Welcome to the first ever “Activation Click,” brought to you by the fine folks here at HCRealms. This is the Frontman. This column of mine will be used for strategy, commentary, painting and modding tips and hopefully, some fun for you, the readers. Some of these columns will be for the newer gamer, some will be for the old vet, but if I’ve done a good job, I hope everyone will take something away from what I write. First topic: With the release of Legacy in the near future, the number of “powerhouse” figures will increase.

Figures like KC Superman already cause some headaches, and now with General Zod, Mongul, Ultraman, KC Green Lantern, and Ares all being released on the game at the same time, players will be working on strategies on how to beat these heavy hitters. Here are a few suggestions and strategies*:

(please click on comments below to continue)

1: The easiest counter to a powerhouse is to have one on your team. I know I’m not the only one who is looking forward to the first General Zod/KC Superman face off. There is a problem with this strategy, however. First off, it banks a lot of hope that you are the lucky one when it comes to the dice rolls. If you don’t act before your opponent does, you might not have the staying power with your powerhouse to counter act his. Second, depending on the point size of the game, you could lock up quite a bit of your points into one figure. While it might be tempting, having 260+ points in a 300 point game isn’t sound strategy. I don’t recommend this unless you are playing 500 point games or higher. However, there will be times you don’t count on seeing a powerhouse in a 300-point game, only to find one on the other side of the table. The following are strategies to take care of that possibility.

2: Take away his advantage. Against figures with damage reducing defenses, it might seem daunting or impossible to take down Ares who has his sites set on ruining your afternoon. However, there are quite a few powers that will ignore or take away his impervious/invulnerability. There is always the old stand by Outwit, but also look at Mind Control (big risk here, but can pay off huge if you make the roll) Pulse Wave, Psychic Blast, and Exploit Weakness. All these powers ignore damage reducers, and tend to be on lower cost figures, if only for a few clicks. Keep your characters with these abilities handy and healthy. Ranged/Close Combat expert and Enhancement will cancel out a damage reducer, but figures with these powers don’t always have a high damage value without it. Another good idea is Super Strength with a heavy object, but again, it only will cancel out a damage reducer. The new feat card of “Armour Piercing” will add to this type of strategy, as does the PD/S.H.I.E.L.D. team abilities.

3: Take him out of play. While you might think this means KO him, it really means remove him from hurting your own team. Barrier works well with this strategy, but my favorite is a simple combo. A character with incapacitate and another with incapacitate and willpower can tie up a heavy hitter, who is either going to never get an attack, all the while getting whittled down with a “push” of damage, or will get one action every other turn, again while taking a “push” of damage. You can also use 3 incapacitates to do this, but the more figures you lock into it, the less figures you’ll have to deal with the rest of his team. I used this to great effect, and have also seen it used against me in pickup games when I’ve used KC Superman. Nothing can be more frustrating than to see your powerhouse be locked down by 3 30-point figures like Black Canary/Zatanna/Green Arrow. This strategy can be used against any figure you don’t want to ever get an action off, not just the powerhouse.

4: Ignore him. Many times in strategy games, players will forget the scenario and “default” back to a throw down type strategy. If you are playing a scenario like capture the flag/ save the scientist/breakthrough or anything that taking out your opponent is secondary, I recommend avoid his powerhouse like the plague and focus on the mission itself.

5: Combine the above strategies. When playing any game, always remember the scenario. For example, if you want to play capture the flag, there is no reason you still can’t use your Incapacitates to lock down the fastest/most powerful figure on your opponent’s force. Keeping your opponent’s powerhouse busy by using psychic blasts while your own powerhouse goes to work on him is also a good strategy. Pick and choose, just have something of a game plan in mind when you make up your team, and more often than not, you’ll have success with them.

To wrap this up, I just want to say thanks for webhead817 for the opportunity to contribute to HCRealms. Please feel free to PM me with comments, questions, topic ideas, love or hate mail, as I want to continue to give back to HCRealms for the years I’ve enjoyed this site.

Thanks for reading, and all see you all around the ‘Realms.

Peace,

The Frontman

*Note: Like any strategy, a player must make it work for their style of play. In other words, while these might work for me or other players, they might not always work for you. Nothing is a sure-fire anything, in gaming or in life.

Frontman has been published on the comicimages.com and teamcanadaonline.com websites, and has placed nationally at the Origins 2002 miniature painting contest. - webhead817

I love all the new articles, but shouldn't some of the administrators be putting the press releases up, like yeterday's sneak peek?

Don't forget Prob. Control to hit all those high defenses!

great article front man!

Twenty-three ways to beat Impervious/Invulnerability without having to use Outwit:

1. Incapacitate (perhaps the most common power in the game, Stunning Blow feat makes it even better)
2. Ranged Combat Expert (figure with damage value 1 or more)
3. Close Combat Expert (figure with damage value 1 or more)
4. Super Strength (DV 2 with light object, DV 1 with heavy object)
5. Pulse Wave (ignores all powers and TAs)
6. Exploit Weakness (is ignored by the Fortitude feat)
7. Psychic Blast
8. Perplex
9. Enhancement
10. SHIELD Team Ability
11. Hypersonic Speed
12. Blades/Claws/Fangs (roll 3 or more)
13. Overlapped Energy Explosion
14. Mind Control opposing figures with above powers
15. Mind Control opposing figure with IMP and turn off IMP
16. Capture with a Sentinel/Sinestro
17. Mystics/CrossGen TA (delivers unavoidable damage in retaliation)
18. Haymaker feat (with printed damage value greater than 0)
19. Pounce feat (with printed damage value 2 or 1 with Super Strength and Light Object)
20. Rip It Up feat (with printed damage value 2)
21. In Contact With Oracle feat (with damage value greater than 1)
22. Armor Piercing feat
23. Damage value greater than 2 (with no powers)

Beating IMP/INV Without Having to Use Outwit

Once fortitude hits, PB and Incap will get their showing in force. When I can have Mandarin Incap from 12 range AND hit you for 3 damage....or if you drop Fortitude and my shadow King hits you for 3 damage you HAVE to take....

What I am worried about is these high numbers....how many people in Legacy have a 50% or better shot of hitting a 20 defense? 21 in hindering? The answer is 1, Ares. there are maybe 5 or 6 12's, a few 11's and a bunch of 10's. Realize that your 9 attack needs a CRITICAL HIT to hit a 20 in hindering (must add that this also means you have an equal chance of him crit missing :-).....and where's the poison in Legacy? Joker mid-dial? Pulling a KC GL in sealed or Marquee is almost a guaranteed win.

[quote]Originally posted by Gentlegamer
[b]Twenty-three ways to beat Impervious/Invulnerability without having to use Outwit:

1. Incapacitate (perhaps the most common power in the game, Stunning Blow feat makes it even better)
5. Pulse Wave (ignores all powers and TAs)
6. Exploit Weakness (is ignored by the Fortitude feat)
7. Psychic Blast
14. Mind Control opposing figures with above powers
15. Mind Control opposing figure with IMP and turn off IMP
16. Capture with a Sentinel/Sinestro
17. Mystics/CrossGen TA (delivers unavoidable damage in retaliation)
22. Armor Piercing feat

I personally fear the 5 or 6 roll off, so I reduced the list to guaranteed to affect Impervious....still not tooooo bad. 9 of them, 14-16 not all that likely, but possible. IMHO 1, 5, 6 and 7 are the keys....22 the new helper. My plan is to get Kid Flash and AP, perplex his Damage and basically be a royal PITA pinging for 1 every other turn.

Thanks to AP, your shield generics can take down big brutes!

Anybody playing a 200+ point bruiser after Legacy is released will be a fool if they don't play Fortitude with them. People are going to need a much better plan to deal with the big boys than Outwit in the very near future.

Or slap Armour Piercing cards on an Army of Scourges and nobody is safe.

That card is gonna mess up the game for 10 points...but yay! My Skrull Army is revitalized!

SINCE WHEN PD AND SHIELD BECOME THE SAME ABILITY?

Ease up on the caffiene there, Tex.

Great article Frontman!

I'm a huge fan of both Incapacitate and Barrier, and think that they get overlooked by people wanting the ~easy~ soloution of Outwit.

Also, great point about big guns head to head. Whoever gets in the first hit typically walks away in the end. Except in the case of KC Superman, where one good hit will put him right onto his HSS / RCE clicks.

This list is the still standard.................anyone who enjoyed this article needs to go to the thread by Double-G.

PD isn't the same as SHIELD, but it's been pointed out to you by now.............I made this mistake when DC first came out and it cost me a couple of games.

Overall good article, but I'd really like to see you do an article on what your "specialty" is, namely modding.

Luke B,

is STILL THE STANDARD..................stupid no edit button....

Luke B.