they might be giants!

they might be giants!
by: chris fletcher
T
his month I’m back to cover one of the
biggest, pardon the pun, sets that Wizkids
has released to date. The Giants. Not to be
confused with football teams or bands who
may be confused about their height, The Giants
set is a special offer set that combines 7 of the
biggest names in DC Comics. Ok, I’ll stop with
the bad puns now. Anyway, it’s a collection of
characters who can change their height, and as
such all qualify as ‘giant’ figures.
Heroclix.TCGplayer.com
Move, and his AV jumps to 10. Still with that
solid 3 damage, Alloy is now in melee beatdown
mode. After this he begins to taper off a bit,
Invulnerability sticks around for a while, but
Battle Fury switches to Shape Change, and
Flurry back to Charge. However Alloy’s not
done yet, as he’s got 2 clicks of B/F/C coming
up, about the time his damage drops to 2, and
on his second click of B/F/C he’s got Perplex to
bring that 9 AV back to a 10.
First up we have Alloy. This bruiser weighs in at
114 points and comes with a lot of punch. First
off you’ll note his Kingdom Come team. This
makes it so that no one can come close to him,
without rolling a 1 or 2 on a single die. Since
his melee range is 2 squares out from
him, this helps keep those bruisers at
bay while he pounds them into the
pavement. While it does nothing to
protect him from range, the 18 DV
with Barrier should go a long way
towards that. My only complaint
with this guy is his 9 AV. When
you get to a certain point marker
you need those AVs to be 10 or
higher, to make the character really
playable since it’s already taking
up a third or more of your team.
However sometimes a really solid
dial can make up for a lackluster AV.
Alloy’s dial can fit that bill. Like most
Giant Figures he’s got super strength,
and he opens with a 3 damage.
He also has charge on his
first click, with a move of
9. Which with a 2 square
melee range that’s pretty
significant. He can charge
any figure, keep them one
square away, and if they have no range, they’re
forced to break or attempt to approach either
way odds aren’t favoring them, which makes
him a nice lockdown figure. His second click
becomes much more interesting than the first,
and it might even be worthwhile to push him
for that charge just to get there. The flurry and 3
damage combo is a nasty one, and and outright
KO a great number of clix if both successfully
hit. He gains Battle Fury, which on giant figures
is far more of an asset than a hindrance, since it
prevents Mind Control, and you weren’t taxiing
these guys anywhere anyway.
Alloy was made to be pushed and his 3rd click
reflects that as we switch to Invulnerability on
the Defense power, while keeping Flurry on
20 - TCGplayer Magazine - Mar 2006
Unlike Alloy, however, Giganta is pretty much
a one trick pony. She runs in, says things like
“Giganta SMASH!” and then hurts people. At
least to start. On her second click her DV falls by
1, and Invulnerability fades to Toughness, what
did you think that bikini she was wearing was
armored or something? However her Damage
pops up to 4. It poses the question to push or
not to push, you’re losing damage resistance, to
gain smackdown power. IMHO, it’s not worth
it. On her third click, Charge fades, and she
gains no more movement powers for the rest
of her dial, she keeps Toughness, and she gains
Perplex. Her AV, and Move drop, but her 16 DV
stays consistent for several more clicks, which
is a huge plus in Giganta’s favor.
This remains the norm until her 6th
click where her DV pops back up to
17, and her defense power changes
to Willpower. Her damage fell to 2
back on her Perplex clix, but now she
switches to Outwit. However with
no range and only 2 damage, at this
point, Giganta should be running to
the medic. Since her willpower lets
her move her giant slow butt without
pushing that’ll help with her 6 move.
I guess all that fighting tired her out.
Now finally there’s an oddity on
Wizkid’s stats site, as on her final
two clicks it lists, Earthbound. I’m
fairly certain that can’t be right, since
to my knowledge, Giganta never
flew. However it’s there, though
I’m certain it’s a misprint on
the website I’m using for my
stats.
As a headlining beatstick, Alloy can easily fit
the bill. Hard to escape, and harder to approach,
and with a 4 range to add some icing to the cake
that is Alloy, he’s definitely one of the better of
the giants.
Moving on we have Giganta, best known for her
appearances on Justice League Unlimited, and
Challenge of the Superfriends, Giganta’s dial
doesn’t change much from the character we all
watched on TV, and came to know and love. She
sports Charge and Super Strength on the front of
her dial, as well as Invulnerability. A respectable
3 damage, 10 AV, 17 DV, and 10 Move make her
right in line with other bruisers, and costing only
108 points, she leaves lots of room for support
pieces, and secondary attackers.
Finally a brief word on the
others. Chemo, Atom Smasher, Rita
Farr, Colossal Boy, and Validus. We’ve seen
stats for Chemo and Rita Starr thus far and
frankly they look great. Chemo is a disco ball
of options, and Rita Farr is an inexpensive
Outsider, with a less robust dial, but still some
interesting options. It looks to be an awesome
set that I highly recommend anyone who’s a clix
fan or player get their hands on, because this
one’s gonna be huge!
So I lied. One last pun.
Chris has been playing TCGs for over ten years, since
his very first gaming experience with Magic: the
Gathering. He eventually moved into playing both Vs.
System and Heroclix because of his interest in comics.
As a competitor, author and judge Chris is active in
many facets of gaming.