The new Hawkman is costlier than any of the
Hypertime versions, buying you an immediately more
offensive piece. Rookie here starts with Charge,
enabling him to get into the fight. Unfortunately,
he only sports 2 Damage with Close Combat Expert,
which he can't use until after he's Charged and a 16
Defense Value with Energy Shield/Deflection, which
is of little use once he's based.
Fortunately, that's not the extent of his fighting
prowess. Click #2 gains him Flurry and 3 Damage --
devastating if he gets to use it. He also gets
Charge again, holding that 3 Damage value, and
another click of Flurry. So even though his Attack
Values sink to 8 and 7 by dial's end, and he lacks
any damage reduction, for less than 60 points Rookie
Hawkman is pretty decent backup attacker.
FEATS?
Nearly a full dial of ESD makes either FORCE FIELD
or HEIGHTENED REFLEXES a perfect fit, but I don't
recommend both. ARMOR PIERCING is boon to help out
his low opening damage and his 9 AV Quake clicks
later.
THEMES/COMIC ACCURACY
With no team ability, we're left to his Keywords to
peg him as the Golden Age Hawkman. As such, you
could theme him up with other early DC heroes like
setmates Starman, Sandman, R Green Lantern, and the
Unique Batman, Superman and Wonder Woman. More
whimsically, put him on an all-wings team. :)
Dialwise, this is a classic version of Hawkman,
well-representing his fighting ability.
IN SUM:
Almost a textbook example of the decent, affordable
secondary no-range attacker. But that first click is
a problem that mostly restricts him to targeting
softer support targets.
RATING: 3 of 5.
=========================================
=========================================
Experienced Hawkman
wing speed
90 points
Team: JLA
Keywords: "Justice League of America"
Range: 4 x 1
Just as the Rookie had early trouble with dealing
first-strike damage along with a defense that wilts
in close quarters, so too does Exp. Hawkman despite
an impressive 11 AV and 17 DV+ESD. 31 extra points
buys longer-lasting Charge and that way improved AV,
along with a bit of range. But he's not quite as
push-friendly as the Rookie...no Flurry.
FEATS?
Nothing really works on him aside from the usual
one-size-fits-all stuff like IN CONTACT WITH ORACLE,
PROTECTED, or ARMOR PIERCING.
THEMES/COMIC ACCURACY
This is Katar Hol, the Thanagarian alien incarnation
of Carter Hall. As such, he fits the "Satellite era"
of the JLA. Theme him up with Experienced Red
Tornado, Black Canary, Green Arrow, Green Lantern
(Unleashed) and others.
IN SUM
Better than the Rookie, but not 30 whole points
worth of better.
RATING: 3 of 5.
=========================================
=========================================
Veteran Hawkman
wing speed
135 points
Team: JSA
Keywords: "Justice Society" and "Warrior"
Range: 0 x 1
The Vet at last sports the 12 AV and 4 Damage (plus
Super Strength!) to be a truly fearsome first-strike
piece. As such, he wears a bullseye on his
nearly-bare chest and due to his opening click of
ESD, any fire he takes after landing that hit is
gonna hurt bad, possibly knocking him past his
Toughness clicks. On the plus side, his offensive
ability stays high through his dial and late-game
Regeneration could keep him in the game after he
gets hit hard -- and he will be.
FEATS?
AUTOMATIC REGENERATION is always good on characters
with more than one click of Regen. His high point
cost makes VENDETTA a double-edged sword, but he's
got the stats to make it work. That same price tag
makes INSPIRING COMMAND a solid choice to help his
cheaper JSA teammates, which could make for quite
the killer strategy.
THEMES/COMIC ACCURACY
He gets the Warrior keyword, and his dial well
reflects his recall of all his many lifetimes of
warfare, along with his mastery of the Nth metal
that enables his flight, strength and healing
ability.
Theme him up with other modern JSA members.
IN SUM
With an old-school, top-heavy attack dial like this
one, you'll be sorely tempted to TK him out for a
first strike. DON'T DO IT. Sure, you're likely to
land early damage and maybe even a KO. But you're
more likely to give up that 135 points to the
opponent.
Better to hold Vet Hawkman back to land the KO blow
on whomever the rest of your team has softened up.
He has such a long and
convoluted story that I wont even attempt to decipher it.
Check whoclix or wikipedia for more.
All of these guys are good
attackers, even though I think the E is probably the weakest
because of his opening Charge/CCE combo. I will say the
best of the three is the vet.
He is 135 points, 0 range, 9
clicks of life, a flier, AE (shadow thief), and JSA team
Attack: Very high and deops slowly, love it, combos
work too
Defense: ESD on close combat pieces I will never
understand, numbers stay high though and the powers always
help
Damage: Nice, and with charge and SS is even better,
CCE keeps it high, and he is good nanobots potential
The Good: High attack
High damage potential
JSA team has gotten a
lot better recently
Movement for most of
his dial
Good combinations
The Bad: No range main attacker
Feats: Nanobots comes in handy on him, Inspiring
Command can work too. Protected is a must for that first
click.
Overall: Wow, I liked the KC version a lot, but
this guy I would say is even better. He can do more damage,
has a lot more movement, and more useful team ability. He
doesn’t really have a lot of damage reduction, but his
numbers can help him stay in the game a while. He is one of
the better mid range beasts to come out for a while, and I
can see him definitely getting a lot of play in the future.
He is a must for JSA teams, and a great attacker for a
normal team.
Constructed/Unrestricted: 4 / 5
Sealed/Draft: 4.5 / 5
Overall: 4 / 5
“Heroclix….they’re cool,
addictive, and available….the things practically sell
themselves.”
