The Book of Fire Ant Swarm

[Griffin]

The Book of Fire Ant Swarm

C3G MARVEL WAVE 6
AVENGERS ARRIVE

Comic PDF

Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Dungeon & Dragons figure from the Desert of Desolation set.
Its model number and name are #41 / Demonweb Swarm.

You can also download this picture, print it out, cut it, and base it as a proxy.

Single Sticker PDF
Sheet of 20 Stickers PDF

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Character Bio - These tiny creatures are some of the world's best survivalists. They work almost all year round foraging and scavenging for any source of water and food. They can get into just about anything and instinctively know exactly how to find what it is they are looking for. Anyone who could learn to control these little guys would have a serious advantage over any opposition, however, there is no way to communicate with Fire Ants, much less control them..... not according to any known modern science anyways.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• How Does a Height of 1 Affect Gameplay?:
  A figure with Height 1 may not move up any levels of elevation with its normal move, and any time it moves down levels of elevation with its normal move it must roll for falling damage. A figure with Height 1 and Range Number of 1 cannot attack figures that have height advantage and cannot be attacked by figures that have a Range number of 1 and height advantage.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a tiny figure, Fire Ant Swarm has these Tiny Synergies.
• As an Insect, Fire Ant Swarm has these Insect Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

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-Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses-

Immunities

• As a Tiny figure, Fire Ant Swarm cannot be affected by aspects of certain special powers. Special Powers that Interact Differently with Tiny Figures.

Benefits

• As a Tiny figure, Fire Ant Swarm interacts differently with certain special powers. Current Special Powers that Interact Differently with Tiny Figures.

Weaknesses

• As a Tiny figure, Fire Ant Swarm interacts differently with certain special powers. Special Powers that Interact Differently with Tiny Figures.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• Tiny figures are particularly hard to squash; not only are they powerful defensively, but they are immune to most powers that specify size. Be sure to check what figures a special power effects.
• Tiny Stealth allows figures to avoid engagements with non-Tiny figures, making Fire Ant Swarms a good counter to them. Current figures with Tiny Stealth include: Ant-Man, Atom, and Wasp.

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial Playtest: Griffin
• Second Playtest: Hidicul
• Third PLaytest: marv_art
• Art by: tcglkn

[Griffin]

NAME = FIRE ANT SWARM

SPECIES = INSECT
UNIQUENESS = COMMON HERO
CLASS = SCAVENGER
PERSONALITY = IRRITATING

SIZE/HEIGHT = TINY 1

LIFE = 1

MOVE = 4
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 1
DEFENSE = 1

POINTS = 10

SWARM TUNNELING
If you win initiative, you may immediately place each Fire Ant Swarm you control on any unoccupied land space within 5 spaces of its current location. A Fire Ant Swarm cannot be placed on any space that is higher or lower than 5 levels from its original placement. Fire Ant Swarms moved with Swarm Tunneling will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

POISON STING
Instead of attacking, choose an adjacent figure. Roll the 20-sided die, adding 1 to the roll for each other Fire Ant Swarm you control adjacent to the chosen figure. If you roll 16 or higher, the chosen figure receives one wound. Continue rolling for Poison Sting until the chosen figure does not receive a wound. Destructible objects are not affected by Poison Sting.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

I am so excited about these that I just bought 8 of them online!

[Griffin]

Originally Posted by Spidey'tilIDie

I am so excited about these that I just bought 8 of them online!

Awesome! Where did you buy them at? They are usually a bit hard to find.

[IAmBatman]

I think these are going to be fun. And, yeah, where'd you find them?

[Spidey'tilIDie]

ePAY unfortunately. But I did get them for $1.50 each which was less than the places that didn't have any.

[NecroBlade]

My initial comments.

First, at Tiny 1, They would not be able to climb.
Second, wouldn't it make more sense if they had a Move of 0 like the Hive and could only move via Swarm?
Third, they probably shouldn't be able to Swarm onto Water spaces.
Fourth, Poison Sting could be worded more like the Official Poison Sting Special Attack of Sujoah:
POISON STING
Instead of attacking, choose an adjacent figure. Roll the 20-sided die for Poison Damage, adding 1 to the roll for each other Fire Ant mound adjacent to the chosen figure. If you roll a 16 or higher, the chosen figure recieves one wound. Continue rolling for Poison Sting Damage and roll again for Poison Damage until the chosen figure does not receive a wound.

~NB, who accidentally capitalized They but left it in as a reference to Them

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by Spidey'tilIDie

ePAY unfortunately. But I did get them for $1.50 each which was less than the places that didn't have any.

Who charges more than $1.50 for nothing?!

[Griffin]

Originally Posted by NecroBlade

My initial comments.

First, at Tiny 1, They would not be able to climb.
Second, wouldn't it make more sense if they had a Move of 0 like the Hive and could only move via Swarm?
Third, they probably shouldn't be able to Swarm onto Water spaces.
Fourth, Poison Sting could be worded more like the Official Poison Sting Special Attack of Sujoah:
POISON STING
Instead of attacking, choose an adjacent figure. Roll the 20-sided die for Poison Damage, adding 1 to the roll for each other Fire Ant mound adjacent to the chosen figure. If you roll a 16 or higher, the chosen figure recieves one wound. Continue rolling for Poison Sting Damage and roll again for Poison Damage until the chosen figure does not receive a wound.

~NB, who accidentally capitalized They but left it in as a reference to Them

1. True, but they can swarm.
2. Swarm doesn't let them "move" it is basically a tunneling power.
3. Ants can come out onto water, and they can tunnel and come up into a body of it though. Maybe the the name needs to change to "Swarm Tunnel" to translate that theme better.
4. I will look into that later. I thought I had already.

Thanks for all of that. That should help kick off some discussions around here.

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by Griffin

1. True, but they can swarm.
2. Swarm doesn't let them "move" it is basically a tunneling power.
3. Ants can come out onto water, and they can tunnel and come up into a body of it though. Maybe the the name needs to change to "Swarm Tunnel" to translate that theme better.
4. I will look into that later. I thought I had already.

Thanks for all of that. That should help kick off some discussions around here.

1. Yes, I just like to make sure people are aware of that, since there are always customs of that size and I think "Sure, I'd play against that, it could never reach me up on this hill." Actually, more importantly, they couldn't attack up any levels at all; opponents would have to be same level or lower.
2. I know, I was just saying it would be more thematic if the entire anthill wasn't just walking around, but only went underground and popped up somewhere new.
3. I know ants can make ant-bridges across water and whatever, but it seems like tunneling up a new hill in the middle of a river could only end in disaster.

[Hahma]

SWARM
If you win initiative for a round, you may immediately place all Fire Ant Mounds you control on any unoccupied space within 5 spaces of its current location. When using Swarm, Fire Ant Mounds will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

POISON STING
Instead of attacking, choose an adjacent figure. Roll the 20-sided die adding 1 to the roll for each other Fire Ant mound adjacent to the chosen figure. If you roll a 16 or higher, the chosen figure recieves one wound. Continue rolling for Poison Sting until the chosen figure does not receive a wound.

TUNNELING SWARM would be a better name to relay the concept and theme. To address Necro's point about water, could there be a line in there about "If the Fire Ant Mound is placed on a water space, it must be adjacent to at least one land space" Just so they don't tunnel into the middle of a big body of water.

For Poison Sting, do we want to have a line in there regarding figures with Superstrength perhaps only taking up to 1 wound? The point of that to me would be that generally figures with Superstrength have super hard skin and not easily penetrated, especially by little pincers or whatever. It's not a big deal to me, but I just thought it could add another advantage to figures in having Superstrength, particularly when they can't roll defense or special defenses if they have any.

[GreyOwl]

Or even simpler, "Fire Ant Mound must always be placed either on or adjacent to a land space." No need to mention water at all

EDIT: Of course, it also doesn't make sense to place it on molten lava. Maybe it should always be placed on a land space, period, just to keep it simple. That way they can still cross water, but if they want to end up in it, they'll just have to walk like everyone else.