Above the Storm: Part 1

This is the story of my trip to rAge. It starts, of course, two weeks before rAge. I was seriously thinking of quitting Heroclix. I was frustrated with loopholes in the rules, figures being inconsistently worded, and...entities. The less I say about those the better. There was also the fact that I just didn't like any of the Marvel sets, causing most people to think that I was actually a DC fan.

Which was why I had hardly looked at the Guardians of the Galaxy set. I really should have, because I've been a Guardians fan since I decided I needed more sci-fi and bought the first issue of Abnett and Lannning's Guardians of the Galaxy comic, and saw the misfits bungle their way to saving the galaxy, not because they wanted to, but because there was no one else. Well, actually, that's not entirely true, they were doing it due to Mantis exerting subtle mind-control on them, convincing them all that it was a good idea to follow Star-Lord (it really wasn't). But this is beside the point.

When the shoppe held the 'Win a Plane Ticket to Rage' tournament, I didn't really want to play. But someone had to open the door and run the till, and since I was doing that, I thought I may as well play because tournaments are always better with more people. When my sister asked what I'd do if won, I laughed and said 'I'm not going to win.'

And then I did.

So suddenly I was going to rAge. I needed a place to stay and a team. Fortunately I have family in Joburg, and my aunt and uncle were happy to not only give me a bed to sleep in, but transport and meals as well.

Next I needed a team. I can't quite remember how I came up with the Guardians team. I know I walked away from the plane ticket tournament owning only four. I must have decided Aleta cost too many points, which left me with just Angela, Mantis, and Major Victory (none of them were in the movie, because there is such a thing as too many characters). When I looked at their powers, it suddenly occurred to me that Vic and Mantis could get Angela across the entire map in one turn. That meant I could deal with the nasty Highfather team. There was enough room for a resource - and it had to be the Green Lantern because needed the willpower.

Getting across the map in one turn wasn't entirely necessary. No one really knew what the figures did, and the' usual' play was instead to make two attacks with Angela on my first turn. I practiced as much as I was able to with the team (which wasn't as much as I wanted to).

The only other problem was that I had never flown before, and I am scared of heights. Now people had told me that it wasn't the same - but none of them were scared of heights, so I didn't really believe them. As it turned out, I was in a middle seat, in a row that did not have a window, between a man who spent the trip reading his newspaper and a lady who slept the whole way. So the whole flying thing turned out to be rather disappointing.

Oh, and my flight was delayed by 20 minutes. Of course. And on that note...I'm out of time for now, and we haven't even gotten to Joburg yet. This will need a part 2.