This is the last Head to Head for the Uncanny X-Men series that is pitting teams within the set against each other. Check out the X-Men battling against the Marauders and the All New X-Men in their respective links. This last battle pits the X-Men against their mutant rivals, the Brotherhood of Mutants. On to the teams:
X-Men
140+10 UXM053A Phoenix
50 UXM003 Storm
50 UXM006 Wolverine
50 UXM004Thunderbird
300 Total
Brotherhood of Mutants
40 UXM018 Vanisher
50 UXM029 Magneto
150 UXM030 Juggernaut
60 UXM047 Mystique
300 Total
The X-Men moved first and were on the Shadowland Fortress Map. Since Phoenix and Storm can fly it made sense if they wanted to fly up to the elevated terrain and shoot at the Brotherhood from safety. Storm made her free Smoke Cloud from her Localized Weather special power, and Phoenix rolled a 5 giving her +1 to her combat values through her Power Is Surging Through Me Uncontrollably special power. They carried Wolverine and Thunderbird and safely positioned themselves on Storm's Smoke Cloud.
The Brotherhood moved up with Vanisher carrying all 3 with his special power Into The Darkforce. Magneto used Sidestep to hide behind a pillar, and Mystique was placed in front of Juggernaut to protect him since she couldn't be targeted by non-adjacent characters anyway because of her Shapeshifter trait.
Phoenix rolled a 6 on her turn giving her +2 to her combat values, and a Sidestep for positioning allowed her to take out Vanisher in one hit. Thunderbird moved closer with his Sidestep inching his way to Magneto.
Brotherhood turn saw Juggernaut and Magneto using Sidestep for positioning, Magneto used Telekinesis on Juggernaut which gave him the perfect opportunity to activate his Outta The Way! trait to hit both Phoenix and Thunderbird. He needed an 8, and even against 2 theme team Probability Control's wasted by Storm and Wolverine, Juggernaut was determined to hit. Mystique used Sidestep to get close enough to hit Phoenix with her Precision Strike for 1 even though she needed a 9, the Brotherhood was on fire.
Unfortunately for them this put Phoenix on her Steal Energy and Hypersonic Speed powers. Thunderbird used Charge to attack Juggernaut and managed to pry his helmet off, and Wolverine followed up with a Charge & Blades/Claws/Fangs combo to hit Juggernaut for 5 as Juggernaut failed his Impervious roll and took 3. Storm pushed to hit Juggernaut for 4 thanks to her Perplex, but he only took 2 with his Invulnerability protecting him.
Magneto used Telekinesis again to place Juggernaut in a position to use his Outta The Way! trait and pushed to hit Thunderbird and Storm for 3 a piece putting all 3 of these figures on their last click. Mystique missed her Precision Strike attack (ironic huh?) on Phoenix.
With Phoenix cleared on her Hypersonic Speed and Steal Energy click she went to town on the Brotherhood. Taking out Juggernaut first. Storm got off a Pulse Wave before getting knocked out by Magneto, and Wolverine slashed Magneto to his last click before Mystique took him and Thunderbird down. In the end it was Phoenix against a battered Magneto and Mystique who couldn't keep up with her Hypersonic Speed.
Lessons Learned:
* Two-step Sidestep: Again another game where Sidestep was key. I had mentioned that with the recent sets having lower point values we are able to squeeze in more characters into our teams. Sidestep is a great way to circumvent using up your available actions for the turn.
* There's no I in team, but there is a me: It seemed that every character was dependent on each other, which again points to teams having synergy rather than relying on exploiting a character's powers. Even Phoenix who manhandled the Brotherhood relied on Storm's Smoke Cloud for safety in the beginning, and needed her teammates to buy her some time while she went to town.
* Worth it!: Every character was worth their points. Even Juggernaut who is 150 points carried his weight (he weighs 1,900 lbs. FYI) as he dealt a total of 10 damage throughout the game, and took the brunt of the damage as a tank should. Each character posed a threat at different points of the game, and it was pretty tough deciding who to attack at various points in the game.
Suggestions:
*At 300 points the Brotherhood was built pretty well within the set. If you want to break away from the set #M-021 Rogue from the OP kit can fill in for Juggernaut as your powerhouse, and it gives you enough wiggle room to add in Destiny from the Days of Future Past set!
*If you plan on keeping Juggernaut try swapping Mystique for Black Tom Cassidy from the Deadpool set. Black Tom's Partner In Crime trait can keep Juggernaut moving every turn to make him more dangerous.
*The X-Men really comes down to 2 characters to build around in this team, Storm and Phoenix. Wolverine and Thunderbird are great filler characters if you're looking for a close attacker, but Storm for example with her free Smoke Cloud characters with Stealth can really use that power to their advantage. A team of Storm, prime Shadowcat, rare Nightcrawler, and Gambit from the Wolverine and the X-Men set all have Stealth and come out to 293 points.
*Phoenix is pretty straightforward and just needs some support because at 140 points you want her to be more consistent rather than just relying on her die roll off her special power to get stat boosts. Characters with Perplex, Outwit, and Probability Control are key, and characters that allow for free use of the X-Men team ability to trigger her All New, All Different X-Men trait giving her +1 to her combat values. Characters with the Avengers Unity Division come to mind and can be found scattered throughout the new Uncanny X-Men set.
That's it for the Head to Head: Uncanny X-Men series, the next few entries will be focusing on building theme teams, so keep an eye out on that section as it gets updated throughout the week. Chime in if you spot a mistake, have feedback to provide, or have suggestions on any of the features available. Thanks for reading!
