Hello, gang!

I'm very new to the game and wanted to get some advice on a team I've put together. The team is:

Points: 400/400
Themed Team: Fantastic Four

FFFF#001 Mr. Fantastic - 60
FFFF#005 Spider-Man - 60
FFFF#010 Leech - 20
FFFF#014 Valeria - 20
FFFF#015 Franklin - 20
FFFF#020 The Thing - 60
FFFF#025 Artie - 20
FFFF#036 Dragon Man - 65
F4#035 Human Torch - 75

My basic plan is to move the kids up around Human Torch to let him get some high-damage attacks off with his "Return of the Fantastic Four" ability gaining multiple instances of Enhancement (Same goes for Dragon Man as well). Hopefully those two can punch a hole that the Thing can then step into to score some more points. I've considered making Mr. Fantastic the 40 point version and adding a Thing Robot as well for some free attacks/moves from the kids. I used to have FFFF#019v Invisible Woman in here for her defense on the kids, but it seemed like it was hard to fit her in alongside The Thing, Human Torch and Dragon Man as the tentpoles. Perhaps I could make Spider-Man and Mr. Fantastic the 40 point versions as well to fit her? Right now I liked that Spider-Man kept Perplex past the first click at 60 points but maybe it's worth it to get her Defend and Special.

I'm very new to the game so I don't really have a lot of experience to work with. The team struggled this week at the local shop but I had ordered the wrong version of the Thing so that threw off my planning a little bit, plus I was not experienced enough in how LOF/Movement worked and messed up a lot of opening turns! Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Welcome to the game!

My advice is to not get discouraged with any given force, especially as a new player. It may take you a while to get the hang of how a team plays.

I will offer a few pieces of advice:

1. "Swarm" teams have their own subtleties, both in deployment and combat. It is true that all HeroClix forces should be able to switch strategies when a figure is lost, but with swarms you really have to plan on losing figures.
2. Be very careful about relying on boosts that require adjacency. Experience players will typically not allow you to set up your 'optimal' attack position, especially with ranged attacks.

Here is what i would do for a FFFF team.

Build
20 FFFF010 Leech
20 FFFF025 Artie
25 FFFF037 Adolf Impossible
20 FFFF014 Valeria
75 FFFF006 She-Hulk
75 FFFF022 Ms. Thing
40 FFFF005V Spider-Man
40 FFFF001V Mr. Fantastic
35 FFFF039V Awesome Andy
40 FFFF019V Invisible Woman
+0 Unstable Molecules Map from Cosmic Clash starter
390
Sideline of Mad Thinker, Dr Doom, Wizard, Diablo, High Evolutionary so your team gets +1 attacks against Robots, Fantastic Four, Scientists, Mystical and and Cosmic.

I would position my sidekicks in a formation somewhere near the middle of the map like this and keep the captains away near the back somewhere.

Adolf - Artie - Leech
Valeria -IW
(Valeria can perplex up Artie because Adolf is tiny)

IW Shares 18def with group and they have Super Senses/shape change/leadership thanks to the various captains. The overall goal is to let artie be the super star of the team and send out his big triple mind control every turn, all the leadership rolls should keep him going. He can get perplex help from Valeria/Spiderman and dice replacement with adolf. Also Ms Thing and She hulk let ANY reroll if there is a 4 in it.

After you MC and attack then you run their guys over to your "death squad" which consists of Ms Thing and She Hulk. IW TK helps move em around while you have outwit help from Mr Fantastic and Leech. You can also tweak it around using either Dragon Man, Human Torch or Hammond instead if you prefer.

It does take 400 to make work but it is the best version of the FFFF i found. If you want to branch out to F4 set, Super Rare Thing is a much better option than IW. For 10points more you share 19 def, get -2 perplex and a couple strong attacking bystanders with autonomous.