Greetings HeroClix fans!

We hope you all enjoyed the previews and unboxing videos for the Marvel HeroClix: 15th Anniversary – What If? set celebrating 15 years of HeroClix. Today, we look at a team building and strategy feature focused on the fan favorite Runaways roster from the new set.

This entire 6-figure roster of the Runaways is from an issue of What If? that explored What If the Runaways Became The Young Avengers. Since they all share the Runaways and Young Avengers keywords, they will mix very well even with characters outside of the Marvel HeroClix: What If? set including Young Avengers such as Vision, Wiccan, Hulkling, Patriot, and Stature from last summer’s Civil War event, the Loki convention exclusive, and the Kate Bishop and Miss America tournament kit prize figures.

We can build a 300-point team with five of the six figures as follows:

50 Molly Hayes
50 Chase Stein
50 Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace
75 Karolina Dean
75 Nico Minoru
300 Total

Playing together as a team, they all have the Runaways trait that lets them reroll a ‘1’ result on an attack roll once per turn if they are adjacent to a friendly character with the Runaways or Young Avengers keywords. This shared trait should greatly improve their attack effectiveness and should prevent them from hurting themselves with a Critical Miss roll. They also all have the Avengers team ability which allows them to take move actions that do not count against your action total. This allows you to get them into position early on with little difficulty. Any HeroClix force that relies heavily on teamwork needs to have certain roles filled, and the Runaways have their bases covered with everyone playing double duty.

HeroClix | Marvel HeroClix: What If? - Runaways

Molly Hayes is the dedicated close combat beater mixed with strong damage reduction defenses. Her Knock Knock special power lets her use Close Combat Expert as a close combat action that can be used with Charge for a little bit of board control to knock opponents around the map.

HeroClix | Marvel HeroClix: What If? - Runaways

Chase Stein fills the roles of tie-up, board control, and support. With his special attack power Fistigons, he can use Quake and give an action token to any one character he hits with it. Using Sidestep to keep one of his Quake targets tied-up, he will be hard to retaliate against with Combat Reflexes and Perplex making him even harder to hit. If he does get scratched, his Neuro-Kinetic Armor special gives him toughness and some healing when he clears action tokens.

HeroClix | Marvel HeroClix: What If? - Runaways

Filling the role of team leaders, secondary close combat harassment, and the source of support powers are Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace. They are truly a two-for-one bargain at 50 points. With the trait My Parents Only Left Me One Thing, you place an Old Lace token in your starting area at the beginning of the game. When Old Lace would normally be dealt damage, you may instead deal 1 unavoidable damage to Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace. This means Gertrude can stay back and avoid the heat of battle with Stealth and Super Senses. The Old Lace bystander can Charge in using Blades/Claws/Fangs and help Molly and Chase with Empower. Any damage dealt to Old Lace will only slowly draw down Gertrude’s dial. With Young Avengers Assemble!, Gertrude Yorkes & Old Lace can add an action to your action total with Leadership and remove a token from a friendly character with the Runaways or Young Avengers keywords regardless of adjacency or point value. Subsequently, Gertrude gains Outwit and Willpower.

HeroClix | Marvel HeroClix: What If? - Runaways

Karolina is the primary attacker with a range value of 7 combined with Running Shot and Penetrating/Psychic Blast. However, she is just as helpful defensively. With Reactive Energy Barrier, she can share her starting 18-defense value with friendly adjacent characters by using Defend which modifies an attacker’s damage value by -1 when the attacker targets her or an adjacent character with a ranged attack. She can also help Nico Minoru get some extra boom out of her ranged attacks with Enhancement. If her friends have been KO’d or have been separated from her, she can use Sidestep and Pulse Wave to eat through the opposition’s defenses.

HeroClix | Marvel HeroClix: What If? - Runaways

With her trait Sister Grimm, Nico Minoru is the literal definition of double duty. She can take a free action to choose two standard powers from different combat types (speed, attack, defense, and/or damage) that were not chosen during the previous turn. With a range value of 6 and Willpower, Nico can be whatever you want her to be, whenever you need her to be it. You can choose Hypersonic and Super Strength to land a heavy hit, Mastermind to use Molly Hayes as a damage sponge, bolster her own defenses with Invincible or Impervious, increase friendly damage potential with Perplex, Enhancement, or Empower, be another source of Outwit, mystical Mind Control shenanigans, etc. You get the point; the Powers and Abilities Card is your menu.

All together, this Runaways squad can do some heavy damage leading with a solid ranged attack from Karolina Dean. You can surround the enemy with Molly, Chase, and Old Lace and play pinball with them with the knock back from Chase’s Quake and Molly’s Knock Knock. Your team remains highly adaptable to any situation with Nico Minoru.

If you find yourself building for a 400 point game, reach for Iron Lad to get some more ranged attack and taxi potential.

HeroClix | Marvel HeroClix: What If? - Runaways

Thanks for reading!  Join us again as we reveal more exciting alternate reality characters and highlight strategies and team builds from the Marvel HeroClix: 15th Anniversary What If? set. Visit the WizKids Info Network to find upcoming Release Day OP Events near you!

Until next time, Runaway to your Friendly Local Game Store and play some HeroClix!