Beating Galactus
Part 4 – Post Mortem

Part 1 – The Strategy

Part 2 – The Team

Part 3 – The Attack


Ok, so I’ve spent 3 days discussing how to take the man down. Now for some post mortem thoughts, some points that were brought up by readers, or just not covered at all, and anything else that pops to mind.

Click "replies" below to read the article.

It took about a year to get to this point.

I had actually thought of this team as long ago as a year; before Galactus had even made his way through the whole convention season. I never got a chance to play it, and by the time I did even more figures and brand new cards came out to make the team even better. But you can see from the team list that the basics were there even before Legacy and Mutant Mayhem.

Because I built this team so long ago, there are probably a lot of changes I could make to update it.

Also, after having played this team these are some changes I’d consider:

Live Wire could be played in place of the Doombots. Rookie LW is far Cheaper than the Doombots, while the Exp is the same cost, but with longer range and better damage. There were a few instances where I used the Doombots to attack, but had to maneuver to use Enhancement or perplex up damage, and occasionally range as well. In all cases though, they were using the Batman Enemy TA to copy either Dr. Doom’s or Taskmaster’s AV. So Livewire would work better all around.

Also due to the Batman Enemy TA, Mr. Freeze was used a lot more than I expected. I’d consider upgrading him to the Exp for the better range, and possibly to the Vet for the ability to push without losing Stealth. As such, I’d probably also take out Avalanche and replace him with a second Freeze. That’s for the added utility, but also to have a second Batman Enemy, since I got so much use out of that TA, and because Avalanche was one of the first targets since he had no Stealth. The upgrade would be worth the point difference.

Cyborg was useful, but not useful enough to justify 2 of him. I’d take him out and spread those points around on upgrades. Similarly with Cosmic Boy, his Exp was nice, but he never really took much damage, so I could get away with using 3 rookies, and using the extra points elsewhere.

Same with the Hand ninjas. Their Hydra TA was probably used more than anything else in the game, but that was also largely because Doombots and all the other Wildcards were copying it. 4 of them was probably overkill, and the team could get away with 3. Going down to 2 might be pushing it in case they’re needed for Mastermind fodder or if they get taken out in an attack.

I felt Jinx was underutilized. I’d probably upgrade her to the Veteran for the extended range and put Armor Piercing on her. That way she can copy AV’s and ping Galactus without needing Enhancement or Perplex. Either that, or I’d drop her altogether and put on a second Black Cat.

Batman was pretty good, but I’m not sure I got the full use out of him that I could have. His high natural AV was great, and Willpower was also very useful, but he didn’t have enough other things going for him to justify the cost. I might consider taking him out and putting on a couple extra Robins instead. With the leftover points I might put on Exp Marvel Universe Starter Pack Spiderman (40 points) with Pounce. He would make for a great long range attack, and there were several occasions where I didn’t have the mobility that I wanted. The drawback to him is that the 3 objects I had to use were all needed for extra terrain (for Stealth) and probably wouldn’t be available to Spidey. Another option for the points is a second Taskmaster (also with Armor Piercing). His high AV, Perplex, and natural Stealth were very handy. His short 6 range was somewhat limiting though.

I had originally left off an Alicia Masters pog intentionally. The thinking there was that Galactus would ping her for 1 on the very first turn before I got a chance to push anybody, and she would be a waste. However, Barrier provided more defense than I was expecting, and even Galactus has trouble taking out the few targets presented to him in the first turn. (since he spent 1 action KOing Phoenix, and one Moving, in the first turn he only had one chance to attack. Since had to split up 8 damage among 3 targets he had to choose them carefully)
As such, I’d probably try to include her in the future, and use her to push to death after the Dooms and various other Wildcards had pushed on the second turn. (I was constantly pushing Jinx and Black Cat to get into position for PC as well, and using the X-men TA for the Doombots to take Doom’s and TM’s push damage. FF TA would be a big improvement.)

Lastly, I’d also reduce Mystique to rookie. Her Exp version didn’t offer anything extra to the team. And if you can get your hands on one, the Red Hood LE (Legacy – Joker) is cheap Stealthed Enhancement, possibly in place of Psylocke.

Some additional figures to consider are:
Vet Wildfire. His high Damage, Range, and long range for Running Shot would be a huge help. His drawbacks are that his AV is fairly low, so he would almost always rely on copying someone, and he’s a little expensive to fit on the team as it currently exists. With some reworking he could fit, but I’m not sure the team can stand to lose any other figure to make room for him.


Also, someone asked about building a team like this without using dupes, after thinking on it for a bit, I think it is possible.

Some substitutions you can make are:

Spoiler for Robin (that’s easy). Live Wire for a doombot, and even a Saturn Girl in place of a Doombot, and she provides Perplex. You could take out a Mystique, but would have to find another fig to replace her. If there’s a stealthed Batman Enemy with Perplex, that’d be perfect (none come to mind off hand.) Or an Exp Batgirl, since she gets Perplex on her second click.
To work, this team needs 3 TK figs. Besides Cosmic Boy copying the Batman TA, only Johnny Alpha has natural Stealth and TK. If you’re really keen on no dupes, you can also get away with a Rookie Jean Grey. She only really needs to be there for the first TK, and then she can be Galactus fodder.

As mentioned above, the Red Hood could stand in for one Psylocke.
You might be able to slide in a Wildfire in place of a Dr. Doom, but he’ll have to buddy up with Taskmaster to help his AV.

A few people have suggested LE Anihilus and LE Dr. Doom as well. I dunno if you’d consider an LE Doom a Dupe or not though. (And would he be a dupe of Doom, or a doombot?). I like the idea of Anihilus, but since he’s pretty much impossible to come by, I didn’t take him into serious consideration.

The Doombot LE is ok as well, but he only has a 10 AV, and he can’t copy the Batman Enemy TA while using PW. So Vet Cybog ends up being a few points cheaper for pretty much the same effect. Doom LE is also very difficult to come by, so I didn’t really consider him either. I don’t feel Doom or Anihilus offer enough of an advantage over the current lineup to say they’re ‘must haves.’ They’re good alternatives, but hunting them down to put on your team isn’t going to change the tide of the game in any significant way.

Also, you could play the team with only 1 Shade, but if he gets KOed, the strategy really starts to fail. Similarly, you could play with 2 different Hand Ninjas, but the team really needs 3 to be sure. But, some people don’t consider generics to be dupes, so that’s on you to figure out. (That could apply to Doombots as well, I suppose.)

I think that covers all the dupes. You’d have to play with the point to get them to fit, but swapping out Doom for Wildfire and several other downgrades should free up a lot of points. Possibly even enough for extra feats. The thing to watch for though is a sufficient number of wildcard figs. They’re needed on this team to copy the Mystic TA and control who Galactus attacks.


Its also worth noting that this team would probably have a much harder time against a 2000 point Galactus with his Herald. (Say, LE Silver Surfer). This is because Surfer would be able to get through the blockade to take out Shade. Plus the mystic damage he’d take from those attacks would push him onto even better clicks. Surfer would also actually be protected from most of the attackers on the board. The reason this team works against Galactus is because he’s so big everyone can draw LOS to him. But Surfer could hide in plain sight and most of the time be blocked by the multitude of support and fodder pieces on the team. (Although admittedly you could tie him up with a Robin or a Doombot and force him to roll to break, or fight the target you put next to him.)

thanks for a great series of Articles!

I think you hav proven that it CAN be done, it may not be easy but it can be done.

1) Great effort: swarming stealth limiting Big-G's movement has been the only reliable strategy..imo

While it is good strategy, it still relies on a couple factors:

Map Choice: Many maps will not allow for as much 'hindering terrain'...you may want those smoke cloud Robins after all.

BFCs: Bright Lights, Disbanded seriously cripple the anti-G team. Earthquake, Darkness, Poor teamwork also take their toll.

I may have missed the latest spin on 'first turn immunity', but I was under the impression that any figure that received an action on its first turn (even if it stayed in its starting area) was fair game....but it wouldn't be the first time I was confused about map choice/start of game rules

Nova would be even worse than Surfer because she can double target and has running shot ... she could hide in the middle of your formation and then take out Shade with a RS.

I think that Doom LE is perfect - 3 natural damage pulse wave and perplex makes him a threat and the mastermind/wildcard makes him hard to handle (and you can also hide him in the middle of a lot of Doombots lol).

V Johnny Alpha would actually make a great addition to the team. With his TA, he’s effectively attacking Galactus with a 12AV, and Super-Senses gives him a chance to stay alive if Galactus gets in range to make an attack on him (or at least forces Galactus to spend at least one more action dealing with him than he planned to). Plus he adds one more AV-modifying TA to the team as a backup to the Perplex and Hydra.

Thanks for the articles - enjoyable and insightful read as always.

I got from these articles that it takes an ARMY, not a team of heroes, to beat big G; there are many characters that fill specialized roles, but must work together to accomplish the task.

Good stuff, azs. Thanks for giving me lots of good ideas!

If Galactus is using Disbanded, then I guess you can use Power Dampening Field. THAT would cripple Big G. He would be difficult to hit without help from Hydra TA, but he would have to waste lots of actions to kill your figs, giving you time to position Perplexers and PC´ers. And without his Cosmic Power, Galactus would be outwitable and would have to push. I don´t think he´s ever playing that BFC.
For the others, simply use Ordinary Day (as Azs stated earlier).

Junior.

azs already said that this team was going to be using the Ordinary Day BFC.

But you have a point on map choice. If the Galactus player wins the map roll, you’re doomed. All he needs is the outdoor “3 buildings and a park” map, since that one has almost no hindering terrain to hide in.

Very nice series of articles. I think I'm going to print them out and place them in my Wizard Gaming Special in place of the Galactus "strategy" that was in the mag.

the thing about 2000ad on this team is that the you cant use that and BatEnemy together so it would help the figs who lend there attack values Im not sure how many members of his team are looking to use someone elses atk value, that would determine jhonny alphas usefulness.

plus if it is 2000 point G plus herald you could always throw in your own Surfer or Nova lol but while funny I dont know if it would help or not.

Great ideas for Subs. I don't consider multiples of Doom-bots or Hand Ninjas to be dupes, so that would be fine.

A few othe figures that I would definitely work in:

R Domino: Stealth, PC and Super Senses makes her a perfect anti-Galactus support piece.
R Mandroid Armour: If he survives for a bit, that SHIELD TA could be a lot more handier than Jean Grey's X-men (which you'll have anyway). Only having one click of TK hardly matters, since he's stealth-less.
U Spiral: Must be done. Considering that I don't own a U Phoenix, I might even try her as the initial attacker, although it's a lot riskier.
The new Invisible Woman...maybe the E for the TA. A stealthed, pushable Barrier piece, with the F4 TA!!!

How about the Damage Shield feat? Is it reducable? If not, then whack it on anyone with Stealth who meets the pre-reqs at the start of their dial (V Spoiler comes to mind).

I also want to have a look at some of the Indy figures that might be good. Are there any Crossgen members with Stealth?? Darn it...there's not.

I may be missing something but I think a U Red Robin would add a very interesting challenge to the big G. With as many wildcards as you have on the team all of them could copy the KC team ability whenever Gus declares a move action. Chances are with that many people sporting the KC team ability he's not going to be able to move very far at all with his base being so big he almost has to move adjacent to a good number of KC figs. So if he tries to shoot everyone says Batman and if he tries to move everyone says KC. Also, RR starts with 1 click of natural stealth and a decent 11AV with Super Senses. I just thought it would be interesting.

Looking over the list and your write up again I have one question. Are the Shades worth it? Two Vet Shades costs 146 points. Add in the costs of the two Robins and it really starts to add up. I know that the mystics damage adds up... But lets look at your wildcards and mystics.

2 Vet Shades- Incapable of hurting Galactus and staying safe. He can pretty much ignore them at will.
3 Cosmic Boys- Not really a threat to Galactus. He can pretty much ignore them until the end game clean up. They aren't going to hurt him.
2 Vet Dooms- Obviously a main threat, but he's just going to mastermind it off so it's not a real factor.
3 Doombots- If they are being used as mastermind fodder then the mystics team isn't going to be a factor.
Black Cat and Jinx- Like you said E Jinx isn't as good as V Jinx for offensive capability. Yes these are a threat, as probability control may be the most important power when fighting Galactus. So yes he's going to want to kill them.
Mary Jane pog- Really just mobile terrain. If she's in his way he might want to kill her, otherwise she's going to be ignored.
V Taskmaster- He's a huge threat and Galactus is going to want to kill him. So he's going to take the damage.

My question is this... Is it worth 146+ points to do a few clicks of mystics damage Those points could be spent on some offensive pieces that could do the same damage directly. A piece that hasn't been talked about (as far as I know) is V Dagger. Her running shot and three damage has a chance of hurting Galactus. and you already have a system in place for raising her lowish attack value. And on the off chance of her ever getting to her support click it could be annoying. Someone mentioned Red Robin. I don't think Galactus ignores KC team, but that could prove annoying. Also Ultimates E Black Widow would be nice to use to copy shield team, and she comes stealthed.

Matsu_Mike