I've been somewhat lax in recording playtests for M.A.R.S. lately, but recent changes to his normal attack (4 range, 4 attack) have proven to be acceptable while avoiding the pitfall of Hoplitron Bonding. I'm not a big fan of how this makes it easier to avoid friendly damage, but 4 range and 2 attack was the main viable alternative, which would probably make him weak enough to need a further points decrease that I'd prefer to avoid.

As it is, M.A.R.S. has been regularly underperforming. That's largely intended, though, given that he is such a swingy figure with a lot of devastating potential. I wanted to test him out at least one more time on the relatively flat terrain of the AotV maps, which makes his 4 move much less crippling. The results follow below:

CUSTOM MAP:No Glyphs
Astro: M.A.R.S., Sonlen, Asterios,...

Around a month ago, I began experimenting with the Online HeroScape App to see if I could play some games against real opponents despite the pandemic. @Leo Ultra and I set up a game so that we could play asynchronously, each taking a turn about once a day (through the power of years of friendship, we had achieved a level of trust just high enough to let each other roll the other person's dice in a monitored chat log. Truly a progressive idea). M.A.R.S. had already been floating about on my mind for several years a good while, so it had felt like the perfect time to throw him in with the Hoplitrons to see how it plays. Here is the result:

JANDAR’S SUMMONING CIRCLE by Flash_19
No glyphs.
Astro: Tetsuo Tyrell, Beakface Sneaks x5, Quorik Warwitch, Clawfoot Interceptor, Beakface Rogue x4 (520)
Leo: Hoplitron x5, Major J15, Executioner 616, M.A.R.S. (w/ 1 range and 5 attack) (510)

SURVIVING UNITS
Tetsuo Tyrell (1 Life), Quorik Warwitch...

With the recent buffs to Masha, I wanted to make sure that he didn't become too good with the Unique Samurai. Dawn wanted to try out some more Marro units, so we created a hodgepodge of them for her to use and test out Masha against some decent ranged units.

ARCTIC DIVIDE by UranusPChicago

Glyphs: Lodin (D20 +1), Ulaniva (Unique Attack +1)
Astro: Masha Shingai, Tomoe Gozen, Tagawa Samurai, Kozuke Samurai, Izumi Samurai (500)
Dawn: Marro Stingers x3, Marro Gnids x2, Marrden Nagrubs x2, Su-Bak-Na (500)
(Dropped 1 Nagrub to fit 24 hexes)

GAME SUMMARY:
Dawn mostly led with the Stingers, throwing in a few Gnid turns every so often to keep them as an extra threat. The developing Samurai suffered a handful of whiffs early on, losing a Kozuke and Tagawa, but otherwise their defense held strong. Because Ulaniva was on the other side of the map and Dawn's army was much faster than my own, I made my way for Lodin and slowly...

I wanted to test out Masha's buffs from the other end, so I asked Leo to take him for a spin. Did I have ulterior motives in wanting to play something other than Samurai for once? Probably.

FOSSIL by Rÿchean
Glyphs: Login (Lucky Twenty-Sider), Dagmar (Initiative +8 )
Astro: Mohican River Tribe x4, Brave Arrow, Venoc Warlord (450 Points)
Leo: Masha Shingai, Raelin, Tagawa Samurai Archers x4 (450 Points)

CURRENT VERSION OF MASHA:


SURVIVING UNITS:
The game was called the round after Masha died (about four or five into the game) to save on time. The following units were left:
8x TSA
~175 Points Left for the Samurai

5x MRT, Brave Arrow (2 wounds), Venoc Warlord
~260 Points Left for the Native Americans

GAME SUMMARY:
There was a noticeable slowness to the entire Samurai army the first round (Leo spent two Order Markers...

ARCTIC DIVIDE by UranusPChicago

Glyphs: Wannok (Wound), Kelda (Healer)
Astro: Masha Shingai, Tagawa Samurai Archers x5, Swaysil (485)
Dawn: Knights of Weston x4, Alastair MacDirk, Finn the Viking Champion, Kyntela Gwyn (490)

SURVIVING UNITS:
Alastair MacDirk (1 wound), 6x Knights
~200 Points Left

Current Version of Masha:


GAME SUMMARY:
I quickly claimed Wannok while Dawn’s knights advanced. Each side suffered a few casualties in the early rounds, but Kyntela absorbed Wannok well. The knights then flanked the glyph, claiming Wannok with Finn and skirmishing with the archers and Masha until Finn fell. The knights renewed their efforts, killing Masha soon afterwards.

Things looked bad for the Samurai until an initiative switch in their favor where they were able to land a few more kills from height. After that, the knight reinforcements...