by Aaron Cantu
With just under two weeks to go before the ROC U.S. Cup, I know some people are still scrambling for teams. Probably the biggest influence on team building in the last few years, the introduction of resources to the game has made for some highly varied team building. Some players may not be familiar with certain resources, so this article will aim to educate on some popular resources of the past and how they tend to be played.
POWER BATTERY: GREEN LANTERN CORPS (GLPB)
First and foremost, this is one of the most powerful resources in the previous era of Heroclix. Like all power batteries, it comes with an array of constructs that give various powers and/or modifiers to your team, but this is the ONLY battery that has an effect on the game without even being assigned to a character.
“EMOTIONAL SPECTRUM: WILL: If the Power Battery, attached Power Ring, and Constructs are all the same color, each opposing character may be given no more than 1 free action per turn.”
For just 16 points, you can drastically slow down the output of many teams. In the past, this resource has been commonly played with slow-building teams such as Kyle Rayner/Brother Voodoo. This team allows for two free barriers per turn and having only one free action per character can make it really hard to work around those barriers. Also, Kyle Rayner (or any character possessed by Ion) will get a +1 to all values except damage, thanks to the Green Lantern Ring.
“WILL: If this character already has the Green Lantern Corps keyword, modify all of its combat values except damage by +1. Otherwise, this character has the Green Lantern Corps keyword, can use Willpower, and when an opposing character targets it with Outwit or Perplex, roll a D6. On a result of 4-6, ignore that effect. “
This extra function of outwit protection will really leave your opponent hesitating to use their one free action to potentially have it not even work. Such a nuisance.
With the Power Battery: Orange Lantern Corps being banned, the GLPB is likely the number one go to resource in this format. It is extremely easy to get as it was given away during the War of Light SLOP, so it is commonly owned by players from that era. Expect to see it more than most other Power Batteries.
POWER BATTERY:INDIGO TRIBE (INDIGO BATTERY)
This resource did not start seeing much love until the end of its run, so we don’t have the best idea of what currently can go with it, but it was not uncommon to see this battery paired with Fantomex from Wolverine and the X-Men. Fantomex’s ability to make “avatar attacks” pairs really nicely with the protection the Emotional Spectrum the Indigo Battery brings.
“EMOTIONAL SPECTRUM: COMPASSION: If the Power Battery, attached Power Ring, and Constructs are all the same color, opposing characters that aren’t within 4 squares of a friendly Corps Members or adjacent to the Power Battery can’t draw lines of fire to friendly Corps Members.”
I am not so sure what is compassionate about punishing your opponent from afar while they can’t return fire, but it certainly is effective! If you see this battery on the other side of the map, you need to either be able to take the fight to the face of your opponent, or hit them before they can set up all of their pieces. Not only that, you have to make the hits count because the powers granted from the Indigo Ring will certainly leaving you pulling your hair out, otherwise.
“COMPASSION: If this character already has the Indigo Tribe keyword, modify all of its combat values except damage by +1. Otherwise, this character has the Indigo Tribe keyword, can use Support, and when a non-adjacent friendly character within 6 squares takes 3 or more damage, after actions resolve, if that character hasn’t been healed this turn, you may place this character adjacent to that character and heal that character of 1 damage. “
As stated above, Fantomex plays so nicely with this battery because he does have a decently long dial, so he is tough to kill in one shot. Add in the defensive roll outs he has and possibly plus stats from being possessed by Proselyte and some instances where he will be bale to pick powers and you will have an offensive monster to contend with.
Other things I have used with this Power Battery are CON LE Dr. Fate, Nick Fury, and various Ultron Drones. Fate is particularly interesting as he forces you to come in close, but if you are relying on using Special Powers, you are gonna have to come up with an alternate game-plan.
POWER BATTERY: SINESTRO CORPS (YELLOW BATTERY)
If those other finesse teams are not your play-style, you might want to take a look at this battery. It is an all-time favorite of the tent-pole player, it is the Yellow Battery.
“EMOTIONAL SPECTRUM: FEAR: If the Power Battery, attached Power Ring, and Constructs are all the same color, opposing characters modify their attack values by -2 when targeting a friendly Corps Member of a higher point value.”
The predecessor to the popular Boxing Ring, the Yellow Battery is far more reliable and slightly more versatile. Giving powers and stats (thanks largely to Parallax possession), this battery will leave your opponents cursing their dice and looking for a microwave to put them in. Most commonly played with figures over 200 points that have high defenses (BVS Superman Rare comes to mind), this is one of the lesser used batteries. Eventually, someone will roll high enough to punish you. Until then, enjoy wrecking those who dare challenge your mighty tent-pole. Don’t forget to perplex down opposing Attacks thanks to the power ring to further frustrate your opponent.
POWER BATTERY: RED LANTERN CORPS (RLPB)
The last, but not least power battery I am going to talk about, the RLPB is probably the most underrated of all the batteries. It’s ability to deal out free, penetrating damage is nothing to be scoffed at. The difference
is, this time, it is the ability from the ring we are looking at instead of the Emotional Spectrum.
“RAGE:If this character already has the Red Lantern Corps keyword, modify all of its combat values except damage by +1. Otherwise, this character has the Red Lantern Corps keyword, can use Poison, and deals penetrating damage when using it.”
A mainstay of don’t die teams, this battery will likely see less play with the banning of Resurrection Man. However, there have been many rumblings of some creative ways to play this battery. Shredders will be a popular play with this since they already have their own way to do some penetrating damage without attacking, but I have a sneaking suspicion that there will be something that somebody comes up with that will blow everyone’s mind. Most teams won’t take advantage of the +1 values, since there are very few competitive teams that use either Butcher or have Red Lantern Corps keywords. In fact, this is one of the instances where the battery doesn’t matter as much as just having the ring.
POWER PLANT & MANDARIN RINGS
Far from the most used resource, but definitely the most diverse. The Power Plant is my favorite resource. It can be used on many different types of teams and has a couple of diverse functions. It can grant Outwit, give you +1 to all values, or a plethora of some really handy abilities. It can even remove opposing resources from the game.
Some popular strategies with this resource include giving Friendly Mind-Controllers like Mole Man or Black Talon Electro Blast Ring to give an additional target; Giving figures with multiple targets the Flame Blast Ring to utilize Energy Explosion and Psychic Blast; And Using Black Light Ring to better utilize figures that take advantage of hindering terrain (think Lydea Mallor jumping around in terrain). Another common way this resource is played is with Agent 13 on a theme team so in addition to all of its awesome effects, you are limiting your opponents’ free actions (similar to the Green Power Battery).
THE PHOENIX FORCE
One of the most straight-forward resources in the game, it is also one of the most consistent. The pluses of the Phoenix Force is it can be assigned between 1 and 5 characters; it provides great powers like Invulnerability, Running Shot, Perplex, Hypersonic Speed, and even Mystics Team Ability; and it gives stat modifiers.
You can customize the it to a degree by choosing how many fragments to attach. Doing so allows you some customizable options. Give your characters lacking move and attack Charge or Running Shot. Give characters lacking mobility Flight. Softer Targets can have Invulnerability. There are a lot of options.
Popular figures with this resource include Alpha Class Sentinel, Spiral, and Nick Fury. All of these figures gain Flight, Running Shot, Energy Explosion, Invulnerability, Mystics, and +1 Damage if you start your resource right, and they all have extra ways to punish opponents.
QUINJET (WIN-JET)
The Quinjet is a really unique resource. It can only be assigned to one character, and that character is a vehicle. It doesn’t actually have any attachments, but utilizes ID cards. All that being said, man this thing is a powerhouse.
The Quinjet offers more diversity than any other character or resource in the game, because it has the ability to draw from every ID card ever made. ID cards have slowly shaped the competitive landscape over the last couple of years and this resource takes what is great about that and it goes Super Sayain. The Quinjet has the ability to, for a free action, call in any ID character on your sideline as a free action for the rest of the game or until it takes damage. That is closely mirrored to what breaks team bases, the “Solo Adventure” mechanic. Imagine having a game where suddenly your opponent has a Nick Fury called in and then a Nightwing in the same turn. The damage output potential is insane. To top that off, the Jet is tough to KO with 14 clicks of life at full points and the ability to reduce penetrating damage. It even has spots of Support, or lends Outwit to friendlies. The most common pilot for the vehicle is 50 point Iron Man, since he gets perplex and meets the requirements to give the Jet Sidestep via its pilot abilities.
With the diversified attack and the disregard for many game-plans your opponents can think up, I think the Quinjet is the front-runner to win the entire event. The only down-side is that it is mentally taxing to play for many rounds, and is quite expensive to field some of the more popular rosters.
THE MILLENIUM STONE
Yes, that’s right, the Yu-Gi-Oh! Resource. This is probably the least known/owned resource, but it could quite possibly one of the strongest in the game.
The Millennium Stone has a couple of functions. The first one being, it assigns special Relics to your friendly figures. These relics have some really cool abilities like granting an outwit that can counter anything (even friendly characters), or giving your figure Improved Targeting that ignores everything except blocking, and even powers like Probability Control, Perplex, or Mystics (sort of).
Its second function is really cool. It can potentially create a bystander and add it to your force at the end of every turn. It takes some build up, but eventually, you can have a figure that is even more powerful than Skadi’s Warbot on the field for free.
Don’t expect to see too much of this resource since it is actually kind of hard to obtain all of the pieces and take a meticulous planner to successfully field. That being said, a clever player could easily go all the way with this busted piece of history. Most commonly played with other Yu-Gi-Oh! Pieces like Kuriboh, this resource favors a slow build and can likely work well with some of the harder to kill figures.
THE BOOK OF THE SKULL
Quite possibly saving the best for last, The Book of the Skull is a fan favorite, and no wonder why.
This Resource does the same thing all other popular resources do in giving you free powers and stat modifiers, but this one takes that idea and cranks it up to 11. Every Hammer you have assigned to the resource is a +2 attack value waiting to be equipped. That is insane for the points. Further, the resource gives you possible free attacks when the hammers drop via Quake. Lastly, the hammers themselves are diverse and problem solving tools. Giving you everything from Charge, Running Shot, and Toughness to Improved Movement Ignores and Destroys Blocking, Plasticity, and Giant Symbol, this resource can quite possibly do it all and do it best.
Some popular strategies with this resource include playing figures that let you move for free, such as Alyosha Kraven, or Figures that have high damage output thanks to already ridiculous stats, like Shuma Gorath. One figure this resource never goes anywhere without, Splitlip is the MasterCard of the Book since he allows the “equipping” (it’s not actually equipping via equipment rules, but this is the language Wizkids used) of the hammers to be a free action. You will want to make sure you have at least 4 characters on your team so that you can also equip two hammers per character.
ROUNDUP
That’s all for the resources I wanted to take a close look at. There are a few that came close to being featured, like the Utility Belt, and the Infinite Gauntlet, or the Sin resources, but I just don’t think they bear weight. The Avengers’ Round Table or Justice League Teleporter also are worth talking about, but they pale in comparison to the Quinjet.
Thanks for reading. If you are reading this, you are likely giving though to attending ROC U.S. Cup. I will be there and I will be having a great time playing some great people, and I hope to see you there.
