HORDES FOR THE HOLIDAYS:

PROS: These guys are pure clay that is waiting to be molded. They are essentially 10 points of team filler that have a trait that allows them to be on any named theme team without needing to have the printed keyword that you would need to play them with. Their trait takes care of that. It says: "When building your force, choose a named keyword that at least two higher point characters on your team have. Thug has that keyword this game but can't use Themed Team Probability Control." Note: This doesn't say that these guys are only used for theme team filler. They gain any named keyword that at least two higher point characters have, but that DOESN'T have to be used to make a theme team. If you are looking for a piece to use to generate some keyword shenanigans, these guys are becoming go-to guys for many players out there. Yes, I would say that the majority of the players that I've talked to have been using them primarily to fill out points on named theme teams, but honestly?...I didn't even realize that their trait could be used for things OTHER than theme team building until just NOW. Their stats and length of life are pretty basic and standard for your average human with a gun, but they are far from terrible, and are just CRYING to be abused or to have something added to your team to give them shape like the clay that I called them at the beginning of this section.

CONS: There really aren't many. What more do you really want for a piece that has these kind of stats and utility yet only costs you 10 points? They have only four clicks of life, but depending on your strategy, that could be a GOOD thing. In a standard game with a simple constructed team, these guys aren't going to be USUALLY doing you a ton of good, but when you build with their trait in mind, the sky is the limit. So, in sealed, draft, or just with a hodge-podge team you're not likely going to get more than filler mileage out of them, but still...at only 10 points? I'd gladly play them if they were all I could squeeze on at that point. 10 points is well worth not being under-built. They don't have any keywords of their own, though, so if you DO want to play these guys on a theme team, you are relegated to making them adopt one from your team...hardly a deal breaker, though.

WHY I LOVE THEM: They are the ultimate in cheap filler. There are so many keywords out there that just don't have enough characters to actually make a fleshed out theme team with or once you DO build it you find yourself short on points. If it's a named theme team, Thugs are your hired help. They fill those gaps left by those unmade characters. They take the place of the character that hasn't been made yet. They even out the points when a theme team comes out to some wonky total even if you use every piece that has the printed keyword. There are also plenty of shenanigans that you can utilize with them, and I'm sure there are things that even my friends, my brother, and I haven't thought of yet to do. From what I can tell, the sky is the limit with these guys, and they will be the kind of generic piece that people will be thinking of ways to utilize in the most devilish ways for years to come...I know I will be.

WHAT THEY WORK BEST WITH:

They literally go with any named keyword theme team. The way their trait reads is: "When building your force, choose a named keyword that at least two higher point characters on your team have. Thug has that keyword this game but can't use Themed Team Probability Control." To paraphrase, if you can muster two characters of more than 10 points to get the base requirements for a named theme team, these guys will just fill in the rest and, though they won't be able to use your theme team probability control, they are going to be phenomenal point filler on your named theme team. The only upper limit of "What they work best with" is the number of named theme teams that exist in the game. Obviously there are some that work better than others and there are some that will bring out better things in them for your team, but I'll lay all that our for you soon.

TACTICS:

Below are some basic strategy concepts that you should be aware of or should know going into a game playing with these pieces. Generics are pieces that don't exactly have their own sets of rules, but there are many times when they play different than other pieces in the game when using them in great numbers. Some strategies work for everything, but here are some things that you should keep in mind as you field a generic army of these figures.

1.) ATA BOY: These figures, unlike any other character that I can think of, are able to use just about any named keyword prerequisite Additional Team Ability (ATA) in the game. This opens up to a MIND-BOGGLING array of options. Playing Thunderbolts theme team? Slap that ATA on them, and now they have access to any Marvel Team Ability in the game (regular restrictions apply). Now they have access to any of that AS WELL as any keyword hijinks that you may have already in the works. Want some thugs willing to die for the cause? Strap explosives on them and give them the Secret Six ATA and have them do up to four damage upon being KO'd. Heck, you could even go as passive as just making sure that you have a horde of characters that don't take Mystics damage by including them with some Shadowpact characters and assigning that one point ATA to them. You're already getting your 10 points worth...why not add a few points and make them really earn their pay?

2.) THE WAR OF LIGHT: As usual, it's really easy to suggest using a resource to amp up your generics with, but in the case of the Lantern Power Batteries, it will do a little more for the Thugs. Assuming you are using color coordinated pieces (For instance: Green Lantern theme team with Green Lantern Power Battery, Green Constructs, and the Green Lantern Ring powering it) you will get more options than most resources will offer you. If the Thugs use their trait to become Green Lanterns like I suggested in the scenario above, you will get a +1 to all combat values when becoming a "Corps Member" per the rules of the battery as well as gaining whatever power(s) the construct would give you. For example, if you put the Crossbow on a Thug you are going to start out with a 10 attack and 2 damage with the possibility of increasing your attack and/or damage up even further from that. There are so many different options here, and that's not even taking into account the Emotional Spectrum ability. Want to REALLY tick off an opponent? Use the Violet Lantern Power Battery. Give all your thugs all the stuff mentioned above plus the ability to use Shape Change and the Mystics team ability. Make you some Love Thugs...you just won't be making any friends.

3.) K.I.S.S: For those of you unfamiliar with the acronym, K.I.S.S. stands for Keep It Simple, Stupid. Now, don't get me wrong. I'm not calling anybody stupid here. I'm just saying that it's REALLY easy to start layering strategies and perhaps getting into more than you're going to be able to keep track of. Hey, if you can do it and keep track of it? MORE POWER TO YOU. I know many players that have never tried using any kind of swarm team and are uncomfortable enough trying it out to have to keep track of what else the team has going on, though. After all, your strategy on paper doesn't mean squat if you can't follow through with it.

HOW TO BREAK THEM:

Well, this may not necessarily be considered "Breaking" the figures competitively, but it's certainly new and interesting things that you can do with these pieces that are beyond the norm as far as strategy is concerned. These are sometimes the strategies that throw your opponent off enough to have them fall right in your traps or confuse or scare them enough to hand you the win.

1.) The Warriors 3, 6, 9, 12...wait, there's more?!: There have been four different incarnations of the Warriors Three. There was the first ones in Hammer of Thor, the Hammer of Thor Fast Forces, The Avengers Movie set, and the Thor: The Dark World set versions. Every one of them has some sort of effect that works in conjunction with other characters that have the Warriors Three keyword. Well, little did they know at the time, but years after these figures were made, there would be these little 10 point guys named Thug that could become new members of the Warriors Three for only a TINY investment of 10 points. You can play the Hammer of Thor trio for 300 points and they each get a +1 to attack for each other friendly character on the map with the Warriors Three keyword. The Fast Forces trio cost 300 points as well and have stop clicks if they are within three clicks of another character with the keyword. Thugs will make it so they don't have to be so close to each other always and make it easier to get use out of their abilities. The Avengers Movie versions only add up to 200 points. They each get a +1 to damage if they are within 3 squares of two or more characters that have the keyword. Perhaps the best of them all are the Thor: The Dark world Warriors. They also add up to 300 points, but each one grants the other characters with the keyword something. Fandral gives each character with the Warriors Three keyword and one action token on them Sidestep. Hogun gives each Warriors Three keyworded characters Empower, but it only affects other characters with the keyword. Finally, Volstagg gives all friendly Warriors Three keyworded characters Mastermind that they can only use on other characters with the keyword...VERY handy to have a bunch of 10 point fodder on your team, I'd say! Pick which group works best for you...or you can play the Warriors 12+ and play them all! Fill in the rest of your points with Thugs if you have any left after spending 1,100 points on the actual Warriors Three. Maybe the honor of Asgard will rub off on these ruffians.


2.) Welcome to the Suicide Squad: The key to this team concept is the LE Monthly OP Amanda Waller (wkD15-014). She has this wonderful little trait called "Welcome to the Suicide Squad" that is going to take any character that she shares a keyword with the ability to make up for their past transgressions with a little nano-bomb inspiration. The trait reads:
One of the reasons that I love this team is that you have a team that just keeps getting better and better over time. You also have characters that will help your beefier Suicide Squad pieces heal up from the use of their team ability should a thug or two go down in a fight or if they just blow up from nano-bombs. It's a win-win. There have certainly been great additions to the Squad over the last couple of years in the game as well, so you should not be lacking in members to build with. The only thing I'm a little leery about with it is that you don't get better until you start missing attacks. Now, granted, that means you're either hitting or getting better, but depending on your team, action limit, and board layout, you may not want to dedicate your entire strategy to missing attacks...especially if you have very few actions to go around. It's still a strategy that I want to try out, but it's not at the top of my list because of this reason.


3.) Thug Through the Worldmind: I was just building a team for a tournament that I'm playing tomorrow, and I was reminded of this little gem of an ability from a few years back. They really haven't made that many Nova Corps characters in recent years, but if you're willing to dig back through your collection a little bit or if you want to go searching for some older pieces online, you will be opened up to a whole new way to make your Thugs immensely more powerful. Since the "Share Through the Worldmind" trait that all Nova Corps keyworded pieces have since Galactic Guardians works off of the Nova Corps keyword and not needing the trait, you will be able to take the Nova Corps keyword with your Thugs and make use of all the other "Share Through the Worldmind" traits that your teammates have. I won't go into great length and detail about which figure gives you which power. That is easily researched by looking up the Nova Corps keyword in the units section. I'll just give you the quick highlights of what your Thugs are about to enjoy using. They'll gain: Super Senses (Only on a 6), Force Blast, Ranged Combat Expert (Only increases Damage by +1), Defend (Only to be used on lower point characters), Leadership (Only on a 6), Ignore Knockback and Modify Defense by +1, Improved Targeting: Friendly Characters, +1 to attack and range if in hindering terrain, Empower, and that's just the tip of the Iceberg. Most of these Nova Corps characters that grant these powers also have secondary features to their "Share Through the Worldmind" traits that give out EVEN MORE non-PAC abilities. These boosts and bonuses add up quickly, and with 10 point characters running around gaining these things, don't be surprised when you take out characters 10 times your point cost!...or at least don't be as surprised as your OPPONENT will be. This team may have some age and some rust on it, but it could be resurrected easily with a bunch of 10 point recruits!


There are Many, MANY other strategies that one can employ using this piece, but I figured I would stop where I was at and open up the comments section to allow you all to share some of your favorite strategies using Thugs. Got one that I haven't thought of? Know of a way to improve on the ideas that I've had? Please feel free to comment below and share your ideas!

That does it for this installment of Hordes for the Holidays: The World's Most Generic Article! Thank you for taking time out of your day to read it and please feel free to comment with what you thought about it and, as I said above, fee free to recommend or share your own strategies about using this piece. Join me in two weeks when I track you down to bring you Hordes For The Holidays: Predator X!

I've only really thought of thugs as filler or mastermind fodder before, some nice ideas there interesting read.

I haven't gone digging through this thread for ideas yet, but I just saw that this existed and it could help you find more uses for these guys possibly?

http://www.hcrealms.com/forum/showthread.php?t=566258

i was JUST going to post that thread!

aside from Agent 47 being anything but a thug, this was a good read.

Master of (many) evil thugs

Er, i just thought of Thugs being on an Alpha Flight team with this guy boosting their ATK rolls...

Although I can readily see the opportunity for many a shenanigan to help out a theme team, when it comes to spending 10 pts on someone, counting it's silver age, this is my go-to guy:



Have successfully used him more times than I can count....catches many a foe off guard with his willpower. He doesn't give any addition to your theme team numbers, but doesn't work against it either, being a pog.

My favorite trick is to have him man the bat signal for repeated rescue of his comrades .

How about this?



bd006 V Aquaman
Team: No Affiliation
Range: 0
Points: 105
Keywords: Atlantis, Brightest Day

10 11 17 3

10 10 18 3

8 9 17 3

8 9 16 3

7 9 16 3

6 8 16 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

(Special) The Undead Sea: Whenever another friendly character with the Atlantis keyword is KO'd, deal 2 damage to each opposing character that dealt damage to that character this turn.

(Attack) Tentacle Whip: When Aquaman occupies water terrain, he has a range of 8 and his line of fire to other characters occupying water terrain is never blocked.

Played a game recently where I had 3 thugs on Sinister Syndicate hitting with 14 attack thanks to the Original SS ATA and FF Kingpin.
They also did some work on my Imperial Guard team...

Love the clay line. Wishing I hadn't traded my thugs-that Warriors 3 sounds fun. STOOPAD, I SO STOOPAD

Then add this guy:


NOW YOU'RE COOKING!

This was a fun read, very nicely done!
There were lots of neat ideas. I love generics and the thug is a perfect representative of an ideal generic. Their trait is perfection.

The way he's holding his gun drives me crazy, though. They should have a trait that says "Thug gets -1 to his attack value when using a ranged attack. If the Thug misses a ranged attack, he automatically hits any one adjacent figure." to represent the Knuckleheads who would actually try to shoot like that.

The ideas posted here by you and everyone else sound like fun and I'd love to try them out.