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Old October 17th, 2021, 12:14 AM
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Re: 2021 C3V Playtest Tournament - Round 4 until 11/1

Finally got around to writing up my thoughts based on my Round 3 Game.

Map: Custom

Army 1: Janos, Bambina, Maekor, Etiana, C'Rik, Matlis
Army 2: Mohicans x5, Nessing, Bol, Kolbjorn

Which units survived? 4 life Nessing, Bol, and 5 Mohicans

Game overview (from Kevin’s perspective)
Spoiler Alert!


How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Bambina Normal kills: 2 Mohican
Graviton 1 Kolbjorn I Nessing I Mohican

Janos Normals: No wounds
Tracking Shot I Mohican 4 Kolbjorn
Expedition Used every round

Etiana Normals: I Mohican I Kolbjorn
Support Fire Used three times?
Acrobatic 2 negated

C’Rik Normals
Holographic never successful

Maekor Normals I Mohican
Company Defensive:
Plasma Blade Arc: 2 Mohican

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?

I’m warming up to the idea of the mercplorers operating as a random bonding smorgasbord, but I still think many aspects of the individual designs could be further refined.

Bambina feels good, I really like where she’s at right now.

Janos definitely seems a little overtuned, nerfs to Tracking Shot should help put him more around where he needs to be. It wasn’t relevant this game, but I also think the Rygarn synergy should be dropped.

Etiana feels a bit mechanically and thematically messy right now. Acrobatic actually makes her one of the tankier mercplorers for her point value, especially if she can get the defense boost from Maekor. This seems pretty strange to me, and not what I’d typically associate with her sculpt.

Spotter doesn’t make much sense to me as currently worded. The fact that she doesn’t need any LOS to the bonding hero, and then during her turn doesn’t need to attack anything anywhere near the bonded hero leads to very strange situations. In this game, Etiana was surrounded by Mohicans and halfway across the map from Bambina, who she couldn’t even see. However, this didn’t stop her from using her “Spotter” power to activate Bambina, then attack one of the Mohicans engaged with her. Unthematic moments like this will be relatively common, which means I think we need to go back to the drawing board a bit with this power.

C’Rik never got an OM, so I don’t have a lot to say about his performance here. I probably should have developed more slowly which would have let him join and keep up with the rest of his pals, but I got greedy trying to get the early kill on Kolbjorn.

Maekor is a beast. A very scary figure and overall I like where he’s at. However, I’ve got some issues with Company Defensive Formation as it currently stands, mainly because the name implies a mechanical parallel with Tomoe Gozen’s Defensive Formation, but the two powers are currently quite different. I think there's a couple ways we could move forward here. While a power name change would go a long way toward addressing my concerns, I still think the power itself could be a bit more streamlined. Here are my suggestions.

Quote:
MERCENARY DEFENSIVE FORMATION
If Maekor is adjacent to at least one other Mercenary you control, add 1 die to the Defense of Maekor and all Mercenaries you control adjacent to Maekor.
OR

Quote:
COMPANY DEFENSIVE FORMATION
If Maekor is adjacent to at least one other Mercenary or Explorer you control, add 1 die to the Defense of Maekor and all other Mercenaries and Explorers you control adjacent to Maekor.
I slightly prefer limiting the ability to only affecting mercenaries in the interests of distinguishing between the two classes a bit more, but I'd also be fine with the more inclusive power. This makes the ability basically irrelevant in Greenscales armies, but more effective in Janos builds.

Alternatively, if we wanted something that stayed a bit closer to the original power, I would recommend simplifying the ability to:

Quote:
MELEE COMBAT POSITIONING [or some other name that doesn't parallel Tomoe's Defensive Formation]
If Maekor is engaged, Maekor and all friendly adjacent Mercenaries [and Explorers] roll 1 additional defense die.
And for reference, here's the current (overly complicated, IMO) version of the power:

Quote:
COMPANY DEFENSIVE FORMATION
If Maekor or a friendly adjacent Mercenary is engaged, Maekor and all friendly adjacent Explorers and Mercenaries roll 1 additional defense die.
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