@Kragnorak: I'm waiting for the new Street Fighter Rulebook before doing Mass update to the HeroClix World Rules Reference. Right now the Rules section is based on the Blackest Night Rulebook (with some May 2011 updateS)

Posted by: The Le on 7/29/2011 8:13:17 AM

I don't have the last rulebook it seems, so I don't know what the new Theme Team rules are that are being complained about. Can this be added to the -RULES- page?

I don't mind the Theme Team rules; they are as good as any attempt to keep the teams looking good. (S.H.I.E.L.D. should work together better than a team of Ryu, Gandalf, Master Chief, Lockjaw, and Joker for example.)

The keywords actually work really well for hinting at the "timeline" of a character, as well. For example, is this Moonstone as a member of the Masters of Evil, as a Thunderbolt, or as a Dark Avenger? The keyword will indicate this better than the team symbol (as Thunderbolts uses the Avengers symbol).

It has actually gotten to the point that the keywords help tell how far a character is in his career than the Rookie/Experienced/Veteran status. Good examples of this are Rookies like Ronin who is actually Veteran Hawkeye and Red Hulk (who has tons of military experience at his disposal as well as raw power).

I've got a better example, actually. The smoky feet Captain America from Hammer of Thor is a Rookie. The new Captain America with the removable shield is Experienced. However, I can tell from the keywords and the sculpt that the Experienced Cap is from the 1940s and is a member of such teams as The All-Winners Squad, the Howling Commandos, and the Invaders. The "Rookie" is a member of the Avengers and S.H.I.E.L.D. and therefore is MORE experienced than the one that comes in the Captain America set. So the keywords give a much-appreciated glimpse into what era the game designers were focusing on.

Posted by: Kragnorak on 7/29/2011 8:09:29 AM

always loved the theme team rules as it helps us comic acurate gamers have a fighting chance against the cheese-misters

multiple elevated terrain could be awesome, will reserve judgment until ive had a chance to play on a map with it tho.

only big miss for me is the fact fliers now have to break away in combat!?! oh no johny storm cant get away coz the moleman is holding on to his ankles! WTF???

Posted by: Ste on 5/6/2011 12:52:30 AM

Hey, don't knock the themed teams. I enjoy them every once in a while, and they shouldn't be scrapped. As for giant's, I'm glad you can't TK them. That just doesn't make a connection in my mind; The multiple elevation rule's sound awesome, too, and very comic accurate, if I do say so myself.

Special thanks to The Le for keeping all of us updated!

Posted by: RufusMcdufus on 5/5/2011 8:10:39 PM

I totally disagree; themed teams and the changes for that are really welcome.
And there is a major critical miss: we can no longer TK friendly Giants character, an option that allowed to place them quickly on the battlefield without being a big target that everyone could shoot at.
For the Colossal, I play them twice a year, so the changes are minor for me.
And multiple elevated terrain rules are really welcome for 3D maps we could see for France championship.

Posted by: Gyom on 5/5/2011 1:07:33 PM

I considered Theme Teams to be a great addition to the game. Since I already like to play comic accurate teams, this mechanic always made it a little easier for me to not get stomped by whatever the Meta-game flavor of the month was. In lower point formats, the old rules were never too abusive, and never gave me an unfair advantage. Extra Probs are always welcome, but taking a token for it was well balanced. Now, the incentive to try to Theme is beaten down by the difficulty in trying to meet even the most basic conditions. The old rules worked fine. They were not complex. They were not dumb. This change was unnecesasry.

Posted by: Dairoka on 5/4/2011 9:43:38 AM

@MikeInMKE: The new Colossal rules applies to ALL COLOSSAL figures, even older ones. The same is true for the new GIANT rules.

Posted by: The Le on 5/4/2011 8:42:51 AM

my personal opinian i do not like the new rules and i do presume colossal stamina does count to every colossal figure wich is good for me because colossal is in my heroclix team along with white lantern hal jordan doomsday and world war hulk

Posted by: calvin on 5/4/2011 8:37:57 AM

do the rules regarding Colossal Stamina apply to _every_ colossal figure, superseding the old rules sheets -- or does Colossal Stamina only apply to those newer colossal figures (that do not have separate special rules)?...

Posted by: MikeInMKE on 5/4/2011 8:29:06 AM

i don't get how you can call out the theme team mechanic , and then laud it's use in choosing map not two paragrapghs later. FTR i think the theme mechanic is a great device in building teams against the meta, especially in the way that themed prob works now. 1 for generic and 2 for non generic per 300 points of build total, with no "double dipping" of prob control/theme prob. it allows a larger metagame than not having it would allow. i'm sure without the advantages of theme every team would break down to bullseye/nightcrawler/35 point free move prob controller/perplexer/medic.

-RmL

Posted by: supremepontiff on 5/4/2011 7:31:28 AM

I think the whole Giant vs Collosus rules need a revamp. The new giant rules are fine but the seperation of the two adds to the confusion. Giants are coming out with some nice rules yet the bigger guys seem to be left behind and with so many added you would think this would be addressed better.

The map issue, well I guess they needed and excuse to make a hill/valley terrain. It will slow the game down. Or the should limitit to an orange ability on the map they are making for the Thor bubble/blister pack.

Posted by: scourge101 on 5/4/2011 6:25:52 AM

I kind of like the multiple elevation rules. Now a larger rooftop can have multiple elevations and a close combat character at least has a chance at getting next to a character with ranged attack without getting KO'd before he has a chance to make a hit. I think this creates more balance between close combat and ranged combat characters without eliminating the usefulness of a good portion of the map because of elevated blocking terrain.

Posted by: malger on 5/4/2011 6:23:31 AM

If you're playing with 3D terrain (like Fat Dragon's Capital City paper models) then the multiple elevation rules take out a lot of uncertainty. Now you can have a two story building next to a one story building without having to argue whether characters on one rooftop can see characters on the other.

Posted by: Wombatboy on 5/3/2011 6:53:49 PM

Not a fan of the multiple elevation idea at all. Thought the same thing when I first read about it. Where was this being pushed from and why? For god's sake, the line of fire rules are already complex enough and in reading thousands of comments from players not once did I hear any clamor for more convoluted maps. Hopefully we will be really impressed by the new levels when we see them in play.

Posted by: aqhoffman on 5/3/2011 5:02:53 PM