Overall Thoughts-

This is a really strong OP showing, especially compared to the fairly weak June kit, that was filled with expensive, yet very finesse-y figures. Comparatively, July’s offerings are much more team-building focused, with characters that are both specialized enough to be useful, but limited enough to be cheap and worth building.

Moon Knight, the On Again, Off Again Trouble Maker

First, this is definitely the figure people are most excited about since this is the first Moon Knight since Amazing Spiderman, and he doesn’t really let you down. He’s not as interesting as the Amazing Spiderman version of the character who could choose a bunch of powers and boosts to his stats, but he brings his own twist, making him a unique and satisfying character to play, that can be inconsistent if not given the proper foresight.

Moon Knight is completely defined by his trait, it’s what empowers him to strike way above his point level, or confines him into a very mediocre secondary attacker. Every turn you’re either placing a Moon token on his card, or removing it, creating a very real tempo for him, especially when the Moon token controls when he has Willpower. This means on odd numbered turns (1,3,5) he’ll have Willpower, (this means on his first turn as well), and on even number turns he won’t. The issue with this is that, action tokens are cycled off in 3’s. You take an action, take another action, and then pass, removing your tokens. When you’re combining this with his Moon tokens, that means that during every odd cycle of action tokens, he won’t be able to use Willpower. This forces you to consider passing when you have your Moon token on and have Willpower just to allow you to have it at more opportune times in your upcoming turns. Even when you’re utilizing them perfectly, it wouldn’t matter if Moon Knight didn’t have a good dial to utilize the +1 to his stats, and thankfully he does, mostly.

Statistically, Moon Knight is completely average, with 5 Range, 8 Movement, 10 Attack and 17 Defense top dial. While he’s not winning any awards for power, the only questionable stat is his lower than average 2 damage, and it hurts a bit. The rest of his dial stays pretty much the same, with his values (aside from movement) dropping minimally. Power-wise he’s more than solid, with his first 3 clicks offering a combination of Running Shot, Charge and Stealth, giving him a lot of variability and different styles of approach, and when paired with Exploit Weakness, it allows him to deal real damage to targets with reducers, keeping him a threat against basically everyone. After he loses Exploit Weakness he picks up Close Combat Expert and Precision Strike, making him more of a threat both at range and up close, being able to boost his attack up to a potential 13, or his damage to a 5. His last click of his 7 click long dial is reserved for Regeneration, allowing him to keep in the fight for a bit longer, and if you have Willpower, allowing him to push to regenerate. For 75 points he’s a pretty decent secondary attacker, and with his ability to ignore hindering and elevated for movement, he can close the gap efficiently.

His biggest flaw is the need to rely on his Moon Token to be better than average, if it’s not on than more than often he’s not dealing enough damage to ignore reducers unless he gets up close, and then if he does, he doesn’t have the defense to survive until his next turn, when the Moon Token will boost it to an 18. The Moon Token also makes him a decent I.D Card character. Being able to pull in an 11 Attack, 3 Damage, Exploit Weakness figure for 75 points isn’t bad at all. If his damage was higher, he’d be a lot better, but as it stands he’s a good brawler, but doesn’t bring enough to the table to be great, with very careful play he’s bringing a lot to the table, but even one misstep will leave him ripe for the picking.

Keyword Team-Ups-

Avengers-

cwsop 009- Spider-Woman- Spider-Woman functions as a taxi and a harasser for Moon Knight. Her main purpose is getting him into the fray, but once she does, she has a lot of tools for keeping him out of danger. She has Plasticity to keep your enemies locked down while Moon Knight repositions, or passes to make better use of his Moon Tokens, and if she can’t get into adjacency, she can hand out action tokens with her attack power. When she doesn’t have that power she has Perplex, helping Moon Knight keep his defense up when he doesn’t have his token, and boosting him further when he does.

gotg 005- Major Victory- Major Victory is similar to Spider-Woman, but instead of being a harasser, he’s a very forward ranged attacker. Starting with an 11 Attack, 4 Damage with Running Shot and Penetrating/Psychic Blast allows him to be very offensive, while still managing to be a useful support character with Telekinesis, Leadership and Perplex.

aou 020- Captain America- Starting with the ability to Carry and Outwit, as well as being able to boost up adjacent characters ranged attacks with his Police team ability, and increasing their defense against ranged attacks, Captain America plays a great sidekick to anybody, but especially with Moon Knight. Captain America provides the offensive and defensive boost Moon Knight needs, while also providing a useful secondary attacker to help deal damage.

Heroes for Hire-

cwsop 006- She-Hulk- When Moon Knight is stuck on a map with a lot of blocking terrain and no Elevated or Hindering, you’re going to need to find a way to mobilize him, and to do that, look no further than She-Hulk. With her ability to break down blocking terrain when she moves, she can make holes for Moon Knight who can then rely on his improved movement and Stealth to avoid damage and get in close.

dp 009- Misty Knight- Misty Knight provides a little bit of mobility with her Leadership, and, on-top of that, can take tokens off of Moon Knight, allowing him a little more freedom from his Moon Tokens, and allowing him to reset the cycle so he gets his Willpower when he needs it. Otherwise Misty is just a fairly straight-forward attacker, offering a mix of up close and ranged, pairing well with Moon Knight’s ability to do both. She also picks up Outwit, giving her even more support for Moon Knight, and even better, both their names end with Knight!

Martial Artist-

aou 010- Mockingbird- Mockingbird is a really great way to spend 52 points. When she’s adjacent to Moon Knight she’s getting Sidestep and Willpower and she’s boosting his damage with Empower. With her Improved Movement, she’s going to be able to keep up with him too, and with the S.H.I.E.L.D team ability, she’s boosting his range, and potentially his damage in order to make him a real heavy hitter.

ffwf 002e- Batman- Batman’s biggest boon is bringing in the Weapon Drop. Attaching the Weapon Drop to Moon Knight offers him a lot of very useful powers, for both Close and Ranged attacks. Batman himself is a useful figure, with Outwit, and the potential for Running Shot and Charge. With Stealth he can be a useful enough figure, assisting Moon Knight, while providing him with the powers from the Weapon Drop.

Marvel Knights-

avas 001- Black Widow- This Black Widow is incredibly powerful, and with her Stealth and Perplex pairs well with the offensive nature of Moon Knight. She has a lot of tricks for being very offensive, while still keeping friendly characters equally as powerful with her supporting powers. Overall she’s just a very, very strong figure who can really use a little back-up from a character like Moon Knight

Mystical-

wf 032- Demon- Demon wasn’t a particularly useful figure compared to the similar Apprentice, but when paired with Moon Knight, he can both keep up with him, as well as provide the triple benefit of tying up, weakening and threatening opposing characters. For 30 points there are few figures that provides as much of a benefit.

uxm 056- Pixie- She’s a taxi with Perplex and free action Smoke Cloud that can lower defense values. There really isn’t much better than this for Moon Knight. Her Smoke Cloud activates his Stealth or softens up his targets, while her Perplex boosts him up to higher levels, all while she’s carrying him into position, and after she pushes she’s able to mix it up in close as well, finally being able to heal him after sustaining major damage. These two are a fantastic pair.

Soldier-

ffoa 006- Captain America- This Captain America is a really great friend for any Soldier character. Giving him a power action allows you to move a Moon Knight up to half his movement. This gives him a lot more mobility, and allows him to move when he doesn’t want to take an action because he doesn’t have his Moon Token on him.

smww028- General Lane- Possiby the most important Soldier figure. He grants the Superman Enemy team ability, basically giving Moon Knight Outwit. He also has Leadership that can pull tokens off of Moon Knight even though he’s a higher point cost. He’s just a very solid support figure that gives Moon Knight a lot of variability.

Should You Get Moon Knight?

The biggest issue with recommending Moon Knight is the lack of Moon Knight figures in Heroclix. This is the first Moon Knight since Amazing Spider-Man, and he’s a very good representation of Moon Knight. The other half of the issue is that, in the Superior Foes of Spider-Man set, there’s going to be another Moon Knight, making picking up this figure less important. If you want a Moon Knight and want to choose between the two, it really depends on what kind of Moon Knight you’re looking for. This Moon Knight is a lot more stealthy, relying on his improved movement to get him into striking range. The SFOSM set Moon Knight is a straight up brawler who gets more powerful the more people who can see him, and can avoid dying by hitting opponents like a pseudo Wolverine. As a figure he doesn’t bring a lot new to the table, and his values are just a little low to be a competitive figure, but he’s a lot of fun to play, and he can hold his own in casual games.

If you love Moon Knight, or are looking for a fairly cheap secondary attacker, this figure won’t let you down, but if you’re looking for one Moon Knight, the upcoming set’s version might be of more value to you.

Shang-Chi, the Offensive Defensive Split Personality

Shang-Chi has one big gimmick, so let’s break that down. At the beginning of your turn you choose where to put him on his red or blue click numbers, accessing different powers depending on your choice. Basically, this appears as two separate sets of 4 clicks of life on his dial, each separated by 4 KO clicks. At the beginning of your turn (before or after you use Poison or Sidestep, allowing you to Sidestep, switch to your defense dial, and then use Poison), you can choose which to switch to, and then turn to that set of clicks, on the same click number as you were on (instead of the clicks being labeled 1-12, there are two sets of 1-4). Basically this is giving you two sets of powers for the price of one.

Looking at the numbers, Shang-Chi is a powerful boy. On his offensive dial he’s sitting with a 12 attack, 3 damage, and average movement and defense, while on his defense dial he has a very high 18 defense, with very low damage and attack values. This isn’t a big deal though, as his defense dial isn’t intended to be offensive. This separation of his dial allows him to have the best of both worlds, a sky-high attack and a very good defense.

This seperation is further emphasized by the powers he possesses. His big offensive power is his special attack power. He has Precision Strike, and he can be given a power action to keep making attacks with a damage value of 1 until he misses an attack, with a -1 modification to his attack after each successful hit. With the right rolls, this means Shang-Chi can potentially kill almost any figure in a single turn, but only if you’re really lucky. This power, combined with Charge, and eventually Sidestep, makes him a big offensive threat.

On the defensive side, Shang-Chi has Plasticity, to keep people close to him, Poison, and a special defensive power that gives him Combat Reflexes, Super Senses and the ability to place a character that missed a close attack in a different adjacent square, and then knock them back 2 spaces.

This is a really cool concept, and it gives Shang-Chi a lot of potential strength. At first it seems like the need to be adjacent to a character to activate his attack power is a huge flaw, but with the ability to first tie them up with Plasticity, and then switch to the attack power, increases his versatility by a huge amount. When you’re playing him you have to really keep in mind all the powers available to him on a given turn. Sometimes going offensive isn’t the best choice, and you should instead stick with his Plasticity, to capture a Hypersonic Figure, or to keep him alive against a flurry from a big close-combat figure.

This also has a huge drawback, as a clever opponent can take advantage of when you’re in the offensive stance to pick you off with little to no trouble, as Shang-Chi has a huge achilles heel, his 4 clicks of life. Even though he can basically survive forever up close, Shang-Chi’s low defense on his offensive dial, and his very low amount of life, makes him a very desirable target for ranged attackers. On-top of this, his lack of Willpower means even a single push is removing 1/4 of his life. He’s just so vulnerable, and so squishy, that it’s hard to recommend investing 76 points into him. Even his defense power won’t always be helpful, as more often than not, when a figure gets into close combat with you, they have Charge, completely negating the knock-back he’ll be doing anyways. Shang-Chi is an interesting character, but needs to go back to the drawing board to be fully fleshed out

Keyword Team-Ups

Avengers-

avas 014- Justice- Justice comes in at 64 points, eliminating the awkwardness of Shang-Chi’s hard to build around point value, and proves him with a Taxi and Telekinesis to get into the fray. Justice also has a knock-back power that deals damage to those who avoid knock-back, something shared by many close-combat characters, allowing for some cool combo’s of Shang-Chi throwing someone around, followed by Justice Force Blasting them for some damage. Later in his dial he also gets Empower, further strengthening Shang-Chi’s close game.

avas 042- Sersi- Sersi helps by providing all the support Shang-Chi needs. With a +2 or -2 Perplex, Shang-Chi’s attack power has a higher chance of hitting multiple times in a row, while her Probability Control can help insure he’s getting those hits off. On-top of that, with Flight and Shape Change, she can carry him into the fray, and reliably allow close attackers to target Shang-Chi instead of her. She’s also just a really good offensive piece that can threaten from range.

ffoa 006- Captain America- If you need some more movement on Shang-Chi, look no further than this Captain America, who, for the price of a power action, can grant him a free move with half his movement, allowing Shang-Chi to get up close and use his attack power. On-top of that, if you pair him with Wasp, they’ll give him +2 damage with their double Empower (though this doesn’t work with his attack power.)

Heroes for Hire-

avas 017 Falcon- As one of the few Heroes for Hire with the wing symbol, Falcon serves an important role as a taxi for the team. Shang-Chi definitely needs a taxi, and, since he can rely on his defense dial to keep him alive, he can be placed in much more interesting positions, really bringing the fight to the enemy. Falcon can also choose Combat Reflexes to keep himself alive during the drop off, and, if he doesn’t have any tokens, can fly across the map and smash someone in the face. The Perplex at the end of his dial doesn’t hurt either.

dp 019 Deadpool- This Deadpool makes a very effective team with Shang-Chi, especially at his lower point value that gives him the Perplex to help him and the eventual Pulse Wave to become the biggest threat to your opponent. He can be hard to take down, even with very strong figures, and the power to weaken the strongest figures. With Outwit on his later dial, he brings out more options for Shang-Chi to deal more damage. He also has access to the word bubbles, and can provide covering fire for Shang-Chi with the Sheep Gun, locking down opponents. He doesn’t directly support as much as he just makes a great sidekick.

Martial Artist-

cwsop 026- Taskmaster- Taskmaster is great because of all his potential. He can do ranged combat, close-combat and even Outwit or Perplex as needed. His versatility pairs well with Shang-Chi’s Offensive/Defensive dial, allowing him to change as needed to assist, and bring some support abilities as well.

gotg 029- Moondragon- Moondragon functions as both a secondary ranged attacker and a Telekinesis figure, both things seriously missing for the Martial Artist keyword. Shang-Chi needs people to get him in close, and cover him as he’s getting into position and Moondragon helps with both, making her a great pick for a team. Plus she has the wing symbol, and can be a great taxi for Shang-Chi.

wkd15 008- Nightwing- Nightwing is a great Stealth piece, but also brings Tony Zucco into the mix, offering Perplex and Support. There really aren’t many supporting Martial Artist figures, so being able to get one and a strong attacker is a plus. Both of them also ignore Elevated for movement, allowing for some great shenanigans on maps with plenty of elevated.

Marvel Knights-

—The Marvel Knights ATA is very helpful, as it grants him Stealth, making this theme team very powerful, if expensive.

dp 202- Daredevil- This is possibly the best printed Daredevil, and with his mix of range and close options, can be a great assistant to Shang-Chi.

cwsop 025- Punisher- This guy is a ranged nightmare, and will always be the first character your opponent tries to take out. Pairing him with Shang-Chi gives them both a little bit of survivability, as both are incredibly dangerous. Their biggest issue is that they’re both very squishy, and neither can survive a dedicated assault.

Should you get Shang-Chi?

If you’re looking for a very difficult figure to play that brings a lot of potential, Shang-Chi could be that character. He has a lot of flaws that you’ll have to work around, and he requires a lot of finesse, but often times the payoff can be worth it as long as you’re conscious of the effort it will take to make him shine.

Shroud, the 45 point walking Smoke Cloud

Shroud’s a really interesting figure, as he functions as a walking Smoke Cloud generator, but before we get into that, lets look at the basics. For 40(!) points, you’re getting 5 clicks of life, with respectable attack values, okay damage, and very low defense and movement. On-top of that he doesn’t have Willpower, restricting his effectiveness in the battle. He also has no range, restricting him to close-combat. Now, his defense is deceivingly low, as its bolstered by Stealth, which is further bolstered by his special attack power.

His Special Attack power allows him to either drop a free action Smoke Cloud with 3 markers and the restriction that one must be in his square and the rest must be adjacent to him, or 9 markers, with the restriction that 1 is adjacent to him. Combined with Stealth, that means it’s going to be increasingly difficult to get a shot off on him without Improved Targeting. This Smoke Cloud is also going to allow him to protect adjacent friendly characters as they advance up the battlefield, or he’ll be able to snake 9 markers out to catch an enemy by surprise by lowering their attack and halving their movement. This leads directly into his trait, which activates when an opposing character occupies a Smoke Cloud marker and is adjacent to 2 other markers and lowers their attack by a further 1, possibly causing them to lose 2 attack, before even considering the possible Hindering Bonus.

The rest of his powers syngergize with his Smoke Cloud laying role, Combat Reflexes to defend him when opponents invariably get close, and Shape Change to keep him top-dial as long as he can. Finally he gets Close Combat Expert to actually deal some damage, if that’s what you want him to do.

Shroud is a very, very fun figure to play, and is possibly the best figure for Smoke Cloud around, even with his restrictions, a 40 points figure that can lower an opponents attack by 2 is invaluable.

Keyword Team-Ups

Heroes for Hire-

wkm15-014-Daredevil- The big idea here is using Shroud’s Smoke Cloud to give Daredevil a place to hide and attack from while still being able to rely on his top-dial Stealth. His attack power, which activates when characters miss him with Close attacks is also way more likely to work when their attack is lowered by the -2 from Shroud’s Smoke Cloud.

dp 031-Elektra- Similar idea to Daredevil, but Elektra packs a bigger punch. Her only major flaw is how frail she is from a distance, and with the added benefit of Smoke Cloud, she’ll have a much easier time surviving to utilize her 12 attack.

cwsop 023-Falcon- As one of the few Heroes for Hire with Flight, Falcon can act as a taxi for Shroud’s free Smoke Cloud, and can get him in close to really use it effectively. Falcon also suffers on a lot of his clicks from a lack of defense, and a little attack modification and Hindering bonus can really help him stay alive.

Martial Artist-

cwsop 019-Silhouette- Silhouette’s ability to jump from hindering terrain, to hindering terrain while carrying a character is interesting, but highly restricted by the low movement of 4. Luckily, when paired with Shroud, his ability to always insure she’s in hindering terrain can allow her to jump herself and a friendly martial artist into the fray, extending their range by 4.

uxm 044-Nightcrawler- Being able to carry Shroud is useful, especially when the carrier has Stealth. Throw Nightcrawler and Shroud into the thick of things, and watch as your opponents struggle to hit either of them, while Nightcrawler whittles them away with his 11 attack Blades/Claws/Fangs.

fl 030-Thorn- I’ve covered Thorn before, and like other martial artists she suffers from being unable to get in close. With a never-ending supply of hindering terrain though, she’ll be a ‘thorn’ in your opponents side, as they struggle to keep her down. For 105 points, there are few things more annoying then this combination.

Mystical-

wf 027- Blackbriar Thorn- Blackbriar Thorn’s special attack power allows him to deal penetrating poison to anyone occupying hindering terrain within 5 spaces of him. Sadly, because this happens at the beginning of your turn, your Smoke Cloud markers will have already fallen, and unless you have some free action Smoke Cloud around, it’s not going to be doing much. That’s were Shroud comes in. Tie up a character with Shroud, and keep using your Smoke Cloud to neuter their attack and deal them 1 penetrating damage.

Smww-056- Faust- Faust has a movement power that allows him to jump around from hindering t to hindering terrain, so more hindering terrain is always helpful to him. Keeping your opponents attack down also helps as he’s a little squishy himself.

Night Shift-

You don’t have many options as it is. You don’t need help with this.

Should you Get Shroud?

Anyone looking to get familiarized with Smoke Cloud, or looking for an interesting new support figure should definitely pick up Shroud.