Marvel HeroClix: Avengers Sets A New Course for HeroClix!

It’s time to show you what “anything” means.

Last year, we began taking a look at what makes HeroClix a great game. A lot of things came to mind, like tactile interaction with pieces representing your favorite comic book superheroes and the ability to play out classic comic-book battles or create your own. Some people really enjoy collecting HeroClix and decorating their office cubicle or desk. Whatever the reasons, HeroClix has been a staple in hobby gaming for five years now, and WizKids is doing a lot of things right. But we felt there were some things that we could do better.

Collectability
In the hobby game community, there are certain conventions that help consumers interact with your product. In regards to collectable games, there is an assumption that some pieces are more commonly found in Boosters than others and that by default, some are rarer than others. HeroClix unfortunately never had a clearly defined rarity model that was visible to the consumer.

Starting with Marvel HeroClix: Avengers, we have added a “tab” to the character bases. This tab will contain the set symbol and the color will indicate the rarity of the character.

This will make each HeroClix piece instantly recognizable for the level of rarity it is, making trading (especially for more inexperienced players) more fair and giving retailers who sell singles in their stores the ability to more appropriately price pieces.

You will notice that the Rookie/Experienced/Veteran ring colors have been removed from the dials. These colors have been placed on the individual character cards for each character. That brings us to . . .

Character Cards
If you’re a fan of HeroClix, it stands to reason that you’re probably a fan of the comic book source material. In the past, although we’ve used these characters, we haven’t done as much as we could to connect with the comic book fan. Avengers will offer a wealth of new HeroClix play options with the debut of character cards. Each character card will have a number of features to enhance your game play and your enjoyment of the piece.

Standard powers are explained on the standard HeroClix powers and abilities card (PAC). Named powers have the name of a standard power in parentheses, but also have a name in capital letters that explains why the character has that power, or helps provide it some character-specific flavor. For example, when the Human Torch has Poison, you’ll know it represents the intense heat he can generate, not a toxic power you’ve never seen in the comics. Lastly, special powers are amazing abilities denoted on a dial by a new power color—a white box with a black outline. Special powers are specific to that individual character, and their effects are explained fully on that character’s character card. That means plenty of new powers and effects to play with in Avengers—roughly one-third of the characters in the set have special powers!

Notice too that each character card contains background information on the character, including its real name, first appearance, a short biography, and in some cases even the cover art from the first appearance of that character.

More Value for the Money
With the increased competition in the CMG marketplace, we wanted to ensure that HeroClix was getting the visibility it deserves. We also wanted to respond to recent issues of cramped packaging and the damage that this could cause our figures. To do this, we have increased the Booster size by roughly 30 percent and added an additional figure to each. That means you’ll now get five HeroClix figures with their character cards, and a card element that might be a feat card, battlefield condition card, special object, or bystander token for what we consider to be a great value: a suggested retail price of $9.99.

Moving the experience level of a piece from the figure to the character card allows us to increase the depth of each set. HeroClix will now feature 60 individual characters per set instead of the previous 40. That means that instead of seeing three Iron Man characters, each with a different color ring, you’ll see just one Iron Man and one experience level on the character card. This allows us to include an additional 20 different characters for you to collect. Avengers will have the deepest character pool of any HeroClix set ever released.

Themes
Character cards in HeroClix also allow us to add special keywords to every character beyond just a team ability. This means that you can put together special groups of heroes from current and previous expansions to make some memorable team-ups.

The Sky Is Falling!
Actually, the sky isn’t falling, but Galactus IS coming! Marvel HeroClix: Avengers will be supported with the five-week tournament called “The Coming of Galactus” world event. This will be the first opportunity you’ll have to play Avengers in a Sealed tournament environment.

Putting It All Together
If you’re worried about your current HeroClix collection becoming obsolete, don’t be. The new additions to HeroClix are completely backward compatible with all previous releases. As Seth points out in his article, the new mechanics incorporate previously released sets via keyword lists you’ll find on the HeroClix website.

Change is always difficult and we understand that we’re tweaking a game that so many of our players and collectors have known intimately for five years. We feel, however, that all of the new features in HeroClix will do nothing but increase your enjoyment of the game and expand your play options beyond what you had thought possible.

This is just a quick overview of the program. Over the next few months, we’ll be releasing more and more information about these changes and how they will enhance your enjoyment of HeroClix. We still have a surprise or two in store for you and we will continue to excite and challenge you every time you open a HeroClix Booster. Even once the fifth anniversary celebration has died down, you can still “expect anything!”