Greetings HeroClix Masterminds!

Welcome back to our 2^nd Wheels of Vengeance Design Insight article! Last time we discussed the vehicle theme within Wheels of Vengeance, and today we’ll be looking closer at the Ghost Riders themselves and the ways you’ll be able to wreak terrible vengeance on your opponents.

Ghost Rider may be the most bone-chilling mantle that any superhero has ever held. Many of those characters have rolled up into HeroClix sets. Players have enjoyed some of the recognizable tropes from Ghost Rider as recurring themes in HeroClix: the Penance Stare dealing penetrating damage, chains granting Giant Reach, improved movement from their bikes. The design team leaned on those throughout the set as well, but the main mechanic tying this set’s Ghost Riders together is the Spirit of Vengeance trait.

With Spirit of Vengeance, we set out to create a trait that would allow Ghost Riders to really punch back when damaged. The design team considered re-imagining Colossal Retaliation but it wasn’t quite the right fit. Improving the Mystics team ability by making the damage unavoidable or greater than 1 felt close, but it felt too narrow in scope, and arguably focuses too much on competitive play. Frankly, a Ghost Rider should be able to punish opponents who hurt other friendly characters too. Finally, we settled on the current trait. It rewards clever team building, and opponents could try to time their attacks to avoid retribution, but usually your Ghost Riders will be able to satisfyingly punish your opponents with enhanced attacks of their own.

The theme of punishing opponents carried through to other aspects of the set as well. In our last HeroClix set we introduced characters that could generate terrain with effects tied to them, like Ice blocking markers or Grave hindering markers. In Wheels of Vengeance, we’re continuing that trend with Fire smoke terrain markers.

Vengeance generates Fire terrain whenever he uses his “No…No More Penance…” movement special, but other characters will have their own unique ways to generate Fire. Regardless of how they’re generated, however, all Fire markers work identically. Much like the smoke terrain generated by the Smoke Cloud standard power, Fire smoke terrain disappears at the start of your next turn. When Fire terrain disappears, however, the character in its square ends up taking 1 damage!. Players who don’t keep an eye on their placement might get burned!

This isn’t the only set that will feature Fire terrain, and we’ll be revisiting it periodically alongside the Ice, Plant, and Grave terrain markers. In fact, some of those markers will be reappearing in Wheels of Vengeance. These sorts of named terrain can shift the flow of the game on the map and make terrain and map choice matter beyond the initial setup.

The last theme we took to make this set feel like a Ghost Rider set is to lean on Johnny Blaze’s origin as a stunt rider. Sprinkled throughout the set are characters that have “stunts” – effects that reward them for lining up specific conditions, or that let them risk damage for greater effects. Much like with Fire terrain, while this does appear on some Ghost Riders, there are other characters that lean into the stunt theme. For instance, Orb.

How much can Orb jump his motorcycle over? The more he does, the better his attack gets. “Stunt Rider In Another Life” might be the most on-the-nose naming used for the stunt-themed powers, but as you crack your boosters at the Wheels of Vengeance Pre-Release, keep an eye out for characters that’ll have you jumping the shark.

That’s all we have for t̵o̵d̷a̴y̶, but j̶̞̊o̸̯̎í̵͉ń̸̖ ̶͎͐ú̵̝s̵̞͝ ̸̣̈ next t̸i̸m̶e̵ ̶w̷here T̷̨̨̧̺͉͎͓͉̹͎̫̗͚̟̪̅̅̓̓H̴̫̠̲̟͗̀̐̎̊E̷̪̻̳͌͂̐̀̆͑͊̌́̐̀̉͠͝͝ ̶̪̯̳͚͕̺͓̻̟̼̈͂̑̐̚ͅD̸̛̥̭̹͍̰̫̰͍͈̠͋̓̀̓̂̄̏̒͐́̄́͐͘̕Ä̷̧̡̡̡̡̨̠̫͙̟̟̮͙̫͍̺́̃̇̀̌̽͗̄̾̋̀̂̅̋͜͠͝R̷̫̮̒͂͆̈́͋̇̀̐̌͋͠͝ͅK̸̛̛͕̫̈̈́̉̍̚H̷̦̬̺͇͎̻̩̍́̅́̀̇̈Ơ̶̬̯̻̗̮̦͈̪̘̻͍̞̹̳̆̒̇̈͊͊͗͂̌͜͝͝L̵̨̻̮̟̱͍̹̜̻͚̞̈D̵̢̲̯͚̭̝̣̰̰́͌̐̎̃͆̕ ̶̡̛̥̘̙̦̦͎̖̤̭̠̞̖͇̬̺̾̄̓̿̿̓̓̓͑̈͗̾̚̕͜ͅO̴͙͐̌͆̀͆̓̔͂͒͌̍̚̚͝P̵̨̢̛̤̩̜̰̪̩̟̞͔̤̣̰͎̰͉̀̌̌̀̐͂̑͂̚Ē̷̪͚̞͕̳͍̜͖̈̔̓̈͑͐͝Ǹ̵̛̛͍͍͈̤̩͓͋̈́̎̓͂̎̃͝͝ͅȘ̴̨̨͇̩̙̯͎̥̦̝̮̗̳̾͊̓̀ͅͅ.̴̧̧̡̛͖͙̯̳̠̹͙͈̘͖̈́͛̀͊̑͑̑̽̇̑̏͝ͅ ̶̧̨̦͔̮̮̗̻̥̥̿̀̈́̍̽̓̎̓͑̈́H̴̡͍̺̲̲͙̠̾͊̈́̊͌̃̈́̐̾̎͝͝ͅĘ̸͕̲̟͎̱̝̳̖̺͍̓̆̌̇̆͆̆̃̋͘̕͝ ̷̡͍͕̥̭́̀̓̉͂́̏̊͋͂̈̄͂͊̔͘͠͝C̸̞͚̩͕̼͖̰̟̥̤̼͉̯̲̋̎̈́͆̃̒͆͝Ơ̸̢̨̛̩̹̳͎̣̫̻̼̲̯̣͓̓̈́͑̋̅̓̅͐M̴̖̝̝̱̮̩̳͇̹̟̠̣̪̝̯̾E̸͚̰̞̝̬̊̾͑̏̊S̵̡̘̤̮͙̝̬̉͗̇̈́͜͜͝.