Re: The Book of X-O Manowar (Playtesting Phase)
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ronin
C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM
NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: X-O Manowar @380 points
Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: X-O Manowar, Blob, Angel (Warren), Atom (Ray), Ragdoll, Kid Flash, Leatherface, Robot (1200) vs Songbird, Spider-Man, Captain America, Jack Flag, Luke Cage, Speedball (1200)
Spoiler Alert!
The Hyper Mobile Cannon Fodder team got off to a strong start here. They were able to control the middle of the map, and Blob was able to contain Spider-Man and Speedball (thanks in part to Spidey dropping fast) to keep Manowar from getting frustrated by them.
Cannon Fodder team got out to an early lead, but their strategy was pretty reliant on Robot and Manowar, so the New Avengers managed to close the gap a lot once they put some significant dents in Manowar's team. For context, the Avengers lost two figures (Spidey and Jack Flag) before the Cannon Fodder team lost a single one of their cheapo losers, and they still made it super close in the end. The game still ended up a narrow win for Manowar's team after an excruciating Kid Flash vs Speedball endgame.
Manowar stayed behind his screen and let them establish control of height, then emerged to take the occasional turn and start taking potshots. Helped clean up a few key figures, then had kind of a knock-down drag-out with Luke Cage before Speedball mopped him up.
Unit Summary: - Damage Done (Normal Attack): 3 wounds to Jack Flag in 1 attack (destroyed), 3 wounds to Captain America in 2 attacks (destroyed), 2 wounds to Luke Cage in 3 attacks
- Sheer Force: triggered 1 time against Cap, resulting in a second attack against Captain America that destroyed Cap. Aric lost an X-O Marker as a result. Triggered 2 times against Luke Cage, resulting in a second attack against Luke that inflicted a wound both times. Aric lost an X-O Marker the first time and took a wound the second.
- Righteous Rage: triggered when Songbird destroyed Ragdoll. Rolled 2 dice and dealt 2 wounds to Songbird. Triggered when Luke Cage destroyed Robot. Rolled 2 dice and dealt 1 wound to Luke Cage. Triggered when Luke Cage destroyed Atom. Rolled 1 die and dealt no wound to Luke Cage. Triggered when Speedball destroyed Leatherface. Rolled 1 die and dealt no wound to Speedball.
- Damage Taken: 3 wounds from Luke Cage in 2 attacks, 1 wound from Sheer Force, 1 wound from Speedball in 1 attack (destroyed)
Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Kid Flash with 1 Life, Angel with 3 Life
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- Sheer Force updated to slow down marker loss/self-damage-
Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: X-O Manowar, Blob, Angel, Martian Manhunter (I), Lockjaw, Oracle (1200) vs Songbird, Spider-Man, Captain America, Jack Flag, Luke Cage, Speedball (1200)
Spoiler Alert!
Manowar's screen was less all-consuming here, but he had another bruiser to count on and he was able to attack more occasionally. The Crime Fighters had godawful luck (notably Luke Cage whiffed two defense rolls in a row to go down in two attacks and take two OMs with him). Manhunter was able to take the majority of the OMs with Manowar getting the occasional attack.
Team Manowar's movement shenanigans were able to keep Speedball and Spider-Man from pinning him down and getting him to waste attacks that could trigger self wounds.
The game turned into a real lopsided win with the Crime Fighters just failing to capitalize on their (limited) opportunities.
Ended the game with the majority of Team 1 hale and hearty, and Blob having a healthy Speedball pinned down at height disadvantage. Didn't feel like playing that one out, so called the game there.
Unit Summary: - Damage Done (Normal Attack): 4 wounds to Jack Flag in 1 attack (1 from Oracle) (destroyed), 4 wounds to Captain America in 3 attacks (1 due to Oracle) (destroyed), 1 wound to Songbird in 1 attack
- Sheer Force: triggered 1 time after failing to wound Captain America. Resulted in a second attack that dealt 2 wounds to Cap. Manowar took a wound.
- Righteous Rage: rolled 3 unblockables 1 time against Songbird (when Lockjaw was destroyed), dealt 2 wounds.
- Damage Taken: 1 wound from Sheer Force, 2 wounds from Spider-Man in 3 attacks, 0 wounds from Luke Cage in 1 attack, 0 wounds from Captain America in 1 normal attack, 1 wound from Songbird in 2 attacks
Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Speedball with 5 Life cedes to X-O Manowar with 1 Life, Angel with 3 Life, Martian Manhunter unwounded, Blob unwounded, and Oracle unwounded
THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: One game in so far. First game just took six years to play out, so I'm stopping for today. Not sure about 380 after the first game. The penalties against him in Sheer Force are super harsh; I never whiffed the second attack, but doing that either time would have been a death knell and I was dreading the possibility.
It feels thematically weird to me too. The general dynamic is cool and had me immediately thinking about getting him some Visigoth generics to be his screen, but he lost steam so fast that the mid-level guys started stunting on him after he took two (admittedly very good) turns. It didn't feel particularly Manowar-y.
UPDATED: Manowar's team just kinda crushed it in that one; the Crime Fighter team should have been defensively pretty alright, but uh, that didn't quite pan out.
Notably, the change to Sheer Force between games 1 and 2 made no difference at all in how things played out. The one time it triggered and he had to roll against himself he came up with a skull and chose to take a wound, so same end result as if he had been played with the old version.
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Updated the post with game two.
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