Heroclix: Your Best Source For Modern Minis

In 2000, a company called Wizkids released a fantasy-themed tabletop miniatures wargame called Mage Knight.  What set this game apart from others is that each mini had its stats printed on a dial that formed the figure’s base.  As the figure took damage, one simply ‘clicked’ the dial to show hit point loss, with an attendant loss of strength and power until the piece was killed and removed from the board.

Enough people liked this concept, which greatly simplified the tabletop wargaming experience, that the company branched out in 2002 with Heroclix, a game using the same mechanic, but featuring licensed comic book characters.

And it is simply the greatest thing to happen to the miniature-seeking player of modern era roleplaying games ever, hands down.

As I’ve mentioned before, fantasy minis are a dime a dozen (well, they are as common as that, they actually cost much more,) and sci fi and western minis, while less common, are still easy to locate.  But finding minis for the 20^th (I mean 21^st now,) century has always been a challenge.

There were few ranges that had modern characters, and they were usually specialized, which means expensive.  Now if you wanted modern soldiers, there are multitudes of companies that produce great lines for wargamers.  But if you are a roleplayer, and you want minis to represent your civilian PC’s, as well as NPC’s from all walks of life, you were largely out of luck.  Companies like Hasslefree and Foundry do offer some metal minis, but you will have to pay a fair price to amass a collection.

 

Ta Daaa!

But then came Heroclix.  Now to be sure, the first few sets looked pretty rough.  I mean the sculpting was ugly with a capital ‘ugh!’  And sure, the early offerings were primarily spandex-clad superheroes, which weren’t much use if you wanted civilians in plain clothes.  But over time, both the sculpting and the selection have improved, making this line an indispensible aid.

 Let’s look at some pros and cons:

Pro #1: Cost

A booster of clix minis costs about ten bucks and comes with five figures.  That’s far less ($2 a mini,) than you are likely to find from any other source, metal or plastic.  

Not a bad pull...

Pro #2: Availability

You can find boosters at your Friendly Local game Store, where you normally buy minis.  But in addition, you can often find them at toy stores, bookstores, and big box stores like Wal-Mart.  This also means that they occasionally wind up on clearance as well.  They are also readily available on line, in boosters, bricks, cases or individual models.

Pro #3: Selection

Over the course of the ten years they have been making Heroclix, they have made a ridiculous number of minis, often plumbing the depths of Marvel & DC comics’ back catalogue to make minis of nearly every minor hero and villain ever to grace the pages of a comic, including variants, alternate timelines identities, special outfits or one-time appearances.

What’s even better is that these days they are making more and more useful minis.  There are plenty of comic book characters these days who eschew the spandex in favor of street clothes, and you can often find minis of them.  In addition, the line includes alter ego figures and generics, such as cops, criminals and paramedics. 

Here are a few useful additions to any 21st century minis collection

With all those minis, you are bound to find at least one that can fit your needs.   But even if you can’t find one that is 100% perfect, you can always convert one because of pro #4…

Pro #4: Ease of Conversion

Heroclix are cast in a pliable plastic, the exact quality of which has changed over time.  This plastic is relatively easy to reshape in hot water, and is esay to cut and glue.  While the plastic does not work with polystyrene solvent, it will hold with superglue or white glue, and can be easily pinned.  The material is not great for carving details, but it allows for easy head and hand swaps.  Many minis have been frankensteined together from parts of multiple Heroclix minis.

Stupid hair and a trident?  Not when I have green stuff!

Often, the simplest conversion is simply to repaint a mini.  By changing the colors on a mini, it can alter the way a viewer thinks about the mini itself.  Skin tight spandex can be repainted as bare skin, white lab coats can become trench coats, and bright yellow superheroic goggles can become sunglasses.

 

Bruno Mannheim, boss of Intergang, meet Frank Kuttner, used car salesman.

But let’s stop this love fest and consider some of the drawbacks of using Heroclix minis for roleplaying games.

Con #1: Randomness

That booster of five minis can contain any mini, and there may be only a few that you actually want.  That means that you may be paying for minis you don’t want and can’t use.

You may only want one or two specific minis, and there is no way of determining what you will find when you open the box.  Further complicating this is the issue of…

Con #2: Rarity

Each mini has a rarity, which determines how many have been made and put into boosters.  This helps drive collecting (which can be good for the casual collector, as we will discuss later,) but also means that some minis will be hard (and expensive) to find.

The boosters each contain 2 common, 2 uncommon, and one rare or super rare mini.  So if you are buying boosters, you will end up with tons of the commons for each rare you pull.  If the mini you want is rare, you will usually have to buy a great number of boosters to find that elusive figure, while many commons and uncommons that you do not want are building up.

Then there are even rarer minis, such as alternate, prime, limited edition or chase figures.  If you find yourself drawn to one of these, you may be better off looking for another figure.

Con #3: Bases

The defining characteristic of Heroclix minis is that they come mounted on the clix base.  These bases are roughly 1.5” across (which is why the grid on the maps are so disappointingly large,) about the width of a standard 40mm base.  You could leave them mounted to the clix base, but it would require you to change your scale if you are using a standard 1” grid.  Even if you are using measurements, the larger bases would require you to alter how you measure base to base.

Most remove them from the clix base and remount on 20mm or 25mm bases (you can buy them by the bag on Ebay.)  But that means removing them from the bases in the first place.  The first sets of Heroclix minis had their feet glued to the bise directly, or mounted on little circles that were then glued to the base.  On some, you could simply twist the minis right off the base with a snap and then rebase them. 

Later, they switched to bonding the minis’ feet to small half moon shaped bases that attached to the clix dials with three little pegs.  These held on to the dial better, but could still be snapped off, or you could slide a craft knife under it to detach the little posts.

The most recent ones however, have the half-moon thingies attached to the dial with a recessed groove, which holds on extremely well.  This makes it difficult to detach, so modelers wishing to rebase them must carefully slice the feet off of the base, cutting through the plastic.

Grrr...  Hulk hate inset thingie on right!

Con #4: Scale Problems

Heroclix suffers both from scale creep as well as scale inconsistency within it’s own line.  Scale creep is a term describing the general trend of minis to get larger through the years, and has been documented elsewhere, so I won’t belabor the point here.  Heroclix not only follows the same general trend, but the minis being released today are much closer to 32mm minis, as opposed to the 28mm scale you find amongst the earlier sets.

But even within the same set, some minis will be larger or smaller than their peers.  Usually this is not too jarring, but there are some glaring examples, and that can be a dealbreaker for some.

These three characters are from the same set.  In the middle you have the normal sized Bruce Banner, flanked by the minuscule White Tiger and the gargantuan Black Tarantula, the world's largest ninja.  Think about how tall he would be standing up.

Pro/Con: Prepainted

I’m counting this one as both, as it depends on what you are looking for.  The minis come prepainted, but the quality varies wildly.  Earlier attempts especially were prone to sloppy jobs, but even today, you can still get some faces with mangled eyes, or a symbol not quite centered on the chest.

Or the Joker's less threatening cousin from the Ozarks...

For some, especially those who do not like to paint, or who lack confidence in their skill, having the minis ready to go is a relief.  Even experienced painters may appreciate being able to use some minis right out of the box with little prep other than basing.

But for people who want better painted minis, that will mean repainting.  Luckily, Heroclix minis take paint well, often not even needing any priming.  Even some actual Heroclix players may repaint their superheroes simply to look better on the table.

In the final analysis, Heroclix are an excellent source for miniatures for the modern setting.