ADVANCE REVIEW: WizKids Marvel HeroClix Chaos War OP Kit

[JeffSaylor]

Fantastic Four Less Fiery, But More Spidery...

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It seems like just yesterday that HeroClix players were cracking open their bricks of the Galactic Guardians expansion set (see our review of that set HERE), but now it’s time for another: Chaos War!

This new Marvel HeroClix set includes more than 50 figures with characters from the epic event of the same name as well as subthemes featuring the Avengers, Future Foundation, Pet Avengers, and much more. Chaos War is also the third and final set to be released as part of the Infinity Gauntlet tournament series “storyline,” just in time for its conclusion in August. While you can get Chaos War boosters anywhere starting on July 11, you’ll definitely want to find a local venue to get a chance at the exclusive contents of its Organized Play Prize Kit. Let’s take a look at what’s included in this very special promotion.

Designed to promote the game through tournaments and giveaways, the OP kit is only available to stores and includes four different figures, two objects, and two maps. Fans of the Fantastic Four have been treated to a solid run of FF characters in HeroClix lately with the original members as Super Rares in Captain America and Galactic Guardians plus lots of alternate members in Incredible Hulk. Chaos War’s OP Kit brings you the current incarnation of the team under its new name: the Future Foundation! Formed with the purpose of making the world a better place, the Future Foundation includes many members but at its core are Reed Richards (Mr. Fantastic), Sue Storm (Invisible Woman), Ben Grimm (Thing), and Peter Parker (Spider-Man). To differentiate themselves from other, similar teams the foursome wear distinctive black and white costumes - and those are now appearing in HeroClix for the first time.

Each member of the Future Foundation wears his or her unique FF costume. Three of them utilize parts from the Galactic Guardians set; both Thing and Mr. Fantastic are repaints of that set’s Super Rares, while this new Spider-Man is a re-mold of Silver Surfer with a new base. They all have interesting poses, from Thing’s threatening advance to Invisible Woman’s force bubble creation, Spider-Man preparing to leap off the rock, and Fantastic’s wild stretching.

The paint work on the four figures is excellent, really showing off the costumes with crisp details. Even their faces are well done down to the whites of their eyes. Invisible Woman notably has a cool translucent arm that wields the blue force sphere.

Not only do these figures look great together, but they play that way too. They’re all “rookie” level and clock in at 60 (Spider-Man), 70 (Thing), 80 (Invisible Woman), and 90 (Fantastic) points to make a perfect 300 point team! Each one has the Fantastic Four team ability, while Parker adds the Spider-Man wildcard as well. Spidey is the mobile attacker with Leap/Climb, Flurry, Super Senses, Close Combat Expert, and Combat Reflexes, with a handy 3 range on top. Grimm’s a light bruiser with Indomitable, Charge to get into battle, a run of Flurry, Super Strength to boost damage, Invulnerable and Toughness to shrug off damage, and a full dial of Battle Fury. Sue is a swiss-army knife starting with her 6 range and Transporter symbol. A full dial of Stealth protects her from range while she strikes back with Telekinesis and Incapacitate. Toughness, Barrier, Energy Shield/Deflection, and a bit of Exploit Weakness round out her dial, but that’s not all. Invisible Woman has a very interesting trait called “Peacemaker” - when she’s adjacent to exactly one friendly and one opposing character she can take a free action to heal them both one click! Finally, Reed is the leader and support lynchpin starting with his trait “Future Foundation” that automatically replaces the Fantastic Four team ability of your figures with a new one; whenever one of your FF figures takes two or more damage from an opponent’s attack give the attacker an action token, and if you can’t, then one unavoidable damage! In addition to his usual power set Fantastic starts with Leadership for one click and then switches to his un-counterable special “World’s Smartest Man... Even When There’s More of Me” power granting him Outwit and penetrating damage vs. characters that can use Outwit!

While the figures are cool, there’s even more in the OP Kit in the form of two new objects. The most recent rules update introduced a new type of object, the Ultra Heavy, and Chaos War brings players the very first one. The Tank Turret, an improvised weapon the Hulk has always enjoyed, is a banged up piece of military equipment in solid green. It’s a regular Ultra Heavy object so it does +3 damage in close combat instead of +2, it can’t be thrown or used in Telekinesis, only characters 100 points or more can pick it up, and it takes 4 damage to destroy it. With a cost of only two points, expect to see this a lot on battlefields very soon.

Next up is the small but highly detailed Iron Man Briefcase Armor that lets any figure suit up in the red and gold. A twelve point relic that requires a roll of 5-6 to “put on,” the armor lets a character use Force Blast and Invulnerability.

The final component of the Chaos War OP Kit is the double-sided map. On the first side is the Negative Zone Prison, a wild indoor arena with lots of small walled off rooms, plenty of hindering terrain, and a border of special indestructible Negative Zone blocking terrain that forces the action closer toward the center of the map.

On the other side is the Avengers Mansion Grounds, a pretty normal-looking outdoor map with an elevating building along one long side and wall of blocking terrain three-quarters of the way to the other side. The interesting thing here (other than the cool detail of the shadow of the gate with the “A” insignia) is that the starting areas overlap the interior and exterior of the courtyard letting you separate your forces for different strategies.

Run, don’t walk to your local comic book or game store to get in on the Chaos War action starting July 11th. There’s the full panoply of products from the core booster set to individually-packaged countertop figures and even a six-figure Fast Forces set. But the only way to get the Future Foundation, Tank Turret, Iron Man Briefcase Armor, and new maps is by playing at your local store.

Visit HeroClix.com for even more info as well as downloads of rules and maps!

Review and Photos by Scott Rubin

Review Samples Courtesy of WizKids

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