Garada's Customs - 11/30 - Rocket Red White & Blue Mk II

[Garada]

It's time for a couple of new Hellboy baddies!





These two Army Cards are meant to be played together.

The basic story [I'll flesh it out more later]:

Major Vassili was supposed to be the first Russian on the moon. When Vassili, the only son of a large family, left his small Ukranian village in 1959 to join the Soviet space effort, he asked his sisters to await his return to get married.

In 1963, Major Vassili's rocket blasted into the heavens... then disappeared from all communications, never to be seen or heard from again. Upon hearing the news, all but one of his sisters were dead within 30 days, presumably from a broken heart. Their beloved brother Vassili was never coming home, and they would never marry.

Recently, Major Vassili's capsule returned to Earth, crash-landing in the Pacific Ocean. The only thing inside was his empty space suit. Shortly after the capsule was retrieved, people began seeing his suit walking around, and in it was a radiant green skeletal figure surrounded by a number of ghostly skeletal maidens!

What does Major Vassili want? Will he and his sisters ever find peace?

SEND IN THE B.P.R.D.!!!

- Garada

[Matt Helm]

You didn't just go there! These cards are an awesome pairing. I've been looking at those pieces for weeks and haven't bought them because I had no ideas. You didn't just go there! You did, didn't you. Aghhhhh... more minis to buy fast, good thing the Black Jack table was nice to me the other night.

Great job, I wish I had feedback but right now I'm in awe.

[Matt Helm]

On Nick Cave I'm indecisive. I really didn't have Necro's card in front of me but I can't say I never saw it. I know he's cool about the similarities, but the two items I mentioned were under debate in my mind even when I was creating the character...
- range of 5 or 6, hmmmmm ok 6
- Flying or Stealth Flying, hmmmm ok Stealth

In other words, I basically flipped a coin in my head at the time and that's why I thought immediately to change those two points.

Which way do you like it better Garada? You're the creator of the Hellboyscape, I want you and your companions to get the most fun out of Nick. Therefore, it is in you hands to finalize (aka, I passed the buck).

[Garada]

Originally Posted by Matt Helm

You didn't just go there! These cards are an awesome pairing. I've been looking at those pieces for weeks and haven't bought them because I had no ideas. You didn't just go there! You did, didn't you. Aghhhhh... more minis to buy fast, good thing the Black Jack table was nice to me the other night.

Great job, I wish I had feedback but right now I'm in awe.

Congrats on the Black Jack winnings... now blow it all on miniatures before your wife realizes that you have any extra cash!!!

I'm really glad you dig them, especially since I think the back-story I made is pretty 'Hellboyish'; something about 1950s cold war era Russian phantoms that seems to gel with Hellboy's Universe for some reason. I also thought it was about time I threw out a couple of customs that specifically relied on each other for maximum awesomeness. Those 2 cards had been sitting on my computer for at least a month in a state of near completion, and I just thought "Dang it, finish them already, Hellboy is calling!". Best of all, the figures are CHEAP! I think you can get Major Vassili and at least 4 Skeletal Maidens for about $3. If anyone else is interested in the figures, Major Vassili is a HorrorClix 'Evil Cosmonaut'... but I don't think he's really evil, just misguided.
The Skeletal Maidens are... [drum roll]... Skeletal Maidens, also from HorrorClix. I love HorrorClix.

I would still appreciate some more feedback on them though, if anyone has the time.

- Garada

[Garada]

Originally Posted by Matt Helm

On Nick Cave I'm indecisive. I really didn't have Necro's card in front of me but I can't say I never saw it. I know he's cool about the similarities, but the two items I mentioned were under debate in my mind even when I was creating the character...
- range of 5 or 6, hmmmmm ok 6
- Flying or Stealth Flying, hmmmm ok Stealth

In other words, I basically flipped a coin in my head at the time and that's why I thought immediately to change those two points.

Which way do you like it better Garada? You're the creator of the Hellboyscape, I want you and your companions to get the most fun out of Nick. Therefore, it is in you hands to finalize (aka, I passed the buck).

Well, I may be the 'creator' of Hellboyscape, but it was all because of your Hecate, so you're my co-conspirator!

I'll have to think some more on the whole Nick Cave thing. On one hand, I really love the card as originally written. The powers make sense, and the fact that he only life drains monsters instead of humans automatically sets him apart from all of the other vamps, even Judge Blacklock. He'll go specifically hunting Vamps, Zombies and Werewolves, which is such a cool thematic element it makes me smile.

On the other hand, I totally understand how you feel, and even though it is an innocent similarity, as the writer you want him to be more unique. I think of all the options, changing Stealth to just basic flying is the change that still makes him work thematically if you suppose that he just has no need or desire to sneak around like all the other vampires. I think his range is fine, especially since his attack, even a Double, is not too brutal at 3. The only other option I can think of to really make him significantly different is to give him another power that is not on the Judge's card. I do however still maintain that there are only a limited number of places to take it with a figure like that!

I have the figure on its way to me as we speak, so I may have more insight after I've seen him in action [and my lady is quite excited about the idea of commanding Nick Cave], probably this coming weekend.

Since you're the card's writer, I pass the well-worn buck back to you my friend, and I will happily make any changes that you desire!

[NecroBlade]

While I'm on point costs, I might as well look at these...

I think Major Vassili could use a slight boost. He can generate an extra turn before and after his own, and if there are ever any other undead bonding groups, even more. With just two Skeletal Maidens, his Control is all but guaranteed (3 make it 100%). HNCH makes the group a bit of a risk, but you do get 3 turns in a row with 5-power units.

[Garada]

Insightful as always, Senor Blade!

Are you suggesting a small boost, in the 10-15 range?

Maybe even a 5 point increase on the Maidens, but by themselves they're no more useful than any other Common Hero I guess.

Seriously, thank so much for your feedback; it is most appreciated. Glad you popped in on Hellboy's NM24 process with a few cents as well, especially since you were so helpful when I first posted him.

[NecroBlade]

No problem. Yes, just a small boost (for Vassili, as I said before I like *25 point common heroes and by themselves the Maidens are just OK...well, Vassili is OK alone as well, but he gives the whole combo potential). With all his highlights, he's still a melee figure of average speed.

[scotty]

I gotta say, I just love all the hellboy stuff. Are these mostly horrorclix figures?

[Garada]

Originally Posted by scotty

I gotta say, I just love all the hellboy stuff. Are these mostly horrorclix figures?

Thanks, scotty!

First off, I've gotta tell you that it's all Matt Helm's fault that I started doing Hellboy customs in the first place. He got a cool Hecate miniature and was looking for someone to make a custom card for it. I accepted his challenge and in the process I had so much fun that I just HAD to make a Hellboy custom to battle her. It just escalated from there! I believe that 'Hellboy For Heroscape' is now up to 20 cards [if you count Bigfoot / Sasquatch, which is basically a dual Unique/Common card], with many more to come! I cant take all the credit for the cards either, as Matt Helm has written at least 5 or 6 of them so far.

Yes, most of them are HorrorClix, especially the villains. Let's see...

There is the 'BPRD Action Pack' that contains Hellboy, Abe Sapien, Liz Sherman, Johann Kraus, Roger the Homunculus, Ben Daimio and Hellbaby. This is a pretty good value if you find it on sale, but the MSRP is around 25 bucks. If you're interested in just Hellboy, there is a different sculpt [a superior one, IMHO, which is the sculpt used on the my main Hellboy card] from the IndyClix set. He can be found online for under $5 [I bought a few for $2.39 each from the same eBay seller] if you shop around. Also available in that same IndyClix set are Lobster Johnson, Hecate [she's a bit spendy and rare] and Rasputin. You can find LJ and Raspy for under $2 each.

Pretty much all of the rest of the Hellboy figures are from HorrorClix. I try to pick figures that are cheap, especially if they are 'Common'. No one wants to spend $20 on 3 Tooth Fairies! And when I say cheap, I mean 50 cents or less!

There are a couple of them from the old Mage Knight series, but even those [Rel-Warc-Thorn, Nick Cave] can be found for dirt cheap if you're patient. I got 2 Thorn Crawlers [the Mage Knight mini Matt Helm used for Rel-Warc-Thorn] for $1!

I can recommend a few places online that sell cheap 'Clix, especially Horror:

www.strikezoneonline.com
www.miniaturemarket.com

I've also had good luck on eBay, especially sellers such as Woolverine, Grunhir's Game Emporium, Wackygames and Avengers Rule Superstore.

If you have any questions about any of the figures used for Hellboyscape, please ask!

- Garada

[Matt Helm]

I was thinking about the great Major's Control Undead. I like the way he can chose a card from any player, that's sweet. The question I'm wondering is how many? In other words, since you state any undead hero or squad, and an opponent has swamped you with 6 zombies within the range, can you control all 6? Or do you just chose 3 because a squad is made up of 3? Same goes for common heroes, does he control as many of the same common he can or just one single. I imagine the answer is 3 in a squad and 1 for commons but a player may have multiples operating on one single Army Card.

If you didn't mean it that way and want to get real crazy, you can say that on a 15 or higher he controls ALL undead figures within the clear site spaces and takes a turn with each. Now that would be some serious radioactive zombie control right there. But

[NecroBlade]

For zombies: moving 6 is a power of the squad, so you would get to move 6. You choose the zombie squad, and can activate any or all of its powers.

For heroes, you only ever get to move one at a time (for example, if I draft 500 points worth of Dumutef Guards, I don't get to take turns with all 20 each order marker).