WildWill

Name: Vindicator

Set: Ultimates

Number: 88

Rarities: 6 - Unique

Cost: 104

Health: 9

SSADD: 10/9/16/3

Powers: Running Shot, Energy Explosion, Invulnerability, Toughness, Energy Shield/Deflection, Leadership

Ranged Attacks: 2 Range 8

Team: Avengers

Heather Hudson’s husband James was the instrumental leader of Alpha Flight when they first battled the X-Men WAAAAY back in the early issues of Claremont’s run.  He and Heather also found the just laced with adamantium Logan in the Canadian wilderness and were able to bring him back to reality, and bring him into the Alpha Flight fold.  James was the first Vindicator, the outfit he wore being a super-soldier type battle suit, and after he became “Guardian” in Alpha Flight #1, he led the group for a whopping 12 issues.  Yup, Guardian bit the big one in Alpha Flight #12 (with the memorable John Byrne sniper scope cover).  Heather would later take over the mantle of Vindicator wearing a variation of the suit, and would lead the team for MUCH MUCH longer than her hubby ever did. 

Yeah, I’m a little partial to Alpha Flight, it was the first ongoing book I ever collected from Issue #1, and I still have almost an entire run of the first volume.  (and yes, I wrote this introduction from memory without WHOCLIX).  After FIVE freakin’ sets, we finally get our first Alpha Flight team member, and I hope we get some more too…I can see the entire original team coming, Shaman, Marinna, Snowbird, Aurora, Northstar, Sasquatch, and even little Puck, and hey, a transforming Box wouldn’t suck either. 

Unfortunately Vindicator isn’t all that great of a piece.  She’s overpriced, and that attack value STINKS.  Running Shot with a 3 damage isn’t bad, but that attack is going to have to be perplexed up in order for her to hit.  She’s basically a pricey secondary attacker, and unless you like that sort of thing, she’ll either be trade bait or display material.  Too bad too, because with 2 range 8 attacks, she COULD conceivably do some damage, but not with that low attack.  Did I mention the low attack?

And now we come to the part I know you’ve all been waiting for…Wildwill’s Patented Price Guide! 

Vindicator Completed Auction Review – 8-4-04

# of Single Auctions: 70

High Amount: $20.50

Low Amount:  $  5.99

Average Amount $ 10.80

# Auctions Above Avg.: 29

# Auctions Below Avg.: 41

# Auctions with no bids: 13

Price range of no bid Auctions: $8.99-$20

Pricing Commentary:  A VERY middle of the road Unique, price wise.  Again, when the average price of the Unique is less than the cost of two boosters, I say buy the boosters instead, because with 2 boosters, you have a 1 in 3 chance of getting a Unique.  I don’t see much of a future for old Heather, and that’s sad.  But since she doesn’t appear in any books currently (though I would imagine she’ll be showing up in the new Alpha Flight book, if it doesn’t get cancelled) her prices are in the “Who the heck is that, and why do they have a Unique?” category.

My Ratings

Playability - 2

Collectability -  3

Vindicator Unique

Marvel Ultimates #088

If you keep up to date with HeroClix and you visit the Wizkids website often, you’ll know that the set due in November will include the new “Alpha Flight” team and team ability.  What I cannot figure out is why Wizkids printed this figure (who is part of Alpha Flight) in Ultimates, when all of her companions will be found in the next set.  Couldn’t they of waited a few more months?  Hopefully Wizkids will release a different version of this figure in a REV set, but is she popular enough to deserve it?  Back to the current time and the click we need to look at.  Vindicator’s dial does not match her point value.  I was expecting a decent piece and strong stats when I first heard about this figure, but I was greatly disappointed, here is why…

Speed / Range:  Well, the 10 speed, 8 range and running shot is a great combination.  It’s just a shame we are only given two clicks of this and then nothing afterwards.  The figures speed and range are average at best.  Nothing really special or disappointing here, other then a dull dial.

Attack:  Ok, this is the area I really have a problem with.  For 102 points, I would want nothing less then a 10 attack value.  That should be a given for figures over 100 pts.  The six straight clicks of energy explosion are nice, but they in no way make up for her lack of high attack values.  This figures Attack is well below what I expected and I would not consider this piece playable simply because of this stat alone.

Defense:  Vindicators defense offers a nice array of abilities.  She gives us four straight clicks of damage reducing abilities with invulnerability and toughness.  After these, she picks up energy deflection on top of a decent 14 defense.  It’s still a little low for my liking and it’s extremely low for a 102 pt figure.

Damage:  The base 3 damage works well with this figures running shot.  There’s nothing I hate more then a figure with running shot and ranged combat expert on the same click.  It almost forces the player to stand still every time they make an attack because the damage being 2 clicks higher.  The damage values stay pretty high and I feel they fit this figure nicely.  The two clicks of leadership was a little odd, as none of her team members (Alpha Flight) have been offered to us yet.

Overall:  I expected a lot more out of this figure in the forms of attack value and defensive numbers.  I couldn’t see myself playing this figure in any constructed tournaments, but she could find a place in some draft or sealed teams.  I have honestly seen better figures for almost 1/3 of her point cost.  I do not consider this figure a threat and would not suggest anyone give her a try on their regular teams.

For a somewhat large amount of build points(104) what you get with Vindicator is a flying, free moving character with 2 ranged targets, whose main purpose is to move and attack a bunch of grouped up enemies using Running Shot with Energy Explosion, while defending herself with Invulnerability or toughness and providing a possible extra action by using Leadership.

Ideal combo:

1.)    Roll for leader ship so Shield Medic can use TA to increase her damage.

2.)    Use Running shot, while taxing vet Psylocke. After 5 movement, Target two weak [16 def or lower] enemy figures who are adjacent to eachother or other figures.

3.)    Use Energy Explosion, whith Psylocke’s Enhancement and Shield Medic’s TA.

4.)    Protect self with invulnerability and prevent being based with Psylocke’s B/C/F.

Result: If vindicator successfully attacked 2 adjacent figures, she would deal 3 damage to “Enemy A” and 3 splash damage to “Enemy B” and also deal 3 damage to “Enemy B” and 3 splash damage to “Enemy A” which would be 12 damage total not including splash damage to other clix adjacent to Enemy A and/or B.

PRO:

Running Shot--- + Manuverability

8 range

Energy Explosion

Invulnerability----Reduces damage

Avenger’s TA----Free movement

Leadership—possible extra action

2 ranged attacks

3 damage---goes through toughness and invulnerability

8 clicks of health

Flying

Canadian jumpsuit

Con:

9 attack—hard to hit 17 def or over

16 def--- easily hit

Only fist 2 clicks are worthwhile

Over 100 build points

Rating in a scale of 1-5 [in bold]

1.)    Broken

2.)    Playable

3.)    Okay

4.)    Not worth using

5.)    Good luck champ

Final Verdict: Even with potentially devastating powers Vindicator is not worth using because of her low attack and defense combined with a shallow dial and high point cost.

Our review of Avenger team figures continues this week with Unique Vindicator from the Ultimate expansion set.  She was the first Unique I pulled from the Ultimate set. Truthfully I knew nothing about her from the comics. I thought her costume was cool because it reminded me of the Canadian flag with the red looking a little like the maple leaf.  Low and behold my friend tells me she is a member of the Alpha Flight, a Canadian super hero team. (I didn’t know there were bad guys in Canada. I thought it was too cold.  Sorry I can’t help it. I love Canada, but I love to pick on her even more). Anyway she was the wife of the leader of Alpha Flight. When he got killed in battle she took one of his suits and became the Vindicator and worked for a while alongside the Avengers, hence the team ability on the figure.

So before I start rambling on further and forget what I came here to do lets review her figure.  She comes in at 104 points.  I kinda laughed when I pulled her because I have quite a collection of Avengers with Running Shot.  Iron Man, Thor, Warbird, Hawkeye, and now Vindicator.  She is similar to Warbird in that they both have flight and start with Running Shot with a Speed of 10.  She keeps Running Shot for 2 clicks at a Speed of 10, before she loses it. She does keep a relatively nice Speed since it doesn’t drop below 8, but after the first few moves of a game Speed doesn’t seem to be that crucial.  She also has a couple of clicks of Leadership so put it to good use even though Avengers already get free moves.

Her attacks are mainly going to come from Running Shot.  She has an additional ranged attack and if I read the rules right this means she can target two different targets and still use Running Shot. This is can be extremely helpful in making sure your hits land if you can find at least one defender nearby with a low defense.  This is a good ability to have because Vindicator does not shine with her Attack stats.  Her first 2 clicks have an Attack of 9, and it drops from there.   This isn’t going to make it easy to go after targets with high defenses so make use of those 2 ranged attacks to cover your butt. She does have Energy Explosion so if your opponent is bunching people together it might be worth it to go after those groups.    She becomes more respectable again when you look at her damage. She keeps her starting Damage of 3 for 3 clicks and the rest of her dial she never drops below 2.  Unlike Warbird she doesn’t have to choose between Ranged Combat Expert and Running Shot. She gets to use the full 3 Damage with Running Shot.

From a survivability view she starts with a click of Invulnerability and a Defense of 16.  This is not bad, but it isn’t supported on the rest of her dial. She drops to a Defense of 15 for 3 clicks and loses Invulnerability for Toughness. After 3 clicks of Toughness she gains Energy Shield Deflection for the remainder of her dial, but this isn’t going to help much with her low Defense.  She has 8 clicks of health, which isn’t bad, but not spectacular either.

Overall her first dial is pretty good and the longer you can keep her on her first click moving around with Running Shot the more effective she will be. I wouldn’t suggest pushing her off her first click, and never, never push her off her second unless you bet on your opponent and plan on throwing the game.  After that she becomes a rather mundane figure and you will never get your 104 points out of her.  I like this figure, but don’t love her.  She is fun to use in Friendlies, but I don’t see her as tournament worthy.  Compared to Warbird she can do more damage with her Running Shot which is her main avenue of attack, but Warbird has better options to do damage after she loses Running Shot with her RCE and Super Strength. 

Next we will review another Unique Avenger.  I picked her because a lot of the Avengers have already been reviewed and she has not. So if you don’t like her then to bad.  I’m in control this week.

Overall Score: (Out of 10.  Score of: 4 = horrible, 5 = below average, 6 = slightly above average, 7 = great, 8 = outstanding)

Unique Vindicator – 6.97