Aragorn - Rough Draft

[TheAverageFan]

ARAGORN Rough Draft 1.2

NAME = ARAGORN

GENERAL = JANDAR
SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = RANGER
PERSONALITY = VALIANT
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM/5

LIFE = 6
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 6
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 4
POINTS = 140

UNYIELDING
If Aragorn begins his turn unengaged, add 2 to his Move value this turn. If Aragorn begins his turn engaged, he may attack one additional time this turn.

ANDÚRIL, FLAME OF THE WEST
Aragorn adds 2 to his attack dice when attacking an adjacent figure.

HANDS OF HEALING
After moving and before attacking, you may choose a wounded figure adjacent to Aragorn and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll an 11 or higher, remove one wound marker from the chosen figure.

[TheAverageFan]

[reserved]

~TAF

[TheAverageFan]

Design Thoughts:
Aragorn is a classic fantasy ranger, possibly the one who defined fantasy rangers, and as such I designed him to be highly versatile. I'm not certain if HoME's plan is to have a single design for each figure for the entirety of the trilogy or to have different ones for different phases. If it is the former then the design may have to be overhauled to account for Aragorn the King rather than Strider the Ranger.

Tracking is an obvious choice, though Aragorn could simply be given a high default Move value if it needs to be lost in favor of another power. Unlike in the movies Aragorn gains Narsil very early on, so it seemed appropriate as a power to boost adjacent attacks. Lastly some form of healing power seemed like a good idea, as it is one of Aragorn's skills as a Ranger as well as a sign to the people of Middle Earth that he is the rightful king of Gondor and Arnor. At present it is mostly similar to Rhogar's Lay On Hands.

For the stats 6 Life is average for strong heroes, 5 Move works with Tracking, 6 Range and 3 Attack for his bow (boosted to 5 with Andrúril), and 4 Defense which is also average for heroes of his kind. 140 Points, similar to Eltahale, seemed appropriate.

Ranger could be traded for King, Adventurer, or Champion for KoW bonding. Valiant could be traded for Resolute.


Other Power Ideas:
Some Form of Double Attack: If one attack a turn is too few for such a hero.
Fellowship or Three Hunter Bonding: Likely OM-revealed Movement Bonding for easier use of either adventuring party.
Bow Special Attack: Trade the current Range/Attack for Range 1/Attack5-6 and give Aragorn a Ranged SA.
Healing Hands Mark II: Better healing with an Instead Of Attacking clause? This may be more appropriate.
Tracking: Obvious power for a Ranger or Hunter


Let the workshopping begin!

~TAF

[TREX]

Here are my thoughts on this one: Tracking is a bit constrictive, although I like the direction. The addition to attack dice for melee is good, the Healing hands, I'm lost on. Its been quite a few years reading the books but don't remember him healing anyone? The double attack on the other two of three heroes helps represent them being able to take on squads. What if you combined the tracking in with a multi attack option. For example: If Aragorn starts his turn engaged, he may attack one additional time, If he starts his turn unengaged, he may add X to his move number? Keep the extra melee attack dice, and I'm not sure what to tell you about the healing power. I thought that was an Arwen thing? Pennies away!

EDIT: My biggest love of custom characters following pre existing stories and plots is if they nail the theme of the character.

EDIT 2: Also, With the above suggestion for a double attack, if Aragorn is only engaged to one opponent he dispatches, he is still able to use the lesser ranged shot to pop off another ranged opponent. Seems Very thematic.

[TheAverageFan]

I very much like your idea for a double-attack version of Indomitable for Aragorn.

Healing is definitely a thing in the Return of the King book which Aragorn used to great effect after the battle for Gondor. But whether or not it deserves a power on the Army Card is up to debate.

~TAF, will update accordingly

[Shiftrex]

I think that it comes up enough, even as Ranger Aragorn, that it could definitely have a place. This looks a lot like Aragorn earlier in his career and I think the idea was that we could do a second version for some of the characters that had diverse identities. Aragorn falls into that for me.

Part of me wants to see the healing at a higher roll but that's something that can be sorted out when he is placed on the board. He has some Sonlen vibes but communicates ranger really well for me.

[Chris Perkins]

Some initial thoughts:

- I like the current direction of this card a lot.
- I would re-name the Anduril power to "+2 Broadsword" (it's the same power Tandros Kreel has) - whenever we can re-use a power name, I think it's good to do so because it makes HoME fit better with classic 'scape
- Do we still want to have 2 different versions of certain figures? Aragorn was one of those we had originally pegged to get 2 cards (i.e. Drake I & Drake II). This current card certainly seems to be a one-size-fits-all (ranger + King of Minas Tirith), so it would likely change considerably if the plan was to have 2 versions.

[TheAverageFan]

Originally Posted by Chris Perkins

Some initial thoughts:

- I like the current direction of this card a lot.
- I would re-name the Anduril power to "+2 Broadsword" (it's the same power Tandros Kreel has) - whenever we can re-use a power name, I think it's good to do so because it makes HoME fit better with classic 'scape

I assumed it could fit under a unique name for card identity the way Sword of Reckoning does for Carr since Aragorn is a character with a unique weapon (if his sword gave him +4 dice instead of +2 I wouldn't want to use Sword of Reckoning as the power name for example). In that same line of thinking "+2 Broadsword" is definitely a D&D-style name with the +2 in front as opposed to the usual Scape wording. It's meaning to say that Tandros has a +2 Broadsword magic weapon from D&D.

That being said I'm fine with switching it if it's a point of contention for others here. Hell, my own thread's version of Aragorn has the +2 Broadsword power. Just thought I'd squeeze a reference to Andruil in there somewhere.

Originally Posted by Chris Perkins

- Do we still want to have 2 different versions of certain figures? Aragorn was one of those we had originally pegged to get 2 cards (i.e. Drake I & Drake II). This current card certainly seems to be a one-size-fits-all (ranger + King of Minas Tirith), so it would likely change considerably if the plan was to have 2 versions.

I designed this under a one-size fits all assumption. If we're gonna have multiples for different sets though we should definitely decide in advance as well as which characters are included in that and which aren't.

Lastly does anyone have any contentions about Unyielding's power name? I thought of it on the fly without much thought so if anyone has a better idea for the name of said power I'm all ears.

~TAF

[Chris Perkins]

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

If we're gonna have multiples for different sets though we should definitely decide in advance as well as which characters are included in that and which aren't.

We did actually have a pretty detailed release schedule (which included Aragorn, Gimli, & Legolas as the only 2-version cards). The thread's a bit buried so you may have missed it, but it's located here:
https://www.heroscapers.com/communit...ad.php?t=57358

That being said, I was probably the least enthusiastic member at that time about having 2 versions of any cards (I was pretty insistent that we cap it at 5 max, if any), so I'm not opposed to revisiting the inclusion of 2-version figures. But in general I do think that release schedule is set up quite nicely (albeit admitting that I'm bias since I'm the one who put most of it together).

Originally Posted by TheAverageFan

Lastly does anyone have any contentions about Unyielding's power name? I thought of it on the fly without much thought so if anyone has a better idea for the name of said power I'm all ears.

Strategic Tracking? The tracking part is obvious and I stole the 'strategic' part from the axegrinder's conditional bonding power.

[Shiftrex]

I mean, can we post a vote about that in out general thread or just respond with thumbs up or down? We arent locked into making 2 versions of a figure and I think it stemmed from the idea that we wouldnt be able to completely nail a mixed identity like this.

I'd vote for singular figures to avoid fatigue.

I dont mind Strategic Tracking for a name but I feel like Unyielding is a pretty good descriptor for Aragorn. Neutral but lean towards unyielding. Same assessment for Anduril, I like the descriptor it brings and would compare it to Agent Carr, +2 Broadsword to me is just the name of Tandros' equipment. Also, I am pretty sure that Anduril is not a broadsword from most depictions because Tolkien was very specific about its categorization as a Longsword.

[TheAverageFan]

ARAGORN BATTLE REPORT

Spoiler Alert!

CURRENT CARD for these tests

ARAGORN
JANDAR

HUMAN
UNIQUE HERO
RANGER
VALIANT
MEDIUM 5

LIFE 6
MOVE 5
RANGE 6
ATTACK 3
DEFENSE 4
140 Points

UNYIELDING
If Aragorn begins his turn unengaged, add 2 to his Move this turn. If Aragorn begins his turn engaged, he may attack one additional time this turn.

ANDRUIL, FLAME OF THE WEST
Aragorn rolls 2 additional attack dice when attacking an adjacent figure.

HANDS OF HEALING
After moving and before attacking, you may choose a wounded figure adjacent to Aragorn and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 11 or higher, remove one wound marker from the chosen figure's Army Card.

Map (pre-land bridges, Initiative+8 was traded for Defense+1)

Game 1:
Army 1: The Good, the Bad, and the Minutemen
Aragorn – 150
4th Mass x2 – 140
Cyprien – 150
Sonya – 45
495 Points Total

Army 2: Death Chasers
Death Chasers x4 – 220
Orge Warhulk – 150
Nerak – 50
Me-Burq-Sa – 50
Guilty – 30
500 Points Total

Round 1: Army 1 wins initiative. Orcs surge forward. Cyprien and Aragorn advance on separate flanks. Orcs advance with bonding heroes in a large block.



Round 2: Army 1 wins initiative. Sonya advances to first glyph, flipping Erland. She summons Nerak to her. She inflicts 2 wounds on him. Nerak grabs height and inflicts 2 wounds back on her. Death Chasers advance, one grabbing the Valda glyph.



Aragorn advances, fails to heals Sonya but kills Nerak. Orcs advance but fail to kill Sonya. Cyprien moves up, grabs height, CT’s the orc on the Valda glyph. Me-Bruq-Sa moves up, Orcs advance and reclaim Valda and height, but none inflict any wounds.
Round 3: Orcs win initiative flip. MBS fails to injure Cyprien. Orcs give up Valda to gain height, fail to kill Sonya but inflict 4 wounds on Cyprien.



Cyprien flees over to two Death Chasers he has height on, fails on CT but kills the other. Me-Bruq-Sa lands his Stare and inflicts the wound back on the vampire. Orcs finally kill Sonya but are unable to damage Cyprien. He again moves to grab height but flops on both Chilling Touch and his height advantage attack. MBS and Death Chasers retaliate, leaving him with 1 Life remaining. He flees and jumps to one of the glyphs, flipping a Kelda and healing.



Round 4: Army 2 wins initiative again. MBS fails to injure Cyprien. Orcs reclaim Valda and attack Aragorn with height, inflicting one wound. He swings back, killing one of them. Orcs move up reinforcement, remaining Chaser flopping on attack. Cyprien jumps over to help, attacking with height and killing the other orc. Warhulk moves into position, with Orcs moving up more reinforcements. Minutemen are moved into a defensive position



Round 5: Orcs win initiative again. Warhulk moves between Aragorn and Cyprien but fails on his flail roll. He hits Aragorn for 2. Some of the orcs cross the river to join him. Aragorn swings twice for 5 but only inflicts one wound. Orge flails successfully, inflicting two wounds of Cyprien and one on Aragorn. Aragorn breaks engagement (avoids damage) and swings twice against the approaching orcs, killing both. Ogre chases (taking a wound), inflicting another wound on Aragorn. The Ranger gets on equal height and hits the Warhulk for 2.



Round 6: Orcs still win initiative. Aragorn is killed by the Warhulk. The orcs kill one Minutemen. More 4th Mass move up and kill the attackers. Orcs prepare for another attack, with the Warhulk moving into position. Cyprien jumps to intercept the Orcs. He kills one. The Warhulk attacks the minutemen position, killing both with his flail. Meanwhile the Death Chasers attack Cyprien, inflicting 3 wounds. However he kills them both in return, healing two.



Round 7: Orcs still win initiative. Ogre kills two more minutemen. Orc inflicts another wound on Cyprien. The vampire kills the last orc. Me-Burq-Sa inflicts 2 wounds on Cyprien. He strikes back for one wound. On round 3 both attack the other without result.
Round 8: Army 1 finally wins initiative. Cyprien kills MBS. Ogre kills another minuteman. The rebels return fire and inflict one wound, but he races down and kills them both. Cyprien moves toward Guilty, who returns fire but fails to inflict a wound.



Round 9: Army 2 wins initiative. Guilty fails to injure Cyprien. The vampire CT’s him to death. He and the Ogre move to fight.
Round 10: Cyprien wins, inflicts a wound on the Ogre. Ogre inflicts two wounds on Cyprien. Cyprien kills him with CT, ending the battle.
Result: Army 1 wins, Cyprien remains (3/6), ~75 Points
Thoughts: Aragorn performed okay, his ability to move fast and swing twice for 5 making him quite a danger. Having 6 Life and 4 Defense also makes him highly tanky even against the 4-Attack Death Chasers. However he did not kill that many orcs and hardly did as much damage as Cyprien, who was much easier to assign OMs to (though if Cyprien didn’t get the Kelda glyph and had died then Aragorn might’ve seen more action here). His Healing Hands failed to be of any use, with Sonya Esenwein dying as a result of not being healed.

Game 2:
Army 1: Jandar Humans
Aragorn – 140
Sgt. Drake (RotV) – 110
Raelin (SotM) – 120
8th Infantry Pathfinder x4 – 140
510 Points Total

Army 2: Elves and Wolves
Khosumet – 75
Anubian Wolves x3 – 225
Aubrien Archers x3 – 210
510 Points Total

Round 1: Wolves win initiative, advance. Drake moved forward with Pathfinders following. Aubrien Archers advance, moving up more with 2 Frenzies. Raelin and Aragorn move up as do more wolves.



Round 2: Wolves win initiative. Both side move closer. Wolves move and grab glyphs, destroying a Kelda and activating a Valda glyph. Drake and Pathfinders move into a defensive position and wait for wolves to attack. Archers advance, as does Aragorn.
Round 3: Humans win initiative. Aragorn grabs glyph, gaining Gerda. He shoots at the wolf across the river but misses. Aubriens move to height and attack Aragorn but fail to do damage. Raelin gets closer. Aubriens attack her, inflicting one wound. Pathfinders return fire, killing one archer. Archers attack the Pathfinders, killing one. They then Frenzy, but fail to do further damage.
Round 4: Wolves win initiative. Arubian Wolves go, rolling a 19 which Khosumet boosts. With their Valda-boosted move they attack, inflicting 3 wounds on Raelin and killing another Pathfinder. Drake kills a wolf. Wolves kill another Pathfinder. Raelin moves up and kills one of the wolves. Wolves fail to injure her. Drake kills a wolf.



Round 5: Humans win initiative. Pathfinder grabs height and shoots wolf. Archers try to kill Raelin but fail. Pathfinder shoots back and kills an archer. Same thing occurs again. Wolves move up.
Round 6: Wolves win initiative. Wolves get a 15+1, attack. One steps onto the last glyph, summoning Aragorn off the Defense Glyph. Last Pathfinder is killed. Drake kills the attacking wolf. Wolves attack Aragorn, inflicting two wounds. Aragorn fails to hurt either of them. Aragorn takes three more wounds from wolves. Aragorn manages to kill one of the dogs.



Round 7: Wolves still win. They kill Aragorn but fail to hurt Raelin. Drake kills a wolf. Archers advance but cannot attack Drake. Drake moves closer. Archers engage while one goes around. He fails to kill Raelin but Drake takes one wound.



Round 8: Humans win initiative. Drake kills an archer. Raelin is killed. Drake kills another archer.
Round 9: Humans win initiative. Drake goes to meet archers. They engage him but fail to inflict wounds. Drake kills one.
Round 10: Elves win initiative. Drake takes three wounds. He kills an archer but is killed the next turn.
Result: Army 2 wins. 2 Wolves, 2 Archers, Khosumet survive (~130 Points remaining)
Thoughts: Aragorn didn’t perform that well here, grabbing a Defense+1 glyph and holding it without much action until he was summoned off of it and attacked by wolves. His double attack for 5 really flopped here as he failed to do much damage before their high attack value took him down.


Game 3:
Army 1: Jandar/Vydar
Aragorn – 140
Raelin (RotV) – 80
Major Q9 – 180
Krav Maga – 100
500 Points total

Army 2: Marro Swarm
Marro Hive – 160
Marro Stingers x4 – 240
Marro Dividers x2 – 100
500 Points total

Round 1: Marro win initiative. Both sides advance all forces equally.
Round 2: Marro win initiative. Stingers claim glyph, disabling Kelda. Krav advance, taking a pot shot at the Stinger but failing to kill. Both sides continue to near each other.



Round 3: Army 1 wins initiative. Aragorn races in and attacks the Stingers but fails to injure them. Stingers attack back, inflicting two wounds on him. Aragorn strikes back and kills one. More Stingers move up, one moving adjacent to a Krav. They inflict another wound on Aragorn. Krav advance and kill the two Marro by Aragorn. Stingers move up reinforcements but fail to do more damage.
Round 4: Army 1 wins Initiative. Q9 moves up and kills the Stinger near the Krav. More Stingers advance, one managing to get past Stealth Dodge and killing a Krav. Krav retaliate, kill two more Stingers. Hive rebirths one of the Stingers. Raelin moves up. Another Krav is killed.
Round 5: Marro win initiative. Marro grabs another Glyph, gaining Valda. Aragorn takes another wound. Raelin moves up but fails to injure the adjacent Stinger. Marro shoot her, killing her in a single turn. Q9 gets closer, killing one Marro. Hive rebirths another Stinger. The Stingers advance, one engaging the last Krav. Aragorn takes two wounds and is killed. Q9 fires another barrage but only kills one Stinger. The last Krav is killed.
Round 6: Q9 wins initiative. The Major advances, gunning down two Stingers, though one is Rebirthed the next turn. Stingers regroup near the edge of the hill. They rush forward and attack, landing their Stinger Drain but only inflicting one wound against his defense with height. Q9 kills two of them, although again one is Rebirthed. Two stingers attack Q9 but fail to do damage.
Round 7: Q9 wins initiative. Queglix Gun kills the two Stingers. Dividers rush in. Q9 fails to kill any of them this time, two whiffs and one Cell Divide preventing damage. The Hive begins respawning the Stingers while the Dividers continue the attack; they manage to get on equal height using the +2 Movement. They fail to do damage. This time Q9 kills two of them.
Round 8: Q9 wins initiative. He kills another Divider. They fail to do damage. Two more Dividers killed. Dividers fall back to the Hive. Q9 moves closer and uses his long-range attack, killing the last Drone. Stingers retaliate but fail to do damage.
Round 9: Q9 wins initiative. Another Stinger killed. Another Stinger Rebirthed. Q9 gets closer, fails to kill the advancing Stinger. The Stinger fails to injure Q9. Another Rebirthed.
Round 10: Marro win initiative but fail to do damage. Q9 kills both remaining Stingers and inflicts 3 wounds on the Hive. The Hive fails to birth more Marro, and Q9 kills it.
Result: Q9 victory, Q9 (1/4) (~135 Points) remain
Thoughts: Aragorn still did not perform that well. His speed allowed him to reach the enemy quickly but he flopped on many of his attacks and did not last long against the Stingers. He never got the chance to heal Raelin or Q9 either (in Raelin’s case she died too fast and in Q9’s he didn’t need it).

Game 4:
Army 1: Temur Heroes
Aragorn – 140
Sonlen – 160
Isamu – 10
310 Points Total

Army 2: Greeks and Italians
Marcus – 100
Sacred Band x2 – 100
Roman Archers x2 – 110
310 Points Total

Round 1: Greeks win initiative. Both sides advance.



Round 2: Greeks win initiative. Marcus and his squad advance. Sonlen advances. Marcus gains high ground. Greek claims a glyph, disabling Kelda. Aragorn engages Marcus but only inflicts one wound. Marcus pays him back 3, and his Sacred Band finish the job. The last one claims the lower glyph, gaining Gerda.



Round 3: Sonlen wins initiative. He kills one Greek. Marcus and the others engage him and inflict three wounds. The elf heals one but fails to do damage. He takes two more wounds.
Round 4: Greeks win initiative. Marcus kills Sonlen. Isamu advances. Archers advance. Isamu attacks a Greek but fails.



Round 5: Isamu wins initiative. The ninja again fails to do damage. Archers attack but he gets Vanish and evades the others’ range. He climbs the height but still fails to kill anyone. More archers attack but Isamu Vanishes away.
Round 6: Greeks win initiative. Marcus attacks, kills Isamu.
Result: Greeks win. Marcus (1/6), 6/6 Roman Archers, 7/8 Sacred Band (~482 Points) remain
Thoughts: Aragorn Elessar II, Dunedain of the Northern Rangers, King of Gondor and Arnor, fell in battle to Marcus and his fellow 3/3’s during a single round. He inflicted one wound on Marcus. I suppose that accounts for 16 of the 28 points dealt to the enemy this game.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: Aragorn has strong stats for his price: above-average Life, good Move, decent Range, good Attack, and above-average Defense; and two attacks when engaged. Still he struggled to find a place in the four games I played. He was able to kill some squaddies here and there, and move fast enough to grab glyphs, but his armies overall either lost or won by the grace of Cyprien or Q9 respectively.

He’s not bad—oftentimes his early deaths were merely a result of bad dice—I simply couldn’t find a role for him in my armies. His Healing Hands didn’t find much use (he’s often too fast to end up alongside other allies), and while two attacks of 5 is very powerful he never seemed to be able to defeat the squads he faced. He did do well against the high-life, low-defense Ogre Warhulk, where his high attack could build up some wounds fast.

Aragorn performed badly; he is not bad. I blame myself, not knowing where to place him at present. Where his place in an army should be. Perhaps someone else can find his place, or maybe further playtesting can prove his potential.

~TAF

[Knox]

Are you going to do a 2nd version of Aragorn as King? Because if there's only 1 Aragorn imo he should be a champion not a ranger... but I'm not sure.

I think a figure like this works much better with some sort of bonding. You could make it such that after using Aragorn you may use 1 Elf or 1 Dwarf hero you control - with some sort of restriction in place like "if you use this ability, the ONLY figures you may use this turn are Aragorn and the hero chosen for this power" to prevent him stacking with Ulginesh