Sentinel Data File 001

Sentinels, one of the most widely known forces in the Marvel Universe. Giant, mutant-hunting killer robots designed to cleanse homo sapiens of the freak menace. They are also one of the most misunderstood and underrated Hero-Clix in the WizKids universe. Because of their high point values, expense, and special rules, you'll be hard pressed to find anyone playing with one or more on a regular basis. Put one on the field and watch a quizzical look cross your opponent's face like a deer stuck in the headlights of an oncoming car. In this Data File and the reviews to follow, I hope to bring a much needed light to the Sentinel, who is by far and away my favorite figure in the game.

Let's start with the figure itself. Battle damaged and striking an action pose, it is the most highly detailed figure in the WK universe. Claw marks, blade cuts, bullet holes, this poor guy looks like he just made it out of the Godzilla Wars by the titanium of his teeth. But his pose is regal, somewhat 'Alas, poor Wolverine, I knew him'-esque. Even better, he comes with interchangeable open and closed hands, allowing you to customize him for more dramatic appeal and for those Oh-So-Crucial captures. Then there's the sheer size of the robot. Standing tall as the second-tallest HC figure, the Sentinel is imposing, covering four squares with his massive, brontosaurian base. When his base hits the map, it inspires a sense of awe that pain is about to be brought to the game. However, the Sentinel requires a much more cerebral strategy than the usual run-and-shoot, all guns blazing play style that is evident of most Firelord-crutch-using players.

Let's start with the point value. One Sentinel can be three different figures depending on the points you plan to spend on him. This does not mean he is literally three figures, for crying out loud. It just means you can adjust his power level at the beginning of the game.

The Mark I measures in as the best 100 points you can pay for 12 clicks of life. This leaves you easily with 200 points to mix it up with, or to even bring on another Mark I [which I personally recommend]. He starts off with a decent 7 movement, 9 attack, 15 defense and 2 damage. While he has no powers, that quickly changes after the first two clicks where he picks up Toughness, then he gets that all-important Power Spike of 10 movement, 11 attack, 17 defense with Toughness and a 3 damage. Then the stats start going down and he loses Toughness and picks up Incapacitate to represent his stun beams. He does 0 damage but is far from useless as his other abilities will show later on.

The Mark III brings 200 points to the table with only three more clicks of life, but all of them are impressive stats with 10 movement with Running Shot, 10 attack with Energy Explosion, 16 defense which is 18 for ranged attacks thanks to Energy Deflection, and a comfortable 3 damage. One hit from a Bullseye turns him into a Mark I Sentinel and 100 points that you could have spent on anything else, but again I'll save judgement for later on in the review.

The Mark VII is a powerhouse, with 12 Running Shot, 11 Energy Explosion, and 16 Energy Deflection with a bone-crunching 4 damage. But for 300 points don't expect to throw one figure on the board in a 300 Point game and be able to throw down against all the X-Men. Before you can scream 'FIRELORD IS BORKEN,' you're going to have three figures wailing on you to your one action. Unless you have the dice of the gods humility will be your lesson and your opponent the teacher. Save him for 400 to 500 point games. YES, we all saw the issue where one Sentinel whupped up on all the X-Men and made Wolverine his little monkey. But that was a comic book and this is Hero-Clix. Believe it or not they ARE two different things.

What else does the Sentinel have? A list of immunities and rules as long as your arm. So let's get to it. Sentinels, because of their immense size and power-

-cannot be affected by Force Blast, Incapacitate, Mind Control, Plasticity, Poison, Psychic Blast, Shapechange, Steal Energy and support. Basically you can't slow it down short of throwing up a barrier, and even then it is considered soaring for purposes of crossing terrain! As a flier, he does not have to stop for hindering terrain or figure bases, so he is UNSTOPPABLE. On top of that it is considered hovering for most purposes of combat. So you can't shove him away [he's also immune to knockback], can't take away his actions [through incapacitate], can't tell him what to do, can't keep him from breaking away [he always succeeds with breakaway as well!], can't poison him or mind blast him to get past his defenses, isn't fooled by the fact you can look like someone else [although he is NOT immune to the Skrull Team Ability], and you can't deal damage to him to heal yourself up! Ah, but there is his Achilles Heel which will whittle him down to size. No medic can heal him. This is really to keep anyone from using a medic to get a lucky roll on round one and healing a Mark I up to a Mark VII. But it does balance out his awesome abilities.

Uhmm-I'm not done telling you of his abilities-still.

-cannot be affected by Telekinesis, but can be the target of a Telekinesis attack. Ok, so you can't throw him across the board, but you can throw a Pepsi machine at him. He can't be carried, but he CAN carry someone, since he is a flyer. But he can't be carried himself. For once, your infinite whining about the Wasp carrying the Hulk can come to a rest. However, he can not carry a flier. Also, TK is perfect for throwing someone like Wolvering, Sabretooth or [god forbid] Spiral into close combat range and turning your Sentinel into so much scrap metal.

-can attack and be attacked by grounded, hovering and soaring characters with close or ranged attacks. With his 10" Range, however, you better be prepared for consequences.

-is arch enemy with all Brotherhood of Evil Mutants and X-Men teams. So that is double points when one KO's the other.

That's it though-right?

Wrong!

A Sentinel gets one action per turn as do all figures within your allotted limit. The next round he can push for a click of damage. But where most figures have to rest and clear on the third round, the Sentinel is just getting warmed up. Start screaming who your daddy is, because Big Poppa Sentinel can push EVERY ROUND. Yeah, he takes a click of damage each time, which for the Mark III and VII will take them out of their best clicks, but for the Mark I it just makes him more powerful till he hits that sweet, sweet Power Spike. All he has to do is rest once, and all token clear. For the Mark II and VII, you want to push sparingly. Sometimes it is good to push like there is no tomorrow. Your opponent has to take time to clear, you don't.

But wait, there's more!

A Sentinel occupies four squares. You count his movement, then place him so that one of his squares rests in the spot where you counted. Why is that important? Ok, a Mark I counts out seven spaces from his current position, if you place the back half of the figure in the seventh space, you've squeaked out an extra space of movement, AND you can place the figure you were carrying ahead of that. This really ticks off your opponent when he thought he had your movement counted out ahead of time. Carry along a Charging character, and next turn run by a dumpster after the Sentinel Taxi service drops you off. Invisible Girl will be an Invisible KO once you creep up on her. Since he's soaring he ignores hindering terrain and crushes object tokens when he lands on them [object tokens get replaced by rubble tokens in this example]. He can't occupy a four square block if there is another character there or if he would end up on two different elevations. BUT, if you place him in front of elevated terrain, he CAN make a close combat action against that sniper sitting on the edge of the roof.

It gets worse.

A Sentinel can attack and be attacked through any of his 12 adjacent squares, and figure bases do not block LOF. This is best used to an advantage by having him run up to a line of SHIELD and Hydra agents. He can fire right through them and make full use of their team abilities! Plus, while someone else is based with one of your sacrificial lambs, the Sentinel can draw LOF right through his own guy to hit his opponent. Also, Sentinels and characters on elevated terrain can fire on one another as if they were on the same terrain level. That Hulk isn't so safe sitting in the middle of the roof, anymore. Oh, and Sentinels and soaring figures fire on one another using their full range. All other rules for drawing line of fire apply, so barriers do mess with Sentinel targeting systems. Draw your LOF not from the center of the Sentinel, but from one of the four squares he occupies.

A Sentinel also has a special multi-strike different from the multi-targeting of figures with more than one lightening bolt. Under the new IndyClix rules this has made him an absolute MONSTER. Reduce the damage BY one instead of TO one and make TWO separate attack rolls, close or ranged it doesn't matter, and apply all bonuses or powers. SHIELD bonuses only apply to the first or second strike, not both. But Perplex the damage up to 6 and that is TWO separate attacks against two figures for 5 damage each! It got worse under IndyClix rules as now you can target the SAME figure with both attacks! This is most beneficial to Mark III and VII Sentinels and the Mark I on his Power Spike. It only costs one action and is like a free extra attack. You won't get to stack splash damage from Energy Explosion, but you will get to whittle the forces down with an unexpected flurry of blazing death. He ALSO now gets to use Running Shot with his Multi-Attack. This means move-fire-move-fire. Whether you are advancing or retreating, this makes the Mark III's and VII's true killing machines. You have the very real possibility of pitting a Mark VII with some lucky dice rolls against a 300 point team of X-Chumps.

His DEADLIEST power is his ability to capture. This can be a game killer. Make a close combat attack, adding 2 to defense for Phasing or Plasticity. This cannot be part of his special Multi-Attack. If you hit, then the figure is taken out of play and cannot be assigned any actions! If you make it back to the Sentinel's starting point, then spend another action to release the figure, then BAM, you just scored double points, effectively killing the figure. If it is an arch-enemy, then that makes it TRIPLE points! My greatest moment was Doomsday rushing in to turn my Mark III Sentinel into a Mark I with one blow, and he still had some clicks of damage. On my turn I picked up Doomsday, and ran back to home plate, was declared safe, and scored 249 points without dealing a lick of damage to Doomsday. That was my first capture. To rescue a figure, you have to make an attack dealing no damage, and if you are successful the figure is placed adjacent to the Sentinel, but he has an action token on him. Also, the player controlling the Sentinel gets to choose where that figure is placed. He has to push if he wants to do anything. It can be tough running across the board back to home base, pushing all the way. But it can be one of your easiest kills and can win you the game. If the game ends when you are still holding a figure, you don't get the points for it and neither does your opponent!!! That can snatch victory away from him as well. A Sentinel cannot be captured, which is a saving grace to keep you from being humiliated.

I can't stress how powerful this ability is under IndyClix rules. While you are running back to home base, no longer can a figure be taxied up to close or ranged combat range and make a rescue attempt. He's gonna have to wait a full round which is all the more incentive for you to AHHHHHHH--PUSH IT!

Indoors, Sentinels suffer. They have to widen doorways to walk through them, and nothing's worse than being stuck in a room which your opponent takes potshots at you. A MArk I indoors without support is just 100 points of fat, rotting plastic begging for Cyclops to score that arch-enemy bonus kill. Draw them to you and don't try to cross the middle of the board if you plan to capture. It takes a long while to limp back once you have taken damage, and you can't be healed!

When he's on his last few clicks, use the special multi-attack to tie up figures with Incapacitate. This will deal damage to pushed figures, and will slow down chasing figures, forcing them to push. Rely on your support figures at this point, and capture when possible. With the new IndyClix rules, you can target the same figure twice in a row and force them to push.

You have to use a bit of strategery. Support your Sentinel! Boost his attack values and damage with SHIELD, AIM and HYDRA. Perplex him with Con-Artists and Doc Ock. Cover his retreat when capturing a figure by basing your opponent. Cover him with Barriers. Have a second heavy hitter if you can afford one. But most important over all, support and protect. A Sentinel can be an excellent distraction piece for your Vet She-Hulk or Vet Abomination.

In a future Data Files, I plan to detail figures you want to pair your Sentinel with, and dangers you want to look out for. He is one of the best sculpted, best detailed monsters of the board, and in my opinion one of the most underrated.