Missing Link: Spider-Verse

 

For my first Missing Link article, I'm going to target a few characters that I'm very passionate about, and that I'm kind of annoyed aren't in HeroClix already. Now for this one, I have to give some history. In total, we've had 4 Spider-Man sets, that have danced the dance with Spider-Verse in some way/shape/form.

In Superior Foes of Spider-Man we got Spider-Girl, Scarlet Spider, Silk, Miles, Peter, Gwen, Morlun, and the set of Chases, which isn't bad for a "testing the waters" offering. We also only had Morlun one other time at this point, so his inclusion makes a lot of sense. The next time we see Spider-Man (as a subtheme) is Earth X so it's scratches Spider-Verse, but barely.

Our next hit comes in Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage, but this set is doing some serious heavy lifting. It's touching on Separation Anxiety, Maximum Carnage, Absolute Carnage, and a bit of Spider-Verse. There is SO MUCH going on in that set for a Spider-Man/Venom/Carnage fan, and ironically my next point has a tie-in to a comment Scott Porter made on his HeroClix for Huntington's 2025 stream (in the last 15 minutes or so). He was asked a question about what his favorite chase theme was, and part of his answer were the chases from Spider-Man and Venom: Absolute Carnage, because "it allowed the HeroClix Designers to be creative and come up with their own ideas." But here's the thing, that's only kind of half true, and I HATE that set of chases because they were half-steps to characters that we should have gotten instead, but I'll go into that more after the history lesson.

This brings us up to Spider-Man: Beyond Amazing, which in my mind was anything but Amazing. Why you ask, and I'll answer that I'm going to go into it in more detail in my VillainClix article. But ultimately, Beyond Amazing only had a handful of non-Clixed characters, and the ones that they did have were debatable at best. We got Spiderling which is an aged up version of the version that we got in Battleworld, but admittedly is important to Spider-Verse and is "different enough" to count. We got an Aunt May, which we had as a bystander, but is nice to finally have a 3D model for. I'll count the villainous Matt Murdock from Earth-65, Scorpion 2099, I'll even give you Elektra as Daredevil and Hand Leader Punisher, Julia Carpenter Madame Web, and Spider-Supreme (even though as a huge Warp World fan, I had completely forgotten about this guy), and then there's the Gwen half of the chases. I'm not got to count the Carnage chases aside from Silver Surfer (because that happened in the comics). The others are just derivative copies of the Venom figures, that I already didn't care for. That said, look over that list again, every figure on it is one where it's like "I guess I'll accept it" and sure my argument get's flimsy when you consider I'm arguing for Spider-Verse characters who themselves are also more or less variants on the original themes, but I digress.

Which brings us up to Spider-Verse, which by and large is a set that I LOVE with a couple of caveats, the biggest of which I will go into more detail on in the next article. So aside from the "villain problem" it's a great set, but it's missing some key players. So let's get into the specifics!

I'll start with Maybelle Reilly of Earth-803, because I defy anyone to try to argue that we shouldn't have her in clicks already. The Lady Spider as she is better known is the Steampunk Spider, so when the Absolute Carnage released and Steampunk Peni was one of the chases it was kick in both nuts as a proper SP//dr hadn't been made at that point, and this should have been Lady Spider, who we still don't have in Clix. We have since gotten Peni as an impossible to get (at least originally) Con Exclusive, but then she was also redone better in Beyond Amazing. Lady Spider was an integral part of the Web-Warriors during the Electro-Verse storyline. She's one of the smarter Spiders, and she's pretty good in a fight.

Next up we have Octavia Otto of Earth-1104. On her world, she was a member of the Young Avengers, and was pulled from it by an army of Electro's that wanted to exploit her knowledge. Fortunately she was saved by, and subsequently joined the Web Warriors. She was an integral member of the Spider-Army in Spider-Geddon, and just a really interesting alternate take on Doc Ock. For me, she's as much of a must have as Lady Spider. Maybe we'll get them the next time a Spider set comes around.

With the last entry on today's list I circle back to may earlier complaint with the Absolute Carnage chases. We received "Spider-Pharaoh" which was an Egyptian Jessica Drew. At the time, we did not have a single Jessica Drew with the Spider-Man Family keyword, even though we had gotten versions well after the original Spider-Verse comics. Again, this figure felt like a double shot to the nuts. The only Spider-Man Family Jessica that we got was this weird time-displaced one, and she wasn't a Pirate, which brings us to Jessica Drew of Earth-001. She was a pirate on Loomworld and an unwilling romantic partner for Morlun. She had a really cool character design, and because our 616 Jessica Drew captured her, and assumed her identity in her efforts to defeat the Inheritors Pirate Jessica is begging for a Standard (001)/Prime (616) version. Sure they don't do Prime splits with Chases, but we still should get those versions in a Spider-Verse set at some point.

That said, we should also have clixed Inheritors, but that's a whole article to itself, so check in next time for my VillainClix article on the Inheritors. I hope you enjoyed this article on Spider-Verse Missing Links. Let me know what other Spider-Verse characters you'd like to see that we haven't gotten yet.

Playing the Comic: Web Warriors

For today's installment of Playing the Comic, we look at one of my all-time favorite books (and will circle back on this one again soon) with Web-Warriors! Being that this was a major team to both be involved in, and spin out of Spider-Verse, the original team is prominently featured in the set. Billy Braddock, a.k.a. Spider-UK head's up this Exiles style team of Spiders. Being both a Spider and a Captain Britain, he brings a unique power set to the group. Being a team of Spiders, they bring as much (if not more) brains and wit then brawn.

Today is also special because you're going to get two and a half teams instead of the one. Part of the reason for this is how the Web-Warriors points work out, and part of it is my own team build philosophy. I'm play HeroClix primarily to play the characters. I'm not trying to pull any min/max bullshit or exploit things like One-Shots, Equipment, or Entities. I'll use them if they make sense on the team, but I'm not going out of my way to include those elements. Why is this an important caveat before I get into the teams? You may have already guessed, at Modern 300 points, the Web-Warriors points don't work out so well, forcing me to include additional elements to hit a round point value.

So what does a 300 point Modern build for this team look like? Well, we start out with Pavitr Prabhakar and his Kada Web Slinging. He can use this with his Running Shot and 5 range to ensnare an enemy and pull them in close, while also summoning an ally to his side. It's a pretty strong opening combo, and he also has Probability Control to help land the hit.

Next we look at Spider-Girl, The Weaver, and the Warriors "guy in the chair." Not only does her Reading the Scrolls power make her a great tactician in her own right, but it also allows her to support an adjacent ally using Perplex or Probability Control (we'll circle back on this with the other teams). Like in the comics, Araña gets a second-wind the first time she's KO'd. She also produces a Karn bystander that can upgrade to Master Weaver upon him sacrificing himself (read a comic). I'll pause here to mention that I'll have an upcoming article about the Inheritors (and groups like the Mutant Liberation Front and Nasty Boys), but that's something to cover outside of this article.

Spider-Ham swings onto the team as the comic relief and brings his cartoon antics with him. His Hammerspace ability lets him pull a standard object out of thin air allowing he or an ally to immediately boost there damage for a follow-up attack, and his Kosher trait limits that opponents ability to heal for a turn. Thanks to his Probability Control and Perplex, Ham is a good dance partner for Spider-Girl.

And who else likes to Dance, but our gritty neighborhood Spider-Man, Spider-Man Noir! He didn't pick the ballroom, but he's going to dance, with his Web Warrior trait, to lay down a cover of Smoke for his teammates, which gives them the added bonus of Shape Change, when they're shrouded. Unfortunately to make everyone fit, he's coming in at half his dial at 30 points, so he won't have Stealth, but he will come in with Flurry and Precision Strike, which will hopefully translate into him dishing out a little damage to a bunch of targets, since he can also target 2 opponents with his swing. He's definitely a strong option to be summoned as a follow-up attacker.

Alternatively, Ghost Spider is also a strong summon at 30 points as well. She is the most mobile of the group with her Ticket to the Multiverse Web Warriors trait. When she gets pulled in, she can be placed an additional time giving her more reach. She additionally has Sidestep, so if those first 2 placements don't get her where she needs to be, she can move an additional 2 squares for free. However, a wiser tactic might be to hold that move to extract her from danger instead. She also has Telekinesis that she could use to attack or shift teammates around, and her dial starts and ends with Shape Change to give her added protection.

Circling back to Spider-UK, the leader of the team, coming in on his 45 point dial. His Web Warriors trait allows him to extend the reach of both his Leadership and Empower to allow him to use those 3 squares away from another Web Warrior. Additionally, his Perfect Cuppa (tea in his case) allows him to Charge and remove a token from a friendly character within range, if he manages to hit. And since both it, and the Friends trait are after actions resolve, he could use them in tandem to pull in an ally and remove their token. Pretty sneaky, and likely to be overlooked by your opponent. Pulling in a double tokened Noir after a good hit by UK could mess-up an unsuspecting opponent.

And since this team comes in at 285, where do we spend those extra 15 points that we don't want to waste? With this set, on One-Shots of course. Then the question becomes, which One-Shots to pick. First, I went with Canon Event because SPIDERS, and I like the idea that I can protect one of my other characters when I just lost one. Second, I picked Spider Totem, for the 2 clicks of healing on a successful Super Senses roll. Here's the tricky part here thought, the characters on this team that will benefit from this one most are only making Super Senses on a 6. The ones that get it on 4-6 are the ones with shorter dials to begin with (for the most part). That said, this won't always be the case, but needs to still be considered with this pick. Lastly, I round it out with Web-Swinging. You're most likely going to use this for Ham but in a pinch, Noir could also benefit from it, and since it's a place and not a move it can be used to trigger his Smoke effect, which could again be a surprise for the opponent.

For Map choices I tried to stick to outdoor maps with elevation changes. Spiders like to move, and they like to control the terrain. These maps will help them to isolate and deal with threats on their terms. The Tangle is the most obvious choice here as it's going to frustrate most other teams. The Canadian Wilderness is another one that's interesting because of the ridges on either side, and the house in the middle (depending on where teams start). Lastly, Little Mogadishu seemed like an interesting choice with the elevated at one end, and the variety of blocking at the other.

With that, we've covered the 300 point version of the team. So what changes when you bump it to 400 points? Firstly, everyone gets bumped up to their top dials, so UK comes in at 80, and Ghost Spider and Noir bump up to 50. For Noir, that means he's starting with Stealth and Outwit, making him open as a far more tactical piece, and less of a secondary attacker. Ghost Spider keeps her mobility, but now can grab and smash someone with terrain top dial. UK picks up top dial Exploit Weakness and more durability. One thing it does narrow is who can summon who via the Friends trait, so you do need to be mindful of that. with everyone at full dials, you land at 260 points. 40 points is a large gap to fill, so what to fill it with? I'll have some additional ideas in my upcoming Missing Link and VillainClix (Inheritors) articles, but for now, I'm going to present a Modern and 2 Golden Age option.

In modern, I'm going with the 40 point Miles Morales from Black Panther. He's a solid version of Miles bringing all the bells and whistles you'd expect from him. he's got Camouflage Invisibility granting him enhanced Stealth, which would be really useful, especially within Noir's Smoke. His Bio-Electric Venom Blast would come in really useful especially in a scenario with multiple targets. And his Spidey-Senses Tingling are just going to make him an absolute nuisance to deal with for his 40 points.

Alternatively, if you go the Golden Age route, you have 2 different Spiderlings that you can use for 40 points. If you take the Beyond Amazing standard set version, she comes in wisecracking like her Dad, and manages to confound her opponents hopefully giving her team an opening. Or you can grab the Patternmaker herself and give your team another cheap source of Probability Control. Either Spiderling can be a boost to your team, it just depends on which role your trying to fill.

And as promised, for Golden Age, you also get another half a team (because they come out to 150 points even) in Spider-Girls from the Spider-Geddon storyline. This team was made up of Araña, Spiderling, and Mayday Parker, and since this is one of the playable Spider teams from Spider-Verse/Spider-Geddon, I had to mention it here, because a lot of the other teams are missing members, but that's another article for another time.

I hope that you enjoyed the my second return to blogging. I got a nice response from my first article, and I've got a second one in the books, so I'm on a roll now. I expect that I'll do my Missing Link article next as I'd like to talk about a few characters in particular that I'm personally shocked that we don't have in clicks yet. That said, I'm saving the Inheritors for their own article, because that's a whole different discussion all together, so they'll likely be the one after that one. Thanks for reading, and I'll see you back here for the next one!

Playing the Episode: Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends: 7 Little Superheroes

 

Hello to all the fans of running fun HeroClix Theme Teams. I'm here to resurrect my Al's Clix Cave blog, and again write about the themey teams that I so love to build. Anyone that used to follow this blog is probably wondering, why am I bringing it back now after an almost nine year hiatus? And the simple answers are, I've been wanting to bring it back for a while now, and I just happened to find the time to make it happen. It seems like I always come the closest when there's a new Spider-Man set on the scene, probably because he's one of my favorite characters, and he has a decent media saturation, so it's easy to pick a show/movie/game/comic and then come up with a team to run with.

So why now, and why this team? Well, that's another easy answer. I grew up watching Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends. I loved the show as a kid, and when I got a little older, I was a huge New Warriors fan with the comics both because I got to meet Mark Bagley as a kid, and because Firestar was on the team. When I was looking at Iceman, Spider-Man, and Firestar from the new Spider-Verse set, it's pretty obvious that they were designed to run together and complement each other. However, they're also designed to run with a larger team, so when I was looking for that larger team, the 7 Little Superheroes episode of the show came to mind.

In this episode, the Spider-Friends receive a mysterious invitation to a weekend retreat to Wolf Island, and Aunt May tasks the group to take Ms. Lion with them. Once they arrive on the island, they discover that Captain America, Namor, Shanna, and Doctor Strange have all received invitations as well. It is soon revealed that the invitations had been sent to the heroes by their mutual enemy, the Chameleon, and the island itself is made up of a number of deathtraps designed to defeat the heroes. The Chameleon takes turns assuming the identities of the various heroes in order to lure their companions into these traps, but Ms. Lion manages to foil him because he can sniff the impersonator out at every turn.

Now, the downside to this team is that you're going to be limiting the mileage that you'll get out of the Amazing Friends trait, but it does give you an additional option for their Team Player team ability in the Defenders team ability from Dr. Strange and Namor. The other disappointing thing is that the only option for Ms. Lion is the one from the Team Base that has the Spider-Man and His Amazing Friends keyword, instead of the Spider-Man Family keyword like 99% of all other Spider-Allies. It would be nice if Ms. Lion had more synergy with the other Amazing Friends. All that being said, here's the team as I built it. It's 400-point Golden Age non-themed (by keyword) team, and remember, it's intended for casual play.

As you can see, I spent more points on Captain America, mainly to help everything to work out to an even 400 at the end. Note that I haven't chosen any Terrain Markers for the team yet, but with Namor starting with Super Strength, and Spidey ending with it, both could benefit from having some terrain to throw around. That said, Iceman, and by extension from the Amazing Friends trait, Firestar and Spider-Man, do also have the ability to generate Barrier, if they're adjacent and Bobby is on the second half of his dial. Because of the nature of the episode, I looked for Mansion/Dungeon maps, hence the three that I chose. That said, I'm willing to hear suggestions both on better Maps and/or Terrain to include.

So let's really dig into the figures. I'll start with the Amazing Friends, because that's really who we're here for. Firestar starts off with Running Shot, dual target Energy Explosion, and Precision Strike, to make sure she can lay down some cover fire for the team, and make sure the opponents feel it, especially if they've clumped their force together. Adding insult to injury, she also sets each hit character on Fire, which could do follow-up damage if they stick around. She can also help Iceman and Spider-Man advance across the field, boosting their defense with her Energy Shield/Deflection.

Iceman can use his Flight (Ice Slides) to drag Peter along with him, and set him up for a follow-up attack on a later turn, while sharing his Toughness with Firestar and Spider-Man. If he moves into the right position on that follow-up turn he can Empower Peter to hit even harder with an iced up fist. Meanwhile, he can slow down the opposition with his dual target Incapacitate.

If Spidey is positioned to jump onto or off of a building, he can use his Wall-Crawler ability to pop into place, and hit his opponents with a Flurry of blows. Spider-Man also gives Firestar and Iceman some welcome dodging skills both with Super Sense and the Spider-Man team ability, allowing them to dodge out of the way 50% of the time they get hit by an attack. They're quite the dangerous trio when their adjacent to each other.

So what do the other heroes bring to this party? Let's look at Cap next. Captain America, like Firestar opens with Running Shot and dual targets. He also has traited Leadership to help the team keep moving, and he has opening Outwit to help weaken those tougher threats.

Dr. Strange is a Mystic and opens with Probability Control, plus he has an opening Smoke Cloud power that he can use in a number of useful ways. He can use it to move himself around for FREE, and boost the defense of himself or other allies occupying it. Alternatively, he can negatively impact the defense of an opponent instead.

Shanna can leverage the printed hindering terrain on each of the maps to booster her attack when her opponents occupy it, and her own damage when she occupies it. Since she opens with Stealth, she's going to want to lure the opponents into that printed hindering terrain anyway, so she can avoid being targeted by most opponents.

At the beginning of the game, Namor generates a square of Water terrain, that you'll want to place strategically, since he can use it to Regenerate for FREE on his late clicks. Otherwise, this is a Charging angry Namor that just wants to punch things. For his 40 points, he can do a lot of damage if you protect him well. I'd likely bring him up behind the Amazing Friends as a secondary attacker, especially if I can keep him adjacent to Iceman for that extra umph from Bobby's Empower, and if he's slipped from his first click, keep him next to Strange to pick up his 18 defense.

Last but certainly not least, don't forget about Ms. Lion to run around and be a nuisance to the opposition. This little yippy dog with Combat Reflexes and Shape Change is probably best used to tie-up minor threats like bystanders and minions. Stick to figures that will have trouble hitting that 17 up close.

All in all, I think this looks like a really fun team to run in a casual 400 point match. I hope you've enjoyed the return of the Al's Clix Cave blog. I hope to post more entries going forward. A lot of Playing the Comic/Episode/Movie/Game articles. Also looking to do another feature called "Missing Link" where I talk about teams that I'd love to run, but can't because we're missing an important character, and maybe some suggestions on how I'd approach the character if given the opportunity.

Let me know your thoughts on this team, and any thoughts you might have on teams you'd like to see my thought's on moving forward. But remember, I'm looking to keep it casual, and keep it fun!