I thought I'd start a more general thread on some advice I've been offering to various teams in Combat Formations.

I don't think it is necessarily a good idea to use Alpha Flight on the SR Scarlet Witch.

OK, I know what you are thinking...Alpha Flight costs ZERO points, and with all the high Defense Values, I may want that +1 attack! Besides, the free move TA is LAME!

My responses:

First consider that SR Scarlet Witch is a budget-costed piece...so by using her, you are practically guaranteeing that your team will have more than 1 figure per 100 points...which means that you may very likely need all your alloted actions to move figures.

Next, consider that Scarlet Witch is a TAXI. While she is a free-mover, you can use her to move TWO pieces without spending an alloted action!

Also, consider that she has powers that require careful positioning (Barrier, Prob Control)...not to mention that her movement is rather low and her natural range isn't that great. So getting her in position to do her stuff is now costing you an action each turn!

By herself, the Alpha Flight feat isn't doing much for her...she is rarely a front line attacker, and as I point out...she doesn't have great move/range to be a big part of the offense. She can offer the ATA to Wildcards (which is a plus), but again it means that the Wild Cards have likely lost use of the free move. And I can guarantee that even a Wild Card abuse team will be assigned more move actions than attacks against the Alpha Flight target.

Finally: Many strategies involve a feat like Contingency Plan that requires the building up of spare actions. (See also the Chief's Special White Power). The free move is critical to help this happen.

I think that is good advice. I still think is needs to be considered for wild card copying ability, but I alos stopped putting it on her a while back. I found the free move is actually more useful.

I'm glad someone else realizes it. Most people won't listen, though.

I actually started thinking about this a while back when I made a "mystical" team, and had intended to put Alpha Flight on SR Switch, but forgot to bring it. It turned out that had I *not* had the free move (despite also having JLA Zatanna) I would have likely lost the event.