Filthy the Clown

As of late, I have been including Marvel heroes in my casual games. Of the Marvel heroes, the one that adds the most enjoyment to my games is the Red Skull. His ability to dictate Order Marker management allows a lot of the less-used 'filler' heroes to see the light of day in roles other than end-game filler. Generally speaking, they usually only come into play when they can have all OMs thrown their way. Since they are fragile, it usually pays to play them until they fall. With the Red Skull, this is easily possible. Plus, if the Skull is threatened, he can rely on his strong, ranged attack to thin out the approaching ranks. There are plenty of noteworthy posts on this site that discuss successful uses of Marvel Heroes in mixed-HS games. However, is it possible to use heroes such as the Red Skull in lower-point games, where the Skull, and one other strong hero, can act as the bulk of your army? With that in mind, I have been striving for a 450-475 point build that allows one to...

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I have been toying with more wolf builds as of late, mainly involving the Darklord v2.0 and Badru.

For 500+point builds, the wolves do not seem like a competitive option with much popularity (so far, I have only seen one NHSD '10 reported build utilizing the Badru/darklord combo: Horde Lorde had the stones to play them, going 1 - 3 in Madison, WI with Wolves of Badrux3, Werewolf Lord, Fen Hydra). Despite this, I believe that they still have merit on a competitive level, provided they are paired with strong support units. This is much easier to fill at 500+ points (some of my suggested, speculative builds). At lower point, pre-determined-army totals (400 points), the darklord/Badru combo becomes a bit trickier to use effectively. First off, your wolf core (a 300 point investment in one darklord and two squads of bonding Badru) has two strong assets: mobility and one of the strongest, common-based special attacks in the game.

Playing on these strengths, you...

Everyone needs a pied piper.

Although deathreaver screen appear to be on a slight decline (despite the fact that Dok's 2010 GenCon championship army included 3 squads of them, only 18% of the Gencon Championship Day 1 armies utilized rats), there is still a demand for an anti-rat strategy in competitive builds; with that in mind, one should plan on including a special attack or ability that will eradicate rats while preventing Scatter. Of course, there are entire builds that have anti-rat capability by default (for example, Grut builds that rely on disengagement bonuses)...But what do you do when you have 90 points left, and you need that bolt-on, special attack to combat the deathreavers? Your options include:

• Wyrmlings 30/35 points
  Red/Black wyrmlings are ideal for anti-squad capability. You need two to get your points worth via Wyrmling Bonding.
• Fire Elemental 35 points
  Searing Intensity grants on FE a 35% chance to auto-kill

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With 10 of the top 16 armies in Gencon 2010 playing melee-heavy, ratless armies, and with the focus on melee in D2 and D3 units (along with heroes), does the Gladiator-powered Steamroller have more validity in today's tournament scene?

Although inspired Gladiators have the stats to shred, their weaknesses have been related to their

1. lack of numbers ~200 point Spartacus is a must, and that leaves room for only 3 squads of Capuan Gladiators, and a hero, in a standard point value of 500.
2. Vulnerability to rats and other screens that rely on a special attack to eradicate them.

With an increase of new heroes and melee squads, and the lack of points available for consumption after said heroes/squads have been paid for points-wise, the gladiators could potentially have an increase in usage. With that in mind, is it worth forsaking Gladiator Inspiration early in the game to add a rat-hacker to your build? And, is it better to add another squad of inspired gladiators,...