Geeking Out – Justice For All… And a Competition for YOU!

Yes, Justice comes in many guises this July from Knight Models, be it the JLA, the JSA or all the way from Themyscira.

It’s also been an exciting month with the release of free Suicide Squad rules for the DCUMG (CLICK HERE) and a new battle pack “Amazons of Themyscira”, so check out our reviews of this month’s models and make sure to enter the competition to win yourself a battle pack of your very own (details of how to enter at the bottom of the page)!

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Firstly, the not-so Little Green Man, the Martian Manhunter himself. What does it take to scare the Man of Steel? Given that at 15 he’s a top end character – albeit a point cheaper than the lower cost Supes – and he brings a whole host of versatility with it. The fact that it’s a single cast (no building required) sums him up, actually – despite having lots he can do, he’s pretty straightforward.

He’s solid, almost as fast as Superman, very strong, very tough (great mental defense especially), and can attack physically, mentally or with energy to tackle pretty much any foe. His specials allow him to phase through, so terrain isn’t a worry either.  Essentially, he’s a giant beating stick, and an extra choice for pure Justice League.

But the Justice Society of America get a look-in too, in the form of Dr Fate. Now in many ways he could almost be considered a trickier Manhunter. Trickier to build (though not too fiddly, and a beautiful sculpt), and definitely trickier to play. He can’t attack someone who hasn’t attacked yet, and he’s highly reactive, with the ability to negate an opponent’s passive abilities proving to be extremely potent if used right (I am a massive fan of negation queen Ravager, so this makes me very happy). His similar breadth of attack types – especially mental – is very impressive, so at 13 points he’s a solid choice for any hero team.

Themyscira brings its own brand of justice with the Amazons of Themyscira boxset. It’s a great idea, as this is a complete 350 point faction box for BMG (albeit a Legend set – full expansion rules here) though the models are a little on the fiddly side.  Not the worst by any means, but KM have a history of tiny female arms. In BMG, on paper at least, Hippolyta is rightly terrifying as the most expensive Leader in the game. The rules are relatively simple, and the Amazons likewise – with the PDF rules sheet in front of you, you’re pretty much good to go. As a set they’re a great way to learn core mechanics and get some solid, bmg fun.

However, it’s in DCUMG that these are designed to shine. Hippolyta herself is good but there’s an awful lot of choice around the 12 pt mark where she sits. She is a potent nuisance though, combining melee, range and blast magic attacks with super jump. Obviously she’s designed to play best with her Amazons and her Leadership/5 has potential when running a large, low level team – ironically, she’s great if you’re used to running a BMG horde. But, of course, that is exactly the point as this a bridging, entry point product.

And her Amazons don’t disappoint, either – in fact, are likely to crop up on many a table, because at 7 points each they’re cheap magic attacks, again with huge table coverage from super jump. Amazon 3 with her ranged attack will likely become the bugbear of many evil lists, but don’t overlook spear wielding Amazon 2 who has a ranged 2 melee attack – always an absolute nuisance for dealing with shooty characters, as you sit and poke them in safety.

Finally, Wonder Woman gets a movie makeover, complete with warhorse. The model is a somewhat intimidating build for a novice, but the sword and torso being one piece limits the fiddling, and it’s well balanced generally.

Like the Amazons, she’s a BMG legend, not designed for standard play but great for fun, friendly games. Interestingly, her triple-gatefold card formally introduces the new mounted character rules, and it’s exciting as much as anything else to see the direction the game is going in. It’s hard to clearly express how utterly brutal she is. Let’s go for the fact that, even at 240 for a sidekick, she’s effectively a match for Superman – indeed, she and Hippolyta together are more expensive than the World’s Finest, which should give some perspective!

From a Dcumg perspective, she’s definitely in keeping with the power creep we saw with Super Man and the new tournament format of 60 points. As obvious as it may be to say, being 3 points more, she’s a better version – but not in ways that are immediately obvious. Sure, she’s immune to lightning (nice touch); her bracelets can grant her +3 def once per turn, even against ranged, plus her shield can allow her to negate an attack also. All great. But she’s lost super jump. Boo.

However, it’s the way her mount is represented that’s so powerful – because she has base speed of 8, and improved speed of 12 (matching super jump) and thereby increasing her flexibility, plus Size 4 / large base meaning she is a match for the other giant characters – very clever piece of design, especially coupled with Godkiller making her even more deadly to Level 20+ characters. Really well conceived model all round.

So there you go. What takes your fancy? Let us know in the comments!

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COMPETITION TIME!

To win yourself a Amazons of Themyscira box set, you first need to like Big Comic Page on Facebook.

Once you’ve done that, you can earn one competition entry for doing each of the following (maximum of 5 entries in total):

– Like this post on Facebook.
– Comment on Facebook.
– Share on Facebook.
– Retweet on Twitter.
– Leave a Comment below

The winner will be chosen at random from all the eligible entries on Sunday 30th of July.

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The Writer of this piece was: Sam Graven
Article Archive: Geeking Out
You can follow Sam on Twitter

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