AMG have once again shone their radiant light down upon us and revealed another character card, the leader of the Web Warriors, Spider-Man (Miles Morales). Somewhere out there is a Vecnamarston flat out on the floor, twitching. So, what does Miles do? Let’s see.
STAMINA – Miles has a decent stamina of 5.
MOVEMENT – A medium move makes Miles not quite as swift as his Parkerian counterpart.
SIZE – Size 2, as expected.
THREAT – Just like Star-Lord, Miles is a 3 threat team leader. It’s nice to see another one, and means he is potentially a good character to splash into other teams.
DEFENCES – 3’s right across the board, as average as it gets.
ATTACKS – Miles has 2 attacks, the first of which is a physical attack called Webline Kick. This attack has a range of 3, strength of 4 and power cost of 0. Sing it with me now “after this attack is resolved, this character gains power equal to the damage dealt.” Roll a wild and you may throw a character of size 3 or less away short before damage is dealt. A strength of 4 always brings a tear of sadness to the eye, that 1 fewer die really does feel like it makes a big difference, but range 3 is good for a basic attack; and the ability to do a short throw of a size 3 or less character on a wild roll is a nice addition for sure.
Miles’ second attack is an energy attack called Venom Blast which has a range of 2, strength of 7 and power cost of 3. Straightforward enough. This attack also states that after it is resolved the target character drops all objective tokens they are carrying. That is a game changing ability. Currently there are very few ways to make your opponent drop an objective token. You can daze/K.O. them, or you can run Black Widow and Hawkeye with the Professionals team tactics card, which can be very tricky to pull off. This attack ability is huge because now you can just aim Miles at a target with an objective, pay 3 power, and then that objective drops, even if the attack does no damage whatsoever. And imagine how good this will be for crises where characters can carry multiple objectives! Then all that is left to do is move in and pick them up for yourself. Amazing.
LEADERSHIP ABILITY – Miles is the leader of the Web Warriors, which at the moment comprises only 4 characters – Ghost Spider, Miles & Peter Spider-Men and Venom. The leadership ability is called Great Responsibility and states that allied characters may reroll 1 defence die. Additionally, they may modify and reroll critical failure results while they are holding or contesting an objective token.
This is a really interesting ability indeed. The access to a defence die reroll is nice, but the second part of the ability is much more interesting. AMG have clarified that the second part of this ability is merely permission to reroll critical failure results, you will still need an ability that let’s you actually perform the reroll. Modifying critical failure results is pretty game-changing, and best of all this is not just restricted to defence or attack rolls, it would also include interact rolls. Superb, and I am very much looking forward to giving this ability a try. I will discuss character interactions more when my Web Warriors affiliation article is released, so let’s move on to Miles’ superpowers.
SUPERPOWERS – First up we have an active superpower called Web Swing which has a power cost of 2. This superpower states that Miles can be placed within range 3 of his current position. Then, the next time he makes a Webline kick attack this turn, add 2 dice to the attack roll. This superpower can be used only once per turn. This is a pretty darn amazing superpower. Firstly, it’s cheap. Really cheap. Secondly, it compensates for Miles medium movement by letting him teleport around the board at range 3, which is a pretty huge distance for a place effect. And third, it makes Webline Kick a strength 6 attack with a throw – that’s some Thor level of attacking. There is nothing on this superpower that I dislike and I am very excited to try it out in a game.
Miles’ next superpower is innate and is called Spider Sense. Just like on Peter Parker, this superpower states that when Miles is defending against a physical or energy attack, ft making a dodge roll, he may reroll 2 dice. This, combined with Miles leadership rerolls, help to add a bit of longevity to the character, and compensate a little for his average defences and stamina.
Next up is another innate superpower, this time called Stealth. As per Black/Agent Widow, characters must be within range 3 to target Miles with an attack. Again, adding more longevity for Miles, which is no bad thing at all. Thinking on it though, combo-ing Web Swing with Webline Kick is going to be a big thing I imagine, but that will leave you vulnerable as you will have to be triggering Web Swing first to get the extra dice for Webline Kick. As this is a range 3 attack unless you move out of position you are lined up for your opponent to attack you back without you gaining the benefit from Stealth. Double attacking with Miles is going to be risky but fun.
Last of all we have a final innate ability which should come as no surprise to anyone – Wall Crawler. Move your speed over terrain up to size 5. Nice.
INJURED SIDE – No change from what I can tell.
SUMMARY – What an interesting character Miles is. I can see the Web Warriors being a really popular affiliation for a long time, especially in the tournament scene. Both of Miles attacks and his costed superpower seem superb, and I honestly don’t think there is anything on his character card that is either missing or shouldn’t be there, well done AMG. Miles stats make him look rather squishy, but I think the rerolls he has access to, along with his mobility, will help to ensure that he sticks around a bit longer than other characters in the game who have similar stats but no built-in access to rerolls or out of turn movement.
AFFILIATIONS – Miles is the leader of the Web Warriors so it makes sense to run him in a Web Warriors affiliation. The ability to get a defence die reroll and also have permission to reroll critical failures on all rolls is huge, and there will be many characters who will be wanting to join the Web Warriors to take advantage of this, but more on that in future posts.
An Avengers affilaition would grant you a cost reduction on Web Swing but that’s about it. The Avengers list is already pushed for space because there are so many fantastic affiliated characters, but if you have 3 threat spare why not give Miles a try and see what you think.
I think Miles could fit OK into a Cabal team. The extra dice granted by Web Sling to Webline Kick could potentially generate power from the Cabal affiliation ability, which in turn can pay for Venom Blast to make enemy characters drop their obejctive tokens, or just pay for more Web Sling.
A Wakandan/Guardians of the Galaxy affiliation doesn’t really seem necessary as Miles already has access to defensive rerolls, but it would help smooth out his attacks a little if you were wanting to go all in on rerolls. Heck, stick a Baron Zemo in there too for access to ALL the rerolls.
Put Miles into an Asgardian team and his longevity would be further extended as he would be able to remove a damage from himself each round, as well as ditch any special conditions which may end up on him.
Lastly, Myles doesn’t seem particularly K.O focused, and taking damage to get rerolls doesn’t seem too wise for a character with only 5 stamina, so perhaps a Black Order affiliation would not be the best choice. Still, if you fancy giving it a go, have at it.
TEAM TACTICS CARDS – A Web Warrios specific card has been spoiled by AMG, and it is fittingly called… wait for it… Web Warriors. This card states that a Web Warrios character may spend 3 power to play it. Each enemy character within range 3 suffers the slow special condition When an allied Web Warrior character is attacking a character suffering the slow special condition this round, add 2 dice to the attack roll. This is pretty mega. Slow is a nasty special condition to be lumbered with, and range 3 looks to be a Miles sweet spot. Getting to slow multiple characters and gain 2 additional dice for the cost of 3 power is extremely cheap. Plus, this attack has the potential to last throughout the round, as any Web Warrior attacking an enemy character with the slow condition this round gets the bonus dice. Amazing.
Also included in the Miles/Gwen pack Web Barrier which is a second Web Warriors affiliated card which can be triggered by 2 Web Warriors characters who must both pay 1 power each. If they do so then whilst they are within range 3 of each other this round they cannot be pushed, thrown or placed by enemy effects, and while advancing enemy characters cannot place a movement tool that would overap either allied character, or a straight line drawn between these characters unless they are climbing. Characters cannot draw line of sight through these characters or a straight line drawn between them this round. Well, that’s wordy, but essentially you draw a stright line between the 2 characters involved and enemies can’t target or move through that line (unless climbing), and your Web Warriors cannnot be pushed, thrown or placed by enemies. This seems to me to be a pretty amazing card, and is our first instance of having a way of straight up blocking enemy movement and LOS without moving behind some terrain. This could be a critical play at a pivotal moment, providing some protection from being targeted by attacks for a few allies for a round, or just stopping an enemy character from being able to get to an obective without taking the long way round. I am really looking forward to trying this out in some games.
A few other cards come to mind. First of all is Uneasy Allies which is a Spider-Man/Venom card, and so can be played on either Miles or Peter Parker. This card states that during their activation, when Spider-Man or Venom targets an enemy character with an attack that is within range 2 of the other allied character, both characters may suffer 1 damage to add 3 dice to the attack roll. This is a nifty card that slots right into the Web Warriors affiliation, and allows for some bigger attacks. A 9 dice Webline Kick anyone? Plus, Venom can always heal this damage away…
Advanced R&D could be an interesting turn 1 play, as it will allow immediate use of Web Swing so you can do some additional damage (hopefully) and get off to a good start.
Disarm sems like it could be a good card for the Web Warriors characters too, as it allows 2 characters within range 3 of an enemy character to pay 1 power each to cause the enemy character to roll 2 fewer dice on all attacks this round. This could give a character like Miles with lower stamina and average defences a little extra protection for a round.
Not one to run yourself if using Miles but one to mention is Marked For Death – this card is a clear anti-Miles card, it removing his Stealth superpower, making his speed short and denying him the ability to reroll or modify defence dice. Definitely one to keep in mind!
Mission Objective could also be a good option. After Miles has caused an enemy character to drop any obejctive tokens they were carrying, another character could pick it up and then use Mission Objective to pass it off to a more robust character such as Venom. Cards like Tactical Analysis can even be used to grant additional movement to ensure that you get the objectives where you want them.
Lastly, No Matter the Cost would be a scary way for Miles to get a free Venom Blast attack if he really needs a character to drop objectives, but it does mean taking 3 damage. Still, this could be healed up with cards like Medpack or Patch Up if need be. A bold move to be sure, but it could be just what you need in a pinch.
So what do you make of Miles? And what think you of the Web Warriors affiliation ability? Comment below!