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.
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.
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