by ClixGuru

ClixGuru here, with my very first article ever. For my first attempt at writing about Heroclix, I decided to focus on common mistakes made by new players. This game has a steep learning curve, and learning to play is about more than just memorizing the powers, colors, and rules. There’s learning to play, and then there’s learning to play well. After years of playing, I still see new players make the same mistakes that others made before them. Heck, even I made these mistakes when I was new. And I had to learn about them the hard way, by losing a lot of games. You, however, are lucky enough to have me here to show you a few tricks that can help you climb that steep learning curve.

#1: Read Those Cards

Okay, so you’re at a tournament. You sit down across from your opponent, you introduce yourself, shake hands, and the two of you present your teams to each other. The clock for the round hasn’t started yet. This is your chance to read those cards. I’ve had so many new players look at my cards, for either characters or resources or whatever else, see a piece of text that’s more than two lines long, and just say, “Seems complicated, I’m not gonna get it anyway, let’s just play.” They say those words, but all I hear is, “Have fun stomping me.” I can’t stress enough how important it is to know what your opponent’s team is capable of doing. This guy has a stop click. That guy has traited Stealth. This guy has Elaborate Deathtrap/Capture. That thing limits my free actions. These are details that you need to know about before charging into battle. And when you’re sitting there across from your opponent before the clock has started, that is the time to learn these things. That is the time to look things over, make sure you understand them, and even ask questions about them if they’re confusing. Utilize that time.

#2: Threat Ranges, and How to Stay Out of Them

Every figure out there has a threat range. This is not a term you’ll find in the rule book, and different players might have different words for it, so I’ll explain. A figure’s threat range is how far away it can attack something in one action. Some figures’ threat ranges are more difficult to calculate than others. A simple example would be that a character with no move & attack powers (Charge, Running Shot, Hypersonic, etc.) and no range has a threat range of 1 square. He can make a close combat attack and damage somebody right next to him. Give that guy a range of 7, and his threat range is now 7 squares, limited by line of sight. Easy, right? Okay, let’s give the guy Charge, with a movement value of 10. 10 divided by 2 is 5, so he can move 5 squares and attack 1 square away. That’s a threat range of 6, limited by terrain. The calculation with Running Shot or Hypersonic Speed is similar. The biggest boost to threat range, though, isn’t even a move & attack power. It’s a beautiful thing called Telekinesis. TK on one guy basically adds 8 to the threat range of any friendly guy he can see. Another thing to factor in is Perplex. Something a lot of new players don’t realize is the ‘replace then modify’ rule. When a guy uses Running Shot or Charge and cuts his movement in half, but he has his movement Perplexed up, the value is cut in half before adding the Perplex. So if a guy has Running Shot, 6 range, with 9 movement Perplexed up once, that threat range is (9/2, rounded up) + 1 + 6, for a total of 12.

Why does this matter? How is this something a new player needs to know about? Because I constantly see new players running their whole team across the map on the first turn, right into my team’s threat range. Sure, I might miss with my attacks, but getting that alpha strike is key in a game where hitting guys usually brings down their stats or clicks them onto less useful powers. This is not Monopoly or Sorry. You do not have to use your entire speed value when moving your figures. You will never pass Go. Every game, on the first turn, you should be calculating your opponent’s threat range and moving up as far as you can while staying out of it. If your opponent’s big attacker has Running Shot, 12 movement, 5 range, and Perplex, then his threat range is (12/2) + 5 + 1 from Perplex, for a total of 12 squares. So count 13 squares from your opponent’s starting area, put down a token or something on that row of the grid, and don’t move your team past that token.

When you’re going second, this might be tougher, since your opponent has theoretically stayed out of your threat range, but she’s also moved her team up and shortened the distance from her attackers to yours. If she hasn’t stayed out of your threat range, attack. Go all out. Hit whoever you think you can damage, and screw up her early game strategy. If she’s moved up to the point where you’re in her threat range, but she’s not in yours, then you just have to set up defensively and hope for the best. Put some terrain between your guys and her lines of fire. Park your ranged or flying guys in hindering terrain for the defense bonus. Maybe even have a sacrificial lamb stand in front of your main attacker. Perplex up defenses and hope for the best.

# 3: Build Your Own Teams

Just about every day, you’ll see somebody post online about how this team placed well at some big tournament, or that figure is ridiculously overpowered, or whatever. And that’s fine. But don’t go thinking you can just get your hands on those amazing teams and figures hoping they will hand you easy victories. They won’t. The most important thing in this game is to be able to make good decisions on the fly about what to do in any given situation. You can do that with common pieces that nobody else plays. Yeah, sure, there are some ‘money’ pieces out there that have all kinds of pretty bells and whistles. But none of those things matter if you make bad decisions in game. Every figure in this game can be taken out in some way, regardless of its rarity or eBay price tag. Know your figures, know their strengths and weaknesses, and your team full of commons can take down that Zombie Super Skrull. Will it be easy? No. But that wouldn’t be any fun.

Questions? Comments? Concerns? Wanna tell me how dumb I am? Feel free to contact me on reddit. ClixGuru’s the name, something something rhymes with name… Get out there and win some games? Sure, that works.

by ClixGuru