The Book of The Doctor (1st)

[IAmBatman]

YouTube

[Tornado]

New York City?

[MrNobody]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: The Doctor (1st)

Army Test 1
Map: Dracula’s Castle (Custom Map)
Units: Team 1 (750): The Doctor (80), Cyclops II (240), Deadpool (285), Blink (145)
Team 2 (750): Doom Patrol

Pre-game thoughts: One weakness this army has is 3 different units that all want the X marker to be at their most effective. No clue if that’ll slow them down, but it’s a pretty stacked army other than that.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Negative Spirit inflicts a wound each on Cyclops and the Doctor
-Elasti-Girl inflicts 2 wounds on Deadpool
-Cyclops lets loose with Optic Destruction, inflicting a wound on Robotman and a wound on Elasti-Girl

Round 2: T1 wins initiative
-Blink inflicts a wound on Robotman, teleporting him across the map
-Deadpool inflicts 2 wounds on Elasti-Girl
-Blink inflicts 2 wounds on Chief, but he counters her for a wound
-Blink teleports Chief so far away he can’t lead the Patrol

Round 3: T2 wins initiative
-Negative Spirit inflicts 2 wounds on Cyclops
-Robotman takes out Cyclops
-T1 had all their OMs on Cyclops, so they lose a whole round
-Negative Spirit inflicts 2 wounds on Deadpool
-Elasti-Girl inflicts a wound on Deadpool

Round 4: T1 wins initiative
-Deadpool inflicts a wound on Elasti-Girl
-Negative Spirit inflicts a wound on Deadpool
-Elasti-Girl inflicts 2 wounds on Deadpool

Round 5: T1 wins initiative
-Deadpool takes out Elasti-Girl
-Deadpool inflicts a wound on Robotman
-Robotman inflicts 2 wounds on Deadpool
-Negative Spirit inflicts 1 wound each on Deadpool and Blink
-Negative Spirit does that again

Round 6: T2 wins initiative
-Robotman takes out Deadpool with a massive blow
-Negative Spirit inflicts a wound on Blink
-T1 had OM1 on Deadpool, so they lose a turn
-Robotman takes out Blink
-T1 had OM2 on Blink, so they lose a turn

Round 7: T1 wins initiative
-The DP take out the Doctor


Special power usages:
Normal attack: 0 wounds inflicted
Flanking Strike Scheme: 1 uses, 0 wounds inflicted
Wearing A Bit Thin: N/A
Lasting Wisdom: N/A

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Chief (2/4 wounds), Robotman (3/5 wounds) Negative Man (0/4 wounds), Negative Spirits (0/7 wounds)

Post-game thoughts: Doom Patrol overpowered, please re-eval.

Yeah, I think sharing the X really brought this team down. DP also relies pretty heavily on positioning, so I was hoping Blink could do a bit of disruption, but that didn’t really pan out. The Doctor just felt like an odd duck out and mostly sat around all game.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 2
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (No Glyphs)
Units: Team 1 (1,000): 1st Doctor (80), 11th Doctor (160), Batman II w/ Batarangs, Smoke Pellet, and Flashbang (250), Batwoman w/ Smoke Pellet and Flashbang (180), Tim Drake (120), Damian Wayne (80), Mia Dearden (80), Lucius Fox w/ Bat-Grapple, Smoke Pellet, Flashbang, Bolas, Infrared Goggles
Team 2 (1,000): Mister Fantastic (235), Invisible Woman (215), Thing I (325), Future Foundation Spider-Man (225)

Pre-game thoughts: Lots of no SS/Flying candidates for Doc #1 to work with, as well as lots of Glyphs for Doc #11 to work with.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-The FF start off strong, with a roll of 18 for Fantastic Leader
-Bats inflicts 3 wounds on Peter
-Bats counters Ben, inflicting a wound
-Lucius creates a Flashbang

Round 2: T1 wins initiative
-Ben takes out Damian
-Reed inflicts a wound on Bats
-Batwoman throws a flashbang, catching most of the FF off-guard
-Batwoman inflicts 4 wounds on Sue
-Tim takes out Sue
-Bats inflicts 2 wounds on Reed
-Peter inflicts a wound on Batwoman
-Reed inflicts a wound on Batwoman

Round 3: T1 wins initiative
-Batwoman takes a Flashbang from Lucius and chucks it
-Batwoman inflicts 2 wounds on Reed
-Ben takes out Batwoman
-Ben takes out Tim
-Bats counters Ben, inflicting a wound
-Lucius creates a Bat-Grapple

Round 4: T2 wins initiative
-The 11th Doctor pings a wound off of a Utility Glyph to finish off Reed
-Bats and the 11th Doctor flank Ben, inflicting a wound
-Bats takes the Bat-Grapple from Lucius
-Lucius creates Bolas

Round 5: T1 wins initiative
-Ben takes an LEA from the 11th Doctor
-Bats counters Ben, inflicting a wound
-Bats takes out Ben

Round 6: T1 wins initiative
-The 11th Doctor pings a wound off of a Utility Glyph, inflicting a wound on Peter
-Peter is finished off by a LEA from the Doctor


Special power usages:
Normal attack: 0 wounds inflicted
Flanking Strike Scheme: 5 uses, 1 wounds inflicted
Wearing A Bit Thin: N/A
Lasting Wisdom: N/A

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): 1st Doctor (0/6 wounds), 11th Doctor (0/6 wounds), Lucius Fox (0/3 wounds), Batman (1/4 wounds), Speedy (0/4 wounds)

Post-game thoughts: A pretty solid victory here. The 1st Doctor did his part, helping to reposition his allies and getting a nice unblockable in at one point.

I will note that Lasting Wisdom seems pretty hard to trigger - he’s not a big target, so unless he’s up in the enemy’s face they’re likely to ignore him. You can move him up faster, but then you’re wasting resources that could be better spent on other units.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 3
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (No Glyphs)
Units: Team 1 (760): The Doctor (90), Captain America (240), Bucky (60), Deathstroke (280), Angel (90)
Team 2 (760): Cybermen x3 (360), Cyber-Conversion Unit x2 (160), Civilians x2 (90), Zangief (150)

Pre-game thoughts: Angel has flying so he’s excluded from the Doctor’s effects, but he’s just a good toss-in unit anyways.

Zangief is going to lead the Cybermen army - maybe once he’s about dead they’ll try to convert him.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T1 wins initiative
-Deathstroke inflicts 2 wounds on Zangief

Round 2: T2 wins initiative
-Deathstroke miscalculates and takes 3 wounds from Zangief
-Cap and Bucky flank Zangief, inflicting a wound
-Zangief inflicts a wound on Cap
-Deathstroke inflicts a wound on Zangief

Round 3: T2 wins initiative
-Zangief inflicts a wound on Cap
-Bucky and Deathstroke flank Zangief, inflicting a wound
-Deathstroke takes out Zangief
-Deathstroke takes 2 wounds from Cybemen, but destroys 2 of them in the process

Round 4: T1 wins initiative
-Bucky takes out a Cyberman
-Cap takes out a Cyberman
-Cybemen inflict 3 wounds on Bucky
-Cybermen abduct Bucky
-Deathstroke takes out a Cyberman
-Cybermen inflict 2 wounds on Deathstroke
-Deathstroke takes out a Cybermen
-Cap and Deathstroke flank a Cyberman, inflicting a wound
-Bucky and a Civilian are converted into Cybermen

Round 5: T2 wins initiative
-Cybermen inflict 2 wounds on Deathstroke
-Cybermen remove OM3 from Deathstroke
-Deathstroke takes out a Cyberman
-A Cyberman inflicts a wound on Cap
-2 Civilians are converted into Cybermen

Round 6: T2 wins initiative
-Cybermen take out Deathstroke
-Cap throws his shield, taking out 3 Cybermen
-T2 had OM2 on Deathstroke, so they lose a turn
-Cap takes out a Cyberman
-Cap and the Doctor flank a Cyberman, destroying it
-T2 had OM2 on Cybermen, so they lose a turn

Round 7: T1 wins initiative
-Cap throws his shield, taking out 3 Civilians
-Cap takes out the last Civilians


Special power usages:
Normal attack: 0 wounds inflicted
Flanking Strike Scheme: 6 uses, 4 wounds inflicted
Wearing A Bit Thin: N/A
Lasting Wisdom: N/A

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): The Doctor (0/6 wounds), Cap (3/5 wounds), Angel (0/4 wounds)

Post-game thoughts: Another decent win, with some solid use out of Flanking Strike Scheme.

Cybermen felt pretty okay here. I think they could’ve actually had a win in them if Cap didn’t mow them down.

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Flanking Strike Scheme is a very useful little ability. He almost feels Oracle-esque - he’s pretty generalist and just adds on to the efficiency of your army. Unlike Oracle though, he feels less automatic in what he brings to the table, which I think is a good thing.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Gotta admit I’m disappointed only ⅓ of his powers actually came into play. I think he’s just too easy for the enemy to ignore as is. What he’s providing to your team is useful, but not useful enough for the enemy to ignore your Caps and Batmans to chase after him. I think it’s worth reworking him a bit to make sure all his powers feel useful, even if it ups his cost a bit.

Only took me a month, but he's finished!

[Tornado]

Cool. I was just telling my friend that you introduced Dr. Who into C3G.
Too bad he is not working out. Not sure what to suggest though.

[MrNobody]

So here's the changes I'm considering;

NAME = THE DOCTOR (Crossover Symbol)
SECRET IDENTITY = N/A

SPECIES = GALLIFREYAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = WANDERER
PERSONALITY = GRANDFATHERLY

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 6

MOVE = 4
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 1
DEFENSE = 2

POINTS = 120?

FLANKING STRIKE SCHEME
After revealing a numbered Order Marker on an Army Card and taking a turn with that card, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this Army Card to choose up to two figures you control without the Super Strength or Flying special powers and move them up to 4 spaces. After moving those figures, you may roll an unblockable attack die against a figure engaged with both chosen figures. Figures moved with Flanking Strike Scheme will take any leaving engagement attacks and must be within 4 spaces of the Doctor before moving.

DELICATE HEALTH
At the end of each round, if this card has any wound markers on it, roll a single attack die. If a skull is rolled, place one wound marker on this card.

LEAD FROM BEHIND
While there is a revealed Order Marker on this card and the Doctor is unengaged, all figures you control without the Super Strength or Flying special powers within 4 clear sight spaces of the Doctor add 1 to their Defense number.

I'm kind of torn on replacing Lasting Wisdom with Lead From Behind. Lasting Wisdom feels really cool and thematic to me. I like how it puts him in kind of a Ben Kenobi/Gandalf role, and how it shouts out his role in most of the Multi-Doctor specials. But it also just never got used in all 3 of my games. Maybe Delicate Health will change that, but I'd still rather see him doing something useful. I could go either way.

[Tornado]

I think you will regret not having Lasting Wisdom after you LD a few more Doctors.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by Tornado

I think you will regret not having Lasting Wisdom after you LD a few more Doctors.

Very possible. It just feels like it’s not encouraging the right playstyle at the moment, especially played with other Doctors. You want to kill him off early to get as much of the boost as possible. That clashes with him wanting to stick around to use Flanking Strike Scheme as many times as he can. (Which feels like the far more fun and thematic strategy.)

I think Delicate Health will help make him a juicier target for the enemy to at least get some wounds on, and shortening the effective range of FSS will force him to be in the thick of things a little more. So I guess we could try keeping Lasting Wisdom and see if him being more vulnerable makes it shine more.

[Tornado]

I would just drop Delicate Health and lower his Defense to 0. That should make him plenty juicy.
Then he can have LFB and LW.

[Lazy Orang]

What about Failing Health (off Thora) and Lasting Wisdom? That way there's basically a timer/set number of uses for him before he becomes a ghost or whatever.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Lazy Orang

What about Failing Health (off Thora) and Lasting Wisdom? That way there's basically a timer/set number of uses for him before he becomes a ghost or whatever.

I like that idea.

[MrNobody]

I think he didn’t take a single turn in my last 2 games, so I don’t think Failing Health would do much. (That may change as we add Companions, but I think he should feel correct as-is now.)

Is there a general dislike for Delicate Health as a power, removed from this specific design? I honestly would never have created a second power for Foster Thor in the first place, since I think Delicate Health works pretty well.

I feel like both Lead From Behind and Lasting Wisdom would be a but too stacked for a retro 60s design, personally. It would be my preference to stick to one or the other, but I’m also open to other opinions on pretty much all of this.

[IAmBatman]

Nah, I'm fine with Delicate Health. I was just hoping the suggested change would help the stated problem. It sounds like that's not the case.

I prefer Lasting Wisdom, but I'll defer to your preference.