Hulked out Highlander

While I catch up on the Highlander master list, here's a summary of what will be effected in Incredible Hulk:

Updates to the list will be (deep breath and go...):

Hulk Checklist

Marvel HeroClix: The Incredible Hulk hits shelves next week.  Thanks to previews and international leakage of the set in Australia and Europe we have the full set list available.

Go further for spoilers on the whole set: Click here! for my hastily done Hulk Checklist.  It goes with out saying "spoilers".

Lord of the Clix!

Lord of the Rings HeroClix is out everywhere!  Local venues will start hosting events using these soon!

Check the calender for events!

Hulk smashes onto shelves

The Marvel HeroClix: Incredible Hulk counter top micro-set and Fast Forces hit stores today.

A few things the buyer should know:

• Counter top display boosters are NOT taped! (So no cheating!)
• The boosters are bigger and the cards are less likely to be mangled.
• The boosters are bigger and the figures can freely move around inside them.
• Many retailers did not get their complete orders, and some are missing Fast Forces completely. They're not due in until 12/14.
• The paint and figures themselves look good and click well.
• Assortment is pretty good. For example,  I purchased two mini-bricks (6 boosters wrapped together in the display unit) and got 9/10 figures and no more than 2 copies of the 3 doubles I pulled. (No "6 Sins for Jon" replays this time around!)

I call this a pretty good day 2 for the set. Now only two weeks until the full set releases!

Lord of the Rings pushed back to December 7th

Lord of the Rings HeroClix has been pushed pack to December 7th.  This is despite the rumors that it is already in stock at the distributors.  Perhaps only a portion is at the distributors at this point.

We'll learn more soon.

Get ready for releases!

UPDATED with the correct date for SMFF

OK folks, the start of the latest Clix deluge is here!  There are plenty of Clix buying opportunities for folks over the next month or so!

Out Now: second wave of GSXtras, Frost Giant, Onslaught and Nemesis from Toys 'r Us and the Superman Fast Forces.

Next week we get the Lord of the Rings Starter and Gravity Feeds.

THen on December 7th the Superman battle for Smallville Fast Force officially hits shelves.

Then on the 30th Hulk Gravity Feeds and fast Forces hit shelves.  Followed by the full set on December 14th!

Watch your pennies and tell your friends and family it's Clix for the Holidays!

From the floor of the Alliance retailers' summit (or a hotel near by)

Howdy all! This evening I had the opportunity to work with the Wizkids staff demoing Star Trek Fleet Captain and Quarriors.  I was also privy to the display set up in the exhibition Hall.

I won't share any real details [yet], but HeroClix fans have so much to look forward to. The Fast Forces for Hulk and Superman are on display as are the Lord of the Rings and Hulk Gravity Feed singles.  A new packaging option will be available on these!

The Lord of the Rings starter looks pretty beefy.  Much bigger than the past few starters. more in line with the Fantastic Forces packaging (size wise).  The Hulk sculpts look NICE!  And just to let you know, Justin Ziran hinted that there will be some game play news (good, I'll add) coming out of here tomorrow.

Aside from Clix, Quarriors first expansion will be on display as are both of the Star Trek board games!

there is an information session on the Infinity Gauntlet tomorrow.  You'll be able to get some better details on how your venue will run the events after that!

It's approaching 2 and I need to be fresh for talking tomorrow.  I'll post some more information when I learn it!

A couple notes on Lord of the Rings HeroClix

Quick notes from around the net:

Starter has eight figures (three exclusive figures and five restatted from the base set), Campaign Rules for recreating the epic battles of Middle Earth over multiple maps and sessions, plus six maps, 48 Horde tokens, a 2011 Official Rulebook, and a set of themed dice forged from the depths of Mount Doom!

Unknowns: are the maps full sized or modified to fit the theme of the set ( a la Street Fighter), what are Horde Tokens.

The Single figure gravity feed will contain 21 figures and if the booster art is indicative to what is inside, Gandalf the White is in the set.

Marvel HeroClix: Incredible Hulk details from Alliance!

Comical at HCRealms shared a lot of information with the world today:

WizKids is proud to announce the release of the Marvel HeroClix: Incredible Hulk Booster Set (WZK 70252), Incredible Hulk OP Kit (WZK 70256), Incredible Hulk 24-count Counter-Top Display (WZK 70481), and Incredible Hulk Fast Forces 6-Pack (WZK 70254)!

 Incredible Hulk Booster Set (WZK 70252) - Hulk Smashes his way into this 51 figure set that includes the sub-theme realms of Planet Hulk, World War Hulks, Fall of the Hulks, and the New Fantastic Four! The set features the Enhanced Alter Ego mechanics, which includes the new Reverse Alter-Ego and the continuation of the "In Pack, Buy it By the Brick Figure" (AIMarine Red Hulk)! The Base set is lined up to hit the market on December 7th!

 Incredible Hulk 24-Count Counter-Top Display (WZK 70481) - A compilation of 10 figures from the base set all COMPLETELY REDIALED and ready for action in any HeroClix Format! Each Counter-Top Display comes with 24 single figure blind boosters (four bricks of figures), providing a low-cost point of entry for new players and fast convenient way for current players to supplement their collections! The 24-count Counter-Top Display is set to release one week before the base set on November 30th and will make for a great Pre-Release event!

Lord of the Ring details! Shipping 11/15/11

From Alliance Game Distributors

Lord of The Rings 24. ct. Counter-Top Display (70353): Featuring 21 precisely sculpted miniatures from the award winning Lord of The Rings films! Pin your favorite heroes and villains from the Trilogy against each other in this completely HEROCLIX COMPATIBLE set! Your price for the Lord of The Rings 24 ct. 

 Lord of The Rings Starter (70357): Featuring 8 collectible miniatures from the Lord of The Rings Movies! Included in the 8 Figure Set are 3 figures EXCLUSIVELY found in the Starter, with the other 5 COMPLETELY REDIALED from the base set! The Starter boasts Campaign Rules, which let you recreate the battles of Middle Earth over multiple maps and sessions! Also included are 6 Lord of The Rings maps, 1 HeroClix rulebook, and one set of themed dice forged from the depths of Mount Doom! 

This means we are getting the $30 Starter set with single pack boosters a la Street Fighter/Gears of Wars.  At this time ALL are said to be 100% compatable with HeroClix.

Of Hulks and Halos!

Two brief notes today.  First the print add for Marvel HeroClix: The Incredible Hulk is in Game Trade Magazine next week.

See that the "Hulked out Heroes" from the larger 2010's World War Hulk story line.  Expect to see some more elements from WWH, such as teh A.I.M. created A.I.Marine Hulks as the Brick figure.

Next today is a couple more HALO previews, instead of the Covenant or USNC, this time we're getting a peak at the monstrously infectious Flood. Head to HeroClix.com to get that bit of news.

In the mean time DC HeroClix: Superman and Halo HeroClix are due out on September 28th, so make sure you let your local retailer of choice know that you want some to make sure they get sufficient quantities.  

HeroClix post "Heroes", how will you play?

(Updated 8/17/11, 11:23 pm)

This week and last week saw the release of the first non-comic, non-comic-related movie, HeroClix!  Street Fighter and Gears of War, while arguably both containing Heroes, sees the video game character go from pixels onto the map with HeroClix staples from between the pages of your favorite comic.

Now this really is nothing new.  Players in the past had fun times trying to fit Mage Knight, HorrorClix and ActionClix into their HeroClix unofficially.  Some pieces lent themselves easier than others (HorrorClix's Predator and Aliens for one).  But now for the first time we can actually use dials designed for HeroClix with these new properties, no extra work involved.

Officially, these pieces are not legal for Modern Age play.  That may change and venue-by-venue they may add these to their House Ruled Modern Play, "Bronze age" as some people refer to it.

In any regard, they are a new twist in play.  They bring new team abilities, new mechanics and new potential for power and Keyword combinations.  Will they have a lasting effect on the game, undoubtedly.  Will this launch a new "age" of play, who knows.

No matter what, they will let people play out some much anticipated scenarios, and maybe see once and for all with genre is king ... until the next set release that is.



Your local venues and Game Play:
BuyMeToys.com: "Expanded" sets legal in both Modern age and Golden age.
The Griffon: "Expanded" sets will be allowed in specific games only.
Fantasy Games: "Expanded" sets legal in both Modern age and Golden age.

GenCon Indy this weekend!

GenCon Indy 2011 is THIS weekend in Indianapolis!  Just 3 short hours (if you drive real slowwww) away.  If you are heading there, PLEASE send up pics and info of what you see.  Game reports, previews, cool stuff happening...don;t spare us poor unfortunate people who can't make the trek any details!

Michiana players that are headed there don't forget about the HCRelams meetup ... and bring an alarm clock.... ya know, just in case.

Great weekend for Organized Play

Has anyone been outside latley?  Seriously.

Come beat the heat and get your game on.  Thursday night at Fantasy Game, Friday night at The Griffon, and Sunday afternoon at BuyMeToys.com.

Stay indoors!  Nobody here will judge you!

Oh Captain, my Captain [America set]

Days away!

That's where we are sitting right now, just days away from the first of the Captain America related HeroClix of the summer.  This Wednesday we'll see the 10 figure "micro set" of Marvel HeroClix: Captain America. and 2 short weeks later the full 60 figure set of the same name hits.

Personally, this will be my favorite set since the relaunch.  It has some of my all time favorite characters in it.  SHIELD vs. Hydra, Cap vs goons line Mr. Hyde and Cobra as well as classic uber villains Red Skull and Baron Strucker.  These are the icingon my huge love of HeroClix cake!  And, I don't care how crumby they work on the map, I'm using the Great Lakes Avengers!

Just days, folks! I'm finding it hard to wait.

Previews!

OK folks, I've been a little light on the entries lately, but I do feel that I should pop on to say HOORAY! HOORAY! It's preview day!

Green Lantern fast Forces and Gravity Feed sets figures have all been previewed and today the good folks at Wizkids start Marvel HeroClix: Captain America with THE man, Steve Rogers.

Head that way and check out the figure...a lot of punch for only 99 points!

Green Lantern Clix Gravity Feeds in town

A local Clixer has spotted them at the Target on Ireland Road in South Bend.  Get them while you can (but save me some).

2011 HeroClix Rules

Boom! That's the sound of your player's guide, printed diligently every few months hitting the trash can.  things are getting simplified! (word-wise that is)

They new set of rules, which take effect 5/1/11 were released Friday.  Read them, understand them, keep them handy.

But make sure you are familiar with them by the 1st of May.

Go read through Norman Barth's rundown of rules change '11 at Wizkids' blog.

The Download your copies and start reading!
2011 rules set
PAC

In the mean time, there are a few more scheduled events for April, so remember the differences and check with each venue when they will schedule events to us the new rules, some may want to adopt them early, some may wait.

HeroClix for the "non-collector"?

A wealth of non-collectible HeroClix are hitting the market in the near future.  These Fast Forces will include previously issued sculpts with restated and repainted dials.  They will add up to made decent teams and a a great starting point for new players.

While not collectible in sense of having a rarity scheme, they do offer long term players a great opportunity to get different versions of their favorite figures and sometime getting a sculpt that was a harder to acquire Super Rare in a newly remade, no-rarity, format.

This is an improvement of the HeroClix Classics did this with the 3 figure non-blind boosters of Iron Man, Batman and Fantastic Four over the past year, but used the same stats as the previous figure (but did allow Ultimate Nick Fury and scarlet witch back into the Modern age play environment).

Some of the fast Forces we know are coming are the Thor and Green Lantern Movie sets, but there is a great potential for these smaller, prefab sets to supplement the large sets  and serve as cross promotional items for TV and Movie events.

Look for Green Lantern this May and Thor in July.

Updated dates.

Giant Sized X-men Alternate Team Abilities and the annual update of rules!

Wizkids started rolling out the ATA's this week.  Cruise over there to check them out.
Hellfire Club
Reavers
Next Wave UPDATE: 4/6/11
Horsemen of Apocalypse UPDATE: 4/7/11
New Mutants UPDATE 4/8/11

Also, we'll get some tweaks to the rules this May.  Norm is doing a great job detailing those changes.  You should check those out as well, they take effect May 1!
Action overhaul
Wildcards and Theme teams
Terrain, elevation and LOF
Combat Abilities UPDATE: 4/6/11

First hand GAMA report (link)

GAMA attendee, Dustin Hall has a very complete synopsis on the Wizkids presentation from GAMA yesterday.

Please go to his blog and read through it.  Some interesting things about marvel heroClix for 2012, and additional cross genre additions to HeroClix.

Giant Sized Openings

Midnight may me called the witching hour, but last evening it was the Clixing hour!  At 12:01am local retailer venues BuyMeToys.com and Fantasy Games both had Giant Sized X-men for sale!  I was present at BuyMeToys.com.

Folks spent some time busting open their cases and Super Boosters.  As for most cases: 7 Super Rares, two of which are the double based duo figures that may have been re-purposed Chases, like what we saw in Web of Spider-man. Rares are no longer coming one guaranteed to a booster, thus increasing their rarity slightly.  Sixteen Boosters yielded eleven rares from my case (5 and 6 from each brick).  


Anecdotally, the frequency between Commons and Uncommons also looks to have gotten closer. 18:12 in one Brick 19:13 in the other, 37Commons to 25 Uncommons.  


Breakdown is:
Brick one:
Commons 18
Uncommons 12
rares 6
Super Rares 4
Apokolypse


Brick two
Commons 19
Uncommons 13
Rares 5
Super Rares 3
Frost Giant (the Onslaught pictured is actually from one of the additional Super Boosters I picked up)

Last sleepy highlight of the night, I found that Fin Fang Foom's finger (ripped off by the Captain) fit's my partially amputated left index finger quite well!I may have to move him around the map using only my gross finger-nub!


So summing up: GSX is out! Why are you still reading this? Go out and get some!

One more week

This time next week many of us will either already been at a midnight release for GSX or still be at one.

Our area is very lucky to have two great venues to host midnight releases!

Mobile Blogging

So I have added the Blogger App to my beloved Droid. I may start posting with annoying frequency.

Captain America Set! June 2011!

• Removable pieces game mechanic
• 59 new sculpts
• 63 figures
• Great Lakes Avengers, Secret Warriors, Winter Guard
• 30 characters never done as Clix before
• LMD Nick Fury BtB peice

C2E2 is in 3 short weeks! Local talent a strong showing!

March 18th through the 20th will see the return of the C2E2 comic and pop culture convention to the McCormick Center in Chicago.  As only being the second year for the con, it has already increased in size, both in number of exhibitors and square footage.

A number of Local Artists will be in Artist alley, and local comic creator/venue owner Casey Heying will be there promoting his independently published Oz/Wonderland series of comics.

Another local group that will be there, is Rink Printing.  A South Bend printing company, they have recently gotten into publishing small press comics, and lithographs for our burgeoning local art community. 

In the past, Wizkids has partnered up with Diamond/Alliance to show case upcoming products.  

If you get a chance to attend, please take a moment and see what these fantastically talented local creators are working on:

Rink Printing booth 461

BuymeToys.com booth 463 featuring the art of Casey Heying and the Oz/Wonderland Chronicles.

Local Artists in Artist Alley:

Andy Jewett

Terry Huddleston

Highlander Rules and Reference

Why haven't there been Highlander Clix yet?

Updated 10/17/11 still catching up


"There can be only one!" 
Highlander Rules are an effort to make Hero Clix Teams more comic book based and less generic war game like, encouraging knowledge in the source material the game is based on. With the Highlander Rules only one version of a character can be used. Sometimes it is simple, such as when there is only one version of a character in print, like with Mockingbird (Sin). If you use the Veteran version of Mockingbird, you cannot use the Rookie or Experience versions. Some are a bit more complicated and require some knowledge of the characters, like Wolverine. If you include Veteran Logan on your team then you cannot have the REV versions of Wolverine or Patch, the other versions of Logan or the LE or Unique versions of Wolverine or Weapon X on your team. 

In this entry you will find an extensive list of characters that are similar or the same. Use this reference when building your teams. In addition you will find an entry detailing all the various alternate reality versions of characters that constitute wholly separate characters. 

You can always ask a the presiding Judge to make exceptions for your team, as long as it has a true basis on comic book or property history. That must be done in advance of turning in your player card for the event. 

A special note to players not playing at BuyMeToys.com
Since early 2007, the original page on the BuyMeToys.com Message Board was linked to from SuperGene's HeroClix Resources. This entry now replaces that Message Board Post. This is a guide to help people that want to play Highlander Style, but may not be sure of a figure's identity or if multiple version are present. Some figures you may disagree with. Some figures the author disagree with. But in each case where a figure could have gone either way as "generic" or "unique" the Players at BuyMeToys.com voted and the result is displayed as the description on this reference.


Disclaimer: This list can never be complete.  New Clix will be made all the time.  Some characters that already exist may become part of an alternate reality by some crazy editorial action from a company.  If there are discrepancies of omissions, the author needs to know.  Feel free to offer these correction in the comments section below. 


Also, it should go without notice SPOILERS AHEAD!

Toy Fair 2011 coverage from around the web

From around the Web:

Cool Toy Review has these images from NECA booth they feature new material from Giant Sized X-men, Captain America and the only interior images of Iron Maiden Clix we have seen yet.

    

No Colossals figures? No Problem!

I noticed that I unintentionally marginalized some of out local players when I set up this Sunday's match at BuyMeToys.com.  I realize that some of our players don't get to cons to get the exclusive big figs (and rightly don't want to pay the big cost on the secondary market) and some people are not actually local, and don't have their whole collection with them while they attend school. 


My intention was not to limit who can show up and play!  far from it, i was only trying to throw a different dynamic into this event.


If you want to play in the "Big point battle" this weekend at BuyMeToys.Com but don't have any of the big point Colossal figures or figures that are 250 points or more, let me (Jon M. Loftus) know and I will bring mine in! No Galactus(i), no Dr. Manhattan, but all the Colossal, most of the regular figures that are in that 250+ range.


I hope to see a lot of folks this weekend! No Football to look forward so, so why not play some Clix!

Sinestro redemption is Live!

The redemption site for White Lantern Sinestro is live.

Lord of the Ring HeroClix

Wizkids/NECA threw us a curve ball today with the announcement of the Lord of the Rings HeroClix game. While this is a welcome addition to the growing world of HeroClix, long simply a place for comic book super heroes, one cannot help but wonder how the powers of Middle Earth will star up to the powers of teh Last Son of Krypton?

Which archer will have a truer aim, Legolas or Haweye?

We will see, sometime in the second half of 2011.

Giant-Sized X-men March 16!

boom

Star Trek Expeditions - Spring 2011

From Game Trade Magazine

Created by award-winning game designer Reiner Knizia, Star Trek Expeditions takes 1-4 players on a cooperative mission in the roles of Kirk, Spock, McCoy, and Uhura as they respond to an invitation from the Nibian government to open discussions about the planet joining the United Federation of Planets. However, all is not as it seems.

Lead your Away Teams to solve the major story arcs plus key side missions before the Klingon Fleet arrives or the lone cloaked Klingon Battle cruiser in orbit destroys the Enterprise and her crew. Three difficulty levels, random side missions, player strategies, and a unique branching mission tree ensure every game will be a unique memorable experience.

Each Set includes

• six highly detailed, fully painted Clix miniatures

• a game board

• 14 Stardate cards

• 42 Energize Cards

• 21 Captain's Log Cards

• 25 Captain's Log Supplemental Cards

• 15 Regular and five Major Discovery Tokens

• a Score Tracker

• four away team cards

• four turn order cards

• three Custom dice

SRP: $49.99

Happy 2011 HeroClix fans

OK, so this is a little late (what can I say, 2010 was so good it was hard to say goodbye).

We start a brand new year at the beginning of a new event cycle for DC75!  Lots of local events (just look up)are going on, all supported with Wizkids prize support.

But 2011 has plenty in store for Clix fans.  Giant Sized X-men is now only a few months away, the debut of the "totally themed" 6-8 figure sets that Justin Ziran mentioned late last year, plus the Iron Maiden Clix (whatever those may be), plus a Hal Jordan Free comic Book Day figure just in time for the Green Lantern movie this summer!

For the non-Clix portion of Wizkids line, the highly anticipated Star Trek game will be out sometime in the first half of 2011.

Yes, it will be a fun 2011.