so as a noob, we have been playing that for a power, a clear line of fire, without hindering, is needed, and the 2011 rulebook says a hindered line of fire is supposed to be treated as a clear line of fire when considering power and abilities. so does this mean the figure using the power just needs to be 10 spaces away from the target and not have blocking terrain blocking the line of fire?
Does it matter how many blocks of hindering terrain there is between the figure using the power and the target?

Also, i have'nt bought any of the recent sets, so i don't know anything of ATA. Are these cards coming in boosters, or how do you get them? and how are they played? i did'nt really understand the explanation in the rulebook.

any help about "line of fire" for powers and abilites, and how ATA works, would be greatly appreciated.

There are 3 kinds of line of fire: Blocked, Hindered, and Clear. When a power says that your target must be "within line of fire" that means you must be able to draw a clear or hindered LOF to the target. In other words, it cannot be blocked.

A hindered line of fire is hindered if there is one square of hindering terrain between you and the target, two squares, three squares, or all of the squares. It is equally hindered if it is going through one distinct area of hindering terrain or more. They all amount to the same thing.

The square of terrain that the character drawing the line of fire from NEVER counts towards hindering the line of fire. The square of terrain the character targeted by the line of fire ALWAYS counts towards hindering the line of fire.

The only game effect that a hindered line of fire provides is +1 defense to the target. When using a power like Perplex or Outwit, this does not matter as the defense value does not come into play.

The other main way that hindering plays a part if Stealth (or game effects like Batman Ally that let a character use Stealth). In those cases, a hindered line of fire (same definitions as above) is treated like a blocked line of fire (i.e., it cannot be made).

Once you get these basics, there are exceptions and weird cases and things like elevation that make it different. But get these core concepts down first.

As for ATAs....

Once upon a time there were feat cards that allowed you to replace the team ability on certain characters. These were orange bordered and were found in boosters. When WizKids went away from including cards in boosters, they started putting feat cards (including ATAs) into the OP kits that stores used for prize support.

Nowadays, the prize kits don't typically include feats. What's more, all of the feat-ATAs were banned and they were replaced with black-border ATAs. The new ATAs are different in a few ways.

Firstly, they were released as print-n-play elements on WK.com. Instead of pulling one from a booster, you can click it and print it and use it. There are resources elsewhere that collects these in an easier to find format.

Secondly, instead of being team symbol based, all ATAs are now keyword based. Much more flavorful for the game.

Lastly, ATAs are "evergreen", meaning they never float out of Modern Age. Which means we'll be seeing Thunderbolts for a long time, I'm guessing.

so feats are no longer used and we can only use the the the ATA with the black borders? is that correct? and so the ATA cards are now just printed off the web?

thanks for the info on the LOF, makes 100% more sense now

And if you're looking for all the current ATAs on one convenient printable image, you can go here: http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showth...65#post5673365

I'm guessing I'll have to do some magic to make it look as nice as it does there, once we get new ATA's and I need to update the image, but I'll find some way to make it work. The image is high enough resolution so you can print it out poster sized as well, if you want to hang it at your venue.

ok great thanks, and when using an ATA that is, ex, 3 points, and i have three characters that share the keywords, then it is 9 points (3 points X 3 figures) that go against my total team build value?

Yes.

"ADDITIONAL TEAM ABILITIES
Additional Team Ability (ATA) cards can be added to your force if the characters on your team meet the prerequisite listed on the card. Each ATA card indicates the cost per character that must be added to your force in order to use it in the game; all characters that meet the prerequisites must be assigned the ATA and your force’s Build Total is affected accordingly.[...]"
(from the rulebook)

ok thanks for the explanation, and again i'm sorry if i sound repetitive but i just want to make sure we are playing the game according to the rules

Don't feel sorry, it's good to see a new player make sure he plays the game the right way, and that's what this part of the forum is all about anyway.
(and I quoted the rulebook just so you knew I was basing my reply on the actual rules)