Thoroughly Nerdy: Heroclix

I have to talk about a current obsession of mine: Heroclix. The game that combines collecting miniatures of your favorite comic book characters and gaming.
Heroclix emerged on the tabletop gaming scene in 2002 and has been confusing players ever since. Just kidding. But with its rather wordy revised manual (24 8x11’s when I printed it out at Kinko’s) it still leaves something to be desired in its explanation of game play. From what I have gathered so far you have a character with a dial that explains its Defense, Attack, Movement, Damage and Range with special colors indicating powers that the character has on that particular “click” of the dial. Heroclix is fun but hard for me in many respects because a) it is my first tabletop game and b) I am too drawn by my favorite bright shinies than by pieces that might win me the game. Therefore, I usually end up with my Runaways set dead at the hands of my boyfriend’s War machine. This usually results in a tiny Nico Minoru getting thrown harmlessly into his face when I dissolve into hysteria at losing…again.

Regardless of my repeated losses it is still a fun game to play and if you have other friends who are into it you can invite them over for hours of excitingly excruciating tactical planning as you try desperately to kick their ass before they kick yours. But let’s get down to brass tax. One of the best parts of the game happens before you even start to play. It is the beautiful blind box. Most nerds are familiar with the siren song of the blind box. It promises you all it will never give. And at 12 dollars a pop the small adrenaline rush you get from opening repeat boxes of Heroclix can quickly break you and leave you whimpering in a back alley and wondering how many more will you have to buy before that red hulk DOES show up? Wizkids certainly knows what they are doing by adding those rare and super rares. They keep you looking. Here are some of my favorites: