Smithy Winfred's Customs (Drom Cortanus)

[Smithy Winfred]

Originally Posted by Ixe

Agent Lockhart
I'd give her Phantom Walk. She looks like she sould have it and it is a short power. It will make her noticeably more powerful when coupled with her Deadly Whirlwind (also two powers in one but it reads just fine). She's a bit fragile but that ability makes her a heavy hitter. She may be a bit under the mark on points (although I'm not really sure). Her aura is a solid boost that definitely makes her chargers more threatening. The nakitas are still limited in that there are only three of them (making them inherently swingy), but the Microcorp Agents would be enjoying a potent boost that would wash out with enough of them. She gives their stealth armor a 50% bump in likelihood to succeed. Since these are ranged squads we're talking about, it's not terribly hard to get them to remain within the aura, either.

Gen. Richmond Hammond
Rygarn has certainly taught me the value of some order marker flexibility, especially with the soldiers who are pretty unique heavy and light on synergy. I think he's thematic without fundamentally changing the nature of how the soldiers work. Patriotic Defense Aura is also all well and good in protecting your people. He's a natural leader for the Pathfinders, that's for sure.

For Dro-Kar-Na, I think adding 2 to the drudges' attacks is a frightening concept. Dro-Kar-Na's stats are such that getting a kill isn't really all that hard for him in the first place, making him a great choice for OM 1. More accurately, you'd probably pair him with romans to get a solid turn out of him and super-charge your drudges to take your next two order markers and rain down Armageddon from behind a shield wall.

Thanks

Lockhart: Keep in mind that, with the Microcorp, 3 defense and 4 life is pretty easy to break for any half decent squad, but yes, she does work nicely with them.

Hammond: That was his central idea, glad to see he's accomplished it

Dro-No-Ka: Ok, I forgot how cheap romans were (which honestly is something of a pain) I might need to change him to an Overlord to avoid drastic point increases, since I mainly intend him to be played with the Drudge, not the Romans, but that would undermine his synergy with the Groks. It could still be effective though, especially if you throw MBS in as a 4th attack for the Groks.

[Smithy Winfred]

Some more new stuff today, two little filler guys. A filler unique hero for the Soldier faction (couples well with Hammond as well) and a Boar that helps out some lesser used heroes (the trolls and Cyclopes, as well as a thematic partner for Ogres and Orcs)

Private James Bridges


Figure used is Easy Company Soldier

This guy is clean and simple, as a unique hero, he functions well with the Pathfinders, especially in low point games where you can't afford a second big hero to pair your pathfinders with. He's also valiant, so he can play in 4th Mass armies as well

Gork


[COLOR="rgb(65, 105, 225)"]Figure used is the Boar from the blood of Gruumsh set[/COLOR]

Another simple filler unit, he's got potential to hit hard, and reverse bonding is always nice, plus he's a beast, so he can play into Orc Archer builds as well. He adds a little bit of an edge to the generally underplayed Trolls and Cyclopes, since they can either soak up a lot of wounds, allowing Gork to go uninjured (trolls) or can give him a defensive edge with evil eye defense. My concern is primarily with the charge power, which I might end up expanding on in order to limit it. I figured he shouldn't have climb since I see no reason why a boar should have the ability so scale walls twice his height.

And finally, the redesigned Agent Smith

Agent Smith



Any comments are greatly appreciated, I'm writing up some bios for some of my other figures (Dro-No-Ka and Dzonokwa are first on my list, but Hammond will probably come around pretty soon as well)

[TheAverageFan]

Pvt. Jeff Bridges: Brings a very welcome Special Attack to the 4th Mass for cheap. Worth 30 points for sure against low-defense units. Not worth a darn against everything else.

Gork: Extremely wide bonding options. Still, he's not so hot himself, so not much harm done. Good with Orcs in particular, I reckon.

Mister Anderson...: Good design, though the wording's still a bit wonky. Why wouldn't I choose to use the Cloaking Marker? Why is that even an option? For friendly agents who need clear LoS for powers with Smith is the best guess I've got. Stealth Operator maybe could also use an "only" in that last sentence, too. It currently makes it sound like either moving or attacking is a privilege, IMO.

~TAF

[Ixe]

Pvt. James Bridges
He's a nice filler hero but I think he's a little undercosted given the Guilty McCreech comparison at the same point total. I think he needs at least a nominal price bump on that basis alone.

Gork
Lengthy lists of different types is a bit of a pet peeve of mine so I'm not terribly on board with Feral Pet, although that really is personal preference. Most of those races bond more often than not meaning he'll only really follow around a cyclops if anything. He's got a solid attack if you can charge and otherwise seems like decent filler.

Agent Smith
I always see one of the Krav as Agent Smith (or as Tommy Lee Jones) . I'm not sure if I understand Stealth Operator. You say "common or hero Agent Card," so are you basically just excluding Unique Squad agent cards? It feels a bit forced if that is the case. Maybe just keep it to the heroes? He otherwise seems decent enough to tag along with your different groups and enjoy some extra attacks. He could serve as a third attack for Agent Skahen, for instance (although she unfortunately can't move him until after he would attack).

[EDIT] TheAverageFan brought up a good point about Agent Smith. There is no reason to choose not to cloak unless you want to attack your own figure. Hit zones are not required for line of sight powers like Raelin's aura.

[Smithy Winfred]

Pvt Bridges: I did see him as a easy comparison to Guilty, and that would be reason to increase is cost, but Guilty has 1 additional range, and he has the ability to get height advantage, giving him a much more lethal double 3 attack, while Bridges is still stuck with his 2 attack. The special attack obviously comes in handy for armies that otherwise don't have one, especially with such a low price tag, and he can be a pain for Vipers and other low defense squads, but for the most part, I feel 30 points is still fair (keep in mind that Guilty now has full bonding with a pretty decent squad, and Bridges only has light synergy with the Pathfinders.

Gork: I understand the dislike of the listing of bonding options, but I felt, as his card was simple enough as it is, and there have been listed bonding options before, I didn't feel like it was too much. Also, the units are relatively similar (big ugly monsters) so its not like the groups are totally unrelated. To be fair, Orc and Ogre could be dropped relatively easy, but I felt as theme goes, he should be in those armies as well.

Agent Smith: Ya, I figured I'd get some flak for the name, but I felt it suited him as Commander Smith, and I couldn't think of a better option. The cloaking change is obvious, I don't know why I didn't see that earlier. The wording for Stealth Operator was meant to target lesser used agents (Gorrilanators could use the love) but I can see why it could be confusing, the wording was stolen from Deathcommander (who can take a turn with any Large or Unique soulborg, ruling out the Deathwings, Guards, Infantry, etc but keeping in units that need help, like DW7000 and the Deathstalkers)

[Smithy Winfred]

A little guy I did today in about an hour. Not a lot to him, but I had been wanting to use the mechanic for sneak attack. You give up a future turn in order to get additional turn early. It can be risky, since it gives your opponent a future double turn, but you can possible clear a powerful position and defend against a future assault, or press an opening in a enemy's defenses. I think it plays well into the Mariedian's loose synergy and tricky tactics.

Drom Cortanus


The figure used is called Rebel Officer

Simple stats, and he fits nicely into the current point total of the Mariedeans

[TheAverageFan]

Just passing by, and already a new custom! Lucky me!

Drom: My word, he's so Resolute it's plural! I really like both of his powers thematically, even if the Common Mariedians can often afford to be engaged when shooting. He can pull off some clever plays in a pinch, and I don't find it overpowered since technically any unit can make a double-play when the initiative flips. Surprise attack has a few typos, but otherwise I think he's really solid and clever.

Not sure why his belt buckle is a non-hit zone--can't think of too many situations where that'll end up saving him from range fire. But I digress.

~TAF

[Smithy Winfred]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

Just passing by, and already a new custom! Lucky me!

Drom: My word, he's so Resolute it's plural! I really like both of his powers thematically, even if the Common Mariedians can often afford to be engaged when shooting. He can pull off some clever plays in a pinch, and I don't find it overpowered since technically any unit can make a double-play when the initiative flips. Surprise attack has a few typos, but otherwise I think he's really solid and clever.

Not sure why his belt buckle is a non-hit zone--can't think of too many situations where that'll end up saving him from range fire. But I digress.

~TAF

Thanks, the power came to me out of the blue and I thought it would fit well on a Mariedean, I realize the typos kill, but its just the rough draft right now, I plan on brushing him up once I get some tests in with him. The second power came out of a game I played with the M-43, who do, of course work well in melee in a pinch, but I was hit a couple of times when disengaging would have made all the difference, and I felt he could help Kira and Jarek if need be as well. The B-11 are also very weak if enemies close in, so it helps. It was really meant as a minor power to round out the design.

Ya the belt buckle didn't fill in properly when I was making the hitzone, and every time I tried to fix it, it made the hitzone look fat, so I just gave up and left it as-is, I'm surprised you noticed it

[Just_a_Bill]

@Smithy , I like your Marro Warlord and will watch with interest even if SoV doesn't accept him. Aesthetically this is the kind of custom I like to add to my own set. I'll try to compile some wording notes for you to consider as I get time.

Meanwhile, I'd recommend you consider renaming this unit more consistently with the existing Marro. I'm pretty sure it's been stated that the original designers had a basic concept of at least some elements of a "Marro language" which they used in naming. And some simple patterns are evident, such as the existing male Hivelords both ending in -Na and the two existing Warlords both ending in -Sa. So that's probably a good place to start in generating authentic-sounding Warlord names.

Given the common phonetic profile of those two...

• Ne-Gok-Sa
• Me-Burq-Sa

... we can extrapolate some possibilities that generally fit around the warlord pattern. Here are a few examples:

• De-Nuk-Sa
• Be-Gorq-Sa
• Tre-Nog-Sa

My inner geek likes that last one. Phonetically it sounds reasonably like a Marro Warlord, and it's kind of a sneaky reference to the triple heads ("three noggins"). A bit of an homage to Hasbro naming tricks like Sudema being an anagram of Medusa. (Maybe his name is literally Marro for "three head warlord"?)

[Smithy Winfred]

Originally Posted by Just_a_Bill

@Smithy , I like your Marro Warlord and will watch with interest even if SoV doesn't accept him. Aesthetically this is the kind of custom I like to add to my own set. I'll try to compile some wording notes for you to consider as I get time.

Meanwhile, I'd recommend you consider renaming this unit more consistently with the existing Marro. I'm pretty sure it's been stated that the original designers had a basic concept of at least some elements of a "Marro language" which they used in naming. And some simple patterns are evident, such as the existing male Hivelords both ending in -Na and the two existing Warlords both ending in -Sa. So that's probably a good place to start in generating authentic-sounding Warlord names.

Given the common phonetic profile of those two...

• Ne-Gok-Sa
• Me-Burq-Sa

... we can extrapolate some possibilities that generally fit around the warlord pattern. Here are a few examples:

• De-Nuk-Sa
• Be-Gorq-Sa
• Tre-Nog-Sa

My inner geek likes that last one. Phonetically it sounds reasonably like a Marro Warlord, and it's kind of a sneaky reference to the triple heads ("three noggins"). A bit of an homage to Hasbro naming tricks like Sudema being an anagram of Medusa. (Maybe his name is literally Marro for "three head warlord"?)

I like the ideas for names, but I feel that the precedent for the -Sa prefix is strong enough that he should have a name change just to match it. I'll give it some thought, I do like the name, but I do like matching precedent as long as it doesn't go to far (I personally don't like the C3V use of Death- prefix in all utgar soulborg, and would personally prefer a bit more creativity in that department.)

Thanks for the support, I really appreciate it.

[IshMEL]

Dzonokwa
I just picked this figure up and was wondering what to do with him... Thanks for saving me the trouble! I like him a lot. FYI you've left the Death Chasers off the list I think. Also was he supposed to bond with Scout Squads too, or was that an earlier version?

Drom
Just curious, what is he holding? Is it a cup of coffee?

[Smithy Winfred]

Originally Posted by IshMEL

Dzonokwa
I just picked this figure up and was wondering what to do with him... Thanks for saving me the trouble! I like him a lot. FYI you've left the Death Chasers off the list I think. Also was he supposed to bond with Scout Squads too, or was that an earlier version?

Drom
Just curious, what is he holding? Is it a cup of coffee?

Thanks, I'm a big fan of Dzonokwa, I only wish I actually had the Quasatch to use him with. He originally had scouts as well, but I dropped it because it added a few units that I didn't like and didn't add that many great options. I might end up adding it back, I liked that it added the Spiders, the indians and the Vipers, all units that are fairly "wild."

If you haven't already, Dzonokwa looks incredible with a black wash, it really brings out the texture of his fur and helps to mellow out the garish colors, I think I posted a picture of it on the previous page, as well as some of the other units in action. I highly recommend.

Ya, the pic for Drom did not turn out fantastic, that is just his outstretched fist, for some reason his gloved hand is a different color than the rest of his body. His gun is holstered on his left leg.