Falcon is character that did very well in the Pre-Releases and Marquees (and made a good showing on several Sinister qualifying teams in WWC), and besides the occasional LE Sam Wilson flying around, there hasn’t been a lot of lovin’ for this extremely cost effective character.

While he isn’t a huge name in the Marvel Universe, he is in several popular comic runs and is always a quality contributor, this continues with his efficiency in HeroClix form.

The general rule is that most Falcons can greatly benefit from Nanobots and even Heightened Reflexes, but the feat assignment is all up to you.

So, on to the reviews:

Rookie:
Pts: 30
TA: None
Range: 0 ]
Recommended Pt Total Usage: 200-300

The rookie Falcon lacks in powers, but is a good overall figure. He is only 30 pts, and he starts with charge with an 8 movement, 8 attack, 15 defense w/ Energy Shield, and 2 damage. Obviously this isn’t stellar, but he is extremely nice in many situations.

The 2nd click is the same except for no charge, which stinks, and this is also the end of his power set. The next 4 clicks are a bunch of 8 and 7 attacks with steadily combat values across the board.

With these stats, his real strength is in length of dial. 6 clicks, and that is 6 clicks of not less than 6 speed, 7 attack, and 13 defense. He is not a damage dealer in any sense of the term, but he is useful for carrying in close combat fighters in on his charges and parking them next to people.

The main reason that over 300 pts is such a bad idea is because he just can’t damage a lot of character above the 300 pt level, once there you’re facing high defenses, bricks, etc, and his damage and attack stats won’t be a big contributor when he can’t hit or damage anything.

With this taxi role, he also fits in nicely for clean up duty. If you opponent has a downed fig you know only has a few clicks left, charge with Falcon carrying someone like Mockingbird and you’ll create all kinds of trouble with two figs who can hit a 15 defense with 50% probability.

The biggest question out there is why use him over a R or E Lockjaw, and really the only answer I can come up with is Falcon is more of an attacker but still qualifies as a decent mastermind fodder and wouldn’t be a bad option for 2 or 3 of them on a LAMP Team, but Lockjaw is more efficient for overall survivability, not attack.

A 200 Pt Team with R Falcon:

R-Falcon
E-Mockingbird w/ T-Bolts
U-Nick Fury w/ Protected
E-Songbird w/ T-Bolts
R-Dr. Mid-Nite
200

This team is built around Fury and his powers, with Songbird providing TK, Falcon the taxi and tie up, and Mockingbird for finish off. Picking Batman or Mystics would work well on this team for your T-Bolted TA.


Experienced:

Pts: 46
TA: Avengers
Range: 0 ]
Recommended Pt Total Usage: 200-400

This Falcon has a little more experience and is now a member of the Avengers. He has plenty of fun on his dial, with the starting 8 movement charge, 9 attack, 15 defense ES/D, and 3 damage. This makes him more of an attacker instead of pure taxi, and with his Avengers TA he can Thunderbolt or Alpha Flight and make him arguably deadlier.

The middle of his dial sports an 8 attack, 8 and 7 speeds, and ES/D and then Willpower. This stage of the dial is useful for blocking LOF and generally pressing the advance of your team on the enemy. The final clicks are fun if your opponent doesn’t know they are coming. He regains charge with a 6 speed on his final 2 clicks, then pops up to a 16 and 17 defense. This is fun late game when your opponent can’t hit those higher defenses. It’s also fun to time it so your opponent hits you into that 17 defense if you preempt it right.

The best trick if you want to get usage out of your Falcon is to Thunderbolt him to Green Lantern, and have him carry around a bunch of close combat little guys, making your opponent have a huge problem on his hands in lower point games.

This Falcon is generally tougher, but if you don’t T-Bolt a TA that requires to him to live a long time, just use him like the Rookie, for Tie-Up and carrying up friendly figs for basing people.

A 300 Pt Team with E Falcon:

E-Falcon w/ T-Bolts, Protected, and ICwO (Green Lantern)
U-Longshot w/ ICwO and Nanobots
V-Blade w/ ICwO
R-Mockingbird
U-Ka-Zar w/ ICwO
R-Dr. Mid-Nite
299

This team is built around Falcon carrying the stealthers up front, with Longshot being independent of the tank and running around and creating all kinds of havoc with his 19 defense up close.

The B/C/F duo of Ka-Zar and Blade should do a lot of damage before they are taken out.


A 400 Pt “Secret Avengers” Team with E Falcon:

E-Falcon w/ T-Bolts
V-AW Cap America w/ T-Bolts and Lucky Break
LE-Nathaniel Summers
U-Spiderwoman w/ T-Bolts
E-Sin. Daredevil
399

You can pick whatever TA you like for them, Batman would probably work best.



Veteran:

Pts: 57
TA: None
Range: 0 ]
Recommended Pt Total Usage: 200-300

This Falcon has the staying power that the Rookie doesn’t with the Powers of the Experienced. While he has no TA, he does have a long (7 click) dial, and now has 3 of his 4 starting clicks sporting a 3 damage. The late dial charge is still there, as well is the mid-dial willpower, but the jump up to 10 attack and 3 damage mid-dial is nice to surprise other figs with if they don’t know it’s coming.

The vet is a bit of a mystery usage wise. With his sort of spendy price tag, he can’t be used as a strict taxi, but his stats are great enough to warrant a pure attack thought. So, it’s back to carrying a close combat fig up with him.

This isn’t his only role, but if you stick him on your team solely to fill the first strike role, he won’t last long so bring him some company along.

A 300 Pt Team w/ V Falcon:

V-Falcon w/ ICwO
U-AW Wolverine w/ ICwO, Protected, and Auto Regen
LE-Clarice Ferguson
E-SHIELD Sniper
R-Green Flame
R-Domino
R-Dr. Mid-Nite
Lian Harper Pog
300

Falcon charges carrying Wolvie, who should be carried up so Falcon can pick him up by Green Flame. SHIELD Sniper is in there clean up and fire support.



LE-Sam Wilson

Pts: 53
TA: SHIELD
Range: 0 ]
Recommended Pt Total Usage: 200-400

LE Sam Wilson easily has the scariest starting click of the 5 Falcon versions. With his 10 movement charge, 9 attack, 17 defense with Willpower, and 3 damage with Leadership he is a swiss army knife of trouble in the right situation. He is a great taxi with willpower, action provider with leadership, and can really move when he has to.

The best part is, his starting click isn’t the end of his usefulness. The next two clicks sport charge with ES/D and 2 damage, the attack goes down to 8 and stays there, but, at the end of his dial he hits Willpower again, only this time he has CCE as well. His attack doesn’t go below 7 so he is a great bargain all around for his points.

Compared to other Falcons, he may not have the snappy late dial charge, but chances are he won’t really be able to use it if your opponent plinks him once or twice, and odds are he is going to be stuck next to his charge target anyway.

One common use for Sam is putting him on a SHIELD team and using Inspiring Command, this works very well since most SHIELD figs except 3 are under Sam’s point cost, so don’t be bashful about throwing him in, you’ll be glad you did when your snipers are hammering people into the ground without pushing.

This version of Falcon is the true bird of prey, he has performed VERY well for me in the past, and I hope to use him soon on other teams.

A 400 Pt Team with Sam Wilson:

LE-Sam Wilson w/ ICwO and Protected
E-Mockingbird w/ T-Bolts
E-SHIELD Sniper
V-FF Hawkeye w/ T-Bolts (Batman), ICwO, Protected, and Trick Shot
E-Songbird w/ T-Bolts
R-Scarlet Witch
R-Green Flame
R-Dr. Mid-Nite
400

This team defines the term mobile. With running shot, charge, stealth, TK, free movers, and a dedicated Taxi it will literally fly across the board when you need it to. Sam is the tie-up carrying Mockingbird, Hawkeye is the main cannon, Green Flame carries around the Sniper for a deadly 39 pts mobile sniping unit, and Mid-Nite and Scarlet Witch provide PC and Support.

A 500 Pt Unrestricted SHIELD Team:

LE-Sam Wilson w/ Inspiring Command and Protected
U-Mystique w/ Camouflage and Lucky Break
U-Nick Fury w/ Inspiring Command and Protected
R-Ult. Hawkeye w/ Trick Shot
3xE SHIELD Snipers
2xR-Mandroid Armor
2xV Sin. Shield Agent
2xV-SHIELD Medic
499

Tons of TK, taxis, and with Sam Nick running around you have plenty of leadership and if you position correctly most figs won’t take pushing damage.


Snap Wilson:

Pts: 60
TA: None
Range: 6 ]
Recommended Pt Total Usage: 200-400

This version of Falcon was built for multi-purpose killing. While he doesn’t do any one thing well, he does a little bit of everything.

His starting click has a 10 movement w/ Charge, the highest starting attack of the Falcons at 10, 16 defense with Energy Shield, and 2 damage. Now he also has a 6 range, and that added range factor benefits him greatly if he doesn’t want to go charging into the teeth of the opposition and just feels content to snipe.

The next click sports toughness, which, while nice, probably won’t get used very much. I’m not a huge advocate of giving powers for one click, and since he has ES/D starting, unless he pushes onto Toughness he’ll probably get shot/hit right by it, so it’s not a power to rely on certainly. This isn’t to say Snap isn’t push friendly, because he is.

The next two clicks are just odd. The earthbound makes him a non-flyer, but he gains nicely timed powers in Combat Reflexes and CCE. This makes him dangerous even if he lands, and with the higher defenses make tie-up even more worth it when in most cases you have to punch him.

His final three clicks are scary as well, with two clicks of 10 movement charge an the last having an 8 with charge, with the first having the ES/D, and the last two sporting willpower. The attacks also don’t go below 8 (except for the last click) and the damage doesn’t go below 2. Odd? Yes, but incredibly useful.

Snap is a one bird army in some cases, but he does need some help getting to his destination and staying there. Again, it is a good idea to have a character to carry around with him like Mockingbird, but the figure also shouldn’t be entirely close combat because Snap will be using his range some of the time as well.

A 300 Pt Team w/ Snap Wilson:

LE-Snap Wilson w/ Heightened Reflexes and Nanobots
V-Blade w/ Auto Regen
V-Lockjaw w/ Double Time
E-Icons Joker w/ Armor Piercing
R-Dr. Mid-Nite
Franklin Richards Pog
300

Snap runs around with Blade and Joker supports both with poison.


I hope you see that Falcon can be a worthwhile investment no matter what version you have. He is underrated and very powerful on the right team and with the right backup.

Now Joeldad, i read your reviews, and builds, and i must say, I'm impressed. I just have one question. Falcon R/E/V, and LE are all ok, but 2 damage and charge just doesn't cut it for me. And when he takes one hit, he becomes garbage. So can you explain to me why he, and pieces like him (DR. Angel) are considered good?

To me Falcon or vet Falcon is an improvement over a figure we once played before "Carter Hall". If you like playing Carter Hall (LE Hawkman) before then if you look at the dials of Vet Falcon you will see an improvement over Carter hall (specifically both defense and offense).

Now that I am saying that Falcon is good and all but he actually made my team weak in the Battle Royale due to he can't hit. I rolled two critical misses with him on winning blows. Anyway, I think he is still a good flyer with a deep dial.

I particularly like LE Sam Wilson because he's got one of the better starting clicks for a flyer out there, and for 53 pts he is perfect as a third string attacker and even a pure taxi/finish off.

It's not something that on paper looks good, but on a 400 Pt version of a SHIELD team with Invincible and Nick Fury, he did excellent as a taxi and tie up fig after Nick shot and Invincible plinked.

Just try one of them and you'll see what they can do, it's a little hard to explain what exactly he does because he does a lot.

Just a small point, but if you're going to complain about a figure not being able to hit, you should complain about low attack values as opposed to your inablity to roll something other than a critical miss. It wouldn't matter if he had a 20 attack if you continue to roll critical misses.