As the years go by some Heroclix begin to lose their luster. Call it trial and error, power creep, or something along those lines, but the truth is that some clix just become obsolete and do nothing but collect dust in a box that time forgot (you know the one). The "Still Worth Playing" series aims to take a deeper look into some of the older carded figures to see if, well, they're still worth playing. As today is the 4th of July I figured it would be appropriate to look at the most obvious candidate for this series. That figure being Captain America #40 from the Hammer of Thor (HoT) set. When this Captain America made his debut his special power "Deflection Trajectory" caused a buzz in the Heroclix community. A lot of players felt this version of Captain America was the most perfect representation done yet, and I agreed. He was good, VERY good. So I wanted to see if he still held up against some of the more recent figures.
Comparing With A More Recent Figure
The most comparable recent Captain America is the Fast Forces: Captain America & Attack: The Avengers (FFCAA) as he is only 3 points more and has similar powers and stats.
FFCAA loses the ability to snipe Stealth-reliant characters, but a full dial of move-and-attack powers coupled with Indomitable keep him mobile. Not to mention his "Follow Up" special power which really allows him to get around the battlefield. This forces the FFCAA Cap to have a different play style as he needs to get closer thanks to his 5 range, whereas the Hot Cap can practically stay put with his 8 range 2 targets. FFCAA Cap also gains a click of Leadership, but loses Energy Shield/Deflection (ES/D), and his Living Legend trait gives him some extra longevity. Although you could argue that HoT Cap already has built in longevity thanks to his 18 defense with ES/D and 8 range as you'll rarely be forced to put him in danger. After comparing these 2 they almost break even in terms of powers and stats. What sets them apart is their play style, so take that into account when building your team and you determine which Cap is the better fit.
Seeing Action
For the 1st team I wanted to build a team that helped HoT Captain America out with some of his weaknesses, primarily his lack of Indomitable. Below is the S.H.I.E.L.D. team I rolled with.
72 HA040 Captain America 50 FFNFAOS005 Simmons 45 NFAOS023 Skye 75 NFAOS036 Agent Coulson 20 NFAOS007A S.H.I.E.L.D. Recruit 37 CA004 S.H.I.E.L.D. Specialist
299 points
I picked Skye to bump up stats where needed with her Perplex. Agent Coulson's Agent Level 7 special power is very useful to Cap as he bumps up his damage by +1 thanks to Enhancement and Leadership to potentially remove tokens from Cap as he lacks Indomitable. Fast Forces Simmons was used as a means to give Captain America Outwit with her special power "Neutralization Serum" seeing as how Cap has a near unblockable line of fire. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Specialist was there in case Cap needed to push she could heal him back up, and the Recruit serves as a tie-up piece. With everyone but Cap possessing the S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability it meant that Cap could have up to 11 range depending on adjacency.
I played against a Hydra team that I knew would give this Captain America fits.
30 NFAOS015A Hydra Infiltrator 30 NFAOS015A Hydra Infiltrator 20 NFAOS014A Hydra Recruit 20 NFAOS014A Hydra Recruit 200 AVAS060 Red Skull 300 points
Red Skull's uncounterable "You Have Missed Your One Chance" special power would get around any Outwit, so Cap was forced to get creative and Outwit Skull's Mind Control or other bothersome powers. Losing the die roll for map choice was only the beginning of the bad luck Cap encountered throughout the match. After drawing first blood Cap took a stunning 5 knockback damage hit thanks to both Hydra Recruits' Enhancement. Cap went around to heal but the S.H.I.E.L.D. Specialist only managed to hit 1 of 4 Support rolls the whole game! Red Skull slowly picked apart the rest of the team as he would get his tokens removed thanks to the Cut Off One Head trait that his Hydra goons had. If I would change one thing about Cap's team I'd probably take out Simmons or at least downgrade her to the base set version to save 15 points and exchange Skye for a more potent secondary attacker to back Coulson up. Agent Coulson ended up doing a bulk of the damage on this team and his Leadership/Enhancement special power helped the team out in some tough spots.
For the 2nd team I chose Avengers and I wanted it to be a little more balanced and not so focused on Cap.
72 HA040 Captain America 50 WKM17-007 Falcon 60 CACW003 Black Widow 60 AOU008 Tigra 58 AVAS037 Manifold 300 points
I opted for some solid close range fighters to keep the enemy occupied while Cap did his thing from the back rows.
The opposing Masters of Evil team used a similar strategy as Mach-IV was the range centerpiece and the rest of the team required to get their hands a little dirty.
70 CWSOP016 Radioactive Man 90 CWSOP028 Mach-IV 90 CWSOP030 Atlas 50 CW004 Egghead 300 points
The match began a little slow with both sides missing attacks, but once Radioactive Man closed ranks the Avengers were sent scrambling. Between him and Atlas hitting a few Impervious rolls it set the Avengers back enough for Radioactive Man's "Nuclear-Level Radiation" special power to do some damage. With Mach-IV and Atlas both getting +1 to breakaway rolls, thanks to "Did You Not Hear My Name?" special power and Great Size respectively, the Masters of Evil were hard to pin down and melee effectively. Atlas stayed on the top of his dial throughout the match eventually just overwhelming the Avengers thanks to Impervious keeping him safe. Some Outwit would definitely have been useful to have, so that's a change I can easily make on this Avengers team.
Well, Is He Still Playable?
Despite having a lot of bad luck with rolls (I think Cap only hit 2 or 3 attacks both games!) HoT Captain America was a very formidable figure. So much so that Atlas and Radioactive Man kept pushing the line to get to him. I'd also like to think that if the S.H.I.E.L.D. Specialist had hit 1 more Support roll on Cap the match against Hydra may have had a different result. Cap lacks move and attack on the 2nd half of his dial, so if you can work around that with Telekinesis or similar powers like 75 points FFNFAOS002 Agent Coulson's trait it can negate a big weakness this Cap has.
Leadership, token removal, and/or Support can be used to make up for the lack of Indomitable. Ultimately all these support powers are not needed as Hot Captain America can truly hold his own, but he does lose a few points as he's lacking some key powers in his late clicks. Final Rating: 4.5 Still Very Playable
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