Customs based on Official Unit Stats, aka Proxies

[RageAngel]

I looked but don't think this has been addressed.

My playgroup (ok family) doesn't play with certain figures for thematic or appearance issues. Lots of young players. (Warning: let's not discuss this again here or I'll point out the hypocrisy of not mixing Marvel and Classic )

Since I am concerned about balance, my first crack at customs will probably be to replicate the "gross/evil" figs with other minis, then apply their rules.

For instance, Ne-go-sa (or whatever, the Marro hero in RoTV) might make a good Emperor Palpatine - Order 66 as "Mind Shackle" and high defense, high life gives him that staying power. Not a perfect fit, but pretty close.

Any other ideas for figures in general (even those NOT on my list?)

The ones I am looking to replace include:

All Marro
Minions of Utgar
Anubian Wolves
Zombies
The Vampires from Wave 7
Sudema


... and I think that's about it.

Thought of doing the Minions as Nazgul, but not sure about getting figs for that....

[RageAngel]

Well, *cough*... quiet in here...

Based on some ideas from the scale thread, I ordered a replacement Taelord and some minions. $15 shipped for 2 squads of "minions" and a Taelord! LOL

Taelord (MK Guardian Sphinx): http://store.yahoo.com/yhst-37226379...mk-nx-022.html

Minions (MK Scale Servants - I plan to add Einar Imperium Wings):
http://store.gamingetcstore.com/mk-dg-40.html

[Lotus]

Might I ask why the Wolves?

The others I can understand for family issues, but the wolves?

Anyways, perhaps if your family enjoys Narnia, then try to find some Satyr and Centaur figures, they are out there, though in prepaints your options are limited.

[RageAngel]

It's a hard line to draw, to be honest. THe wolves I thought I might do, but they are a bit too much like Werewolves. And you really need Khosumet to use them well, as a darklord... rather not get into questions about what his name means just yet!

I know, it's fantasy wargaming after all but since the oldest player is 7 other than myself, I want to try to keep it... well, tamer.

The marro, as many people have commented, are creepy. And that's good for many players also. My wife REALLY doesn't like the vampires, although I love the mechanics of their cards.

But we did keep the deathstalkers... They're just cyborg wolves after all.

Narnia, LOTR, Mossflower are fantasy worlds they are familiar with or soon will be... even if only through the books (LOTR movies are bit much until they are older) I thought of replacing the Minions with Nazgul, but the lizard people were cheaper and more readily available.

But otehr than for people like me (if there are others doing this) swapping out the minis or using proxies is a good way to add variety or fill in the gaps until you can get the official pieces you are seeking.

[Amaranthine]

Originally Posted by RageAngel

It's a hard line to draw, to be honest. THe wolves I thought I might do, but they are a bit too much like Werewolves.

I think I had read the "Wolfman" book in the school library by that age. I believe I thought werewolves (and zombies and vampires, etc) were cool.

And you really need Khosumet to use them well, as a darklord... rather not get into questions about what his name means just yet!

dark + lord = bad guy leader? Or does Khosumet itself mean something other than "suboptimal unique hero"?

As a possible sub for the wolves, you could just get several cheap soldier- or viking-type figures and then use the most impressive of them as Khosumet and the others as the "Anubian Wolf" berserker squad. If you are creating new cards or simply not using any (I assume the graphics on the cards are similarly distasteful) the "darklord" title can simply be changed to "wolflord", as I don't believe there are any mechanics that reference darklord anyway (maybe in wave 8?!).

[Aldin]

Originally Posted by RageAngel

All Marro
Anubian Wolves
Zombies
The Vampires from Wave 7
Sudema

Marro Warriors = Clone Troopers
Marro Drones = Gungans? Ewoks?
Marro Stingers = Men in Black
Marro Drudge = ? Swamp affinity is a tough sell - you might go Ewoks here, or Special Forces.
Wolves = Narnia Wolves
Khosumet = Fenris Ulf (if I recall the name correctly)
Zombies = Golems
Sudema = Medusa (is mythology okay?) or perhaps Rogue (though there may very well eventually be a real Rogue)
Vampires = got nothing here

~Aldin, associatingly

[Aldin]

I have deleted a sidebar conservation that did not belong in this thread.

~Aldin, tiredly

[ArgosCap]

Well, I'm not sure what you would consider "family friendly" or not, but I had a similar idea. You see, I've got tons of Heroclix that can be used in the game, and I like themes and variety, but I prefer the balanced stats of existing characters. Now that I understand the mechanics of the game a little better, I use the Heroscape Matchup Calculator to adjust "official stats" in a way that makes more sense to the characters I'm using. But I don't suggest doing that unless you really understand the statistical mechanics of the game, because certain things can be misleading.

Anyway, back to your topic. Here are a few easy "proxy" characters to replace the ones you mentioned. I just made cards for these characters by changing the name, the ability's name, and the personality and type for the following characters.

Sudema can be: Electro (Spider Man Villain), several cheap Heroclix versions of him are easy to get hold of.

Power Name: High Voltage Special Attack
Type: Criminal
Personality: Egomaniacal
Fights For: Sinister Six

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Sudema can be: Black Canary (Green Arrow's girlfriend). Several cheap versions of Black Canary exist in Heroclix.

Power Name: Canary Cry Special Attack
Type: Crime Fighter
Personality: Valiant
Fights For: Justice League

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Just to complete the duo, you can use Deadeye Dan's Stats for Green Arrow. Several cheap versions of Green Arrow exist in Heroclix.

Power Name: Trick Shot, Deadly Accuracy.
Type: Crime Fighter
Personality: Arrogant
Fights For: Justice League

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Marro Dragon - Wonder Woman (okay, I did more customization for the magic lasso thing, but the basic feel of the character is there, with the dragon's raw stats). The only balance issue is the size difference between these two characters, but keep in mind that size has both advantages and disadvantages, and I think it evens out pretty well.

Power Name: Leadership (helps other Justice League Members).
Type: Champion
Personality: Valiant
Fights For: Justice League
Race: Amazon

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Krugg - Wolverine - I customized his healing ability, but this gives you the basic feel of the character.

Power Name: Double Attack, Fury.
Type: Warrior
Personality: Wild
Fights For: X-Men
Race: Human Mutant

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Marro Warriors - pick up four "Hydra Agents" from heroclix. The only thing is that in Marvel Comics, these guys have a relationship with Nazi characters (though they are not Nazis themselves), but your kids don't need to know anything about that.

Power Name: Recruit Another Head. I would change the "water" condition to "inside the fortress" using the castle as their fortress.
Type: Criminals
Personality: Relentless
Fights For: Hydra

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Marro Stingers - I used a trio of "Brutes" from Halo Action Clix, and called their ability "Berserkers." Brutes are Ape-like creatures in armor. Not sure if they are scary to little ones.

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To enhance the Halo theme, you can use Major Q10's stats for Master Chief or a "Spartan Warrior" (the guys in red and blue armor). Just give each ability the name of a different weapon in the game.

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Khosumet could be ANY warrior-like leader with a melee attack. I would use a cheap Mage Knight character like Prieskan Barbarian or Dwarven Beserker or Amir. Then, he needs an aggresive squad to lead, with the Wolves crazy attack ability. Maybe use Prieskan Barbarian as the leader and a trio of Dwarven Berserkers as the wolves. Change the names in the abilities as appropriate.

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For Cyprien, I use the "Nightfiend" from Mage Knight and call him "Dracula." I don't know if that is any less scary."

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For Ne-Gok-Sa, I use "Vampire Enforcer" from Horrorclix, and call his ability "Vampire Bite." Plus, you can lower his Life by 3, and give him the "Life Drain" ability, which will probably allow him to make up 2 life points on average per game. This still probably isn't much less scary. But you can do the "opposite" with the other vampires too. Give them all 2 extra points of Life, and take away their life drain. Then you just have a bunch of flying characters.

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I don't know what you can do with the Zombies. They are pretty much just zombies. The fact that they come back to life when you kill someone else makes them inherently morbid.

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I don't know what you can do with the Minions. Can't think of a flying melee squad other than DC's Parademons, but I'm sure you don't like the name "Parademon." Taelord can be Lex Luthor. The latest and cheapest version of Luthor in Heroclix has him in a flight suit, and on a flight stand, so it makes sense.

Does this help? I've customized bout 200 characters using official stats, but there are only maybe a dozen that I didn't tweak. Let me know if you need suggestions for other "ugly" characters.

[Pallindromemaster]

I did something like this once. My friend wanted to have an all "creepy evil army" with wolves, zombies, Sudema, minions, vampires, etc. The problem was, he filled out the last 10 points with Isamu, whom he felt somewhat went against his "scary" theme. So we went to my box of D&D minis and got out a mini of similar height, but more at home with the rest of his army: Tiefling Warlock! The horns and stuff gave it a devilish look while the cloak and daggers helped fill in Isamu's vanish ability. As long as you aren't really strict about LOS, substituting is awesome. Also, for Sudema, maybe Emperor Palpatine with Force Lightning? The Marro Warriors could be replaced with Star Wars storm troopers or some other Horde type of soldier, with the cloning being reinforcements. Not really sure why water would help them clone, but I'm sure you could figure out a way around it. Maybe make them Gungan Warriors?

[ArgosCap]

I seriously doubt that line of site has a dramatic effect on point costing. I would venture to say no effect at all. There are advantages and disadvantages to height and size. It all works out about even. I'm pretty convinced that attack values have the biggest impact on costing, followed by Life and Defense. Speed and Range have a variable amount of importance to costing, depending on the figure's other characteristics, but even those attributes are significantly more important than the size or shape of the physical figure. I think size and shape has more value in terms of variety and flavor or "dressing." Plenty of that to be found using proxy figures.

[RageAngel]

Thanks for the ideas. I know there are some wolves in MK, if not I saw them in D&D or Dreamblade...

LOS is irrelevant if the figures are melee fighters. I agree, it is probably not factored into point value as it is treated very "relaxed" in the rules vs more competitive games like clix.

[RageAngel]

Actually wolves will be easy but not necessarily Cheap.

"Khosomet" http://store.gamingetcstore.com/dd-af-58.html

Wolves: http://store.gamingetcstore.com/hrbs-21.html or http://store.gamingetcstore.com/dd-ud-60.html

Maybe bats for the vampires? Just use bats and... well that really would make some other abilities not work. Why would a bat have eternal heartbreak?

Could use Man-Bat from Heroclix with different colored pants for the 4 vampires...lol.

Maybe some sort of Bounty Hunter... (not necessarily star wars, but someone who gets financial gain (used to resupply/self-heal) from the defeat of his targets.

Marcu could then be a Ronin bounty hunter... ooooh, that sounds cool. A Ronin bounty hunter with wings or a jetpack...

I'm not so much looking at changing abilities or stats, just creating appropriately-themed proxies.