The Book of HYDRA Agents

[Hahma]

The Book of HYDRA Agents

C3G MARVEL WAVE 4
FIGHT AGAINST FEAR



Comic PDF



Mini PDF

The figures used for this unit are Heroclix figures from the Infinity Challenge set.
Their model numbers and name are #007-009 / Hydra Operative.
Their model numbers and name are #153 / Operative 128.

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Character Bio - HYDRA is a worldwide criminal organization that uses terrorist and subversive activities in their attempt to achieve world domination. HYDRA is funded by the recovered Nazi treasure from World War II that Baron Strucker escaped with from Nazi Germany with the help of Red Skull. They are also funded by the gains of the original leaders of the Japanese secret society that became HYDRA. HYDRA Agents are subject to background checks and are sworn to a death-oath. They are trained in hand to hand combat and are supplied with state of the art weapons.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As Humans, HYDRA Agents have these Human Synergies.
• As Terrorists, HYDRA Agents have these Terrorist Synergies.
• As Fanatical Humans, Torquemada allows HYDRA Agents to receive an automatic skull against adjacent non-Human figures with his Pure Vigilance! special power and his My Terminators Are Watching! special power also lets them move and attack after Torquemada inflicts one or more wounds on a non-Human with his normal attack.

Outgoing Synergy:

• HYDRA Agents may activate a Ruthless Mastermind with their Ruthless Mastermind Bonding special power. Current Ruthless Masterminds.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial Playtest: Hahma
• Second Playtest: SirGalahad
• Third Playtest: Ticklepickle

[Hahma]

NAME = HYDRA AGENTS


SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = COMMON SQUAD (4)
CLASS = TERRORISTS
PERSONALITY = FANATICAL

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 1

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 6
ATTACK = 2
DEFENSE = 2

POINTS = 80

RUTHLESS MASTERMIND BONDING
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and after taking a turn with HYDRA Agents, you may take a turn with any Ruthless Mastermind you control.

IMMORTAL HYDRA
After the first HYDRA Agent you control is destroyed during a player's turn, add 1 to the defense of all remaining HYDRA Agents you control for the remainder of that player's turn.

Spoiler Alert!

6/30 - HYDRA Agents thread started in order to get them run through the process in order to finish Madame Hydra.

7/1 - Preliminary Playtest begun.

7/3 - Army Test 1 added to test sheet.

7/4 - Hail HYDRA changed to Immortal HYDRA after great suggestion from Bats.

7/15 - HYDRA Agents sent to Sir Galahad and Adam Souza for playtesting. Sir G brought of a possible clarity issue for "turns" in Immortal Hydra and I added "player's" in two places to help with the clarity of the power.

[Hahma]

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT HYDRA Agents @ 60 points

C3G CHECK LIST FEEDBACK FORM
- Theme/ Does it pass. Pass
- Mirror/ Does it pass,. Pass
- Bonding/ Does it pass. Pass (not really good bonding unit)
- Synergy/ Does it pass?. Pass (don’t know yet)
- Power/ Does it pass?,. Pass
- Fun Test/ Does it pass? Pass
- Fun Competitive Test/ Does it pass? Pass
- Drafting Test/ Does it pass? Pass (Will need Ruthless Mastermind)
- Usage Test/ Does it pass? Pass
- Strategy Test/Does it pass? Pass
C3G PLAY TEST FEEDBACK FORM
(Be sure to list what official units you used and what BoV map you used per section below.)
-
Heavy Hitter/ Does it pass?
Played on Ruins of Pine Tree Marsh map.

HYDRA Agents x 1 (60)

Vs. Zetacron (60) Zetacron wins with 1 wound on T1R2
Vs. Johnny Shotgun (65) Johnny wins with 4 wounds on T2R2.

HYDRA Agents x 2 (120)

Vs. Agent Skahen (120) Skahen wins with 2 wounds on T4R2
Vs. Mogrimm Forgehammer (120) Mogrimm wins with 5 wounds on T6R3.

HYDRA Agents x 3 (180)

Vs. Punisher @(180) Punisher wins with 3 wounds on T6R2.
Vs. Jean Grey @ (180) Jean wins with 3 wounds on T1R3.

Thus far, it’s evident that they aren’t worth their points w/o bonding use. Also, Skahen was tough because of Agility, though her double attack allowed the use of Hail Hydra for second attack. Mogrimm was tough because of Tough and his auto shield vs. mostly attacks of 2 or sometimes attacks of 3 with height. They had to roll at least 2 skulls and hope he whiffed with his 2 def dice to chip away at him.

Punisher had height most of the time and rained down some heat with his Assault Rifle. He made sure that the others got +1 defense for the rest of the turn after he killed the first Agent every time. Even with their defense up to 3, they are vulnerable to multiple attacks, at the 180 point range, that's what they'll face often.

I figured Punisher was kind of a rough test for them, so I tired Jean Grey who has a shorter ranged normal attack and an occasional Throw attack. She got a couple Throw kills, but had height often and her normal attack was pretty accurate. The Agents had some opportunities with two of them having height on her for a couple turns worth of attacks, but they couldn't take advantage of the bump to attack of 3.

Squad/ Does it pass? Pass
Played on Ruins of Pine Tree Marsh map

Hydra Agents x 2 (120) vs. Arrow Gruts x 3 (120)

Game 1. Arrow Gruts won with 4 left on T4R2.
Game 2. Hydra Agents won with 3 left on T5R2.

I had them go against Arrow Gruts because they were a ranged unit with bonding they couldn’t use, so they’d be even in that regard. They didn’t need their Disengage power, though Hydra Agents did use Hail Hydra.

Game 1 saw Arrow Gruts take advantage of their speed to gain height and that helped some of them to be even attack and defense vs. the Agents. Their numbers helped as the Hydra Agents weak attack didn’t ensure auto kills whenever attacking the lowly Arrow Gruts.

Game 2 saw the opposite in that due to initiative rolls the Hydra Agents were able to reach height point and destroy first wave of Gruts there and then maintain height for much of the game. Arrow Gruts did what they could, but their low attack and defense wasn’t helping them at this point and neither was their speed.



Army Test 1/ Does it pass?. Inconclusive as they didn’t have need to get activated until the end, but they died pretty good in the meantime. Not much of a threat.

Played on Platforms 5 and 6 map

Red Skull (190) Agent Skahen (120) Hydra Agents x 2 (120) Wyvern (100) Theracus (40) and Guilty (30) for 600 points.

Vs.

Thugs x 2 (150) Black Mask (100) Nightcrawler (140) Pyro (120) and Angel (90) for 600 points

Spoiler Alert!

R1 – Red Skull sends Theracus to Carry Skahen onto platform. Angel Carries Pyro onto platform. Red Skull sends Theracus back down adjacent to Guilty. Nightcrawler Bamfs full amount w/o attacking to get near ladder of central structure. Red Skull has Theracus Carry Guilty onto platform. Black Mask and Thugs advance.

R2 – RS sends Theracus to Carry Guilty onto central structure. Angel Carries Pyro onto central structure and Angel attacks Guilty but misses. RS has Wyvern move onto platform adjacent to Skahen (he could have had Guilty or Theracus attack Angel or Pyro, but with their low attacks, they wouldn’t kill either one and Angel would use Guardian Angel to get Pyro closer to Red Skull’s starting zone). Pyro uses Engulf to put 1 wound on Theracus and then attacks with Living Flame, putting another wound on Theracus and missing Guilty. RS now has Guilty attack Pyro but Guilty whiffs on both attacks. Angel uses GA to move Pyro to top of ladder of C.S. Nightcrawler Bamf’s to attack Theracus and misses then Bamfs again to attack Guilty and kills him with a 3/0 attack and then puts last wound on Theracus with a 3/2 attack.

R3 – RS has Wyvern fly over Pyro and bring him down to a lower space and >3 spaces from Angel and attacks Pyro for 1 wound. Pyro misses with Engulf, then leaves engagement from the Wyvern for 0 wounds and then moves to use Living Flame vs. Red Skull and 3 Hydra Agents. He puts 1 wound on RS and kills 2 Hydra Agents (Hail Hydra didn’t help). Red Skull has Skahen move and attack twice with height vs. Pyro and she puts 2 wounds on him. Pyro moves and uses Living Flame again to attack 3 other Hydra Agents and kills 1 (HH helped 3rd Hydra Agent to get 2 shields to block attack). Red Skull has Skahen attack Pyro and she kills him with the first attack and misses Angel with her second attack but he was able to use Guardian Angel to move away and adjacent to Nightcrawler. Angel Carries Nightcrawler to platform that Skahen is on.

R4 – Nightcrawler Bamfs to attack Skahen for 1 wound, then Bamfs to kill a Hydra Agent and then Bamfs again to attack and kill Skahen. Hydra Agents move and attack Nightcrawler who has height ,but a lucky 2 skull vs missed Evade and whiff defense puts 2 wounds on Nightcrawler, but the other attack misses. Red Skull use RM to bond and take his turn and misses with Dust of Death vs. Nightcrawler and then misses with normal attack. Nightcrawler Bamfs to attack and miss RS, then Bamfs and kills a Hydra Agent and then Bamfs and kills last Hydra Agent. Red Skull has Wyvern pick up Nightcrawler and take him lower to attack and kill him. Black Mask moves and Thugs move. RS has Wyvern pick up Angel and carry him and attack for 1 wound but he uses GA to move away.

R5 – Black Mask moves and attacks with height vs. Wyvern for 1 wound. Thugs move adjacent to BM and attack with height vs. Wyvern for 1 wound, then a missed attack for a dead Thug by BM’s hands, then 1 attacks Red Skull for 1 wound. Red Skull has Wyvern pick up Thug and take him away for an attack but missed with a 1/1 attack. Black Mask moves and attack RS but misses. 1 Thug attacks Wyvern and misses and 2 Thugs are adjacent again to BM and attack with height vs. Red Skull and first Thug puts 2 wounds on him and next Thug finishes off Red Skull. RS dead, so no turn. Black Mask moves and attacks the Wyvern for 1 wound. Thugs move and only 1 is adjacent to BM, so when they all miss the Wyvern, only 1 gets killed by Black Mask. RS dead so no turn.

R6 – Wyvern attacks and misses Thug again with 1/1 attack. Black Mask misses attack on Wyvern but a Thug is able to finish the Wyvern off.

Black Mask with 0 wounds, Angel with 1 wound and 6 Thugs remain to win on T2 R6. The 6 Hydra Agents only managed to put 2 wounds on Nightcrawler with a lucky attack, and they all died pretty easily to Pyro’s Living Flame attack and Nightcrawler’s Barrage attack.

Considering Red Skull’s cost is heavily due to his OM management for Unique Heroes, it didn’t make sense for most of the game to have Hydra Agents use OM to activate Red Skull. Kind of a Catch-22 in this case where the bonding unit would be better off not bonding and have the OM on them, kind of like bonding with Joker where he couldn’t use Reorganized Chaos, it just isn’t worth it unless it’s at the end of the game.

It didn’t help that opponent had Angel to mess up normal attack attempts from Red Skull’s whole army, yet opponent had means to bypass Skahen’s defense Opponent’s with multi-attacks are going to chew Hydra Agents up.

Army Test 2/ Does it pass?.
Played on Ruins of Pine Tree Marsh map

Red Skull (190) HYDRA Agents x 3 (180) Punisher (180) Spiderman (160) and Angel (90) for 800 points.

Vs.

Cyclops (190) Jean Grey (180) Mystique (165) Iceman (150) Toad (95) and Marcu (20) for 800 points.

Spoiler Alert!

R1 – Toad moves out. Red Skull sends Angel to Carry Punisher to a 2 level height. Cyclops takes OM 3 off Mystique’s card and puts it on Toad’s and has Iceman move 4 spaces. Red Skull has Angel Carry Punisher to higher ground near Toad and Angel attacks with height vs. Toad but misses. Toad Stealth Leaps to height and Tongue Lashes Angel to lower ground closer to Toad’s SZ and then attacks adjacent Punisher with Caustic Phlem but whiffs. HYDRA Agents move and attack Toad with height and miss. Red Skull uses Ruthless Mastermind to move and attack Toad but he misses too.

R2 – Red Skull moves Angel 2 level height to be out of Cyc’s normal attack range and out of LOS for Optic Blast as well as being within 3 spaces of Punisher, RS and 3 Hydra Agents. Cyclops had wanted to hit Angel with Optic Blast S.A. but now moves a few spaces and has Jean Grey take a turn and she moves, fails to Throw Punisher and misses him with her normal attack. Red Skull has Punisher attack with height vs. JG with his Assault Rifle and he kills her. Cyclops moves OM from Iceman to Toad and attacks Angel from 8 spaces with his normal attack but his 3 skulls are blocked and Angel moves to height with Guardian Angel. HYDRA Agents move and 1 attacks with height vs. Toad and puts 1 wound on him, and 1 can attack Cyclops but misses. Red Skull uses RM to move and attack Toad but misses. Toad fails Tongue Lash vs. Punisher but can’t reach him now with CP, so he attacks and kills nearby HYDRA Agent.

R3 – Cyclops puts OM 3 from Mystique’s card to Iceman’s and moves I.M. 4 spaces, then Cyclops misses a HYDRA Agent with a 2/2 attack. HYDRA Agents move and 1 misses Toad, 1 attacks with height vs. Iceman and misses and 1 misses Cyclops. Red Skull uses RM to attack Toad with height with a 4 skull attack but Toad matches that with 4 shields. Toad misses Tongue Lashing Angel, but kills another HYDRA Agent with Caustic Phlem. Red Skull has Spiderman move and attack Toad with Web attack but he misses. Iceman Slides adjacent to HYDRA Agent and kills him with Deep Freeze. Red Skull has Punisher attack Toad with Rocket attack but Punisher only manages 1 skull which is easily blocked.

R4 – HYDRA Agents move and 2 attack and miss Toad, but one puts a lucky wound on Iceman after I.M. whiffed vs. a 1 skull attack. Red Skull uses RM to attack and put 1 wound on Toad. Iceman attacks an adjacent HYDRA Agent and kills him. Red Skull has Punisher attack Toad with height with his Rocket and he rolls 3 skulls, but Toad rolls 2 shields with the 2 defense dice he’s allowed to roll and takes only 1 wound. Cyclops takes OM 3 off Toad’s card to put on Mystique and moves Toad out of LOS of RS, Punisher and HA’s. Then Cyclops attacks RS with height from 8 spaces but his 3 skull attack is blocked by 3 shields from RS. Angel stays put with GA. Red Skull has Punisher attack Iceman with his Assault Rifle, but he misses. Mystique moves and misses an attack vs. a HYDRA Agent with a 1/1 attack.

R5 – Mystique moves adjacent to a HYDRA Agent and attacks Red Skull for 2 wounds. Angel uses GA to carry RS further away. HYDRA Agents move and 1 misses Mystique with an attack and another one misses Toad with an attack. Red Skull moves and misses DOD vs. Toad but attacks normally with height for a 4/0 attack that puts Toad down. Iceman moves to height and attacks Punisher with Deep Freeze with a 4/0 attack that puts Punisher 1 wound away from death. Red Skull has Punisher attack Iceman with the Rocket for 1 wound. Cyclops moves and attacks Angel with Optic Blast for 2 wounds. RS has Spidey move adjacent to Iceman but he whiffs the attack.

R6- Cyclops attacks Angel again with Optic Blast and kills him. HYDRA Agents move and 1 already adjacent to Mystique puts 1 wound on her, 1 misses Iceman and 1 misses Cyclops. Red Skull stays put on height and hidden from Cyc and attacks Iceman for 1 wound. Iceman attacks the adjacent Spidey but Spidey Sense kicks in avoid the attack. RS has Punisher attack Iceman with the Rocket attack and he kills him. Mystique misses Punisher with a 1/1 attack. RS has Spidey engage Mystique (b/c she’s adjacent to Hydra Agent) and Spidey takes no wound but misses with a 2/2 attack.

R7 – Mystique moves to height (still being adjacent to HA) and attacks Spidey for 1 wound. RS has Spidey engage Mystique again but he takes 1 wound from ES and misses her with another weak attack. Mystique leaves engagement with Spidey and attacks and misses Punisher. RS has Spidey engage Mystique again for another ES wound and he misses again with a 1 skull attack. Cyclops moves and attacks Spidey but misses. HYDRA Agents move and 1 engages Mystique and dies with ES 19, 1 that’s already engaged to her (forever now) whiffs an attack on her and another one that has height over Cyclops puts 1 wound on him. Red Skull stays put.

R8 – Mystique leaves engagement with Spidey while staying adjacent to the 1 HA and attacks but misses Punisher. HYDRA Agent leaves engagement from Mystique for no wound and that one and another one miss her with attacks, while the third HA with height misses Cyclops. Red Skull stays put. Mystique moves to height and kills Punisher. Red Skull has Spidey engage Mystique again and he doesn’t take a ES wound, but he rolls another crappy 1 skull attack to miss her again. Cyclops attacks Spidey with Optic Blast but SS kicks in to avoid the attack. RS has the already engaged Spidey attack and miss Mystique yet again.

R9 – Mystique attacks with height vs a HA but misses with a 1/1 attack.. 3 HYDRA Agents move and attack Cyclops with height to put 2 wounds on him with one lucky 2/0 attackRed Skull moves and misses with DOD vs. Marcu but attacks normally for 1 wound. Cyclops kills a HYDRA Agent. HYDRA Agents move and miss Cyclops with 2 attacks. Red Skull misses Marcu. Cyc puts 1 wound on Red Skull. Red Skull moves around ruin to be able to see Spidey again.

R10 – RS has Spidey swing away from Mystique to get adjacent to Cyclops but whiffs on the attack (Spidey has rolled the worst attack dice ever in this game). Mystique moves adjacent to a HA and attacks Red Skull to kill him with a 4/2 attack. Red Skull dead no turn. Cyclops kills Spidey with a 4/1 Optic Blast attack after Spidey misses SS. HYDRA Agents move and miss Mystique with an attack and put 1 wound on Marcu. Marcu kills a HA.

R11 – HA move and attack Marcu for 1 wound and miss Mystique. Mystique moves to height but whiffs attack on HA. HA move and whiff attack on Cyclops and miss Marcu. Mystique does her Spidey imitation and rolls another crappy attack of 1/1 w/ht vs. HA. HYDRA Agents miss Cyclops but put 1 wound on Marcu. Mystique kills a HA.

R12 – Mystique kills the last HYDRA Agent.

Cyclops with 3 wounds, Marcu with 4 wounds and Mystique with 1 wounds survive for the victory.

HYDRA Agents did better this game as the map was more spread out and I could take advantage of RM bonding better to move Red Skull around. Though, the biggest thing for the early part of the game was having Angel around to help Red Skull stay alive and get into better position with GA. Angel also helped Punisher. So some of the RM bonding was certainly aided early on by having Angel at Red Skull’s side.

The good news, if my count is right, is that the HYDRA Agents put 3 wounds on Marcu, 3 wounds on Cyclops, 1 wound on Mystique, 1 wound on Iceman and 1 wound on Toad and bonding allowed RS to put last wound on Toad. While this seems impressive, they still lost, though not as bad as Army Test 1. Also, the Mutant army didn’t have squads to get multiple attacks and they didn’t have heroes with multiple attacks or explosive type attacks. The closest thing they really had to that is Jean Grey with a Throw/Normal attack but the Throw requires luck as well as the wound for it and she died early on. Cyclops has his Optic Blast to get multiples, but it’s really hard to pull off a lot of the time and can often put Cyc in a vulnerable position afterward. So really, the RS/HA team did pretty well and could have done better if Spidey had shown up to play, but then again, they could have gotten slaughtered had there been multi attackers on the other team via either squads or unique heroes. Also, their one power besides bonding doesn’t work if opponent only attacks one at a time.

Right now, at 60 points, they are 20 points apiece and more expensive per figure than Thugs who also have bonding and a power that is automatic on certain terrain. So I would be hesitant to have the HYDRA Agents any higher than 60 points at this point.

[Hahma]

First post updated with link to preliminary playtest sheet.

[NecroBlade]

They're looking pretty good so far. I think Bonding might bump them close to 70. They didn't win a single HH test, but ALL opponents were left with 1 Life. Technically, if Johnny Shotgunned a group of terrorists, killing one would also trigger Hail Hydra. Other than that, those were somewhat tough matchups (having to pin Skahen down, no Hail Hydra vs Zeta or Mogrimm [not to mention his tough]) and they still look like they performed well (a lot to be said for squadscape, I'm sure).

[Hahma]

Originally Posted by NecroBlade

They're looking pretty good so far. I think Bonding might bump them close to 70. They didn't win a single HH test, but ALL opponents were left with 1 Life. Technically, if Johnny Shotgunned a group of terrorists, killing one would also trigger Hail Hydra. Other than that, those were somewhat tough matchups (having to pin Skahen down, no Hail Hydra vs Zeta or Mogrimm [not to mention his tough]) and they still look like they performed well (a lot to be said for squadscape, I'm sure).

I added 2 more HH tests.

Thanks for the input Necro, it's appreciated. I agree that they did fairly well considering they didn't get to use their major power of bonding. The thing about Hail Hydra, is that it takes one of them getting destroyed to get it to kick in and it's only for that turn, so not so good that someone has to die to get it to work and not useful when going against single attack opponent's. Though you are right in that it can help others after the first one dies in a shotgun blast or any other area of affect attack, as well vs other squads. The thing is, that for 75 points, Thugs have bonding too, but they get a 4th member and get a +1 to attack and defense on concrete or asphalt. They do have 1 less range but that extra attacker is nice. So I can see the Hydra Agents going up to 65, and 70 if they are awesome when they bond. Though when they bond with Madame Hydra, the higher priced the Hydra Agents are, the more it will suck to use Necessary Sacrifices

[IAmBatman]

I don't know if the "immediately" is necessary in the bonding power.
Instead of "Hail HYDRA" what about "Immortal HYDRA"?
Overall, I like it!

[A3n]

Another thread of yours Hahma that I missed. They look great & the playtest look good. This should fly through.

I agree that "immediately" is probably not required.

Cheers

[Hahma]

Army Test 1 added to test sheet

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

I don't know if the "immediately" is necessary in the bonding power.
Instead of "Hail HYDRA" what about "Immortal HYDRA"?
Overall, I like it!

Thanks and changed.

Originally Posted by A3n

Another thread of yours Hahma that I missed. They look great & the playtest look good. This should fly through.

Cheers

No biggie.

We'll see about flying through.

[Griffin]

I feel the same way about Hydra Flying that I do about SHIELD Agents Flying; they don't do it all the time, so I think it would be fun for each faction to have a Unique Squad that has Flying.

[A3n]

Originally Posted by Griffin

I feel the same way about Hydra Flying that I do about SHIELD Agents Flying; they don't do it all the time, so I think it would be fun for each faction to have a Unique Squad that has Flying.

Flying through the process. Nobody mentioned the units being able to fly, knuckle-head.

[Griffin]

Originally Posted by A3n

Flying through the process. Nobody mentioned the units being able to fly, knuckle-head.

Excuse me if I am not as internationally refined as Hahma to understand your Aussie speech. No I am kidding, I misread your post as "Fly though" instead of "fly through".