HeroClix is best described as “chess with comic-book characters”–within this game, you get to play your favorite characters in a self-created team, facing them off against your opponent’s team of characters to see which team comes out on top!

Many of the most popular Marvel and DC characters appear as models in the game already, as seen below (top left to bottom right: Captain America, Superman, Green Lantern, Black Widow, Incredible Hulk, Batman). However, that’s not all there is to know about HeroClix–read on to find out more!

Basic Gameplay

To play HeroClix, you start out with a point total, say, 300 points. Every HeroClix figure is worth a certain number of points; to build a working team, you select heroes whose point values are less than or equal to the chosen game total when added together. (If the combined points of all your chosen heroes are more than the point total, you have to reformulate your team.) But as long as you stay within the point total, any type and combination of figures is open to you.

See example below, drawn from my own collection of figures:

I wrote up an even more detailed article about HeroClix gameplay on my “How to Play Clix” page.

Choosing Characters Based on Powers and Abilities

Different characters are gifted with different abilities–for instance, Spiderman’s amazing wall-crawling and web-swinging abilities translate into the HeroClix ability called “Leap/Climb,” and the Flash’s lightning-fast movement translates into “Hypersonic Speed.” Hulk’s superpowered muscles grant him “Super Strength,” and Captain America gets “Energy Shield/Deflection” courtesy of his iconic shield.

These abilities are denoted by different colors printed on the base of each character’s figure. (The base of the figure is called a “dial” because it can turn to show differing abilities as the figure takes damage.) Here are my common-sense descriptions of all the powers and abilities in the game thus far.

Choosing Characters Based on Their Stats

Characters also have numbers printed on their dials, which show how strong they are in combat. For instance, the 127-point Wonder Woman I mentioned earlier starts out with 10 movement, 10 attack, 17 defense, and 5 damage–this means she can travel up to 10 spaces on a HeroClix map in one turn, and that when she attacks another character, she adds 10 to whatever number you roll on your two six-sided dice. That 17 defense means that whenever another character attacks her, they can’t damage her unless their attack number plus the number that appears on the dice equals or beats 17. And that 5 damage? If she successfully attacks another character, that character’s dial is clicked down 5 times. Considering that all characters’ dials have space for only 12 clicks on them, that’s a LOT of damage!

However, not all characters need high stats to be great at what they do. I wrote up a little bit about Experienced Destiny as an example of how low stats don’t automatically mean a bad Clix figure. Sometimes you need figures with “low” stats to be more tactical figures in your strategy!

Putting Together Your Team and Its Strategy

A large part of Clix is building a strategy that makes sense for you. Some people like to play characters that run into the fray and smash things up; others like to play characters who stand at a distance and shoot. Some players choose to take higher risks and start the battle sooner; others like to play slowly and subtly, waiting for an opponent to fall into their trap. Some players choose just a few very strong characters with high point values to make up their team; others (like me) choose to have many weaker, smaller-point-value characters which together overpower opponents with sheer numbers.

Whatever abilities, characters, and gameplay style you find yourself drawn to, you can build successful teams. Give HeroClix a try with your friends–play a few casual games. Who knows, you might run across a killer combination of figures that no one ever thought of before!

To Learn More about HeroClix

Official Site: HeroClix.com
Excellent HeroClix Forums: HCRealms
My HeroClix help pages: HeroClix @ The Gamer’s Repose