The Book of Red Skull

[Fezzikthedoor]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

The swastika tattoos on the tops of their heads also make excellent targets.
Not that I'd ever hurt a Neo-Nazi ... Jesus loves them too (though to a lesser extent).

Nah. I once saw a picture of Jesus kicking a neo-nazi in the junk. I know that with photoshop you can doctor most anything, but I don't belive that the LORD would allow such a thing to happen unless it was HIS will.

Man, are the days where we have to qualify ourselves with not really intending to assassinate neo-nazis really upon us? If these chuckle-heads are off limits, who's left?

P.S.--Taeblewalker's Red Skull Strategy Guide is being reviewed as we speak.

[IAmBatman]

Hey, if Heroscape won't give me Nazi common squaddies to use against the AE, I figure they don't want me killing even the regular type ... stupid pc Hasbro.

[MaJic_Rat]

I played a Marvel game the other night (Skull, Doom, Thanos, Venom, and Abomination vs. Iron Man, Silver Surfer, Captain America, Hulk, and Sgt. Drake Alexander [1st]).

The high light of the game was Red Skull in the back (with nothing to block his sight) constantly ordering Thanos around. Doom and Abomination had died early and Venom wasn't far behind. I brought Thanos back 3 times (including the last turn when I womped Sarge to take the win). Red Skull even successfully Dust-o-death'ed Captain.

May point is that with all order markers on Skull in the back you never have to worry about losing markers to dead heroes. at worse he becomes a target allowing your other units to regroup.

[RickyDMMontoya]

Originally Posted by MaJic_Rat

May point is that with all order markers on Skull in the back you never have to worry about losing markers to dead heroes. at worse he becomes a target allowing your other units to regroup.

You sure should worry when they target Red "1,2,3,X" Skull and take him out.

It's an advantage when you can guarantee his safety. It's a serious liability when your opponent can credibly threaten him.

[Rajaat the Warbringer]

Originally Posted by RickyDMMontoya

You sure should worry when they target Red "1,2,3,X" Skull and take him out.

It's an advantage when you can guarantee his safety. It's a serious liability when your opponent can credibly threaten him.

Or zap him with Dund in a mixed game.

[MaJic_Rat]

In my way of thinking, I figure if Red Skull is threatened then I've skrewed up worse then putting all my eggs into the Nazi's basket.

This is a risky strategy that takes thinking a few moves ahead and from your opponent's point of view.

[gamjuven]

Anyone else find it funny that Red Skull is a "Unique" "Clone"? made me laugh.

[Ravager15]

I found myself with a game set at 600pts. Mixed at a friends house.

I decided just for fun to surround Red Skull with a bunch of 20sided Heroes.

Here is what I came up with:

Red Skull 190
Sudema 140
Braxas 210
Me-Burq-Sa 50

for 600pts. Again this was just a "let's see what happens", Kinda army.

I fought an army made of some heroes and squaddies...
Concan, Sentinels, Drake v2 and the Ninja's of Northern wind...

Needless to say...with some nice 20's rolled for his heroes from Sudema. And then Red giving multiple actions to Braxas....well it was not pretty.

[darktrooper889]

Originally Posted by Rajaat the Warbringer

Or zap him with Dund in a mixed game.

THAT would suck.

[Ugly-Caco]

So far I've successfully Dust of Death twice. Both times my Red Skull killed Captain America.

[Yaish]

I love this guy, he really puts the "Hero" back in Heroscape. I never waste points drafting squads with this guy, since his greatest strength is that flexibility of order markers. Honestly, there are very few squads that measure up to hero's when taken in low numbers and when not used with extensive order markers. I'd say the AE might be the exception to that, since you can drop them right where you want them and with their range of 8 you can sit still and hit your targets all day long.

Personally, I like taking hero's that give me two or more attacks per turn when I have Red Skull. Syvarris, KA, Iron Man, Krug, Cyprien, etc... Not only can I use whichever one is best, I can target multiple figures. I think Q10 makes one of the best bodyguards too, with his ability to be either an effective squad or hero killer.

[Vilsara]

Yay, Marvel Book bump!

After realizing Red Skull's actual potential for OM management, a bunch of ideas popped into my head in near succession... I can't say I'm the first to think of them (how could I be? We've had months to think about DnD), but I'm the first to actually post it in the book

***

Cowboys.

Unless Wizards throws us an Utgar Cowboy, Red Skull is really the closest we're going to get. He may not be actualy desperado material (from what I've read, he's apparently a Nazi clone), but he does actually tie the cowboys we have together in some way.

I imagine:

Red Skull 190
Guilty McCreech 220
Deadeye Dan 280
Johnny "Shotgun" Sullivan 345
James Murphy 420

In 500-800 point games, that'd be a fun, thematic base to build an army off of. Even with 80 points left, you still have a bevy of options to fill your army's gaps. There's Theracus, the classic Red Skull Escape Mechanism, and a good way to lift him to position if someone needs to hide himself- IE, Deadeye. You could round out the "generals" theme and play Darrak Ambershard- a rogue is close enough to a cowboy in my terms. Hiding in the Shadows to stall time, he can come in and Sneak Attack any foe that gets too close to a cowboy. And if you are partially racially insensitive, a squad of Mohican River Tribe as cleanup will do you well.

***

Now, forget all those extras- that cowboy base, to me, just screams "dungeon crawl." After all, with offensive purposes taken into account, you have a pretty good lineup:

Squad Killers: Deadeye Dan and Guilty McCreech are your best bets here. DeD can take care of high-defense squads on a good day, while Guilty with height can shoot out low-defense in a hurry with Double Attack (moreso with a Heroic Rune).

Off topic but... for 30 points, aswell, Guilty really shines in the dungeon- with height/Treasure Glyph, he has Syvarris's Double Attack, and even a slightly lower range doesn't matter given the cramped dungeon rooms. And for less than a third of the cost! Sounds like something I'd post in the books if I had time...

Scatterers: With their wide-area special, Johnny and James help hit multiple figures very well- again note that the dungeon rooms typically don't allow figures to spread out that much from their start zones. They could certainly wreak a bit of havoc. James also has his whip for close-quarters combat- not much of a hinderance for the troll, but a wicked handicap on Dungeon cores like Pelloth and Othkruik.

AND, of course, Red Skull ties the army together- instead of worrying about OM management, you can stick a few low-power heroes on the front lines and have amazing flexibility. Instead of losing your best figure because your enemy outwitted your OMs, you can clear the threat from afar all because Red Skull saw it coming. This could still be said if you, say, stuck in a powerhouse like SoTM Drake and filled in the gaps.

The point in short: it's quite possible that Red Skull fixes the biggest Dungeon Crawl problem that came with the DnD Master Set. While expensive in the context of 360 point Hero teams, larger DCs would allow him to shine. I'll certainly be trying this out when I make my own Dungeon Crawl, and I hope a few people reading this will, too, and will hopefully record their data.

***

Aside from the actual Dungeon Crawl of the Master Set, Red Skull should (does) benefit from one particular figure from that set- and so begins my short, data-backed theoryscape rant.

Ana Kathiron is almost everything Red Skull needs to be a true "Master Manipulator;" giving everyone's favorite HS Nazi both a buffer from attacks and near unlimited healing.

The first, obvious benefit is the Protection From Evil aura. While situational, it's the perfect protection from whatever you Utgar-obsessed opponent happens to draft. 5 Life and 5 Defense is nothing to Squawk at for a figure who's making the army completely unpredictable. If you're facing one of the many Utgar-themed competitive armys, I can almost see this 290 point combination working at a tourney.

But alas, Raelin can do this aswell, but for 20 less points and extra defense no matter who's attacking. What makes Ana worth the investment is Healing Word, which is where I drop theoryscaping and start stubbornly screaming that this idea works.

Healing Word is used whenever you reveal an Order Marker on an adjacent figure, and even before turns are officially taken. As long as Ana is adjacent to Red Skull, you can reveal an OM on him, use Healing Word, and THEN take a turn with ANY Unique Hero visible. What makes this great is how it adds to Ana's value immensely- as long as she's hidden behind RS (and her sculpt fits nearly perfectly behind his), Red Skull has added defense against certain figures and reliable healing almost every turn. I'm reading so much about how killing Red Skull creates an immense thorn in your army's side, but with him healing most turns, that suddenly becomes a lot harder. This is made even trickier by Red Skull's unlimited flexibility- after healing, you can summon a ranged hero back to the starting zone to take on whatever's managed to make it to your base.

If I'm not dungeon crawling with my cowboy posse, I could add Ana to the game for a 520 point, semi-thematic, all aorund fun to play Red Skull army.

***

Yes, yes, I know that theoryscaping isn't allowed in the BOOKS, but I promise that the above has been thought over enough that it's stable in its facts

-Vilsara, who is now completely enamored with Red Skull