Love letter to Clix

I love Heroclix, I think they're great. Which is one of my other niche opinions I'm so fond of voicing on this blog. In the superhero wargaming community, there is a certain subset that vehemently denies any value can be found in Heroclix, and that the figures are only a last resort when other brands and conversions fail. I've never really got this, possibly because of my chronic underemployment, as the affordability to quality ratio of the Heroclix is excellent, especially when compared to early Knight Models and if one is willing to try a few different variants to get the best one. Also the range of Heroclix available in Marvel and DC forms is pretty exhaustive; I admit I'd like a Plantman and a less cheesecake Raven, but being able to get Spiders-Man and Clock King is pretty damn cool. Even better than paying under $1 for a superhero mini on the Heroclix resellers is buying bulk lots from people on swap and sell pages, that's how I got characters like Jocasta, Weather Wizard and Spoiler, that I may never have gotten around to ordering individually. 

 All figures converted from Manchester Black (centre).

Something I've been doing with Heroclix for a while is using them as the basis for conversions, not just for other superheroes like my Skrull head-swaps and The Champions of the Omniverse, but also for other games, most notably Warpath: Firefight and Reality's Edge. So far for Reality's Edge, I've converted Hepizbah into a Tracer, Starlord into a Ninja, Plenty of agents into Corpsec and Manchester Black into a Hacker, with plans for more. Speaking of Manchester Black, I've used all five of him that have wound up in my hands for one thing or another. A shirtless punk in an overcoat and army boots isn't what many would likely think of a versatile miniature, but with simple head and hand-swaps, Manchester Black has become The Arsonist, fire-controlling Champion of the Omniverse, a zombie, a Street Thug and #Wizlord, decker for my Runner crew, as well as an unmolested version for SSUA games. Given that each copy cost me well under $1, I feel that I've got good value from that. 

Frostgrave characters converted from Heroclix and spare parts.

Of course, many of my Kill Team Aesir have Heroclix heads, though often I purchased them specifically, and the effect of Asgardian heads on the Deathwatch Space Marine bodies is pretty striking. I keep thinking of a way to build an entire army for a game, though perhaps just a small one, out of Heroclix, to demonstrate the flexibility of the range. Rather than doing something sensible, however, like making one of my (many) superhero army ideas, I'm trying to think up something less tied into superheroes generally, more in line with the Warhammer 40,000 universe or another existing IP. More projects for the pile, it seems. Anyway, give Clix a chance if you're the kind of wargamer who likes to convert figures and kitbash, there's a wealth of stuff there for not much money.