The past few sets have given us a multitude of low-cost figures. It’s easy now to have more figures on your team than you have actions in your pool. I’m averaging five or six figures on a 300-point team now, which is a noticeable shift in the game from even a year ago.
So with all those pieces, mobility becomes even more important to your team. How do your team in position without burning up all of your actions? The answer – Taxis.
What is it?
A taxi is a piece who carries other pieces around. This might be someone who’s only job is to carry others (e.g. SFSM Overdrive) or it might be someone who can carry others but also fills other roles (e.g. TW Superman).
Characters with the Wing symbol for movement can carry with a -2 movement penalty.- Anyone can carry one figure smaller than them (e.g. a standard sized character can carry a tiny sized character) with no movement penalty.
- Vehicles can carry a designated number of passengers with no movement penalty (Unfortunately, there isn’t a Heroclix Yellow Cab yet).
A taxi lets you get your team into position without using up your precious actions on extra movement.
A figure who is carried doesn’t get an action token for it. This has major tactical significance! Offensively, you can carry up an attacker instead of giving them a move action so they’re fresh next turn. Defensively, you can carry a figure who already has two tokens out of the fight so they aren’t left defenseless.
What Makes a Great Taxi?
- Low Point Cost – If you are going to have a figure devoted to carrying your attackers into battle, make sure you leave enough points for some attackers.
- Carry Multiples – Some figures can carry more than one friendly figure. These powers often trigger off matching keywords, but not always. Take advantage of that!
- Sidestep – Sidestep lets a character move as a free action with a locked movement of two. Because it’s a locked value, Sidestep isn’t reduced by carrying someone. Since it’s a free action, you can do it every turn.
- Phasing/Teleport – Phasing/Teleport helps your taxi go wherever you want and drop your pieces right where you want them.
- Support Powers – Taxis are often taking their actions to move people and moving other pieces keeps them close to the action. Free action support powers like Probability Control, Perplex, and Outwit make your taxi useful once you show up to the fight.
- Ignoring Combat Symbols – Fliers can’t carry other fliers. However, some taxis (like WOL104 Guy Gardner) ignore combat symbols. This makes more of your pieces eligible to be carried and thus opens up your options.
Some of my personal favorites are SFSM029 Overdrive, FLFF003 Mirror Master, WOL104 Guy Gardner, AVAS037 Manifold, and ASM019 Vulture.
Taxis have always been important in Heroclix, but I think they’re becoming even more important as point costs go down. Make the most of your actions – bring a taxi!