and Bucky has Stealth and gets Support if he gets hit, keep these two in the front lines close to Namor who will be up in the enemy's face. The Opened Hydrant will create water terrain for Namor in case you fail the map roll and the opponent chooses a map without water. The Bucky/Winter Soldier of choice you want to summon is one that ignores hindering terrain when drawing a line of fire as this team might have a problem against Stealth, so my choice would be the #24 uncommon version from the Nick Fury, Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. set as he can also use Outwit.
S.H.I.E.L.D. Now you see me, now you don't.
100 AVX001 Captain America
75 FFNFAOS002 Agent Coulson
50 NFAOS009 Sarah Garza
75 AOU023E She-Hulk
75 AVAS017 Falcon
75 CATWS102 Black Widow
40 CW033 Victoria Hand
65 AVM208 Hawkeye
45 NFAOS023 Skye
600 Total
The final team focuses on Agent Coulson and Captain America being able to place anyone on the team adjacent to them for the purposes of re-positioning or helping out their allies in case they get in trouble because they all meet the requirements for Coulson's trait Call In The Reinforcements and Cap's Avengers Assemble! trait, except for Skye who is not an Avenger. Agent Coulson's trait is more reliable than Cap's because it uses a power action instead of a die roll so use it freely. Even if that's all he does the whole game and he pushes to do so, do it, because he eventually gets Outwit anyway. If you choose to attack with Agent Coulson keep Skye close to him so she can offer a Perplex, S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability, and Field Team Backup boost to help him hit with his starting Penetrating/Psychic Blast. She-Hulk, Sarah Garza, and Falcon should be in the font lines. She-Hulk can get Perplex with Sarah's special power, Falcon gets it too later in his dial in case She-Hulk needs a boost, and if things get hairy Sarah gets Pulse Wave late dial so keep that in mind when positioning her. Hawkeye and Victoria Hand are natural allies as +1 range and attack can help Hawkeye dump his starting Ranged Combat Expert into damage. Move Victoria around if you need to give someone an attack/range boost, but remember she's only useful to those on their starting clicks. Both Captain America and Black Widow are great in close or range combat. If they get caught in close combat Cap has Empower and Widow gets Willpower. If they stick to range they both start with Running Shot, Widow has the S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability, and Cap has two-target Incapacitate. With 9 characters Falcon, Captain America's, and She-Hulk's Avengers team ability will help so their move actions won't waste the 6 actions you get a turn, and with Cap's Leadership you can get a potential 7 actions in case you need it. Overall, you have access to 3 sources of Outwit and 4 of Perplex, so you should have an answer for almost anything.
That's it for this edition of Character Insight. Please chime in if you feel I missed something, or if you have suggestions on who I should focus on next. Leave a comment, or send me a message on any of my social media outlets. Thanks for reading!
