[Pod 0] Ozuul (Eldrazi Ruiner) - Playtesting

[flameslayer93]

Onto playtesting.

[Scytale]

Ok. Please update the OP with the following and add a link to the Editing Checklist.

GRAVITY PULL
After moving and before attacking, Ozuul may use Gravity Pull. One at a time, each non-adjacent small or medium figure within 2 clear sight spaces of Ozuul must be placed by its owner on any empty space adjacent to Ozuul, if possible. Figures moved with Gravity Pull do not take any leaving engagement attacks, but non-flying figures will take any falling damage that may apply. After using Gravity Pull, Ozuul must use Crushing Vortex Special Attack.

CRUSHING VORTEX SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 1. Attack 4.
All figures adjacent to Ozuul are affected by Crushing Vortex Special Attack. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.

Suggested R&Cs:

Q: What happens if Ozuul Gravity Pulls a figure that is not owned by any player?
A: The player who controls Augamo chooses an opponent who must place the Rammed figure.

Q: If both a Gladiatron and a figure affected by its Cyberclaw are two clear sight spaces away from Ozuul, what happens?
A: It depends on the order the two figures are chosen. If Ozuul's owner first chooses the Cyberclawed figure, it will not move. The Gladiatron can still be chosen and moved. After the Gladiatron moves, the Cyberclawed figure can not then be chosen again to be moved. If the Gladiatron is moved first, and is moved to a position where it no longer Cyberclaws the other figure, the other figure could then be moved by Gravity pull.

[Captain Stupendous]

Map: Custom

Spoiler Alert!

Army 1: (L) Ozuul (190), Gorillitroopers x2 (210) 400 pts
Army 2: (J) Motley Max (135), Dienekes (90), 12th Caucasus Rifles x3 (180) 405 pts

Versions tested:

Ozuul

Spoiler Alert!

VALKRILL
OZUUL
Species Voidspawn
Unique Hero
Class Marauder
Personality Nihilistic
SIZE HEIGHT Huge 10

LIFE 8
MOVE 5 / BASIC 5
RANGE 1 / BASIC 1
ATTACK 6 / BASIC 7
DEFENSE 4 / BASIC 8

190 POINTS

GRAVITY PULL
After moving and before attacking, Ozuul may use Gravity Pull. One at a time, each non-adjacent small or medium figure within 2 clear sight spaces of Ozuul must be placed by its owner on any empty space adjacent to Ozuul, if possible. Figures moved with Gravity Pull do not take any leaving engagement attacks, but non-flying figures will take any falling damage that may apply. After using Gravity Pull, Ozuul must use Crushing Vortex Special Attack.

CRUSHING VORTEX SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 1. Attack 4.
All figures adjacent to Ozuul are affected by Crushing Vortex Special Attack. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures. Each figure rolls defense dice separately.

Dienekes

Spoiler Alert!

JANDAR
Dienekes
Human
Unique Hero
Fighter
Resolute
MEDIUM 5

LIFE 6
MOVE 5
RANGE 1
ATTACK 3
DEFENSE 4

POINTS 90

Tether of Logos
If a small or medium figure moves at least one space and ends its movement within 3 clear sight spaces of Dienekes, if it is no more than 3 levels above Dienekes's height or 3 levels below his base, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 7 or higher, place that figure on any same-level space adjacent to Dienekes. If the figure is engaged before it is moved by Tether of Logos, it will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

Combat Challenge
Figures engaged with (figure name) may only attack figures with the Combat Challenge special power.

Motley Max

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = MOTLEY MAX

GENERAL = VALKRILL
PLANET = EARTH
SPECIES = MUTANT
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = WARHULK
PERSONALITY = MERCILESS
SIZE/HEIGHT = LARGE/6
BASE SIZE = D3 LARGE SINGLE/DEATHWALKER BASE

LIFE = 6
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 135

DREAD CHAIN GRAB 6
After moving and before attacking with Motley Max, you may choose up to two enemy small or medium figures within 3 clear sight spaces whose bases are no more than 6 levels above Motley Max's height or 6 levels below Motley Max's base. Roll the 20-sided die once for each figure. If you roll a 6 or higher, place that figure on any empty same-level space adjacent to Motley Max. If the chosen figure is engaged when it is moved by Dread Chain Grab 6, it will not take any leaving engagement attacks.

ENGAGEMENT STRIKE 13
If an opponent's small or medium figure moves adjacent to Motley Max, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 13 or higher, the opponent's figure receives a wound. Figures may only be targeted as they move into engagement with Motley Max.

Which units survived? Three Gorillitroopers and Isamu.

Turn by turn summary

Spoiler Alert!

R1
T1 Ozuul advances
T1 J advances Rifles. Misses grenade, but both attack Ozuul from height and deal 3 wounds.

T2 L advances Ozuul. Pulls 1 Caucasus. Fails the special attack.
T2 J misses grenade, then attacks with Rifles. Ozuul blocks first attack. Rifles roll four skulls with second attack to deal 2 wounds to Ozuul.

T3 L uses Gravity pull to pull the other russian adjacent. Gravity crush kills both.
T3 J Advances two more Russians. Misses grenade. Both attacks on Ozuul are blocked.

ROUND 2

T1 J advances rifles. Misses grenade. Deals 1 wound to Ozuul with normal attack.
T1 L Ozuul pulls both grenades. Whiffs gravity crush.

T2 J succeeds gas grenade. Deals 1 wound to Ozuul with normal attacks
T2 L Ozuul kills both russians with Gravity crush

T3 J advances Max
T3 L Advances Ozuul to engage Max. Rolls 3 skulls with normal, but is blocked by Max on height.

ROUND 3

T1 J Moves Max around to central height and attacks Ozuul rolling three skulls. BUT OZUUL BLOCKS WITH 3 SHIELDS TO STAY ALIVE!
T1 L moves Ozuul around to get height and attack Max from Height. Deals 3 wounds to Max.

T2 J Max kills Ozuul.
T2 L Gorrillitroopers both miss ranged autocannons on Max.

T3 Max pulls one gorilla. Fails engagement strike and fails to pull the other gorilla. Normal attack is blocked by gorilla.
T3 L Gorillas attack Max four times with autocannons to deal 3 wounds to Max for the kill.

ROUND 4

T1 J advances his final two russians around the west to get in range of the gorilla. Succeeds grenade. They kill him with their normal attack.
T1 Gorillas kill 1 russian. Miss the other one.

T2 J gets the russian onto height. Misses grenade. Normal attack is blocked by gorilla.
T2 L engages russian with two gorillas and kills him

T3 Dienekes advances but doesn’t have enough move to engage a gorilla
T3 Gorillas attack Dienekes three times from height range to deal 1 wound to Dienekes

ROUND 5

T1 J advances Dienekes engaging 1 gorilla. Misses attack
T1 L attacks Dienekes twice with gorilla melee attacks to deal 4 wounds.

T1 J attacks with Dienekes and is blocked by Gorilla
T2 Gorillas kill Dienekes with their normal attacks for the win.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Ozuul dealt 3 wounds to Motley Max with his normal attack, and killed 4 Caucasus rifles with his special attack.

Motley Max rolled for chain grab twice, only succeeding once. He rolled for engagement strike once and failed. With his normal attack he dealt one wound to Ozuul and killed one Gorillitrooper.

Dienekes never rolled for Tether of Logos and failed to deal any wounds to any figures.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?

Ozuul Thoughts
Despite receiving 5 wounds during the first two turns of the game (a result of me miscounting the 12th caucasus threat range), Ozuul went on to still kill about ~180 pts worth of figures (4 Caucasus and three wounds on Max). The wounds on Max were crucial in weakening him enough for the Gorillitroopers to finish him off with minimal casualties. Overall I’m happy with this version of Ozuul. I think he’s somewhat difficult to use effectively, but that makes for a fun design with a high skill ceiling. If anything were to change, I think I’d like to try Ozuul out with 6 move instead of 5. In both games I’ve played with him, there have been several times that I’ve needed one more movement point to get within the optimal positioning to use Gravity Pull. However, he still definitely works fine with the five move; it's just a possible dial to tweak if he seems to be underperforming.

Dienekes Thoughts
Dienekes didn’t do much at all this game. J waited until the rest of his army was dead before putting any order markers on him. Since I led with Ozuul, Tether of Logos wouldn’t have been effective at defending the Caucasus anyway. I think Dienekes also requires more skill than many other figures to get value out of, and I don’t think J used him optimally this game.

Motley Max Thoughts
I think Max is in a relatively good place. I don’t necessarily think an adjustment to his engagement strike roll is necessary, although I also don’t think the change will be hugely impactful either way. I was expecting him to do more damage to the Gorillitroopers than he did, as in theory that’s kind of an ideal matchup for him (extremely high cost medium squad figures). However, Ozuul was able to get in a solid hit on him before dying, so that the Gorillitroopers were able to finish Max off before he was able to wreak too much havoc. He’s a very fun unit and J mentioned specifically that he really liked the design (I think the theme and sculpt helped here too).

[Pumpkin_King]

NB, that's your OP.

[Captain Stupendous]

Map: Custom

Spoiler Alert!

Army 1: (L)Ozuul, Zettian Infantry x2, Deathwalker 9000, Dienekes
Army 2: (J) 12th Caucasus Rifles x3, Gorillitroopers x3, Kursus

Which units survived? Ozuul and Dienekes with full life. 1 Zettian infantry.

Turn by turn summary

Spoiler Alert!

ROUND 1
T1 J advances Russians onto height.
T1 L Deathwalker shoots and kills a russian with his normal attack. Zettians advance and kill the other russian with their normal.

T2 J Russians advance and miss grenade. Russians kill two zettians with their normal attacks.
T2 L 9000 advances to height and targets 3 gorillas and a russian with his explosion. Rolls two skulls to kill all three gorillas. Zettians miss normal attack against Russian

T3 J Advances Russians onto height. Miss grenade. Two attacks against 9000 are blocked.
T3 L Gets 9000 onto height. Kills engaged Russian with normal attack. Zettians kill two Russians.

ROUND 2
T1 Kursus advances and uses sonic fists on 9000 and a zettian. Kills zettian 9000 blocks.
T1 Deathwalker and Zettians all miss attacks against Kursus.

T2 Kursus kills a Zettian.
T2 9000 deals 1 wound to kursus with normal. Zettians deal 1 wound to Kursus.

T3 J Kursus misses against 9000. Gorillas kill 1 zettian and attack 9000 but are blocked.
T3 L 9000 whiffs explosion special.

ROUND 3
T1 Gorillas and Kursus all attack 9000 all are blocked.
T1 Ozuul advances

T2 Gorillas and Kursus all attack 9000 all are blocked.
T2 Ozuul advances. Gravity Pull Kursus. Then Gravity crush dealing 1 wound and killing Kursus.

T3 J Gorillas attack 9000 both are blocked
T3 Ozuul Gravity pulls 1 Gorilla. Gravity crush kills the gorilla

ROUND 4
T1 J Gorilla atttacks 9000 and is blocked.
T1 L Ozuul uses gravity pull and crush to pull and kill a gorilla.

T2 J moves Gorilla to reveal +4 range glyph. Shoots 9000 and is blocked.
T2 L advances Ozuul

T3 J Russian advances succeeds grenade roll on 9000. Kills 9000 with normal attack.
T3 Ozuul moves adj to Gorilla and kills him with Gravity Crush special attack.

ROUND 5
T1 Ozuul advances and kills a Russian with his special attack for the win.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play?

Dienekes never had an order marker placed on him, and Tether of Logos was never relevant.

Ozuul used gravity pull three times. Each time either gave him a positioning advantage or pulled an enemy within strike range. He used Gravity Crush to deal 1 wound to Kursus and kill 3 gorillitroopers. He used his normal attack to kill 1 12th Caucasus Rifle.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)?

Once again, Dienekes didn’t have much of an impact on the outcome of the game. Against melee squads I could see him being effective, but against anything else it seems like he requires too many order markers to position. Since he has weak offensive output, these turns are typically better invested in just using your ranged units.

Ozuul is very fun to play and I think is in a great place design wise. His 4 attack special attack was even more effective against the Gorillitroopers and their Tough defenses than I would have predicted. I really like the dynamic of Gravity Pull and Crush, and I think that the mechanics that were settled on for how Gravity Pull works are the best they could be.

[Astroking112]

Thanks for the tests, Captain Stupendous! I'm glad to see that Ozuul is playing well.

@NecroBlade , do you mind updating the title of this thread and adding the link to the Editing Checklist to the OP?

[NecroBlade]

Sorry guys. Updated the OP with a link to the checklist, R&Cs (including changing the Augamo reference to Ozuul ), and playtests. writing up a few playtests of my own now...

[NecroBlade]

For all 3 games:

Map: Once Upon a Hill

Army 1: Ozuul, Sonlen, Tarn Viking Warriors
Army 2: Death Chasers (DC) x4, Raelin, Me-Burq-Sa, Nerak


Game 1
Which units survived? 8 DC, Raelin (5 Life).

Tun by turn summary:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1 initiative Ozuul who moves up, followed by Raelin to the perch closest her start zone.
OM2 Ozuul pulls Raelin, who takes the high ground, and a DC. 2 skulls kills 2 DC. DC bond Nerak and take Glyph of Recall bringing one back, deal 1 to Ozuul.
OM3 Ozuul takes 4 disengages (2 hits) to get height on and kill MBS. DC bond Nerak who fails a treasure trap and takes a wound, DC deal 2 to Ozuul and take Glyph of Knowledge.

Round 2 Knowledge looks at OM3 on Sonlen. Initiative DC who bond Nerak who picks up Heroic Attack. DC kill Ozuul killing OM1.
OM2 DC bond Nerak who picks up Potion of Healing. Tarn move up and whiff on a DC.
OM3 DC bond Nerak who whiffs then two Tarn block. Sonlen fails to do anything.

Round 3 Initiative ties 1 to 1, then Tarn win and kill 1 DC. Raelin takes a high center perch and kills a Tarn.
OM2 Sonlen kills Nerak. DC kill 2 Tarn.
OM3 Sonlen grabs the dropped Potion but does no damage. DC put 3 wounds on Sonlen.

Round 4 Initiative Sonlen who heals with the Potion and kills 1 DC. DC deal 3 wounds to Sonlen.
OM2 Sonlen kills 1 DC then dies.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play? Pull and Crush were only used once to set up a decent attack. Opponent always has to play around them, though, trying to use a single DC to block an advance for Ozuul that could Pull a lot of figures.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)? Ozuul only did 87 points of damage, but could've doubled that with an initiative win. Even 4D/8L goes down quick to attacks of 4. The combination of powers gives both sides something to think about.


Game 2
Which units survived? 8 DC, Nerak (1 Life), Raelin and MBS full

Tun by turn summary:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1 initiative Raelin, who moves up followed by Ozuul.
OM2 DC bond Nerak who fails a treasure trap while DC take Glyph of Knowledge and deal 1 to Ozuul. Ozuul rolls 1 skull with height on a DC and doesn't kill it.
OM3 DC bond Nerak who takes the other treasure, Heroic Attack, while DC deal 5(!) to Ozuul. Ozull retaliates with 3 skulls but only kills 2 DC.

Round 2 Knowledge shows OM3 on Sonlen. Initiative DC who bond MBS who kill Ozuul and kill OM1 again.
OM2 DC bond Nerak who kills a Tarn. Tarn get 2 hits on Nerak in return.
OM3 DC bond Nerak who fails a trap, they kill 2 Tarn. Sonlen's Swoop kills Nerak and he kills a DC.

Round 3 Knowledge shows X on Tarn. Initiative Raelin moving to make her aura relevant. Sonlen grabs dropped Heroic Attack and kills a DC.
OM2 DC bond MBS who gets Scarab of Invulnerability. DC kill last Tarn and put 5(!) wounds on Sonlen. Sonlen kills a DC.
OM3 Sonlen dies.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play? Pretty much the same as the first game.

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)? Ozuul only survived long enough to get one use out of both powers, and that only did 37 points of damage. Pretty poor rolls on defense and normal attack. Again, winning initiative changes that number. Still have to think about counter-play, but rushing and killing him is also working... too well. I think he needs to be played a lot more carefully.



Game 2
Which units survived? Sonlen (1 Life)

Tun by turn summary:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1 initiative Raelin, followed by Ozuul taking a different, more cautious path this time.
OM2 DC bond Nerak. Ozzul continues to skirt the battle and bide his time.
OM3 DC bond MBS who fails a trap, Ozuul blocks all damage. Ozuul maneuvers to pull Raelin and 2 DC, then rolls 3 skulls doing 3 damage to Raelin and killing 4 DC despite their defense bonuses.

Round 2 initiative Ozuul who takes a disengage (hit) to pull 4 DC. Only rolls 1 skull but again kills 2 DC despite their defenses (including one on height!). DC bond MBS who fails the trap again (but isn't taking damage from it) and do 5 to Ozuul.
OM2 Ozull rolls 3 skulls killing Raelin and 3 more DC. DC bond Nerak who does 1 to Ozuul, Glyph of Recall a DC (on the other side of the board).
OM3 Tarn move up. DC bond Nerak, can't hit Ozuul but kill 2 Tarn.

Round 3 initiative tied at 6, then won by Tarn who engage and deal 1 to MBS. DC bond MBS, kill Ozuul.
OM2 Sonlen kills 1 DC. DC bond MBS and finish off the Tarn.
OM3 Sonlen kills 1 DC. DC bond MBS who does 1 to Sonlen followed by 2 from DC.

Round 4 initiative Sonlen whose Swoop kills MBS then kills a DC. DC bond Nerak who gets Potion of Healing and the last DC hides.
OM2 Sonlen does 2 to Nerak. Nerak does 2 to Sonlen.
OM3 Sonlen kills Nerak. DC moves out to position for a potential initiative and game win.

Round 5 initiative Sonlen who kills the DC.

How useful were playtesting units' powers and how often did they come into play? Ozuul was finally really able to leverage both Pull and Crush! Despite the enemy's efforts he pulls off (pun intended) a couple big Pulls into a couple good Crushes (7/12 skulls total).

Any additional comments (theme, balance, fun factor with and against)? This time Ozuul racked up 245 points of damage, finally earning its points and then some. The power set is really fun to set up, but takes some luck to really do damage (DC defense rolls were bad). It can creates a sense of panic when it hits a good roll, as it opens things up to look like it'll just steamroll. Disengaging to set up Pull/Crush feels good.


Overall Ozuul didn't quite perform as I would hope. Part of that is army composition, as obviously the enemy was a complete build while Ozuul was just paired with something that made a decent "second wave". Averaging just 123 points kinda sucks, however the key is clearly caution (and winning initiative a lot...). If it can patiently time Pull/Crush, especially on an initiative switch, it can simply devastate the opposing army. Surprisingly it didn't really feel like it ever pulled much out of position, which would be a nice side benefit to Pull, but as it was a melee army they were coming in anyway, and Raelin was still able to cover with her aura. I wouldn't be opposed to seeing how Ozuul does with 6 Move, but I also wouldn't want to completely trivialize counter play of engaging/blocking with a unit at a time to prevent Pull/Crush setups.

[Pumpkin_King]

Interesting. I would have thought he'd do better.

[flameslayer93]

Yeah, Ozuul certainly under performs in many of his games. I won't be surprised if we have to drop his cost to about 180 to account for this.


When LoveElemental played him vs my Elf Wizards he was a little better, but still not that good.


I don't really see upping his move as being the one key to really making him strong. After all, his ability encourages risky plays a la Avernus.

[NecroBlade]

Originally Posted by flameslayer93

his ability encourages risky plays a la Avernus.

Yeah, it's basically the same problem. You want to maximize his ability, which leads to putting him in questionable positions. Especially if you whiff the attack, which then feels extra bad. I think we need more playtests with extra cautious play, though, to see if he can hit that 245+ point game at least a percentage of the time.

[Pumpkin_King]

Having him be upper mid 100s wouldn't be the worst thing, either. 160-170.