The Book of Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady)

[A3n]

I like the Irredeemable reference sure, but I don't see it as an actual personality. It would be like using Incredible as Hulk's personality. I'd be fine with Arrogant but think Degenerate is better.

This comic pic is nice also:

[IAmBatman]

Degenerate seems more like a class to me. I think we should reuse something if we're going to go away from Irredeemable.

Originally Posted by Lord Pyre

Gotta say, I love that bio.

Yeah, that's a riot!

[johnny139]

I could go with Degenerate. The guy DOES have some good in him, though... so I think Self-Centered might be best. His every action is based on self-satisfaction, not necessarily out of malice or what have you.

One more thing I want to note - "Radio Insect Control" off of Ant-Man lets him take a turn with two insects. Here, I dropped it down to one, since (in what I read with him) he didn't really use any bugs in a combat situation, so he'd be a much worse "bug commander" than Pym. I'm not sure if we'd want to append a number to the end of the original power (updating it to "Radio Insect Control 2"), or rename this one to "Novice Insect Control" or what have you. More of a Final Editing concern, but, while I'm here...

OH, also, anyone have the mini for pictures? Even if you're not picture-ready, I'd also like to confirm his height (I'm sort of guessing he's at 2 based on his size relative to his base).

[IAmBatman]

I kind of like "Novice Insect Control."

Don't have this mini.

Self-Centered seems pretty appropriate. That one gets my vote.

[Hahma]

I don't have the mini either

[johnny139]

Okay, changed to Self-Centered, dropped Defense to 2, renamed to "Amateur Insect Control."

Any other thoughts before I send it to ERB? Should be able to playtest tomorrow night.

[IAmBatman]

Lookin' good.

[A3n]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Lookin' good.

[Scapemage]

Looks good to me.

[johnny139]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT Ant-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 (Not overly so, but in some situations - he's a worse commander than Hank for an Insect Army, but has more survivability himself.)

- 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? 60 POINTS
- Give a brief overview. Ant-Man pretty much performed exactly as expected - if he hits good rolls, he can deal some damage, but he's subject to some very fickle dice. He might go down a bit, but with the insect bonding I'm comfortable putting him at 60.

Spoiler Alert!

TEST 1
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Bucky (60 Points)
Bucky wins; 0 Wounds, 1 Round. Ant-Man misses the second Vanish roll and is killed pretty much immediately.

TEST 2
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Bucky (60 Points)
Ant-Man wins; 0 Wounds, 3 Rounds. This time, he remains out of striking distance consistently, and is able to whittle away at Bucky over time. Annoying little bugger.

TEST 3
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Aqualad (60 Points)
Ant-Man wins; 0 Wounds, 1 Round. Ant-Man gets a lucky hit in from above, taking Garth out with one hit.

TEST 4
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Aqualad (60 Points)
Aqualad wins; 0 Wounds, 1 Round. This time, a poor Vanish roll takes Ant-Man out before he can do any damage.

TEST 5
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Beast Boy (T-Rex) (60 Points)
Beast Boy wins; 0 Wounds, 2 Rounds. It's essentially a race against the clock as Dino-Bite takes its toll... eventually Gar hits it and finishes Eric off.

TEST 6
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Beast Boy (T-Rex) (60 Points)
Beast Boy wins; 0 Wounds, 2 Rounds. Second verse same as the first... Ant-Man is CHOMPED and quickly.

TEST 7
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Trickster (65 Points)
Trickster wins; 0 Wounds, 1 Round. Ant-Man fails his first Vanish roll.

TEST 8
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Trickster (65 Points)
Trickster wins; 0 Wounds, 1 Round. Again, Ant-Man can't Vanish and is killed immediately.

TEST 9
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Wasp (50 Points)
Wasp wins; 0 Wounds, 1 Round. Again, poor luck on Vanish puts O'Grady in an early grave.

TEST 10
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Wasp (50 Points)
Ant-Man wins; 0 Wounds, 1 Round. This one was fun... lots of decisions to make (disengage or not, how far to move, so on, so forth). Very dynamic. Ant-Man stays lucky and knocks Jan's lights out.

_____________________________________________________________

Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? YES!
- What should be the unit's point value? 20-30 POINTS
- Give a brief overview. Bad luck kills Ant-Man almost immediately.
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (60 Points) vs. Killer Pengiuns (60 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Killer Penguins win; 1 destroyed, 1 Round.

The failed roll comes on the first attack once again... Ant-Man could probably have hit-and-run them to death, but, again, fickle dice and all.

_____________________________________________________________

Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? YES!
- What should be the unit's point value? 20-30 POINTS
- Give a brief overview. Auto-wounds are bad news for a unit with only 1 Life.
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (50 Points) vs. Arkham Inmates (60 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Arkham Inmates win; 1 destroyed, 1 Round.

Essentially the same game... only this time, it's Aggravated Assault that takes him out. Subject to bad luck AND auto-wounds, I'd say Ant-Man deserves a small drop. We'll see how he performs in Army Tests.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? YES!
- What should be the unit's point value? 50-60 POINTS
- Give a brief overview. Together with a Killer Bee, Ant-Man was able to put two wounds onto Dick Grayson, and later play distraction and generally get up in the Vigilantes' faces. The heavy hitters weren't quite able to pull their weight, but Ant-Man did his job.
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man: Eric O'Grady, Ant-Man: Hank Pym, Wasp II, Green Goblin, Killer Bee x2, Fire Ant Swarm x10 (600 Points) vs. Batman: Bruce Wayne, Punisher, Robin: Dick Grayson, Robin: Tim Drake (600 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Black and Red wins; 2 Wounds on Batman, Robin: Tim Drake unharmed, all others destroyed, 4 Rounds.

ROUND 1: Green Goblin is an Avenger. The Bug Boys move in, opposite the Avengers; Punisher ends up blowing away a Bee and Ant-Man with a well-timed Auto Shotgun blast. He takes two wounds from Green Goblin, though; Goblin takes one from Evasive Strike.

ROUND 2: Green Goblin takes two wounds from Batman, but his next assault kills Punisher. O'Grady sends a Killer Bee to suicide into Dick Grayson, which it does, then zooms over and wounds him himself. Batman kills the Goblin. Wasp flies in and finishes off Dick.

ROUND 3: The Ant Swarms finally get to swarm in. Wasp flies in and puts a wound on Batman, but then takes two. Ant-Man does nothing and Wasp is killed. Two Swarms are killed, then Ant-Man himself.

ROUND 4: The Fire Swarms burst onto the scene and surround Batman, but can't do anything. They're whittled away, eventually dealing a wound but nothing more before being wiped out.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? YES!
- What should be the unit's point value? 20-30 POINTS
- Give a brief overview. Here Ant-Man did virtually nothing - other than absorb an attack and waste a turn. So, yeah, Vanish is a fickle beast... he makes for fair filler in his army, though, and certainly doesn't hurt.
Map: Custom Map (Mostly flat swamp with lava height near center.)
Units: Ant-Man (Eric O'Grady), Nick Fury, Dum Dum Dugan, Commander Rogers, S.H.I.E.L.D. Agents x3 (940 Points) vs. Super-Skrull: Kl'rt, Super-Skrull: Rl'nnd, Skrull Warriors x3 (950 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Kryptonian Killers win; 1 Wound on Deathstroke, Metallo unharmed, all others destroyed, 7 Rounds.

ROUND 1: Ant-Man, Commander Rogers, and Dum Dum Dugan are the Drop Team. The Agents move in and fire, but do no damage - one of them is killed.

ROUND 2: The team drops in, and immediately Ant-Man engages some Skrulls. The Warriors kills Ant-Man. Rogers moves in, but is Rock Wall Bounced Back; the Agents can't hurt him, either. Rl'nnd teleports in and engages Nick Fury, dealing two wounds. Nick flees, puts a wound on him, and a Kill Box finishes him off... but a bunch of Agents are now on lava. Rogers counter strikes Kl'rt, then two Agents are killed by lava and Dum Dum takes a lava wound.

ROUND 3: Nick Fury kills a Skrull Warrior, and another is killed by Rogers' counter strike. Two more Skrull Warriors are killed in the same way as the Agents move in. Kl'rt guns for Nick Fury, killing an Agent and then wounding Dum Dum.

ROUND 4: Kl'rt charges in, but can't do damage... and a Kill Box finishes him. Rogers finishes off the last Skrull.

FINAL THOUGHTS: He's an interesting unit. He makes for a pretty alright distraction - pairing him with a Killer Bee or two can probably get you some easy wounds, and he's got the survivability to pick off some smaller figures. Vanish's "not adjacent to enemy figures" clause makes him a pretty mediocre screen, though, and it's fickle, so without some Insects he's usually not worth the turn. I'd put him at 50 and see how he goes.

[Hahma]

Okay Johnny, you haven't started using drugs have you? You've got some Kryptonite Man/Ant Man crazy testing going on there buddy!

[A3n]

Originally Posted by Hahma

Okay Johnny, you haven't started using drugs have you? You've got some Kryptonite Man/Ant Man crazy testing going on there buddy!