Tag Archives: DC

Board Games and TCGs

Anecdote on getting someone into Heroclix, and where to start

Leave a comment

The Holiday season is here, and now is the best time to introduce the kids in your life to a nerdy hobby. Whatever the hobby is, nothing beats sitting down with a loved one and just having fun.

For me, the hobby is Heroclix. Heroclix is a superhero miniatures game that should definitely be at your table. It features nice quality miniatures of popular heroes, a creative dial system for streamlined gameplay, and creative mechanics. If you enjoy wargames and superheroes, you need to check out Heroclix. 

I’ve tried multiple times to get into the hobby but have never had anyone to play with. My work schedule prevented me from going to the locals, so my collection remained boxed up. Most of my collection is gone now, but I still have the Wonder Woman 80th Anniversary set from the last time I tried picking up the hobby. Sad that it was just picking up dust in the closet, I decided to teach one of my younger cousins how to play. The kid is ten and has never played a miniatures game.  

The most important thing to remember when bringing someone into a hobby is to keep things simple. You don’t want to overwhelm them and risk scaring them away. Start small and slowly add rules over time for retention. Everyone learns at a different pace, so be patient.

The Game

My cousin loves video games and superheroes, so selling him on Heroclix wasn’t an issue. I didn’t even have to tell him what we were playing, he was just happy to spend time with me. I explained the basic action economy, line of sight, and terrain, but we ignored her skills and abilities. We started with one of the basic scenarios included with the set but quickly abandoned it. He wanted to make his own team, and I wanted him to have fun. We reset, and he demolished me. I wasn’t taking it easy on him. He was thinking tactically, using cover, and got super lucky on all his attack rolls. We changed a few rules on the fly because he had some cool ideas. The goal was to have fun and not to win a tournament. I’ll teach him the rules if we get more serious. 

My cousin loved Heroclix and definitely wants to play again. He asked about other heroes and even hinted about wanting to play Iron Man. I guess I’ll have to find money for that. He even asked me about my abilities and got excited to try playing with them next time. The experiment was a success, and I am excited to see what else we can get into. 

Where to Start

If you are trying to get into the hobby, or want to teach someone how to play, the starter kit is the best place to start. The sets come with enough minis for two balanced teams, maps, dice, and a copy of the rule book. You can buy into a booster you want to start collecting, but it’s always cheaper to buy the minis you want. Opening boosters is the most fun way to get started, but you are gambling. 

Wonder Woman Starter Set

The wonder woman 80th anniversary starter set

If you aren’t going to tournaments and only want to play Heroclix for fun, the Wonder Woman 80th anniversary is the cheapest way to get into this hobby. I like the minis and map it comes with are high quality, and the dice are cool. I wasn’t too crazy about the scenarios, but that might be a personal issue. The rule book is outdated so you’ll need to go the Rules | HeroClix (wizkids.com) to download the most current edition.

The set comes with:

  • A meaty multi-session campaign for 2 players that pivots and turns based on the results of the last session
  • 10 Premium Quality Pre-Painted Miniatures each with TWO ways to play for beginner or advanced play
  • 20 Character Cards
  • 18 Object, Terrain, and Bystander tokens
  • 6 Double-Sided Thick Map Tiles. No folds!
  • 2 Custom Wonder Woman six-sided dice
  • 2 All-new Powers and Abilities Cards with Wonder Woman imagery
  • 1 All-New Full-Color HeroClix Core Rulebook (2021 edition)

The Wonder Woman Starter set goes for $39.99 MSRP, but you can get pick it up for $19.79 at Macy’s or $18.50 at Walmart.

2024 Starter Sets

If you’re trying to go to locals or tournaments, your best bet is to pick up one of the two starter sets for 2024: Marvel or DC. Both kits retail at $39.99 and will have mostly everything you need to get started. The map isn’t tournament legal. Both kits come with:

  • 4 Premium Painted Figures
  • 8 Character Cards
  • 8 Map Tiles
  • 2 All-New Dice
  • 2 Token Sheets
  • 1 Powers and Abilities Card
  • 1 Starter Rulebook

Marvel Starter Set 2024

The Marvel Starter set comes with Iron Man, Captain Marvel, Spider-Man and Black Panther. I love the Spideman mini, but you can’t go wrong with the kit. Always support your LGS, but you can pick up the Marvel starter sets from

DC Starter Set

The DC Starter Set comes with Batman, Wonder Woman, Superman and Harley Quinn. Check with your LGS to see if they carry Heroclix, but you can get them online from:

Movie Reviews

Movie Review: Black Adam (2022)

12 Comments
If you like what I do and want to show your support, please consider buying me a coffee

As the DCU continues to crumble under the weight of its disappointing titles, one hero rises to add to the pile. Black Adam comes in as another generic superhero origin that isn’t worth your time. 

Black Adam is freed from his ancient prison, bringing hope to a colonized generic country. Luckily, a generic teen and his mother are here to teach him to be a proper hero. But Black Adam is too powerful to be allowed his freedom. The Justice Society is assembled to lock up Black Adam before he can cause any trouble. But there is an evil waiting in the shadows, ready to bring destruction to the world. Can they come together and save the world when it needs them the most? Of course, they can. This is a bad movie.

While Black Adam isn’t the worst movie from the DCU, it isn’t one of the good ones either. The writing is lazy, the acting is average at best, and the story is boring. The fights are fine, but most of the good ones are in the trailer. Black Adam isn’t the revival of the universe DC was hoping for, nor is it the origin story that the fans were waiting on. Black Adam is another shameless cash grab for a dying genre. 

This movie’s biggest problem is its lack of urgency. There is nothing to drive the plot. There aren’t memorable characters, interesting villains, or compelling story hooks to hold grab or keep your attention. Instead, you suffer through boring flashbacks that repeat and preachy speeches that don’t go away. Every scene that doesn’t involve fighting is a generic speech about freedom, justice, and heroism. It is very heavy-handed and not what I came to see.

There isn’t much more to say about this movie because it doesn’t make an impression. None of these characters will become staples in this universe, and this story is better left forgotten. Don’t waste your time on such a lazy movie. If you watched this movie in theaters, I am sorry you wasted your money.

Now for a shameless plug, check out Canva. If you need a quick and easy photo or video editor that works in your browser, try Canva. It is free, easy to use, and you get access to a wide selection of templates for those who are like me and aren’t that creative. Check out my affiliate link today!

Series Reviews

TV Show Review: Doom Patrol (2019)

Leave a comment
Source

Say what you will about DC movies, but DC TV shows are another beast. Usually, they tend to have strong starts with compelling narratives and characters, but eventually, they fall into the pitfall of prioritizing fan service and product placement over story. However, this might be a symptom of being on the CW. Some, like Swamp Thing, show great promise but are canceled before they really take off. I recommend you check it out anyways.

I am not afraid to say that Doom Patrol is in a league of its own. This isn’t your typical superhero mashup show where they fight a new villain every week, where the victory is brought to you by the new Microsoft Surface. Doom Patrol is about people who don’t want to be superheroes, who instead want to live normal lives. You get unique and interesting characters, great actors, and a very engaging story. 

Doom Patrol brings a well-welcomed freshness to a genre that has been growing stale over the years. I love the use of backstory and how it’s woven into the larger narrative. I love learning about each character’s motivation, even the villains. More importantly, I love to see the characters grow as the story unfolds. I am very hopeful for this show, and I am very excited that there will be a season 4. You can watch this show on HBO.

Movie Reviews

Shazam! (2019) Review

Leave a comment

I am not a huge fan of live action superhero movies, but I love them in comics and animation. That said, I really wanted to like this movie. Who doesn’t want to see Captain Marvel in action! Unfortunately, this movie leaves a lot to be desired. This movie follows a foster kid Billy Batson who receives powers from an old order of wizards to protect the world form antient evil. If it already sounds generic, that is because it is incredibly so. It is a troubled hero who is searching for his mother so that he can feel complete, only to have this search complicated by this new condition.

What I thought the movie did well was how Billy initially reacts to his newfound powers. Suddenly, he has the powers to be an adult and he takes full advantage, engaging in adult activities teenage boys fantasize on. He buys beer for he and his friend, he goes to a strip club, and he excuses himself from school. It neat to see that he isn’t a completely good hero because his main interests aren’t to be traditional hero, but to use this power for personal gain. But this novelty quickly dissolves under the same tired formula we see in all origin stories. I for one am tired of watching training montages. It was good in Rocky and it worked in Spiderman but at this point, it just feels like padding for a movie that barely has a story. This montage isn’t anything new, it is the same jokes you see in every other movie where you see Billy fail over and over until he has some small form of mastery. If you are still watching the movie at this point, it doesn’t get any better.

What you get after is an uninspired forgettable villain that he must defeat. And he is forgettable. When he shows up for the big fight, I had honestly forgotten he was part of the movie because there is nothing interesting. You get a bit of backstory, but not enough to set him aside as this menace. There is no pressure for him to become stronger like there is in other movies of the genre because the villain is mostly absent from the movie, save for the times he is sprinkled in to remind the audience. Early on you get the feeling that there aren’t any real consequences, even though people do die in this movie it doesn’t matter because you can probably guess that Captain Marvel will win through the power of friendship. It literally tells you minutes into the movie, and as generic as this movie is, you should not be surprised. It is apparent that this movie was just a cheap attempt to cash in on the super hero craze and it is a shame because I have seen DC movies where they are able to tell a compelling story without reverting to the same old tropes.

Because there is no story, this movie lacks the character development to make even Captain marvel forgettable. The movie will flat out tell you important character traits, it’s an incredibly lazy way to fake a story. For example, there is a scene after the training montage where Billy sneaks back into the foster home his foster parents are disappointed that he ran away after the first night. He conveniently walks in at the end of this conversation and somehow understands the trouble he is causing. This is shown through a zoom cut to a remorseful Billy. There are no scenes where they spend time together, breaking down the metaphoric walls he’s built to protect his heart. There are no heart-warming scenes that suggest that maybe this collection of misfits could be his family. Instead you get a kid playing with his superpowers for a day and the movie telling you that Billy is experience character growth because it is written in the script. I wouldn’t have an issue with this if the movie hadn’t put so much emphasis on it’s importance. In the end when things seem the darkest, it is the love for his newfound family that gives him the power to persevere. See, it’s the same thing you’ve seen over and over again but not very well done.

I wouldn’t pay for this movie. If you were unfortunate to pay for it, I am sorry you got ripped off. I wouldn’t even recommend this film if it were free because there is nothing really worth watching. It is a shame because I do prefer the DC universe, but it seems that they aren’t able to get their formula correct. Oh well, skip it.

Gaming News and Review