HorrorClix

HorrorClix is a tabletop game and an offshoot of the successful superhero tabletop games Marvel -, DC - and INDY - Heroclix , which were also released by the company WizKids . The first Horrorclix series (Basis Set) was released on August 30, 2006.

origin

Horrorclix can be understood as a modern chess game with freely expandable figures. The well-known and less well-known monsters, vampires and werewolves from novels and films are shown. Horrorclix is a further development and (technical) simplification of the tabletop game principle. Table-Top (in English: 'on-the-table') arose from the military tradition of moving miniature units on a model of the battlefield that was faithfully reproduced and symbolizing one's own troops, on the one hand to develop strategies, on the other hand to develop strategies to make understandable to the respective ruler. This tradition continued until after the Second World War, when huge displays on which the units move as digital dots have taken on this task today.

past

Tabletop games were already being played when there were the first tin soldiers , and even today glorious battles are played over days and weeks with thousands of accurately painted units. Compare, for example, the reenactment of the Battle of the Alamo , which spanned several episodes in the Star Trek series 'Deep Space Nine' between O'Brian and Bashir. When playing with tin soldiers, and also with more modern plastic variants such as Warhammer or Warhammer 40,000 , all figures first had to be painted in great detail, and in Warhammer even assembled depending on their size. The distances between the units were measured with folding rules, each unit had its own table of values, which represented its movement rates, attack strengths, defensive capacities and penetration in different stages of the fight. If a unit was hit, it was naturally decimated and correspondingly weakened, i.e. H. you had to somehow mark which values were currently valid for which figure, which turned out to be a complicated matter with the increasing size of the army.

Present and Future

Horrorclix, on the other hand, is characterized in its technical simplification mainly by the click disc, which serves as a base for the figure. It shows the serial number, total strength / point value, series membership, possibly team membership, if any, and the long-range combat range, which never changes. Through an L-shaped window on the click disk, you can read the values for attack, movement, defense and damage, by clicking clockwise, the values change. The game is played on a chess-like playing field with squares and the only tables that are still needed are those for special powers (shown as colors on the various properties) and team characteristics, which not only makes Horrorclix less complicated than any tabletop game, but also more complex .

The game

Similar to Heroclix, Horrorclix offers the player the ability to assemble monsters into troops that can span different genres. This makes it easy to put together a troop of good or bad characters, whether vampire, werewolf, zombie, demon, witch, priest, ghost hunter or the like. HorrorClix promises to change the CMG (Customizable Miniatures Game) market by introducing new game mechanics. The game is practically completely compatible with Heroclix. In contrast to the earlier Heroclix version, Horrorclicks has a few additional rules of the game (which, by the way, are now largely adopted in the new heroclix series Avengers , because they have become so well established).

There are now character cards and so-called plot twists, which can change everything at the decisive moment, as there are happy twists and harmless moments of tension in every good horror film. Accordingly, at HorrorClix there is also a phase of tension and victims (victims), which are available in the form of tokens (see HeroClix Bystander / Object Tokens), and which can trigger a blood rush.

Availability

Horrorclix is sold in German comic shops in so-called booster packs with 4 or 5 (depending on the series) random characters. These booster packs contain Rookies (beginners yellow ring), Experienced (experienced professional blue ring) and Veterans (veteran red ring), as well as in rare cases a unique figure (unique silver ring), which is not like all other figures in yellow / blue / red, but only with a silver ring and which are accordingly rare. Promo figures with a gold ring are not normally available in regular stores. Promos are also referred to as LE (limited edition) or, depending on the rarity, LE3 (Level3), LE4 (Level4), LE5 (Level5) or LE6 (Level6).

Special about the figures

The aliens known from the movies ( HR Giger creation, filmed with Sigourney Weaver), Predators (filmed with Arnold Schwarzenegger or Danny Glover), Nosferatu (Dracula adaptation with Max Schreck), the Headless Horseman from Sleepy Hollow ( filmed with Johnny Depp) and Jason Voorhees (from the Friday the 13th series ). Since the figures are compatible with the sister series Marvel, DC and INDY Heroclix, in addition to classic monster, vampire or werewolf hunts, superhero fights with well-known characters such as Spider-Man, Batman, Hellboy, Punisher, Daredevil, Hulk, Send Superman or Blade into battle. Different characters are assigned to various characters, just like the superheroes at Heroclix have their various superpowers. Vampires, for example, have super strength, Jack the Ripper has the ability to disguise, or Dr. Jeckyll transforms into Mr. Hyde. In addition to werewolves, vampires and mad scientists, there are also magicians and the great Cthulhu , another horror figure from classical literature. All characters are modeled and painted in advance. The game is sold in comic book stores in so-called boosters. Depending on the series, a booster contains 4–5 figures, which can only be recognized when unpacking (similar to the Ü-Ei principle). You can then complete your respective collection by swapping, because there are correspondingly rarely distributed figures. At the start of Horrorclix, for example, the sister series Marvel Heroclix Supernova saw four crossover figures that were designed for both game systems. Spider-Man, Hulk, Colonel America and Wolverine as zombies (from the corresponding Marvel comic saga) are so rare that they are traded for between 80 and 250 euros each on the exchange market. Horrorclix figures also have character cards, which are currently being introduced at Heroclix - and that because they were established at Horrorclix within less than a year. In general, Horrorclix, in contrast to the completely lost, incompatible Heroclix offshoot Sportsclix, started very strongly with 4 sets (7 figures each) and 3 series (96 figures each plus around 10 limited editions) as well as a further series already announced for September.

Sets

Horrorclix Basic Set (96 figures + Limited Editions) with starter (6 exclusive figures)
Horrorclix The Lab (96 figures + LEs)
Horrorclix Freakshow (96 figures + LEs) [since May 2007]
Horrorclix Nightmares (96 figures + LEs) [since October 2007]
Heroclix / Horrorclix Hellboy BPRD Set (7 figures)
AvP Alien Set (7 figures)
AvP Alien Queen Set (3 figures)
AvP Predator Set (7 figures)