Heroclix Articles

Welcome back to Casual Digest. Today, I am again looking at figures from the Justice League Unlimited set. I just absolutely love this show and the JLU set is a dream come true. I wanted to build a fun 300 point team from Episode 1 of the series, “Initiation”. The show opens with Green Arrow taking down some dirtbags in a grocery store using the signature boxing glove arrow. Green Lantern appears for an assist and brings Green Arrow to a gathering of heroes to form the now larger Justice League.
Our team consists of Green Lantern, Supergirl, Captain Atom and Green Arrow who is hitching a ride back to Earth after refusing a spot in the League. The team is sent to battle a giant unnamed nuclear powered robot (maybe based on Chemo, who desperately needs a clix remake, but that’s another article). I will be using the following figures:

JLU002 Green Lantern 65 points

JLU032 Captain Atom 100 points

JLU042 Green Arrow 60 points

JLU044 Supergirl 75 points

Total: 300pts

Green Lantern will serve as the team taxi with the Green Lantern TA and his special movement power :

ALL ABOARD: MOVE: Green Lantern can carry regardless of [Wing symbol] and modifies speed +1 for each carried character with the JLA team ability. Move (up to his speed value).

This will allow Green Lantern to carry both Captain Atom and Supergirl, who both have the wing symbol, into position. Since all of our characters have the JLA TA the power will also negate the negative modifier to his speed value. While not an offensive powerhouse Green Lantern offers a good deal of utility with top dial Barrier and TK and can push to Perplex. Thankfully he also has Indomitable as all Green Lanterns should. We will also be using the Green Lantern Team Up 002.05 to give Green Lantern Probability Control when he is targted by a range attack.

TEAM UP: GREEN ARROW: If the listed friendly character is on the map, Green Lantern can use Probability Control, but only when targeted by a range attack. (After revealing forces, you may replace a game element’s default card with an alternate card. You can’t choose a Team Up card if any characters on your starting force share a name).

Captain Atom will be the tank of our group with his eight click long dial full of reducers. He starts out as a range threat with Running Shot but quickly switches to close combat. Once he reaches click four you will want him in the thick of the battle to make use of his special attack power:

CONTAINMENT SUIT BREACH: Poison. Whenever Captain Atom takes damage from an attack, after resolutions deal each adjacent character 1 penetrating damage.

He will be able to punish his opponents for daring to attack him while still dealing out big blows of his own with Close Combat Expert.

Supergirl can also mix it up and deal out some great damage starting with Charge and four damage as well as Impervious. Try to aim her at targets with lower defense and use her trait to pull tokens from her and keep attacking round after round. Just don’t miss!

NOT SO SURE THIS IS A GOOD IDEA OR NOT…LET’S SEE WHAT HAPPENS: When Supergirl has no action tokens and makes an attack, if she hit after resolutions remove an action token from her -or- if she missed after resolutions give her an action token.

Thankfully the whole team has the Justice League Unlimited trait:

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED: At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6. 6: Remove an action token from another friendly character with the Justice League keyword that’s 100 points or less.

This will help when she misses an attack and will also benefit Green Arrow who is our only character without willpower.

Green Arrow wants to stay back and cause trouble for the enemy with his seven range and dual targets. A seventeen defense with Energy Shield Deflection will help keep that twelve attack value showing up top, but if he takes a hit Green Arrow can use Steal Energy from range or as a close attack. He also gets bonuses to his attack once a friendly character has been KO-ed as well as damage if he is the final character on his team for one final hail mary.

I’m excited to run this team! What team are you looking forward to playing from JLU? Post it in the comments and remember to have fun!

I’m a big fan of Justice League Unlimited and today I want to look at a team from one of my favorite episodes, “Patriot Act” episode seven from season three. All seven characters are available in the new Justice League Unlimited set and they all have the Seven Soldiers keyword. In this episode, Green Arrow and some other non-super powered members are attacked by General Eiling. The team is based on the team that first appeared in Leading Comics from way back in 1941. It consists of :

JLU031b Crimson Avenger 30pts

JLU042 Green Arrow 60pts

JLU047 Speedy 45pts

JLU048 Vigilante 40pts

JLU054e S.T.R.I.P.E 35pts

JLU055e Stargirl 30pts

JLU034 Shining Knight w/Team Up 34.01 50pts

First, let us take a look at the new Team Up mechanic :

After revealing forces, you may replace a game element’s default card with an alternate card. You can’t choose a Team Up card if any characters on your starting force share a name.

We are lucky that Shining Knight has a Team Up card of this very episode.

This Team Up grants the team a minimum attack roll of 7 if all our team members are on the map and the Outsiders TA! You can’t really do better for a free bonus based on your theme.

On paper, the team looks great. It is a +7 Seven Soldiers keyword named theme team which will give you access to five theme team Probability Controls. Two characters start with Leadership and all seven have the new Justice League Unlimited trait :

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED: At the beginning of your turn, roll a d6. 6: Remove an action token from another friendly character with the Justice League keyword that’s 100 points or less.

This will be a great help since we have four characters without Willpower. With seven chances to activate the trait plus multiple Leaderships we have a great chance of keeping our force untokened. The team also sports three Perplexes and coupled with the Outsiders TA granted from the Team Up should be able to hit plenty of attacks. Additionally, the team is quite mobile and has some good tricks which can give the opponents Immobile or keep them tokened.

The last ten points can be used in several ways. I personally like the Reality Gem on Vigilante to grant him Perplex and Telekinesis. I mean his lasso could be TK right? Otherwise, if you want to go Golden Age then the Justice League ATA is a good choice.

Since Wing, Indomitable and Giant symbols are still pretty common these days the bonus should come into play alot.

The team also has access to some nice tricks that can throw a wrench into your opponent’s plans. Crimson Avenger can use his Knockout Gas trait to give opposing characters action tokens if they occupy or are adjacent to his Smoke Cloud markers. Vigilante can lock down groups of characters with his “Gonna Lasso Me Up Some Bad Guys” special attack power. When he hits, he can choose to deal no damage, but give the hit target and all opposing characters adjacent to it an action token and they gain Immobile. Stargirl can use her “Starlight Snares” trait to give a hit standard opposing character Immobile as well.

As far as playing the team, you will want to keep Green Arrow protected since he gets bonuses based on his teammates being KO-ed. Shining Knight and Crimson Avenger can handle the close combat and you have a variety of ranged options.

I will report back on how the team performed as soon as I have a chance to play it. Remember it’s all about having fun!