[Yodaking]

Played a few games, here are the results. I'll post some additional thoughts on where to go from here a little later.

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = ROCKET RACCOON

SPECIES = RACCOON
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = OUTLAW
PERSONALITY = FEARLESS

SIZE/HEIGHT = SMALL 4

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 6
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 215?

BOMBS AWAY
Start the game with 3 Glyphs of Remotely-Detonated Bomb on this card. After moving with Rocket, you may place one Glyph of Remotely-Detonated Bomb from this card power-side up on any empty space Rocket moved through or passed over. Instead of attacking, you may destroy any number of Glyphs of Remotely-Detonated Bomb on the battlefield.

WAIT FOR THE "BOOM!"
Once per game, after revealing an Order Marker on this card and inflicting a wound on a non-friendly figure by destroying a Glyph of Remotely-Detonated Bomb, you may take an immediate turn with up to 4 Unique Heroes in your Army that have one or more Order Markers on their card. You may take these turns in any order but may not take any additional turns with any other figures.

MOVING TARGET
When rolling defense dice against a non-adjacent attack, add one shield to whatever is rolled. After rolling defense dice against any attack, you may move Rocket Raccoon up to 3 spaces. Rocket Raccoon will not take any leaving engagement attacks when moved by this power.

FLYING


REMOTELY-DETONATED BOMB (PERMANENT GLYPH)
If this glyph is destroyed by any means, the figure occupying or holding this glyph takes 1 wound. If this glyph is unoccupied, the player who destroyed the glyph may choose a figure that is within 1 space of this glyph. That figure takes 1 wound.

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (Rocket Raccoon II)
Army Test 1
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Undecided.
- What should be the unit's point value? Didn’t feel anywhere close to a 200+ point card here, more like 175.
- Give a brief preview. Core GotG team vs. the Fan5 to see how they measure up. Rocket’s consistent Plan featuring half turns vs. Reed’s inconsistent leadership featuring full turns. Gamora & Drax boosted by Star-Lord should be enough to threaten the high defense figures, but Rocket’s bombs could prove useful to finish someone off with an auto-wound once they get knocked down to 1 life as long as he can stay clear of Reed.
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: Star-Lord, Rocket Raccoon II @215, Groot, Gamora, Drax (1400) vs. Fan4 + Silver Surfer (1400)

Spoiler Alert!

IDK if this is just really a crappy match-up for the GotG, but I ended up scrapping the first game and starting over not very far into it. Silver Surfer just owned Drax and he was dead without doing anything at all, while Rocket hadn’t even taken a turn yet in the game, so I had lost interest in the game. The bomb detonation requirement really keeps his big move in check as you have to send Rocket out into danger to set up the bombs next to anyone and he’s fairly squishy with just 4 life, so I tried to wait until some of his allies had engaged and distracted some of the opponents figures. In this particular match-up, Reed’s Rubber Wrap is a significant obstacle for Rocket trying to dash in and out to place some bombs. Star Lord tried to bring everyone up as a group but the Fan5 is just too mobile for that and had already set up on high ground before I could really do anything. So I had to start over and try some different tactics to see if I could make things work.
In the second game I made Sue Drax’s nemesis to keep him from running off into trouble on me. Groot got the first OM and then Rocket the next two so he could fly up and drop the bombs on the central high ground and try to use the threat of the bombs to discourage anyone from ending their turn there. Silver Surfer of course won’t be deterred since he can move after attacking but the rest of the Fan5 will not be so quick to take HG is the hope. It helped that the GotG won initiative this time and Reed rolled a 2 for his first leadership test of the game, but even so Reed saw what Rocket was trying to do and decided to move out and wrap him up on OM2, he did so while avoiding the 1 bomb Rocket had placed on the map. Now Rocket is stuck unable to move and unable to place any bombs for a while. Silver Surfer then flies out and destroys Rocket in one attack. I will have to start over again.
Back to plan A for game 3, will have to leave Rocket in the rear until after the rest of the team has engaged the enemy, just going to try to lead with Gamora & Drax this time, using her move of 7 and his nemesis free moves to get onto HG and contest it before Star-Lord, Groot, & Rocket ever move. I still can’t have Drax running off 3 times per round though, so I’ll try Sue as his nemesis again as she’ll need to move at least once in the first round to keep her aura relevant for her team, so Drax should have a move of at least 9 in round 1 (1 OM + free move), with Gamora having a move of 14 (2 OM’s). Silver Surfer nails Gamora for 2W from HG right out of the gate. Drax engages Surfer on HG and hits him for 1W. Reed opts to engage and Rubber Wrap Drax to keep him from going after Sue, while Surfer rolls 7 skulls on 7 dice to deal 4W & kill Gamora in the first round. That’s not at all useful for testing purposes, and I’m not restarting this game a 4th time, so I re-roll his attack dice and Gamora blocked Surfer. Gamora decides to engage Reed on the other side so she’s also on the HG tiles, heals 1W.
Star-Lord wins initiative and moves up, Drax & Gamora are now inside his aura, uses SA to move up Groot who carries Rocket. Thing moves up and hits Gamora for 1W, Surfer decided not to risk counterstrike damage either so he flew off and went after Rocket from HG, 2W, Rocket moves up, Reed hits Drax for 1W. Gamora hits Reed for 2W. Thing hits Gamora for another W, Human Torch flies up adj. to Gamora, opts not to risk any Counter Strike damage. Rocket flies over adj. to Sue, drops a bomb adj. to Sue & Johnny along the way, since Gamora is about to die he decides to put his plan into action and detonates the 1 bomb, dealing 1W to Sue, opts to take his turn right away and see if he can get really lucky (will require 4 skulls vs. 0 shields to KO her though) with a normal att. on Sue, 1W, Gamora att. Reed, scores 2W, rolls a 19 on God Killer and takes out Reed!, this allows Star-Lord to move up into his spot, where he shoots at Johnny, blocked, but now Drax (who had the X OM) is free to move and engages Sue, rolls just 3 skulls on 9 dice and gets blocked by 3 shields on 4 dice. OM3 lost on Reed, Gamora heals 1W.
GotG win initiative and Drax tries to take out Sue again, dealing 2W. Johnny uses Flame On 4, LEA misses, 2W to Gamora, lands adj. to Star-Lord & att., blocked. Drax finally slays Sue. Surfer flies adj. to Gamora and tries to finish her off, the auto-skull from removing the X does it, 1W takes down Gamora. Rocket moves and drops a bomb off next to Surfer, detonates it for 1W. Ben goes after Quill, 2W.
Ben wins initiative and hits Star-Lord again but only deals 1W. Drax moves up adj. to Surfer & att. rolling just 2 skulls, Surfer doesn’t think he needs to remove the X here but then whiffs on defense takes 2W. Surfer flies off and attacks Rocket by bush from HG in an attempt to finish him off, saves the X removal for defense and still deals 2W to finish him off. Torch takes 1W from the LEA and sets Star-Lord on fire taking him out, he then att. Groot by Jungle Tree from HG and deals 2W. Drax hits Ben for 2W, Groot heals 1W.
Ben wins initiative and Clobbers Drax with two att. of 10, taking him out on the second att. roll. OM1 lost on Drax. Surfer att. Groot by Jungle Tree from HG, removing X for the extra skull, deals 4W. Groot moves adj. to Johnny and att. from LG w/2 att. dice, 1W! Johnny sets the tree on fire and ends the game.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Silver Surfer w/4Ws, Ben & Johnny w/2W each won.

Summary:
Wait for the Boom! Usage: Rocket flies over adj. to Sue, drops a bomb adj. to Sue & Johnny along the way, since Gamora is about to die he decides to put his plan into action and detonates the 1 bomb, dealing 1W to Sue, opts to take his turn right away and see if he can get really lucky (will require 4 skulls vs. 0 shields to KO her though) with a normal att. on Sue, 1W, Gamora att. Reed, scores 2W, rolls a 19 on God Killer and takes out Reed!, this allows Star-Lord to move up into his spot, where he shoots at Johnny, blocked, but now Drax (who had the X OM) is free to move and engages Sue, rolls just 3 skulls on 9 dice and gets blocked by 3 shields on 4 dice.
Moving Target Usage: After getting hit by Surfer, moved up 3 spaces putting him in range to fly over adj. to Sue on his next turn.
Bombs Away Usage: Drops 1 Bomb adj. to Sue and deals 1W to her so he can trigger his other power, Rocket drops a bomb off next to Surfer since he didn’t want to risk healing Surfer with his normal attack, detonates it for 1W, last Bomb unused.
Normal Damage Dealt: 1W to Sue.
Damage Taken: Surfer hits Rocket from HG after removing the X for 2W, Surfer flies off and attacks Rocket by bush from HG, saves the X removal for defense, and still deals 2W to finish him off.
Recap & Thoughts: I kind of feel the core GotG are just a bad team and nothing is going to change that. Rocket’s big turn resulted in a big momentary change of momentum, but then it wasn’t enough to change the outcome. Silver Surfer is, rightly so at 400 points, really powerful in a Reed build. Maybe I’ll like Rocket II more in a different build vs. different opponents but here he didn’t really get a chance to shine. He was only attacked twice all game, by the Surfer both times, and died after the second attack. So he didn’t really get to run around with free moves here to lay out multiple bombs. His base attack of 4 wasn’t very attractive vs. all these 9 & 10 defense figures so other cards got the OM focus. I’m starting to think that since he carries dual laser pistols, he should have a double attack of 4 to make his normal attack a little more attractive. On the positive front, the flying power is a big win here on his card. Being able to fly past someone without becoming engaged and drop a bomb off is huge, otherwise he would have to engage someone to place a bomb and then he’s lose out on the auto-shield on defense by doing so. It also gives him better mobility, which he needs to set up his bombs. The requirement that he detonates a bomb to trigger his other power does a good job of restraining it as you can’t use the big turn until Rocket moves into the thick of things. Then using his turn to deal just a flat 1W is okay when you then get to take another turn with him in which he can use his normal attack.
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Army Test 2
- Does it pass, Yes or No? maybe
- What should be the unit's point value? Less than 195.
- Give a brief preview. I’m testing out the Outlaw synergy here to make sure we aren’t missing anything there, along with Blob to see if I can lock down a figure and then drop all 3 bombs next to them for 1 big blast without them being able to get away from it. Facing a Titans team should give Rocket a better chance to run around a bit on defense, Raven is taking the Healing Energy Spell for some additional W removal beyond her transfer power and a couple of Fireballs since Bane wants to be adjacent to his allies. For the big move, the hope here is that I can have Bane boost a Deadshot attack, then move & attack in a way that will allow him to boost someone else’s attack for the 3rd and/or 4th turn. We’ll see just how difficult that is to pull off. Raven will be Catman’s prey.
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: Rocket II @195, Scandal Savage, Catman, Bane, Deadshot, Blob (1070) vs. Nightwing, Raven, Healing Energy, Mystic Flames x2, Starfire, Changeling, Wonder Girl, Kid Flash (1070)

Spoiler Alert!

Wait for the Boom! Usage: Deadshot goes first, standing next to Bane and not moving he att. WG from LG who was next to a bush, 2W – dead, Bane moves up but can’t engage anyone, Catman moves up adj. to Bane and Raven, att. from LG, blocked, 1W, Rocket flies past Nightwing and drops off another bomb, lands next to Bane & a palm tree, blows up bomb for 1W to Nightwing.
Moving Target Usage: Moved to HG after Raven attack him, auto shield used but not needed. Moved away from Changeling (melee att.) and left a bomb behind for Changeling. Moved away from Changeling again.
Bombs Away Usage: Drops a bomb off next to Nightwing as he flies by, blows it up as well as a bomb next to Changeling (1W to each), and triggers the big attack move. He drops his last bomb off next to Nightwing as he flies by and blows that up.
Normal Damage Dealt: Att. WG, next to bush, from LG, 1W.
Damage Taken: Changeling att. Rocket & Blob in Panther mode, rolls 3 skulls, Rocket took 3Ws. Kid Flash runs over and punched Rocket for 2Ws.
Details:

Spoiler Alert!

The Titans wants to avoid getting stuck to Blob at the middle of the map so they start to move out along one edge, but they deploy as a team so much faster than the Outlaws that they ended up in the middle of the board anyway. WG lassoed Savage, but then Blob engaged WG, 1W. Changeling hits Savage for 1W. Rocket shoots WG, 1W. Starfire hits Savage 3 times in a row and takes her out, Raven att. Rocket and he moves, Nightwing att. Blob, who rolls 1 shield on 7 dice to take 1W. Rocket gets hit for 3W in the first att. of the round, luckily he was already planning on unleashing his plan on OM1 and he does so before getting KOed, it’s a good thing Nightwing held back the Titan’s Go power for OM2 here. Rocket blows up 2 bombs to set off his plan (see above). Titans Go!, Starfire deals 3W to Catman, raven deals 2 more W’s to Catman from HG, Nightwing tries to use his SA on Blob, scores 1W. Catman att. Raven from LG twice, dealing 1W both times, activates Deadshot who moves and att. Raven by bush, 1W, finish the job scores another 1W and down goes Raven with OM3 on her card! Deadshot now att. Starfire, who is now Recklessly Engaged with Catman, from HG without moving, 3W. Nightwing wins initiative, Starfire moves up to HG and kills Catman in 2 attacks, last attack deals 2W to Bane who is standing by bush, Changeling turns into a ferret to escape Blob, goes Panther to att. Bane & Rocket, both block & Rocket moves away, Nightwing uses SA to put 2W on Blob. OM1 lost on Catman. Changeling uses Panther att. on Blob & Bane, miss. Deadshot fires at Starfire by bush, 1W, Finish the Job is blocked. Changeling escapes Blob again and goes Ape on Bane for 1W. Bane hits Changeling for 2W. Bane wins initiative and deals 2W to Changeling, Changeling blocked, Starfires’s 3rd att. from HG kills Bane, 4th att. blocked by Deadshot by bush, Blob blocks Nightwing. Deadshot att. Changeling by palm tree from HG, 1W, Finish the Job, dead, OM2 dies with him. Deadshot fires at Starfire, takes her out too. Kid Flash runs over adj. to Deadshot & Rocket, kills Rocket. Titans win initiative, Kid Flash hits Deadshot for 1W, Blob blocks Nightwing, then Nightwing dodges Blob. Deadshot blocks Kid Flash then deals 2W to him. Block & a miss. Kid Flash takes down Deadshot in two attack, while Nightwing dodges Blob and deals 1W to him. Nightwing just keeps dodging Blob’s attack, eventually takes him down.

Who won and how many wounds did they have? Nightwing w/2W, Kid Flash w/2W won.

Recap: Titans win this one, in large part because Nightwing can’t be hit by normal attacks so he just keeps on getting Titan’s Go! to activate. Titans took an early advantage when they took out Savage right away, but Deadshot becomes the Outlaw MVP and takes down a bunch of the Titans to keep it close. Rocket almost gets KO’ed before he can use his plan, then once he did use his plan, his bombs were all used up too so he just sat around with 3W unused as his single attack wasn’t worth risking the OM over. Putting 2W on Nightwing with 2 Bombs was fun, but those ended up being the only W’s Nightwing took all game and even if he used all 3 Bombs on Nightwing he still could not have put him down. In a direct head to head comparison, Nightwings’ Titan’s Go! power gives multiple turns with the Titans every round, one of which can make up to 4 ranged attacks, so that’s better than Rocket’s Plan. His 1 shield defense plus move is better than Rockets 1 auto shield vs. ranged attacks plus move power, and his double attack SA proved pretty useful for tearing down Blob here. They both have a ranged normal attack of 4, while Rocket’s got Flying on him and the bombs which are neat but limited. I’m struggling to see how Nightwing isn’t a lot better than Rocket by 5 points.
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Army Test 3
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Not as is, needs something more or he’ll soon be a forgotten about unit.
- What should be the unit's point value? IDK if it matters at this point, design needs more of a reason to draft him.
- Give a brief preview. Just trying out a smaller 5 figure 1000 point army to see how he plays in that type of army build. I’m keeping him with 2 of his GotG allies, but then bringing Kirgi & Punisher into the fold. Kirgi might be able to pull figures next to bombs if Rocket drops one but can’t detonate it before they move away, and Punisher likes the Stat boost from Star-Lord. Threw them up vs. the Classic X-Men team, with Beast removing OM’s from cards that could pose a problem for Rocket’s plans and even Jean Grey preventing him from moving could be another obstacle.
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: Rocket II @195, Star-Lord, Bug, Kirgi, Punisher (1000) vs. Prof. X, Cyclopes, Jean Grey, Beast, Iceman, Angel (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

Wait for the Boom! Usage: Kirigi goes first, moves up adj. to Iceman, fails both attempts to move or wound Beast, KO’s Iceman with a 3W hit, Rocket sets a bomb next to Beast and blows it up for 1W.
Moving Target Usage: Used to move after Iceman attacked him, left a Bomb behind by Jean.
Bombs Away Usage: Blew up Jean for 1W to finish her off and trigger the plan. Blew up Beast for 1W. Last Bomb not used.
Normal Damage Dealt: 2W to Jean Grey by bush from LG.
Damage Taken: Iceman hits Rocket by palm Tree with his SA, 2W but no OM removal. Beast moves adj. and hits Rocket for 1W. Beast hits Rocket for 1W.
Details:

Spoiler Alert!

Star-Lord is the first one to go down on the final OM reveal of R1, he boosted one set of attacks from Bug and that was it. Bugs starts to get beat up by Jean who pulled him next to her, but then he manages to hop away from Scott. Kirgi pulls Scott down into the water and drowns him. Iceman freezes Punisher in a block of ice and takes away his turn. Jean pulls Bug back over next to her and finished him off. It’s the start of R3 now and Rocket hasn’t moved out of his SZ yet but he’s down 2 allies with 1 more about to be KOed so I load him up with a couple of OM’s to see if he can salvage this game. The X-men win initiative and finish off Punisher. Rocket shoots Jean. Iceman puts a block of ice on Rocket but he manages to move anyway, but then Beast att. him and Jean keeps him from moving. Jean keeps Rocket from moving again, so he blows up the bomb next to her and takes her out. Plan triggered (see above). Beast takes out Rocket. Kirigi start cutting up Beast, who negotiates away OM3, then Porf. X uses the X to stop OM2. Angel & Beast can’t roll more than 2 skulls on any attack, so Kirgi is immune to all damage while they fight & negotiate for several rounds. Beast finally deals 1W to Kirigi, then rolls 5 skulls on 5 dice only to have Kirigi roll 3 shields on 4 dice and ignore it. Kirgi eventually kills Angel. Beast rolls 3 skulls vs. a whiff, and deals 1W. Rolls 2 skulls vs. a whiff, and deals 0 Ws. Kirgi kills Beast. Kirgi kills Prof. X.

Who won and how many wounds did they have? Kirigi w/2Ws won.

Recap: Star-Lord falls at the end of R1 while Rocket waits in SZ for his team to move up into position. 2nd round sees Scott & Bug both fall, Rocket still hasn’t moved. Rocket flies into action right away to start R3 in an effort to salvage his plans, but Punisher drops before he can blow anything up and Rocket has 3W on his card when he triggers his plan on OM2 so he too barely survived long enough to use his move again. Rocket finished off Jean with a Bomb and Kirigi can’t be stopped, so even though Rocket soon drops as well, Kirgi wipes out the X-men all on his own. Beast & Angel attacked a negotiated and frozen Kirigi almost 20 times and only managed to deal 2Ws to him before he killed them. I’m not feeling this design as is. Rocket needs time to set up his plan, can only use it once, and is pretty fragile at 4 def. with 4 life. I’m mostly using his Bombs when he takes a turn since the 1 auto wound is more reliable than the single attack of 4, then once his bombs are go he isn’t really a good use of an OM any more. Kirgi was unkillable at 175 points, while Rocket is often lucky to still be alive after a few attacks.