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ADVANCE REVIEW: WizKids Marvel HeroClix Fear Itself Month 4 Prize Kit
Stakes Are Raised As End Is In Sight With Odin And Greithoth’s Hammer...
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September brings Month 4 of the Fear Itself HeroClix tournament series, an event series that’s been incredibly successful and popular with players everywhere. Venues have been packed as players use figures from the tournament boosters and others to battle for their choice of the Worthy or the Mighty. All of this celebrates and recreates events and characters from the 2011 Marvel Comics crossover event, from the lowly Thule Society Priests to the mightiest of the Asgardian weapon-enhanced heroes and villains. WizKids has also lined up an amazing array of prizes for these tournaments, with limited edition figures already out there like Loki on Hel-Wolf, Hela, and Thor. Now that we’re more than halfway through Fear Itself, things are getting real and we’re ramping up to the most mighty and massive figures. Month 4 in September brings the Greithoth’s Hammer participation prize, Odin Limited Edition figure, and a new map featuring Broxton, OK and China!
Four hammers down, four to go, and that brings us to Month 4. With each new prize kit (and the initial Blitzkrieg U.S.A. Scenario Pack) players have been collecting these relics, Asgardian weapons empowered by the Serpent and given out to the Mighty to do his bidding. Thus far we’ve got Skadi, Kuurth, Mokk, and Skirn’s Hammers, and it was after that last one was picked by Titania in South Africa did the existence of the newest one become known. For when the villainess became Skirn she felt the presence of a similar weapon destined for her partner and husband, the Absorbing Man. They would find that hammer in China and transform Carl “Crusher” Creel into Greithoth: Breaker of Wills! The Greithoth’s Hammer 3D Object is another small hammer that fits into a bit of broken terrain on a single base-sized disc.
This unique weapon takes the form of a dark gray anchor-like hammer head with a short tan haft ending in a length of silver chain. The small hammer inserts firmly into a rocky rubble base with brown earth and gray rocks. Just like all of the previous objects Greithoth’s Hammer is an 8 point relic requiring a roll of 5-6 for a character to pick it up... and when it does it gains the Giant symbol, Running Shot with a minimum range of 4, and +2 to its attack value! Like Mokk’s Hammer before it this is an incredible boon to ranged figures, and it’s also great for giving your figures options with range where they didn’t have it before, Giant size to see opponents, etc. And again, Greithoth’s Hammer can be attached to the Book of the Skull resource to make it even more powerful!
The core issue at the heart of the Fear Itself comic series was the conflict between two brothers... they just happened to be epic Asgardian deities so the consequences were greater. We’ll get to the older brother in the next couple of months, but for Month 4 we’ve got the heroic younger sibling, better known as Odin the All-Father! While we don’t often see him at full strength on the field of battle, the stories of his previous accomplishments are so great as to be frightening, and none more so than the first time he put down his brother Cul. To save the Nine Worlds from the depredations of the Serpent, Odin did nothing less than destroy an entire world (Aesheim which would be renamed Midgard). With Cul and his minions on the loose again, Odin prepares to repeat his actions on Earth if humanity is unable to take care of the problem on its own...
There have been two Odin figures in HeroClix thus far, and while very cool they haven’t exactly been action-packed. The Fear Itself version, on the other hand, captures the All-Father triumphant on the field of battle, leading the forces of Asgard against the Serpent and his Worthy. Standing on a windswept rocky outcropping, Odin wields his sword in one hand and holds his mighty staff above him in the other. He wears his heavy battle armor complete with breastplate, chainmail reinforcement, boots, gloves, fur collar, long flowing cape, and massive horned helmet. The Odin figure has a great sculpt with the movement in its powerful pose and tons of detail like the intricacies of the armor, flapping cape, patterning on his helmet and texture of the horns, and more. What’s more, the All-Father doesn’t go to war with any old armor and outfit. Odin’s a riot of colors with a royal purple undersuit, brown leather gloves, white tabard, cape, and collar, and gleaming golden armor. Both weapons are shiny metallic as well, the sword in silver and the staff gold.
The two Odins in HeroClix before this one have been powerhouses, clocking in at 250 and 295 points. However, the Fear Itself version puts them to shame at an Earth-shattering 350 points! Naturally, that lofty size comes with the Power Cosmic team ability, and Odin adds to that a 9 range with one target to blast the enemies of Asgard and eleven clicks of life. The All-Father’s dial is a study in power and leadership, with stats and an array of abilities that will put the fear of gods in his opponents. His movement is 8 for his first four clicks and features an amazing special power (with a fantastic name) that lets him use Hypersonic Speed without halving his range value! The rest of his dial has the same or better movement and a smattering of Running Shot before the same special power on his last click, leaving only two slots without move-and-attack capability. Odin’s attack track (starting with a 12 and slowly sliding toward 9) is where we see the first of his leader special powers, “The All-Father” which has you choose a standard attack power for Odin and all friendly characters 150 points or less to use for the current turn! That power hangs around for the first four clicks as well, and the rest of the dial shows two pairs of Pulse Wave and Penetrating/Psychic Blast clicks.
Defensively Odin begins the game with an un-outwittable 19 with Impervious, and while it drops incrementally to an end dial 16 it’s always protected by Imperv, Invulnerability, or Super Senses. Finally, there’s damage where the deity starts with a 6 and Outwit; 5s and 4s dominate the dial with only two 3s toward the end. After two initial clicks of Outwit there are two of Perplex, and end dial is a long run of Probability Control. In between is the other special power “Empower Your Mortal Weapons” that boosts friendly characters 150 points or less +1 to attack or damage depending on how many tokens Odin has! In high point games this All-Father will shine as he smashes his enemies and bolsters his allies, best chosen from his keywords Asgardian, Cosmic, Deity, Ruler, and Warrior.
As with the other prize kits thus far, one side of the new map has a location where the participation prize hammer was found in Fear Itself. This month it’s China, birthplace of Greithoth: Breaker of Wills! The China map captures a section of the hidden Eighth City, a place of torment and demons where the hammer landed. The Monkey King tried to claim it and failed, but then Skirn led Absorbing Man there to get it and join her in the Serpent’s crusade, fighting War Machine, Iron Man, and the other Immortal Weapons on the way. The China map is deceptively straightforward, but may hold some surprises if you’re not careful. A two-square border of elevated terrain rings the entire battlefield except for four-square wide entrances into the arena in the middle of each starting area; that elevation also has four blocking terrain columns along each long side, nicely breaking up lines of fire. Down in the central area are asymmetric spots of boulders (hindering terrain) helping stealthy characters move toward the fight. At the very center of the map, bracketed by more hindering, is a four-square section of orange, the “Greithoth’s Hammer Impact Zone.” Here either play can place the 3D object distributed in this prize kit, and while it’s there characters within six squares can’t use Willpower!
Flip the Month 4 map to find a location a little closer to home (at least in the Marvel universe): Broxton, OK. A small farming community, Broxton became world famous when Thor raised the new Asgard there. Its people hardy and heroic in their own way, the small town has seen the reappearance of gods, horrible battles, incredible victories, and hellish defeats. At the beginning of Fear Itself things seemed very good for Broxton as Iron Man pledges to help the foreigners build a new Asgard, but things would not go quite so well. The Oklahoma town would become the sight of the final battle between the Serpent and his Worthy against Thor and the Mighty! The new Broxton map represents a key scene from the storyline when Captain America joins up with the defiant residents to oppose the invading forces even though they’re armed with paltry weapons and have only a makeshift barricade. The map has standard starting areas on the short sides, and one is “protected” by a nearby smattering of cars and trucks offering hindering terrain. A street runs down the center of the map with a line of blocking terrain power lines to one side of it. Meanwhile, scattered around the rest of the map (and concentrated more to the side opposite the cars) are smashed warbots providing chunks of blocking and hindering terrain.
As with Month 3 of Fear Itself with the amazing Thor limited edition figure, attendance will be high and competition brisk in September for Odin. Make sure you find a local venue running Fear Itself events and sign up to play; you’ll get a Fear Itself tournament booster with exclusive figures (and another booster, probably Wolverine & the X-Men) along with the Greithoth’s Hammer participation prize! Check out the WizKids’ Store Locator and Fear Itself portal for more information.
Stay tuned to Figures.com for more exclusive HeroClix reviews coming soon!
Review and Photos by Scott Rubin
Review Samples Courtesy of WizKids Games
