Happy Independence Day Week! The big splash of our first reveals from Black Panther & The Illuminati was none other than Captain America, and it’s easy to see why. The super soldier kicked things off with a bang, and now I want to take a crack at building around him. Who else would I pick during this time of year?!

What a way to kick off spoilers for a new set; Captain America was huge when we showed him off a while ago and he sort of set the stage for what to expect with this incredibly strong set. I knew from the start that Cap was a figure I was going to want no matter what. His strengths and durability is fantastic and gives us a lot of options to tweak with.

Today I’ll be going through Cap’s strengths, which Gauntlet you should equip to him, and what kind of backup he needs to get the job done. Let’s cut to the Chase and get right into it.

Rather than an HCRealms screenshot, I figured we could just use the actual spoiler from our initial article about him.

Before we even get into what makes Cap so outstanding, let’s just look at his dial and the powers and stats he brings to the table. The biggest aspect to this dial is that 11-attack value lasting through all six of his clicks which is incredible. I don’t know the last figure I saw that had the same attack value through their entire dial (Vision comes to mind?), let alone having such a stellar value at that. To match that, he also has 3-damage throughout the dial. Cap is always bringing the hurt and he’s able to punch through any reducer no matter what. 6-range completes his offensive kit, giving him plenty of room to toss his shield out at maximum velocity. Cap is also extremely fast for the character and has phenomenal defenses.

Powers-wise, we get three very strong setups; Sidestep/Invincible/Ranged Combat Expert for some seriously dangerous ranged attacks. Charge/Impervious/Close Combat Expert for closing the gap and applying massive pressure the following turn. Finally, Phasing/Defend/Support for a last-ditch team rally and helping his allies back into the fight.

But of course, the traits are what make the man. First up, the reason why Cap is so fantastic:

THE GEMS… THEY WANT TO BE TOGETHER: Barrier. Barrier as FREE, but only to generate 1 marker. Captain America can’t be healed and takes a maximum of 1 damage from an attack. Protected: Pulse Wave.

Obviously the big neon sign here is the fact that Cap only ever takes 1 damage from an attack and that is is Protected: Pulse Wave meaning no matter what happens, you’re only hitting Cap for 1 damage. That’s after he reduces any hit thanks to Invincible or Impervious, so you still have to crack his defenses. While I’m probably never going to use Barrier with him, the single free piece of Barrier each turn is pretty insane and furthers how difficult it is to actually hit Cap. This also gives him a much easier chance of single-target Pulse Wave, or providing a nice space for Knockback damage. The only bad part of Cap’s dial is here as well though; he can’t be healed. When his dial turns, it’s never going back up; even though he looks unkillable, be careful with him. Don’t waste those clicks.

Next up is Cap’s attack power, present on every click:

PUSHING PLANETS AWAY: KNOCKBACK. When Captain America knocks a character back, add 10 to the amount of knock back.

Tacking on 10 extra squares of Knockback is pretty insane and adds another level to what he can do. A single hit from this guy is going to completely ruin your opponent’s board setup as they’ll most likely have to get back into position without making an attack. With the right tempo, you can continually knock characters back over and over again while plugging them for smaller hits and never let your opponent take a swing at the good Captain.

His other trait is optional, so I figured I’d save it for last:

Only To Defend Earth And Our Reality: Captain America starts the game with any one ABPI Infinity Gauntlet equipped.

These new Gauntlets are pretty pricey at 30 points, but only having to pay half that and starting the game equipped is a much better deal and seems to be the main way they will see any play as 30 points and actions is a lot. Cap’s point value of 135 makes it easy to tack on that Gauntlet to give him even more power, so it’s pretty much a must-have on him. But which Gauntlet should you choose?

Picking Your Gauntlet

We know now that the Gauntlet that we previewed with Cap was not the Gauntlet he came with, and that there were two Gauntlets in the set. Let’s take a look at these two and decide which is better for Cap. (I couldn’t find an image of the other Gauntlet without other stuff in the picture, so I had to use screen grabs from the Realms)

The first Gauntlet is the one we previewed that comes with Iron Man while the second is the Gauntlet that comes with Captain America. These are two very different pieces of equipment, and both are very good depending on how you want Cap to play.

S009 [Pick-A-Power Gauntlet] – This gives Steve access to one or two different powers whenever he wants, turning him into a much stronger offensive figure. You gain access to all kinds of shenanigans like Energy Explosion/Quake to apply your +10 Knockback on multiple figures a turn, disengaging an entire team, or Pulse Wave to do the same thing, but also apply knockback damage without reducers getting in the way. While you can’t benefit from Steal Energy or Regeneration, there’s so many different things you can do to make Cap a constant threat.

Of course this comes at a price. Each time you activate the Gauntlet, you have to roll a d6, and on a 1 or 2, you take 1 unavoidable damage. This is very dangerous for Cap as he can’t recover those clicks, so you might be gun-shy to actually use this Gauntlet.

S010 [Protection Gauntlet] – Right away, the first thing that makes this Gauntlet amazing is that it provides Cap with Power Cosmic, as he’s sorely lacking Willpower and the PROTECTED: Outwit will help to keep his reducers up and make him much harder to deal with. This also tacks on 6 additional powers that Cap can’t be touched with, including opposing Probability Control, which makes him even harder to deal with.

The issue with this Gauntlet is that you’re now paying 150 points for a figure that does 3 damage by himself (without either Combat Expert power), and there’s still a chance to take unavoidable damage if you roll a 1. Your odds drop from 33% to 20%, but it’s still there.

So Which Should I Choose? I think it ultimately comes down to your play style. Both of these Gauntlets are very good, but I will say that the Protection Gauntlet does give a steady benefit of Power Cosmic without having to risk anything. That being said, if you’re going to risk activating a Gauntlet, you’ll be much closer to destroying the enemy team with picking up to two powers a turn with only a 13% uptick in taking damage. Play whichever you own as neither is bad. If you’re lucky enough to own both Gauntlets, I would say go with the Pick-A-Power Gauntlet as it will make your 150 point investment more of a threat.

Tools For Success

Just because Cap is an insanely hard character to KO on his own and has access to two amazing platforms to modify his playstyle doesn’t mean he doesn’t need backup and/or support.

More than anything else, Steve is going to want a good map to play on. He can do pretty much anything he wants to, but he will excel on a fairly open map that will allow him to take shots with Ranged Combat Expert and not get bogged down in corridors. This will also let him get the most impact with his massive Knockback. Since he’s an Avenger, that’s incredibly easy to do, and there’s some killer support with this Keyword.

Mobility isn’t a huge issue for Steve, but he is only rocking Sidestep at 150 points if you aren’t picking Running Shot or Hypersonic Speed. A taxi will work very well with him so you can keep him clear of action tokens until you get into the fight, and they can face-tank until Steve is in position. TK is also a good play as it will give you more reach, especially with Ranged Combat Expert, but I like the taxi option more.

While the P-A-P Gauntlet will let him tap into any support power he wants, I always recommend bringing Perplex, Outwit, or Probability Control to the fight. The less powers you feel like you need to give him, the more aggressive you can be and you won’t have to take as much of a risk with the Gauntlet as you might not need to pick any powers for a turn or two.

I like Perplex the most as raising his defense to a 20 or 21 makes him virtually impossible to hit, and his 3-damage is probably the worst stat on the dial (that’s really hard to say, haha). Outwit is nice, but you might not be able to afford a character as you’ll be limited in points. Probability Control is always recommended. Leadership is also a big deal as, like I mentioned, Cap has no Willpower and it’s important to keep half of our team clear.

Cap’s biggest weakness is multiple attackers, or characters that can attack multiple times, as they can burn through his dial rather quickly. With the P-A-P Gauntlet, this is more of an issue as his reducers can be Outwitted and characters like Walking Woods can chew through his dial. To counteract this, I recommend body blocking areas to prevent opponents from getting to him. Bystander generators are perfect in this regard, though it may be difficult to theme him with someone that doesn’t cost a lot of points. If you can’t go this route, run a bunch of Giant-Girls as they’re only 10 points and take up 4 squares on the map (and they’re giant so they block most lines of fire).

I would highly recommend running at least one other attacker so that Cap isn’t doing all the heavy lifting. Someone with a very efficient dial so you aren’t eating the rest of your points is a good bet, preferably very good at melee combat so they can lock people down while Cap takes shots. If they Empower or Enhancement, all the better.

Equipment is out the window since Cap already has a Gauntlet, so this isn’t necessary.

Lastly, ID cards are almost a must. Since Cap is 135 points and is very hard to KO, he’s an amazing ID battery as he has access to higher-point call-ins and he can pick any power (or 2) that his buddies need to make the most impact.

As usual, our team today is 300 Modern, and as rotation has officially hit, we have a much smaller pool of characters to work with.

300 Modern Captain America Chase Team

This team takes a very popular pauper Avengers team and fuses it together with Captain America to create one deadly team that can engage how ever it wants and has some brutal protections in place.

While looking through the different Avengers, it seemed like the absolute perfect fit for Captain America is Medusa. She’s only 50 points and saying that she’s efficient is an incredible understatement. Medusa packs Leadership so we have two chances to remove action tokens from Cap each turn, and her 17-Energy Shield/Deflection makes her a pain to hit from range. However, if you aren’t aware of what Medusa can do, you need only look at her trait:

LIVING LOCKS: FREE: Generate a Living Hair bystander [MAX 1]. LIVING HAIR IT’S STILL ATTACHED TO ME: After resolution of any action, if Living Hair is not adjacent to the character that generated it, KO it. AN EXTENSION OF MYSELF: Living Hair has the printed combat values, and can use the standard powers, displayed on the dial of the character that generated it. Protected: Pulse Wave.

This is potentially the most overpowered uncommon figure that WizKids has ever produced. The amount of nonsense you can pull of with her is outrageous, and a commons only event before Nationals was won by a Medusa team. I’ve played one of these myself and it’s absurd. Here’s an idea of how she works, without ANY help from teammates.

Turn 1: Medusa moves up 8 squares, then Sidesteps for a total of 10 squares. She drops her bystander in square 11, which can then use the range of 2 to make an attack with 11-Precision Strike and 3-damage.

Turn 2: The Living Hair pushes to make another attack. Medusa pumps out another Bystander which attacks. Medusa clears.

Turn 3: The Living Hair pushes to make another attack. Medusa either repositions or makes an attack herself. Medusa pumps out another Bystander which attacks.

Rinse/Repeat

This is a hyper-deadly figure, and it’s even worse when you start using these bystanders as lethal body blockers. Because the bystanders are standard size, they’ll block lines of fire perfectly, and their 17-Energy Shields means you’re shooting at a 19-defense to score no points. With Cap’s own free Barrier of 1 square, you have a 3-square wide wall of continual defense that you can pop out for free every single turn, slowly creeping up the map as both Medusa’s and Cap have Sidestep. When you finally have the space to make your attacks, you can go all-in since the Living Hair are autonomous, letting you make 5 attacks with 3 actions.

A single A.I.M. Red Squad helps us with our damage by upping everyone up to a 4, including those bystanders, and can easily hide behind our group of Cap and his lovely Inhuman Queens, providing all the Probability Control you need thanks to Theme Team Prob while he Sidesteps into battle.

Rounding out the main team are two Fast Forces Giant Girls who can serve as triple duty. First up, they’re wonderful body blockers as the two of them will block 8 squares on the map while only risking 10 points each. Second, they’re actually stellar taxi’s as they have 7-movement with Sidestep and their Keep It Moving, Avengers trait gives them free 2-square movement when an Avenger his an opponent (this won’t work with the bystanders, but that’s okay). Finally, Giant-Girls can retaliate for free instead of a costed action (and both can activate on the same turn) if our opponent’s KO one of our bystanders making it very dangerous to attempt an attack or possibly closing the gap against the team.

For the last 10 points, I went with 3 X-Men Student ID cards to give Cap some good call-ins so he doesn’t always have to pick powers based on his target. Cyclops and Jean Grey are shoe-ins as they are the best Student ID’s you can have, but I opted for Beast instead of Iceman. I went this route because the new common from Regenesis is insanely good and can come in as either an Outwit figure that can deal some light damage (and move our Giant-Girl’s as he’s an Avenger), or he can take +1 to all combat values and hit for a big attack next to the A.I.M. Red Squad. Since he’s only 40 points, we can call him out with a Medusa if we want to so we aren’t eating Cap’s actions for a relatively small ID call-in. I like to include different levels if I can so that you aren’t relegating all of your ID’s to just one character. If you don’t have the new Beast, you can go with Iceman and the Chase at 65 points. The Ice Clone bystander is another figure that will help you body block and lock people down, so he’s a great alternative.

This team is incredibly efficient and puts out a shocking amount of damage once it engages in the fight. It has the ability to disband swarm teams thanks to Cap’s insane Knockback and picking powers like Energy Explosion, Quake, or Pulse Wave, and creates a sense of much bigger threats via two 50-point figures rather than having your opponent gun for your star-spangled super soldier. I can’t wait to try this team out myself as I think it’s going to be fantastic, though most likely not competitive.

What are your thoughts on this team setup? Who have you paired with Cap, or who would you like to pair with him? Are you surprised I didn’t include Prime Falcon as pretty much the go-to support for any Captain America? Let me know in the comments section!

I’ll be back with an article about the new X-Men: Regenesis event on Clix Fix next week, and then I’ll be gone for two weeks to attend San Diego Comic-Con and the insane workload that I’ll have around it. That means I’ll be back with a new article right here on Tuesday, July 30th, and then the following Tuesday on Clix Fix.

Hope you guys have a wonderful July! Until then remember, the real fun begins when you’re Two Clicks From KO!