The Holocron of Admiral Ozzel

[Tai-Pan]

The Holocron of Admiral Ozzel

HoSS Public Design #4
Public Expansion 2: Heroes of Hoth

The figure used for this unit is a Star Wars figure from the Force Unleashed set. Its model number and name are #29/Admiral Ozzel.

Alternate Hoth-themed cards

Spoiler Alert!

PDF

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Character Bio - Ozzel was charged with leading Vader's Death Squadron in the search for the headquarters of the Rebel Alliance. Some saw Ozzel as the Sith Lord's equal, but in actuality, he was nothing more than a figurehead—the true power rested in Vader's hands. Ozzel's personality more than often put him at odds with Vader, who considered him inept. Thus, when a probe droid relayed data of a settlement on the supposedly-uninhabited planet Hoth, Ozzel disagreed with Vader's assertion that they had found the Rebel base. The Sith Lord overruled the admiral and ordered the Executor and Death Squadron to the Hoth system. Ozzel attempted to surprise the Alliance by bringing the fleet out of hyperspace near Hoth rather than approach from the system's outskirts, but the tactical blunder only bought the Alliance time to raise their base's energy shield and evacuate the world. Having tired of Ozzel's incompetence, Vader telekinetically executed the admiral.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-
• N/A
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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received:
Classic:
• N/A

HoSS:
• GRAND MOFF TARKIN : Imperial Deployment
Being a figure that follows the Galactic Empire, Admiral Ozzel may benefit from Grand Moff Tarkin's IMPERIAL DEPLOYMENT special power.

• IMPERIAL ROYAL GUARDS : Protection Detail/Make Way For the Emperor
Being a Unique Hero that follows the Galactic Empire, Admiral Ozzel may benefit from the Imperial Royal Guard's PROTECTION DETAIL/MAKE WAY FOR THE EMPEROR special power.

C3V, SoV & Marvel:
• N/A

Synergy Benefits Offered:
Classic:
• N/A

HoSS:
• SURPRISE ATTACK : All Common Squad figures who follow the Galactic Empire
All Common Squad figures who follow the Galactic Empire may benefit from Admiral Ozzel's SURPRISE ATTACK special power. Current Common Squad figures that follow the Galactic Empire include: Death Star Troopers, Snowtroopers and Stormtroopers.

C3V, SoV & Marvel:
• N/A
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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-
• TBA
-Power Rankings-
• TBA
-Heroscapers Community Contributions-
• First playtest: Tai-Pan
• Second playtest: TREX
• Third playtest: Tai-Pan
• Fourth playtest: Koolster25
• Art by: Mac122

[Tai-Pan]

Admiral Ozzel
Galactic Empire
Human
Unique Hero
Admiral
Overconfident
MEDIUM 5

Life 4
Move 5
Range 6
Attack 2
Defense 2
Points 70

SURPRISE ATTACK
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Admiral Ozzel in which he attacked an opponent's figure, you may reveal an 'X' Order Marker on this card and roll the 20-sided die.
If you roll 1-10, you may take a turn with one Common Squad you control that follows the Galactic Empire. All opponent's figures attacked during this turn may add 2 dice to their defense.
If you roll 11-20, you may take a turn with up to two Common Squads you control that follows the Galactic Empire. Figures moved using Surprise Attack may add 2 to their move. Figures may only take a turn once each time Surprise Attack is used.

[Tai-Pan]

Design Notes

Goal: Admiral Ozzel is a character with relatively short presence in Empire Strikes Back. As such, there's not a lot to go from, but in order to achieve a thematic feeling, the character needs to reflect what little we know of him. Aspects of his character from Expanded Universe sources may appear in the design, but the main focus should be on the official canon appearance.

Relevant Information from the film: After disagreeing with Vader about the find on Hoth (he doesn't think it's the Rebel Base), Ozzel attempts an ambush in the attack on Hoth, but it fails. He is then executed by Vader for his incompetence.

Design Goals: I would like to shoot for a figure that has a high chance of having Vader choke him for failing him. I would also like to incorporate the idea of an ambush that might go wrong. Other than that, Ozzel is an Admiral in the Imperial Navy and would be a good candidate for any kind of leadership powers.





Initial thoughts:
4 Life
5 Move
7 Range
2 Attack
2 Defense

SURPRISE ATTACK
After taking a turn with Admiral Ozzel in which he attacked an enemy figure, you may reveal the X Order Marker on this card and choose 6 Common Squad figures you control that follow the Galactic Empire and take a turn with those figures. Before taking a turn with the chosen figures, you must roll the 20-sided die..
Roll the 20-sided die.
1-8 All opponent's figures attacked during this turn may add 2 to their defense.
9-16 All figures you control may add 2 to their move for this turn.
17+ All figures you control may add 2 to their move and 1 to their attack for this turn.

This ability reflects Ozzel's attempt to surprise the Rebels on Hoth. There's a chance that the enemy will be alerted of the suprise attack and be better prepared to defend, a chance that Ozzel's forces will be able to further surprise their opponents by having a boosted move, possibly striking targets the enemy thought safe and out of range, and a chance that the Imperials will be able to surprise their enemies with boosted move and have the element of surprise on their side, boosting the effectiveness of their attack. The fact that he has to attack before he can give the order for an ambush increases his chances of being targeted for Vader's "You have failed me" power.

[Yodaking]

I like the theme and direction you have going with the first power. The second one I'm not as sure about. It does seem as though giving him only 1 attack die to roll is the easiest way to trigger the Vader choke, but double skulls seems off for him. I'll think on it a bit and see if I can come up with any ideas on how to trigger the force choke more often in a different way.

[Koolster25]

I like the first power a lot. I think he should have better base stats than the Imperial Officer's since he is, after all, and Admiral, but I also think it would thematic for him to be frequently choked. Maybe a power where he is nervous around Sith Lords and rolls fewer dice, or blanks remove skulls, etc. His attack could be boosted with the chance to be weakened in place of the Imperial Marksmanship.

[Tai-Pan]

I think I would go for 2 attack and no second (or maybe just a different) special ability then. That still is a 25% chance of getting choked, which might also be more playable than half the time.

I also just upped his range. It occured to me while running around today that a range of 5 for such a fragile figure is rough, and he has to attack in order to activate the surprise attack. Still want to have this guy playable, as much as it would be thematic for him to just really not be good.

[TREX]

I would give him some kind of incentive to being close to a guy like vader, so he is more likely to fail within vaders choke range. As for me, I love to play vader, but generally keep my unique heroes away from him, especially the weaker attackers. I love theme, but if this guy is here just to be vaders chokie toy, he probably wont get drafted.

[Koolster25]

Maybe something like:

Cowardice
If Admiral Ozzel is within 4 spaces of a friendly Sith Lord, he has no visible hit zone.

What I was going for was a power where he cowers from the enemies when there is a strong ally around. I wrote this pretty quickly so it's not 100% what I was going for but I hope it conveys the idea I had. Feel free to critique since I won't be able revise this until this afternoon and you might be able to say what I was thinking in a better way.

[Porkins]

Originally Posted by TREX

I love theme, but if this guy is here just to be vaders chokie toy, he probably wont get drafted.

I agree, but that's why Surprise Attack is there.

[Sheep]

I like that power, Koolster. I'll give my full thoughts later but I like where this figure can go.

[Tai-Pan]

Originally Posted by TREX

I love theme, but if this guy is here just to be vaders chokie toy, he probably wont get drafted.

THIS should be a guideline all throughout the design. Yeah, the most memorable thing Ozzel did was make a mistake and get killed, but a figure that is only there to suck and die is not going to add much to the world of Scape.

That is one reason why I would tend to lean away from more negative abilities other than the botched surprise attack and a low attack value combined with the necessity of the attack to make surprise attack work.

And concerning keeping him close to Vader, I think that would be trying to bend the design too much to make the choke happen. This unit is a standalone unit and shouldn't be tied in too much to Vader's (first!) design. I'd like to have him end up as a likely candidate for choke if he's within range, but that's as far as I'd go with this kind of "negative synergy".

Let's direct our thoughts more towards if we would like to expand Ozzel thematically and if so, how. Maybe we could get some ideas when we look at the support functions of Imperial Leadership so far:

Vader - subtracts defense from enemies
Tarkin - subtracts initiative from enemies and helps move friendlies
Veers - OM management for vehicles, light bonding
Imperial Officer - Regeneration for squads, range boost
Ozzel with only ambush - bonding with mixed results (boosted move, boosted attack, or plus defense for enemy)



Further topic for discussion: 1 or 2 defense boost for alerted enemies for the botched ambush?

[Yodaking]

I kind of like Koolsters Cowardice suggestion and was thinking along the same lines myself. Give him a good reason to be within 4 spaces of a Sith Lord, then when he is played with Sith Lords that are not Vader 1.0 it is not a negative power at all and when played with Vader 1.0 it is only partially negative. Then give him 2 attack so the no skull roll only happens about 25% of the time. The lower risk would then make you feel as though you could take that risk, leading to an occasional Vader choke. He did rise up to the level of Admiral after all so it's not like he got himself Vader choked on a regular basis.

With Surprise Attack tied to the X OM reveal, I think you could bump up it's potential and effectiveness too. Maybe have him activate two different common squads, making him good at leading mixed unit armies. Or have him activate 6 common squad figures in total for a squad & 1/2 of Stormtroopers or two squads of DST. Then you could bump up the defense bonus to 2 when the surprise attack is botched to account for the additional attacks. Maybe lower the odds of a botched surprise attack down from 50% to 40%.