The Book of Polaris

[TrollBrute]

This Passes.

Obviously, Blob+Magneto is a combo that will need tested, any others that come to mind? I think she'll play well with Xavier, Star-Lord, and Cap as well.

[Yodaking]

Deathstrokes Calculated Defense would be worth checking out when given an auto shield. He would be a good fit into a Star Lord army since his race & class would be different then Star Lord & Polaris and he would have an extra defense die to play with.

[TrollBrute]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Polaris

Heavy Hitter or Mid-Level Hero Test
- What should be the unit's point value? 200-220
- Give a brief overview. 2-4 total record, 2-2 against melee figures. She can be nasty against melee, but she struggles to wound them, so it just drags things out really.
Map: Chernobyl Clash

Spoiler Alert!

TEST 1
Units: Kryptonian Soldier (200)
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R6T5: Kryptonian Soldier with 3/4 wounds.

TEST 2
Units: Kryptonian Soldier (200)
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R8T6: Polaris unwounded.

TEST 3
Units: Aurora (200)
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R3T2: Aurora with 2/4 wounds.

TEST 4
Units: Aurora (200)
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R3T2: Aurora with 3/4 wounds.

TEST 5
Units: Quicksilver (210)
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R3T2: Polaris with 2/4 wounds.

TEST 6
Units: Quicksilver (210)
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T2: Quicksilver with 1/4 wounds.

_____________________________________________________________
Squad Test
- What should be the unit's point value? 200-210
- Give a brief overview. Polaris hurt the Warriors early, using her range and flying, but one the Warriors were adjacent, they took her down quick.
Map: Chernobyl Conflict
Units: Amazon Warriors x2 (200)
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T6: 3 Amazon Warriors remaining.
_____________________________________________________________
Squad Test
- What should be the unit's point value? 200
- Give a brief overview. Polaris' attacks were poor, and the Amazons destroyed her.
Map: Chernobyl Conflict
Units: Amazon Warriors x2 (200)
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T4: 5 Amazon Warriors remaining.
_____________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Chernobyl Conflict
Units: Polaris (210), Xavier (220), Magneto:I (310), Angel (90), Blob (165) (995) VS Ms. Marvel (350), Stealth Suit Iron Man (270), Cyborg Superman (380) (1000)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 1 wound to Cyborg Superman, 1 wound to Ms Marvel,
Reactive Toss 12: 0 out of 0 times.
Magnetic Bubble: placed 3 times; added 3 shields to friendly; added 0 shields to opponent; 3 times stopped movement.

Spoiler Alert!

Pretty close game. The Mutants got the Bubble Marker on Blob early and got him adjacent to Ms Marvel and Iron Man. Cyborg Supes stayed back and blasted at Blob with his SA, but struggled to wound him. Ms Marvel got a couple lucky wounds in and it looked like Blob was not going to last long, but he lasted long enough for Magneto to finish off Supes. Polaris' marker helped to keep a couple wounds off of Blob and then later to keep Iron Man trapped. It eventually came down to Iron Man vs Xavier and Angel, with the Mutants edging out a victory.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes).R10T6: Angel with 3/4 wounds.

Army Test
Map: Chernobyl Conflict
Units: Polaris (210), Xavier (220), Magneto:I (310), Angel (90), Blob (165) (995) VS Ms. Marvel (350), Stealth Suit Iron Man (270), Cyborg Superman (380) (1000)
Unit Summary:
Damage: none.
Reactive Toss 12: 0 out of 0 times.
Magnetic Bubble: placed 2 times; added 1 shields to friendly; added 0 shields to opponent; 0 times stopped movement.

Spoiler Alert!

Polaris whiffed against a 4-skull attack from Iron Man and died in the early going of the second round. Poor rolls from the X-Men in the first few rounds was kind of a theme, and it put them in an early hole. They fought their way out of it, and almost had a shot. They threw Ms Marvel away, brought Iron Man to 2 wounds and CySupes to 5. The Avengers could not be stopped though, and once Xavier went down, Magneto was not far behind.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes).R8T2: Ms Marvel with 3/5 wounds, Iron Man with 3/4, Cyborg Superman with 1/6.

Army Test
Map: Chernobyl Clash
Units: Polaris (210), Star-Lord (250), Valkyrie (350), Punisher (180) (990) VS Cosmic Boy (260), Karate Kid (230), Superboy (330), Lightning Lad (180) (1000)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 1 wound to Superboy, 1 wound to Lightning Lad.
Reactive Toss 12: 0 out of 1 times.
Magnetic Bubble: placed 1 times; added 2 shields to Polaris; added 1 shields to friendly; added 0 shields to opponent; 0 times stopped movement.

Spoiler Alert!

Just a ton of skulls in this game. Punisher hit Superboy for 4 wounds at the beginning of the second round, but Supes retaliated by hitting Valkyrie for 4. Valkyrie died shortly after, but Punisher couldn't take down Supes quick enough. He did finally get Superboy and Karate Kid, but left Polaris against LL and Cos.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes).R4T4: Cosmic Boy unwounded, Lightning Lad with 1/4 wounds.

Army Test
Map: Chernobyl Clash
Units: Polaris (210), Star-Lord (250), Valkyrie (350), Punisher (180) (990) VS Cosmic Boy (260), Karate Kid (230), Superboy (330), Lightning Lad (180) (1000)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 1 wound to Cosmic Boy,
Reactive Toss 12: 2 out of 2 times.
Magnetic Bubble: placed 2 times; added 0 shields to Polaris; added 2 shields to friendly; added 0 shields to opponent; 0 times stopped movement.

Spoiler Alert!

Another tough loss for Polaris' team. However, she performed well, dealing a wound to Cosmic Boy, saving Valkyrie from a couple wounds, and tossing Superboy away twice. This saved Valkyrie from a couple attacks. Polaris also placed her marker on Superboy once, forcing Lightning Lad to attack her so that Kal could get free.

She eventually went down, and even though Punisher or up a good effort by taking out Cosmic Boy and LL and putting a couple wounds on Karate Kid, they couldn't pull out a win.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes).R4T4: Superboy unwounded, Karate Kid with 2/4.

Army Test
Map: Dark Dimension
Units: Polaris (210), Xavier (220), Angel (90), Deadpool (285) (805) VS Luke Cage (190), Iron Fist (260), Swordsman (160), Scarlet Spider:Ben (190) (800)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 2 wounds to Luke Cage, 2 to Swordsman,
Reactive Toss 12: 1 out of 2 times.
Magnetic Bubble: placed 2 times; added 0 shields to friendly; added 0 shields to opponent; 2 times stopped movement.

Spoiler Alert!

Polaris was pretty nasty in this one. Of course, it was a good matchup for her, and she had both Xavier's Psychic Defense and Deadpool's Wisecrack backing her up. Still she did well, dealing a good amount of wounds and forcing the opponent to play sub-parly by holding high ground with Reactive Toss. She also prevented Iron Fist from moving on two separate turns, essentially preventing him from doing anything because he wasn't engaged.

Polaris fell in the fourth round, after Like was destroyed. The rest of the Fighters couldn't touch Deadpool though, and only Scarlet Spider was able to hit Xavier.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes).R10T1: Deadpool and Angel unwounded.

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: She has serious potential, but she’s also a little fragile, and how well she does will depend in part on who she’s facing. In some matchups, her powers are really good, in others, she’s just more of an annoyance. Even going 2-3 here, I wouldn't want to see her lower than 210, and I could see her cost going up. Her power level feels fine to me. Strong at times, but not overpowered. I would like to raise the roll on Reactive Toss to 14, so that she’s less strong against melee builds.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: I love all the options that Magnetic Bubble gives you with this version. There’s a lot you can do to frustrate your opponent, and a lot you can do to support your allies. Limited to once per round, it adds some fun decision making. I like how defensive/protective she came out.

[TrollBrute]

I also realized that Reactive Toss didn't play exactly as intended. I'd like to change it to:

Originally Posted by TrollBrute

REACTIVE TOSS 12
When an opponent's figure that was not adjacent to Polaris at the start of its turn ends its move adjacent to Polaris, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 12 or higher, place the figure on any empty space within 3 spaces of its original placement. Tossed figures do not take any leaving engagement attacks.

This way, once a figure is adjacent, they're free to move around her. This was my intention and the way I played it in my tests.

[johnny139]

Increasing the roll makes sense to me; figure movement is always potent. Low-200s seems consistent, too, so I'd be comfortable sending her out in that range.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Originally Posted by TrollBrute

I also realized that Reactive Toss didn't play exactly as intended. I'd like to change it to:

This way, once a figure is adjacent, they're free to move around her. This was my intention and the way I played it in my tests.

Why not just use engagement strike's wording? It does what you want it to do without any weirdness. With the currently suggested change Gambit could start his turn next to her, leave engagement, and then re-engage with Pole Vault to get the extra attack, and she's just cool with that for some reason. Like did he sweet talk her into it while they were engaged?

G: "Mon Chéri, I must leave you! But fear not, I will be back!"

P: "Sure! Whatever you say, your accent's hot!"

...

G: "I'm back my petite, and I brought you a gift!"

P: "Oh, I love gifts! What is it?"

G: "STAFF TO THE FACE!"

[TrollBrute]

To be fair, that seems like something Gambit would do. The Engagement Strike wording would change the timing of it and allow them to continue moving afterward, unless we worded it like this:

If an opponent’s small or medium figure moves adjacent to Polaris, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 14 or higher, that figure's movement ends. Place the figure on any empty space within 3 spaces of its original placement. Tossed figures do not take any leaving engagement attacks and may only be targeted as they move into engagement with Polaris.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Soundwarp SG-1

Why not just use engagement strike's wording? It does what you want it to do without any weirdness. With the currently suggested change Gambit could start his turn next to her, leave engagement, and then re-engage with Pole Vault to get the extra attack, and she's just cool with that for some reason. Like did he sweet talk her into it while they were engaged?

G: "Mon Chéri, I must leave you! But fear not, I will be back!"

P: "Sure! Whatever you say, your accent's hot!"

...

G: "I'm back my petite, and I brought you a gift!"

P: "Oh, I love gifts! What is it?"

G: "STAFF TO THE FACE!"

Originally Posted by TrollBrute

To be fair, that seems like something Gambit would do.

What a hilarious start to my rainy Monday...Thanks guys...

[Yodaking]

That would make her an interesting blocker that somewhat protects easy access to a support figure from ghostwalker/disengage land based assassins. They would have to go the long way around her or risk getting bounced back and ending their movement phase.

[Viegon]

Looking good in testing so far. I'd support bumping the roll on Reactive Toss, but I'd stick with 210 for points for now.

Originally Posted by TrollBrute

To be fair, that seems like something Gambit would do. The Engagement Strike wording would change the timing of it and allow them to continue moving afterward, unless we worded it like this:

This is what I was going to suggest, but YodaK is right that it still changes the mechanics. With the current version, figures can attempt to run past her to get to someone else, but with this version she'd get a chance to roll against them.

I'm fine with either wording, it just depends on what mechanics we want.

[Yodaking]

I was also thinking 210 after looking over the Initial PT last night.

[TrollBrute]

I could go with either. Anyone have any strong opinions between these two?

REACTIVE TOSS 14
When an opponent's figure that was not adjacent to Polaris at the start of its turn ends its move adjacent to Polaris, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 14 or higher, place the figure on any empty space within 3 spaces of its original placement. Tossed figures do not take any leaving engagement attacks.

OR

REACTIVE TOSS 14
If an opponent’s small or medium figure moves adjacent to Polaris, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 14 or higher, that figure's movement ends. Place the figure on any empty space within 3 spaces of its original placement. Tossed figures do not take any leaving engagement attacks and may only be targeted as they move into engagement with Polaris.