The Book of Psycho-Man

[IAmBatman]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM - ADDENDUM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (PSYCHO-MAN)
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Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes.
- What should be the unit's point value? 170-180 probably works.
- Give a brief overview. Even giving Psycho-Man a bunch of help, he felt a tad overcosted here. He only went 4 of 9 on his Control Box, which didn't help.
Map: Custom
Units: Psycho-Man (190), Oracle (110), Enchantress (380), X-23 (220), Robin (Dick Grayson) (100) (1,000) vs. Fantastic Four (1,000).

Spoiler Alert!

Despite Oracle's help and Enchantress's the dice didn't favor Psycho-Man too much here. He usually went for Hate, but got some mileage out of Doubt and Fear as well. He did 1 wound on Human Torch, 2 wounds on Thing, and 4 wounds on Invisible Woman with his normal attack, while getting the bulk of the activations. Hate also led to 1 Wound on Mister Fantastic, 1 Wound on Thing, and 2 Wounds on Thing. X-23 almost went on a run in the end, but couldn't pull it off.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Mister Fantastic with 1 Wound, Thing with 4 Wounds, and Invisible Woman with 4 wounds win Turn 2, Round 6.

[johnny139]

Told y'all that the roll on Control-Box was super annoying.

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I wish it were lower (4+?) or gone all together.

[A3n]

In the comics is the control always successful? Or are some figures able to fight it?

[TrollBrute]

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT Psycho Man

- 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

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Army Test 1
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? Hard to say from this one.
- Give a brief overview.His team won by a large margin, but that was largely due to Punisher being insane when boosted by Enchantress. It was also a bad map for Ms. Marvel and her crew. Psycho Man did okay here, even missing two of his Control Box rolls and rolling terribly on attack (I don’t think he rolled more than 3 skulls but once, and he had Enchantress’ boost the entire time).
Map: Trespasser by Dignan
Units: Psycho Man (190), Enchantress (380), Punsiher (180), Atom (50) (800) VS Ms. Marvel (350), Timber Wolf (260), Whirlwind (190) (800)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 3 wound to Timber Wolf, 1 to Ms. Marvel,
Control Box: 3 out of 5 rolls.
Fear: 2 times.
Doubt: 0 times.
Hate: 1 times.

Spoiler Alert!

Round One: Lots of positioning, with Ms. Marvel moving out both her allies and Enchantress moving out with Psycho Man and Atom.

Round Two: Psycho Man held off two attacks from Ms. Marvel, but failed his first Control Box roll. He did use it later to help gain a wound on Ms. Marvel, but took three from Timber Wolf.

Round Three: Hate forces Ms. Marvel to attack Timber Wolf, but only one wound is dealt, which he later healed. Timber Wolf move and inflicts a wound to Enchantress, but takes two from Punisher.

Round Four: Psycho gets two more wounds on Timber Wolf, thanks in part to Fear. Ms. Marvel retaliates by taking down Psycho Man. Then it was the Punisher & Enchantress show and, man, was it a quick one. Punisher steps up even with Timber Wolf, puts the last wound on him and then the last two on Ms. Marvel. On the next OM, he starts with 7(!) dice on Whirlwind and just blasts away, KO’ing Whirlwind in four attacks.

R4T5: Enchantress with 1/7 wounds, Punisher and Atom unwounded.

Army Test 2
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 190-210
- Give a brief overview.Big win here again, and this one was due in large part to Psycho Man. He really disrupted the Mutants plans, and also did a fair amount of damage. Hate was usually his first choice, but I got use out of the other two as well.
Map: Mountain Spring
Units: Psycho Man (190), GL: John Stewart (340), Bane (190), Diamondback (160), Oracle (110) (990) VS Professor Xavier (220), Omega Red (300), Archangel (270), Spider-Girl (140), Jubilee (60) (990)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 2 wounds to Spider-Girl, 1 wound to Xavier, 3 wounds to Archangel, 3 to Omega Red.
Control Box: 6 out of 9 rolls.
Fear: 2 times.
Doubt: 1 times.
Hate: 3 times.

Spoiler Alert!

Round One: The plan was to have Stewart rush Psycho Man in to mess with Xavier, but Spider-Girl’s placement threw a wrench into the works. Stewart held back and inflicted a couple wounds to Spider-Girl, Psycho Man used Fear to finish her off.

Round Two: Stewart broke free, taking Psycho Man and Bane with him. Psycho Man placed Hate on Xavier to negate X’s OM, then inflicted a wound to Archangel, while placing Doubt on Omega Red to essentially negate his OM. Archangel Razored Bane for a couple wounds.

Round Three: Psycho Man places Hate on Omega Red and rolls 5(!) skulls against Archangel, but is blocked by Xavier. Archangel Razors Bane, Stewart and Psycho Man once each. Stewart, with Oracle’s boost, KOs Xavier. Omega Red, through Hate, attacks Jubilee and deals a couple wounds.

Round Four: Omega Red manages a single wound on Bane, Psycho Man drops Hate on Archangel, who takes down Jubilee, but fails against Omega Red. Stewart puts another two wounds on Archangel. Archangel Razors Stewart twice more and Bane once.

Round Five: Psycho Man fails his Control Box roll, but uses Oracle’s Secret Attack Plan to finally take down Archangel. He then uses Fear to deal another two to Omega Red. Omega Red finishes off Bane and heals, but Diamondback uses Acid Diamond SA to knock another defense off Omega Red and her normal attack to deal him two wounds. End of the round roll for Death Factor: skull! Omega Red falls.

End of Round Five: Psycho Man with 2/5 wounds, Stewart with 3/4 wounds and 2 markers, Diamondback with 1/4 wounds, and Oracle unwounded.

With the right support, he's really solid. Hate can really mess up OM hubs, Xavier and Ms. Marvel both had to scramble OMs so as not to lose turns, but that still cost them activations. Fear and Doubt are not as good, but still solid choices, especially when Psycho Man's stats are boosted. It's definitely annoying when he fails the roll, but properly supported, he'll get plenty of chances, and the misses keep him in check. I found him worth at least 190.

[TrollBrute]

Also, it's not quite clear what happens to a figure affected by Hate if it is the only figure left in its army, or in weird cases like being engaged to and opponent's Blob. I know that "if possible" is implied with our all our powers, but does that mean it's not possible and the figure can not do anything on its turn or it's not possible and the figure may take a turn as normal.

[SirGalahad]

When a figure it Stuck to Blob, it has exhausted its movement--its movement is 0.

For the other case, we'll need to specify; although Hate isn't the best choice when your opponent is down to his last figure.

Playtests linked in OP.

[TrollBrute]

to the Stuck ruling. We'll want to FAQ it though.

Originally Posted by SirGalahad

For the other case, we'll need to specify; although Hate isn't the best choice when your opponent is down to his last figure.

It would be if it prevented the figure from taking a turn.

[SirGalahad]

Self-Hate

[johnny139]

I'd rule that if there are no other friendly figures for Hate, you can just take a turn as usual. No reason to give it extra utility, since it's already the head-and-shoulders best choice.

[quozl]

Originally Posted by johnny139

Hate... it's already the head-and-shoulders best choice.

That's an issue for me. What can we do to balance things better? Make Fear and Doubt aura affects instead of single heroes?

[TrollBrute]

Originally Posted by quozl

That's an issue for me. What can we do to balance things better? Make Fear and Doubt aura affects instead of single heroes?

I got decent use out of the other two, but it was usually after using Hate. I didn't have a problem with it, because Hate is a lot of fun and I saw it as the centerpiece of the unit, with the other two as nice bonuses.

Making Fear and Doubt auras would definitely help, but it could make him really good against any army with a lot of figures that they can't spread out easily.