'Scaper94's Custom Units

['Scaper94]

Originally Posted by sixthflagbearer

Seems like it might be possible to use both. My suggestion would be the simple "Dovahkiin may not use Unrelenting force if he has already used Whirlwind Spirit this turn."

Ok, I added that part to the wording. Thanks!

[TrollBrute]

There's some cool stuff in here, you have a lot talent.

[Scytale]

I ran into your custom wave when I was looking through this thread and I like what I see. You should update your first post with these units to make them easier to find; I normally just look at the first post of custom threads.

Comments on the wave:

Greyhawk
Combat Expert is a really neat power. I like the tradeoff between bonus attack and bonus range. My concern is that Stealth Dodge will play against Combat Expert, especially with 4 defense. With that there is very little reason to rush him into melee combat. I suggest moving things the other way: drop his defense to three and give him bonus defense when engaged like the Mohicans. It will force more difficult decisions when playing him. You would probably need to reduce his cost a bit as well.

Major S94
I love that you've designed a neat figure with only a single power. Not enough of those in the customs world. Shield Bash is a very cool power too, though it is going to be almost useless on a 4-defense figure. It would be much cooler on a Warforged figure with 2 defense and Warforged Resolve; it would trigger once in a while with only 2 defense. It is also a problem that the power can trigger off of special attacks. Some units, like Zombies, can attack as a group, making it unclear who would get the Shield Bash wound. I suggest changing it to trigger off of normal attacks only. Also, I don't see the need to limit it to small and medium figures; I can imagine him smacking a dragon in the snout with his shield. Lastly, 130 points is high for a single-attacking figure, even for one with S94's solid stats.

Sir Caligo
Another solid design. Similar to Sir Hawthorne in a lot of ways, without the backstab potential. Range 2 can be somewhat of a problem, though. With that he can strike someone on a wall 50 elevations high. I think that Range 1 would be just fine for this guy.

Rythen
This is an impressive figure. I do not doubt his 150pt price tag; he has both offensive output and good survivability. He takes some finesse to play as well; he would be best used skirting around the outskirts of a battle picking off outlying figures instead of standing against an army. Given that, a class like Hunter and a personality like Tricky would be more appropriate, but would lose the flavor that Prince and Merciless give.

Xaerith
The species Trollsford seems strange to me; isn't that a location? There is no figure so maybe it fits the fig. Stealth Dodge for a Trollsford Chief does not seem fitting to me, but again I don't know what the figure looks like so I can't say much about the theme. Kyrie Hatred isn't a terribly useful power but it is a very flavorful one. Is this guy from Valhalla?

Vitruvius
Love the Blood Brother design. It makes for a pre-canned build, like the Elf Wizards, but is really neat nonetheless. I'd love to play this group in a dungeon crawl. At first glance Vitruvius seems overpriced, but bonding with other Blood Brothers does alleviate his greatest weakness: only one attack. So 125pts is a probably a good place to start playtesting.

Lydia
More of a Blood Sister by the name, but I understand the need to stick with Brother. Healing Armor is interesting, but it could use some wording changes. "... all excess shields count as unblockable wounds on the attacking figure. Remove one wound marker from Lydia's Army Card for every wound caused by Healing Armor." I suspect she's overpriced, as Healing Armor won't happen much with 4 defense and she's weak on offense, but then again bonding counts for a lot. Still, I'd probably take the other Blood Brothers over Lydia.

Lucian
Again he feels a bit high for his points; 2 attack is quite weak. Bumping him to 3 attack would go a long way. I really like how Tactical Disengagement works, though there is an issue with it. Technically speaking, the game is unclear when it comes to damage sources. That is, you may not always know if damage is coming from an opponent's figure or not. One example of this is the Marro Plague. Even if multiple Hounds are adjacent to Lucian, one cannot determine which figure caused the Plague wound since it is only one roll. It is even arguable that it isn't even a figure that causes the wound in that case. I suggest changing it to "one or more wounds from an attack by an opponent's figure". I'm a bit wary about allowing this against special attacks too, but Isamu does something similar.

Giza
I'm pretty sure this one is overpriced. He does have a multi-attack of a sort, but a very unreliable one. Is there a reason Rod of Decay only works against Unique Heroes? He may be worth his points if Rod of Decay also worked against Commons at a lower dice roll.

Demetrius
Again costly, but the bonding is valuable. Still, he compares very poorly to Krug, who also bonds. The more damaging attack is nice, but a lack of a multi-attack is painful.

Berossus
Curiously, I think this one might be undercosted. Compared to the other Blood Brothers anyway. A 1/4 chance of eliminating one of your opponent's turns is pretty awesome, and it costs nothing to do. Just leave Berossus in your starting zone. Really cool power, and maybe about right for the points, but definitely better than this pricey Brethren.

Alexandra
Another female Blood "Brother". (I don't have an issue with that; just a curiosity.) This figure feels like she's costed about right. She has a semi-reliable multi-attack and bonding along with solid stats. A solid addition to the Blood Brothers, and probably better than most for the points.

Omnicron Sentries
Since you do not have pictures on the cards, I'm just going to guess how many figures are in the squad. I'm going to guess three for this one. Putting Engagement Strike on a Common ranged squad is pretty interesting and probably work the points. Hero Protection is probably broken, however. Some units, like Deathwalkers and Q9, rely on high defense to protect their low life. The Sentries would essentially be buying extra hit points for those figures, which throws off their pricing balance. I recommend limiting Hero Protection to Jandar Heroes or something like that.

Archers of Ashra
I'm going to guess this squad has two figures, because they'd be way too strong with more. Even at two figures this group is undercosted. The only range squad with bonding is the Orc Archers, who alone have very crappy stats. A ranged squad with solid stats, including range 8, that can also bonding with a hero like Syvarris? Yikes. A couple of these plus Syvarris would be enough to level a lot of armies, and that's before adding in Woodland Cover.

Drones of Blackrock
I'm going to guess a 3-figure squad here given their combination of abilities and cost. I don't normally think of undead as Frenzy-type creatures, but I'm not against it either. It makes for fun flavor. Continuous Deployment is really neat, but from an official perspective "Starting Zone" is not defined. You could change it to something like "... anywhere on the battlefield. You may not place it within 5 clear sight spaces of an opponent's figure." That's your call though. A minor nitpick, I think the name "Continuous Deployment" is rather weak. Something like "Undying" would be more thematic.

Trollsford Savages
I'm still not excited about the species being Trollsford; you could change that and not change the unit name. I'm going to guess 4 figures for this squad, as they are somewhat reminiscent of other 4-figure melee squads. I love it that you've made an anti-range melee squad; there aren't nearly enough of them. Still, I feel that Evasive 4 is a tad high; Evasive 3 would feel a bit better.


Overall I really like what I see. A lot of solid, straightforward designs that are interesting and offer something different for the battlefield. Now you really need to find some figures for these and fill out your cards, and I'd love to see some playtest reports!

['Scaper94]

Originally Posted by Scytale

I ran into your custom wave when I was looking through this thread and I like what I see. You should update your first post with these units to make them easier to find; I normally just look at the first post of custom threads.

Comments on the wave:

Greyhawk
Combat Expert is a really neat power. I like the tradeoff between bonus attack and bonus range. My concern is that Stealth Dodge will play against Combat Expert, especially with 4 defense. With that there is very little reason to rush him into melee combat. I suggest moving things the other way: drop his defense to three and give him bonus defense when engaged like the Mohicans. It will force more difficult decisions when playing him. You would probably need to reduce his cost a bit as well.

When I originally designed Greyhawk, I thought of him as a quick-thinking, highly-skilled "mercenary" like hero. I never really intended him to be designed for melee combat. I pictured him either staying still and taking close aim at his target, or running for cover when being shot at. However, I do see what you're getting at here.

Major S94
I love that you've designed a neat figure with only a single power. Not enough of those in the customs world. Shield Bash is a very cool power too, though it is going to be almost useless on a 4-defense figure. It would be much cooler on a Warforged figure with 2 defense and Warforged Resolve; it would trigger once in a while with only 2 defense. It is also a problem that the power can trigger off of special attacks. Some units, like Zombies, can attack as a group, making it unclear who would get the Shield Bash wound. I suggest changing it to trigger off of normal attacks only. Also, I don't see the need to limit it to small and medium figures; I can imagine him smacking a dragon in the snout with his shield. Lastly, 130 points is high for a single-attacking figure, even for one with S94's solid stats.

I'll revisit this guy, thanks for the comments.

Sir Caligo
Another solid design. Similar to Sir Hawthorne in a lot of ways, without the backstab potential. Range 2 can be somewhat of a problem, though. With that he can strike someone on a wall 50 elevations high. I think that Range 1 would be just fine for this guy.

Yeah, I'll change his range to 1.

Rythen
This is an impressive figure. I do not doubt his 150pt price tag; he has both offensive output and good survivability. He takes some finesse to play as well; he would be best used skirting around the outskirts of a battle picking off outlying figures instead of standing against an army. Given that, a class like Hunter and a personality like Tricky would be more appropriate, but would lose the flavor that Prince and Merciless give.

When I designed Prince Rythen, I was thinking of both Macbeth and the song The Man Who Would Be King by Iron Maiden. With the themes from both of those, I thought it would be cool (and fun) to have an exiled Prince in the game, who acts as a type of assassin.

Xaerith
The species Trollsford seems strange to me; isn't that a location? There is no figure so maybe it fits the fig. Stealth Dodge for a Trollsford Chief does not seem fitting to me, but again I don't know what the figure looks like so I can't say much about the theme. Kyrie Hatred isn't a terribly useful power but it is a very flavorful one. Is this guy from Valhalla?

In some part of the official game's backstory, there are beings that reside in the Trollsford Swamps. I wasn't entirely sure what to call their race. Their Chief has a pistol, and the warriors just have spear-like things. In their backstory, it said that they hate Kyrie. So they could, potentially, be used to take out Raelin or Minions.

Vitruvius
Love the Blood Brother design. It makes for a pre-canned build, like the Elf Wizards, but is really neat nonetheless. I'd love to play this group in a dungeon crawl. At first glance Vitruvius seems overpriced, but bonding with other Blood Brothers does alleviate his greatest weakness: only one attack. So 125pts is a probably a good place to start playtesting.

The Blood Brothers were difficult to price, given their varied abilities along with bonding.

Lydia
More of a Blood Sister by the name, but I understand the need to stick with Brother. Healing Armor is interesting, but it could use some wording changes. "... all excess shields count as unblockable wounds on the attacking figure. Remove one wound marker from Lydia's Army Card for every wound caused by Healing Armor." I suspect she's overpriced, as Healing Armor won't happen much with 4 defense and she's weak on offense, but then again bonding counts for a lot. Still, I'd probably take the other Blood Brothers over Lydia.

She is a girl, but for continuity's sake, I made her a Blood Brother. I'll change the wording of her power to what you suggested. Should I lower her defense and raise her attack?

Lucian
Again he feels a bit high for his points; 2 attack is quite weak. Bumping him to 3 attack would go a long way. I really like how Tactical Disengagement works, though there is an issue with it. Technically speaking, the game is unclear when it comes to damage sources. That is, you may not always know if damage is coming from an opponent's figure or not. One example of this is the Marro Plague. Even if multiple Hounds are adjacent to Lucian, one cannot determine which figure caused the Plague wound since it is only one roll. It is even arguable that it isn't even a figure that causes the wound in that case. I suggest changing it to "one or more wounds from an attack by an opponent's figure". I'm a bit wary about allowing this against special attacks too, but Isamu does something similar.

I'll change the wording of this power as well. I wanted Lucian to be more of a "distraction" unit, one that doesn't have a lot of offense but has hidden potential.

Giza
I'm pretty sure this one is overpriced. He does have a multi-attack of a sort, but a very unreliable one. Is there a reason Rod of Decay only works against Unique Heroes? He may be worth his points if Rod of Decay also worked against Commons at a lower dice roll.

She, not he. I can change the ability here too. I just thought that she could be a good anti-hero unit.

Demetrius
Again costly, but the bonding is valuable. Still, he compares very poorly to Krug, who also bonds. The more damaging attack is nice, but a lack of a multi-attack is painful.

Hmm... I'll look into this guy a bit more and see what I can do.

Berossus
Curiously, I think this one might be undercosted. Compared to the other Blood Brothers anyway. A 1/4 chance of eliminating one of your opponent's turns is pretty awesome, and it costs nothing to do. Just leave Berossus in your starting zone. Really cool power, and maybe about right for the points, but definitely better than this pricey Brethren.

I enjoyed designing this guy, he's probably my favorite of the Blood Brothers. What would you suggest for making him a bit more balanced?

Alexandra
Another female Blood "Brother". (I don't have an issue with that; just a curiosity.) This figure feels like she's costed about right. She has a semi-reliable multi-attack and bonding along with solid stats. A solid addition to the Blood Brothers, and probably better than most for the points.

Again, Blood Brother for continuity.

Omnicron Sentries
Since you do not have pictures on the cards, I'm just going to guess how many figures are in the squad. I'm going to guess three for this one. Putting Engagement Strike on a Common ranged squad is pretty interesting and probably work the points. Hero Protection is probably broken, however. Some units, like Deathwalkers and Q9, rely on high defense to protect their low life. The Sentries would essentially be buying extra hit points for those figures, which throws off their pricing balance. I recommend limiting Hero Protection to Jandar Heroes or something like that.

This is a 3-figure squad of repainted Omnicron Snipers. I'll look back at Hero Protection and make changes.

Archers of Ashra
I'm going to guess this squad has two figures, because they'd be way too strong with more. Even at two figures this group is undercosted. The only range squad with bonding is the Orc Archers, who alone have very crappy stats. A ranged squad with solid stats, including range 8, that can also bonding with a hero like Syvarris? Yikes. A couple of these plus Syvarris would be enough to level a lot of armies, and that's before adding in Woodland Cover.

This is actually a 3-figure squad. What would you suggest for balancing? Taking away from their defense?

Drones of Blackrock
I'm going to guess a 3-figure squad here given their combination of abilities and cost. I don't normally think of undead as Frenzy-type creatures, but I'm not against it either. It makes for fun flavor. Continuous Deployment is really neat, but from an official perspective "Starting Zone" is not defined. You could change it to something like "... anywhere on the battlefield. You may not place it within 5 clear sight spaces of an opponent's figure." That's your call though. A minor nitpick, I think the name "Continuous Deployment" is rather weak. Something like "Undying" would be more thematic.

Yes, 3 figures per squad. I honestly wasn't sure what race they should be. If you have any better ideas, let me know. I pictured them as being these mindless vegetables going at the enemy wothout a second thought. I suppose I could change the deployment ability to placing a Drone on any space along the outside of the battlefield, and not within 5 spaces of an opponent's figure.

Trollsford Savages
I'm still not excited about the species being Trollsford; you could change that and not change the unit name. I'm going to guess 4 figures for this squad, as they are somewhat reminiscent of other 4-figure melee squads. I love it that you've made an anti-range melee squad; there aren't nearly enough of them. Still, I feel that Evasive 4 is a tad high; Evasive 3 would feel a bit better.

The squad is 3 figures (IIRC). The idea behind them is that they're like a guerilla unit. They avoid ranged combat (being attacked, that is) and excel in melee combat.

Overall I really like what I see. A lot of solid, straightforward designs that are interesting and offer something different for the battlefield. Now you really need to find some figures for these and fill out your cards, and I'd love to see some playtest reports!

Comments in italic.

[Scytale]

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

In some part of the official game's backstory, there are beings that reside in the Trollsford Swamps. I wasn't entirely sure what to call their race.

I see where you're coming from, but Trollsford just doesn't feel like a race to me. In fact, according to the compendium, it was named for the trolls that would raid across the river. Are you perhaps thinking of the Durgeth, a savage tribe from the Durgeth Swamps?

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

The Blood Brothers were difficult to price, given their varied abilities along with bonding.

They will definitely require playtesting to get right. I felt that most of them were overpriced, but it's hard to get a handle on how good that bonding is.

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

She is a girl, but for continuity's sake, I made her a Blood Brother. I'll change the wording of her power to what you suggested. Should I lower her defense and raise her attack?

I wouldn't lower her defense any. I'd even consider raising it to 5 like many of the samurai. Either 5 defense or 3 attack would make her valuable, or a reduced cost. But again, this is only theoryscaping.

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

I enjoyed designing this guy, he's probably my favorite of the Blood Brothers. What would you suggest for making him a bit more balanced?

I'm not sure I'd do anything with him other than playtesting. The key will be pricing him compared to his Blood Brothers. As-is he is perhaps the one figure I would be willing to draft without any others.

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

This is actually a 3-figure squad. What would you suggest for balancing? Taking away from their defense?

Range + bonding is almost unheard of in Heroscape, for good reason. Range is already very powerful, and heroes like Syvarris and Sonlen are already pretty solid without bonding. The order marker freedom for the heroes alone is worth quite a bit; adding in other attackers is all goodness. Honestly, I find this unit costed about right without the bonding. A bit map-dependent, but comparable to other ranged squads like the Aubriens and the Tagawa. With bonding, they need to cost probably twice as much as they are now. To keep the bonding and low cost you'd have to drop their stats severely.

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

Yes, 3 figures per squad. I honestly wasn't sure what race they should be. If you have any better ideas, let me know. I pictured them as being these mindless vegetables going at the enemy wothout a second thought.

Undead is fine, depending on what the figures look like.

[caps]

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

Comments in italic.

Do you have figures picked out for these characters?

['Scaper94]

@caps: For most of the figures, yes. I don't have most of the Blood Brothers picked out yet.

[caps]

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

@caps: For most of the figures, yes. I don't have most of the Blood Brothers picked out yet.

You should post links/pics.

['Scaper94]

Here are pics of the figures (what I have so far, at least)

Spoiler Alert!

Greyhawk


Major S94


Sir Caligo


Rythen


Xaerith
(Star Wars - Aqualish Spy)

Vitruvius
(TBA)

Lydia
(TBA)

Lucian
(TBA)

Giza
(TBA)

Demetrius
(TBA)

Berossus
(TBA)

Alexandra
(TBA)

Omnicron Sentries
(Repainted Omnicron Snipers - Bronze, silver, and metallic brown)

Archers of Ashra
(DnD - Elf Archer)

Drones of Blackrock


Trollsford Savages

[caps]

Originally Posted by 'Scaper94

Here are pics of the figures (what I have so far, at least)

Spoiler Alert!

Greyhawk


Major S94


Sir Caligo


Rythen


Xaerith
(Star Wars - Aqualish Spy)

Vitruvius
(TBA)

Lydia
(TBA)

Lucian
(TBA)

Giza
(TBA)

Demetrius
(TBA)

Berossus
(TBA)

Alexandra
(TBA)

Omnicron Sentries
(Repainted Omnicron Snipers - Bronze, silver, and metallic brown)

Archers of Ashra
(DnD - Elf Archer)

Drones of Blackrock


Trollsford Savages

I have the figure for Rythen and haven't come up with anything I like for him yet. I'll have to give your card a try. He's a little small, but not bad.

['Scaper94]

Originally Posted by capsocrates

I have the figure for Rythen and haven't come up with anything I like for him yet. I'll have to give your card a try. He's a little small, but not bad.

If you do try him out, let me know how he is.

[caps]

Rythen hit the table last night. He was the last figure left in his army when he finally got some OMs. He came at Cyprien and put four wounds on him in one turn, but then Cyprien turned around and rolled a 21 (aided by Sonya and C3V's Myrddin). My army didn't have any ranged attackers other than Myrddin either, so he didn't really get to live out his potential. I imagine he'll see more table-time though, because he looks pretty solid. He may be undercosted--evasive 7 or 8 might be better for him than 9 if you want to keep him at 150 points, but that's just theoryscaping.