The Book of Yellow Lantern (Karu-Sil)

[Karat]

Thanks guys, and with that, this Passes. I'll get the SP updated and this posted.

[IAmBatman]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM
NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: YELLOW LANTERN (KARU-SIL)
VERSION TESTED

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = YELLOW LANTERN
SECRET IDENTITY = KARU-SIL

SPECIES =GRAXAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = INSURGENT
PERSONALITY =MERCILESS

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 6

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 320?

YELLOW POWER BATTERY 3
Start the game with 3 yellow Battery Markers on this card. Add one to Yellow Lantern’s Move, Range, Attack, and Defense numbers for each yellow Battery Marker on this card.

ENRAGED
Add 1 to Yellow Lantern's normal attack for each Insurgent you control with one or more wounds within 6 clear sight spaces of Yellow Lantern and 1 for each destroyed Feral Yellow Construct in your army. If Yellow Lantern adds 3 or more dice to her normal attack with this special power, she may attack one additional time. Yellow Lantern may not add more than 4 to her normal attack with this special power.

MERCILESS ASSAULT
Instead of attacking with Yellow Lantern, you may remove a yellow Battery Marker from this card to make an immediate attack with X other Insurgents you control within 6 spaces of Yellow Lantern, where X equals the number of Wound Markers on this card.

SUPER STRENGTH
FLYING

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Yellow Lantern (Karu-Sil) (320), Yellow Lantern Arkillo (310), Yellow Lantern Lyssa Drak (240), Sinestro Corps Soldier (x3) (330) (1200) vs Wonder Woman (III) (310), Hawkwoman (260), Black Canary (I) (190), Green Arrow (II) (210), Cyborg (II) (230) (1200)

Spoiler Alert!

NOTE: I restarted this one after I overexposed Karu-Sil early and Green Arrow took her out early in Round 2.
Round 1: Initiative Sinestro Corps. Arkillo destroys Sinestro Corps Soldier black to rile up the troops, then advances. Sinestro Corps Soldier white advances.
Cyborg puts out the Boom Tube glyph.
Karul-Sil and Sinestro Corps Soldier purple advance.
Green Arrow advances to the Boom Tube and zooms to a sniper spot, then hits Arkillo for four quick wounds in three attacks.
Arkillo Eviscerates Green Arrow for two wounds, then KO’s him with a normal attack. Sinestro Corps Soldier White advances next to Arkillo.
Black Canary uses the Boom Tube to grab height adjacent to Arkillo and KO’s him in one hit.

Round 2: Wonder Woman sheds her first JL Marker. Initiative Justice League. Black Canary puts two wounds on Sinestro Corps Soldier white in two attacks.
Karu-Sil advances and hits Black Canary for two wounds. Sinestro Corps Soldier purple engages Black Canary and hits her for a wound.
Hawkwoman goes through the Boom Tube and engages Karu-Sil, then hits her for two wounds, rallying Wonder Woman to return a JL Marker.
Karu-Sil takes a swipe from Hawkwoman, takes height, and rolls only 3 skulls on 8 attack, but Hawkwoman rolls all skulls on defense and takes three wounds. Sinestro Corps Soldier white fails to finish Black Canary from height.
Hawkwoman forces Sinestro Corps Soldier white to burn a battery marker.
Karu-Sil finishes Hawkwoman from height. Sinestro Corps Soldier white can’t hit Black Canary from height.

Round 3: Wonder Woman sheds a JL Marker. Initiative Sinestro Corps. Karul-Sil KO’s Black Canary from height. Sinestro Corps Soldier purple advances.
Black Canary had OM1.
Karul-Sil advances. She fails an attack on Cyborg. Sinestro Corps Soldier white doesn’t have the move to get close enough to attack.
Cyborg fails an attack on Karul-Sil.
Lyssa Drak advances. Sinestro Corps Soldier purple puts a wound on Cyborg.
Cyborg hits Karul-Sil for two wounds.
Cyborg heals a wound.

Round 4: Wonder Woman sheds a JL Marker. Initiative Sinestro Corps. Karul-Sil hits Cyborg for three wounds. Sinestro Corps Soldier white fails to hit Cyborg after Wonder Woman fails to snatch that SCS with her lasso.
Cyborg uses the Boom Tube to disengage from Sinestro Corps Soldier white and engage Karu-Sil, whom he destroys.
Lyssa Drak hits Cyborg for a wound. Sinestro Corps Soldier purple finishes Cyborg.
Wonder Woman forces Sinestro Corps Soldier white to shed its last battery marker.
Lyssa Drak engages Wonder Woman and hits her for a wound. Sinestro Corps Soldier white can’t hit.

Round 5: Wonder Woman sheds her last JL Marker. Initiative Wonder Woman. She hits Lyssa Drak for two wounds.
Lyssa hits Wonder Woman for two wounds. Sinestro Corps Soldier white can’t hit Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman forces Lyssa to burn one battery marker.
Lyssa and SCS white can’t hit Wonder Woman.
Wonder Woman whiffs her attack.
Lyssa and SCS white can’t hit Wonder Woman.

Round 6: Initiative Sinestro Corps. Lyssa rolls all skulls and finishes Wonder Woman.

Unit Summary: With the Sinestro Corps soldiers having no mass movement and only two of them on the battlefield after Arkillo made his sacrifice, Merciless Assault never had a pay off beyond two attacks of 4, so it never felt worth burning a marker here. The enemy found Karu-Sil an easier target than the Sinestro Corps Soldiers, so they mostly aimed for her instead of them, keeping the Enraged boost fairly low. Still, she mostly had +1 from Enraged and had a few attacks from height. Along with some dice luck here, she got in a lot of big hits. The JL probably would’ve steam rolled had I played out my first game with a more reckless approach to Karul-Sil. So she’s solid and her powers mostly weren’t used here, but so far she feels balanced at her cost. (Unfortunately I played Cyborg wrong here – a more fun way that he actually is – as the Boom Tube should’ve gone back on his card at the end of his turn. He died with all three markers still, though, so I’m not sure it made too big of a difference in the results).

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): Inflicted (11) wounds on (Black Canary (3), Hawkwoman (5), Cyborg (3))
• ENRAGED: Add a max of (1) to her attack and attacked (0) additional times with Enraged.
• MERCILESS ASSAULT: Burned (0) battery markers to make (0) attacks with Insurgents.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Lyssa Drak with 3/5 Life and 2/3 Battery Markers, Sinestro Corps Soldier white with 1/3 Life and 0 Battery Markers, and Sinestro Corps Soldier purple with full life and full Battery Markers win.

___________________________________________________________

VERSION TESTED

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = YELLOW LANTERN
SECRET IDENTITY = KARU-SIL

SPECIES =GRAXAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = INSURGENT
PERSONALITY =MERCILESS

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 6

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 320?

YELLOW POWER BATTERY 3
Start the game with 3 yellow Battery Markers on this card. Add one to Yellow Lantern’s Move, Range, Attack, and Defense numbers for each yellow Battery Marker on this card.

ENRAGED
Add 1 to Yellow Lantern's normal attack for each Insurgent you control with one or more wounds within 6 clear sight spaces of Yellow Lantern and 1 for each destroyed Feral Yellow Construct in your army. If Yellow Lantern adds 3 or more dice to her normal attack with this special power, she may attack one additional time. Yellow Lantern may not add more than 4 to her normal attack with this special power.

MERCILESS ASSAULT
Instead of attacking with Yellow Lantern, you may remove a yellow Battery Marker from this card to make an immediate attack with X other Insurgents you control within 6 spaces of Yellow Lantern, where X equals the number of Wound Markers on this card.

SUPER STRENGTH
FLYING

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Yellow Lantern (Karu-Sil) (320), Yellow Lantern Arkillo (310), Sinestro Corps Soldier (x7) (770) (1400) vs Green Lantern (Kilowog) (310), Green Lantern (Hal) (350), Green Lantern (John) (340), Green Lantern (Ch’p) (200), Green Construct Decoy (x4) (200) (1400)

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: Initiative Green Lanterns. Kilowog burns a marker.
Arkillo eats Sinestro Corps Soldier purple. Sinestro Corps Soldier green advances.
Kilowog burns a marker.
Sinestro Corps Soldiers orange and blue advance.
Hal Jordan advances, flies at lightning speed, engages Sinestro Corps Soldier blue, forces him to burn a marker, then gets Fearless Charge and hits him for two wounds.
Sinestro Corps Soldiers red and black advance and attack Hal, with one putting three wounds on him.

Round 2: Initiative Green Lanterns. Hal Jordan places a Decoy Construct, then forces Sinestro Corps Soldier blue to shed a marker and fails his Fearless Charge roll.
Karu-Sil and a Sinestro Corps Soldier force Hal to burn two markers.
Hal places a Decoy Construct next to Karu-Sil, then KO’s Sinestro Corps Soldier blue, but can’t hit his Fearless Charge roll.
Karu-Sil forces can’t hit the Decoy. Hal blocks a two skull roll from height from a Sinestro Corps Soldier.
Hal drops another Decoy, then forces Sinestro Corps Soldier red to burn a marker, then fails his Fearless Charge roll.
Karu-Sil takes a swipe from a Decoy, engages Hal, then has her attack blocked. Sinestro Corps Soldier black KO’s a Decoy.

Round 3: Initiative Sinestro Corps Soldiers. Karu-Sil forces Hal to burn a marker. Sinestro Corps Soldier red forces Hal to burn his last marker.
Hal plops down the last Decoy. He fails to hit Sinestro Corps Soldier red or hit his Fearless Charge roll.
Karu-Sil destroys a Decoy Construct. Sinestro Corps Soldier black KO’s Hal from height.
Hal had OM2.
Karu-Sil and a Sinestro Corps Soldier both kill off Decoys.
Ch’p hits Karu-Sil for two wounds.

Round 4: Initiative Sinestro Corps Soldiers. Ch’p blocks big attacks from Karu-Sil and a Sinestro Corps Soldier.
Ch’p hits Karu-Sil for two wounds.
Karu-Sil burns a battery marker for Merciless Assault. Only one Sinestro Corps Soldiers get in an attack, then Ch’p bounces away with Moving Target.
John Stewart moves adjacent to Ch’p.
Karu-Sil and a Sinestro Corps Soldier both fail to hit Ch’p from height.
John Stewart engages Karu-Sil and KO’s her.

Round 5: Initiative Sinestro Corps Soldiers. Sinestro Corps Soldiers hit John Stewart for a wound.
Ch’p fails an attack on an SCS.
John takes a wound and burns a marker from SCS.
John one-shots an SCS who decided to try to defend against four skulls.
Arkillo advances. An SCS forces John to shed a marker.
John forces an SCS to burn a marker.

Round 6: Initiative Green Lanterns. Ch’p forces an SCS to burn a marker.
Arkillo burns a marker and Eviscerates John, then hits Ch’p for a wound. Ch’p blocks an attack from an SCS.
Ch’p forces an SCS to burn a marker.
Arkillo Eviscerates Ch’p. SCS white advances.
John Stewart had OM3.
Arkillo advances. An SCS fails to hit Kilowog.

Round 7: Initiative Sinestro Corps. An SCS fails an attack on Kilowog and another advances.
Kilowog forces a marker burn.
SCS can’t do anything against Kilowog.
Kilowog is blocked.
Arkillo advances but can’t get into range. An SCS whiffs.
Kilowog puts two wounds on an SCS.


Round 8: Initiative Sinestro Corps. They finally break through with three wounds on Kilowog.
Kilowog forces a marker burn.
SCS can’t do anything.
Kilowog forces a marker burn.
Arkillo wounds Kilowog.
Kilowog hits Arkillo for two wounds.

Round 9: Initiative Kilowog. He KO’s Arkillo. Huge swing here.
Arkillo had OM1.
Kilowog KO’s an SCS.
Arkillo had OM2.
Kilowog hits an SCS for two wounds.
An SCS advances. Another fails an attack on Kilowog.

Round 10: Initiative SCS. Two attack, but neither hits.
Kilowog finishes an SCS.
SCS are only rolling 3 and 2 dice and can’t break through.
Kilowog destroys another SCS. One remains.
The last SCS rolls 2 skulls to Kilowog’s 2 shields.
Kilowog forces the final Battery Marker burn.

Round 11: Initiative Sinestro Corps Soldiers. He rolls 1 skull and is blocked.
Kilowog rolls 1 skull and is blocked.
SCS rolls 1 skull and is blocked.
Kilowog rolls 3 skulls and wins on the whiff.

Unit Summary: Kilowog mounted an epic comeback here to beat back the tide of Sinestro Corps Soldiers against the odds. The Yellow Lanterns felt superior here, even if things never lined up for a good Merciless Assault. The Sinestro Corps Soldiers are just so short range that it’s hard to get many of them in attack range at the same time, even with many of them. That makes it fairly pain free to just go after Karu-Sil first, which also weakens the effect of Enraged. She’s still a powerful attacker without either power clicking, but I worry that both powers are a bit too easy to strategize and get around. Figuring out a Yellow Lantern that helps the Sinestro Corps Soldiers move faster, or creating more Insurgents with higher range would help with these issues.

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): Inflicted (4) wounds on (Decoy Constructs (4))
• ENRAGED: Add a max of (1) to her attack and attacked (0) additional times with Enraged.
• MERCILESS ASSAULT: Burned (1) battery markers to make (1) attacks with Insurgents.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Kilowog with no battery markers and 1/5 Life wins.

___________________________________________________________

[Karat]

Looking good so far.

[IAmBatman]

I kind of worry her powers are too easy to get around, but there are ways that can be helped within the faction in the future.

[Karat]

She is definitely one where I felt it was better to lead with someone else and a couple of SCS and then fly her in. Mobility is definitely a crux for the Yellows right now. Also, once we get to the Pack, Enraged will become more useful. I'm ok with Merciless Assault being a corner case. I kind of envisioned it as sort of a last hurrah, pull out all stops than as a factional leader thing. More along the lines of a contingency plan.

[IAmBatman]

Cool. Just so long as you're cool with it being something that's not going to pop very often.

[Ronin]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Karu-Sil @320 points

Version tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = YELLOW LANTERN
SECRET IDENTITY = KARU-SIL

SPECIES =GRAXAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = INSURGENT
PERSONALITY =MERCILESS

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 6

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 320?

YELLOW POWER BATTERY 3
Start the game with 3 yellow Battery Markers on this card. Add one to Yellow Lantern’s Move, Range, Attack, and Defense numbers for each yellow Battery Marker on this card.

ENRAGED
Add 1 to Yellow Lantern's normal attack for each Insurgent you control with one or more wounds within 6 clear sight spaces of Yellow Lantern and 1 for each destroyed Feral Yellow Construct in your army. If Yellow Lantern adds 3 or more dice to her normal attack with this special power, she may attack one additional time. Yellow Lantern may not add more than 4 to her normal attack with this special power.

MERCILESS ASSAULT
Instead of attacking with Yellow Lantern, you may remove a yellow Battery Marker from this card to make an immediate attack with X other Insurgents you control within 6 spaces of Yellow Lantern, where X equals the number of Wound Markers on this card.

SUPER STRENGTH
FLYING

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Yellow Lantern (Karu-Sil) @320, Yellow Lantern (Arkillo), Yellow Lantern (Lyssa Drak), Sinestro Corps Soldier x3 (1200) vs Original Thunderbolts (1200)

Spoiler Alert!

The Sinestro Corps got off to a good start here, having some good tools to deal with the Thunderbolts' defensive powers. They ended up getting edged out very narrowly in the endgame, though, after some back and forth between Atlas and Lyssa Drak.

Karu-Sil herself was the main attacker for the Sinestro Corps, and brought down Meteorite and Citizen V. Enraged never did more than add one die to her attack, since the Soldiers were a bit thin on the ground and Arkillo isn't an Insurgent. There was never more than one other Insurgent set up for an attack, so it never looked like a good idea to trade off her attack for a SCS attack.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): 4 wounds to Meteorite in 2 attacks (destroyed), 3 wounds to Citizen V in 2 attacks (destroyed), 2 wounds to Atlas in 2 attacks
• Enraged: attacked at +1, +1, +1, +1, +1, +0
• Merciless Assault: not used
• Damage Taken: 5 wounds from Citizen V in 5 attacks, 1 wound from Atlas in 1 attack (destroyed)

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Atlas and Techno with 1 Life each

___________________________________________________________

Version tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = YELLOW LANTERN
SECRET IDENTITY = KARU-SIL

SPECIES =GRAXAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = INSURGENT
PERSONALITY =MERCILESS

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 6

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 320?

YELLOW POWER BATTERY 3
Start the game with 3 yellow Battery Markers on this card. Add one to Yellow Lantern’s Move, Range, Attack, and Defense numbers for each yellow Battery Marker on this card.

ENRAGED
Add 1 to Yellow Lantern's normal attack for each Insurgent you control with one or more wounds within 6 clear sight spaces of Yellow Lantern and 1 for each destroyed Feral Yellow Construct in your army. If Yellow Lantern adds 3 or more dice to her normal attack with this special power, she may attack one additional time. Yellow Lantern may not add more than 4 to her normal attack with this special power.

MERCILESS ASSAULT
Instead of attacking with Yellow Lantern, you may remove a yellow Battery Marker from this card to take an immediate turn with X other Insurgents you control within 6 spaces of Yellow Lantern, where X equals the number of Wound Markers on this card. You may not take additional turns with any other figures you control.

SUPER STRENGTH
FLYING

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Yellow Lantern (Karu-Sil) @320, Yellow Lantern (Sinestro), Yellow Lantern (Crane), Sinestro Corps Soldier x3, Oracle (1330) vs Original Thunderbolts, Jolt, Atom (Ray) (1330)

Spoiler Alert!

Switched up my strategy here: picked the other attack-y Insurgents and just choked the battlefield with em, then followed up with Karu-Sil. She got to pull off her Merciless Assault a couple times, and notably one-shotted Songbird, so that was cool.

The YLs caught some real lucky breaks (like dropping Songbird early, and Karu also took a lot of attacks to bring down), but still ended up getting outlasted by the T-Bolts, by a real narrow margin. Main credit to Atlas for a couple really clutch d20 rolls.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): 4 wounds to Songbird in 1 attack (1 due to Oracle) (destroyed)
• Enraged: attacked at +0
• Merciless Assault: used 2 times to take a turn with 4 other Insurgents
• Damage Taken: 2 wounds from Meteorite in 1 attack, 2 wounds from Citizen V in 7 attacks, 2 wounds from MACH-I in 1 attack (destroyed)

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Atlas with 1 Life, Atom with full Life

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: On paper, the powers look as cool as the character. In practice, I found her really disappointing. Her powers aren't easy to use, but they have this high-end potential in edge cases, which is a super annoying thing to have to price around. She'd work a bit better if there were more cohesion between some of the other non-Lyssa/Arkillo YLs (herself, Sinestro, and Scarecrow), but even then, I'm not confident she'd be great.

In general it feels like it's hard to really make sure she'll do anything for you besides be a big attack number. Not necessarily a huge problem if she's just an Insurgent with a big attack number and unusually high Life, IMO - mechanically that'd give her a niche. But I feel like the card could be streamlined if that's what she's gonna be. I think the way the powers are designed makes her feel a little flat when you can't pull off the crazy high-end stuff.

Only one game in, so I'll try shaking up the build in the next game, but I wanted to throw this out there in case you saw it before I finished and were willing to talk through some of the design points.

Update after game two:

Well, for all my concern, that change to Merciless Assault didn't end up making a huge difference in that game. I think the Assault is a lot easier to pull off with Sinestro and Scarecrow in the army. Which is good, IMO, since they're the two YLs I normally draft least. Nice to see em have more reason to show up to the party.

That said, there isn't a ton uniting those other Insurgents yet, and they don't provide with you a huge toolset. So even though Karu herself works better in that build, the SCS just isn't firing on all cylinders without Arkillo. It does ease my mind a bit to see a build where Merciless Assault actually works well, though. Makes me feel more hopeful about being able to integrate her into the faction as we develop it.

I'd be comfortable going back to the previous version of Merciless Assault after seeing this one in action a bit. I don't think she needs the full turns that badly when she's running with Sinestro/Scarecrow, and I'm not sure how much they'll really help her get along with Arkillo/Lyssa, so it probably makes sense to keep the power design-space safe.

If you can stomach the complexity, though, I think a real viable middle ground would be to let her attack with an Insurgent, or get a full turn with an Uncommon Insurgent. Still lets her get along nicely with Sinestro and Scarecrow, but also makes it easier for you to spam Sinestro Corps Soldiers without having a hard time moving them up.

I do still have some reservations about Enraged - mainly the double attack part. Sounds like you got it working for you at one point during the initial but it mostly doesn't come up. I'd be tempted to drop the double attack just to keep the power from swinging her value in a huge way in edge cases. I think we'll get more perspective on that power once we're testing the Pack, so I understand if you don't want to take pre-emptive action on it, but it's something to keep a close eye on.

Also, total theme/flavor note and not a mechanical note, but I do wish Merciless Assault and especially Enraged had more specific/Sinestro Corps sorts of names. Not immediately sure what to go with, though!

[IAmBatman]

So this is how the issue breaks down for me:

1. Merciless Assault is usually not worth the marker burn because even when she gets the wounds, it's just too hard to get enough SCS in range to attack.

2. That means they're no real penalty for going after Karu-Sil first, which means for the most part her Enraged doesn't get charged up either.

What if we made this (significant power boosting so we might need other trade offs) change?

MERCILESS ASSAULT
Instead of attacking with Yellow Lantern, you may remove a yellow Battery Marker from this card to take an immediate turn with X other Insurgents you control within 6 spaces of Yellow Lantern, where X equals the number of Wound Markers on this card. You may not take additional turns with any other figures you control.

[Karat]

Always willing to talk. I was trying to capture her takingnchsrge in some situations and not others and yet be balanced.

[Ronin]

I do dig the idea behind Merciless Assault. I think it's just too difficult to use, and ends up leaving you feeling a little cold.

I think Bats' tweak could be a cool direction to try out.

[IAmBatman]

I think if you make the change I suggested above and like tweak her Life down to 5, she'd be in a good place.

[Karat]

My concern there would be making her too fragile. She has about the right survivability as it stands.