Diamonds in the Rough is an exploration of characters that otherwise have fallen through the cracks into obscurity. These characters aren’t “meta” worthy, but they have some redeeming features, that I would like to bring some focus to.

Jack Hawksmoor comes in at a slightly expensive 85 points, and you might wonder, 85 points? Really? For no move and attack, no Willpower and no range? What the hell are you thinking? All I can say is, you’re right, he’s not going to be the big offensive piece on your team, instead he offers some of the best tricks in the game. He’s a character who can completely ruin specific teams days, and who’s really hard to actually get a hit on. He’s a support / secondary attacker, but on your team, he’ll be the one character who has a Utility Belt like response to every situation.

Before we look at his powers and values, lets check in with his Trait.

THE CITY REJECTS YOU: Jack Hawksmoor can use Stealth. At the beginning of your turn, if it’s your 3rd turn or later, deal 1 penetrating damage to each other character occupying any player’s starting area.

First of all, he’s getting stealth, giving him some much needed protection, and while the ability to see through hindering is everywhere, it’ll allow him a little more freedom in placement. The second part of his Trait is a doozy, have you ever played against a team who hides in their starting area, waiting for you to come into their trap? Worry no more, cause Jack Hawksmoor can single handedly destroy that tactic. You know who else he completely destroys? Supreme Intelligence. Yes Supreme Intelligence is going to be shooting at him every turn until he’s dead, but if you can keep him alive, he’ll tear that big floating face apart.

So far, Jack Hawksmoore has already proven he’s bringing something to the table that no one else can, but he also ignores elevated terrain more movement. This wouldn’t be that big, as he doesn’t have move and attack, except that he kind of does.

ABSORBED INTO BUILDINGS: Before Jack Hawksmoor is given a non-free action, if he occupies a square of terrain adjacent to a square of a different elevation, you may place him in any square within 6 squares that is adjacent to a square of a different elevation.

Now this abilities wording is very dense, so i’ll break it down. If Jack Hawksmoore is adjacent to a space of different elevation, (so if he’s on elevation 1 and adjacent to elevation 2, or on the rim of a piece of elevated terrain), he may put himself in another space like that within 6 squares before he performs a non-free action. So the order of play here is, declare your non-free action (close combat attack, telekinesis) place him, activate your action. While this slows him down on turns he’s not performing actions, it gives him this great ability to jump to a place with a better line of sight to activate his telekinesis.

On his first click Jack is completely a supporting piece, offering telekinesis and probability control. His ability to jump around allows him to maintain clear line of sight to pieces who need his powers as well. He’s also no slouch with solid stats, that continue on throughout his dial. Keeping him on his first click is hard, as he doesn’t have Willpower and there’s going to be a time you need to push him to telekinesis a piece back into safety, or have him jump into the fray with his 10 attack 3 damage. You’re going to loose Telekinesis and Probability Control, but you get a completely new toy to play with instead.

BUILDINGS GET UP! UP!: Jack Hawksmoor can use Toughness. Give Jack Hawksmoor a free action and place up to 2 blocking terrain markers within 6 squares; these markers remain on the map until destroyed or until he uses this power again.

You might be thinking, “Isn’t this just what the Wall Construct does?” Well, yes and no. Both put up 2 markers for a free action, that’s true enough, except this one has 2 properties that make it infinitely better. 1 You don’t need line of sight. If there’s someone trapped by opponents in another room, BOOM a barrier around them. An opponent is going to move through a doorway to get you? BOOM no more doorway. The fact you don’t need a line of sight makes this power really really good. They also don’t need to be adjacent, allowing you to place 2 pieces of blocking terrain in completely different places. 2 The markers don’t disappear at the end of the turn. Sometimes Barrier is great, protecting your units from incursions from the enemy, but they can always wait it out. Eventually, you’re Barrier piece will have to rest, leaving you open to attack. Not so with Jack Hawksmoor. His blocking terrain is staying up until you blow it up, and even then, it’s only a free action for it to pop up in some other place. This power is the reason to play him, this is his big trick. Especially in close quarters maps, this power shines. Against a piece like Nick Fury, being able to protect 2 units that are 6 spaces away from his sniper rifle is fantastic. If an enemy is diagonally adjacent to a ranged piece, you can place those blocking terrain markers on either side of your friendly character, allowing them free break away. Unlike doing that with barrier, you don’t need to seem them to do it.

Outside of his defensive power, he still has some tricks up his sleeve. His second click holds an 18 defense, 10 attack, 3 damage with his defensive power, Quake, Close Combat Expert and Side-step, making him really useful as a close combat beater piece. As he takes damage he’ll get his movement power back, and mixed with Quake, it becomes even better. Is your opponent sniping you from some elevated terrain? All you have to do is teleport up adjacent to them, and Quake them off of the building, that’s a pretty big hit. Finally, Jack gets Regeneration. One click has the combination Special Movement Power and Regeneration, letting him teleport around healing himself, keeping him alive throughout the game.

Flaws: Jack Hawksmoore has one huge flaw. He needs elevated terrain to have the most mobility possible, and getting elevated terrain requires winning the Map Roll. Jack’s keywords don’t really allow him to win the map roll unless he’s on very specific teams. He’s also a little expensive without having move and attack, his values tend to be solid throughout his dial, but he can struggle against character’s with really heavy reducers. Not having Willpower is fine when you’re pushing off of your first click, but it hurts further down the dial.

Fixes: The first fix, Willpower. There’s a ton of ways to get it, Wrath Sin, Green Battery, Nul’s Hammer, this can be really useful for him. Nul’s hammer also gives him Running Shot and 4 range allowing for some move and attack potential (which can be especially crazy when you teleport before using running shot). Any of the constructs that grant close combat powers can also be useful, mainly Scissors and Axe for Blades and Exploit. The Sniper Rifle can really give him some more variability, allowing him to threaten anyone anywhere near the same piece of elevated terrain that he is on. In terms of pairing him up with character’s, any character that can get objects from destroying blocking terrain, he can help. Especially since those character’s tend to be melee based. He can toss them into combat, and then give them the blocking terrain that they need to get objects. Someone to think about pairing him with would be She-Hulk from Age of Ultron, as she can help insure map roll goes your way.

Keywords: Jack Hawksmoor only has two keywords. Authority and Stormwatch. Authority is one of my favorite teams to play as, but it requires some investment as Jenny Sparks and Engineer are both hard to find/ expensive pieces. If you’re not dead set on using those two, then Doctor, Midnighter and Swift are all strong pieces to pair him with. For Stormwatch, the keyword is a little more fickle. While Midnighter remains you’re really only getting Martian Manhunter from Trinity War. He’s a good piece, but he and Jack don’t have much synergy.

Don’t overlook Jack Hawksmoor, his sculpt might look like he’s taking a crap on your map, but he brings so much to the table that’s impossible to find anywhere else. He’s simultaneously able to threaten opponents and assist your big hitters. His role changes throughout the fight, allowing him to support, then smash, then defend others with blocking terrain, and finally extend to get that one piece thats hanging back sniping you. It’s shocking how useful he is