Welcome back to another episode of Comic Book Battles! This week, we are starting on an epic journey. That's right, we're going to go through the entire Avengers Vs. X-Men event. Every battle, every moment of drama, recreated with Clix!

I chose to do this event for a few reasons: It was a recent event, and had it's own Clix set, making it easy to recreate. Also, it was a very combat-focused event that featured tons of team battles. Finally, I wanted to share the event in its entirety and show off what I thought was a pretty great comic book event. I happen to own the AvX omnibus in hardback, which came with it's own digital copy as well. I also have digital copies of most of the tie-in issues as well.

The Comic Book



"Prologue"
Writers Brian Michael Bendis, Jason Aaron
Pencilers Frank Cho
Inkers Frank Cho
Colourists Jason Keith
Letterers Chris Eliopoulos
Editors Tom Brevoort, Nick Lowe, Lauren Sankovitch, John Denning

I'm breaking this issue, aptly titled "Prologue", into two parts because it is in fact two separate stories. This first part opens on a motorcade moving through the streets of New York. Some unseen figures are targeting it, and are spotted by the secret service. "Good. I want them to see us. I want them to see every second." The unseen mastermind declares, before revealing himself as MODOK!



A brief history on MODOK: Appearing in the late 60's, MODOK was once a man named George Tarleton who worked for a technologically obsessed organization called Advanced Idea Mechanics, or A.I.M. He was altered with advanced mutagenics into MODOK in an attempt to create a supercomputer capable of unlocking the secrets of the Cosmic Cube. Unfortunately, MODOK proved to be ambitious and deadly, and quickly took control of the organization. He's been fighting against heroes, primarily Captain America, ever since.

MODOK is about to blast the poor doctor that the motorcade was protecting, when his psychic blast misfires. How is this possible? Well, it's pretty easy to do when you're the Scarlet Witch, whose probability-controlling mutant powers allow for almost any possibility to occur.



MODOK recognizes her, and it's time for another brief history lesson. Scarlet Witch, Wanda Maximoff, also debuted in the 60's as a member of the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. Her history has been retconned a few times, but the prevailing theory until very recently was that she was the daughter of Magneto and sister of Quicksilver. She and her brother chose to give up a life of crime and join the Avengers shortly after their first appearance, and has been a part of the team ever since.

That is, until her mental instability started to get the best of her. A lot of crazy comic-book stuff has happened to her over the years. She fell in love with Vision and Wonder Man, who share the same brain patterns. She conceived twins via magic, then had them taken away from her when they turned out to be soul shards of Mephisto. Then she learns how to channel "Chaos Magic" and can warp reality. She gets possessed by an evil entity while working with Dr. Doom to resurrect her not-really-children and goes crazy, killing a few avengers including Vision. Then later on she gets mad at dear ol' dad and says the infamous line "No more mutants", which depowers 90% of the mutant population.

MODOK knows the gist of all of this, of course.



He begins chiding her, mocking her for her failures, and tells his minions to finish the job before every broken hero comes out to play. Too late.



Ms. Marvel (she hasn't graduated to Captain until after this event) and Spider-Woman show up to punch a few A.I.M minions around.



After the fight, Scarlet Witch decides she's not ready to rejoin the world yet, and tries to leave. Ms. Marvel isn't having any of that. She convinces Scarlet Witch to come back to Avengers Mansion and be around friends.



Well, Carol didn't think that through too well. They show up at the mansion and Vision greets them at the door. He tells Wanda to leave, that Avengers Mansion is no home for her anymore. Wanda says she knows, and starts crying. Ms. Marvel carries her away. Vision turns and walks away, only then allowing himself to cry. Sadness.

Winner: Spider-Woman? Maybe?

The Battle

The map for this battle is Gotham City Streets. This is my go-to street map, which has a fair amount of hindering terrain and elevated rooftops with stairwell access. It's just what I want from a street map.



The combatants were very easy to choose. Like I said, that's one of the things I love about recreating AvX. Plenty of available figures for everyone involved.

avx006e U Scarlet Witch
Team: Avengers|Mystics
Range: 8
Points: 100
Keywords: Avengers, Mystical

9 10 16 3

9 9 16 2

9 9 16 2

8 8 15 2

8 8 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) No More Mutants: Once per game, give Scarlet Witch a double power action and choose a team ability. Any other character that can use that team ability must roll a d6 that can't be rerolled and if the result is 1 - 5, that character can't use the chosen team ability for the rest of the game.

(Defense) Mystical Wards: Scarlet Witch can use Energy Shield/Deflection. When Scarlet Witch is hit with an attack, the roll is ignored and the attacker must roll again. This new roll can't be rerolled or ignored.

(Damage) Casting Spells: Scarlet Witch can use Perplex, Probability Control, and Support.

cw023 V Ms. Marvel
Team: Avengers
Range: 0
Points: 110
Keywords: Avengers, Soldier, S.H.I.E.L.D.

9 10 17 4

8 9 17 3

8 9 16 3

8 10 16 3

8 9 17 2

7 9 16 3

6 9 16 3

6 8 16 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Attack) Radiant Burst: Ms. Marvel can use Energy Explosion as if she had a range of 7 and 2 targets.

cw037 V Spider-Woman
Team: Avengers
Range: 5
Points: 82
Keywords: Avengers, Detective, Hydra, Lady Liberators, S.H.I.E.L.D., Spy, S.W.O.R.D.

8 10 17 3

8 9 16 3

7 10 17 2

7 9 17 2

7 9 16 3

6 9 16 2

6 8 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Damage) Pheromones: Give Spider-Woman a free action. She may modify the attack value of an adjacent friendly character by +1 and she may modify the defense value of an adjacent opposing character by -1 until your next turn.

That comes to a total of 291 points with an Avengers Theme Team bonus. Now, let's take a look at the Maniacal MODOK and Co.

ca050 V MODOK
Team: Hydra
Range: 7
Points: 160
Keywords: A.I.M., Intelligencia, M.O.D.O.K.'s 11, Scientist

9 11 18 4

8 11 17 4

8 10 17 4

8 10 16 3

8 10 16 3

7 9 16 3

7 9 16 3

6 9 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Special) All Head: MODOK can't use the Carry ability.

(Attack) Psychic Bomb: MODOK can use Pulse Wave. When he does, choose a keyword that MODOK possesses. Friendly characters with the chosen keyword are not affected by this use of Pulse Wave.

I also gave him the Intelligencia additional team ability and the Nanoarmor and Scatter! feats. And for his crew, we have 3 of these bad boys:

ih003 R A.I.M. Agent
Team: Hydra
Range: 5
Points: 38
Keywords: A.I.M., Scientist

7 9 15 1

6 8 15 1

5 9 14 1

4 8 13 .

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Attack) Minion: When You Get Thrown Out of Grad School...: When a friendly character with the A.I.M. keyword and a higher point value is within 8 squares, A.I.M. Agent can use Energy Explosion.

The total comes to 292 points with an A.I.M. Theme Team bonus.

Starting Locations:
Ms. Marvel - F23
Spider-Woman - E23
Scarlet Witch - G23

MODOK - G1
A.I.M. Agent 1 - F2
A.I.M. Agent 2 - G2
A.I.M. Agent 3 - H2

The Avengers win the starting roll-off. Spider-Woman moves up to G16. Ms. Marvel carries Scarlet Witch over to L14, picking up a heavy object and dropping Scarlet Witch off at K14.

MODOK fails his leadership roll. AIM1 moves upstairs to J7. AIM2 moves up with him to K7. AIM3 moves up to G6.

Scarlet Witch says "No more Hydra" and removes the team ability from everyone except AIM3. She takes a push damage from the double power action. Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel clear.

MODOK moves to G5, and everyone else clears.

Spider-Woman moves to E9 in hindering terrain, hoping to make good use of her stealth. Ms. Marvel flies up to L7, getting into melee with AIM2. Scarlet Witch clears.

AIM3 moves to F9, into melee with Spider-Woman. AIM2 perplexes AIM1's attack, and AIM1 perplexes his own damage, then fires at Scarlet Witch. He hits with a 20. Scarlet Witch uses her Probability Control to force a reroll, which also hits with a 20. She takes 3 damage. AIM1 takes 1 damage from the Mystics team ability that the Witch possesses. MODOK clears.

Scarlet Witch moves to J12, in hindering terrain to take advantage of her stealth. Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel clear.



MODOK uses running shot, moving to L9 and shoots at Ms. Marvel, rolling a miss with a 15. AIM1 & 2 perplex up AIM2's defense in preparation for Ms. Marvel smash him. The AIM crew clear.

Ms. Marvel swings the heavy object at AIM2 and...misses with a 16. Scarlet Witch says "aw hell nah!" and uses probability control to allow her to reroll into...a 14. Sigh. Heavy object is destroyed and AIM2 thanks the flying spaghetti monster for his improved lifespan. Spider-Woman punches AIM3 and rolls a 14, which HITS thanks to Pheromones. AIM3 takes 3 damage, thanks to his Toughness. Scarlet Witch clears.

AIM1 & 2 perplex AIM2's damage. AIM2 swings at Ms. Marvel and hits with a 20. Even with Invulnerability, Ms. Marvel takes 1 damage. MODOK clears.

Scarlet Witch shoots at MODOK, missing with a 15. "For real, though" she says, probability controlling it into...a 14. Gonna be one of those games. Spider-Woman and Ms. Marvel clear.

AIM1 perplexes MODOK's damage and AIM2 perplexes his attack. MODOK then unleashes a Psychic Blast on Ms. Marvel, hitting with a 24 and dealing a whopping 5 damage to her. AIM3 clears.



Ms. Marvel Attacks AIM2 and hits with a 20 for 3 damage, stealing 1 click of healing with Steal Energy. Spider-Woman attacks AIM3 and hits with a 14, KOing him. Scarlet Witch shoots MODOK, missing with a 16, then probability controlling it to an 18, finally hitting for 2 damage. MODOK succeeds in his Impervious roll and takes 0 damage instead.

AIM1 breaks away from Ms. Marvel, since he could really only heal her at this point, moving to J6. AIM1 perplexes his damage and shoots at Ms. Marvel, hitting with a 19 and dealing 2 damage. The damage is reduced to 1 from her Toughness. MODOK tries to finish her off with another Psychic Blast, but misses with a 14, taking a push damage.

Ms. Marvel charges MODOK, trying to go out at least dealing some damage to the big guy, moving to L8. She then promptly misses with a 14. Spider-Woman and Scarlet Witch clear.

Everyone clears, with AIM1 perplexing his own defense because he's selfish like that.

Spider-Woman shoots at AIM2, hitting with an 18 and KOing him. Scarlet Witch shoots at AIM1 and misses with a 14, then probability controls that into an 11...still missing. Ms. Marvel clears.

MODOK punches Ms. Marvel and hits on a 20 and KOing her. AIM1 moves to M9.



Scarlet Witch shoots at MODOK, but I then realized that was stupid since she could only deal damage on a crit, which she didn't get. Spider-Woman could still hit him though, and does with an 18. MODOK fails his impervious roll and takes a damage.

MODOK moves to K11 to melee Scarlet Witch, and AIM1 follows him to J11.

Scarlet Witch punches at AIM1, but misses, even with Probability Control. AIM1 then perplexes MODOKs damage and he punches Scarlet Witch with an 18, KOing her, taking 1 damage from Mystics in return. Spider-Woman manages to take out the last AIM agent, but it's too late. The fearsome visage of MODOK is upon her, and she gets head-butted to death.

Winner: MODOK!

I had a lot of fun with this one. It was an exercise in learning to use Probability Control and Perplex, that's for sure. I probably could have done a better job with that, but it was a good time nonetheless. MODOK is a beast! Hope you enjoyed this episode, and look forward to next week when we tackle part 2 of this prologue!

another good epidode