Auggies Fire Elemental Squad Custom Contest Poll D

[boromir96]

Welcome to Auggies Fire Elemental Squad Custom Contest Poll D!

Please vote for the entry you feel best fulfills the following:
1.Is the entry Completely compatible with official HS game mechanics and rules?
2.Does the entry seem balanced pointwise?
3. Is the wording of the powers Competely compatible with official wording
4.Does the entry bring out the theme of the Mini?

Please Remember
Consider your vote carefully. I want the winning card to be the Best one here. Read them carefully, and decide whether or not it fits the criteria above. Also, Just because an entry is different, that doesn't make it better. For instance, there are several "Lesser Fire Elementals" cards, and only one "Lava Flickers". That doesn't mean it's Better.
The design that gets the most votes will proceed to the next round. In the event of a tie for top spot, all cards in the tie will proceed to the next round.

Contest Detail and Rules

Entry 1

______________________________________________________________

Entry 2


______________________________________________________________

Entry 3


______________________________________________________________

Entry 4


______________________________________________________________

Entry 5

Spoiler Alert!

Balance: Comparing Lesser Fire Elementals to a similar 3-man common 30 point squad, the Marrden Nagrubs, brought me to this result:
Size, defense, move, range, and life are equal. Attack is one more, but the Lesser Fire Elementals are less mobile without the Climb x2. Lesser Fire Elementals Lava Resist is about at par with Hivelord Life Bonding, leaving just the Flame Disperse and Evaporate. Since Evaporate is a power that weakens the Lesser Fire Elementals, they are just about even with Marrden Nagrubs, worth 30 points.

The powers are clear and understandable, Lava Resistance is taken word for word from the Fire Elemental, and half of Evaporate is taken from another of Fire Elementals special powers. Lesser Fire Elementals can be activated by Kurrok the Elementalist, activating one, two, or three of them, in combination with the other elementals. They can also be brought back to life by Kurrok, adding something new to the elemental army.

These Lesser Fire Elementals fill a role in the game similar to Deathwalker 7000, you send them out to get engaged and they explode when they die. Unlike Deathwalker 7000, they can actually dish out some damage from attacks, being a common squad. However, they do not get to choose when to explode, and their weak defense makes it so they can easily be set off before getting close to the enemy, especially against ranged armies.

Overall these Lesser Fire Elementals are balanced and add new things to the game, good to be used in the Elemental army or with other armies. Thank you for considering my entry!

[awesomeunleashed]

Boromir! I thought you said the winner would be announced on the 10th! How can that happen when this is the only poll that ends on the 7th, the others end on the 10th!

You had better go beg an Admin to change when these polls end...

Edit: Okay, Poll E ends on the 7th, but that wasn't up when I posted this...

[boromir96]

Originally Posted by awesomeunleashed

Boromir! I thought you said the winner would be announced on the 10th! How can that happen when this is the only poll that ends on the 7th, the others end on the 10th!

You had better go beg an Admin to change when these polls end...

Edit: Okay, Poll E ends on the 7th, but that wasn't up when I posted this...

Yup I realized that halfway through
I made an announcement in this thread.
http://www.heroscapers.com/community...95#post1602795

[Yodaking]

If #1 followed the Wolves pounce attack precedent and required one of the two units to die I would be much more interested in it. As it stands now you can just use the special attack on your own lava resistant units to move up a hill for free.

I like the direction of #2, with the Moltarn/Obsidian Guard tie ins. Restricting the adjacent Molten Lava spaces power to only water makes it much more playable then the one in poll A, and gives the Obsidian Guards more places to use their ranged attack from.

Crackling flames seems like too much to me. A common squad that automatically regenerates two members every round? Good luck beating these guys at end game with only a 1 attack melee hero left. The Flaring Horde power is a nice way to separate them from Kurrok though.

Flare is a nice twist on the exploding spiders idea from the D&D master set. The original power was limited to just 3 skulls per turn and required the activation of a hero figure though so the drow had to already be moved into place. This one could result in 6 skulls and lets you move them into position on the same turn, for less points.

Like the blowing up when killed idea of #5. Always thought that was the way the robot bomb should have played, when destroyed the bomb goes off.

[awesomeunleashed]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

Crackling flames seems like too much to me. A common squad that automatically regenerates two members every round? Good luck beating these guys at end game with only a 1 attack melee hero left. The Flaring Horde power is a nice way to separate them from Kurrok though.

I don't know if you noticed, but that's not what the power says. If you kill all the other guy's Fire Elementals, he can't revive any more LFEs.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by awesomeunleashed

I don't know if you noticed, but that's not what the power says. If you kill all the other guy's Fire Elementals, he can't revive any more LFEs.

So they can't be placed next to lesser fire elementals then, just the medium fire elemental from the D&D wave. That does change things a bit.

[lefton4ya]

1 - I kinda like this one. The movement part of its SA is nice, but I think the explosion attack style adjacent attacks of 3 might be overpowering in a common squad.
2 - might be very balanced squad, don't know how I feel about being attached to Obsidian Guards.
3 - From wording it seems like you can ressurect 2 units PER each FE still on the board which would make them invincible until all FE are destroyed, but even a max of 2 a round is too much
4 - I like the flare power (similar to Poll C's Blaze of Glory), but don't like a unit to have 4 powers although the last 2 are short and negligable.
5 - I like the unit overall, but 30 might be cheap.

[Lostfan04]

Hmm. The majority of the entries are interesting. Tough. Here's what I'ma thinking.

Entry 1) I'd have liked something a little more original, considering that this is a custom contest, but what this one seems to have going for it is the points r balanced.

Entry 2) Boiling water is uber-powerful, and I'm not certain its as balanced as entry 1. + the card doesn't look all that good. Just my opinion, and I'm not trying to be offensive, but:

Spoiler Alert!

Entry 3) The language on Crackling flames confuses me a little, does one get to place 2 elementals adjacent to each figure, or just 2 for any 1 figure? Maybe its just me. I also think the last power wasn't needed, the species could have just been changed to something else so Kurrok doesn't get to take a turn with them. But it looks like a solid squad, for the most part.

Entry 4) This is on the fence for me. Everything seems to go together nicely, there aren't really any redundant powers, and the theme looks fine to me, but pricing might be a tad off. Considering you only get 3 figures for 40 points though, and they are meant to die, I don't think its much a problem.

Entry 5) This one seems the most balanced, but I'm a stickler for theme. Somethign seems off here.

Like I said, tough decision... meh.

[White Knight]

My comments

General Comment: I know that some people (such as some of the SoV judges ) don't like 4 special abilites on one card. But it's not a written rule, and this squad is one that makes sense to have 4.

#1 - A combined moved of 8 (4 Move + 4 for Leaping Flame, or 5 if you place the Spark E on the far side of the figure) seems like a lot for such a little figure. And since the FE's only have a move of 5, they just seem a little fast. On the other hand, it will take a while to get them into attack distance to use Leaping Flame. (I really need to read the card more carefully.

OK, I like Leaping Flame better now--it's definitely more thematic. It definately helps a slow squad with low stats get into position to attack faster. I think the points should be lower, or the defense a little higher. These elementals will have a hard time against range.

#2 - I like how they improve the Obsidian Guards, and I like how they can be reborn when an Obsidian Guard is destroyed. But the Obsidian Embers seem too strong for the leftover remains of an OG. After all, OG aren't hot enough to turn water spaces to lava. Also, these guys look like small Fire Elementals, not small OGs.

#3 - Crackling Flames seems kind of strong.
With a 400 point army:
5x Fire Elementals (spread out in your starting zone)
3x Lesser Fire Elementals

You place all your Order Markers on your LFE's. At the end of the round, you place 2 LFEs next to each FE--allowing you to bring back all 3 squads of LFE's to battle again. Your opponent's goal will be to take out your FE's, bringing them close to your LFE's (and allowing you 3 attacks of 3 on most turns).

However, the LFE's aren't that strong, so this army might not be as strong as I think. And some playtesting would help evaluate this better. It does change the whole strategy, since it forces the battle at your start zone.

#4 - A move of 6 seems fast for such little figures. And I don't think that Leaping Flames adds a lot. Flare seems powerful, but you're destroying a Flare at the same time so I think it would even out. They might be a perfect counter to a Deathreavers screen.

#5 - Again, a move of 6 seems like a lot for tiny flames. But this isn't a great melee squad (3 figures, 3 attack, 2 defense), so they need the speed to get adjacent to figures. Deathwalkers need to avoid these things.

[awesomeunleashed]

Originally Posted by White Knight

My comments

General Comment: I know that some people (such as some of the SoV judges ) don't like 4 special abilites on one card. But it's not a written rule, and this squad is one that makes sense to have 4.

As long as the powers are shortish, it does have an official precedent in Sonya.

[White Knight]

Originally Posted by awesomeunleashed

As long as the powers are shortish, it does have an official precedent in Sonya.

I really like dok's Zog card, so I was disappointed when the SoV voted it down for review mostly because it had 4 powers.

[Son of Arathorn]

Originally Posted by White Knight

I really like dok's Zog card, so I was disappointed when the SoV voted it down for review mostly because it had 4 powers.

. I personally see nothing wrong with 4 powers, but I'm put off by the idea of anything above that, Somebody should create something of a doppleganger, but with less powers. With dok's permission, of course...