Fantastic Four

## **Fantastic 4 Faction Strategy**

Marvel's first family has a lot of history and thematic allies to pull from. While the original four members is a really solid army, they have many different options for how to build and play them. While it may seem like it's an Adventurers + Scientists faction at first, that's sort of misleading as Mister Fantastic only offers bonding to Adventurers. The Scientist synergy on the rest of the family is just for Reed.

**Important Adventurers**

* Mister Fantastic - The entire reason to play this faction. His Leadership power is one of the best in C3G (if a little luck dependent), and you'll feel unstoppable when you're hitting 18+ a couple turns in a row. You want to put every Order Marker on Mister Fantastic and let him lead the rest of the figures. When he gets low on life you may consider putting some of your later Order Markers on other figures in case he falls, but you should default to piling them onto his card first.
* Invisible Woman - Undoubtedly the second most important figure in the faction. It's hard to leave home without Mister Fantastic and Invisible Woman. Her defensive boost is so important to keeping Reed alive and he can use his Rubber Wrap to keep key figures away from Sue. The synergy between these two is the backbone of any Adventurer army. You definitely want to keep her as far away from the opponent's army as possible (that's where Reed comes in to tie down pesky figures who get too close), but you also want to keep the entire family in range of her Defense boost.
* Human Torch - One of the best autowounders in the game. He's great at taking down figures with annoying defensive powers or just high defense by giving them two wounds at a time. Be careful when facing armies who can take control of your figures temporarily though, you really don't want Torch going Nova on your army... Never be afraid to take a leaving engagement attack to roll for Flame On, it's almost always correct to gamble on those.
* The Thing - Just your run of the mill beat-stick. If your opponent's leave any of your other figures heavily wounded but alive, Thing will be sure to make them regret it. Setting up the double attack of 10-11 dice is not as hard as you might think and general it makes short work of anyone who happens to be nearby.
* Spider-Man (Future Foundation) - A long time friend of the first family, Spider-Man gets the chance to step up when Human Torch is out. This design is a clean swap for Human Torch in the 1000 point family build when you feel like the autowounds from Human Torch aren't critical or you just want a little more positioning on the map.
* Silver Surfer - When The Thing alone isn't enough for the army you're facing, Silver Surfer is a tank of a design. Great at getting in a hit then moving just out of their range on the right maps too, Surfer can be a pain to deal with. Don't be afraid to burn a few Order Markers all in one turn if your opponent puts too many Order Markers on one card in the mid/late game, Surfer can take out tons of characters with a single hit.
* Crystal - Crystal and Human Torch were love interests for a while and Crystal filled in for Sue when she had her first child. Even though Crystal cannot replace the value Invisible Woman adds to Fantastic 4 armies, she does bring a lot to the table. She's got solid autowounding and board control with her Earth Shift, you can place the Outcrop in places you don't want your opponents to be able to camp and force them to avoid the area for as long as you leave the Outcrop there. She also has two solid Special Attacks which the Fantastic 4 is lacking on so keep Crystal in mind when those are an important counter to what your opponent is bringing to the table
* Stan Lee - It's really fitting that the Fantastic 4's creator works so well with them. You can make Stan Lee an Adventurer for theme, but he won't benefit from any of the synergies as an Event Hero. The real value is saving either Mister Fantastic or Invisible Woman from one big attack and keeping them alive as long as possible. If you have an extra 50 points in your army, Stan Lee is a slam dunk inclusion.

**Army Build Examples:**

700 Points

* **Fantastic Adventures in Babysitting**: Invisible Woman, Mister Fantastic, Zero-G, Mass Master, Lightspeed, Energizer

900 Points

* **Farcetastic 4**: Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Thing and Bombastic Bag-Man
* **Double Date**: Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, Crystal

1000 Points

* **Fantastic 4**: Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Human Torch, The Thing
* **Frostastic 4**: Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, Iceman, Silver Surfer
* **Future Foundation**: Mister Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, Spider-Man (Future Foundation)

**Important Links**

* Invisible Woman
* Human Torch-Johnny Storm
* Thing
* Spider-Man (Future Foundation)
* Crystal
* Silver Surfer
* Bombastic Bag-Man
* Rick Jones