The Book of Scarlet Spiders

[Ronin]

Ah, right, I forgot about the Chase one. I'm probably still going to just stick with the Avengers Assemble one, though. It's got the right name and all.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

[Ronin]

Planning on proposing we move these guys to public playtesting as soon as MACH-I gets into editing.

[japes]

pre-YEA. Got these figures too, so cool.

[Ronin]

Here's proposing we go to public testing.

japes - yea
@Arkham - yea
@Yodaking - yea
@johnny139

[Arkham]

yea

[Yodaking]

yea

[johnny139]

Yea

[Ronin]

This passes

[Ronin]

Results in from LO:

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

Name Of The Playtest Unit: Scarlet Spiders

- Theme Test - Inconclusive, seeing as I don’t know the characters, but nothing felt wrong.
- Mirror Test - Pass
- Bonding Test - Pass - Nick Fury Agent bonding is great, but not OP.
- Synergies Test - Pass - Synergy with Nick and Amanda make these guys useful, fun and versatile
- Power Check - Pass
- Fun Test - Definite Pass
- Fun Competitive Test - Pass
- Drafting Test - Pass - They'll probably be in my mind as an option whenever I’m building a S.H.I.E.L.D. or Suicide Squad army.
- Usage Test - Pass - Iron Spiders got surprisingly little actual use, but a lot of that is because it was acting as a deterrant not to waste ranged/small arms fire on them, and Swing Line is always useful for mobility and disengagement.
- Strategy Test - Pass - A more mobile, more durable, ‘commando unit’ squad option for Agent armies than S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, but one with the inherent weakness of all Unique Squads? Yeah, that’s actually going to add a lot to the game.


Army Test 1
Map: Arctic Divide (normal snow, normal ice, no glyphs)
Armies:
Nick Fury, Black Widow, Gorilla Man, Dum Dum Dugan, Scarlet Spiders, 2x S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents (1,010 points)
vs.
Red Skull, Baron von Strucker, Madame HYDRA, Kraven, 3x HYDRA Agents (1010 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Scarlet Spiders’ performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 3 HYDRA Agents eliminated, 4 wounds on Madame HYDRA, 2 wounds on Red Skull, 2 wounds on Baron von Strucker.
Wounds blocked against non-adjacent attacks through Iron Spiders: None
Wounds blocked against adjacent attacks through Iron Spiders: 1 from Red Skull
Times moved normally with Swing Line: Four
Times moved reactively with Swing Line: One

Nick Fury and three S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents remain in reserve on the Helicarrier
Nick Fury is Kraven’s Prey

Round One

Nick Fury and his commandos drop, his men taking offensive positions on the central ice ridge and him surveying the battle from an out of the way height four vantage point on his side of the divide.
HYDRA claims the initiative, and four operatives advance and open fire, but fail to kill any agents. Madame HYDRA advances and shoots at a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, but fails to kill her.
Kraven and Black Widow advance as the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents on the front lines take up positions beside each other and open fire on Red Skull in a Killbox - they shockingly only scrape him, inflicting a wound, but he does drop the Tesseract.
The HYDRA Agents reposition and continue to open fire, killing a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. Madame HYDRA picks up the Cosmic Cube and uses it to move a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent into the river, before shooting her down.
Kraven creeps forwards as Natasha advances and shoots him, inflicting a wound. The Scarlet Spiders swing forwards.
Three HYDRA Agents, inspired by Madame HYDRA, open fire on Natasha, two of them inflicting a wound, before Madame HYDRA transfers a wound from Schmidt to her and shoots her to no avail.
Kraven continues to stalk his prey and Natasha charges him, striking from height for three wounds. The Scarlet Spiders advance, two up the primary, central part of the ridge, one swinging to the south-eastern side to outflank the enemy. The flanker webs the terrorist protecting Madame Hydra, taking him out of play, while another punches another HYDRA agent, failing to take him out, while the last one fires a web from height at Ophelia, inflicting two wounds and causing her to drop the Cube.

Round Two

S.H.I.E.L.D. claims the initiative, and Natasha uses her espionage training to break engagement from Kraven. She fires a shot at Red Skull, inflicting two wounds, while Kraven continues to make his way towards Fury. One Scarlet Spider punches a HYDRA Agent, knocking him out, while two others fire webs at Ophelia, failing to harm her.
The HYDRA agents open fire, taking out a S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent. Red Skull runs forwards, picks up the Cosmic Cube, transfers a wound from himself to Black Widow and punches a Scarlet Spider, whose Iron Spider suit saves him from being killed - the Scarlet Spider dodges away.
Kraven sneaks forwards, but Nick shoots him in the head, killing him. The Scarlet Spider attacked by Red Skull webs a HYDRA Agent protecting Ophelia, taking him out, while the other two Scarlet Spiders web Red Skull and Madame HYDRA respectively, taking Madame HYDRA out and inflicting two wounds on the Skull.
The HYDRA Agents open fire on Natasha but fail to bring her down. Red Skull charges the Scarlet Spider he attacked before and kills him, and Baron von Strucker advances and attempts to unleash Death Spores on a Scarlet Spider, but fails to do so.
Black Widow runs up to and picks up the Cosmic Cube, uses it to transfer a wound from herself to Strucker, and then drops it as it inflicts a wound on her. The two Scarlet Spiders attempt to web Strucker, and one inflicts two wounds on him.
The HYDRA Agents open fire on Black Widow, but still fail to harm her. Red Skull picks up the Cosmic Cube, uses it to teleport a HYDRA Agent next to him, and then executes his own operative in order to spur Strucker forwards. Strucker charges and unleashes his Death Spores, and Black Widow and both remaining Scarlet Spiders expire under the effects of the pathogen.

Round Three

HYDRA claims the initiative, and four HYDRA agents advance in formation up the central canyon. Red Skull continues moving round the side and transfers a wound from himself to Gorilla Man.
Gorilla Man runs forwards an opens fire with his Machine Gun, killing a HYDRA agent. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents advance and shoots down another HYDRA Agent.
Two HYDRA Agents advance from reserve while the last two on the front lines advance slightly, opening fire and failing to harm anyone. Red Skull runs forwards and moves Gorilla Man adjacent to him on low ground with the Cosmic Cube, before punching him, inflicting two wounds. Baron von Strucker advances and shoots Gorilla Man for a wound.
Gorilla Man moves to equal height with Red Skull and strikes him for two wounds, causing him to drop the Cosmic Cube. The S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents advance and open fire, killing one of the two HYDRA Agents on the front lines.
Three HYDRA Agents advance, while the last surviving Terrorist on the front lines shoots and kills Gorilla Man, succumbing to the Curse and becoming the Gorilla Man himself. Red Skull charges an agent and kills her before Strucker advances and fells another agent with Death Spores.
Dugan advances and shoots the Red Skull to no avail, while the last Agent engages Strucker and shoots him for two wounds.

Round Four

S.H.I.E.L.D. claims the initiative, and Dugan shoots Strucker twice, killing him with the second shot. The last S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent charges Red Skull, but fails to kill him.
The last four HYDRA Agents advance, two of them charging forwards and opening fire on the last S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent, gunning him down. Red Skull charges Dugan, but the agent blocks.
Dugan blows the Red Skull’s brains out with his shotgun.
Gorilla Man charges Dugan and strikes him to no avail.
Dugan shoots Gorilla Man, but the shot is shrugged off.
The ape lashes at Dugan, inflicting two wounds.
Dugan shoots Gorilla Man for two wounds.

Round Five

HYDRA claims the initiative, and Gorilla Man rips Dugan apart.
Nick Fury runs down and fires a shot at Gorilla Man, grazing him and inflicting a wound.
Gorilla Man runs towards Nick Fury, opening fire with his Machine Gun to no avail.
Nick Fury backs away and shoots Gorilla Man dead, eliminating HYDRA’s round.
Nick Fury advances

Round Six

HYDRA claims the initiative, and the last four operatives advance, two of them opening fire on Nick Fury and one of them inflicting a wound.
Fury charges their lines and shoots one of them dead.
The last three men all open fire on the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D., but fail to harm him.
Nick moves to equal height with one HYDRA operative and kills him.
The last two operatives gather on height and open fire, inflicting a wound.
Nick charges and shoots one dead.

Round Seven

Fury claims the initiative and apprehends the last survivor of HYDRA’s offensive - he will be taken in for questioning.

S.H.I.E.L.D. victorious - Nick Fury 2 wounds.

Overview: That was actually a ludicrously fun game - I hadn't realised how much fun putting all the HYDRA leaders together would be! Haven't really played them like that before - will do in future! Loved the Scarlet Spiders too - I have to admit, much as I loved the idea of getting another Agent squad, I looked at their card and thought they might be a bit dull, a bit weak for their, and not really give you enough reason to pick them over the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, mostly because, at 3 attack, they didn't really seem to provide any real bite. Oh, how wrong was I! Their mobility is a real asset, allowing them to get to funny places, outflank, and claim height a lot of the time to they can make decent attacks. They overperformed in this game, but I think that was mostly luck and positioning - they'll still suffer from the Unique Squad problem of each death hurting their efficiency, and, as awesome a defensive power as Iron Spiders is, they should still fall pretty easily to auto-wounds and heavy melee attacks. I love ‘em! These are certain to be a common part of my Agent armies once they're released. I do have a query, though - since Struckers Death Spores don't affect figures with Superstrength, I checked these guys, since it was a pretty big deal in this game, and saw they didn't have it, and so played as such - was that an oversight, or do they really not have it? It's a little surprising since they're Spidey-esque and all, but if they don't they don't.

Army Test 2
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (No Glyphs)
Armies;
Amanda Waller, Bane, Shocker, Captain Boomerang (Owen Mercer), Scarlet Spiders (830 points)
vs.
Professor X, Blob, Jean Grey, Shadowcat (vII), Toad (830 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Scarlet Spiders’ performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 4 wounds on Toad, 3 wounds on Shadowcat.
Wounds blocked against non-adjacent attacks through Iron Spiders: None
Wounds blocked against adjacent attacks through Iron Spiders: None
Times moved normally with Swing Line: Two
Times moved reactively with Swing Line: One

Round One

Amanda takes out a hit on Blob.
The Mutants claim the initiative, and Blob and Jean advance.
Bane and Shocker advance.
Jean advances, throws Blob forwards, and blasts Bane to no avail. Blob charges Bane, but his blow is blocked.
Shocker attempts to run next to Bane, but is gripped by Jean and cannot do so, and instead blasts Blob twice from where he is, inflicting a wound. Bane shoots up on Venom, overdoses to take a wound, and strikes Blob to no avail.
Jean throws Shocker next to her and Blob on low ground, though he is unharmed by the impact, before striking him for two wounds. Blob punches Bane for two wounds.
Captain Boomerang runs next to Bane and throws a boomerang at Blob, which inflicts two wounds on the return. Bane adds one to his attack with Venom and punches Blob for a wound.

Round Two

Amanda takes out a hit on Jean Grey.
Task Force X claims the initiative. Bane shoots up, doubling his attack and striking Blob, but failing to kill him. Owen throws an Acid Boomerang at Jean, which fails to harm her, but the spraying acid finishes Blob off.
Jean throws Shocker to another space next to her, but the impace fails to hurt him. She then strikes him for a wound. Toad runs up and Tongue Lashes Shocker next to him, but Shocker avoids Jeans leaving enagement strike. He is, however, utterly melted by Toad’s Caustic Phlegm.
Captain Boomerang throws a Boomerang at Jean, inflicting a wound, before running forwards. Bane charges her, adds two to his attack for Venom, and strikes her for two wounds.
Jean throws Bane onto the low ground next to her, and he takes a wound from the impact. She strikes him, taking him out. Toad runs up, Tongue Lashes Captain Boomerang, and strikes him from height for a wound.
Captain Boomerang breaks away from Toad, avoiding a leaving engagement, before throwing a boomerang at Jean, knocking her out.
Toad fails to drag Owen towards him, but spits Caustic Phlegm at him, inflicting a wound. Shadowcat runs forwards.

Round Three

Amanda takes out a hit on Toad.
The Mutants claim the initiative, and Toad drags Captain Boomerang towards him before knocking him out. Shadowcat advances.
The Scarlet Spiders advance and fire their webbing at Toad, but only manage to inflict one wound.
Shadowcat phases through a Scarlet Spider and strikes him, taking him out. Toad fails to drag a Scarlet Spider towards him, and is not in range of any to spit phlegm.
The Scarlet Spiders swing up to Toad and strike him, inflicting two wounds.
Xavier advances into telepathic range of Shadowcat.
One Scarlet Spider punches Toad, knocking him out, while another fires a web at Shadowcat which passes straight through her.

Round Four

Amanda takes out a hit on Shadowcat.
The Mutants claim the initiative, and Shadowcat phases through a Scarlet Spider, striking him and taking him out.
The last Scarlet Spider strikes Shadowcat - he lands a devastating blow, which she fails entirely to block. He inflicts three wounds, leaving her rocked.
Shadowcat phases through and strikes the last Scarlet Spider with yet another 3 skull to 1 shield attack (both other kills were), knocking him out.
Amanda advances and fires a shot at Shadowcat, blowing her brains out.
Professor X advances.
Amanda moves forwards.

Round Five

Amanda claims the initiative, advances and shoots Xavier for a wound.
Xavier advances into melee with Amanda and strikes her telepathically for a wound.
Amanda shoots Xavier to no effect.
Xavier fails to hurt Amanda.
Amanda is stuffed by Psychic Defence X.
Xavier achieves nothing.

Round Six

Xavier claims the initiative, but achieves nothing.
Amanda shoots, but fails to harm.
Xavier telepathically inflicts a wound.
Amanda shoots Xavier for a wound.
Xavier inflicts a wound on Amanda.
Amanda is prevented from attacking

Round Seven

Xavier claims the initiative, and telepathically knocks Waller out.

Mutants Victorious, Professor X two wounds.

Overview: That was fun, until the immensely tedious duel at the end. The only reason the Scarlet Spiders' defensive power got no use here is because Shadowcat was insanely lucky to get three 3 skull to 1 shield attacks in a row - that shouldn't have happened, but it was compensated for by that 3 skull to no shield strike that nearly felled her. The Scarlet Spiders work brilliantly with Amanda as well as with Nick - as a Unique Agent squad, they have the normal multi-attacks to take full advantage of Special Assignment, standing alongside S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents, Sharon Carter, Agent Hunter and Chun-Li as solid options for a reliable reserve force that won't attempt to turn on you the way the Suicide Squad might.

Thoughts On The Tested Unit's Cost, Balance, & Draftibility:

Once again, I think I’ve already said everything - these guys are going to really spice up Agent builds once they’re released! Great unit, and one that fills a niche (i.e. Agent squad option that isn’t S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents) that the game’s needed filling for a long time (though I’m definitely still up for a bit more diversity in this area! ) 150 felt about fair to me - they felt vaguely on par with something like the Man-Bat Assassins.

[Yodaking]

Looking really good on price after those razor thin outcomes. What is the response to her super strength question?

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

Looking really good on price after those razor thin outcomes. What is the response to her super strength question?

Oh, right. I answered her but forgot to include it here:

Originally Posted by Ronin

They don't actually have super strength, or any powers at all. They're peak human, so they're basically like teenage Captain Americas, with some extra durability from the armor. The armor doesn't seem to enhance their durability to the point where it would justify SS (definitely doesn't enhance how hard they hit), so I left it off. I don't mind em having an achilles heel.