So…you and your crew are sitting around the table, beating each other down in a ferocious game of Heroclix. There’s lots of backstabbery, as is to be expected, and you’re battling for HOURS until it’s the last man standing…in a two-thousand point game…between eight people.

Yes, this actually happened. Yes, it WAS ridiculous, and yes, we played from 8pm to shortly after 7am.

Yes, we are THOSE guys.

I enjoyed every single second, and my team of Avengers, based from the cartoon roster of the first and second season of The Avengers, Earth’s Mightiest Heroes; Iron Man, Thor, Captain America, Hulk, Wasp, Giant Man, Hawkeye, Black Widow, Black Panther, Vision, Captain Marvel (she was Ms. Marvel in the cartoon) and Spider-man (He was one of six guys in the episode titled ‘New Avengers’). Did I mention Splitlip? Yeah, see, because he the Book of The Skull was there, too. The other teams were JUST as nasty, and included X-men, Red Lanterns, Yellow Lanterns, Some Imposter Avengers who got dealt with first, and two world-eating Galatus’, and The Serpent and his Chosen.

My favorite part of that battle was when Giant-Man (played at 400 points)waited until TONS of opposing figs coagulated on the rooftop he was adjacent to, and he shook the entire building doing one unavoidable damage to all assembled (no pun intended), not just once but twice. They hated me. I loved it. It was awesome. Oh, did I mention I won? I walked away with the Moonstone convention LE, even though this was not officially a tournament. I’ll try not to break my arm patting myself on the back…lol. Sincerely, I jest, but it was all in fun.

In reflection I thought about what we could have done to shorten the length of the game, without taking away from the intensity. Once upon a time, WIZKIDS published some scenarios in the back of those early rulebooks. I’ve long since expanded upon those and created many scenarios and objectives that have made some multi-player games, and even some one-on-one games, just as fun as beating your opponent’s force into nothingness. Also known as the standard way to win, AKA, playing for points.

Adding scenarios and/or objectives to your match may sound like something you’d rather not bother with, but if you open your mind to it, and maybe start off with a simple one, you may see things in a different light. I am a fan of ‘in-depth’ games, which I guess can be read into as ‘complex’, so I can and will make things insane…but let’s take a look at a few ideas, starting with a simple one, followed by one that is a bit more involving.

Escape Crisis-World 52-616:

Establish a point total, and build your force. Regardless of whether you have all the bells and whistles; Feats, BFCs, Resources, Relics, etc, etc…The games overall objective will be to enter the other player’s starting area, accessing the dimensional portal that will return your team to their proper timeline and universe before this one implodes at the end of the game. Entering the opposition’s starting area will remove that character from the map. The player with the most characters off the board via the opposing players starting area is the final winner. For something like this, one could opt to set a round limit. Depending on the build total, ten rounds is a good number to start with. The game ends on the second player’s final turn.

Alternatively; one can ‘score’ twice the points for their character making it through the portal. Since we were steering away from point-based victories, the point option is really for opposing forces that have a reasonably uneven number of characters.

For some it may seem odd to rush, headlong, into your opponents force, only to ‘get your guys through’, so if takes the fun out of signing checks and taking names, you can add some stipulations: At least one figure from each force must be KO’d in order for the portals to open (can you say ‘sacrificial lamb’?), OR half your opponent’s force must be KO’d before one can proceed. The former is great for multi-player battles of three or more, whereas the second option might be better suited for a one-on-one match. Again, that’s all based on point totals of the forces built.

The game ends in a tie for all players if zero characters make it home. No one escapes the inquisition…heh, I mean implosion.

Keep in mind that even though the focus is on who gets the MOST characters home, weeding out your opponent’s force, leaving him with very little to make it home, ensures your victory.

What you may enjoy about this scenario is the fact one could be ‘losing’ horribly, but with a few deft moves, one could win simply by running away…in the right direction.

The Crystal of Seraphina:

Before any forces are placed on the map, the player who rolled lowest for map choice places The Crystal (A Marble glued to a Poker chip or something otherwise visually appropriate) into any one of the four center squares.

Side note: this could be the Pig of Destiny, or The Joker’s Penny, or WHATEVER you choose to represent this objective. Creativity (and humor–humor always) counts, so don’t hold back.

Whichever force is in possession of the crystal at the end of the game is the victor.

Sounds simple, right? HA! Good luck, Larry! Here’s the deal:

A character that begins its turn adjacent to the crystal may be given a power action to take possession of it.

From there on, until the crystal is dropped, or the game ends, the character carrying the crystal may not be targeted by a ranged attack, may not be carried, may not be the placed, and may not make any actions other than a move action, or free actions–unless the free action results in that character making any kind of attack. The character can use all their movement powers normally, and their speed is reduced by two, ignoring all abilities or traits that state otherwise. They cannot carry any other object or character.

The crystal is dropped whenever this character takes damage from an opposing character. The player that caused the damage chooses which space adjacent to the former carrier the crystal is placed. It does not have to be on the same elevation. It may not be placed inside blocking terrain.

This one could again have a round limit, but is just as good being played to the last man. It’s amazing to see how often the crystal changes hands, and how strategic some players become at holding on to the prize. I’ve also seen players wait until near the game’s end, or WAY late in the game to scoop up the prized crystal, turning what would otherwise be clear defeat in standard conditions, into a clean win, based on scenario rules.

This scenario is PERFECT for larger groups and battle royal type matches, it’s really anyone’s game until it reaches the very end.

Feel free to alter or tweak any aspect of these scenarios to fit your group’s playing style. ALWAYS remember to KEEP IT BALANCED, otherwise it gets to be a bit much, and players don’t have fun with it.

If you haven’t seen any of the CITY OF HEROES promotional videos, this Crystal of Seraphina scenario is a definite ode, & nod of the hat to one of them. Um, yeah, the villains kept possession of the crystal at the end, by the way. It didn’t look good for the good guys.

There are a TON of great Ideas and Scenarios. If all goes well, I’ll post more. Let us know what you think of them, and share your experiences using them with us. We’d love to hear how things played out.

BONUS VICTORY POINTS FOR THE SCENARIO-CHALLENGED:

Let’s say you don’t want to play a full-fledged scenario, but have interest in adding a tweak to standard victory conditions by awarding additional victory points for a challenging goal achieved.

Grab a stack of INDEX CARDS available at any stationary shop or place that sells school supplies. Office Max, Walgreens, or the international equivalents should have them. Or just cut some sheets of paper into even strips.

Each card should have no more than a single sentence (5 points) or two sentences (10 points). Each minimally worded sentence represents the condition needed to achieve the bonus victory points. Keep in mind that they should be universal and not specific to any particular figure.

Here are a few examples:

Start of the game, a single piece chooses an enemy. It KOs the fig: gain 5 pts.

Your force destroys all enemy objects. 5pts each object.

Capture your enemy’s flag. A friendly fig occupies their starting area-5pts/fig.

Your lowest point character attacks your enemy’s highest point character; when it makes a successful close combat attack against the designated fig. grant-10pts.

I recommend no more than a single one of these for each player for every 100 points of the build total. I strongly recommend increments of no more than 5 or 10 points.

Intrigued? Here’s how it’s done;

After characters are placed, each player alternates drawing a card until they have one card for each 100 points of the build total, starting with the highest roller. One at a time they reveal each card to their opponent, and assign it to a particular character if such is necessary.

Game play proceeds regularly from then on out, taking time to score victory points for the goals accomplished then and there. Score them immediately when each condition is met.

This will add a little spice to your games, and help spur vendettas, which we all know, in the world of comics and Heroclix, is the glue that holds us all together!

LET’S PLAY SOME CLIX!