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REVIEW: WizKids Games Marvel HeroClix 2014 Monthly Organized Play
More New Figures & Exclusive Look At Cannonball...
Review and photos by Scott Rubin
On Monday we took a look at the 2014 DC Comics HeroClix Monthly OP Kit figures from WizKids Games (see HERE), and now Marvel fans, we’ve got you covered too! If you didn’t catch the first article, here’s a brief recap. No longer do players and venues need to wait all the way between set releases for new prizes, and the new kits are designed for one month of weekly events but can be used as the store sees fit, and with alternating DC and Marvel Comics kits there’s something for every player. The monthly kits each provide four copies each of three figures. Two of the figures bring back recent sculpts on new dials, while the third is a totally new figure. Even better, at least for the first batch of kits, all of the figures are SwitchClix and can be used on their own or as part of previously released team bases! Not only does this give players more flexibility and team building options with their team bases, it gives people the chance to collect new versions of figures that were only available in team base boosters that may be hard to find. Now on to the Marvel Monthly OP Kits!
Both of this year’s Marvel kits bring SwitchClix figures that interact with team bases from 2013’s Wolverine and the X-Men expansion and focus on X-Men and Excalibur. Players everywhere are already enjoying the first of these with new dials for the Blue Strike Force’s Psylocke and Rogue along with an all new Angel for the Gold Strike Force team! Meanwhile, next month venues will get the Excalibur kit with an entirely new Pete Wisdom figure and new versions of Excalibur’s Captain Britain and the New Mutants’ Cannonball.
For both X-Men: Blue Strike Force figures, WizKids went with lower cost versions for Psylocke and Rogue, giving the players more economical but still highly effective options. Betsy Braddock, the telepathic ninja, is a slippery 62 point character who ignores hindering terrain for movement and has a stretch of Sidestep after a little starting Stealth. She has an awesome Blades/Claws/Fangs special power that turns penetrating if the attack roll was 10 or higher, her defenses feature alternating Combat Reflexes and Super Senses, and she even adds on some Perplex, another special with Shape Change, and late-dial Exploit Weakness. The new version of the high flying Rogue in her classic costume shrinks a bit from the main set 112 to a svelte 99 but that brings you a nice long dial with a special combo of Charge/Sidestep, a special power letting her steal the printed combat value and power of her choice from a hit character, and further good “brick” powers like Super Strength, Toughness, Precision Strike, Willpower, and Exploit Weakness. Both X-Women offer new assets for the team base as well, with the former giving a Solo Adventurer Shape Change and the latter giving Rogue on an Adventurer a power from one of her allies!
The new all new figure in the X-Men kit is one of my favorite Marvel characters, Angel! Warren Worthington has gone through several dramatic shifts of appearances and powers in his heroic career, transitioning from feathered wings to blue skin and metal wings, then back to feathers, etc. The Wolverine and the X-Men Gold Strike Force team base came with an awesome 99 point Archangel, and the new Angel is an alternative 65 points. Soaring out of late 90’s X-Men comics, Warren flies on angelic wings, has blue skin and blonde hair, and wears his blue and white costume with yellow halo on his chest. The new figure’s dial has Flight and Transporter for Move and Attack ability, and a dial that starts with Force Blast, Toughness, and a special power giving him Close Combat Expert AND preventing opponents in 4 squares from using Stealth! On click three he change over to Charge, Quake, and Super Senses with a little end-dial Exploit Weakness. When attached to the Gold Strike Force team base Angel gives it Energy Shield/Deflection via his asset vs. Archangel’s Sidestep and +3 speed.
Jumping across the pond for the next monthly OP kit is the one with a focus on Excalibur, and it brings three strapping young men (two of whom are mutants). The Captain makes it happen, that is Captain Britain leading the charge on the Excalibur team base. Brian Braddock shares the same sculpt with the previous figure, capturing the mighty character standing on a grassy knoll in his unique Union Jack-inspired costume. With fists balled and held at the ready the Captain looks to his left, in a pose that looks good on its own and perfect on the team base. HeroClix.com will soon be running a feature on this new figure, which we can see that he’s more powerful than his predecessor at 133 points and comes with a trait, Flight, and the Mystics team ability!
The all new figure in this monthly OP kit brings back a character we haven’t seen in HeroClix for quite a while (since 2007’s Mutations and Monsters), Pete Wisdom! Another Brit, Pete is a mutant with the ability to generate “hot knives” for close or ranged fighting. Wisdom has been a member of various teams throughout his heroic history, and with that information and his base you may very well be able to figure out which team base he can join. The figure is really cool, with a stalking Pete wearing his trademark suit and featuring translucent orange hands charged up with thermal energy! We’re going to keep the rest of the details for this figure under wraps, but you’ll be seeing an entire feature on him soon on HeroClix.com.
What we will show you today is the third member of the “Excalibur” monthly OP kit, the American mutant and member of the New Mutants Cannonball! Sam shares the same sculpt with his predecessor, an excellent take on his blasting mutant power that captures him in mid-flight and mid-energy field. The blast around him has a ton of billowing detail and Cannonball inside is fully 3D, sticking out of the energy in the front and the back. The previous leader of the New Mutants was 92 points, and this new experienced version is fully 33 points more expensive. He still has Flight and the X-Men team ability but loses the short range. His predecessor’s dial was all green and white special powers, while the new one changes things up a little bit. First off, he moves through and destroys blocking terrain, and the “Blast Field” trait gives him and adjacent allies Energy Shield/Deflection AND provides Cannonball with Invulnerability when he moves at least 4 squares! He’s slightly slower than before, but gets half a dial of a special power giving him Hypersonic Speed with super knockback before switching to regular Charge. There’s another vanilla attack track, though Sam has learned from his teachers and can land hits with better numbers. With his defense taken care of by the trait, Cannonball gets a few scattered clicks of Willpower, and a mid-dial special power deals penetrating damage to adjacent enemies when Sam moves and there are no allies to get in the way! The mutant is very team friendly with Avengers, New Mutants, X-Force, and X-Men keywords, and when attached to the New Mutants team base lets it use Invincible instead of its printed power after it moves.
The Marvel HeroClix monthly OP kits are already making a huge splash at local stores with the X-Men, bringing figures that are great on their own and provide more options and flexibility for their team bases. Together with the DC sets (Gen13 out now and upcoming Justice League), they’re a really cool new way to get players excited about weekly and monthly events, and if you’re interested in them you should contact your local store or check out the “Find a Store” feature on HeroClix.com. If you missed it, you can check out the DC Comics Monthly OP Kit figures (featuring our exclusive reveal of Wonder Girl!) HERE. Next time we’ll be moving up from figures in OP kits to this year’s Convention Exclusive LEs!
Visit HeroClix.com for even more info as well as downloads of rules and maps, and check Figures.com regularly as we continue our exclusive reviews of new HeroClix!
Review and photos by Scott Rubin
Review samples courtesy of WizKids Games
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