Hey everybody! Welcome to Clix O’Clock, a new weekly feature here on We the Nerdy! Assistant Editor Henry has been playing Heroclix for a very long time and wants to spread his love of the game with everybody who’ll listen! This week he talks about the latest Chase figures from Deadpool and Guardians of the Galaxy, the Marvel Zombie Villains! What makes them fun? Why do people hate them? And are they worth all the trouble? What he has to say might surprise you!
When I first got into comics years ago, Marvel Zombies was one of the first titles I picked up. I had been reading Ultimate Fantastic Four, and I loved the idea of a Universe where everybody was Zombies (It was middle school, sue me). I was also playing Heroclix at the time and I remember when they released a slew of the Marvel Zombies characters, which meant I had to track them down. I got a couple of them but they never played that well for my tastes, so I stopped caring. When I heard that the Marvel Zombies characters would be coming back with the Deadpool set, I was excited for a new twist on an old favorite.
The Marvel Zombie Villains are some of my favorite pieces in the current game. I don’t think they’re necessarily the best, but I think that they are an accurate and engaging representation of the characters. Amazing Spider-Man had “Wild Dials” for characters like the Werewolves and Vampires, which were great representations of their powers as creatures of myth. Similarly, the idea that zombies cannot die but they can spread the infection is cool. It’s a fun idea that is a pretty accurate representation. I suppose there is something to be said that you should only be able to spread it through close combat attacks, but I think that from a design perspective, that would make for lopsided figures, since your ranged attackers wouldn’t serve the purpose of the team.
What does bother me about the Zombie Chases is the distribution. I don’t mind that there are eight of them in each set, totaling sixteen. It just bothers me that they are also one per case. With only two zombies outside of the chases (Headpool and Zombie Galactus), it makes it a little difficult to really enjoy them. Take for example the Zombie Skrull generic figure. That could have easily been placed in the main Guardians of the Galaxy set, like Headpool was in Deadpool. Not doing that makes it extremely difficult to achieve an army of generic figures, where you’d want doubles (On that same note, a guy at my venue has pulled four of the Skrull chase and sold them all back, only to pull more. Best worst luck ever.)
One of my favorite things to do with the Zombie Chases is equip them a White Lantern Power Battery. Since they each already have the option to resurrect once they damage somebody, it provides that little buffer early game to give them their chance, and it forces your opponent to kill you multiple times. It’s just short of being a stop-click, and I think it’s a lot of fun. Similarly, I desperately want to play them with the Black Lantern Battery because all they need is steal energy to become unstoppable.
That being said, I don’t think that the Zombie Chases are unstoppable. In a 300 pt competitive game, they’re a pain in the butt, but they won’t get a win just by being fielded. Just like any other game element, they are only as effective as they’re used. In a larger game, I think they can be a real problem, when tokens add up quickly (Or if you use Kingpin to feed them like I do), and they come back more often. But even then, so many of them lack willpower or indomitable, so they can be dealt with.
Ultimately, what I’m trying to say is that the Marvel Zombie Chases are a lot of fun. In a sense I’d like to see more, but for the completionist in me who wants to seek them all out, I think it’s safer if we don’t see them again for quite some time. Instead, enjoy them while they’re here, it’s new and exciting!
You must be logged in to post a comment.