Little and Large

Not a whole to to say about this. I could go one about how The Brave & The Bold is delivering yet another static pose and that, once again, it is a lovely example of the sculptors' art. Trouble is, these are Heroclix figures, not bleedin' ornaments.

Gotta love the little Atom though.

Cookie monster

Look down a few posts and you will see me moaning about the apparent shift towards static poses - and, let's face it, you don't get much more static than sitting on your green butt drinking a glass of milk. Given that, I should be disliking this sculpt - despite it being a beautiful piece of work.

However, a bit of digging around on the net revealed the story behind the sculpt - basically that MM was addicted to chocolate biscuits - and I found myself loving how Wizkids should celebrate such an obscure piece of comic history. Perhaps there is still hope for an Ambush Bug/Cheeks The Toy Wonder duo after all.

The Rhodes ahead

I've no idea how likely we are to see this fella over here in the UK, but it has just been announced that the May 1, 2010 Free Comic Book Day figures is James Rhodes, AKA War Machine. With the character set to appear in Iron Man 2 (see the excellent new trailer here) on the big screen next year he was an obvious choice really.

It seems Wizkids is reusing the Armor Wars sculpt, though without the flight stand, but we can probably assume we'll be seeing a new dial. Mind you, despite being almost five years old, the original War Machine sculpt is still perfectly playable.

Best sculpt ever?

I actually gasped when I saw this sculpt of Black Adam and Shazam in action together. This duo is simply one of, if not the, best-looking Heroclix sculpts we have ever seen. I'll shut up now and let you all drool in peace.

Box of Delights

Here's the box art for one of The Brave & The Bold booster packs. Not much more to say about it except that it appears to confirm that we will be getting five figures in a box (there was a rumour that we might only be getting four from this set). It also shows the brick figure on the side - see a few posts below for more info.

Four new alternative team abilities

Among the deluge of The Brave & The Bold news released in the past few hours is the revelation - buried in the list of Organised Play Kit items – that we will be getting four new alternative team abilities.

I'm not even going to start suggesting what these might be, but please feel free to do so yourselves - that's what the 'Comment' button is there for.

The rest of the OP Kit info is:

"Each OP Kit Contains
15 Limited Edition (LE) figures, with different paint jobs from the normal versions of the figures!
(5 copies of 3 different figures, each with character card).

14 3-D objects. All objects have a special game effect! (2 copies of 7 different objects, each with object card)

10 copies of 1 all new map (24" x 36")

12 Alternate Team Ability feat cards (3 copies of 4 different cards)

1 Instruction Sheet for suggested prize allocation /tournament schedule"

This information was posted on HCRealms by SWTony.

Up, up and away...

I am going to be right old Christmas grump here. 

This new sculpt for The Brave & The Bold is a lovely piece of art, beautifully capturing Clark Kent as he is about to leap into action, but he has the same problem as the Secret Invasion Iron Man figure: Heroclix is a game about super-powered individuals kicking the doo-doo out of each other and the sculpts should reflect this. I want my figures to be flying, running, kicking, punching or blasting - Wizkids please take note and stop me having to replace figures on dials, which has become so much trickier since flight stands disappeared.

Of course, this may well be one of the new 'alias' mechanic figures in which case perhaps he is paired somehow was a more dramatic sculpt of Supes in action. In which case I apologise for the above moan.

This image was posted by comical on HCRealms.

Well, there's some good news...

The good news is that the sculpt for the Batman/Catwoman duo figure is pretty darn gorgeous. Personally I don't like figures that carry bits of scenery around with them but even I have to admit that this one is superb - but what's with making another great Batman sculpt that is a bugger to get hold of?

The bad news, however, is that Wizkids is going back to the bad old ways of making the figure a limited edition mail-away. As someone who only collects figures they are pretty confident they will use I'm not too fussed whether I get one of these but I know a lot of you will be crying on your keyboards about now.

This pic and info was posted by comical at HCRealms.

"Ulik head hurt!"

It will come as little surprise to many players, but Wizkids has clarified that Ulik can by Psychic Blasted into oblivion. For this ruling and a host of others take a look here.

Bricking it

Although I've been playing Heroclix since Day One, I've never been much of a booster buyer. With the exception of sealed games, I've pretty much stuck to picking up single figures.

However, the arrival of Hammer of Thor prompted me to buy my first brick. It was partly due to the excitement of having new figures but mainly due to a genuine wish to financially back the game that has given me so much pleasure over the years. I intend to continue doing this with each new set, even if they bring out one turned around Sisterhood of Steel (look it up fanboys - I'm showing my age there).

And, all in all, I am very pleased with what I pulled. Certainly happier than my mate Paul, who bought a case of HoT and pulled a total of two super-rares. Two. All things considered, he took it in very good grace - had it been me in that position they might have been tears.

As for me, I pulled Ultron, Volstagg and Odin. While I didn't pull all of the lower-rarity figures I had my eye on, I opened my brick at a sealed tournament and a bit of trading netted me most of the figures I wanted.

Happy days

I love Christmas. I am off to bed now, content, having decorated two Christmas trees with my family today (one traditional style and one covered in toys ranging from tiny Barbie dolls of genuine 80s Transformers). I have also just watched the Star Trek movie that was released this Summer; I was never a huge fan of the series but really enjoyed it.

And, as if things weren't good enough, tomorrow I am heading to Littlehampton - a proper English seaside town - to pick up my brick of Hammer of Thor and play in a sealed tournament. I am obviously very excited just by the thought of the first new clix figures to grace my grubby paws in over a year, but my hopes for tomorrow include:

To pull or trade for a full set of Runaways

To pull or trade for a good number of ninja

To not be plagued by lousy dice throws

And, if I am to be truly honest, to pull a god pack that includes Froggie Thor.

That said, I'm pretty sure I'll have a great time even if none of the above comes to pass.

It's here! (Really)

'Nuff said.

It's here! (Soon)

According to the new releases list from UK Heroclix distributor Esdevium Games, Hammer of Thor will be released on Friday 11th December.

I don't know whether that is the date it is due in stores or when it ships to stores from Esdevium but, given that we have a sealed planned for the 13th, I know which option I prefer