Minions fleeing when the mission really gets going? Have you considered more of a command hierarchy? You give the little guys something to reach for and they start looking at suicide missions as opportunities for advancement. You have groups of a few guys watched over by a minion with a slightly higher level of authority. Now you can pin mistakes on that guy and foster ambition in the lower level guys. So you casually check your mustache for food crumbs and then announce what you need is a: Hulkbuster Squad Leader!

To read all about these leaders of fearless men... know that the spoilers lie ahead!

License Plate: HLKBSTN

Firstly, Welcome to Preview Week! Now let's check out this new generic figure!

The Face of The Truly Fearless!

It was decided that forces needed to exist to stand against the rampages of the Hulk. Then at some point somebody thought it was a good idea that there should be guys who would stand in front of (or just behind) small groups of those guys... you know, depending on their leadership styles. And those leaders of quite possibly hopeless or overly ambitious troops look like this:


hulk203 E Hulkbuster Squad Leader
Team: S.H.I.E.L.D.
Range: 5
Points: 50
Keywords: Hulkbusters, Soldier

7 10 16 1

7 9 16 1

6 9 15 2

6 8 15 2

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

(Attack) Minion: Hulkbusters:If Hulkbuster Squad Leader is within 8 squares of a friendly character named General Thunderbolt Ross, Hulkbuster Squad Leader can activate the S.H.I.E.L.D. team ability as a free action instead of a power action.

The set remains a few weeks away from being in our hands, but we HCRealms Writers have been enlisted to keep your excitement building up to a Gamma-level explosion!

Today we're here to present a dial from The Incredible Hulk 10 figure Micro-set, which will be sold in single-figure boosters (MSRP $2.99). Look for it at your local game stores starting on November 30th!


Union Strong! (playing only these pieces)

Playing only these guys is do-able -- and the math is certainly easy enough -- but it's going to be a struggle against balanced teams as well as teams emphasizing Stealth or HSS hit-and-run style play.

These guys need to work together (using the Range boost from the SHIELD TA), line up shots, and pick apart strong foes that are lumbering towards them.

With their starting 10AV and RCE and potential 8 (boosted by using the Team Ability), they're actually suited quite well to being a squad of 200pts in a small bunch (2x2 formation) where those in front alternate shots at approaching targets, or they fire off simultaneous blasts to finish off weakened figures.

Again, there'd be a lot of challenges to using them, but in a scenario where everyone is only playing generic troops from one or another army I think these would make a viable and potentially entertaining option. But whenever you have a bunch of guys who all have "Leader" in their title the chances of "office politics" hurting things from within goes up significantly.


Wave After Wave (playing them with a leader/support)

So, here we come to a troubling situation for me, your humble reviewer. I have no idea what General Thunderbolt Ross is going to bring to a potential team!

What we do know from the Minion ability presented here is that these guys can get a great boost to their damage output without eating up all the actions available to the team.

Now that special power comes with an important caveat: remember that a character can only use a free action to activate any one particular game effect once per turn. What this means is that while they can use the S.H.I.E.L.D. TA to boost the damage and not get a token for it, they cannot do it over and over for multiple adjacent characters. So look to use these guys paired up with other soldiers and they can offer the boosts AND fire off a shot that same turn, which definitely increases their value and potential for synergy.

Really anytime you can turn a 2 damage into 3 (while also getting a +1 to range) for free is a good thing and can make a lot of pieces that might not strike enough fear in the opposition suddenly viable threats.

If the mysterious General Ross brings something special to the map (and I'm definitely hopeful), then expect to grab a couple of these guys when it's time to tussle with the Jade Giant!

Hired Goons

You've got a lot of choices these days when it comes to filling your army's ranks. You'll find that if you package the potential to be a living legend in your online recruiting ad that applicants will be just the sort of people that would stand in front of the Hulk and try to "bust" him. And among them will be those who also appreciate being rewarded with a title bump. And then you've got squad leaders and that's a chain of command structure that's going to keep people in line. Nice work.

When's the right time to bring these guys out? Well that's an easy one: November 30th, the release of The Incredible Hulk micro-set!

After that, check out your figures and look for ways to get the most out of these soldiers. I think they're going to have solid potential, even with their 50pt cost.


Thanks for reading and... oh, Sir, I didn't see you there. No, please take my chair. It's good to see you. Yes, these guys have been waiting to get their special instructions.

That's right! Check back tomorrow, because Bill4395 is going to have a sneak peek at the authority figure we've been looking for...

I feel like that special power is really really powerful lol

Hmm nice but really Hulkbuster Squad Leader.....Why couldnt we get it to be named GLEN TALBOT...curses

MMM... Short dial, excellent SP though.

Another LE I don't feel compelled to pursue. The dial is fine, but the character (or lack of a specific character name) kinda turns me off.

It is not an LE, it is a dial from the Microset (the gravity feed).

I think it is a good dial for a generic

This is not an LE. It from the Gravity Feed set.

I bet the various versions of Hulkbusters from the regular set, fast forces, and micro-set make for some cool combinations. I can't wait to see all of them.

Thanks for the correction guys, I misread the number as 103. Guess that makes it 1 for 1 on characters from the Gravity Feed that I don't want, then. Hopefully some Hulk fans out there are happy to get another soldier piece for Ross to command.

I probably don't need more than 2-3 of these.

This is one of the best generics to come out since Hammer of Thor, in my opinion. Easy math (which doesn't count for much but is still nice), damage reducers, can crack Invulnerable for half his dial, incredible TA, and an that SP is just gravy (very rich gravy, too). If I get the chance to pick any Clix up this month, I'll probably try to get enough of them for a small theme team.

this...this i like. i'm big into soldier teams so this will go along nicely with my halo and gears soldiers.

I'll take two SHIELD Snipers over one of these guys.
sn005 E SHIELD Sniper
Team: S.H.I.E.L.D.
Range: 8
Points: 22
Keywords: S.H.I.E.L.D., Soldier

8 9 15 1

7 8 14 1

6 8 13 2

6 6 13 1

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

KO KO KO KO

Really? Their special power basically says 'this character can use enhancement instead of the shield team ability'. For 50 points, that is far from game changing (IMO).

Edit: Just realized it's enhancement they can only use once per turn...which doesn't make them any better...