The Book of Balrog

[Arkham]

Love that power.

Perhaps give him a Bob and Weave special to go with it that lets him move after rolling defense? Avoid leaving engagements.

[Arkham]

Something like this would be pretty damn awesome IMO.

RAGING BUFFALO
Before taking a turn with Balrog, if he is not engaged, you may subtract X from his Move number to add X to his Attack number, and add X when rolling for Beatdown this turn, where X is the number of Wound Markers on this card.

BEATDOWN
After Balrog attacks an adjacent figure with his normal attack, roll the 20-sided die, subtracting the defending figure's remaining Life from the roll. If you roll 9 or higher, Balrog must attack the same figure again with his normal attack. Balrog cannot attack more than four times in a single turn.

BOB AND WEAVE
Balrog is never attacked when leaving an engagement. After rolling attack dice for a normal attack or after rolling defense dice, for each shield rolled you may immediately move Balrog one space.

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by Arkham

Something like this would be pretty damn awesome IMO.

I'd prefer it if he only avoided LEAs when moving with Bob and Weave.

[Scapemage]

Originally Posted by johnny139

I really like the charge, though, since it feels very in-spirit with the game incarnation. Maybe just tweak it into a Ring Rush special power? Like, this...

RAGING BUFFALO/RING RUSH/CORNERED
Before taking a turn with Balrog, if he is not engaged, you may subtract X from his Move number, add X to his Attack number, and add X when rolling for Beatdown this turn, where X is the number of Wound Markers on this card.

I think that captures the spirit of the special power we have but adapts it to Beatdown. Not sure how useful it is, though, since it'll be hard to keep him unengaged.

Originally Posted by Arkham

Something like this would be pretty damn awesome IMO.

I like this direction a lot! I can see it working with some main stat tweaks and the changes in grey and red to Bob and Weave seen above.



MOVE 6
RANGE 1
ATTACK 5
DEFENSE 4


8 attack as a cap is reasonable to me. For that to happen he'd have to have just 1 life left and begin his turn unengaged. If he can manage that he deserves to be rewarded.


I removed defensive movement off of Bob and Weave because this design is really supposed to be the glass cannon that Balrog is and avoid anything defensive in exchange for offensive hurt.

[Arkham]

The defensive movement was to allow him potential to start his turn unengaged to allow for Crazy Buffalo to activate. Much in the same vein of Spider-Man relying on his Spidey Senses to set him up to be unengaged on his turn.

[Scapemage]

Originally Posted by Arkham

The defensive movement was to allow him potential to start his turn unengaged to allow for Crazy Buffalo to activate. Much in the same vein of Spider-Man relying on his Spidey Senses to set him up to be unengaged on his turn.

This makes complete sense and I didn't think of it. How about just one space regardless of the amount of shields rolled?

[Arkham]

That'd work. Could also trigger on blanks if you want less movement.

Either way, I'd rather his base attack be 4. A ceiling of 8 feels a bit odd. He's a powerful Boxer, which to me says maybe 6. 8 is the level of Superman and Thor.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Arkham

Either way, I'd rather his base attack be 4. A ceiling of 8 feels a bit odd. He's a powerful Boxer, which to me says maybe 6. 8 is the level of Superman and Thor.

I agree with this as well. Plus if you are boosting his Move it will be easier to reduce move for attack.

[Yodaking]

Agreed on the base 4 attack.

[Scapemage]

SP updated to reflect changes. Excited to see how this guy works now. It's largely the same before, with a different execution.

[Arkham]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT Balrog

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 1
Map: Custom
Units:
Balrog(140), Cap(240), Valkyrie(350), Angel(90) (820)
vs.
Luke Cage(190), Iron Fist(260), Firestar(120), Spider-Man(250) (820)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
R2T3: 2 wounds on Firestar. (+1 height, +1 Cap)
R3T2: 1 wound on Firestar. (+1 height, +1 Cap)
R3T3: 1 wound on Firestar, kills her. (+1 height, +1 Cap)
R4T2: 1 wound on Iron Fist. (+3 Raging Buffalo)

Beatdown:
Failed all 3 rolls.

Notes:
R2T2: Iron Fist puts 3 wounds on Valkyrie. Cage puts 1 wound on Valkyrie.
R2T3: Iron Fist kills Valkyrie.
R3T1: Cap puts 2 wounds on Iron Fist.
R3T3: Iron Fist puts 2 wounds on Cap.
R4T1: Iron Fist kills Cap, then heals 1 wound. Cage puts 3 wounds on Balrog(botch).
R4T2: Iron Fist kills Balrog.
R4T3: Iron Fist puts 2 wounds on Angel. Cage puts 1 wound on Angel.
R5T1: Iron Fist kills Angel and heals 1 wound.


Luke Cage, Iron Fist, and Spider-Man unwounded.

Pretty one sided game. The Fighters steamrolled Valkyrie, then took out Cap not long after. Balrog go rid of Firestar, but couldn't get any successful Beatdowns going in his 3 attempts. He tried for a 7 attack Raging Buffalo on Iron Fist but only ended up managing 1 wound before getting quickly disposed of himself. It's possible this was a bad luck game for Balrog's team, but Balrog at least did his points in damage. Going to change up the team slightly.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 2
Map: Custom
Units:
Balrog(140), Valkyrie(350), Angel(90), Malekith(220) (800)
vs.
Star-Lord(250), Gamora(310), Nebula(240) (800)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
R2T1: 1 wound on Nebula.
R2T1: 2 wounds on Nebula. (Beatdown)
R2T3: 1 wound on Nebula.

Beatdown:
R2T1: rolls a 15-5=10. Rolls a 7-3=4.
R2T3: rolls a 13-2=11. Rolls a 6-2=4.
R3T1: rolls a 6-5=1.

Notes:
R1T1: Star-Lord puts 2 wounds on Valkyrie.
R2T1: Gamora goes to attack Valkyrie but Malekith switches Valkyrie with Balrog, Balrog would be destroyed so Valkyrie moves adjacent and takes 1 wound.
R2T2: Gamora puts 3 wounds on Valkyrie(botch).
R2T2: Valkyrie puts 1 wound on Gamora.
R2T3: Gamora kills Valkyrie.
R2: Nebula and Gamora each heal 1 wound.
R3T1: Gamora goes to attack Balrog but Malekith makes her attack her own sister on accident, killing her. *gasp*
R3T2: Gamora kills Balrog.
R3T3: Gamora puts 2 wounds on Angel.
R4T1: Gamora goes to attack Angel but Malekith swaps him out with Star-Lord, Gamora puts 3 wounds on Star-Lord.
R4T3: Malekith kills Star-Lord.
R5T1: Malekith saves his own hide and swaps with Angel, Gamora kills Angel.
R5T1: Malekith puts 4 wounds on Gamora thanks to a botched defense and full skull ranged attack of 4.
R5T3: Gamora kills Malekith with Godslayer.


Gamora with 4/5 wounds.

Super close game, down to 1 wound, and it felt like Malekith could have possibly finished Gamora off. Balrog did decently here managing to at least get his points in wounds once again on Nebula, but dropped like a sack of bricks by Gamora before he could be wounded to use Raging Buffalo. Beatdown did come through for him a couple times.

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY:
Balrog can get really crazy, but I didn't really see too much of that here. I tried giving him an army to keep him alive, but he still dropped pretty hard once the heat was on. Ideally you want to keep him wounded but give him a figure like Valkyrie that can keep him from dying. This did not pan out very well in my tests as she dropped then he was a sitting duck. I'd say 140 is pretty close. On paper he can have absolutely crazy potential with multiple attacks of 7 if all the stars align, but keeping him alive long enough for that to happen will prove challenging. Definitely a fun design!

[Scapemage]

Thanks! Great games! His glass cannon style is working how I had hoped. He drops like a fly but has huge potential. Looking good so far, would like at the very least one more tester, though.