The Book of Shang-Chi

[Hahma]

Well considering I haven't seen the sun for quite awhile, I don't know if I can. It's that time of year up north where we have more clouds and crap weather than sun. Though if there is a time when I can do it, I'll give it a try.

As you've noticed lately I haven't been able to get the sharpest pictures. Either it's the camera, me or just the sun being so low in the sky over the past few months that make it difficult to get it right sometimes.

[tcglkn]

Alright. Well I didn't mean to single you out in that request, I just knew you had the figure. Anyone else that has that figure is welcome to try to get me some miniature pictures.

[Good Pig]

I like the powers a lot. Seems like a pretty straightforward design. Would play very similar to Flash, but with less move and a nice counterstrike ability.

I don't know the character very well, but on marvel wiki it also says he was a Secret Agent. Could be cool to include him in that faction instead of Fighters because there is some overlap between him and Iron Fist. Not a deal breaker though. Overall a great job tickle.

[tcglkn]

Well I've always seen him working with Luke Cage, Iron Fist and that group so I definitely think that synergy is more iconic.

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I prefer him as a part of the Fighter faction as well.

[tcglkn]

I think he's ready for testing here. If he's feeling too powerful, feel free to drop his attack and defense by 1 and bump the boost if he only attacks once to +3.

I'm aiming for the 200 point range so anything from 180-220 would be ideal.

[IAmBatman]

Cool. I'll work up a playtest sheet tonight and likely start tomorrow.

[tcglkn]

Thanks Bats. I had intended to do this one myself over break. But if you knock this out, I may have to help you test a couple of Titans or whatever you start up between now and then.

[IAmBatman]

Oh, I'm hoping to knock this out and two more of my own initials before I go on break in two weeks.

[IAmBatman]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (SHANG-CHI)

- THEME TEST/ Check to see if there are any powers or stats on the test unit card that does not accurately reflect the theme or likeness of what the character would and could do. Also consider destructible objects, and whether or not this characters powers should affect them.
PASS

- MIRROR TEST/ Check to see if the unit were played against itself, if there would be any loops that would upset the balance of the Game.
PASS

- BONDING TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing Bonding abilities to make sure there are no continual Bonding possibilities that do not stop appropriately or do not stop at all. This is to prevent loops in Bonding.
PASS

- SYNERGIES TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing synergies to make sure there are no factors that could break the game by making any unit to powerful or too weak.
PASS

- POWER CHECK/ Consider the test unit and all existing units and all glyphs to compare to and check for any powers that could be over amplified and break the game. Each power must define when it takes place, who or what it affects, and What are the stipulations on the power if there are any.
PASS

- FUN TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play.
PASS

- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against.
PASS

- DRAFTING TEST/ Consider whether or not this design is worth drafting.
PASS

- USAGE TEST/ Consider whether or not all of the powers on this card were used or at least usable.
PASS

- STRATEGY TEST/ Consider whether or not the design offers any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game.
PASS

Heavy Hitter or Mid-Level Hero Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 190-200 with 4 defense, 230-240 with 5 defense.
- Give a brief overview. It’s so hard to judge this guy because there’s so much swing between him facing a melee normal attacker like Rhino and facing someone with a decent special attack like Black Canary. Even against the special attackers, though, as he showed in the Gambit test, he can more than hold his own. I think 4 defense might be the best to move forward with to keep his cost down, but he’ll definitely fall faster than others in his point range against some special and ranged attacks.

Spoiler Alert!

TEST 1
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Daredevil (180)
Shang-Chi used his Master of Kung-Fu for three attacks each turn and tracked Daredevil down for multiple attacks this way even when Daredevil was hitting his Radar Sense. Daredevil wasn’t able to slip any wounds in against Shang-Chi’s robust defense and Shang-Chi got in his last wound on Daredevil with a counter strike from Master of Martial Arts.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi with Full Life wins Turn 1, Round 2.


I restarted here after Shang-Chi’s defense was dropped to 4.

TEST 1
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Daredevil (180)
This one was a lot closer. Daredevil did a better job at using the terrain to limit Shang-Chi to one attack at a time and he also attacked from range whenever possible (and height on a couple of those attacks). Shang-Chi still put the last wound on Daredevil with counter strike from Master of Martial Arts.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi with 4 wounds wins Turn 1, Round 2.

TEST 2
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Daredevil (180)
Ouch. Shang-Chi rolled poorly on defense here and Daredevil rolled well and continued to use his range to his advantage. If the first one against Black Canary goes like this, I’ll shift back to 5 defense.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Daredevil with Full Life wins Turn 2, Round 2.

TEST 3
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Black Canary (190)
Black Canary was able to use her special attack here to get around Shang-Chi’s auto shield and counter strike. Shang-Chi used his triple attack all the time here and managed to chip away at Canary.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Black Canary with 1 life wins Turn 2, Round 2.


I decided to go back up to 5 defense here and keep testing.

TEST 4
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Black Canary (190)
Winning initiative for round two couldn’t save Canary from bad defense rolls and weak rolls from her special attack.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi with 2 wounds wins Turn 1 Round 2.

TEST 5
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Batman (200)
Batman was fairly hot with his D20 rolls here, landing all 4 wounds on Shang-Chi with Evasive Strike. He tried depending on his special attack to get around Shang-Chi’s auto shield, but it was ineffective. I may shift to his normal attack next game.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi with 4 wounds wins Turn 2 Round 2.

TEST 6
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Batman (200)
Batman started white hot with Evasive Strike, hitting his first three rolls. He later got in a shot with his normal attack, then finished Shang-Chi off with a final Evasive Strike. One of Shang-Chi’s wounds on Batman came from Master of Martial Arts.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Batman with 3 wounds wins Turn 2 Round 2.

TEST 7
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Gambit (210)
All three of Shang-Chi’s wounds came from Gambit’s special attack, but his triple attack from Master of Kung-Fu cut Gambit down quickly. I’m leaning towards going back to 4 defense here.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi wins with 3 wounds Turn 1 Round 2.

TEST 8
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Gambit (210)
Different game, same story. Gambit only rolled so-so with his normal attack and Shang-Chi’s three attacks an Order Marker took him out.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi with 3 wounds wins Turn 3 Round 1.

TEST 9
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Rhino (220)
It took Rhino disengaging (no wound) and revving up for a two space Rhino Charge from height (8 attack dice) for a 4 skull roll to even put one wound on Shang-Chi here. However, it increasingly became impractical for Rhino to attempt charges, so he only attempted the one. Shang-Chi used his +2 option for Master of Kung-Fu and slowly broke down Rhino’s defenses. Master of Martial Arts was his best offense, though, as he put 3 wounds on Rhino with it.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi with 1 wound wins Turn 1 Round 3.

TEST 10
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Rhino (220)
Rhino got in another 8 dice charge from height and rolled 6 skulls this time, resulting in 3 wounds on Shang-Chi. Shang-Chi responded with 2 wounds from his normal attack with +2 to it from Master of Kung-Fu. Rhino took one wound from a leaving engagement attack (he left engagements twice) to set up a charge for 6 dice and took one wound from failing Rhino Charge (he failed twice). Shang-Chi put the final wound on Rhino with a counter strike from Master Martial Artist when Rhino chose not to rev up for a charge.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi with 3 wounds wins Turn 1 Round 3.

_____________________________________________________________

Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 250+?
- Give a brief overview. Shang-Chi dominates lowly squads.
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Beat Cops x3 (195)

Spoiler Alert!

Master of Martial Arts and Master of Kung-Fu are a deadly combination against squads. Beat Cops fired from range to avoid the auto shield and even got off a couple of shots from range but couldn’t spread out enough to avoid multiple deaths per Shang-Chi turn. None of the deaths here were from counter strike.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi wins with 1 wound Turn 1 Round 3.

_____________________________________________________________

Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 250-260
- Give a brief overview. Hawkmen were harder to take down, but three attacks per turn did the job.
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi vs. Hawkmen of Thanagar x2 +1 (250)

Spoiler Alert!

Two Hawkmen fell to Master of Martial Arts counter strike and the other three fell to triple attacks from Shang-Chi.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Shang-Chi wins with 4 wounds Turn 1 Round 3.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 230
- Give a brief overview. Bonding on either side was a wash, but Shang-Chi was a tough brother here.
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi (230), Luke Cage (190), Captain America (240), Spider-Girl (140) (800) vs. Batman (200), Huntress (170), Robin (120), Batgirl (130), Daredevil (180) (800)

Spoiler Alert!

Shang-Chi put one wound on Batman, one wound on Batgirl, three wounds on Robin, and three wounds on Huntress before Huntress put the last four wounds on him on a Ruthless Counter Strike whiff. Shang-Chi was mostly ignored during the Vigilante attack phase as they focused on taking down Luke Cage and putting 4 wounds on Cap. But after Luke Cage fell, Cap and Shang-Chi combined to clean out Batman, Robin, and Batgirl. Then Shang-Chi went ahead of Cap, losing his Avenger boost for a moment, and put 3 wounds on Huntress during her defensive whiff. He also died, though, leaving Cap to face down Huntress. She finished him with her crossbow, though, then put three wounds on Spider-Girl. Spider-Girl slipped in a final wound on Huntress attacking from range and height disadvantage, then put a wound on Daredevil from range and height advantage before he closed in and punched her out. Shang-Chi’s first wound of the game came from Evasive Strike.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Daredevil with 1 wound wins Turn 2 Round 7.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 220-230
- Give a brief overview. Shang-Chi did his part here, but his team couldn’t put it together due to the opponents having more bonding in their army and easier Order Marker placement. I think Shang-Chi is safest at 230 going forward, but I think 220 is possible still.
Map: Custom
Units: Shang-Chi (230), Luke Cage (190), Wolverine (280), Iron Fist (260) (960) vs. Kingpin (220), Boomerang (130), Rhino (220), The Hood (180), Sandman (210) (960)

Spoiler Alert!

Shang-Chi did a lot of damage before going down, putting all 5 wounds on Kingpin (though it took some doing) and putting four wounds on Rhino. Kingpin got in a nice shot on Shang-Chi from height for three of Shang-Chi’s wounds. Shang-Chi didn’t manage many counter strike wounds here. The Hood backing up Kingpin was big for the win here. Once Luke Cage and Kingpin both fell, The Hood was able to get on height and use his double attack on Wolverine to cause some wounds and activate Rhino. With both Iron Fist and Wolverine in the army, X-Marker placement was difficult. After Luke Cage went down, their team lost a bunch of Order Markers and Wolverine got a lot of wounds fast. He only managed to heal one wound before The Hood and Rhino combined to finish him. Iron Fist had a similar experience, finishing off Rhino and healing one wound with the X-Marker but then falling to double attacks from The Hood.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? The Hood with 1 wound and Sandman with Full Life (never activated) win Turn 1 Round 7.

[tcglkn]

I'd really like one of the tests to be with C3G Captain America. (Forgot the mention that) Think you can manage that? I think he'd be a great choice in that build.

[IAmBatman]

Sure thing. I'll rework the second army (I'm really digging the 800 point one).