Gears of War HeroClix Week - ADVANCE PREVIEW #2

[Malevolus]

Locust Horde elite: Kantus, General RAAM, and Skorge...

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Are you ready for more Gears of War? This week Figures.com will have exclusive previews of all 10 GoW HeroClix figures, so read on!

Just in time to coincide with the release of the new video game, WizKids Games is releasing an all new set of Gears of War 3 HeroClix figures! Following on the massive success of Green Lantern and Captain America, Gears will be available exclusively in a gravity feed of 24 single blind boosters holding one of ten possible figures. These include Coalition forces Marcus Fenix, Dominic Santiago, Augustus Cole, Damon Baird, and Anya Stroud, as well as the evil Locust Horde for them to battle with the Mauler, Locust Drone, Kantus, General RAAM, and Skorge. These figures are fully compatible with the HeroClix game, so you can pit the COG or Locust against the likes of the Avengers or Justice League!

Elite warriors in the Locust Horde, the Kantus monks serve as communications officers and support personnel but don’t hesitate to leap into the fray alongside their Drone and Mauler allies. At 70 points, the Kantus bring a lot of diversity to the HeroClix game starting with their Locust Horde Team Ability (see the full description with the Locust Drone HERE) to get where they need to go via Emergence Holes. More often than not you’ll want them backing up the front line troops so the monks will be able to utilize their “Rewards to the Faithful” Trait - it adds a grenade to your pool when an adjacent ally rolls a critical hit! The Kantus themselves add one to your grenade pool and have access to the “Ink” grenade type that deals penetrating damage, creates a square of hindering terrain, and then deals more penetrating damage to characters within or adjacent to it on the next turn (an interesting twist on Tabitha Smith’s “Timebomb” power).

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In addition to their TA-granted Phasing/Teleport, Kantus have Leap/Climb for three clicks and good movement numbers so they can always get into position. While they may not have any Attack powers, the numbers are excellent, never dipping below a 9 and hitting an 11 on the final click! Defensively the Kantus starts out with one click of Toughness and then gains Super Senses mid-dial. The Damage track is where the monks really shine as team players. They can use Support their entire dial, while the first 4 clicks combine that with Perplex in the “Shrieking Priest” special power. Focused on healing the Kantus has 0 damage on its last two clicks, so try and save a grenade or two, or better yet gain some back through its Trait!

An elite high priest among the Kantus, Skorge is stronger than his monk brethren and shows off a different power set thanks to his Chainsaw Staff weapon and leadership role. Compared to the Kantus, Skorge is 23 points more expensive at 93 while retaining the Locust Horde TA, 6 range, +1 to your grenade pool, and access to the Ink grenade. Preferring to fight on the front lines, he gives up the Trait and the support powers of the monks but gains plenty in return.

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Three clicks of top-dial Charge provide your Locust Horde with much needed move and attack, carefully set up to do the most damage after using the TA to get into position. In melee combat Skorge unleashes the full might of his “Chainsaw Staff” granting Blades/Claws/Fangs AND Flurry (with the slight limiter that any given opponent can take a maximum of 4 damage from his attacks per turn). While that special power goes away after 4 clicks, B/C/F continues for the whole dial! Good Defense numbers are backed up by Toughness and Super Senses, and his full dial of 2 Damage (you’ll be using all of that B/C/F anyway!) sports Perplex on the final three clicks.

Though he started off as a lowly Drone, General RAAM would become one of the Locust Horde’s greatest generals, and he subsequently appears as one vicious HeroClix figure! Larger than life on the battlefield, the General clocks in at a substantial 151 points with Unique status, and of course he has the same Locust Horde Team Ability as his subordinates. RAAM has a long distance 8 range and the always popular Indomitable, while in the grenade department he adds a whopping 3 to your pool and can use both Frag and Ink varieties!

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Big and bulky, General RAAM isn’t the fastest combatant with 6s and 5s in his Movement track, but he’s helped out by 3 clicks of the “Grenade Scatter” special power that lets him use a grenade as a free action at the end of a move action! He has fantastic Attack numbers (starting at 11, peaking at 12, and never dropping below 9), and the front half of his dial sports the “Troika Blasts and Clouds of Kryll” special power giving him Penetrating/Psychic Blast and if he has no tokens a free action Smoke Cloud that can damage opponents within it on a roll of 5-6. Once the Troika is exhausted, RAAM shifts to a back dial of solid Blades/Claws/Fangs. Defensively the General’s numbers build from a 16 to an 18 before slowly going back down to a 16 again, with successive clicks of Invulnerability, then Impervious, Toughness, and back to end-dial Invulnerability. Naturally, the leader of the Locust Horde starts off with a click of Leadership, and mid-dial picks up Outwit (rare among the Gears figures) for 3 clicks!

You can get all 10 members of the Gears of War 3 HeroClix set when it releases on August 17th. Keep checking back all week as we look at the rest of the Gears figures!

-Scott Rubin

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