The Book of Evil Ernie

[Lord Pyre]

The Book of Evil Ernie

C3G CHAOS WAVE 40
WAR OF THE INDEPENDENTS


Comic PDF


Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is modified Heroclix figure from the Iron Maiden set.
Its model number and name are #002 / Phantom of the Opera.

Tutorial on how to modify this miniature.


NOTE: Evil Ernie requires 1x Glyph of Smiley the Psychotic Button

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Character Bio - Ernest Fairchild was a special boy. He could see events before they happened, and could even read some people’s thoughts. But his parents didn’t understand what he could do, and began to abuse him, thinking he was possessed. Eventually they sought out a highly respected psychiatrist, Dr. Price, to see if he could cure him of whatever was inside. Price used an experimental machine of his own design, called the dream probe, to delve deep into his subconscious to try to find the root of his problems. It was then that Ernest met what was quite literally, his dream girl, Lady Death. Lady Death promised to love him forever, and only asked one thing in return, megadeath: the extermination of every single living human on earth.
Waking up renewed and refreshed, Ernest seemed cured. But upon his return home, he found an axe and went on a killing spree throughout his town, starting with his parents.
Dr. Price deems Fairchild evil to the core - a lost cause. Another hopefully doctor named Mary Young disagrees, and tries to perfect Dr. Price’s dream probe to cure Ernest again. Lady Death intervenes, and the Dream Probe explodes, killing Ernest. A nurse sadly pins a smiley button to the young boy’s shirt, and at that moment Lady Death imbues the pin with arcane energy, reviving Ernest as an undead monster. Powered through Smiley and dubbing himself Evil Ernie, his strength is increased, and his telepathic abilities are transformed into the Deadmind, a psychic connection between all things dead and dying. He quickly creates an undead army. And while Lady Death eventually abandons her plan for megadeath, throwing away the influence of Lucifer, Evil Ernie never gives up. Everything he’s ever done, he’s done for love.


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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As Undead, Evil Ernie has these Undead Synergies.
• As a Destroyer, Evil Ernie has these Destroyer Synergies.
• Dead Onez' Quest For Megadeath power allows Evil Ernie to bond with the Dead Onez.

Outgoing Synergy:

• The Arcane Bond power allows Evil Ernie to choose a Hell Lord to be his Beloved.
• The Dead Mind power allows Evil Ernie to boost the Move, Defense and Attack of Undead.
• Dead Onez' Dead Onez Rise power allows Evil Ernie to place previously destroyed Dead Onez on the battlefield.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Lord Pyre
• Second playtest: Tornado
• Third playtest: MrNobody
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by tcglkn

Card Updates:
24 February 2022 - Arcane Bond updated for Order Marker placement clarity

[Lord Pyre]

NAME = EVIL ERNIE
SECRET IDENTITY = ERNEST FAIRCHILD

SPECIES = UNDEAD
UNIQUENESS = EVENT HERO
CLASS = DESTROYER
PERSONALITY = DEPRAVED

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 8

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 6

POINTS = 380

BEST FRIEND SMILEY
Start the game with the Glyph of Smiley the Psychotic Button on this card. Evil Ernie may equip that glyph as if he was a Unique Hero and only loses that glyph if he receives two or more wounds from a single attack or special power or is destroyed. At the end of the round, if that glyph is on the battlefield, you may place it up to four spaces from its current placement on either an empty space or a space occupied by Evil Ernie.

ARCANE BOND
At the start of the game, you may choose a Hell Lord you control to be Evil Ernie's Beloved. When placing Order Markers for the round, you may place an additional Order Marker 1 on his Beloved's card as long as you place at least one Order Marker on this card. You may reveal that Order Marker normally on your turn instead of your other Order Marker 1.

DEAD MIND
Evil Ernie's Beloved and all other Undead you control within 6 spaces of Evil Ernie add 1 to their:
• Move number if you control at least 4 Undead figures,
• Defense number if you control at least 6 Undead figures, and
• Attack number if you control at least 8 Undead figures.

SUPER STRENGTH

[Lord Pyre]

NAME = GLYPH OF SMILEY THE PSYCHOTIC BUTTON
SUBTITLE = ARCANE EMPOWERMENT

EQUIPMENT GLYPH
If an Undead figure equipped with this glyph attacks an adjacent figure with a normal attack, you may add one automatic skull to that attack. At the end of this figure's turn, if this figure is Evil Ernie, remove one Wound Marker from his Army Card, otherwise, if it is not Undead or a Hell Lord, place one Wound Marker on this figure's Army Card.

[Lord Pyre]

ART:

Figure:

Spoiler Alert!

Comic:

Spoiler Alert!

Chaos Comics logo:

Spoiler Alert!

Mini background:

Spoiler Alert!

Some sort of post-apocalyptic city street

Smiley:

Spoiler Alert!

[Lord Pyre]

Alrighty, this guy should be a doozy. Been waiting to work on him for longer than even Lady Death, so I'm pretty excited to finally start. He's basically a 90's take on a zombie apocalypse, with his psychic powers all the undead he creates can still think like normal people and are completely devoted to Ernie, so they're extremely dangerous. I want Ernie coming in around 400 points, give or take.

My next design will be his Dead Onez, but I'm going to start here. My plan is to get him balanced, run him to Final Editing, then put on hold and work on the Dead Onez and balance them together. I feel like that's the best way to balance the whole army properly.

For consideration, here's the draft of the Dead Onez I'm currently planning on running. Obviously it can still change, but the feel of it should be similar.

Originally Posted by Lord Pyre

NAME = DEAD ONEZ

SPECIES = UNDEAD
UNIQUENESS = COMMON SQUAD (3)
CLASS = MINIONS
PERSONALITY = ENLIGHTENED

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 1

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 70?


DEAD ONEZ RISE
At the start of the game, you may choose any number of Dead Onez figures to not be placed on the battlefield. Whenever a Evil Ernie or a Dead One you control destroys an adjacent figure that is not an Android, Undead, or Destructible Object, replace that figure with a Dead One you control that is not on the battlefield, if possible.

QUEST FOR MEGADEATH
After revealing an Order Marker on the Army Card of Evil Ernie, or a Unique Hell Lord you control, before taking a turn with that figure you may either:

* roll one combat die, or 3 combat dice if the figure is Evil Ernie. For each skull rolled, place one Dead Onez figure that is not on the battlefield, within 2 spaces of the Evil Ernie or the Hell Lord; or
* Take a turn with the Dead Onez. You may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

SALVAGED WEAPONS SPECIAL ATTACK
Attack 4, Range 4.
After rolling attack dice, if you rolled at least one blank, subtract one skull from whatever was rolled.

[Yodaking]

Having the stat boosting power depend on him being engaged is one thing that stands out for me. Just remembering when it's on/off will be tricky, but then from a strategy POV, I'm guessing you either try to stay away from him and chip away at the army from afar, or engage him with everyone and kill him as fast as possible. Should be interesting to see it play out.

[Lord Pyre]

I'm definitely willing to tweak this guy a lot. There's a lot of moving pieces here. But I want him leading his army rather than hiding, and that seem like the simplest way of doing so! Another thought I entertained was counting the number of undead you have engaged, but that's even harder to pull off and we'd have to probably tweak the numbers needed then.

[johnny139]

I feel like I've asked this question a bunch of times before, but I can't remember the answer - is it thematic for him to be working with multiple Hell Lords? Because in this case, he's already choosing a Hell Lord at the start of the game, so it'd be pretty easy to give that a label (Ernie's Muse? Ernie's Patron? Ernie's Lord?) and just have Dead Mind effect that single Hell Lord.

I know in Marvel the Hell Lords aren't really friendly with each other, but if they would tag-team in a big undead army in his universe, it's probably better as-is.

[Yodaking]

I think he teams up with Lady Death and that's it for comic lore. But that's just a guess based on things LP has said in the past since I've never read a comic with him in it.

[Lord Pyre]

Totally fine with choosing a single one. He’s in love with LD to the point of obsession.

[johnny139]

Cool. Then I'd word it like this:

ARCANE BOND
At the start of the game, you may choose a Hell Lord you control to be Evil Ernie's Patron and start the game with an additional “1” Order Marker. At the start of each round, if there is at least one Order Marker on this card and his Patron's card, you may place the additional “1” Order Marker on his Patron's card. You may reveal it normally on your turn instead of your other Order Marker of the same number.

DEAD MIND
If Evil Ernie is engaged, while there is at least 1 Order Marker on this card and the number of Undead figures you control is:
* 2 or more, add 2 to your initiative roll; and
* 4 or more, add 1 to the move of his Patron and all Undead you control; and
* 6 or more, add 1 to the defense of his Patron and all Undead you control; and
* 8 or more, add 1 to the attack of his Patron and all Undead you control.

Again, if there's a better word than Patron, go for it - that's just what sounded right after reading your bio.

[Lord Pyre]

I like the wording changes! Not sure I like Patron. She empowered/created him so if there's a word for that..?


Any other thoughts on the mechanics here? Like I said this is a design with a lot of moving parts, so I'd love some more eyes. I've never done a design quite like this before, with a glyph attached and such a big leader (And a future squad attached).