The standard Heroclix game is usually 300 points, set to 45-50 minutes and based on KO’ing as many enemy pieces as you can. Not everyone enjoys the basic game, so today I want to go over some of my favorite events I’ve run at my LGS.

I want to take a break from Team Builds as that seems to be what I’ve roared back into the norm with in the last couple months. That’s always tricky because there’s only so many things to talk about. This is a rather slow point in the year for Clix. Sure, it isn’t winter when things really die down, but these is still a lack of things going on. We’ll in a set lull (which is a good thing honestly) just coming off the heels of Batman: The Animated Series, there’s a lack of events with the next WKO’s taking place in November, the ROC World Cup doesn’t happen for another two months, and there’s no new LE’s to talk about. Honestly, there’s a lack of good content out there to cover.

While I do love doing team builds as that’s what got me started blogging in the first place, I know that you, the reader, don’t care for seeing the same type of article every week, regardless of where it’s being hosted. Sometimes it’s fun to deviate from the serious side and go for fun topics, and that’s what today is about.

At my LGS, I don’t like to run a lot of regular games; I always try to spice things up a bit by including some build rules, or a certain theme to the event. This way people can constantly change what they’re doing and choose many pieces from their collection rather than say the same 20-30. I also like to vary what age games can be played at. While I don’t know a lot of figures older than Trinity War, I still like to include a lot of Oreo-based or Golden Age games.

For each of these events, I’ll jot down the details as they were posted, and then a little information about how I came up with the event or any thoughts I may have.

To Me, My X-Men

Characters with chosen Mutant Keywords (see list below) gain the X-Men Team Ability and have Indomitable.

Characters with the Robot or Sentinel Keywords gain Protected: Outwit, Mind Control and “When attacking a character with the X-Men Team Ability, modify attack and damage +1”.

Players may not have Robots/Sentinels and Mutants on their team, meaning if you play a Mutant-based team, you can’t have Robots/Sentinels and vice/versa.

**Accepted Mutant Keywords to gain the X-Men Team Ability and Indomitable: X-Men, X-Factor, X-Force, X-Statix, All-New X-Men, Generation X, New Mutants, Hellions**

Age: Oreo

Point Total: 400

Tactics: Yes

BANNED FIGURES: Justin Seyfert, DoFP Nimrod

Equipment/Possession:No

Special Terrain: No

Resources: No

Vehicles: No

Colossals: Yes

Relics: No

Team Bases: No

Feats/BFC’s: No

Thoughts: There was a lot of hype when X-Men Xavier’s School was releasing, so I wanted to pay tribute to the classic struggle between X-Men and Sentinels. This allowed players to build their own X-Men dream team without having to worry about which X keyword the mutants had. On the flip side, they could recruit any robot they wanted into the Sentinel program. I always try and make buffs for characters shallow so that one side doesn’t completely outweigh the other. In this case the robots only gained a benefit if they fought X-Men and got a slightly better buff, but the X-Men received something that was much more reliable and strong from the start.

If I ran this event again, I would decrease the buff from the Sentinels and have players construct a team of both, with high-roller getting to pick whether they’re the hunters or the prey.

Horsemen of the Apocalypse

Players will select 4 characters and deem each character a different Horsemen of the Apocalypse, and one character on their Sideline equal to 200 points or less, deemed Apocalypse. Each Horseman gains a special ability as described below. If all four of your Horsemen are in your opponents starting area, at the beginning of your turn you may KO one of your Horseman and replace them with your Apocalypse figure.

**War – Modify attack value +1 for each opposing character who took damage from an attack this turn.

**Famine – At the beginning of your turn, if this character has no action tokens, POWER: give an action token to each adjacent opposing character.

**Pestilence – Poison. Deals penetrating damage when using it.

**Death – Modify combat values +1 for each opposing character KO’d this turn.

Age: Oreo

Point Total: 400

Tactics: Yes

Equipment/Possession: No

Special Terrain: No

Resources: No

Vehicles: No

Colossals: No

Relics: No

Team Bases: No

Feats/BFC’s: No

Thoughts: I figured the concept of the four horsemen of the Apocalypse was generic enough to not really hint at Marvel, but the event was influenced by how much my players were digging the set. This let my players build their own dream team of Apocalypse and his horsemen, using whatever character they wanted. Ideally, I was hoping to see 4 characters at 100 points, but I didn’t want to limit the build. I tried pretty hard to limit how powerful each of the different horsemen were, but Pestilence ended up being the strongest of the bunch. While I allowed theme teams, I decided to restrict everything else to force the focus purely into the team concept.

Everyone seemed to like this one, so I’d love to revisit it. I think in the future, I would cap it at 4 characters of 100 points (or 90-100 for newer players) to force each horseman into the same balance.

There Must Always be a Herald

Players will choose a colossal of at least 200 points and construct a theme team using one of their Keywords.

Choose a character of 100 points or less during force construction and that character gains the themed Keyword (meaning they do not have to possess the chosen Keyword) and become your colossal’s herald. At the beginning of each of your turns, you may choose a power currently showing on your colossal’s dial and your herald can use that power until your next turn.

ONLY ONE COLOSSAL IS ALLOWED PER FORCE.

Age: Oreo

Point Total: 600

Tactics: Yes

Banned Figures: None

Equipment/Possession: Yes

ID Cards: Yes

Special Terrain: Yes

Resources: No

Vehicles: Yes

Colossals: Yes

Relics: No

Team Bases: No

Feats/BFC’s: No

Thoughts: I love the idea of Galactus and his Herald, so I figured with so many new colossi from Avengers: Infinity, everyone would have access to a colossal worth at least 200 points (and if they didn’t, Oreo age would allow them to use characters from a while back). I didn’t want the Herald to be completely nuts, so I limited the points to 100 for them which worked pretty well. While I thought the idea of granting power to their herald was neat, I didn’t want it quite as strong as regular possession, instead opting for power picking only on your turn, removing the ability to pick when their dial was turned.

I’d love to revisit this concept in the future as it was a pretty balanced event.

Earth’s Yellow Sun

Characters that occupy clear outdoor terrain can use Flight, Invulnerability, and Hypersonic Speed. MAPS WILL BE PRESELECTED AND MUST BE USED FOR THIS EVENT.

Age: Modern

Point Total: 400

Tactics: Yes

Banned Figures: None

Equipment/Possession: Yes

ID Cards: Yes

Special Terrain: Yes

Resources: Yes

Vehicles: Yes

Colossals: Yes

Relics: No

Team Bases: No

Feats/BFC’s: No

Thoughts: I get it, I’m REALLY into Marvel, but that doesn’t mean I don’t know a little DC. I figured this would be a neat generic theme, basically enhancing every character to Kryptonian levels; if you’re outside, you gain a lot of the same abilities as Superman. It was important to me to have maps preselected for the event, choosing those that only had a bit of outdoor terrain with some indoor terrain for those that wanted to hide if need be, or forcing people to risk positioning for the bonus. Maps like The Daily Planet from the Superman/Wonder Woman set are ideal as there’s only a small amount of outdoor terrain, but you have to sit in the open to gain the benefits.

We never got to play this event at my LGS, so I’m really looking forward to actually scheduling it sometime this year. There’s enough power to warrant the gamble, but nothing a little Outwit or Pen/Psy can’t fix.

Welcome to Jurassic Park!

Players will build two teams; an Animal Theme Team and a Scientist Theme Team. When paired, high roller will choose which team they play and their opponent must play the opposite theme (theme bonus will not influence rolls).

Animals that have physical Dinosaur sculpts gain +1 to attack and Battle Fury. (Figures that generate Dinosaur bystanders like Gertrude Yorks and Old Lace will have the bonus applied to the bystander, not the original figure).

Scientists gain +1 movement and have “Outwit, but can only target Dinosaurs”. If they can already use Outwit, they are not limited to Dinosaurs.

Age: Oreo

Point Total: 400

Tactics: Yes

Banned Figures: None

Equipment/Possession: Yes

ID Cards: Yes

Special Terrain: No

Resources: No

Vehicles: Yes

Colossals: Yes

Relics: Yes

Team Bases: No

Feats/BFC’s: No

Thoughts: With so many dinosaurs releasing in the last couple years of Clix, I thought this would be a fun game, allowing players to really dig into sculpts rather than team strength. While I typically don’t like using team restrictions that are based on sculpt or paint as people can argue in favor or against something, it’s pretty easy with Dinosaurs since we have records. Regarding the different assets that could be used, I winged most of them, but I knew vehicles had to be okay, as well as special terrain since all but the boxing ring are wrecked or parked vehicles.

We didn’t get as many players for this as I thought we would, but everyone seemed to like it a lot. If I run the event again, I’ll tone down the Scientist buff quite a bit; giving them Outwit with an already strong theme made them extremely potent. Perhaps something like Mind Control, but only against Dinosaurs would be more appropriate and there would be more risk involved. Or simply making it a roll, with a 1-2 cancelling out the Outwit. Life finds a way, after all!

Emperor

Players will build a team with at least 1 Title Character, and will pick two other characters to be their Knights.

Emperors – Cannot attack, be attacked, targeted by any effects, or damaged until their Knights are KO’d. Activating Plot Point Abilities without making an attack does not inflict damage to them until their Knights are KO’d. These effects are Protected: Pulse Wave.

Knights – Reduce all damage by non-Knights by 1. Protected: Pulse Wave.

Age: Modern

Point Total: 300

Tactics: Yes

Banned Figures: None

Equipment: Yes

ID Cards: Yes

Special Terrain: No

Resources: No

Vehicles: Yes

Colossals: Yes

Thoughts: Back when I played Magic: The Gathering, I used to love Emperor format. Even though my friends thought it was too clunky and took too long, I loved the idea of an emperor or king sitting back and watching his knights or generals go to war for him. I figured this could easily be adapted to Clix, and while we haven’t run this yet (scheduled for next week), I think it will go quite well.

I thought Title Characters would be really neat for emperors, but removing the stipulation that they take unavoidable damage from using Plot Points until their knights are KO’d. This simulates how in Emperor games the head honcho could only help his allies until he had to defend himself. Plus, it’s a great way to experiment with Title Characters that players haven’t tried yet.

Crisis on Infinite Earths

ONLY DC CHARACTERS/GAME ELEMENTS MAY BE USED.

Players will pair each character on their force with a character of the same name. For example, if using a character named Batman, you must include another character named Batman on your force. Full names must be used, so Batman Beyond would not count as a second Batman; the names must be EXACTLY the same on each dial. When a character is KO’d, it’s paired character will gain Indomitable.

Age: Oreo Age

Point Total: 400

Tactics: Yes

Banned Figures: None

Equipment: Yes, but no possessors

ID Cards: Yes

Special Terrain: No

Resources: No

Vehicles: Yes

Colossals: Yes

Relics: Yes

Team Bases: No

Feats/BFC’s: No

ATA’s: No

Thoughts: I really want to push myself to do more comic-event games moving forward. I might not know DC stories too well, but I know the big ones. With a brief synopsis read on Wikipedia, I figured it would be neat to force a pairing system on characters, but forcing them to use the exact same names. While I’d really like this to be a Modern Event, I don’t think there’s enough diversity in just 3 DC sets to justify a team of only pairs without seeing Joker, Harley, and Batman on literally every single team.

Since this hasn’t been played yet, I don’t know how it will do, but it seems like it should work just fine. I’m a little worried that with a pool of 400 points, there might be some heavily under-built teams, but hopefully relics, equipment, and ID cards will help in that regard.

Chaos War

Sunday, September 16th – Chaos War

ONLY MARVEL PIECES ARE ALLOWED FOR THIS EVENT

Players will select a character with the Deity keyword, and build a theme team around that character. Characters with the Deity keyword grant adjacent friendly characters Mastermind, but only to transfer the hit of an attack to that Deity. For example, if Hercules is adjacent to Amadeus Cho, Amadeus gains “Mastermind, but only to an adjacent Deity”.

If your Deity is KO’d, your other characters gain Indomitable.

Age: Oreo Age

Point Total: 400

Tactics: Yes

Banned Figures: None

Equipment: Yes

ID Cards: Yes

Special Terrain: No

Resources: No

Vehicles: Yes

Colossals: Yes

Relics: Yes

Team Bases: No

Feats/BFC’s: No

ATA’s: No

Thoughts: For a Marvel event, I decided on Chaos War, a lesser-known story arch from some time ago. This is all about a way of the deities, so everyone has to run at least one. Seeing as how most of the Marvel Pantheon of Gods do care about protecting the innocent, especially against Mikobashi, I thought it would be neat to build in a protection mechanic, sort of how the new Justice League Unlimited Superman, handing out Mastermind. I also wanted some bonus for your deity falling, so Indomitable for the rest of your team seemed like a good mechanic to empower them to overcome the odds.

Again, another event that hasn’t been run yet, but I think this will work out well. Oreo gives a lot of Marvel deities that players can use.

Holiday Cheer!

Choose characters wearing a majority of red and/or green. Maps will have a random amount of light object, indestructible ‘presents’. Give a character a Free Action if they’re adjacent to a present and they may choose to equip and use that present or remove it from the battlefield. All ‘Snowfall’ figures like the Abominable Snowman, Toy Soldier, Krampus, and others will be legal for play even though they do not meet the color requirement.

Age: Golden

Point Total: 300

Tactics: Yes

Equipment/Possession: Yes

Special Terrain: No

Resources: No

Vehicles: Yes

Colossals: Yes

Relics: Yes

Team Bases: No

Feats/BFC’s: No

Thoughts: For last year’s holiday event, (and my first holiday event as Judge), I decided to make the game chaotic and fun, distributing ‘present’ items across all the maps, giving characters access to random powers. As I stated before, I try to stay away from forced sculpts, I figured for a fun event (which everyone won a prize at), I could limit figures to traditional red and green outfits.

It was a bit of work to create the presents, but my players loved this. I had 3 different players ask what I was doing with the present tokens after the event, to which I replied that I was giving them away. I wish I hadn’t because I think this is an event that I want to run annually as the final event of the year as we typically break for 2 weeks before Christmas through New Years.

There’s quite a few more, but I figured this would be a good peak into some not-so-standard events that I’ve run for my players. Feel free to use any of these or recommend them to your local judge. If any of these look familiar, there’s a decent chance I’ve picked some mechanics from others over the last year and used them in various events, and I certainly mean no ill-will.

Which of these game types do you like the best? How would you change any of them? Or do you have a game type that you’d like to share? Let me know in the comments section!

See you all next week over at Two Clicks From KO!