The Book of Angel (Liam)

[IAmBatman]

Oooh, great point. I like it even more now!

[TrollBrute]

That's two votes for C and two for A, which are the two I'm torn between. johnny, SirG? Any opinions here?

[johnny139]

C for sure. I'll compromise on it.

[TrollBrute]

Healing seems to have the lead here, so let's go with that. I'll send this out to the ERB and hopefully start on the initial tomorrow.

[TrollBrute]

First ERB responses:

I'm not too worried about Dark Avenger stacking with other powers, given that Angel's only works against normal, adjacent attacks and Namor can already do the same thing, but better. Worth testing though!

I'm aiming to place him in the low 200s, so I'll be making stat tweaks to keep him there if necessary.

Thanks!

Originally Posted by dok

Dark Avenger is a much more balanced version of Bizarro's power. As usual with defensive powers like this one, the question is whether it gets broken when it stacks with other defensive abilities. The tough tests would be with Jocasta, Bizarro, Vakyrie, etc. Because Demon Within limits activation synergy, he's not necessarily all that useful in undead armies. More of a general purpose defensive figure.

Probably in the low to mid 200s.

I believe that the C3G standard is "if it isn't possible, you can't use the power". I'll run it by the others though.

You're right on giving the card to the opponent, I'll update the wording.

Thanks again!

Originally Posted by davidlhsl

Angel

Merry Christmas!!!

Didn’t see that one coming, did you?

Dark Avenger
Checking the Index, I notice a lot of these abilities that allow a figure to move outside its turn includes “if possible.” This is because the defending figure within 3 spaces may be at the top of a tower while Angel is on a lower level, for example.

The Demon Within

I’d like to have a Pizza Within.

It could be possible for Angel to switch back and forth multiple times, which wouldn't happen too often unless you have a really lopsided d20. It’s always fun to have figures swap sides in Heroscape.

Would you need to add text indicating you give the card to the opponent?

Healing

The doctor is in!

Final Thoughts

Nice ability set and fun design, and I love the risk of swapping teams.

[TrollBrute]

More from dok:

Originally Posted by TrollBrute

In the scenario you propose, Nimrod could attack from range and not have to worry about Angel. Angel is also relying on a die to deal his wounds, so he's only dealing a wound every other attack, on average.

That's a good army, but it's also a lot of points and I don't see that Angel is adding all that much. Not when adding Jocasta or Sage instead would probably make for a stronger army at less points. I'm happy to test it though, and I'll queue it up as one of my planned games.

[IAmBatman]

Good conversation. I'm glad it's being had. I don't disagree with your response a bit, but I'm also very glad dok brought it up.

[TrollBrute]

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT Angel

- THEME TEST/ Check to see if there are any powers or stats on the test unit card that does not accurately reflect the theme or likeness of what the character would and could do. Also consider destructible objects, and whether or not this characters powers should affect them.
Pass

- MIRROR TEST/ Check to see if the unit were played against itself, if there would be any loops that would upset the balance of the Game.
Pass

- BONDING TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing Bonding abilities to make sure there are no continual Bonding possibilities that do not stop appropriately or do not stop at all. This is to prevent loops in Bonding.
Pass

- SYNERGIES TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing synergies to make sure there are no factors that could break the game by making any unit too powerful or too weak.
Pass

- POWER CHECK/ Consider the test unit and all existing units and all glyphs to compare to and check for any powers that could be over amplified and break the game. Each power must define when it takes place, who or what it affects, and What are the stipulations on the power if there are any.
Pass

- FUN TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play.
Pass

- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against.
Pass

- DRAFTING TEST/ Consider whether or not this design is worth drafting.
Pass

- USAGE TEST/ Consider whether or not all of the powers on this card were used or at least usable.
Pass

- STRATEGY TEST/ Consider whether or not the design offers any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game.
Pass

_____________________________________________________________

Heavy Hitter or Mid-Level Hero Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 190-210
- Give a brief overview. Angel didn't win many of these here, but 1-on-1 is going to be one of his worst scenarios. Dark Avenger doesn't come in to play and he'll have more of a chance to heal in full-scale games. Also of note: I ignored The Demon Within for the Hero and Squad tests to get less swingy results.
Map: Custom

Spoiler Alert!

TEST 1
Units: Batman (200)
An Evasive Strikefollowed by a couple great attack rolls from Batman makes quick work of Angel..
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T2: Batman with now wounds.

TEST 2
Units: Raven (190)
Magical Defense mad Raven too tough for Angel.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T2: Raven with 2/4 wounds..

TEST 3
Units: Mr. Freeze (190)
Back-to-back defense whiffs do in Freeze.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T3: Angel with 1 wound.

TEST 4
Units: Mr. Freeze (190)
Angel puts Freeze on ice.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T3: Angel with 1 wound.

TEST 5
Units: Manchester Black (190)
An Initiative switched paired with a perfectly timed Psychic Lobotomy gives Black an easy win.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T6: Manchester Black with 1 wound.

TEST 6
Units: Manchester Black (190)
Angel's defense held out longer, but Manchester Black till comes out on top.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R3T4: Black with 3 wounds.

TEST 7
Units: Hydro-Man (190)
Things were going Angel's way 'til Hydro-Man got an Initiative witch and rolled 6/6 skulls to Angel's 0 shields.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R3T1: H-Man with 4/5 wounds.

TEST 8
Units: Jean Grey (180)
Jean really struggled against Angel, even with height.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T2: Angel unwounded.

TEST 9
Units: Jean Grey (180)
Angel overwhelms Jean again.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T1: Angel with no wounds.

TEST 10
Units: Luke Cage (190)
Angel had better rolls and his Healing kept him in the game.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R3T4: Angel with 4/6 wounds.

_____________________________________________________________
Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 190-210
- Give a brief overview. Angel takes on a tough trio.
Map: Custom
Units: Triplicate Girl (190)

Spoiler Alert!

Angel had some really good attack rolls and the girls weren't able to use their superioir numbers very well.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T5: Angel with 3 wounds.

_____________________________________________________________
Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 190-200
- Give a brief overview. Angel versus Themyscira's best.
Map: Custom
Units: Amazon Warriors x2 (200)

Spoiler Alert!

Angel seemed to have the upper hand, but then he missed a couple attacks, and the Warriors made him pay.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? R2T4: 4 Warriors still standing.

_____________________________________________________________
Army Test 1
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 200-220
- Give a brief overview.Trying to exploit Dark Avenger as much as possible with this game. It worked okay, but didn't feel overly strong.
Map: Custom (modified HYDRA Base)
Units: Angel (200), Bizarro (310), Valkyrie (350), Count Vertigo (160) (1020) VS The Wrecking Crew (800), Sage (190), Skrull Infiltrator x3 (30) (1020)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 1 wound to Bulldozer, 1 wound to Piledriver, 5 wounds to Wrecker, 3 wounds to Thunderball.
Dark Avenger: 6 times used; 3 out of 5 wounds.
The Demon Within: 0 out of 8 rolls.
Healing: 4 wounds healed.

Spoiler Alert!

Army One tried to keep together as much as possible here, sticking near to the startzone. The Wrecking Crew were hot and cold in the early going, missing 2-3 straight rolls before stringing together 3-4 turns in one OM. A bad early defense roll by Valkyrie put her in danger early and the Crew kept at it, ignoring Angel's Dark Avenger for the most part. Wrecker moved in by the third round and used his crowbar to move Count Vertigo out of the way and finish off Valkyrie. They then turned their focus to Bizarro, who rolled terribly on his attacks and fell after a couple rounds leaving Angel and a nearly dead Count Vertigo. Angel did a lot of damage in the end game, but the dice were on his side. Wrecker whiffed twice in a row on Defense, making this one a lot closer than it should have even been. A player like dok could get almost certainly get more value out of this game than I did, but I don't feel that Angel makes anything overpowered.

R7T6: Thunderball with 3/6 wounds, Sage unwounded and 3 Skrull Infiltrators.

Army Test 2
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 190-210
- Give a brief overview.The heroes in this game ignored Dark Avenger but the squad figures weren't so brave. It worked to their favor here, but things could have been very different had Angel hit a couple of those rolls.
Map: Custom (modified HYDRA Base)
Units: Angel (200), John Stewart (340), Doctor Light (190), Merlyn (160) (890) VS Lady Deathstrike (240), Bullseye (175), X-23 (220), Hand Ninja x3 (255) (890)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 3 wounds to Deathstrike,
Dark Avenger: 3 times used; 0 out of 3 wounds.
The Demon Within: 0 out of 2 rolls.
Healing: 2 wounds healed.

Spoiler Alert!

By the end of the first round, Stewart had moved his pod to the hill outside the opponent's startzone. This was probably too aggressive of a move, as Lady Deathstrike rolled very well and was able to take down GL the next round after John whiffed a defense roll and then Deathstrike hit a 20 for Vengeful Strike. Had Angel managed to wound her once or twice with Dark Avenger, she probably would have had to focus on him rather than Stewart, but it just didn't work out for Army One. Angel stuck around 'til the end of the next round and managed to finish off Lady Deathstrike, but Dr. Light and Merlyn couldn't handle the Ninja.

R4T6: Bullseye and X-23 unwounded, 5 Ninja.

Army Test 3
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 190-210
- Give a brief overview.Rematch!
Map: Custom (modified HYDRA Base)
Units: Angel (200), John Stewart (340), Doctor Light (190), Merlyn (160) (890) VS Lady Deathstrike (240), Bullseye (175), X-23 (220), Hand Ninja x3 (255) (890)
Unit Summary:
Damage: none.
Dark Avenger: 1 times used; 0 out of 1 wounds.
The Demon Within: 0 out of 0 rolls.
Healing: 2 wounds healed.

Spoiler Alert!

Angel's army had a much better start this time, taking out Bullseye early and keeping Lady Deathstrike out of the fray for the first few rounds. Angel was positioned to block Lady Deathstrike from reaching Stewart, which allowed John to take out a lot of the Ninja and put him in a position to beat Lady D this time around. Some slightly better rolls against X-23 and he might have had this game. Doctor Light made it pretty close, but the Ninja were able to pull this one out.

R6T6: 2 Hand Ninja remaining.

[TrollBrute]

Despite the three losses, I'd be fine with sending him to the public at 200. He had a very nice showing in game one and the losses in games two and three had more to do with the lack of a multi-attacker for Army One. Certainly not opposed to 190 though. Any thoughts?

[johnny139]

I'm always a "side of caution" guy, so, yeah - send him out at 200 and see if he drops. Pre-Yea

[IAmBatman]

Sounds good! Pre-yea at 200 with chances of him coming in at 190 after public tests.

[TrollBrute]

Couple minutes early, but what the hey, I propose Angel move to Public Playtesting at 200 points.

Still need quozl, LP, A3n, SirG.