C3G Strategy - March 2018
Posted March 14th, 2018 at 01:20 PM by HS Codex
C3G Strategy Guide
Baron Zemo (Helmut)
By: Ronin
Analyzed Statistics
Left Box Breakdown
Species – Human (Synergy)
Uniqueness – Unique Hero
Class – Mastermind (Synergy)
Personality – Cunning
Size/Height – Medium 5
A unique hero with a size of medium 5 is basically the default setting for C3G, so, as ever, there’s not too much to talk about there. Being a human comes with some fringe benefits, as does being a mastermind—many of these come in the form of working with figures like civilians, bodyguards, and hired guns. More intriguingly, being a mastermind gives him some interesting army-building possibilities with the Penguin. More on those later.
That said, Helmut is more than a little overshadowed in his own synergy—if you want to build around some of those units I just mentioned, you might look first to Helmut’s dear old dad, Heinrich, or the Red Skull. Or both. But let’s set them aside for now and dig into the nitty-gritty of what Helmut can do for you that no one else can.
Statistics Breakdown
Life – 5
Move – 6
Range – 5
Attack – 4
Defense – 5
Points – 200
Nothing outstanding to talk about here, but Helmut has decent stats across the board.
Powers Breakdown
Best Laid Plans
Before rolling for initiative, you may choose an opponent’s Army Card with at least one Order Marker on it. That opponent may remove one Order Marker from that Army Card. If he does not, subtract 2 from his initiative roll for each Order Marker on this card.
Best Laid Plans is usually, for most of the game, a pretty easy way to nerf an opponent’s initiative roll by two: drop your X on Helmut and try to pick an opponent’s card that doesn’t have an X on it. Typically, an opponent isn’t going to give up an order marker to prevent you from getting a slight advantage in initiative, unless you pick a card that has their X on it and they don’t have any special powers that use the X.
That said, this power can take on a new level of relevance if things are close at the end of the match, when things get desperate. If Zemo’s one of your last figures on the battlefield and he’s got three or four order markers, you’re suddenly looking at a more substantial initiative boost. And if the opponent is also down to the dregs of their army, and maybe their 3 order marker will be in jeopardy if they lose initiative, then you might start seeing the opponent having to make some tough choices.
Master of Deception
After revealing a numbered Order Marker on any Army Card you control, instead of taking a turn with that card, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card and take a turn with any other Army Card you control.
Here’s the first thing Zemo can do with an X order marker, after initiative. It isn’t the most impressive form of order marker flexibility, but it definitely has its uses in a pinch. It doesn’t in any way provide insurance for when your order markers are killed, but it can salvage a turn that would be for some reason not quite what you hoped—maybe the figure you put your order marker on has been hit with some kind of negative special power, or maybe you didn’t get the initiative you were hoping for and your first turn needs to be with someone else now. Whatever the case, this is a power for when things go just a little sideways.
This power also, uniquely, lets you reveal an order marker on absolutely any card you want and then take a turn with a different card, which opens up some interesting interactions with other powers.
Master Swordplay
If Baron Zemo attacks an adjacent figure with his normal attack and at least one skull is rolled, he may attack an adjacent figure again. He may continue attacking adjacent figures, rolling 1 fewer attack die for each subsequent attack, until you fail to roll a skull. Before any of these attacks, if you reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card, you may add one automatic skull to that attack.
And finally, here’s Helmut’s one offensive power. It gives him an alternative use for the X order marker as well as pretty nice multi-attacking potential.
In-Depth Analysis
So what exactly can you do with Master of Deception? In a lot of armies, you probably want him hanging back, taking your X order markers and helping you out on initiative rolls. You can also throw the occasional numbered order marker on him, if you don’t need it elsewhere—Zemo can always use the X to bounce the turn to someone else, and having two order markers on him helps you out more on initiative. Then, in the endgame, Zemo can use his multi-attacks to help clean up.
What kinds of armies do you want to build around Zemo? The simplest possibility in the ever popular 1000 point arena is to team him up with the Wrecking Crew, who add up to 800 points even. Zemo, at the convenient point total of exactly 200, makes a nice candidate to round them up to a 1000 point army.
The Wrecking Crew don’t have any special use for the X order marker, so Zemo can take it and hang out in the start zone, passively helping out on initiative rolls and providing a little turn flexibility, then emerging from the start zone at the end of the game to mop up the Wrecking Crew’s leftovers. The Wrecking Crew hit hard enough that they should be able to take down any real toughies in the opponent’s army, and leave Zemo with a manageable workload.
Master of Deception plays interestingly off of the Wrecking Crew special power—in order to bond with each other, the Wrecking Crew require only that you revealed an order marker on one of their cards at the start of your turn. If you reveal an order marker on say, Thunderball’s card, but you decide you’d rather take a turn with Bulldozer, you can use Master of Deception to take a turn with Bulldozer rather than Thunderball, and then you can still roll for the Wrecking Crew special power at the end of Bulldozer’s turn.
Another interesting trick to pull is putting Zemo together with his longtime rival, Captain America—specifically, the C3G version of Captain America. The two benefit each other in interesting ways. Helmut likes getting an attack boost from Cap, and Captain America likes getting initiative so that you can reveal an order marker on his card and activate Avengers Assemble.
Helmut not only provides an initiative boost, but also provides a benefit to Cap that no one else does: he allows you to reveal that order marker on Cap, activating Avengers Assemble, and then take a turn with someone other than Cap. Cap isn’t such a bad figure to take a turn with, but having the option to activate your other Avengers is nice.
Last but not least, another thing you might try building around Helmut’s paper synergies: providing him with some flunkies in the form of bodyguards and hired guns allows you to stock up more order markers on his card, without having to walk him out of the start zone and engage the foe right away. There are crime lords and masterminds that more directly mesh with those criminals, so Zemo might not seem like the best choice right away, but you can actually bridge the gap between Zemo and the hired guns and bodyguards pretty well by drafting Penguin (II). Penguin rewards you for putting order markers on masters by pumping up your initiative rolls even further, helps mobilize your criminal flunkies, and he can even protect Helmut with his political investments if Helmut has to get his hands dirty.
For more information, check out the Book of Baron Zemo (Helmut Zemo).
Comments 8
Total Comments 8
Comments
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Well stated!
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Posted March 14th, 2018 at 04:04 PM by SirGalahad
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Great article, Ronin!
 Can't believe I never thought of the Captain America interaction... I suppose it's because I prefer to play vaguely thematic armies, and that... well, isn't. Really interesting - I've always liked Helmut, even if he's not really the best at what he does, he's one of the more interesting options. |
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Posted March 14th, 2018 at 04:28 PM by Lazy Orang
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Thanks, guys!
As a big Helmut fan, I actually like that he has some hidden soft synergy with Cap. He's a morally complicated guy and the argument can be made that he sees Cap as kind of a surrogate father figure. In my book, it's definitely a good-wonky that they play well together. |
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Posted March 14th, 2018 at 10:11 PM by Ronin
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That was a fun read!
It's rewarding to see the designs you worked on get this type of in-depth analysis and see what interesting extra layers are revealed. Thanks for putting it together. |
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Posted March 15th, 2018 at 08:37 AM by IAmBatman
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Four comments? Hmm, maybe we should skip a month between articles more regularly...
 ~TGRF. |
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Posted March 17th, 2018 at 01:51 AM by TGRF
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Thanks, Bats! Glad you dug it.
I probably better get cracking on that next article or it might be another skip-month. Haven't picked a subject yet, so I'm open to any comments from the peanut gallery on what unit needs an article. |
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Posted March 17th, 2018 at 09:31 AM by Ronin
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Might I suggest Mister Sinister? That guy's bloody weird.
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Posted March 17th, 2018 at 11:17 AM by Lazy Orang
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If by weird you mean fun, then I totally agree! He definitely has a lot to dig into.
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Posted March 17th, 2018 at 02:52 PM by Ronin
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