The Book of Black Bolt

[Ronin]

Bump as a reminder that we still need at least one more set of tests from a Hero here. The Inhumans have been pushed way back now, so it's not super urgent, but Black Bolt isn't in the public and needs some Hero attention to get closed out.

[Yodaking]

After Nitro, I'm going to work on the Domino initial, then I can circle back around to Black Bolt. With my current pace of testing though and considering the time of year, that might not be until sometime in late Jan. or early Feb. So if anyone can knock it out sooner, feel free to do so.

[johnny139]

I was actually planning on running BB, since I need to get another test in before Nico, but at this point I think it makes more sense to focus on the Young Marvels characters and put him on the backburner - 4 months vs. 16 months and all.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

After Nitro, I'm going to work on the Domino initial, then I can circle back around to Black Bolt. With my current pace of testing though and considering the time of year, that might not be until sometime in late Jan. or early Feb. So if anyone can knock it out sooner, feel free to do so.

Just a reminder to myself that this needs to get done. I forgot all about him and started working on the public list.

[Yodaking]

*I misplayed his bonding power and didn’t take note of the 6 range limitation in this first game. This lead to an early game push by the Inhumans that should not have happened until a round or two later, and kept Beast from being the effective negotiation tool he was drafted to be. Other than those two points, I think the game was a fair showing of what the team could do.*
Army Test 1
- Does it pass, Yes or No? yes
- What should be the unit's point value? I was initially a bit concerned here, due to how I was able to manage the early attack force, but then I saw that I had misplayed him and as a result I think he is fine as is at 380.
- Give a brief preview. Inhumans vs. X-men here, with Yukio tagging along for a backup mutant bonding option should Charles go down. I’m pitting Charles double turns vs. Black Bolt’s double turns early on in the game so it should be an exciting game. Beast will try to negotiate away an OM or two to tip the scales in their favor. Storm, Jean Grey, Gorgon, and Medusa all can move figures against their will though so figure placement should be fluid.
Map: Once in a Blue Lagoon
Units: Black Bolt @380, Medusa, Gorgon, Crystal, Lockjaw @155 (1400) vs. Prof. X, Jean Grey, Storm, Beast, Gambit, Wolverine, Yukio (1400)

Spoiler Alert!

King of the Inhumans Usage: 13 double turns, 7 single turns
A Whispered Word Usage: Never used.
Voice of Destruction Usage: Never used.
Damage dealt with normal attacks: Att. Strom on even ground, 3W. Att. Strom again on even ground, 2W (whiff on def.) knocking out OM1 in the process.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Gorgon w/4W & Black Bolt @full health won.

Recap: The Mutants kind of spread out along the start zone planning on moving up in waves, but that all changed when the Inhumans won initiative and Black Bolts’ double turn power allowed him to sling shot Gordon into Beast via Lockjaw. Instead the Mutants had to go on defense right away, with Beast running away while Storm blew the King & Queen apart. Lockjaw later frees up Gorgon and positions him to charge into Charles, who he kills with that 1 attack. Gambit goes down without a fight. Mutants put down Karnak, then Lockjaw, while Beast falls without ever doing anything either. Yukio on the other hand puts on a show, after switching places with Gorgon when he tried to hit her from HG, Storm blows Crystal over adj. to the two of them (on LG) and Yukio has a stunning 6 skull att. roll to put her down after she rolls just 1 shield on def. Suddenly this game is looking competitive again. Things turn on the Inhumans a bit with Medusa repeatedly failing her d20 rolls, 0 successes in 6 attempts to toss Yukio with her hair, then a failed attempt to entangle Wolverine and prevent him from gaining HG on her for an attack. She finally manages to move Wolverine & Yukio with her hair and Black Bolt is able to go after Storm, who he knocks out in 2 att. This spells the end for the mutants as Medusa manages to move Wolverine & Yukio out of engagement with Gordon, setting him up to charge Wolverine while on HG. Wolverine survives the initial attack to fight back for a turn but fails to do much, then he and Yukio both fall. This leaves just Jean Grey, who does manage to pull Medusa away from Black Bolt and eventually finishes her off, but then Gorgon charges her to put an end to it all.
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Army Test 2
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes, he turned out to be a great deal of fun in this one!
- What should be the unit's point value? 380 seemed pretty good here after a narrow come from behind victory.
- Give a brief preview. I wanted to try Black Bolt out on his own without Medusa here, still gave him 3 Inhuman allies though to maximize his Voice of Destruction potential should he be the last man standing. The Fan4 defense might be hard to crack here but since they all want to stay within Sue’s aura, whispered word should be able to be put to good use and hit multiple figures. Should be some interesting interactions here between the two teams as Reed can lock down Gorgon to prevent charges, as well as lockdown Lockjaw to prevent teleportations, however Gorgon can cause earthquakes and move Reed out of engagement with others while Lockjaw can prevent Johnny from using Flame On 4.
Map: Once in a Blue Lagoon
Units: Black Bolt @380, Gorgon, Lockjaw @155, Karnak (995) vs. Fan4 (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

King of the Inhumans Usage: He had all the OM’s the whole game, in rounds 1-3 he used 1 OM for himself while the other 2 were used to activate allies. In R4 he used 2 OM’s for himself, 1 for Karnak, and in R5 he was the only one left on his team.
A Whispered Word Usage: Used in R1 to hit Reed, Johnny, & Sue, Johnny & Sue each took 1W. Used in R2 to hit all 3 again, Reed & Sue take 1W this time. Used in R3 to hit Sue, Johnny, & Ben, but missed all 3.
Voice of Destruction Usage: Used at the end of R4, he & Gorgon each only have 1 life left while Karnak & Lockjaw are dead. Rolling 2 dice, Reed takes 2W, putting him 1 life away, Ben takes 1W, and Gorgon collapse after taking 2W.
Damage dealt with normal attacks: Att. Sue doing 2W and taking her out. Att. Reed doing 3W, but only needed 1W to finish him off. Att. Ben, who completely whiffs on def. and deals 5W when Ben had 4 life remaining.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Black Bolt w/6W won!

Recap: The Fan4 move out in a pod to keep the 4 clear sight aura going, then Reed keeps on rolling between a 5-11 and only gets 1 turn for the Adventures. This kind of dictates that they have to stay back in their pod formation, only sending Johnny out to hit and run, forcing the Inhumans to try to come to them which ultimately seems to be working in their favor. Gorgon took a quick 4W and Lockjaw had to fetch him back out of danger. Gorgon then started to use his SA as a ranged attack to hit Sue. Between Gorgon & Black Bolt both being able to hit Sue from range, even though Reed still continued to roll low he was forced to start repositioning his forces. Once Reed had moved out front of his allies some, Lockjaw (large) left Reed and teleported Karnak & Gorgon to the rear of the Fan4. Reed again rolls a 4 and has to use the one Adventurer turn to have Sue flee. While the Fan4 do win initiative, another 1 turn activation sees Ben go and clobber the puppy, while Reed opts to not att. Karnak after taking 1W from counterstrike last time. Black Bolt decides the time has come to try and put Sue down and flies adj. to her, doing just enough damage to take her out of the equation. Seeing Sue fall must have triggered something inside Reed as he finally gets a double turn activation, Johnny hits Gordon for another W, Ben steps up and smashes Karnak for 4W, and Reed goes after Black Bolt and also deals a W. Karnak sizes up Johnny and sees a weakness he can exploit, Johnny goes down. Now that is is just Ben and Reed left, Reed rolls a 19! Ben just keeps throwing down skulls and crushes Karnak, while Reed throws down a 4 skulls att. and puts Black Bolt just 1W away from death. Black Bolt desperate, shouts out ‘No!’ like a Sith Lord who just found out his wife and children are dead. Reed now only has 1 life left and is engaged with Black Bolt, so OM placement is a real decision for the first time this game while Black Bolt hopes to win initiative, which he does. Black Bolt drops Reed, but Ben had all the OM’s except the X. Ben tries to end it but for the first time this game doesn’t clobber anyone. Instead Ben rolls a bunch of skulls on defense and suddenly falls in an improbable victory for the Inhumans!

[Yodaking]

After playing him I feel pretty good about where he is at. That first game he felt a bit too strong but then I wasn't playing him with the aura restriction on his bonding power (unlimited range instead) and as a result the Inhumans were allowed to be a little too aggressive, taking out Charles early in the game and making it too hard for Beast to reach the King for some negotiations. I was more careful in the second game but also felt like 6 spaces might be a little too small and wouldn't be opposed to a bump up to 8. Since many of the Inhumans are range 1 designs, a little larger aura can he helpful without being crazy good like it would be with no range restriction or if he bonded with a bunch of strong ranged attackers. Black Bolt did pull out a victory in that 2nd game but it was quite the come from behind underdog lifetime movie story. The Fan4 were hampered by limited turns throughout and were still comfortably ahead when Black Bolt unleashed his Voice of Destruction. It still came down to a 4 life Ben fighting a 1 life Black Bolt and Ben just got unlucky with the dice at the wrong time.

[Ronin]

Looking good. If @Arkham is still hungry for things to test, maybe he could run a couple games and see how he feels about 6 vs 8 on the aura?

[Arkham]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT Black Bolt

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Army Test 1
Map: Custom
Units:
Black Bolt(380), Gorgon(270), Karnak(190), Medusa(370) (1210)
vs.
Professor X(220), Wolverine(280), Jean Grey(180), Angel(90), Sage(190), Psylocke(250) (1210)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
R1T3: 5 wounds on Wolverine.
R2T1: 7 wounds on Wolverine(botch)(6 were excess), kills him.

King of the Inhumans:
R1T1: Karnak and Gorgon.
R1T2: Black Bolt and Medusa.
R1T3: Black Bolt and Karnak.
R2T1: Medusa and

Whispered Word:
R1T2: 1 wound on Wolverine

Voice of Destruction:


Notes:
R1T1: Wolverine is enhanced.
R1T3: Psylocke puts 2 wounds on Black Bolt. Wolverine puts 1 wound on Gorgon, heals 1 wound.
R2T1: Psylocke is enhanced. Wolverine puts 4 wounds on Black Bolt, heals 1 wound.
R2T1: Medusa puts 1 wound on Wolverine.
R2T2: Psylocke kills Black Bolt. Sage puts 1 wound on Karnak.
R2T3: Psylocke puts 1 wound on Gorgon. Sage puts 2 wounds on Gorgon.
R3T1: Psylocke kills Gorgon.
R3T2: Psylocke and Sage each put a wound on Karnak.
R4T1: Psylocke kills Karnak.
R4T2: Psylocke puts 4 wounds on Medusa(botch).
R4T3: Psylocke kills Medusa.


Psylocke with 2/5 wounds, Sage with 1/4 wounds, Professor X, Jean Grey, and Angel unwounded.

Well, I think I just didn't use the Inhumans in the best strategy, as they got mopped hard. I think Black Bolt getting too up in the fray too soon was a mistake, and Karnak not there for support hurt. Wolverine shredded him while Psylocke sniped from height + enhanced. Going to run this back with a different strategy.

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Army Test 2 (rematch)
Map: Custom
Units:
Black Bolt(380), Gorgon(270), Karnak(190), Medusa(370) (1210)
vs.
Professor X(220), Wolverine(280), Jean Grey(180), Angel(90), Sage(190), Psylocke(250) (1210)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
R2T1: 1 wound on Psylocke. (height + Karnak)
R2T2: 5 wounds on Angel(1 is excess). (Karnak)
R3T1: 3 wounds on Psylocke(2 are excess), kills her.
R3T2: 1 wound on Wolverine. (height)
R3T3: 2 wounds on Wolverine. (height)
R4T1: 2 wounds on Wolverine, kills him. (height)

King of the Inhumans:
R1T1: Gorgon and Karnak.
R1T2: Black Bolt and Medusa.
R1T3: Karnak and Gorgon.
R2T1: Medusa and Black Bolt.
R2T2: Black Bolt and Medusa.
R2T3: Medusa and Gorgon.
R3T1: Medusa and Black Bolt.
R3T2: Medusa and Black Bolt.
R3T3: Black Bolt and Medusa.

Whispered Word:


Voice of Destruction:
R4T2: (2 Inhumans destroyed)
1 wound on Jean
1 wound on Sage
1 wound on Professor X
2 wounds on Gorgon

Notes:
R1T1: Sage enhances Wolverine.
R1T3: Karnak puts 1 wound on Wolverine. Gorgon takes 1 wound from Psylocke's MMA.
R2T1: Medusa pulls Psylocke to height disadvantage.
R2T1: Sage enhances Psylocke. Wolverine puts 2 wounds on Medusa, heals 1 wound.
R2T2: Psylocke takes 1 wound from LEA, puts 2 wounds on Karnak. Wolverine puts 1 wound on Medusa.
R2T3: Gorgon puts 1 wound on Prof. X.
R2T3: Psylocke kills Karnak.
R3T1: Medusa puts 2 wounds on Psylocke.
R3T2: Medusa pulls Wolverine to height disadvantage.
R3T3: Medusa puts 3 wounds on Wolverine.
R3T3: Wolverine kills Medusa, and puts 5 wounds on Black Bolt, heals 1 wound.
R4T1: Sage puts 1 wound on Gorgon. Sage puts 1 wound on Black Bolt.
R4T2: Jean kills Gorgon.
R4T3: Sage kills Black Bolt.


Professor X with 2/4 wounds, Sage with 1/4 wounds, and Jean with 1/4 wounds.

Well, the Inhumans came up short again, but this time it was closer at least. Black Bolt definitely shined better this go around.

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Army Test 3 (rematch again, with the go all in on Prof. X strategy)
Map: Custom
Units:
Black Bolt(380), Gorgon(270), Karnak(190), Medusa(370) (1210)
vs.
Professor X(220), Wolverine(280), Jean Grey(180), Angel(90), Sage(190), Psylocke(250) (1210)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
R2T1: 5 wounds on Wolverine. (height)
R2T2: 2 wounds on Wolverine, kills him.
R2T3: 1 wound on Angel.
R3T1: 3 wounds on Angel, kills him.
R3T2: 4 wounds on Prof. X(botch), kills him.

King of the Inhumans:
R1T1: Karnak and Gorgon.
R1T2: Black Bolt and Medusa.
R1T3: Gorgon and Karnak.
R2T1: Medusa and Black Bolt.
R2T2: Medusa and Black Bolt.
R2T3: Black Bolt.
R3T1: Medusa and Black Bolt.
R3T2: Gorgon and Black Bolt.
R3T3: Gorgon.
R4T1: Gorgon.
R4T2: Medusa.
R4T3: Medusa.
R5T1: Black Bolt.

Whispered Word:


Voice of Destruction:
R5T1: (2 Inhumans destroyed)
1 wound on Psylocke
1 wound on Jean
2 wounds on Sage

Notes:
R1T1: Wolverine is enhanced.
R1T3: Wolverine puts 1 wound on Gorgon, Psylocke takes 1 wound from Karnak's defense.
R2T1: Wolverine puts 2 wounds on Gorgon.
R2T1: Medusa pulls Wolverine down to height disadvantage.
R2T2: Wolverine puts 5 wounds on Black Bolt, heals 1 wound. Psylocke puts 1 wound on Karnak.
R2T3: Psylocke puts 3 wounds on Karnak.
R3T1: Psylocke kills Karnak.
R3T1: Medusa pulls Psylocke put of Prof. X's reach, as well as Sage.
R3T2: Prof. X moves into range.
R3T2: Gorgon moves and attacks Prof X, Prof X prevents.
R3T3: Gorgon puts 2 wounds on Jean Grey.
R4T1: Psylocke puts 2 wounds on Medusa.
R4T2: Psylocke puts 1 wound on Medusa.
R4T3: Sage enhances Psylocke.
R4T3: Medusa pulls Psylocke to height disadvantage, then puts 1 wound on her.
R5T1: Psylocke kills Medusa.
R5T2: Psylocke kills Black Bolt.
R6T1: Gorgon puts 1 wound on Psylocke, moves her 1 space.
R6T2: Psylocke puts 2 wounds on Gorgon.
R6T3: Sage kills Gorgon.


Psylocke with 4/5 wounds, Jean Grey with 3/4 wounds, and Sage with 2/4 wounds.

Yeesh, another loss. A bit disappointing honestly. I tried 3 different strategies here, with this game's strategy trying to take Professor X out as soon as possible to shut down the multi-turns. Unfortunately, even with him taken out about mid-game, the Mutants still did better.

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THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: 3 losses here, though each game got closer and closer. Overall though, it's hard to say how I feel. On one hand, Black Bolt felt like he performed decently. I can't really fault him when he pumped out decent wounds each game, and managed to get double turns throughout most of each game. On the other hand, they lost each game no matter how good they were doing. If anything, I felt maybe Medusa could be dropped 10 points, making them a nice 1,200 point army.

Love the faction though, and Black Bolt was a lot of fun. Perhaps Medusa's rolls weren't lucky enough, as she seemed to miss her auto-wounds/placement rolls way more often than not. Not really any complaints with the design though. I dig it, he's fun, and I'm sure it was just a luck issue. As for 6 aura vs. 8, it didn't really hinder him other than 1 circumstance where Gorgon charged off to take out Professor X, but I never really felt like it was that difficult to keep everyone within range. I'd be fine with 8 just for the sake of me losing 3 matches I'd prefer to error in his favor, but I really don't find it that big of a deal regardless.

[Yodaking]

Three losses is a bit concerning. As noted in my first game with Medusa, I also found she struggled with her rolls. I was initially worried with the 3 rolls of 12+, but then I couldn't hit any of them on several of her turns. Maybe she should match Magneto with 2 rolls of 9+, he is right in the same point range at 375?

I found in my games that Lockjaw is pretty important to Gorgon's effectiveness. I used one of the double turns to have Lockjaw run out and fetch back Gorgon, then the 2nd turn to send Gorgon right back out. He was effectively an 8 att. battering ram for me. Not as good a strategy once I was only getting 1 turn (sans Medusa), but Lockjaw was still pretty effective at moving the team around when I needed too.

[Lazy Orang]

Is there a reason neither of his sonic attacks have a bonus vs. Symbiotes? Am I misunderstanding how they work thematically?

[Ronin]

I'd be hesitant to do any favors for Medusa, as someone who tested her pretty extensively back when she was in the process - she's kind of a monster.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

Is there a reason neither of his sonic attacks have a bonus vs. Symbiotes? Am I misunderstanding how they work thematically?

I remember it being discussed and perhaps it isn't in this thread...but if I remember correctly it was decided that it wasn't necessary since at his level it's so shattering that the difference between normal humans and Symbiotes nears nil. Therefore the extra wasn't needed.