I recently posted an article building around the TMNT Ally and TMNT Villain keywords, but left out this awesome Super Rare and hinted that I had plans for him. It’s time for those plans to be revealed. It’s time for the Future Shark to take a bite out of your gameplay!

Armaggon was the perfect candidate of me looking at a piece at first and really not digging the dial and power combinations. Sure, he was cool, but 170 points for no move and attack is a lot. When I see a tentpole come out, I do what most other players probably do; compare them to Krang as he’s pretty much the last of a dying breed in terms of your build being centered on one specific piece and if that piece is KO’d, you’re done. With Armaggon, it’s pretty simple since they’re exactly the same point cost. When I looked at the two of them side by side, I just saw more raw damage potential and aggression out of Krang, and that’s still true. However, that doesn’t mean Armaggon is bad. Let’s take a look at this super cool looking figure.

Clocking in at 170 points, Armaggon has the Dolphin symbol and Indom, as well as 5 range, single-target. He’s got 8 clicks of health which is pretty meaty for his points and no team ability. He does have one improvement; movement-ignores characters, which is probably the best thing a melee attacker can have. His numbers are pretty solid, with an 11 attack up top and appearing again twice in his dial, and only dropping to a 9 on his last click. He starts off with a whopping 12 movement, and drops to 9 through 7 after that. Defense is a little low up top at 17, but bumps to an 18 mid-dial before dropping back to 17 for his last two clicks. Damage is steady at 4 up top and popping up again on those two 11 attack clicks, and sticking with a 3 for the rest of the time.

His power suite is pretty nice. Movement consists of Phasing/Teleport for a single click, Charge for 2, Running Shot for 2, and Sidestep for 3. Attack starts off with Super Strength for 3 clicks, then 2 of Pen/Psy. Defense changes quite a bit; Invulnerable for 3 clicks, 2 of Invincible, 2 of Impervious, and a single Regen click at the end. Damage has a Special power for 3 clicks, Prob for 2, and Exploit for his last 3. That’s a pretty nice dial, although the front-loaded Phasing/Teleport rather than a move and attack ability is a little worrisome for his point cost.

Let’s see what makes Armaggon unique as we turn to his single Trait and Special damage power, as that’s usually what sets a dial apart. First up, the Trait:

BEWARE HIS TAIL!: Give Armaggon a free action when he has two action tokens to make a close attack.

Ho-ho, that’s a pretty rad ability! Free attacks are always, always a good thing to have. Since this is in a trait, there’s no getting around this. As long as you can keep Armaggon healthy, he’s going to be a big thorn in people’s sides. Use your first turn to position him, your second to go ham, and on the turn you clear, you get to make up for that first turn of positioning. Would I rather have Charge or Hypersonic up front? Well, sure, but this is a nice way to make up for that. Plus, if you get knocked down to Charge or Running Shot, you’ve effectively got a never-ending cycle of damage output as long as he’s alive. That’s a lot of value that Krang can’t really respond to. When big, pink robot guy has two tokens, he can either go Colossal and continue to hurt himself, or he sits in the corner and cries.

How about that Special damage ability?

FUTURE SHARK: Armaggon can use Probability Control. He can use it normally, or he can use it twice on your turn, but only to target himself.

BLARG! That’s insane! Most big, melee attackers don’t get Prob as it’s just a bit too powerful when they have a 6-7 damage output. WizKids said “screw that, give him two uses of Prob!” That means this guy is going to hit with his first attack for 7, and he’ll most likely hit every attack after that as well. One of the huge downfalls to tentpole teams is the lack of Prob control as you have to find a way to get it on your team, and pieces with the ability are usually pretty expensive (either points-wise or money-wise. I’m looking at you, KC Spectre). Armaggon says “I got you” and brings not one, but two uses to your force. Krang also has Prob, but only a single use. Then again, with a 13 attack, he’s probably not going to need it to hit. Still, I’ll take two uses over one any day of the week.

So how do we build around Armaggon? Since he lacks move and attack on top click, I think TK is a huge necessary evil for him. It allows you to get that alpha strike that he’s lacking and can keep him out of harms way via retaliation since he does only have a 17 defense. Map choice is going to be big with this guy. Since we don’t need other sources of Prob control, we should play to his strength that he can use Phasing to get through terrain while most enemies can’t. I’m thinking a lot of walls on an indoor map. Based on that, I would recommend a theme team with him to try and secure map roll. He does have some pretty great keywords: Animal, Future, Scientist, and TMNT Villain. Of these, I personally believe that Scientist is going to have the most options in today’s modern.

300 Point Modern Armaggon Scientist Theme Team – Somewhat Competitive

TMNT2 030 Armaggon | 170 Points

WF 051 The Chief | 50 Points

FL 007 S.T.A.R. Labs Technician | 33 Points

AOU 042bd Ultron-6 Drone | 30 Points

AVAS S100 Pym Particles | 2 Points

SHIELD Level 7 ID | 5 Points

Batman ID | 5 Points

Green Arrow ID | 5 Points

Sideline: NFAoS 056 Nick Fury, JLTW 051r Batman, D16-004 Green Arrow

Build Total: 300 Points

Scientist Theme Team: +4

No possession on Armaggon; he’s already a lot of points and the only thing we’re really going to get is Impervious and +1 to defense. Although that’s good, I don’t want to drop another 25 points on this killer.

The Chief is a killer support piece to run with Armaggon. He grants Armaggon Sidestep (or any character on your force) which I almost guarantee your opponent will forget about, meaning you get a +2 to engage distance. He’s also got support on his last two clicks with a big ol’ 11 attack, meaning he’s got a pretty good chance at healing our shark once he’s been beat up a little bit. With his traited Weird Resurrection, there’s a small chance he comes right back to life as well, so he’s a fairly annoying target to deal with. The big reason I like The Chief is because of his special damage power:

PROTECT YOU FROM YOURSELVES: The Chief can use Outwit and Perplex. When he uses either you may choose a friendly character within 6 squares that shares a keyword and he may count range and draw lines of fire from the chosen character’s square. At the end of your turn, if The Chief did not use Outwit, choose a friendly character within 6 squares that shares a keyword and that character’s powers and abilities can’t be countered until your next turn.

Perplex is always good, and the best case if probably going to be raising Armaggon to an 18 defense since the double Prob will most likely make him hit. If you’re going against someone with nasty defense, just Outwit through Armaggon and go ham. If you’re worried about the opposing player countering Armaggon’s abilities, pass on Outwit and pick up counter protection. What I really like is that nowhere in his power does it state he has to be within line of fire of the character he’s choosing; just within 6 squares. That means if we pick a map with a lot of walls or blocking terrain, he can still help Armaggon while hiding in a broom closet. He does need Line of Fire for Sidestep though. Still, he’s a steal for 50 points.

STAR Labs Tech is pretty much here for the TK. She’s cheap, she’s got Sidestep, and she fits in our theme. She does push into Defend/Support which is always a good combination, but I would probably use The Chief for that roll as TK is really valuable. If we do manage to play against a Blitz team, she can always give Precision Strike over to Armaggon.

I knew that the team could probably use some other form of offense so that if Armaggon is in a pickle, the team didn’t just sit there, so I opted for an Ultron drone. It’s hard to argue with one for only 30 points seeing as they can bring some heavy hitters in. I like that this drone destroys blocking terrain, so picking a map with lots of walls won’t effect our call-in capabilities.

The Pym Particles are a nice point filler and since it’s an ultra light object, it doesn’t hinder our use of 2 ultra heavies. If you do lose map roll, you can make Armaggon giant to avoid elevation or lots of hindering terrain (Charge/Running Shot), or just make him tiny to get a +1 to defense against range and the ability to be carried by anyone. I do like that if he goes giant, he can carry The Chief around. If you’re indoors, Giant really doesn’t hurt you, so I think it’s a pretty good play.

For ID cards, of course I went with Nick. There is just no better use of a drone than this guy. I went with Batman for his insane utility. From Pulse Wave to Support, Batman can do it all and can be a powerful piece to bring out alongside our tentpole. Lastly, I went the Green Arrow. This team lacks range damage and Green Arrow is as versatile as they come. As always, ID cards are up to you and can easily be swapped for what you want/need.

I’ve stated map choice being a big deal, and I think the Premium WizKids Office map would be a perfect choice. Its really brutal on alpha strike teams and although it impairs our own TK slightly, we’ll benefit off this map a lot more than anyone else will, unless of course a wild Proteus shows up and just attacks from every wall!

I do want to present a different team build. I’m not sure if you keep up with the ROC tournaments at all, but we’re about to move into the Limited format, and there has been some talk that Armaggon could be a monster as more game elements will be missing to really hinder his performance. In case you aren’t aware, here are the rules for ROC Limited:

NOT ALLOWED: Resources, Figures larger than a Peanut base, Constructs, Relics, ID Cards, Feats, BFC’s, Event Dials, and Characters equipped during force construction.

ALLOWED: Theme Teams, ATA’s, Special Objects, Word Bubbles, and Bystanders

This means that not only are resources and ID cards out, colossals are as well. No colossal retaliation to worry about. No Zombie Galactus or Shuma Gorath making surprise appearances. There’s also no possession, which means Midnight Sons Doctor Strange won’t exist since he needs Eclipso to work property. Faust will still be an issue and could potentially be a bigger threat than before with less options to deal with him, but I think Armaggon can eat him alive. After all, long dials and hyper-aggression are Fausts’ biggest fears.

With that in mind, I want to present a limited format team. I still think Theme is a big player here.

300 Point Modern Limited Armaggon Scientist Theme Team

TMNT2 030 Armaggon | 170 Points

WF 051 The Chief | 50 points

AOU 201e Hank Pym | 50 Points

WF FF 003r Poison Ivy | 25 Points

JW FF S001 Harley’s Hammer | 3 Points

Sideline: All Morph Hank Pym/Ant Man’s from Age of Ultron SLOP/Ant-Man Box Set

Build Total: 298 Points

Scientist Theme Team: +4

I looked through both Future and Animal and found that the big piece lacking from the puzzle was support. Neither of those keywords have a large portion of support pieces and that’s primarily what you need with a 170 point beat stick. Armaggon and The Chief remain from the last build. After looking at modern Scientists, I really think he provides the best support for this guy.

Hank Pym replaces STAR Labs Tech for one big reason; board control. Since Hank can produce Ants after the initial TK, he can clog up hallways and force our opponent to fight on our terms. One of these Morph pieces gives all your ants Empower as well, so you can do some pretty nice damage once Armaggon is out of objects to use. The utility here is off the charts and an absolute bargain for the points. Need Perplex? Bring in the common Ant-Man (who also has size manipulation). Outwit? Yep, we got something for that too. Posion? Sure, one of these guys gives all the ants poison to dish some nice extra damage.

Poison Ivy is a somewhat odd choice. It was between her or the Ultron drone just based on points I had left in the build. They both have two clicks of health, but I went with Ivy for more utility. If you need to, you can barrier the corridor that someone is marching down and protect your Hank Pym/Ant-Man/Chief while Armaggon comes back around. I really dig Barrier, and 25 points is a steal for the power.

With my last 5 points, I started looking at special objects since they can be a big help. Because Armaggon relies on ultra heavies for more damage, I wanted to stick to a light object, and man is Harley’s Hammer perfect for him. Since this thing gives Giant Reach: 2, it helps Armaggon when he gets into those Runing Shot clicks. The problem with those clicks is that you most likely aren’t going to get your free attack off because it has to be a melee attack. Thanks to the Hammer, you can Running Shot a single square away and now swing with your free attack afterwards. That’s some really nice utility. Combined with Sidestep and TK, that’s a lot of extra attack range we’re getting that your opponent will probably underestimate until it’s too late. What I really like about the Hammer is that Armaggon can wait until he’s out of big items to pick it up. He doesn’t need it early, so you don’t have to waste a turn in the beginning of the game picking it up.

Again, I would go with the WizKids Office map as it’s going to provide so much cover for your team. Barrier is god-like on this map and will totally utilize our 25 point Ivy.

That wraps up Armaggon’s time in the sun. Dammit, now I have to buy this guy! What are your thoughts on the teams? Have you tried him with something else? Managed to get an Animal or Future team to work in Modern? I’m eager to hear your results!

Before I wrap this up, I want to bring something up. Next week I’m off of work for winter break, which means I’ll have a lot more time to do things I haven’t been able to do thanks to my schedule. Take care!