Heroscapers - The Book of Beyonder

C3G PLAY TEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (BEYONDER)

- 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 Event Hero rules prevent you from taking control of an opponent's Event Hero, so no mind control loops possible here.

- 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 Though if he's hitting the Mere Pawns rolls, he's very scary ...

- 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 He felt very like Beyonder

- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against.
PASS The changes to Mere Pawns let the opposing army get plenty of attacks in on him and feel like they had some control over their own destiny! Plus it's fun to have Doom steal Beyonder's powers!

- 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

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- Army Test/ Does it pass? PASS @ 1800
Map: Platforms 5 and 6
Units: Beyonder vs. Anti-Monitor (Normally I wouldn't use Anti-Monitor in a playtest, but since I'm doing three others, and since I feel Anti-Monitor is his closest comparison for points, I thought a head-to-head could be a helpful start).

Spoiler Alert!

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- Army Test/ Does it pass? PASS
Map: Platforms 5 and 6
Units: Beyonder (1800) vs. Thor, Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Doombot x1, Spider-Man, Iron Man, and Red Skull (1810)

Spoiler Alert!

Beyonder won after 9 Full Rounds with 28 of 35 wounds on his card. On the surface that doesn't sound so bad, and it seems as if he just needs a bump in cost a few hundred points ... but there's more to it than that. Silver Surfer and Doombot died in Round 1. Red Skull and Iron Man died in Round 2. Doctor Doom died in Round 4. Spidey and Thor lasted until the end. Basically all Beyonder did until he was up against the last two (and after taking about 20 wounds realized he was better off attacking Thor himself) was sit back and roll the D20 and keep the heroes in their start zone attacking each other. He only failed often enough on the rolls for Thor to attack him twice, once from melee, once from range, and put one wound on him, until it was down to just Spidey and Thor. It was actually a huge advantage for the heroes to have fewer troops against Beyonder - it didn't feel even a little competitive until most of the other army had killed each other off and Beyonder finally let what was left face him directly. I love the theme on that, but it sucks to play against. Here's my suggestion - we tweak the D20 rolls up slightly and put an effective range on the mind control. It just sucks to be forced to rip apart your own start zone and then every time you move six spaces out of it, be sent six spaces back into it to attack your own guys. I think we could make the second tier of the D20 roll 14+ and limit him to taking control of units within 10 clear sight spaces of himself. Beyond will still get plenty of chances to pit heroes against each other and all that awesome Secret Wars theme will still be there, but you should at least get a chance to attack him back.
Then, to keep his cost high, where it should be, I'd say bump his life to 40 and his move to 5.

Re-test:

Beyonder (2000) vs. Thor, Silver Surfer, Doctor Doom, Doombot x1, Spider-Man, Iron Man, Cyclops and Red Skull (2000)

Beyonder won with 33 wounds in a much more satisfying match after 10 Full Rounds. This time Beyonder definitely had to get up close and personal for the first half of the game until he could make it into the enemy start zone for the second half, when he started using them as Mere Pawns more consistently. He summoned Red Skull early, putting Red Skull down in Round 2. Then he faced Thor, who put over 10 wounds on him (3 thanks to a successful God of Thunderstrike roll), and put Thor down by the end of Round 3. Doombot got killed by friendly fire from Cyclops and Silver Surfer in Round 5. Silver Surfer was killed in Round 7. Doom, who Beyonder could not control, but who took Beyonder's powers three times and used them to pull his own Red Skull number, was killed by both Beyonder and Doom's mind controlled allies in Round 8. Cyclops was killed in Round 9. Iron Man and Spider-man were killed in Round 10. Their defenses fell apart too easily for this one to end.
Decision time. I think if Beyonder, in the current write up, had life of 35, he'd be perfectly balanced at 2000 points. I'm OK with that, and I'm also OK with him costing more than 2000 points if that's what we want. So basically we need to decide if I should test him with 40 life at 2000+ or stay at 2000 and go down to 35 life.

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- Army Test/ Does it pass?
Map: Platforms 5 and 6
Units: Beyonder, Riddler, Speedy, Sentinel (x3) (3000) vs. Magneto, Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver, Professor X, Jean Grey, Magma, Wolverine, Pyro, Blob, Mystique, Colossus, Angel, Beast, Molly Hayes, and Cyclops (3000)

Spoiler Alert!

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- Army Test/ Does it pass?
Map: Platforms 5 and 6
Units: Beyonder (3000) vs. Graviton, MODOK, Loki, Annihilus, Red Skull, HYDRA Agents x3, Punisher, Thanos, Super-Skrull, and Madame HYDRA (3000)

Spoiler Alert!