Heroclix: A Review

Having now played a handful of games, I can say that Heroclix is terribly fun.


Heroclix is a collectible miniatures game, wherein you assemble a team of superheroes and/or villains to beat the hell out of your opponent's assembled heroes and/or villains.
You can draw your characters from the DC (Superman, Batman) or Marvel (Spiderman, X-Men) universes. Both use the same system so you can find out if Superman would beat Thor in a fight, but as Marvel zombies, we've largely stuck to those characters.
Each player creates a team of a given point cost, say 200 points. That way a group of ten reasonably powerful creatures can take on two uberbadasses and all have a fighting chance. I have seen this occur and the system is well balanced.

The core mechanic sees each character's statistics printed on its base, and their numbers change each time they take damage. That way, characters grow fatigued as the battle wears on.
As well as the numbers representing combat statistics - attack, defense, speed, etc. - each number is assigned a colour that represents special abilities. It sounds complicated but is easy to figure out. The system is elegant and robust, with a finite number of colours/abilities able to represent almost any super ability, at least in spirit.

More importantly, as a comic book fan, it's awesomely fun.
The designers have managed to create a good comic feel to fights. You can soar through the sky and teleport allies to the front lines. You can punch through walls. You can leap from buildings. The hardest attack blast enemies back from the force.
Familiarity with the characters does provide some benefit, as abilities are mapped well. You know you should avoid fighting Wolverine up close, and that Cyclops can hit you from afar.
It's hard not to get wrapped up in the drama of it all. So far, I have seen Captain America battered into unconsciousness with a refrigerator; Hobgoblin hurled a pumpkin bomb at Maverick, hurling him off the side of a building and into the cross hairs of Crossbones. Green Scar cut down a dozen opponents before finally going down, getting stronger as he took damage.

My only regret regarding my brother's recent visit is that we didn't get to finish the 1000 points a side three player smashfest. A part of my soul will always remain on the steps of the Legion of Superheroes' base, sandwiched between a rampaging Devil Dinosaur and Omega Red.
But with Professor Xavier, the Juggernaut, Giant Man and Taskmaster, I would've taken 'em.