The Book of Bloodshot

[japes]

Originally Posted by MrNobody

I’m normally against dual-classing, but maybe that’s an option here? Could even give it some sort of gameplay twist.

All this made me think...have we really never done a figure with an EMP ability?

Sounds like a Batman Utility Glyph idea...that guy has gadgets for everything. And it fits his personality to have a gadget to use against his teammate if he goes bad.

Originally Posted by MrNobody

I liked it cause it allowed opponent’s effects to harm him, but didn’t let your effects help him. So more or less all the downsides of being a Cyborg with none of the upsides, which sounded thematic based off of what was being said. I can get why others wouldn’t love it though.

For the record I liked your idea MrNobody, but simple is probably better here.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by MrNobody

That Optimus/Bumblebee combo is pretty effective I’ve found. Carry Bloodshot to height with Bee, then blast away at all comers.

Agreed on this.


Also I kind of liked the idea of him only have the negative's that Cyborgs have, but none of the positives. It would help keep his points down a little if he had natural counter drafts, while not letting his allies tech repaid/heal him.

[MrNobody]

I mean, I get why we're not going with it. It is funky that an allied Ultron can't Program Transmit to him, but an enemy Ultron can.

[johnny139]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Bloodshot

Army Test
Map: Ravaged River (Custom Map)
Units: Bloodshot@260, Star-Lord, Jack Flag (700 Points) vs. Midnighter, Apollo (700 Points)

TAKE ONE: Bloodshot moves forward a bit, but Apollo charges in and blasts him, first from range and then from melee. He’s down by Turn 3, so... let's play things a little bit smarter next time.

Spoiler Alert!

Summary

ROUND 1: A slightly-more-cautious Bloodshot advances, with Jack Flag and Star-Lord behind him. Apollo and Midnighter move in, but stay mostly out of range - Star-Lord does manage to hit Apollo for one wound, but he heals it at the end of the round.

ROUND 2: Apollo moves forward a bit and blasts Star-Lord, dealing two wounds, and letting Midnighter take a turn fording the river. Bloodshot moves back onto height, though, and fires away - four attacks, dealing one wound. Midnight climbs out of the water and hides behind a ruin. Star-Lord peeks his head out, hoping to do use Distracting Fire to reposition everyone, setting Jack Flag up as a blocker, but he only succeeds in moving Jack up, leaving himself exposed - Apollo blasts him again, dealing another wound, then burns a marker to give Midnighter another go. Midnighter rolls a 22, which spells doom for Peter. But Bloodshot comes back and gives him hell - enough to put another wound on Midnighter.

ROUND 3: Jack Flag takes the first turn, and moves in to engage Midnighter - he rolls GREAT, from height, and deals three wounds in a single blow. Midnighter zooms to his own perch on height - he blasts Bloodshot, dealing three wounds, and has Midnighter come up. He can’t leave the engagement with Jack Flag, so he just attacks him, and puts three on Jack in return.

Now it’s Bloodshot’s turn - he engages Midnighter, finishing him off. He fires an extra shot at Apollo, but does no damage, and trades his last attack (1 die) to heal. Midnighter had OM2, so Bloodshot gets another turn, engaging Apollo on even ground. He does no damage, but does manage to heal. Apollo swings at him, bringing him back up to 4 Wounds. At the end of the round, he ticks down to 3 Wounds and Apollo ticks up to 3 Markers.

ROUND 4: Jack zooms in to engage Apollo, and attacks, dealing no damage. Apollo takes the next turn… and Bloodshot isn’t so lucky, getting torn up in a single blow. He had OM2 and OM3, so Apollo takes his next two turns to kill Jack.

Who won?: Midnighter and Apollo win; Midnighter destroyed, Apollo unharmed, 4 Rounds.

Thoughts: He’s a very simple unit and, with height, can get pretty scary. But really, he’s just a Punisher that scales very poorly - you’re not getting the 6/5/4 of Assault Rifle on height with boosters. If the stars align, you’re probably getting 7/4/2/1, or something along those lines - nothing that guys like Apollo can’t tank. And his healing is like Wolverine bt less consistent. He’s like a weird, crappier Frankenstein of those two characters… in other words, he’s perfect.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Ravaged River (Custom Map)
Units: Bloodshot@260, Captain America, Bucky, Agent Venom (800 Points) vs. Wrecker, Thunderball, Piledriver, Bulldozer (800 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Summary

ROUND 1: Cap, Bloodshot, and Venom move out in that order, against the Wrecking Crew, who get at least one chain of four during their turns - they swarm out, large and in charge, and catch Bucky fording the river. Thunderball deals three wounds to him during his turn.

ROUND 2: Wrecker gets initiative and throws his Crowbar at Bucky, finishing him off, and goading Bulldozer to charge into the fray - he gets a huge Headbutt on Cap, who deftly blocks in. Bloodshot attacks, but only gets one skull, making his turn kind of a whimper. Wrecker moves again, using Crowbar Demolition to knock the whole Soldier pod apart - he deals a wound to all three and frees up Bulldozer, who takes a turn charging at Cap. Cap only takes one, though. Cap attempts to damage Bulldozer, but does nothing; Wrecker, al the same, does no damage on his turn to Bloodshot. Agent Venom leaps in and attacks Wrecker, dealing three wounds. Bloodshot heals at the end of the round.

ROUND 3: Cap moves first, and gets one big hit on Bulldozer, taking him out of the game. Piledriver tries to sneak around the back, but gets caught in the water and can’t give out any bonus turns. Bloodshot deals one to Wrecker. Wrecker hits Bloodshot for two with his normal attack, but again, can’t get any momentum going. Bloodshot disengages to get onto height - he takes an LEA wound, but sneaks another wound onto Wrecker, and heals during his turn. Thunderball can’t hurt Cap and can’t help out the Crew.

ROUND 4: Cap moves first and throws his shield - no luck against Thunderball or Piledriver, but Wrecker whiffs on defense and goes down. He had OM1, so Bloodshot takes a turn, letting it loose on Thunderball from height - 5 skulls, then 3 skulls, then 3 skull, and that’s enough to finish Thunderball off in a single turn. And heals to boot! Piledriver tries to move on Cap, but is blocked; Bloodshot engages him and gets three attacks, dealing two wounds, and healing one wound afterwards.

ROUND 5: Captain America attacks and deals two to Piledriver, who again can’t do any damage to the man. Bloodshot takes a turn, climbing onto even ground and bringing Piledriver up to 5 Wounds. Piledriver manages to take out Cap, but unfortunately, he’s finished off by Bloodshot next turn.

Who won?: Military Vengeance wins, 1 Wound on Venom, Bloodshot unharmed, all others destroyed, 5 Rounds.

Thoughts: The dice were hot here! I was a little worried that Bloodshot’s 5 Life wouldn’t be sufficient, but it absolutely is, particularly at the end of the round. And when you get some big rolls in a row… yeah, Bloodshot is definitely going to be a big ticket draft choice for any attack boosting army. But he felt perfect, really, just charging into the fray and tearing things up.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Ravaged River (Custom Map)
Units: Bloodshot@260, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee (770 Points) vs. Nico Minoru, Chase Stein, Karolina Dean, Molly Hayes, Old Lace (770 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Summary

ROUND 1: Old Lace is Nico’s Companion. Karolina gets on height, then Old Lace and Molly follow. Prime move forward a bit, then Bumblebee drives in with Bloodshot. Bloodshot fires on Karolina, dealing two wounds. Nico has all the Runaways move in, then attacks for 6 from range, but does no damage.

ROUND 2: Molly takes the first turn, running up and punching Bloodshot hard enough to deal three wounds. Prime comes in and engages her, attacking but doing no damage. Nico takes her turn, having everyone scatter, and then attacks with 6 Attack from range again… this time, she deals two wounds, JUST enough to finish Bloodshot off. Prime can’t hurt Molly, but when Chase comes up to attack Prime, he can’t do any damage either. Bumblebee charges in and attacks Molly twice, dealing three wounds in total.

ROUND 3: Nico sends everyone in, then attacks Bumblebee from height for one. Prime attacks Molly, does no damage; he’s trapped in the engagement and can’t wrap around to snipe Karolina. Molly swings at him and deals a single wound. Prime, again, attacks Molly, this time bringing her up to 4 Wounds. Old Lace leaps in and attacks Bumblebee for one, Bumblee turns on Chase, attacks him twice, dealing two wounds per attack and taking him out.

ROUND 4: Bumblebee takes the first turn, falling back to let Prime manuever (and putting three wounds on Old Lace in the process). Nico zooms to fill the gap, and attacks Prime for another one wound. Now he gets tricky - he’s engaged with Nico and Molly, takes both LEAs at once, and takes two wounds! But he manages to wrap around and attacks Karolina, taking her out. Was it worth it? Molly jumps back into an engagement, swings hard… and deals four wounds in a single blow. It’s enough to kill Prime off. Bumblebee takes the last turn, blasting Nico twice - she’s burned all her Mana at this point

ROUND 5: Nico, fearing for her life, falls back and sends in Molly to engage Bumblebee. She attacks him dealing no damage from range. Bumblebee tears up Old Lace, finishing her off, then charges back into an engagement with Nico, taking no LEA wound. He deals one to Nico. She attacks him, dealing no damage; Bumblebee takes out Nico on his turn, but critically can’t take the space on height she was occupying. Molly can, even if she zonks out; she just barely tanks both its, leaving her with a single shred of Life.

ROUND 6: Molly takes initiative, hitting Bumblebee for a big two wounds. He can’t scratch her on his turn. Then she takes another swing… but falls asleep. Even with four more attacks, though, Bumblebee can’t seal the deal!

ROUND 7: Bumblebee whiffs on his first attack… but on his second, just BARELY takes Molly out! (And for fun, I rolled her attack against him… and she would have killed him, too! Down to the wire.).

Who won?: Transformers (with Guns!) win; 4 Wounds on Bumblebee, all others destroyed, 7 Rounds.

Thoughts: He went down pretty quick here under a concentrated assault from Molly and Nico. But that doesn’t mean he wasn’t important - he drew fire, of course, forcing Nico to burn two markers, and also did some crucial early damage to Karolina, which paid off when Prime threw a Hail Mary at the end to finish her off. And frankly, he could have done a lot more damage with a little luck… that boost with Prime is nasty.

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: He’s great! After being down on Manowar during those tests, I’m really pleased that he felt like a good pickup here. He’s a lot swingier than Punisher, and costs a lot more, but he’s definitely going to be an option in that category, depending on army construction. But he doesn’t feel broken, either - he crumples under a couple big attacks from a heavy hitter, and even the Runaways were able to take him down.

I can imagine a pod build that can really exploits him, but I don’t think he does anything that Punisher can’t in that build, so I’m comfortable sending him out for testing.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: He’s fun! He’s strong! It feels great to get a streak of good luck with his attacks! That’s really all I ask for… sure, sometimes you get a single skull on his first attack, and that sucks. But sometimes you’re rolling like 20 skulls in a single turn, taking out Thunderball in one go, and he really feels like Bloodshot.

[johnny139]

So I think we're good to head to Playtesting, though I'll be sending out X-O Manowar first.

If he starts feeling too weak, I'll suggest bumping his Life to 6 and probably upping his points a bit to go with it, but I don't think that'll be necessary. Conversely, if he's too strong, I might say Tip of the Spear only works against units without Super Strength or something... or maybe cap his attacks per turn at 3. But he feels really good as-is.

One question: let's say you attack twice, kill a guy, and have no one else in range. You rolled at least one skull. You can still heal, even if he has no one in range, right? "Instead of attacking" doesn't require you to be able to make that attack? I think it's fine either way, I just want to make sure that my interpretation of the rules is correct there.

[Yodaking]

Yes, same as a move of 0.

[japes]

I like where he landed so far. I do know this guy and excited to see him coming to a table near me soon.

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by johnny139

One question: let's say you attack twice, kill a guy, and have no one else in range. You rolled at least one skull. You can still heal, even if he has no one in range, right? "Instead of attacking" doesn't require you to be able to make that attack? I think it's fine either way, I just want to make sure that my interpretation of the rules is correct there.

Sounds right to me.

Initial looks good, anyhow. Got my mod all figured out, so I'll be ready to test him once Manowar is through the process. Looking forward to this guy.

[johnny139]

Yeah, probably a good call to open up a VOTE FOR PUBLIC PLAYTESTING here, too. Obviously waiting until Aric is onto Final Editing, but nice to have our ducks in a row at least.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

yea

[Ronin]

yea

[japes]

yea