Truth's Custom Units - Revisting and Revamping

[truth]

VALENTELA

BIO:
The more sentimental of the elvish twins, Valentela responded to the grievous situation she went through with Ralentar in a slightly different, though no less aggressive manner. Well knowing the vulnerability of an archer in close combat, she honed her abilities with the short sword, choosing to serve as bodyguard and distraction while her brother picked off enemies from afar. No less dangerous than her brother once within striking distance, she compensates for her lack of effectiveness at range by carrying a blade in each hand, so as to cut down the foe with doubled swiftness, as well as studying the art of parrying in such depth that she would not compromise her defense due to the lack of a shield. While her brother seemed consumed with eliminating the enemy, Valentela always retained a more balanced view of the world, and is quick to defend or evoke the bond between them as a way to keep her brother from devolving into an obsessive, sniping crusader. Despite her relatively greater sentimentality, she takes her duties no less seriously than her brother, and indeed, in some ways she is stronger. For as the saying goes, while the oak may crash in a strong storm, a reed will bend without breaking.

Bio written by: Karkadinn

CARD:


FIGURE:
Mage Knight Freeholder Sorceress $1.79

BELRAK


My newest creation is up for grabs as a prize at the ohio tourney. I found this guy in a box of mage knight stuff and instantly knew it would be perfect for an orc. The dino type thing he was riding on was brown, the orc's face was grey, the armor was silver, he had a tiny little axe so I modded it onto a spare viking spear to make it something usable from a mount. Basically the entire thing is repainted so the colors fit in with the existing orcs. The dino color came out a little too blue, but its not too bad.

RAPTORIAN ARCHERS

Another team up with GB reveals the next eveloution in the Raptorians. As I mentioned before I picture this race having very diffrent looks, like under the raptorian species are diffrent sub-species.

CARDS:



FIGURES: Crocodile Games - Aegyptus - Heru Archer-WGE-014a, Heru Archer-WGE-014b, Heru Archer - WGE-014c, and Heru Archer Capitan-WGE-314a.


RAPTORIAN SCAVANGERS

A New Colloborative effort from Grungebob and Myself:
I came up with the idea of developing this race of "Raptorians" mentioned to have enslaved the Venocs in the offical bios. I collabo'd with GB on it and they ended up developing into these scavanger types. The hardest part was finding the minis, and I actually broke my own rules in choosing these minis. usually I won't use minis that aren't pre-painted, but these aren't highly expensive like Rackham mini's So at least they got that going for them . So for those who may want to put fort the investment of painting some minis I bring you Vultar and the Carrion Warriors:

CARDS:




FIGURES: Crocoidile Games - Aegyptus - Nekharu Warrior -WGE-006a, Nekharu Warrior - WGE-006b, Nekharu Warrior - WGE-006c, Nekharu Warrior - WGE-006d, and Nekharu Hero - WGE-117.
The warriors are 3 bucks a piece and the Heros is 6 bucks.

ARUKAR THE MIGHTY

BIO: Hailing from a world struck by war of devastatingly cataclysmic proportions, Arukar learned to survive by intimidating those weaker than him and impressing those few stronger. He wandered the broken, barren wastes of his home with no one to depend on but himself, and consequently developed a dog eat dog mentality, scavenging everything of use, but never so much that it would slow him down. Even in Valhalla, he prefers to eschew most armor, instead electing to inspire awe and fear by charging into battle half-naked, showing off his spectacular musculature. Made almost ridiculous rugged by surviving the toxins and other inhospitable traits of his native environment, Arukar now serves Einar, and though he tends to despise strict military form and routine, he is not without his skill or wit, for he learns quickly from each battle and adapts to the physiologies and strategies of his foes, and with a few kills to work his bloodlust and knowledge of the enemy up, he can proceed to shred through the remainder like a scythe through wheat.

CARD:


FIGURE: Mage Knight Baran Skullcracker $1.99

Bio written by: Karkadinn

SorGwen

Bio
Member of a race with infinite scorn for all outsiders, SorGwen was notable not only for being an exceptionally powerful mage, but for being unusually amiable and cooperative with all shapes and sizes of beings. He quickly gained a reputation for doing whatever was necessary to achieve his goals, which led to him being simultaneously scorned and admired by his people. Only Vydar, scrying upon SorGwen from Valhalla, was able to discern the truth: the mage was even more practical and ruthless than any of his fellows suspected, as he simply took control over the minds of those who refused to give in to his diplomatic words, and then relinquished control subtly when done, leaving his victims confused and disoriented but unknowing of how they had been abused. Admiring such a crafty wizard who didn't let his pride get the better of him as most spell-users did, Vydar called him into his ranks, and SorGwen has been content to serve ever since, aiding in battle through puppetry of the highest order. It is rumored that Ne-Gok-Sa has a grudge against SorGwen, and would greatly relish the chance to personally slay the physically weaker sworg mage in battle.

Card


Figure
D&D minis: #38 Shuluth, Archvillain

Other Info
Grungebob helped out with this one.

For more of my cards visit my website: www.screamingtruth.com

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[Doc_Savage]

Truth comes out of the gate with the controversial Mind Bubble Master, Sorgwen!

My only thought is that on Manipulate, you say, "Instead of taking a turn with Sorgwen, you may first take a turn with one figure that you have placed a Bubble Marker on."

Shouldn't that just be, "Instead of taking a turn with Sorgwen, you may take a turn with one figure that you have placed a Bubble Marker on."

To me, the "first" is confusing and maybe a left over from when this was more of a bonding power.

Great to see you start a thread here, Truth

[truth]

Originally Posted by Doc_Savage

Truth comes out of the gate with the controversial Mind Bubble Master, Sorgwen!

My only thought is that on Manipulate, you say, "Instead of taking a turn with Sorgwen, you may first take a turn with one figure that you have placed a Bubble Marker on."

Shouldn't that just be, "Instead of taking a turn with Sorgwen, you may take a turn with one figure that you have placed a Bubble Marker on."

To me, the "first" is confusing and maybe a left over from when this was more of a bonding power.

Great to see you start a thread here, Truth

Yeah your right, small missed remnant. Fixing now.

[ChaosChild]

Shiny!

Not too powerful (I think 3 is the right number of markers), throws in some strategy and extra options, well thought out. Even though he is not a powerhouse, he has an ability that you just want try out (like Sudema's). I'd definately play with this guy.

[Fallen Templar]

Bravo Truth. I think I may be searching ebay for the fig. Any fig with a bubble power is worth a try in my book

[Grungebob]

The big questions will be:

Is his points cost correct?
Is 16 the best target number for bubbling an opponent?

Playtesting will help in these areas. It will be hard to pinpoint the exact amount of mayhem that a guy can do with the bubble thing. Truth is still torn when it comes to this guys abilities. See if you have order markers on Sorgwen and you successfully bubble somebody, then the next time you activate him you are forced to chose between activating him and attempting to bubble somebody, or activating a previously bubbled figure and not getting a chance to bubble another this turn. In my opinion choices are what make up a game. Whenever a player is forced to make tough choices, you have a good mechanic at work. But, I would love to hear others insights on this unit.

[reapersaurus]

Originally Posted by Grungebob

In my opinion choices are what make up a game. Whenever a player is forced to make tough choices, you have a good mechanic at work. But, I would love to hear others insights on this unit.

I agree, choices make up a game.

And now I remember what my issue with this unit was:
He does BOTH - dominates friendly AND unfriendly heros.

What this does is 2 VERY different things:
1) allows your side to effectively have the risk from wasted Order MArkers (when a hero is killed with an unused Marker on it) to be removed or dcreased substatially. This would be great, and quite strategic and a welcome addition to HS strategy/gameplay if that's all he did.

2) Take over multiple opponent heroes, AT 6 RANGE, with only a 16 roll.
This is a completely different ability, thematically (i.e. dominating people of your own army - on the same side - to give up their mental control to you is very different from controlling an enemy).
You've all heard the discussions about Ne-Gok-Sa and why many people wouldn't want his unit to be changed to even a 19 and 20, much less increased to range, much less to a 6 Range.

Now, from a powers-analysis standpoint, we should differentiate between ne-gok-sa, strategically, and this Mindflayer.

NGS takes over the opponent completely.
Sworgren allows you to control them whenever you choose.

That is intriguing, that at any time, you take them over, but strategically it dictates that the only thing your opponent can do then is throw the Bubbled units into battle, as far away from their other figures as possible.

This is a bit too dominating for one 110 point unit, IMO.
You see the pricing for units that change the overal strategy of a battle: look at Dund (changes grouping of Order Markers), look at Saylind's limited ability, look at Morsbane , etc.

I just feel that if you want to better blend with the official units, you would make this custom do only ONE of the options you've give him. Official units seldom do more than one specific thing. And they cost out the wazoo if it is strategically changing the gameplay.

This unit significantly affects strategic gameplay.
I'm sure that's why you, and me, and others like the concept.
But this is the same problem with Agent Bale, I realize, and must also be why you and GB can't understand my issues with that unit's multiple-strategic-altering abilities as well.

Too many goodiesin one unit.
Too many game-altering effects from one, mid-priced unit.

And as you say, GB - not enough tough choices to make, when one unit does many things.

[Grungebob]

I have not tested Sorgwen yet so this is just discussion. I have played Agent Bale in numerous games both before open discussion and many times since input. After my experiences with her, I am loath take to heart criticism from those that make statements based upon theory and no testing. I would consider it, but not make changes until I tested them. This "Mental Playtesting" will not cut it I'm afraid. I am so glad that I ignored many of the suggestions that were made about DW1000. On that note I am determined to get Sorgwen on the game table soon. He is a compelling enough unit that I think some good concrete playtesting is in order here. When you are making choices while being attacked you might find that your decisions are different than you'd expect. For example, I don't see myself risking a roll or wasting a Bubble on a friendly just so I can play the order marker game. I don't see it as that beneficila that it would have a huge impact on gameplay as Reaper is suggesting, and I certainly wouldn't expect it to result in a price jump..... But during a game I might decide otherwise as situations I never thought of may pop up. I am going to keep to a minimum my SWOT.... "Suggestin WithOut Testin" on this guy.

[truth]

Ok you can use him to perserve markers, but consider the consiqunces. It costs you 110 points, you can't put SorGwen anywhere close to battle thus rendering his other side of the ability useless, It's going to take you a few turns of setup to get your friendlies bubbled. Bubbling other figures can be potentially quite powerful. But it requires that you get sorgwen fairly close to said enemy. I've got the figure ordered and on the way... So I too will be putting him into play and see how his tricky mechanics playout.

[reapersaurus]

Do you want to take this to another thread, GB? (if so, just create a dedicated thread for this, and move my post to it)

Because you have just posted something that REQUIRES us as customs reviewers to address.

You just got across in your post that you effectively downplay all analysis of a unit.
I'm not reading anything into it that isn;t there GB - you said:
"I am loath take to heart criticism from those that make statements based upon theory and no testing."
and
"I am going to keep to a minimum my SWOT.... "Suggestin WithOut Testin" on this guy."

I don't know what you actually feel, but it certainly sounds like you are dismissing our knowledge of HS cards completely, unless they are backed up by some required number of playtests.

And what, do you suggest, is this required number of playtests before a analysis is considered?
10 playtests?
15?
Because we all know that 1, 2, 3 playtests is simply not enough to even remotely get around the vagaracies of chance and probability.

Further still, what conditions do we have to meet before these playtests should be considered valuable?
Because we all know that playing against a non-competetive foe doesn;t adequately test a unit's powers. Bad terrain positioning, order marker placement, etc can devalue the results of a playtest as to be a waste of time. You know this. I know this.

So what do you suggest we do, when reviewing custom units, GB?
Set aside multiple hours of playtime when we have competetive opponents to incorporate a custom that we want to give a testride?
Completely throw out common-sense observations like "When Sowrgwen is first activated and brought into position (from the starting position), he is almost guaranteed to have free attempts to use his Mind Bubble ability, since no enemy fig should be in range."

You seem to mentally imagine the units in the least-beneficial/least-difficult way. You did this with Agent Bale, and with Sorgwen.
The fact remains that there WILL be times when Agent Bale grants a tremendous advantage, teleporting a friendly melee unit into the heart of the opponent's defense, and teleporting an enemy ranged unit into the heart of your melee grip.
This is common sense, based on standard HS gameplay. These battlelines are regularly drawn in HS gameplay (having defended ranged units and having a group of melee). (and this is just from off-the-top-of-my-memory of Agent Bale, not a deep analysis)
Similarly, Sorgwen WILL likely have "free" attempts to Mind Bubble friendly units if he wants, since he usually has to activate a few times to get into battle position.
The fact that you dismiss these mental observations since they weren't originated from playtesting seems to me to be an indictment of thinking things through at all, no matter how obvious or common sense the in-game situation being created/discussed is.

[truth]

Your using words like obvious and common sense, where as I belive both of the units your reffering too are the kind that can suprise you. Your assuming that they are going to often find themselves in favorable situations against opponents who seem to lack the thinking power to react to their unique abilities. Playtesting the units offer an insight that observation alone can't. Does that mean every unit requires extensive playtesting? I don't think so, just the ones that are difficult to judge their EXACT usefulness, such as SorGwen.

[Grungebob]

TO REAPER:

Not at all, what I am saying is that you particularly express your observations with convictions that have very little basis. I personally question the accuracy of your common sense based upon my experiences in contrast to the statements you have made about many units in the past. I do play with alot of these units and find that they perfom differently than you suggest. My assumption is that you probably don't play that much or else you might see things a little differently. Your suggestions all should be taken with this grain of salt. I look at this Sorgwen and have formed an opinion on it that is not the same as yours.... The diference is that I am not going make broad negative statements about it until I've played it... which will be soon. Of course I doubt you will be playing this one at all and that is certainly your choice. I will hold my opinions until I play it.