Ever face a figure or team you can't seem to take down? Then this is the series for you. We take a deeper look into those problematic pieces and Exploit their Weaknesses! In this edition, we take a look at the arch enemy of "America's Ass" Captain America!

Click "Full Story" below as we analyze this awesome figure and Exploit its Weaknesses

Thanks for joining me in another installment of Exploiting Weaknesses! As with the other articles' precursors, Pulse Wave will not be discussed as it is almost always effective. If it isn't effective, I will point out why.

Here is the dial for reference,



Things that tell me I may need my own Cosmic Cube:

- 8 clicks of life w/ initial high defense and reducers full dial
- Running Shot/Pulse Wave combo
- Power Cosmic
- Super Poison
- Free Mind Control
- Man-Thing Shall Humble You

Exploiting Red Skull’s Weaknesses

This is one beastly figure to deal with. At a whopping 23 points per click, he has the makings of a solid tent pole, regardless if you start him with a cosmic cube or not (the price per click would then increase to 25 points per click)! Not only will he be a solid attack, he can manipulate your team to make sure the other 100-115 points of his team can be more effective. Prepare yourselves and be on the lookout for this power house figure!

Starting things off with the dial, 8 clicks of life, tons of reducers, Move and Attack powers, and initial threat range of 14 all shows us just how brutal he could be. Top click he has a 19 defense with Invincible that can easily turn into a 20 since he has perplex. He can shoot us if he starts within 14 squares and would still be dishing out a 12 atk/ 4 dmg stat line. He could get closer to try to utilize that Pulse Wave, that would be a range of 10 squares max. Mid-dial lends itself to some Charge in order to best use Poison as well as 5 clicks of Impervious. We have some options to keep us relatively safe until we can make the attack. No improved abilities means we can use everything at our disposal. Blocking/Barrier and Elevated are going to slow his roll as well as block his lines of fire. Hindering will give us a boost on defense to help against his 12 attack but combo with Stealth and you are safer. Penetrating damage won't help top click, instead we just need to get 1 damage through so we can open him up for Psy Blast or Exploit Weakness. RCE will certainly help in that department as we can get the help of an attack and damage modifier if needed. CCE will work similarly but required getting closer than you may be comfortable with. ESD also helps mitigate the 12 attack and with the damage not being penetrating, reducers will help keep you alive. You could choose to tie him up and make it really hard on him if you use one with Super Senses and Shape Change. Being that he is Power Cosmic, we are practically helpless in trying to outwit any of his powers.

When we do finally hit him down the dial, we have to make sure to keep our distance even more. He will only have 4 movement on a Charge but he could just move all 7 and tie you up. In either case, he'll be looking to get off his Heat of Hades power. This will give him Poison but will deal damage equal to your action tokens +1. So that would be either 1, 2, or 3 damage to you. Unlike having 2 poisoners adjacent, this is going to be a full 2 or 3 damage, not 2 or 3 instances of 1 damage. That means our Invulnerability and Invincible won't keep us from taking 1 damage at least. Of course, keeping tokens off yourself by not pushing or using Leadership will help mitigate this as well. You could also use TK or Mind Control against him to try to reposition him in a way he can't use the Poison or get him to a spot in hindering so he can only charge for 2 squares or you can use Smoke Cloud/Barrier to keep him at bay in lieu of actual terrain.

The Matchless Master of Mankind is what gives him perplex but also Leadership. It can be good for his support crew as it allows him to keep them with him and also making sure they don't push. But the main benefit on a successful roll is he can use Mind Control. To do this, he has to also remove an action token from one of your guys but then he can Mind Control that same figure for FREE. He doesn't even need range or line of fire! Now it would be short sighted for me to just state have Battle Fury - you probably won't be making a team full of those characters. Super Senses and Shape Change are great defenses against Mind Control. Our usual blocking/elevated/stealth won't work for this since he doesn't need line of fire. So the issue now becomes keeping safe once he pulls us out of formation. That is harder to predict and plan for. The best thing is to get those Defenses as high as you can to help him miss his attack (ESD will still function, a tie up piece will mean he can't range attack with MC, and defend can help get friendlies higher quickly as well). You can also try to carry, if able, your attackers and only token non-essential figures. He must remove a token so if the figures you are worried about don't have a token there is nothing he can do to them for the most part. You could use barrier and the map in combo to attempt to block you team in completely. This way whoever he MCs won't be able to escape formation.

Lastly, he has another fun trait in This Man-Thing Shall Humble You. Yet another Bystander generator, this one is pretty good with Charge and Super Strength. With an 11 atk/ 3 damage and Indomitable, that is one powerful 0 point piece! It is outwitable and also can't use Improved abilities so many of the same strategies will work. However, the way he is generated will make this more difficult. He can generate it next to a figure that attacked Red Skull. This means we have to account for 8 spaces to eliminate this power from ever being used. You can take up some of those squares with barrier and your other figures. But if you are playing a tent pole as well, that isn't as easy. Some maps provide some good cover in having narrow passages. It is possible to attack from these positions and then have a supporting figure place themselves or barrier in the only open squares, thus cutting off the Artificial Being. When attacking the Being, Range attacks work best if you can't outwit his Combat Reflexes. Incap when he is already 2 tokened or Poison can also work well without having to devote too many resources to taking care of a 0 point piece.

That's all I have this time! Until next time, always look for the chinks in the armor and Exploit your opponent's Weaknesses!

Got him in a sealed - pretty good figure! The way to beat him is to base him.

The Blue Cube, ironically the one he doesn't come with, is quite nasty on him, potentially increasing his threat range and eliminating 2 of the things that could hinder or block LOF, or token people to combo with his special poison, or just allow for a clean "breakaway". Only reason to use the cube he comes with on him is if you had the spare points in sealed, or you just don't have the blue Cube yet. However, if so it isn't as bad as putting it on any other characters who lack Cosmic, since he gets to start with it and you're only paying 15 points instead of 30. In that case save the FREE action for when you really need it, like if he gets hit to the EBN clicks, your opponent will likely not give you a defence boost, so then you just choose Regeneration and even if you immediately drop it you're happy.

Great memories of Tales of Suspense #80.

I think thanos might be the bigger threat here...