I normally don't look for these things as they take away from the flavor of the game. This time however I was forced to.

For fun, I was reading the play tips on all the characters, and I ran across something interesting while reading the tips for Klaw.

Klaw is a sonic boom waiting to happen. Ranging from 60 to 74 to 90 points, Klaw is one of the more versatile figures out there. The cheaper Rookie is a free agent who can light up his opponents from 10 squares away with his expert ranged attack. The Experienced Klaw is a Minion of Doom and at 74 points perhaps the best buy in the game. With a high attack value and a friendly figure with Blades/Claws/Fangs, Klaw attains a level of frightening only reached by the most powerful figures. The Veteran Klaw is a member of the Masters of Evil, the largest organization in the game thus far. The M of E’s special ability allows Klaw to join four other figures to create a fearsome ranged-attack force.

That last line is the kicker.

The M of E’s special ability allows Klaw to join four other figures to create a fearsome ranged-attack force.

Suddenly I looked back at the play tips for Masters of Evil.

The Masters of Evil take action conservation to an entirely new level. If you have two or more Masters facing a foe together, they can all attack for one action. This includes ranged attacks if everyone is adjacent. Also, you are not limited to attacking just the adjacent foe with this swarm attack.

Did everybody except me already know about this?? Ranged attacks while adjacent? The way the two playtips are worded, it sounds as if you have 4 M of E's surrounding an opponent, then they can all make ranged attacks. This is definitely something that needs to be addressed and cleared up... or maybe it's 4AM, and I'm not seeing things clearly. But I want to know for sure!

The Masters of Evil ability allows the figures involved to only use one action for the combined attacks, but does not otherwise circumvent or change the rules of combat. A figure may only use ranged combat in the MoE tagteam if he would be able to use that ranged attack on his own.

If the MoE's quarry was a flyer, and Klaw was not adjacent to any opposing grounded figures, then he would be able to make a ranged attack and benefit from RCE. Otherwise, he would not be able to.

The blurbs are meant as flavor text, adding a bit of spice to the character descriptions. Don't take them as rule clarifications or changes.

Not to mention that some of the writeups were based on alpha versions of the rules, like Quasar's 1-6 points of damage with his Range Combat Expert.

I'll agree blurbs are meant as flavor text. But what I gave was not a blurb of any sort. It was a PLAY TIP. As in tips for how to play. Also if you read the last line of the Masters of Evil PLAYTIP, "Also, you are not limited to attacking just the adjacent foe with this swarm attack."

How do you explain this one, even if you were to assume the target was a flyer (which the playtip says nothing about)? So long as M of E's are adjacent to an enemy, they can swarm against a DIFFERENT opponent not adjacent to them.

I'll buy KneelB4Zodd's explanation that this could be an "alpha" or "beta" version of this ability that was changed, and they forgot to change the play tip. If so, it really needs to be addressed in a FAQ or simply deleted from the website. Players going to www.wizkidsgames.com to get pointers on how to best use some characters will read this on Klaw and suddenly have legitimate documented evidence that four M of E's working together can make ranged attacks against an opponent with one action so long as they're adjacent to an enemy figure.

(I can't blame this on the 4AM thing anymore. I woke up, read carefully over the play tip again, and it's still boggling my mind.) The Quasar 1-6 damage thing is the strongest case against this discovery. But even if you were to argue that the play tip can't overrule the common knowledge no ranged attacks while adjacent rule, the Masters of Evil rule still has one fatal flaw. It states that so long as 2 or more M of E figures are adjacent to a single opponent, they ALL can attack as one. Which could also be interpreted as all the M of E's including the ones not adjacent. Yes that's a reach, and may even be a ridiculous one, but it's just a point made to show that Masters of Evil needs to be written a tad more clearly to avoid any doubt.

The problem is you can't do it with a range attack like they stated in the description. In the PAC it states you must be adjacent to the enemy figure which will nullify RCE unless they are a flier.

The wording in the PAC is perfectly fine.

Just so no one else is confused by this thread:

"When two or more members of the Masters of Evil are adjacent to the same opposing figure, they can all attack that opposing figure using only one of your actions. Mark any character that attacks this way with an action token. All other rules governing attack actions apply as normal. The MoE members must be adjacent to the opposing figure at the beginning of the action, and all attacks must be resolved before moving on to the next action."

Always remember those 2 points when using MoE and you'll be fine:
1) you must attack the opponent you are all adjacent to.
2) the attack you use must still be legal otherwise.

Not to drag this on more than necessary, but TheEnigma ignored my stressed word and bolded some of his own.

It's not a question about the "that opposing figure" part. I'll buy the play tip was based off an old version of the MofE ability.

The question is the "ALL" part. If two or more MofE's are adjacent to an opposing figure, they ALL may attack that opposing figure. All meaning every MofE including the ones not adjacent. That's the part that's not clear.

I'm just going to end this topic now. I know how it's going to end, and I realize Masters of Evil ability is going to go back to the never used pile. I was just excited that I found official documentation allowing Klaw (and the large number of other MofE ranged attackers) to use his ranged combat expert to help his team in a swarm attack, and that it's been trashed some point between the writing of the play tip and the actual release of the figures. It would breathe some life into this team without being too overpowering (since they all still get the action token). I'm not sure why Wizkids decided to tone down the ability to remove the ranged combat aspect. I was just hoping to reach and find some need to revist the rule so that someone on the rules staff would think, wow we forgot to add this part to the rule. Let's fix that!

If you've kept up with MageKnight, you'll know several rules recently underwent a BIG change. Some were made weaker and others more powerful. Aquatic ability for example now adds 2 to ranged defense while in water. So the rules do change... I'm just hoping they make some of the less useful powers and team abilities something to make them more desirable. A four-man Masters of Evil swarm attack would sure bring out some interesting teams, and bring the game into a more themed direction at that.