If you’ve bought any of the most recent HeroClix sets, you might have noticed some very strange-looking new symbols printed on their character cards, like the following:

They have also begun to appear in rules text like the following:

These and several other symbols like them now stand for certain rules within HeroClix, which the 2012 Powers and Abilities card goes into in detail. The symbols just make it a lot simpler to print these rules on character cards. Today’s blog post will make you an expert at decoding this newest Hero Clix code!

What These Rules Are All About

Collectively, these rules are known as the “Improved Movement and Targeting” rules. Movement is symbolized by the running man, and targeting is symbolized by the bullseye. These two symbols are the first ones you should look for on a character’s card, to determine which kind of character action (moving or shooting) is affected.

Take the Swim example from above:

In this example, we can see that the Swim ability affects movement, because it’s got the little running man symbol in its rules text.

By contrast, we can see that the Sharpshooter ability affects targeting, because it’s got the little bullseye symbol in its rules text.

The Other Associated Symbols

Now that you know the two main symbols, you can see how the additional symbols tell you more about how each special power and ability works.

Here’s the whole chart of Improved symbols and their meanings, taken from a screenshot of the powers and abilities card PDF file:

The difference between the two columns is that the Improved Movement column (left) shows what things the affected character ignores for movement purposes, while the Improved Targeting column (right) shows what things the affected character ignores for attack purposes.

For instance, someone with the bullseye symbol followed by a green square means that they ignore Hindering Terrain for attack purposes (like Superman ignores Hindering Terrain for attack–watch out, Batman!). However, a running man symbol followed by a green square means that the character ignores Hindering for movement purposes. (Anybody with Leap/Climb on their dial has this ability!)

There are some additional symbols here–the roundish, Hero-Clix-dial-shaped symbol means that character bases can be ignored for either line-of-fire or movement purposes, for instance (depending on whether the running man or bullseye symbol precedes it). Though these new symbols look a little daunting, this chart generally makes easy work of understanding and referencing them.

Test Your Decoding Skills!

Let’s check out a few examples of rules text where these symbols are used! (Answers at the end of this article)

1. Which kind of ability is Flight: an Improved Movement or Improved Targeting ability?
2. Which types of terrain does it ignore?
3. Can Flying characters move through squares occupied by opposing characters?
4. Can Flying characters break away automatically?

1. Which kind of ability is Pulse Wave: an Improved Movement or Improved Targeting ability?
2. Which types of terrain does it ignore?
3. Do character bases block Pulse Wave’s line of fire?
4. Can a character using Pulse Wave move through opposing characters’ spaces?

1. Can Sharpshooter ignore character bases for line-of-fire purposes? If so, which kind of character bases?
2. If an opposing character is adjacent to a Sharpshooter character, can the Sharpshooter still make a “ranged” attack against that character, according to these symbols?

1. Which kind of ability is Great Size: an Improved Movement or Improved Targeting ability?
2. Which types of terrain does it ignore?
3. Can Great Size characters move through squares occupied by opposing characters?
4. Can they break away automatically?

1. Which types of terrain does the Swim ability ignore?

And now for the last question–a little tricky!

1. What is the main difference between Leap/Climb and Phasing’s rules symbols? (Look closely, now!)

Practice with These Symbols Makes Perfect!

How’d you do on the little quiz above? It may take a little time and frequent referencing back to the Powers and Abilities Card to master these symbols, but you’ll get ’em down pat soon enough! In the meantime, HeroClix.com has provided us materials so that we never forget the rules too easily.

To download a copy of the 2012 Powers and Abilities card for yourself, visit HeroClix.com’s Rules Downloads page.

Answer Key

Flight:

1. Improved Movement
2. Ignores Elevated, Hindering, and Outdoor Blocking
3. Yes, they can move through opposing characters’ squares
4. No, they cannot break away automatically

Pulse Wave:

1. Improved Targeting
2. Ignores Hindering
3. No, character bases do not block line of fire for Pulse Wave attacks
4. Yes, Pulse Waving characters can move through opposing characters’ squares

Sharpshooter:

1. Yes; they ignore opposing character bases only
2. Yes, they can make a ranged attack against adjacent characters

Great Size:

1. Improved Movement
2. Ignores Elevated, Hindering, and Outdoor Blocking
3. Yes, they can move through opposing characters’ squares
4. No, they cannot break away automatically

Swim:

1. Ignores Water Terrain

Leap/Climb and Phasing:

1. The only difference is that Leap/Climb only ignores Outdoor Blocking Terrain, while Phasing ignores ALL Blocking Terrain.