Sherman Davies' DC customs - Validus

[Sherman Davies]

I'm more of a Marvel guy (Marvelscape is actually what got me into Heroscape in the first place) but I do read my share of DC stuff. The fate of Marvelscape might be up in the air right now, but it's safe to say that DCscape will be a long time coming, if at all.

Now since I dabbled a bit in Heroclix back when it first came out, a superhero minis game is not complete to me without the DC characters, so I recently decided to begin making my own customs for them. I'll be sharing them here in this thread for anyone who wants to leave me feedback on them. I don't have as much chance to playtest figs as I'd like, so if you give them a try please, PLEASE let me know what you think, especially in terms of point cost.

Knockback house rule

INDEX:

Amanda Waller
Aquaman
Arkham Inmates
Bane
Batgirl (Barbara Gordon)
Batgirl (Cassandra Cain)
Batman
Beast Boy
Big Barda
Bizarro
Black Adam
Black Canary
Blackfire
Black Manta
Blue Beetle
Booster Gold
Captain Cold
Captain Marvel
Catwoman
Checkmate Knights
Cheetah
Clayface
Commissioner Gordon
Cyborg
Darkseid
Deadshot
Deathstroke
Doctor Fate
Etrigan
Fire
Firestorm
Flash
GCPD Cops
Gorilla Grodd
Green Arrow
Green Lantern (Guy Gardner)
Green Lantern (Hal Jordan)
Green Lantern (John Stewart)
Green Lantern (Kilowog)
Harley Quinn
Hawkgirl
Hawkgirl (JLU)
Hawkman
Huntress
Ice
Joker
Jonah Hex
Kid Flash
Killer Croc
Lady Shiva
Lashina
LexCorp Guards
Lex Luthor
Man-Bat
Manhunters
Martian Manhunter
Maxima
MCU Detectives
Mister Freeze
Mister Miracle
Nightwing
Poison Ivy
Power Girl
Ra's al Ghul
Raven
Robin (Dick Grayson)
Robin (Tim Drake)
Scarecrow
Sgt. Rock
Sinestro
Solomon Grundy
Starfire
Steel
Street Thugs
Supergirl
Superman
Tommy Monaghan
Troia
Two-Face
Validus
Wonder Girl
Wonder Woman
Zoom

CHAS' CUSTOMS:

Bouncing Boy
Brainiac 5
Cosmic Boy
Doctor Mid-Nite
Lightning Lad
Phantom Girl
Saturn Girl
Shadow Lass
Timber Wolf
Ultra Boy

[ABOMINATION]

They all look really awesome, but if I were you I would make Batman a little bit more powerful, him being the Darkknight and all. Still your great at making customs. Keep up the good work.

[Sherman Davies]

Thanks - like I said, I haven't had a chance to playtest them yet, so you may be right about Batman. Hopefully I'll have an opportunity next week.

Anyway, here are a few more I came up with.







I may adjust the point values or abilities based on input and playtesting, and if I do I'll try and update the original pics.

[Sherman Davies]

So I had a chance to playtest a few of my customs the other day, specifically Batman, Robin (Dick Grayson), Superman, Clayface and Zoom. It ended up being a great 1000-point game against a mixed Marvel/Classicscape army consisting of Captain America, Silver Surfer, Dr. Doom, the Airborne Elite and Agent Carr. The game was very close, coming down to my custom Robin vs. Captain America with one wound left. Statistically, Robin should've lost but bad dice rolling on Cap's part gave Robin enough time to put that last wound on him and I won. It helped me get a little bit closer to accurate costing for those figures, as well as showed me some powers that needed to be tweaked or re-worded. I've updated the original pics for those figures in the original post, as well as added Zoom, who's new to the list.

For anyone who cares, Robin's cost has dropped from 110 to 70, Batman's dropped from 210 to 190 and Superman's from 390 to 380 (I played them using the lower costs). Superman's inspire power now requires a clear line of sight, but has no range limit, much like Red Skull's command ability. I also upped his heat vision's Attack to 4. There are some other changes but they're all cosmetic (Batman's background is more to my liking now that I know how to use GIMP a little better - thanks, whitestuff!).

Since the game was so close and neither of us had especially good or bad luck I think they are that much closer to being "final drafts" of the figures, but it'll probably take at least one more game with them for me to be confident of their fairness and playability. Again, if anyone here wants to comment on them - or better yet, has played with them - please lemme know.

[Onacara]

Your NYPD detectives are in my custom group but they are Mulder and Scully...and I have an extra of the male figure who is now Chuck Norris

[Sherman Davies]

How many points is Chuck Norris worth?

[Onacara]

Originally Posted by Sherman Davies

How many points is Chuck Norris worth?

I didn't make a card for him yet....most of my customs have no cards yet...I guess I am waiting for the plug to be pulled on the game itself and then I will start making cards

[Sherman Davies]

Well they're not Chuck Norrises, but I came up with some cards to round out my Officer faction. Here they are:



And here's their fearless leader:



And what would cops be without criminals?

[Sherman Davies]

Well, I already had Robin and Starfire, so I thought I'd add some more Teen Titans to fill out the team:







And just so they have someone to fight...

[S1R_ART0R1US]

I like the Street Thugs. I really think that MArvel needs some Common squads, and yours are pretty cool.

[hi1hi1hi1hi1]

Hey these are some pretty sweet customs. It stinks that you hit this forum when everyone seems to be away and haven't got much feedback. I'll try to help...

BATMAN
- I would change the wording on Strategist to be a little more concise and less awkward: "After rolling for intiative and before anyone takes a turn, you may choose any Order Marker on any opponent's Army Card and that opponent must reveal it to you."
- Grapple Line 3 should start "Instead of moving normally..." to be more official.
- Points-wise I'd say 190 is a little expensive. I think Spider-Man would hand it to Batman in a fight. Spider-Man has a slightly better movement ability but a little worse special attack. However, Spider-Man's Spider Sense makes him incredibly hard to kill. Spider-Man's a 4/4 so worse than Batman's 5/5, but I think Spider Sense makes up for it. I'd say drop Batman to 170 because of Strategist.

CLAYFACE
- I might say "above or below" instead of "higher or lower than" in Pliable Body but that's just personal preference.
-Points-wise, again in comparison to Spider-Man I think Peter wins. Drop of 10-20 points I'd say.

HAWKGIRL
- Good all around. Officer is a bit awkward though I don't know much about her. Probably would have used Warrior or Protector, or Lawman if I wanted Officer but to stay in line with officials.

MAN-BAT
- I like Fly-By Attack, but it could be simplified a bit. "If Man-Bat did not use all his movement, he may finish moving after attacking." Ehh, it's still a little awkward.
- Points look good, maybe a tad bit (5-10) cheap because of his hit and run potential. You'd have to see how that plays out.

ROBIN
- Grapple Line should be Grapple Line 3 and "Instead of moving normally..."
- 70 still seems a bit high, but Acrobat is a good power. I think against anyone with a special attack, Robin is going to fall easily.

Hope that helps!

[Sherman Davies]

Originally Posted by hi1hi1hi1hi1

Hey these are some pretty sweet customs. It stinks that you hit this forum when everyone seems to be away and haven't got much feedback. I'll try to help...

Hey, I appreciate any feedback I can get. Thanks.

Originally Posted by hi1hi1hi1hi1

BATMAN
- I would change the wording on Strategist to be a little more concise and less awkward: "After rolling for intiative and before anyone takes a turn, you may choose any Order Marker on any opponent's Army Card and that opponent must reveal it to you."
- Grapple Line 3 should start "Instead of moving normally..." to be more official.
- Points-wise I'd say 190 is a little expensive. I think Spider-Man would hand it to Batman in a fight. Spider-Man has a slightly better movement ability but a little worse special attack. However, Spider-Man's Spider Sense makes him incredibly hard to kill. Spider-Man's a 4/4 so worse than Batman's 5/5, but I think Spider Sense makes up for it. I'd say drop Batman to 170 because of Strategist.

Good advice on the wording for Strategist. As for the Grapple wording, I took the wording from Spidey's Swing Line ability and Sgt. Drake's Grapple, which begin with "Instead of a normal move..."

I do agree with you about the cost (wouldja believe I originally had him at 210 points with the exact same stats and abilities?). I've actually already been testing Batman at 170 points after comparing him to Sgt. Drake (SotM), who's widely considered to be a fairly costed figure. I haven't been updating the pics every time I change something on the cards - it's just too much trouble. I figure I'll update pics when I'm happy enough to have a "final draft."

Originally Posted by hi1hi1hi1hi1

CLAYFACE
- I might say "above or below" instead of "higher or lower than" in Pliable Body but that's just personal preference.
-Points-wise, again in comparison to Spider-Man I think Peter wins. Drop of 10-20 points I'd say.

Yeah, Clayface will be a tough one to judge, as is any figure with an ability new to Heroscape. I've only played with him once, so I'll definitely have to keep working with him.

Originally Posted by hi1hi1hi1hi1

HAWKGIRL
- Good all around. Officer is a bit awkward though I don't know much about her. Probably would have used Warrior or Protector, or Lawman if I wanted Officer but to stay in line with officials.

I chose Officer because she and Hawkman are police officers from an alien planet. I didn't think of using Lawman, but I had plans for Officer Bonding when I designed her. I suppose changing all my Officers to Lawmen would help them fit in with regular Heroscape a bit better, not to mention Lawman Bonding might help them see more action. Something to think about...

Originally Posted by hi1hi1hi1hi1

ROBIN
- 70 still seems a bit high, but Acrobat is a good power. I think against anyone with a special attack, Robin is going to fall easily.

Hope that helps!

Yeah, this version of Robin is presenting more of a challenge than I thought he would. Next time I playtest him I'll be trying him at 60 points, much like Shiori. He is vulnerable to special attacks, but them's the breaks in a superpowered world. He's meant more as a distraction for thugs and low-powered figures than as a counter to gods. (He's designed to be in line with the fanboy theory that Batman dressed Robin up like that to be a moving target for machine guns. ) I'm also worried that allowing Acrobat to work against special attacks would be a bit broken. Who knows?

Again, thanks for the input. It's given me a bunch to think about.