Incredible Hulk or how I continued solo gaming month...

To celebrate the release of the Heroclix Incredible Hulk set, I decided to play a shot round of soloclix.  I called this adventure, "Leave Hulk alone!"  The premise was simple, everyone is after the Hulk.  I was inspired to build this game by the Hulk comics that I read as a kid.  There was no insidious government force hunting our beloved green Goliath down, rather, it was The Leader, The Abomination and Thunderbolt Ross and his merry band of Hulkbusters.  The game play was going to be as follows:

Round 1: Red Hulk & Doc Sampson -vs- Abomination & Hulk Robot.

The survivors of this round would be added to the survivors of the next round for the pleasure to hunt the Hulk.

Round 2: The Leader, A.I Hulk Marine, two AIM Scientists & one AIM Renegade
                                                        -vs-

               Thunderbolt Ross, Skaar, She Hulk & one Hulkbuster Soldier

Round 3: This would be the remaining "good guys" pitted against the remaining "bad guys"

"Leave Hulk alone!!

 Round 4: All the survivors of the first three rounds would hunt down the Hulk & Rick Jones.  These two would be helped by Hulk's alternate universe daughter Lyra.  Could this game format spell doom for The Incredible Hulk?  He would be outnumbered by both villains & soldiers out to get him.  This, however, is the format of the Hulk comic books from my childhood.  There was no Illuminati to plot against their friend.  There was no Itelligencia to use the Hulk and his gamma powered blood to turn every hero into a Hulked-Out hero. Ugh... When I was a kid I didn't want to see Captain America as a Hulk, I only wanted to see the two characters team up every now and then. The world was a simpler place then.  There were just people hunting the Hulk.  The Hulk was not shot into space (although he was injected into inner space to meet his true love Jorella) where he returned as Green Scar.  There was never a whole year without Bruce Banner turning into the Hulk.  The hulk was GREEN damn-it!  Not red, blue or gray just green!  And he wore purple pants all of the time!  He didn't wear blue jeans or other-worldly armor; he wore purple pants that he probably bought at the purple pants store! I know, no one really wears purple pants in the real world, but you just go and tell the Hulk that he can't wear them. There was only Hulk and he wanted to be left alone.  So, this was the basis for my game: could Hulk finally be left alone?

Bam! Smack! Pow!

Round 1 went like this... Hulk Robot & Abomination met Red Hulk & Doc Sampson in the middle of the Hulk Buster Base map and pounded the be'jebus out of each other.  It was a short, but very satisfying game from which only Abomination came out unscathed.  None of the pieces have any range, so this ended up being a slug-fest Marvel Style.  Pounding, rolling, pounding, rolling.. until only one piece would be left.  Red, Green, Olive Green and Sampson's Green hair danced around the map (actually, I hardly had to move the pieces at all). In the end, Hulk Robot with its Cosmic TA and Abomination with his Indomitable were far too much for the other pieces.  Emil Blonsky, the one with a Russian, not a British accent moved on to the next round.

Who shall lead?

 Round 2 was more interesting.  The Leader's special outwit ability ( I CAN'T STOP YOUR BRUTE STRENGTH, BUT MY MIND IS FAR SUPERIOR: The Leader can use Outwit. Once per turn, if he uses it to counter a power or ability that isn't a defense power, he can immediately use it again to counter another power or ability that isn't a defense power.) and Master Mind up front makes him a piece to be reckoned with.  The A.I. Hulk Marine was able to inflict some damage on both She-Hulk & Skaar before he got knocked out.  Team Hulk-buster rolled fortuitously, and was able to reinforce themselves with Thundra who closed in on the Hulk Marine to inflict the final clicks of damage.   He was later brought back because of a Rescue Opposing player roll made by Team Hulk-buster.  At the point he came back, The Leader was surrounded by Hulks and things looked grim, but he was able to mastermind all of the damage done to Hulk Marine (not a color) and AIM Scientist.  The A.I. Hulk Marine died again.  At this point it was a rout and the game ended with The Leader and the AIM Renegade to team up with Abomination.

Round 3 was interesting because both The Abomination & The Leader were on their first clicks and none of the team Hulk-Busters, except Thunderbolt Ross, was on theirs.  The game moved quickly (as it should) as The abomination got in several hits on She-Hulk and Skaar to get them to their middle dials.  Skaar gets really tough in the middle (actually it was his last click and I didn't know it) where he sports blades with an 11 attack and a 17 defense with invulnerability; that how he was able to nearly finish off The Abomination. Skaar was knocked out, much to my surprise, so She-Hulk had to finish off Abomination  Again, the game became a rout and The Leader escaped unscathed with one AIM Renegade as Mastermind fodder.

Round 4 this is the one I was waiting for.  I had decided ahead of the game that I would use Joe Fixit in case of a reinforcement roll.  This would be bending JF's solo rules, but the Hulk and his friend's were vastly outnumbered in terms of point value.  This, I felt, would even things up if possible.

First moves: the pieces were put into place.  Hulk & Lyra were positioned where they could use their charge.  The Leader and the AIM Renegade separated from Thunderbolt Ross & his team.  He left the hulks to go after the Hulk.
Second Moves: The Hulk was positioned to charge at the Leader. It was a tough call whether to go for Ross or Leader, but the Leader (keeping in character mind you) was going it alone.  Lyra charge and hit Thundra and the battle was on.  She-Hulk, who no longer had charge, moved into position to hit Lyra at the next available moment.
Third moves: The Leader Outwitted the Hulk and chipped away for several rounds, while the Hulk swung and missed.  It was clearly a mistake to go straight for the Leader, but that's what the Hulk always did in the comics so...  Meanwhile, Lyra was holding her own against her mother.

The Leader is not a team player.

It came down to a point late in the game, where the Hulk was down to three clicks of life left against a fully powered Leader that the Hulk-Buster team rolled a reinforce opposing force roll and Joe Fixit came in.  He finished off Thundra & She-Hulk a few rounds later.  Not only that, the Leader got his twice by Hulk during the ensuing turns , one of which knocked out the Leader's AIM mastermind target. The Leader (now with phasing) had to run.  He landed himself next to Thunderbolt Ross and waited, using his range to pick away at Rick Jones who was still on the map.  Ross, without the help of Leader's outwit (he was saving that for himself) finished off Lyra and then came the end I never envisioned.

Joe Fixit fixes things

Final moves: The Leader (on his final click with outwit & mastermind) was positioned next to Thunderbolt Ross (Still on his first click0.  Joe Fixit was adjacent to the Leader and the Hulk was positioned to charge.  Rick Jones moved in to be adjacent to Ross & The Leader and then it happened... Joe Fixit hit the Leader for 4 points of damage - masterminded to Ross.  The Hulk charged the Leader and hit for 3 points of damage - masterminded to Ross.  Thunderbolt Ross was Ko'd via the Leader's mastermind.

AND THEN...

Rick Jones hit the Leader for One Click Of Damage!  Game over!  Everybody's sidekick wins the day for his friend The Incredible Hulk.