Springtime Custom Competition Poll - Congrats Astroking112!

[Heroscaper 101]

You might want a squad with the Taunt ability to keep Arboris alive, my Defenders of Oak might help and others like Val Goldenbark. Your overgrowth special power for Arboris might be equal to Dread Wood's special power.

[Dr.Goomonkey]

Originally Posted by kolakoski

I voted for three entries for three separate reasons. A cool mechanic, arelica of one I’d seen on screen, and mine.

I guess it's time somebody finally brought the ban hammer down on this fiend.

Admittedly, I didn't post any rules in this thread, and Arboris won anyway. Now I wonder who all isn't admitting to committing such an attrosity...

[HEROSCAPERMTL]

First off, congrats to @Astroking112 ! And a big Thank You to our wonderful competition host @Dr.Goomonkey , without whom these fun and exciting custom comps would not be.

Secondly, I would like to express my gratitude to everyone involved, from contestants to voters, for making this comp so much fun. Here's hoping the next one will be just as much fun!

As for my voting, I voted for Oakshadow, Arboris and Wood Elemental. I felt these 3 units as a whole were the most balanced and creative (without being too creative), with little to any overdesign.

As for my entry, I am the creator of Elder Oak. And yes, Treebeard was the inspiration behind him. In hindsight, I agree with most of you guys that 3 move is too slow for him, especially because I neglected to take into account the hindrance of elevation during movement. My main concern for giving him a higher move value during development was Acolarh. An Elder Oak carrying Acolarh has an additional 2 move, so I didn't want a 7 or 8 move Elder Oak possible, but I'm more open to the idea now. What do you guys think about increasing his move value to 5? I'm also contemplating removing Fire Weakness due to consistency issues. Elder Oak still has some tweaking to do but I am very happy with how he's turned out.

Lastly, I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and constructive criticisms regarding Elder Oak, you've definitely been heard! And @BiggaBullfrog , ent siege towers do sound pretty epic!

[Lazy Orang]

Congratulations, Astroking! I won't praise the design too much (yet) since, as the contest's now over, I'd like to go over the designs from top to bottom giving my thoughts ( I prefer not to do that while the contest's running, especially since I'm in it myself). I don't have time to comment on all of them yet, but let's get started.

Wood Elemental

Solid design, and a nice addition to a Kurrok build, plus, as someone aware of the Chinese Elements, I've always wanted to see Wood and Metal Elementals in Heroscape, so this appeals to me. The one thing that feels a little off here is brush cover - as others have said, it feels weird that something this small would be able to provide that. Aside from that, solid card.

Darkwood Treant Guardian

Solid concept, if a little obvious and cliched, though that's not necessarily a bad thing - even though they're concepts that feel a little over done, having it awaken the forest to attack your foes and regenerate naturally are still nicely evocative. I will say, though, that it's massively underpriced - on tree heavy maps affecting everyone near a tree with Awaken the Forest is pretty terrifying, even if the required roll is pretty high that's still a lot of opportunities for free kills. Not only that, but 4 Defence, 6 Life and healing at the end of each turn while on the right terrain is some pretty amazing survivability. He's terrain specific, but on the right terrain he's an absolute monster - I'd probably say to put 70 points on top of his cost, minimum, and try him like that. In addition, given how rare and expensive his figure is, I'd like him better as a Unique Hero, plus his abilities make him feel more like one to me (though that's pretty subjective). At 170 Points and a Unique Hero, this guy would be a really fun figure to play, I think, though.

Wooden Revenant

Interesting. Some people have been saying this guy could be overpowered for his cost, what with his essentially six attack. Honestly, I don't think it's too crazy - Crixus is only 15 points more and, while his attack's one lower, he's much harder to kill and has an arguably better bonding squad than these guys. They are swingy though - if you're on a grassy plain or in a thick forest or jungle, he's solid, but if not, the fact that he'll often be essentially a 3 Life, 2 Defence figure should make him easy to put down.
I have to admit, the theme feels a little on the odd side to me. He feels a little like a standard undead revenant, which feels like a different theme from a tree monster. Then again, crossing those sorts of themes was a creative idea, and something like this wouldn't feel entirely out of place in, say, folklore, so I can run with it, and the fact that he's only at full strength if he manifests on grass or near trees helps sell the animated tree theme, as though the soul of the fallen hero has animated the wood. As others have noted, though, the idea of any random death satisfying his lust for vengeance feels a little off to me. In all honesty, I'd suggest somehow doubling down on the animated tree part of the design - the fact that he appears where a hero fell already gets the revanant bit across, and apart from the Move of 4 and the bit about how strong he is being terrain dependent, there's little about the design that feels like it earns the 'Wooden' part. I feel as though cutting Vengeful Drive and giving him something that made him feel more like a walking tree would make him more thematically distinct from a standard, undead revanent, and leave room for one of them in the game as well.

[flameslayer93]

Congrats Astroking!

I thought voting for 3 ent-trees was cool since there were 15 choices or so. :

[Dr.Goomonkey]

Originally Posted by flameslayer93

Congrats Astroking!

I thought voting for 3 ent-trees was cool since there were 15 choices or so. :

There actually managed to be exactly 15 entries! I don't know how you guys pulled that off, but good job.

Thanks to everyone who entered, these contests are a blast to run and it is delightful to see how they have grown. I remember making an entry myself for a couple early ones, just so there were more than 5 choices.

Great thanks again to everyone who participated, including everyone who entered, all of those wonderful posts discussing each entry in detail, and of course the all important voters. Thanks for making this the best contest yet.

[Confred]

A tornado knocked power out in my area, so I'm way behind on my reviews. They're fun to do, so here we go!:

Wood Golem
Breaking the mold with going golem vs typical natural plant creature, but no ratings gained/lost. I'm not a fan of Golem/Construct - one or the other I say. imperfect/unpolished wording and punctuation.
Fury of the Forest - not sure if once per round is necessary. fun factor vs tactical i suppose, but with slow Move, having a decent attack power makes sense. I think another said the power is generic for the name, might as well make name generic so that it may be used elsewhere.
Bark Hide Armor - odd name. again, could be generic. I do however like the power and it gives the figure much needed edge. also golem flavor - yet challenge isn't golem; it's ent.
Root Entanglement 11 - lots of tracking issues
overall - an unpolished figure that could be something after it returns from the drawing board - lower points depending on revision
C-

Gnarl of Elder
Cool name. Gnarl is an aspect of tree, but here it feels like it's doing double duty as a title, like Earl of Elder: kudos! fun trivia: when I first read this card's sidebar, my eyes played tricks one me - it took an entry and duplicated it, but altered it: I saw Treant. but for class, I read "Tyrant" and i thought him like this mean old Uncle Gnarl. and then I saw his Undead Hatred and his figure looks like a scowl. cool. but that's not what happened lol.
Tree Ally Strike - Well that's a cool power. At first I didn't like the "tree or bush" phrasing, but it has grown on me.
Boulder Throw Special Attack - top down design (figure is holding a rock) but I vaguely remember the Ent's throwing stones in LotR. Also a game I grew up with as an adolescent had stone throwing treants. cool. Instead of throwing more stones (not a fan of hasty trees), I think adding Range would be better. Interesting that trees don't help the defenders. unlike "tree or bush," i haven't warmed up to "Palm Trees and Underbrush" - keep it tree or bush.
Undead Hatred - cool flavor without having to read backstory. questionable phrasing though; i may need references.
Overall - one of the more polished submissions.
A

Entrean the Elder
Now that the contest is over, *I reveal this is my entry.
I was stumped as to his species at the time. I love using official classes and personalities, so when I saw Sentinel, I was like "yahs!"
I really like how I framed his picture, tall and looming and judging.
Shepherd Evergreens - the concept of ents herding trees has captured my imagination since a boy. in several rpgs that I have created, I've incorporated beefy tree walls to good effect. Evergreens are specifically mentioned because of their base, jungle pieces lock in. The trees have smaller stats then Entrean purposefully. They're like his squad that he bonds with. they had to be destructible to prevent stalemates. I admit, that I haven't parsed out how long it takes to actually position trees the way you'd might want, nor did I spell out dealing with elevations, but I love the thought of this treeman just shuffling his trees about. He's Aquilla due to this neutral removed daresay roguish state.
Root Crush - I wanted this to be a flashy power that roots and crushes. I wanted a trample power. i admit I overlooked the tracking issues. at one time, the rooted figures were adjacent to trees and that was the tracking help. but that didn't make sense because the trees were the kicker - i wanted a power that didn't require trees, but comboed off them. i then used entrean himself as the aide - they couldn't move as long as adjacent. but at the last minute it was like he's slow enough. I'd like him to get rooted and the herd move on (which is why i added the no leaving strike clause)
as far as body. I wanted him big and sexy and rare and impressive. but Move 4 is significant. it's only one less than average, but ive done enough customs to know that matters. he had to be beef to matter. i didn't want him simply shot down before action. but then to have that many points he had to be justified. what is his purpose? hes a shepherd. some say being able to destroy evergreen trees is worth it enough.
Overall- I was surprised his vote was on the bottom curve.
N/A*

Oakshadow
First impression - cool name, small bod, Warden is cool I wonder how it plays out.
Nature's Wrath - may need to check phrasing, but cool power. range is low, but two targets is significant.
Barkskin Defense - cool name. may need to check phrasing, but cool power. makes me take back his "small bod" comment. I like this actually.
Overall - one of the more polished figures.
A

Arboris
First impression - 1 Life Unique Hero? capitalized markers? a power that's literally worthless without another power?
Overgrowth - pretty much everybody didn't interpret this adding the marker on the first round. perhaps add that. I like the growth theme as it felt quite planty, not treey, but planty. encouraged turtling isn't the best, but we're talking treefolk here, so slow play is just fine.
By the Roots - I really really don't like powers that create markers without a use for them and powers that require markers without a means to create them. My initial thoughts were to remove this power and replace it with something simple to balance the above complicated power. But if this power also added overgrowth markers, with payment from rooting, like maybe not moving or something, and then perhaps spent markers to get the additional attacks or something. this was a miss for me.
Guardian - I like this class. in EverQuest, there are Protectors of Growth, that have a similar figure stats and beat bottoms.
Protective - not a fan, but didn't really count the sidebars against, only for.
Overall - a bit wonky, but it captures the theme of a growing organism in a standout way.
B

[White Knight]

I just realized that for Shepherd Evergreens, a FAQ would be needed for how to move the huge evergreen tree that takes up 4 spaces.

[flameslayer93]

Originally Posted by White Knight

I just realized that for Shepherd Evergreens, a FAQ would be needed for how to move the huge evergreen tree that takes up 4 spaces.

I think that falls under the “if possible” part of the power lol.

[Confred]

Originally Posted by White Knight

I just realized that for Shepherd Evergreens, a FAQ would be needed for how to move the huge evergreen tree that takes up 4 spaces.

Same as 2-space, choose a starting hex, shift it 1 space to ending hex. If it overhangs or is blocked, move isn't possible.

[Lazy Orang]

Birch Sentry

Okay... I'm going to be harsh here. I know other people have mentioned the Range of 0... it literally means this figure can never attack. I have no issue with having a figure like that in the game if it serves a different role, but that doesn't seem to be the case or the intent here, particularly given the Attack of 3. Even ignoring that, and assuming a Range of 1, it's a 60 Point Common Hero with no activation synergy and two powers that require a cluster of them... that feels like it's horribly inefficient both in terms of points (each 60 Points only adds one total Life to your army, with very little offensive potential) and Order Markers (these guys have to be moved up individually and need to be clustered, which will make effective deployment virtually impossible). Add in the thematic weirdness of a figure called a Birch Sentry having a power called Mighty Oak Shield, and I'm not feeling it. The concept is interesting, but it needs a Range of 1, a drop of at least 20 points and some kind of activation synergy (either Kurrok or Wyrmling style) to be viable.

Enchanted Tree

Now this is a fascinating unit. While some people have issues with referencing Homeworld for synergy purposes, I have no issue for it - wouldn't work for official, I recognise, but for a custom, I think it's brilliant. I really love the theme and visual of a gradually expanding forest here, and these guys should make for great OM flexibility in Feylundian Hero armies (basically creating that as an Army build option, the same way the Command Courier did with Vydar Heroes (though I admit I've never played that build...)) as well as providing jungle-style cover - they should be quite useful and versatile.
I will admit, though, they feel just a teensy bit underpriced... if you compare them with the Command Courier, their closest comparison, IMO, they're obviously weaker. They can't move for one, they don't have a ranged attack, and Fleet of Foot and an extra defence die makes the Command Couriers much harder to kill, and of course it has a weak ranged attack, making it arguably better offensively. Command Dispatch means it can't attack when using it, wheras the Enchanted Tree can theoretically attack while bonding with its hero, and with a higher attack... but only if an enemy's in melee with it, which makes it kind of a wash offensively. The Enchanted Tree then gets some major bonuses - they can be placed without turns being required, they can return from destruction and they provide cover, all things the CC can't do. Of course, there are other weaknesses because of the way Feylund Hero Bonding and Enchanted Forest work - 'supply lines' can be fairly easily cut, for one, and if the last tree's cut down, no more are coming, not even ones that haven't been placed yet. The more I talk, the more I wonder if 5 points is reasonable, but part of me would feel more comfortable with 10. Either way, I'd love to see these in my collection - anywhere I can get a decent number cheap? If not, I may have to make 'em from scratch - this is a great design!
Oh, and nice, humourous bio, too.

Timber Custodian

Fairly simple card. Not feeling Swat here, if I'm honest - feels a little generic, as though it could go on any giant sized creature, not feeling any reason it should be on this one particularly, there's nothing that makes me feel 'tree-creature' about it. Take Root's a fairly interesting power, though... encourages taking multiples, encourages bringing more up from reserve while ones at the front-line heal... I like it, it's interesting and nicely thematic. I wonder what sorts of armies you could build here - since you'll want at least two for Take Root, ideally three, I'd say, they could leave you with limited space for the rest of your army... but still a decent-ish amount? Honestly, my only issue with Take Root lies not in the design itself, but in the figure - the figure is far too rare and expensive for me to want it seen connected to an Uncommon Hero reliant on multiples - but that's less an issue with the design and more an unfortuate fact of life.

[Lazy Orang]

Jubokko

This was my design, and as such, I won't review it so much as respond to a couple of criticisms and explain my design process. First off, I don't know what @NecroBlade and @Confred were referring to when saying that Life Drain was off - I have checked and double checked it next to Cyprien, and the powers are identical. For anyone wondering where the glyph is, it's in a spoiler tag under the card as part of the submission.
As far as the unit goes, I'm well aware I designed something not to everyone's taste, and that was never meant to be, never would be, never could be, never should be and never will be official. I'm okay with that - I wanted to design something interesting and unique for my own personal use. The first thing I decided upon was that I didn't just want to design an ersatz ent - it felt too obvious to me, and I already have LotR customs planned for Superscape. I felt no need to have a pale ent immitation in the game when I'm eventually going to have the real thing. After a quick Google search I stumbled upon the jubokko, Japanese yokai trees who have drunk the blood that has leeched into the soil from massacres and developed a taste for it, and knew what I was designing.
To those who have mentioned that a healing glyph being dropped by a a murderous tree, I understand, but I can only say that, according to Wikipedia at least, jubokko trees are meant to have healing properties. It didn't elaborate, though I personally imagine them acting a little like leeches based on how the tree behaves in general, sucking out the impurities in your bloodstream. As for ten figures being a high number required to bring them onto the battlefield... I wanted it to feel like an actual massacre was required, and I can honestly say after playing them that, in most matchups, 10 is not an unreasonable number. Depending on the matchup and luck, how long it takes to field them can vary wildly - they'll be in reserve much longer if the players field elite armies rather than swarm armies - but they will pretty much always appear, and a lot of the time it won't take long. The very first game I played with them, both appeared after the very first round. Granted, that was against Ashigaru, but still. Note that your own figures contribute to the 10 required, as do your opponent's - it really isn't that much.
Yes, the design is complicated, and I know that isn't to everyone's taste, but, to my own personal preferences, it was worth it to get them playing right. I find them genuinely fun to play - choosing what tree to posess and when is a really strategic choice, and these can be nice both for free attacks and area denial. Of course, not moving hurts them, but they're build around that from from the ground up. They're an interesting, fun filler unit, and one I'm exited and happy to have in my collection.

Tsuri Oni

I really, really like these guys. Can't See the Trees for the Forest is a funny power, and actually quite useful and evocative at that. Splinter feels like it could be a little powerful, but doesn't feel too unreasonable for a three man melee squad at 100 Points. The only things that feel a little weird here are Demon as a class and the name - not sure where the Japanese name came from, as I don't see any major Japanese influence here (though of course I could be missing something). Those things are minor, though. If I could find enough of these figures for cheap enough, I would add this unit to my collection (though likely with a different class).

Elder Oak

Congratulations, HeroscaperMTL, you created Treebeard! Not that there's necessarily anything wrong with that - Syvarris was pretty obviously a Legolas expy, after all - but it's not really to my taste, I'll admit. I'd far rather play a unit that was meant to be the actual character or something that's its own distinct thing than this sort of halfway house, as I mentioned before, but to each their own. Apart from that, it looks fun - 3 move is pretty crippling, I'd probably suggest upping it to 4, but Double Carry does seem like an interesting power. Not sure offhand how you'd best use that sort of power - maybe carry Raelin and a decent combat hero? The only real other criticism I'd have is that this is another unit that feels like it's Uncommon just because and would fit better as a Unique Hero, though again, that could just be my personal taste.