Michael Deeley has been reading comics since he was 12 years old. His first book was an issue of Silver Surfer by Jim Starlin, leading him to see all comics as ideological conflicts with big-ass fight scenes. At the very least, he expects a comic to be entertaining in some fashion, which is why he thinks Secret Wars II is better than Dark Knight Strikes Back. He has never work in the comics field, but he does have a belligerent attitude and a lot of free time.
During his brief intervals in the real world, Michael looks for a paying job that should, (theoretically) lead to a better life involving more comics, privacy, and women.
He currently lives between Pittsburgh, PA, and the Pittsburgh International Airport, in a suburb so new, it only has one McDonalds.
“You are not the real Judge Hershey. BLAM BLAM BLAM!” -Spoken by a player who’s Judge Dredd figure was making an attack on an opponent’s Judge Hershey figure.
This week, I talk about my experience playing the Indy Clix miniatures game. And if anyone complains, I’ll tell them what makes me question my sexuality. I’m not afraid to use my neuroses as weapons!
Indy Clix is the newest collection of Hero Clix, the comic book-based role playing miniatures produced by WizKids. Other WizKids products include Hero Clix based on Marvel and DC comics, the Mage Knight, Crimson Skies, and Shadowrun collections of gaming miniatures. WizKids was founded by Jordan Weisman and his wife in 2000. Weisman founded the role-playing game publisher FASA in 1980. FASA created the original Shadowrun and Crimson Skies games for traditional role-playing games, as well as the popular Battletech combat simulation. BattleTech led to the MechWarrior PC games developed by FASA Interactive. The success of MechWarrior attracted the attention of Microsoft who acquired the company in 1999. Weisman was named Creative Director of Microsoft entertainment, and was involved with the development of the Xbox video game console.
Weisman wanted to make miniature gaming more accessible to the public and easier to learn. In 2000, Weisman worked with Kevin Barrett to develop the combat dial system used in Wizkids’ games. The combat dial can be turned during the game, reflecting changes in the figures’ powers and abilities. When a character takes damage, its dial is turned, making a clicking sound. Hence the name. This meant players didn’t need to buy and read hundreds of pages of rule books to begin a game. Mage Knight, released in November of 2000, was the first WizKids game to use combat dials. It quickly became a sales success.
Wizkids’ Hero Clix series debuted in May of 2001 with the Marvel Hero Clix: Infinity Challenge collection. Starter sets and booster packs of figures sold out almost immediately. Two more collections, Clobberin’ Time and X-Plosion, have been produced. In 2002, the first collection of DC Hero Clix, Hypertime, was released. The Cosmic Justice collection came out earlier this year. All of them have proven quite popular.
I never got into traditional role playing games. Learning the rules seemed like too much work for a game of pretend. And I found the rules frustrating. I don’t want my daydreams to conform to someone else’s ideas. But I did like action figures, and was interested in these miniature versions of characters not often made into toys. I bought a set of Marvel Hero Clix when they first came out. I wanted to get the miniature figures of Daredevil and his enemies. I found them to be incredibly small. The painting seemed a little off, especially on the Elektra figure with big, white eyes. I never did find anybody to play the game with, so I sold them all to the local comic shop where I’d bought them. Ironically, the shop held a Hero Clix game every week. Employees and friends would pit their teams against each other on a large map that covered half the long boxes of Marvel comics. (It’s a small shop; Phantom of the Attic in Parkway Center Mall).
When I heard about Indy Clix, based on characters from Dark Horse Comics, CrossGen, and other “independent” publishers, I was excited. Once again, I looked forward to getting tiny figures of my favorite characters, this time from CrossGen comics. And the possibility of a massive, multi-company crossover battle was more likely than ever. Who wouldn’t want to see Batman, Spider-Man, Judge Dredd, Hellboy, Shi and Boon Sai Hong mix it up? So I’m a fanboy; sue me.
The appeal of Hero Clix is the ability to interact with your favorite characters in a very simple and direct manner. Moving little versions of your heroes takes less work than writing fan fiction. You can also create your own stories, scenarios, or adventures and put your characters through their paces. The figures’ powers and abilities are designed to reflect their characters accurately. Most characters have three versions of their figure to represent them at different points in their development: Rookie, Experienced, and Veteran. These different versions have varying powers and abilities, making some more effective in the game than others. The strategy revolves around choosing the right figures whose powers and abilities are strong enough to defeat any challengers.
In other words, you play the part of cosmic manipulators who use superheroes as game pieces.
Hero Clix was designed to be played right away. To that end, starter sets are sold with 8 figures, rules, a map/playing field, dice, tokens, and a card listing figures’ superpowers and team abilities. (It seems the infamous Dungeon Master Screen is an integral part of any role-playing game.) A studded ring is also included to turn the figure’s combat dial. This is a huge improvement in the figure’s design. Early figures had the dial turned from the outside of the figure base. This often meant holding the figure itself while you turned the dial, which risked breaking your figure. Now you hold the figure to the ring, hold the outside and turn to turn the dial. Much easier.
If you want to read the complete detailed rules, go here. To understand how the game went, read the next two paragraphs. If you already know the game and how to play, skip on down to the part where I win.
The most basic rules of any hero Clix game go like this: On every turn, a figure can do one thing. This is called an “action”. An action can be movement, attack, or a specific power. A character that performs only one an action per turn. That’s it. Your guy can move OR attack OR, if he’s lucky, do both thanks to a “power action”. A character cannot perform actions on two consecutive turns without incurring a point of damage. This is called pushing. Characters that have pushed cannot do anything on the following turn.
There are a limited number of actions you can assign per turn. This number is determined by your characters’ point values. You get 1 action for every 100 points on your team. The maximum team point value is agreed upon by players before the game begins. For my game, the maximum total team points were 300, so every person could assign 3 actions per turn. So when I wanted two guys to attack, and a third guy to move, I gave each one of them an action that turn. I couldn’t do anything else with my other figures. Additional actions can be gained through the characters’ team abilities and superpowers.
I had only 10 figures to build my team, (8 from the starter, 2 new from a booster pack, and 2 duplicates from the booster), but I got a pretty good lot. Witchblade, Darkness, and Magdalena each got a free move action because of their Top Cow team ability. My rookie Judge Dredd had the running shot power, allowing him to move and fire on the same turn. He also had toughness, which reduced his damage by 1 click, and outwit, which negated an opposing characters’ superpower. Tomoe had the leadership power. Every turn, I rolled a die. If it came up 4, 5, or 6, I got an extra action. (Didn’t help me much.) Shi and a Saurian Trooper were added as cannon fodder.
Some of the opposing teams were built around themes. One guy had all 2000 AD figures, including a Veteran Judge Dredd and a rare Judge Death figure. Another player’s team was comprised almost entirely of SHIELD figures from the Marvel Hero Clix assortment. The third player’s team seemed made up entirely of kung-fu style figures from ‘Shi’ and ‘Kabuki’. The fourth opponent’s team was a mix, like mine. He had a more powerful version of Magdalena and a unique Arwyn figure. This Arwyn had the CrossGen team ability of dealing 1 click of damage to anyone that damaged her. She could also “push” herself without taking a click of damage. So, of course, I targeted Arwyn whenever possible.
So there we were, five grown men, in a comic book shop, on a Sunday afternoon, moving around little toy versions of comic book characters, saying things like, “Darkness uses blades, claws and fangs on Arwyn,” and “Nick Fury can’t hit Lobster Johnson because Fury’s line of sight is blocked by that building.” Part of me felt silly for playing the game. It was designed to attract younger players, after all. (The company’s called WizKids fer cryin’ out loud!) But after a few turns, I really got into it. I started seeing the characters moving and fighting in a real world environment. I could imagine them punching, running, and dodging, as though I were reading it in a comic book. If I’d read more of my characters’ comics, I’d have started quoting them.
There was one disappointment during the game. As I talked to them, I found out none of them really read comic books. One guy said he read the Spider-Man comics, but he was an employee at the store. (The game was delayed every time he had to wait on a customer, usually kids buying Yu-Gi-Oh cards.) The player with the 2000AD team said he used to read Judge Dredd comics “years ago”. The others only knew Dredd from the bad Stallone movie. I was the only one who knew Judge Death had brothers (Mortis, Fear, and Fire. Their figures aren’t available in the US. Can someone hook me up?). Call me crazy, but I thought guys who played a game based on comic books would read the comic books. Turns out, they’re into role playing games. To them, this was just another game, like D&D or BattleTech. Part of me hoped that these Hero Clix games would introduce people to comics, especially since it was sold at comic book stores. I guess not. More likely, current comic book readers play this game, as well as non-reading fans of role playing games.
Let’s take a moment to consider what game creator Jordan Weisman set out to do. Weisman wanted a game that would 1.) Attract young people to miniature games, 2.) Be easy to learn and play, and 3.) Not require a large initial investment of a person’s time and/or money.
Sound familiar?
COMICS HAVE BEEN TRYING THE SAME THING!!!!! Publishers have been trying to get young people to reading comics. There’s been a lot of talk about needing more comics that are easy to read and don’t need a lot of continuity or previous knowledge of a character. We need more comics that people can just pick up, read, enjoy, and walk away. Hero Clix can be picked up, played, and put away quickly. Depending on the game, it can be as short as an hour, or last all day. Weisman succeeded in bringing miniature gaming to a whole new audience, (myself included), by repackaging it into something easy to understand. The familiar characters didn’t hurt either.
So why can’t comic book publishers create a comic featuring some of the most recognizable characters in the world that PEOPLE CAN READ WITHOUT COLLECTING? I blame it on continuity. Once you have a series that creates its own history, it necessitates keeping old issues. This means collecting. Comic books are still seen as collectibles rather than entertainment. During the game, one player broke one of his figures. I felt sad for him, but he didn’t care! Sure, some figures were collectible, but these guys cared more about the game. Besides, that one wasn’t worth much. That concept was so foreign to me! Not caring about the condition you spent money on? Something that had a rarity and secondary-market value? Not caring about something collectible and just playing with it? WOW! I’ve been collecting comics for too long!
Let’s bring back more disposable comics. Hell, if Archie can do it, so can the two biggest comic book publishers with the greatest artists and writers in the world!
But enough ranting: back to the game. We agreed to play 10 turns then add up the points of each character we’d defeated in combat. Our teams faced off individually. I focused on the other guy with mixed characters, who fended off occasional attacks from the SHIELD and 2000AD teams. The SHIELD team spent most of its time fighting the Kabuki/Shi team. I don’t know what the 2000AD team was doing. I didn’t fight anyone other than the mixed team. They were the closest. Besides, his Arwyn and Magdalena were worth big points. After 10 turns, I had knocked them both out, as well as his Ashleigh. My winning total was over 200 points, making me the clear winner! Yay me!
Overall, it was a fun time. And not just because I won (but it helped), but because I began to think strategically; something I never do. I planned out my characters’ moves, thought about what my opponent would do next, wondered if I should risk pushing my figure to make another attack. I learned to assemble a smaller team of powerful characters. Next time, I’m bringing my Unique Witchblade and Shi. I am the Grandmaster! MWAH-HAH-HAH-HAH-HAH!
But most of all, I hung out with some guys I’d never met and we had fun. I should do that more often. And there are worse ways to spend a Sunday than hang around a comic shop for 3 hours with 4 grown men. I could go to the dentist. Or watch golf. Instead, I played pretend with a man who looked like Comic Book Guy, only without the beard and with bigger tits.
Nice fellow. Really.
Only one of the series I collect came out this week. There were very few new books that I was interested in reading.
Raijin Comics #38
We learn why the terrorist leader in “City Hunter” can’t be around men, Tasuke realizes the tragedy of Shao’s immortality in “Guardian Angel”, Sakuragi realizes the importance of the rebound in “Slam Dunk”, and other amazing stuff happens. Just buy the damn book already!
New X-Men #147 -
I know the next issue is out already, but when I read this, it was new. All through the story, I kept thinking, “This is a bad dream.” So kudos to Morrison and Jimenez for making a story so unsettling and unreal, it just felt illusory. In other words, it really did feel like a bad dream. On the down side, we’ve got Magneto on drugs. Now that sound like the premise for a cool story; Magneto, whacked out of his mind on junk rampaging through the world in a storm of electricity. Sadly, we find Magneto is unable to put on a show of power without a hit of kick. This makes him look weak, sets up an obvious weakness to exploit, and lowers this book’s rating by one bullet.
Paradise X: X -
I’m not sure what happened, but it seemed terribly important. Reed Richards is made the new Eternity, as Mar-Vell’s paradise expands to encompass the whole universe. A new natural order is established, with Jude, the new Death, deciding who is and isn’t worthy of his “gift”. Those that aren’t are taken by Nightcrawler to Limbo, the new Hell.
There’s a great line towards the end where Mar-Vell warns Reed not to turn paradise into a democracy. “This is too important to leave to the lowest common denominator.” That is the perfect capstone to the California recall debacle.
Punisher #32 -
Don’t know if it’s new or not, but what the hell. Det. Soap tells his life story. He’s always been an unlucky loser who’s also been terribly clueless. He’s been feeling guilty about helping the Punisher kill criminals, but it’s the only thing he’s ever succeeded at. Great dark comedy from Garth Ennis and fantastic art from Steve Dillon.
Tom Strong #22 -
The story of Tom Stone, an alternate version of Tom Strong comes to a violent end. Stone had been having an affair with Dhulua, wife of reformed villain Paul Saveen. When they’re discovered by the Modular Man, Dhulua panics and kills him. This sparks a science-hero war which leads to Saveen killing Dhulua. Stone’s mother escapes to the alternate world of Tom Strong to find a time machine. She uses this to travel back into the past and stop herself from creating the Tom Stone timeline.
Overall, this was a nice little adventure. Strong is left shocked and shaken that he’s been talking to his mother all this time (it was a 3-issue story), along with the means to change history himself. Stone and Saveen show up at the end, trying to stop Mrs. Stone from erasing their existence. But they don’t mind dying (or is that “being unmade”?), when they see Dhulua is alive in this timeline. Corny, you ask me.
And finally, Alias #1-10; Swamp Thing Vol. 3: Issues #35-37; and Essential X-Men Vol. 1. With the purchase and reading of ‘Essential X-Men’ V1, I have now read every issue of Claremont’s initial 17-year run on the title. I think I’ll do a column on the series and how comic book style and storytelling has changed over the years. You talk about decompressed story telling? You’re talking about Claremont!
BTW, I mentioned ‘Tales from the Bog’ back in my column about SPACE, the Small Press and Alternative Comics Expo. A new website for the series is up at http://www.talesfromthebog.com/. Artist Martin Lusk also says a new graphic novel will be available in mid-2004. Check him out.
As for me, I’ve got two tokens on me, so I’m stuck until the next turn. Good thing I still have toughness to weather an attack.
