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Originally Posted by Skeeter700
NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (Spectre)
Thanks for the opportunity to playtest this design. I actually purchased a DC Universe Spectre toy last year in January during a local department store's clearance sale for $1.99. I bought him so that if/when C3G made the design I was ready. It was nice to finally put him to use.
- 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. I've read a few Spectre trades (when he was Jim Corrigan, Hal Jordan, & Crispus Allen). Spectre is a character I get interested in, order the trade, then feel disappointed about. It seems I like the idea of him better then the actual character as written. To me, he always comes off as such a know-it-all jerk. Anyways, your design captures all the things I like about Spectre, and even allows for hints of the aloof, know-it-all jerk too.
- 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.
- 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. I couldn't find any issues with Adjudicator, Entity, or Vengeful.
- 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. Withering Gaze is a great power. It really represents the intimidation effect of Spectre. However, I really like that Fearless figures (like Hal Jordan) get a pass from it. This really opens up a category of characters that can hurt Spectre - and thematically it works great. Brilliant stuff!
- 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. Spectre is mighty powerful (I think even more powerful then my playtests show). However, he should be. As a 500 point event hero he works.
- FUN TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play.
Pass. On my 650ish point level test, the strategy I used made the game drag on and get tiring. I had Spectre use Intangibility and his high move number to lure his attackers into engagement with some "meat-sheild" kids with the hope they'd get killed allowing the Spirit of Vengeance to be unleashed. While this baiting took a long time, it did represent the aloofness of the Spectre. Plus, I could have sped the game up a bit by using a strategy I'll talk about on my last response.
- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against.
Pass. Both of the armies I pitted against Spectre made him their main target and it was fun to slowly whittle him down.
- DRAFTING TEST/ Consider whether or not this design is worth drafting.
Pass. It will be great fun to build armies that best take advantage of Spectre's powers. I'm going to try a Winter Soldier & Spectre team next (see my last response again for why).
- USAGE TEST/ Consider whether or not all of the powers on this card were used or at least usable.
Pass. All powers were used during my two playtests. The Green Lantern team did do a good job minimzing Spectre's use of his powers. However, when he was able to access them, they were effective.
- STRATEGY TEST/ Consider whether or not the design offers any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game.
The one thing I did not do with Spectre, but considered was to kill one of his teammates to access Spirit of Vengeance. I think that is legal rulewise, and while I'm not sure if it was intended I like having that choice. It makes Spectre, like Gorilla-Man, a more fun unit as you always have the option of 'offing' one of your own to whaloop your opponent. Plus, it's that aloof, jerky, I-know-best kind of thing that Spectre does from time-to-time.
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Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes.
- What should be the unit's point value? 475-500.
- Give a brief overview. This was a fun game. The Lanterns seemed to control the first half by sticking to their strategy of using Hal to wear down the Spectre. Twice Spectre’s team had to work out a new plan to cope with the Lantern’s success. Hal was brutal to the Spectre not letting him use his Withering Gaze and the Lanterns tried hard to take him out first thereby negate the Spirit of Vengeance power. As a result, Spectre never used either this or his Withering Gaze. However, while Spectre only dealt out 2 wounds, he did wear down the Lanterns, costing them enough power batteries to give Batman & family a chance when he died. Furthermore, Spectre dominated the game being the major focus of the Lantern game plan. Truthfully, I thought Hal had a good chance of beating Spoiler & Speedy at the end, but the gamble of rolling 6 dice to get 1 shield just didn’t pay off.
Map: Mountain Spring.
Units: Spectre (500) & Batman II (250), Robin – TD (120), Robin – DG (100), Speedy – MD (80), Spoiler (50) = 1100 VSHal Jordan (350), Guy Gardner (320) Kilowog (310) Green Lantern Construct (120) = 1100
Spoiler Alert!
Round 1 (Initiative – Green Lanterns): Guy Gardner begins things by moving 9 spaces to the nearest rock outcropping. His team’s plan is for him and Kilowog to occupy Batman & family so Hal Jordan can attack the Spectre. Batman takes the bait and moves 6 spaces into the shadows, followed by Tim Drake. Hal then moves 9 spaces to the highest land he can reach and adjacent to a water space. Dick Greyson then moves 5 to also be adjacent to Batman. Kilowog moves 7 spaces into the shadows on his side of the hill. Finally, Speedy moves 5 to a spot behind Tim where she fires a lone arrow at Hal Jordan, which whiffs. Spoiler follows her, thanks to her Sidekick Shadow.
Round 2 (Initiative – Justice & Vengeance):
Batman moves 6 spaces towards the nearest glyph at the bottom of the hill. He is followed by Dick. Guy sees this and moves onto the hill where he has range on all of team Justice & Vengeance, except the Spectre. He attacks Dick Greyson, because of the Daring Decoy ability, and Dick uses his Acrobatic Maneuver to avoid any damage. In response, Batman dashes to the glyph, which turns out to be a time bomb! Luckily it does not explode (I won’t type that again – I’ll just point out when it does go off – even though it did make the next few Order Markers tense and effect the strategy of the game). Dick does not use his Vigilante Sidekick ability. Guy them moves 5 spaces to get in range of Batman but out of range of the bomb. As Dick is no longer there to be a decoy, Guy inflicts one wound on the Bat as even Shadow Strike can’t help him. The Spectre finally joins the game moving 7 spaces towards Guy. Hal, seeing this, dashes down to be adjacent to the Spectre but maintain height advantage. His attack lands 2 wounds on the vengeful entity.
Round 3 (Initiative – Green Lanterns):
Hal attacks again, landing 2 more wounds on The Spectre. Batman dashes away from the bomb and, as he can’t get adjacent to him, attacks Guy with his Shurikens. At the same time, Dick moves beside Batman & Guy to attack. However, none of the attacks do anything to the rash Lantern. Kilowog now moves 6 spaces towards the glyph at the top of the hill and removes a battery marker to help boost Guy & Hal’s powers. The Spectre moves 6 towards Kilowog and attacks him, but only rolls 1 skull which Kilowog easily deflects. Hal then follows the Spectre and attacks again, landing 2 more wounds on the entity. Finally Tim Drake ends the round by moving close enough to attack Hal, but can’t land any wounds. Spoiler follows him but can’t attack.
Round 4 (Initiative – Justice & Vengeance):
Spectre moves 7 spaces to withdraw. His plan is to both escape Hal’s onslaught and hopefully make use of his Spirit of Vengeance. Hal follows though and gets adjacent, but, having lost height advantage, can’t land a wound. Batman moves on Guy and with height lands 2 wounds on him. Dick follows and adds one more, despite Guy having Kilowog’s boost. Hal continues his assault on The Spectre and lands another wound. Speedy and Spoiler get in on the action by trying to draw Hal’s fire on them. They both move into engagement with Hal, and Spoiler even lands 2 wounds on him! Guy then attacks Dick Greyson and manages to kill the first Robin. Unfortunately the round ends and Spectre can’t take advantage of his Spirit of Vengeance power.
Round 5 (Initiative – Justice & Vengeance)
Spectre moves 7 spaces to attack Guy. His team is feeling desperate, with the Spectre managing 7 wounds, 1 Robin being dead, and only 1 power battery marker spent (to boost the other 2 Lanterns). Spectre, though, can’t even wound Guy. Hal moves out of engagement of Spoiler & Speedy – but takes no leaving engagement wounds – to again attack Spectre. He lands another wound. Spectre moves to get height on Guy and launches a 4 skull attack. Realizing this has the potential to kill him, Guy decides to use a Power Battery rather than risk a wound. Kilowog then moves onto the last glyph and discovers it is a Temporal Displacement Glyph that he can’t use at this time. Spectre attacks Guy again and again Guy uses a power battery to avoid a 5 skull roll. Hal then inflicts the 9th wound on Spectre.
Round 6 (Initiative – Justice & Vengeance)
Spectre attacks Guy again and with a 4 skull roll, forces Guy to use up another power battery marker. Hal retaliates landing yet another wound on Spectre. Batman moves 6 spaces behind Hal and gets a 4 skull roll, so Hal uses a power marker. Tim then attacks Hal, who blocks his attack easily. Kilowog decides to remove another power battery before moving into range of Tim. Even drained of power, Kilowog puts one wound on the last remaining Robin. Batman & Tim each attack a Lantern now. Batman lands a wound on Hal, but Tim can’t do the same to Kilowog. Hal will not give up his assault on Spectre and lands the 11th wound on the giant entity. Despite Hal’s luck on normal attacks against Spectre, all this time he has not managed to roll for his Fearless Charge power.
Round 7 (Initiative – Green Lanterns):
Hal attacks the Spectre again, but misses this time. Spectre decides to focus his assault on Kilowog and hope to kill the Bolovaxian to remove the boost he’s giving the other two Lanterns. He does manage to put 2 wounds on the Drill Instructor. Guy moves above Batman and hits him with 2 skulls, but Batman manages to pull of his Shadow Strike and kills Guy. Batman then has his turn and kills Kilowog with a 3 wound attack. Tim, meanwhile, has attacked Hal Jordan, but to no avail. Hal moves 8 spaces to again engage Spectre. This time, even without Kilowog’s boost, Hal kills the Spectre. That leaves Hal Jordan alone to fight Batman, Tim, Speedy, & Spoiler. Batman and Tim both attack Hal, but can’t wound him.
Round 8 (Initiative – Green Lantern):
Hal attacks Batman, but can’t wound him and again misses his chance at Fearless Charge. Batman pulls out his First Aid kit to heal himself. But while busy doing this Hal attacks and again whiffs. However, Hal finally rolls for Fearless Charge and with his second assault kills the Batman. As Batman held his team’s second order marker, Hal goes again and kills Tim Drake. Speedy moves 5 spaces up a hill and fires an arrow at Hal Jordan. She only rolls 1 skull, so Hal decides to roll defence. But even with 6 dice, he rolls no skulls and is killed.
Winners: Speedy & Spoiler with no wounds.
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Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes.
- What should be the unit's point value? 500.
- Give a brief overview. That was a long game. In the end, Spectre’s strategy didn’t pan out – though it came very close. It was just too hard to get the creatures to kill a kid. Frankenstein & Abomination didn’t feel threatened enough to abandon their pursuit of Spectre. They’d just take the leaving engagement attacks (especially Frankie whose healing factor worked wonders) and hope to kill a Power Pack member on their last OM. Back in the late 90s the New Jersey Devils hockey team began playing a strategy called “the trap”, which was essentially to never cross the center line unless you were very sure you could make a solid attack. It was effective but very boring to watch. This game felt a bit like watching the Devils play again, as Spectre kept floating off until he had a chance to lower a devastating attack. In Round 11, I think I should have made a different choice that would have helped Spectre win - I'll point it out when we get to it. I think the strategy I used might work better, and be more entertaining, on a 1000 point game, where the meat shields offer enough threat that they can’t be ignored.
Map: Mountain Spring.
Units: Spectre (500), Zero-G (80), Energizer (50), Lightspeed (40) & Moloid x 1 (10) = 680 VS. Frankenstein (320) & Abomination (360) = 680
Spoiler Alert!
* Note on this battle: When Spectre used his Withering Gaze on Abomination I'd use a randomizer app to select which OM to remove. This is a bit false as I'm sure I'd put more thought into guessing which OM to guess. However, it did not happen much as Frankenstein held most of the OMs during the game, then used Creature Command to order Abomination around.
Round 1 (Initiative – Creatures):
The idea in this battle was to combat Frankie & Abomination by surrounding Spectre with a “kiddie meat shield” that would constantly engage the two creatures while Spectre slipped away. If Frankie or Abomination chased they would risk leaving engagement attacks. If they attacked the kids, they risked the Spirit of Vengeance. Let’s see how this works out: The first round involves both teams moving into position with their strategies. Having Zero-G to marshal his team & use Lightspeed’s Small Carry power helps do this. Meanwhile, Abomination jumps and Frankie trudges along.
Round 2 (Initiative – Creatures):
The first 2 OM’s are continued positioning. Not until OM 3 does Frankie move into engagement with Energizer and decides to attack as it’s close to the end of the round. But he can’t inflict damage. Zero-G attacks Abomination, but no luck there either.
Round 3 (Initiative – Big & Littles):
Spectre runs away, now that both creatures are engaged with a kid. Abomination chases. The creature does not get a leaving engagement attack and puts 4 wounds on Spectre. Zero-G orders Lightspeed to carry him and follow Abomination. Lightspeed then attacks and does no damage. Frankie is up next and gets one leaving engagement wound. While he does attack Spectre, he can’t inflict a wound. Zero-G attacks Abomination fruitlessly and Frankenstein puts one more wound on Spectre thanks to his fearless personality.
Round 4 (Initiative – Big & Littles):
Spectre runs to the top of the hill. Abomination follows risking a leaving engagement wound that never comes. However, in his attack on Spectre, Abomination also fails. Spectre tries attacking Abomination, but his weak 1 skull roll is ineffective. Frankenstein takes another wound as he leaves engagement to chase Spectre, who is attacking Abomination again. Abomination takes no wounds again. Frankenstein has now caught Specter, but can’t put a wound on the entity.
Round 5 (Initiative – Creatures)
Frankenstein attacks Spectre again, but can’t wound him. Zero-G moves Energizer into engagement with Frankenstein and attacks him. While Energizer lands a wound, Frankie’s Undead Resilience leaves him better off after the attack then before it. Abomination attacks Spectre, but is frozen by the Withering Gaze. The OM Spectre removes from Abomination is an “X” so no good. Zero-G moves up the hill himself now, as Frankenstein attacks Spectre landing 2 more wounds. Abomination chips in, thanks to Frankenstein’s Creature Command power, and lands 1 more wound on the Entity. Spectre tries to attack back, but in so doing wounds Frankie twice (but they’re healed away).
Round 6 (Initiative – Big & Littles)
Zero-G continues to try and get to Abomination, but has to take the long way around due to Frankenstein and water blocking his path. Meanwhile, Frankenstein & Abomination continue their assault. Frank whiffs and Abomination is again frozen by the Withering Gaze. Spectre attacks Frank, and after the healing, lands a wound on him. Zero-G finally engages Abomination and even puts a wound on him! So with Frank & Abomination now well engaged, Spectre flies off. Frank attacks Energizer as this is the last OM of the round, and puts a wound on her. Abomination likewise puts a wound on Zero-G.
Round 7 (Initiative – Big & Littles):
Round 7 and no fatalities yet! Zero-G moves to engage both creatures, then attacks Abomination and amazingly wounds him 2 more times. Frank decides to risk the Spirit of Vengeance and attacks Energizer. He does this as the kids have blocked his path meaning he’d have to waste a turn to end up even further away from Spectre. He kills Energizer. As Frank, is still engaged to Lightspeed, Abomination gets a turn and jumps to Spectre’s side. His attack wounds Spectre 3 more times. Zero-G starts marshalling his team to engage the creatures again. Spectre does get 2 wounds onto Abomination though as a result of his Spirit of Vengeance boost, leaving the creature one wound from death. Frank ends the round attacking Lightspeed, but can’t wound her.
Round 8 (Initiative – Creatures)
Frank moves down to engage Spectre, but can’t wound him. Spectre attacks Abomination, but can’t wound him. Frank, attacks Spectre again landing 2 wounds, but Abomination can’t finish the job. So Specter flies off. Frank follows and runs into Lightspeed, who he attacks but can’t wound. By the way, the way these kids heal after a turn, makes them really annoying to the creatures. Spectre turns over the last OM of the round, but chooses to just wait for the creatures at the top of the hill.
Round 9 (Initiative – Big & Littles)
Zero-G gets Lightspeed to carry him 5 spaces then attack Frankenstein fruitlessly. Frankenstein moves towards Spectre, taking a leaving engagement wound on the way. Zero-G moves to engage Abomination, who has just jumped close by. Frankenstein finally catches up to Spectre, taking another leaving engagement attack on the way, and attacks the entity but not wounding him. So Specter flies off to the shadows at the bottom of the hill. Frankenstein follows, stopping to engage Lightspeed, but not wounding her. Abomination jumps to Spectre’s side but can’t land a wound either.
Round 10 (Initiative – Big & Littles)
Spectre flies off again. Frank follows again. Zero-G gets Lightspeed to carry him again and engage Frank again and attack the creature again and again no wounds result. Frank is stuck again and must attack Zero-G or turn back. He ends up killing the kid. This gives Spectre the opening he’s been waiting for. With 11 wounds and full of the Spirit of Vengeance, he flies down and smites Frankenstein with a 5 skull roll. The creatures lose their last OM as it was on Frank.
Round 11 (Initiative – Abomination)
Abomination and Spectre go toe to toe in this round. Both heroes only have 1 life left. Spectre can’t roll high enough to wound the creature, and Abomination can’t get past the Withering Stare on OM 1, causing him to lose his second OM. However, with his third OM, he finally puts 1 wound on Spectre, killing the entity.
* I thought about having Spectre himself kill a Power Pack kid to get the Spirit of Vengeance boost before attacking Abomination. The whole game this had been on my mind, but this was the most tempting point to do it. Looking back, it might have been the better decision.
Round 12 (Initiative – Creatures)
Abomination spends this round hunting and killing Zero-G & Lightspeed. It’s ugly so I won’t go into the details.
Round 13 (Initiative – Creatures)
Remember that moloid. Of course not, he was just a 10 point Army filler. Well, he’s all that’s left on Spectre’s team. Abomination slaughters him too.
Winner: Abomination (with 6 wounds)
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