The Book of Laserbeak

[Yodaking]

Alright, I've updated the SP with a once per round restriction on Recon and Attack and clarified he is a single based figure. I'll take a look at other figures and try to figure out a initial testing range. Any opinions on that are always welcome. I'll run him through the checklist and call for a vote soon. Thinking a bunch of small point tests (600 and under) will be best here. What are the other OM looking at powers he would best be teamed up with?

[IAmBatman]

Figures to consider:

Beast
Doctor Manhattan
Gypsy
Hourman
Jessica Jones
Joker (I)
Meteorite
Ozymandias
Quentin Quire
Sandman (Wesley Dodds)
Solovar

[Yodaking]

Thanks! Just going through them to weight the impact, this is what I see.

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Figures to consider:

Beast - Negotiation removes on unrevealed OM, but it does not say that marker must be revealed to you.
Doctor Manhattan - can view any OMs on any cards!
Gypsy - take turn, roll d20, 8+ view all unrevealed OM on one card.
Hourman - after initiative, roll d20, 11+ look at all OM's on all cards.
Jessica Jones - after attacking, look at 1 OM on any card
Joker (I) - win initiative, rearrange 2OMs, don't look at them.
Meteorite - similar to Beast, remove OM without looking at it.
Ozymandias - before initiative, look at 1 OM, take it if it has a # on it.
Quentin Quire - instead of M&A, can look at all OMs on 1 card and/or remove 1 OM.
Sandman (Wesley Dodds) - look at all OMs on 1 card.
Solovar - same as Beast.

Quite a few combos here where Laserbeak could know exactly where the 3OM is before he starts to move. Not sure how I feel about testing all these combos. Thinking about going in a different direction now.

[Scapemage]

Looking at this guy with Soundwave, I am concerned the pair will be extremely powerful. The potential for army disruption along with the Order Marker combos listed in the above post look pretty nasty to me in theory. Maybe not in practice though. I may very well be proved wrong in testing.

Really interesting to have figures that start together but then split off with Eject. Aerial Advantage is a nice reuse power. I was just playing Dhalsim today and wondered why more figures don't have Levitation.

[IAmBatman]

Doctor Manhatten or Hourman + Joker (I) + any initiative/D20 boosters + Laserbeak and Soundwave would be the way to maximize his chances of using OM3 for his boost, IMO.

The first two let you see the OMs, Joker lets you put them where you want to put Laserbeak in position, and the initiative/D20 boosters help you make all that run smoothly. Then Laserbeak does his thing.

[Yodaking]

Yeah, I'm not too enthusiastic about pricing him into such specific builds. I'd rather just change up the power before we start testing so those characters do not have such a big impact on how effective he can be. That means taking away the variable damage output based on what number you find. Instead I'm currently thinking just a flat 1 unblockable if you find any #ed OM at all. Or perhaps letting him look at all OM's on a card instead of just one and rolling 1 unblockable for each #ed OM he finds. That would just simply discourage you from dumping all OM's on one card before he gets destroyed. Any preferences here or thoughts for a different direction?

RECON AND ATTACK
Once per round, after Laserbeak moves with the Flying special power, instead of attacking, you may choose one figure Laserbeak passed over that has one or more unrevealed Order Markers on it's card. Your opponent must reveal all of them to you. Roll one unblockable attack die against that figure for each numbered Order Marker revealed.

RECON AND ATTACK
After Laserbeak moves with the Flying special power, instead of attacking, you may choose one figure Laserbeak passed over that has one or more unrevealed Order Markers on it's card. Choose one of those Order Markers, your opponent must reveal it to you. If it is a numbered Order Marker, roll one unblockable attack die against that figure.

First one is once per round, is good vs. OM dump types. The second one can be used 3 times per round (if he's not locked down), but is pretty limited in damage inflicted per use.

Only other though is I wouldn't mind if he had a disengage power tucked in somewhere if the unblockable att. die effect is weaker. I feel like Huge figures (and maybe even flying figures) should be able to prevent him from disengaging but not small, medium, large, land dwellers. Not sure where to work that into the card though.

RECON AND ATTACK
Instead of moving and attacking with Laserbeak normally, you may use Recon and Attack. Move Laserbeak up to 7 spaces using the Flying special power, choose one figure Laserbeak passed over that has one or more unrevealed Order Markers on it's card. Your opponent must reveal one of them to you, then roll one unblockable attack die against that figure. When moving with Recon and Attack, Laserbeak will not take any leaving engagement attacks from figures that are not Huge.

Changes it up a bit where in this version your opponent gets to choose which OM's he reveals to you if there is more than one, but you get to roll an unblockable no matter what you see. Works in the disengage vs. Huge as only when using this power. So he is sent out to spy on your opponent OMs, he learns something and makes an attack. Seems spy like.

[IAmBatman]

The first option still loves Joker (I) creating Order Marker dumps for you. For that reason, I'd lean towards option two.

[MrNobody]

I actually like Margloth's version he posted a page back a lot. I think it'll work better with Megatron as well, allowing him to knock away the 1 or 2 OM and saving the 3 for Laserbeak.

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I like that too. The incentive to directly go hunting for the OM3 isn't nearly as strong as when you have the potential for 3 auto wounds.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

The first option still loves Joker (I) creating Order Marker dumps for you. For that reason, I'd lean towards option two.

I'm actually kind of okay with that interaction, he's just one figure, needs to win initiative to do his thing, and could still be moving the X onto the card. I don't think that will drive the price here in the same way being able to look at all OM's at once, then getting a guaranteed 3 unblockables.

After thinking on it a bit more, I also kind of favor the first one. He encourages your opponent to spread your OM's out over 4 different cards, which makes it more likely Megatron will be in range of someone he can intimidate. Megatron and Laserbeak are often seen with each other, only guy outside of Soundwave I feel he really has any kind of relationship with. So some soft synergy between the two is appealing to me.

Originally Posted by MrNobody

I actually like Margloth's version he posted a page back a lot. I think it'll work better with Megatron as well, allowing him to knock away the 1 or 2 OM and saving the 3 for Laserbeak.

That one still would benefit greatly from knowing where the different OM's are before you look at them with his power. I'm trying to not have him be best buds with a bunch of guys who are better at spying then he is.

[IAmBatman]

OK, I'm cool with it. Also some soft synergy with Soundwave's once per game disruption, since it'll be harder for the heroes with spread out Order Markers to coordinate with each other due to not being able to activate each other.

The three together should create a lot of fear and confusion.

[Yodaking]

Yeah, that is what I was thinking too.