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Pojo's HeroClix "Click of the Day"
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vizier_usa |
Background: Someday, someone s going to do a comic book
where Rasputin is the superhero, and the entire space-time continuum as we
know it will collapse.
Anyway, he s your typical want to destroy the world by summoning some giant
crazy-ass demon main villain in Hellboy.
Review:
First Thoughts: I always like Wildcards, because being able to use any
number of team abilities at any time gives you one more dimension to play
with that your opponent won t expect. In addition, for some reason, a lot of
players aren t very familiar with Indy Wildcards, so it s an added bonus
when they face figures don t know what to expect from. Looking at Rasputin,
he s a shooter with the some of the base set of powers made famous by
Batman: Stealth and Willpower. Of course, he plays a lot differently.
(I m still trying to figure out the format of my review for REVs, so please
bear with me.)
Rank: Rookie
Point Value: 68
Team: B.P.R.D (Wildcard)
Range: 6
Ranged Attacks: 1 Powers
Speed: 6/6/5/5/4/4 Stealth
Attack: 8/7/7/6/6/5 Psychic Blast
Defense: 15/14/14/13/13/12 Willpower, Toughness
Damage: 2/2/2/2/1/1 Perplex
Strengths: I really like the combo of powers on this figure for 68 pts.
Stealth is almost as good a form of protection as ES/D for Ranged combat,
and with Willpower, you can shoot twice without fear. Plus, Psychic Blast
is, in my opinion, the premiere ranged combat power, since it guarantees you
damage if you roll successfully. With Wildcard, you can do a ton of stuff,
like using Ultimates to flush out Stealthed figures, SHIELD to boost someone
else s Ranged Damage, Hydra to boost AV etc. Starting Perplex just makes
this figure even better both as a support figure and as a secondary
attacker.
Toughness at the end of the dial protects the figure from being taken out by
low-point figures with 1
damage.
Weaknesses: 6 range is a little short for a figure depending on Ranged
attacks. Also, the 8 AV isn t going to scare a lot of people. You re going
to go nuts trying to figure what to use the Perplex on if you have to use it
on Rasputin, since both could probably use a boost. The low Range really
hurts R Rasputin, since Stealth is a second-tier defense behind ES/D for
Ranged figures because of all the new Ultimates figures, forcing you to go
up close to shoot, and the low Defense isn t going to be much help. Oh,
those robes must really be a pain in the ass to walk in for Rasputin,
because 6 Movement means he s going to be hailing a Taxi.
Rank: Experienced
Point Value: 90
Team: B.P.R.D (Wildcard)
Range: 8
Ranged Attacks: 1 Powers
Speed: 6/6/6/5/5/4/4 Stealth, Mind Control
Attack: 9/8/7/7/6/6/5 Psychic Blast
Defense: 15/15/14/14/13/13/12 Willpower, Toughness
Damage: 2/2/2/2/2/1/1 Perplex
Strengths: Range is much better at 8, plus the extra click helps the figure
last, but the extra 22 points moves this figure into solid primary attacker
territory. At 90 pts though, a 9 AV isn t too bad of starting stat,
especially with Perplex, and the basic strengths of this figure stay the
same.
Weaknesses: Pretty much the same as above, although the increase in Range
lessens the impact of going up against Anti-Stealth teams. The addition of
Mind Control is kind of pointless, since it s basically an escape valve for
you to move figures away from if you take a serious hit, but the low AV at
that point means it ll be a hail mary pass.
Rank: Veteran
Point Value: 111
Team: B.P.R.D (Wildcard)
Range: 10
Ranged Attacks: 1 Powers
Speed: 8/7/7/6/6/5/5/4 Stealth, Mind Control
Attack: 9/9/8/7/7/6/6/5 Psychic Blast
Defense: 16/15/15/14/14/13/13/12 Willpower, Toughness
Damage: 2/2/2/2/2/2/1/1 Perplex
Strengths: Now we re talking. This is a pretty good primary attacker if used
right.
Same deal as above, although with the 10 range now, it s much easier to
control the board against those pesky Ultimates and Superman Allies.
Weaknesses: Also the same. Nothing much changes except now, this figure
should be the primary attacker for a standard format team.
Wrap-up:
Opportunities: This figure is designed to be used at Range, so fire away
with that Willpower. Also, there are so many different tactics you could use
with a Ranged Wildcard, it s really scary, especially when you realize
Rasputin is the only one with Psychic Blast. Wildcards plus Perplex makes
Rasputin an even better figure in both a Support and Attacking role.
Threats: Rasputin has a real lack of mobility, with a movement of 6 through
8 throughout the REV. This along with his dependence on Stealth for
protection and Psychic Blast for Attack means he s dead meat if he s based
by anything, even Aunt May for crying out loud!
Conclusion: The Rookie is ok as a support piece in Tournament settings, but
the lack of Range really kills him. The Experienced and Veteran, on the
other hand, are both very potent ranged attackers.
Depending on the point spread, both could be fairly useful in a Tournament
team. In Casual, I recommend a duel between Rasputin and Hellboy!
Tournament:
Rookie: 3
Experienced and Veteran: 4
Casual: 4
Closest Comparison: Even though the EV got 4s, it might be nice to take a
look at U Mordru from Cosmic Justice, a similar figure to the Vet with the
exception of Phasing, Mystics TA, Outwit and 2 Ranged attacks, all for one
less point.
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Necro-M |
I've only seen the Hellboy movie, so I can't talk about
Rasputin from the comic series. From popular folklore, Rasputin was the
vizier to the Russian Tzar.
He apparently used witchcraft to control Russia. In the movie he's a wizard
of the black arts who becomes the avatar of an evil force. Thus he's
immortal, as he can be resurrected via the black arts.
In Heroclix he's certainly not the powerhouse we would expect, but he also
doesn't cost a fortune. At 68 points the rookie has willpower and stealth -
a powerful combination, similiar to Ultimates Black Widow. But Rasputin
doesn't have that TA.. or does he? With the BRPD TA he can copy a figure
that does.
That makes him quite a powerful team up character.
But with only 8 attack and 6 range that's not quite as good as it seems. The
perplex helps out, boosting the range or the attack but with a 2 damage he's
going to have to be a team player. And at 68 points that's juts not
happening. I think the R&D department put a little too many clicks of
Psychic Blast on this character. And with only one range attack and 6 range
it's just not exciting. I also think the 4 clicks of toughness are a total
waste. We usually want these up front and willpower in the back. We're
basically paying the extra points for what amounts to one extra click of
life, and with a lucky hit with
blades-claws-fangs, he'll never see them. Basically
what we have here is a tragedy. This configuration just doesn't work.
Fortunately he's cheap enough that he can be used on a wildcard team. But
wouldn't you just want some Con Artists (for the perplex) and Vet.
Ultimates Spiderman (for the wildcard action)?
The experienced piece gains mind control, but two clicks in. To get to it
you'd have to push, but you can't. And no figure I know of in tournament
play does only two damage. The range goes up to 8 and attack goes up to 9
but at 90 points you could have two bullseyes. The stealth-willpower combo
is still there and he can still copy TA's, but it's still a loss. He might
be a decent support piece on a team with lots of good wildcards.
The veteran version might be the best of the bunch, but at 111 points what
would you expect? He's got decent movement, 9 attack, and 16 defense. That's
certainly not bad. And the stealth- willpower combo is there as well as
Psychic Blast and mind control. I think the additional click of perplex and
the toughness is still a waste of points. Psychic Blast is great, but 7
clicks is a bit much. If the designers had took one click of perplex and one
of stealth and put them on the end of the dial (so that he'd be useful after
taking a beating), took away the toughness and upped the damage on the first
click to 3 then he might be advisable as a standalone figure.
The BRPD helps out with the weaknesses, but when you compare this to Captain
America (a very well-designed
figure) you see the stark contrast.
This figure would be great on a 400+ point team. But for the 300 and below
games, you had better leave him in the box. I wish they had made this
character more like Dr. Strange (another occult figure). Then we might have
at least had fun with constantly changing powers (to show his magical
powers).
Rating 300- : 5/10 - just too costly.. you could have two good pieces
Rating 400+ : 7/10 - there's just more offensive pieces out there
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