The Book of Madame HYDRA

[Hahma]

The Book of Madame HYDRA

C3G MARVEL WAVE 5
WORLD'S VILEST

Comic PDF

Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Xplosion set.
Its model number and name are #031-033 / Viper.

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Character Bio - Madame Hydra was orphaned as a child in Hungary and was among 12 children taken in by HYDRA. She was raised and trained for 22 years by Commander Kraken and was his best student. She rose up through the ranks of HYDRA and eventually attained the title Madame Hydra and became the leader of HYDRA when Baron von Strucker was believed dead. She battled Captain America many times and after one time she was believed to be dead but had been kidnapped by the Space Phantom. When she returned, she broke ties with HYDRA for a while and assassinated a criminal named Viper and took his name. She's run criminal and terrorist organizations ever since and many times has attempted to kill thousands, if not millions of people with deadly gas or poisoned water systems. Her nihilistic ways have made it hard for other villains to work with her as she enjoys spreading death around her. She has rejoined HYDRA and only recently has resumed the name Madame Hydra and is among one of a few leaders of HYDRA.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received


Classic:

• N/A

Marvel:

• N/A

C3G:

• With Necessary Sacrifices, Madame HYDRA may benefit from an adjacent Terrorist or Criminal in her army. Current Terrorist or Criminal figures include: Absorbing Man, Bad Cops, Bodyguard, Clayface, Doctor Octopus, Electro, Hired Guns, HYDRA Agents, Intergang Agents, Joker Goons, Killer Croc, Lex Luthor (Battle Suit), Metallo, Mysterio, Parasite, Rhino, Sandman, Scarecrow, Scorpion, Street Thugs, Trapster, Wizard.
• As a Unique Human Hero, Madame HYDRA may be healed by Alfred Pennywoth's Field Medic special power.
• As a Ruthless Mastermind, Madame HYDRA may take a turn after HYDRA Agents with their Ruthless Mastermind Bonding special power.
• As a Ruthless Mastermind, Madame HYDRA can use the Glyph of Cosmic Cube without taking a wound.

Synergy Benefits Offered


Classic:

• N/A

Marvel:

• N/A

C3G:

• As Terrorists, HYDRA Agents may benefit from Madame HYDRA's Lead By Example special power.
• As a Human, Madame HYDRA allows adjacent friendly Civilians to roll an additional attack and defense die due to their Strength in Numbers special power.
• As a Mastermind, after revealing an Order Marker on and instead of moving with Madame HYDRA, you may move up to 3 Bodyguards you control with the Security Detail special power.
• As a Mastermind, after revealing an Order Marker on and instead of attacking with Madame HYDRA, you may attack with the Hired Guns with the Trigger Happy special power.
• As a Mastermind, Madame HYDRA can add 1 to Talia al Ghul's Attack number via her Divided Loyalty special power.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial Playtest: Hahma
• Initial Playtest After Revision: Bats
• Second Playtest: Hidicul

[Hahma]

6/16 - Viper thread started. Griff and Bats pointed out issues with Command Tactics and different ideas to replace that one were brainstormed.

6/17 - Spidey thought it might be neat for her to have a power to be able to drop squad figures onto the map like the AE, but it was suggested by others that a power like that might be better used for a figure like Nick Fury and even then be careful of the power level it could bring. Following up on one of Bats' suggestions for a new power for Viper to replace Command Tactics, I based a new power for her off of the MacDirk Warriors' "Highland Fury" special power and called it Hail Hydra, as suggested by Griffin.

6/18 - Happy Birthday to me. Griff convinced me to go with a more iconic power for Viper in a poisonous type power to replace Teleportation Ring. We brainstormed and Griff came up with a version of Venomous Strikes Special Attack that I really liked and I updated the first post with the new special attack.

6/22 - Initial playtest done and posted.

6/27 - Sent to ERB members to begin that phase. Response from Aldin with concerns regarding Sacrifices Must Be Made being too powerful, especially with cheap squaddies such as Rats, Marro Dividers, Zombies etc.

6/28 - Bats and Griff agree with Aldin's assessment regarding Sacrifices Must Be Made being too powerful. Bats also suggested shortening power title to Necessary Sacrifices and limiting it's use to Hydra Agents only. I updated the first post with new power title and restricted Necessary Sacrifices to Hydra Agents only.

6/29 - ERB phase done with only one response (Aldin). I proposed putting Viper on hold and kept from being sent to playtest phase until Hydra Agents are completed so that she can be fully playtested to access her Necessary Sacrifices power. Changed name from Viper to Madame Hydra as it makes more sense now.

6/30 - Changed some things on first post. Made Lead By Example power restricted to only boost Terrorist common squad figures to be consistent with changed Necessary Sacrifices and also to keep it from being too powerful by boosting certain common squad figures.

[Griffin]

COMMAND TACTICS- After revealing an Order Marker on this card, if Viper does not attack this turn, you may instead attack with up to 3 figures you control from the same Unique Squad.

But I am planning on creating the "Hired Guns" for the Criminal Faction, and their power is:
Shoot Out
After revealing an Order Marker on any Crimelord or Master Mind you control, instead of attacking with that Crimelord or Master Mind, you may attack with Hired Guns.

So with the way you have Viper's wording, not only would it be redundant, but also conflicting with SHOOT OUT. I wish I had a better suggestion right now, but I don't, sorry.

TELEPORTATION RING -Instead of moving Viper normally, you may choose any empty space that is up to 2 levels above or below her base and within 8 spaces of Viper. Place Viper on the chosen space. When Viper starts to teleport, if she is engaged she will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

Cool, but I had no idea that she even had this until you had told me on the phone. Are you sure that this is iconic enough?

SACRIFICES MUST BE MADE - Anytime Viper rolls defense dice against an attack and would receive 1 or more wounds, choose 1 figure you control adjacent to Viper. Instead of giving any wounds to Viper, you may give the chosen figure all wounds Viper would have received from that attack.

I like this theme, and I know it is thematic, but it still seems too similar to the Cops for my taste. Could you possibly alter it slightly to make it a bit more unique to her? Sorry I don't have any great ideas right now, I really am.

[IAmBatman]

I think Command Tactics should only work with a specific type of Unique Squad, like "Terrorists" or something. Otherwise we run into the possibility of having before/after/during attacking powers on the chosen Unique Squad and having interpretive issues as to which powers come into play or not.
I dig the theme on the powers here - she seems like fun.
What's with you guys switching the order of the range and attack values lately, though?

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by Griffin

But I am planning on creating the "Hired Guns" for the Criminal Faction, and their power is:
Shoot Out
After revealing an Order Marker on any Crimelord or Master Mind you control, instead of attacking with that Crimelord or Master Mind, you may attack with Hired Guns.

So with the way you have Viper's wording, not only would it be redundant, but also conflicting with SHOOT OUT. I wish I had a better suggestion right now, but I don't, sorry.

Cool, but I had no idea that she even had this until you had told me on the phone. Are you sure that this is iconic enough?

I like this theme, and I know it is thematic, but it still seems too similar to the Cops for my taste. Could you possibly alter it slightly to make it a bit more unique to her? Sorry I don't have any great ideas right now, I really am.

Well at least her base stats seem okay...so far

For Command Tactics - I'll work on something different for that somehow.

As for Teleportation Ring being iconic - I don't know how iconic it is but I thought it was a cool/fun power to give her considering she's used one. Here's a list of her powers and abilities to choose from. I had thought about using the poison darts/fangs type attack and maybe that would work instead of Command Tactics.

From Wiki:
"Viper has no superhuman abilities but her strength, speed, reflexes, agility, dexterity, coordination, balance, and endurance are of the order of an Olympic athlete. She is a great swordswoman and even greater markswoman with most long range weapons, and has extensive training in hand-to-hand combat. Viper occasionally employs poisoned weapons with snake-motifs, such as venomous darts or artificial fangs filled with poison. She utilizes experimental weaponry, including a ring that enables teleportation, and in X-Treme X-Men [volume & issue needed], she made use of razor-sharp claw attachments apparently built into her gloves. A brilliant strategist and tactician with extensive combat tactical experience, Viper is highly skilled in the management of criminal organizations and very well connected in the international criminal underworld. She is also a master of stealth and espionage. Perhaps her greatest strengths are her influence, the financial resources at her disposal due to her stature in organized crime, and an uncanny luck which has allowed her to cheat death in situations where lesser people would have died. Viper may or may not have supernaturally augmented longevity.
Viper is usually armed with various ray pistols and conventional handguns. She formerly possessed a teleportation ring. She has also used various other special weaponry, including poison-tipped throwing darts, knives, and whips. Inside the hollow caps of her teeth, which she had put on her canines to make them sharp and elongated, is a special poison to which she has an immunity."



Regarding Sacrifices Must Be Made - well...it's different than the Cops in that Cops can take wounds for anyone, but Viper is the only one helped by SMBM. It's also different in that she can give 3 wounds to Hulk if she wants to enrage him, if he's adjacent to her and in her army. She can give the wounds to Thorgrim, Finn or Eldgrim if she wants to. She can most likely give the wounds to HYDRA Agents. Sure the power is similar to Cops power but would play different. Cops are drafted for that reason and you don't mind losing a Cop to save a hero, but you might have to make some tough choices or strategic ones will be available IMO for SMBM. How many different d20 defensive powers are there that are similar? Evasive Strike, Spidey Sense, Spider Sense, Stray, Radar Sense. They are similar but are thematic. What about the different Leaps or Grapple/Swing-Lines? What about 1 shield defenses or Tough? I mean, eventually there are going to be similar powers on cards because in the superhero world, so many heroes/villains have similar powers/abilities.

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

I think Command Tactics should only work with a specific type of Unique Squad, like "Terrorists" or something. Otherwise we run into the possibility of having before/after/during attacking powers on the chosen Unique Squad and having interpretive issues as to which powers come into play or not.
I dig the theme on the powers here - she seems like fun.
What's with you guys switching the order of the range and attack values lately, though?

Yeah, I can totally see the issue with Unique Heroes. I was trying to find something different but forgot the issues they can have. I had tried having the power work with Hydra Agents, but when doing some light playtesting with her and some Hydra Agents, I didn't see why she'd every use it when they have Ruthless Mastermind Bonding. Why only move her and only attack with the Hydra Agents when you can take a full turn with each with Ruthless Mastermind Bonding? So I looked a different way. The only problem I see with using the power for a Unique Squad of Terrorists, is that I don't know who a US of Terrorists would be. Would they have to be some generic squad of Terrorists? Being Unique, that would kind of limit the power only working on one unit and how effective or useful would that be? Also, we might have trouble finding more figures for generic units. I don't know, we'll have to see. I might just try to scrap the how power and maybe giver her the Venomous Special Attack I had been thinking about.

[IAmBatman]

I love Sacrifices Must Be Made, personally - and I love your explanation of it.
Do HYDRA Agents have to have Ruthless Mastermind bonding? Is that something we might reconsider to make a power like this more workable?

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

I love Sacrifices Must Be Made, personally - and I love your explanation of it.
Do HYDRA Agents have to have Ruthless Mastermind bonding? Is that something we might reconsider to make a power like this more workable?

Thanks for SMBM love

Regarding Ruthless Mastermind bonding. It was kind of a key tie in to get more options for using HYDRA Agents with Red Skull, Viper and Baron Strucker, as all of them have had leadership roles in HYDRA. I was also hoping it could help give Red Skull more use as an attack option instead of sitting back and just directing things. Also, from what I've read in recent comics with HYDRA vs. SHIELD in Secret Warriors, the agents went in first and the leaders followed, doing their thing.

I have been trying to work on some other powers in place of Command Tactics.

One could be

Target Assignment - At the start of the game, choose an opponent's unique hero or a destructible object as the Target Assignment. As long as Viper remains in the game, any Terrorist you control may add 3 to their move if they can attack the chosen Target Assignment during their turn.

Or

Terrorist Tactics - If a Terrorist figure you control is engaged with an opponent's figure and is attacked by a non-adjacent opponent's figure, the non-adjacent attacking figure rolls 1 less attack die for that attack.


I don't know, just some ideas.

[IAmBatman]

Hmmm ... what if there were a riff on Greenscale Warriors where she chooses one unique squad at the start of the game and "inspires" them to roll one more attack die the rest of the game, or something like that. Or maybe one more for each wound on her card - something like the MacDirk Agents in reverse?

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Hmmm ... what if there were a riff on Greenscale Warriors where she chooses one unique squad at the start of the game and "inspires" them to roll one more attack die the rest of the game, or something like that. Or maybe one more for each wound on her card - something like the MacDirk Agents in reverse?

Yeah, something like that could work. Some kind of inspired leadership deal. I'll try to work something up. The wife just got home from work, so I'm going to hang out with her for a while.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

I think she would great for a Drop/Swarm type ability. Kinda like Drop on the AE, where they can be placed on any empty hex, but also where she can call as many as you draft, sorta like rats. I think Reinforced Ambush would be a cool name and make it a One Time Only power.

[Hahma]

I see where you're coming from Spidey, as in the recent Secret Warriors comics it seems like the Hydra Agents drop from the sky almost like they are coming from a portal or something. The only concern that I'd have for it would be that it might be very wordy and eat up the bulk of the power text. I guess we can maybe look into it and see though.


One other thing that I just thought of this morning was a boost like Concan gives adjacent Sentinels or Knights of a +1 to attack. Viper could maybe give a +1 to attack for adjacent Agents and Terrorists. It may sound kind of boring, but with her Sacrifices Must Be Made power, it would be an interesting choice of do you want to put figures adjacent to her as she's as likely to let them take the bullet for her as the enemy is to kill them. It might be a risk reward thing. Who knows, we'll come up with something.


Edit: Actually, based on this from Wiki "A brilliant strategist and tactician with extensive combat tactical experience, Viper is highly skilled in the management of criminal organizations and very well connected in the international criminal underworld." She can give a +1 boost to attack to any adjacent figure, not just Agents and Terrorists. She's been around for a very long time and had quite the criminal and terrorist career. Here's the link to Wiki for people to get a little more familiar with her.

[IAmBatman]

Interesting stuff ... and I think the "drop reinforcements" type power is best saved for a Nick Fury "Air Support" power anyway, personally.