The Book of U.S. Agent (II)

[MrNobody]

This passes.

[MrNobody]

Thanks! You gave me exactly what I needed dat-wise so I really appreciate it!

Originally Posted by Ericth74

I played 2 games with Cinderquail and 1 solo. Below are 1 game with Cinderquail where I controlled US Agent and 1 solo game. He'll send you the other game we played along with a solo game he played.

I liked the design in reality as I did on paper. Solid design! Let me know if you need anything else from me.

Eric



C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: US Agent

Version tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = U.S. AGENT
SECRET IDENTITY = JOHN WALKER

SPECIES = MUTATE
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = OPERATIVE
PERSONALITY = MISGUIDED

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 210

AMERICAN ZEALOT
If there is a revealed Order Marker on this Army Card, add 1 to U.S. Agent’s Attack number and Defense number. If U.S. Agent inflicts 1 or more wounds with his normal attack, you must choose an opponent, who may move an unrevealed Order Marker from another Army Card in your army to this card.

SIDEARM SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 5. Attack 4.
After attacking normally, if U.S. Agent is not engaged, he may attack a non-adjacent figure with this special attack. When determining engagement for this special attack, you may ignore any figures that U.S. Agent has inflicted wounds on this turn.

RECKLESS SHIELD DEFENSE
When defending against an attack, U.S. Agent always adds one automatic shield to whatever is rolled. Immediately after a friendly figure within 5 clear sight spaces of U.S. Agent rolls defense dice, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 13 or higher, add an automatic shield to the friendly figure's defense roll. If you roll 3 or lower, U.S. Agent cannot use this special power for the rest of the round.

SUPER STRENGTH

Army Test
Map: Swamp Lab
Units: Nick Fury, Abigail Brand, Scarlet Spiders, SHIELD Sniper, US Agent VS Luke Cage, Night Thrasher, Moon Knight, Firestar, Spider-Man Miles 170

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt: R1T1 3 wounds Firestar - Sidearm
R1T3 1 wound Luke Cage - Dead
R2T2 1 wound Night Thrasher - Sidearm
R3T2 1 wound Moon Knight - Sidearm
R3T3 2 wounds Moon Knight - Dead

American Zealot: Moved Order Markers 1 time, and it was an X - order markers at the end of the round. This game was a landslide and I mostly used US Agents Sidearm to keep Fury's bonding going and to avoid moving order markers off Fury.

Sidearm Special Attack: Used a few times dealing 5 wounds total. In this game figures were mostly out of reach for the follow up attack.

Reckless Shield Defense: The few wounds that happened were out of range or auto wounds from Moon Knights Darts. Never rolled this game.

I played this game with Cinderquail. This was a total blow out of a game, maybe the most one sided I've ever played against a person. Brand turned US Agent into an Agent every round, which allowed for bonding with Fury. Between the Drop team dropping, Scarlet Spiders, the SHIELD Sniper and US Agent, the Fighters were down Luke Cage and Firestar by the end of round 1, and the Agents only suffered 1 wound. Round 2 wasn't any different. Turn 1 the Spiders and Sniper dropped Miles. Turn 2 and and 3 saw the end of Night Thrasher. Round 3 was Moon Knight vs all the Agents minus 1 Spider. Moon Knight did take out another Spider, the Sniper and put a wound on US Agent, all with auto wounds. Moon Knight's defense could only hold out so long before being dropped by US Agent to mercifully end the game.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Nick Fury and Abigail Brand 5 full life each, US Agent 2 wounds/3 life left, 1 Scarlet Spider remaining

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Chernobyl Conflict
Units: Captain America 240, Black Panther 200, Hawkeye 150, US Agent VS Wrecking Crew

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt: R3T2 1 wound Wrecker - dead(order marker 3 moved, random roll)
R3T2 1 wound Piledriver - Sidearm
R5T2 2 wounds Piledriver - dead (x-marker moved, random roll)
R5T2 2 wounds Thunderball - Sidearm
T6T1 3 wounds Thunderball -(x-marker moved, random roll)


American Zealot: Did wounds with 3 different normal attacks which led to 3 order markers getting moved. Attack bonus was helpful against the high defense of the Wrecking Crew.

Sidearm Special Attack: Used successfully twice after normal attacks leading to 3 wounds.

Reckless Shield Defense: This power shined in this game. Rolled for 5 times. Successful 3 times, missed once and rolled a 2 once which kept him from rolling for it on a turn that Hawkeye took 2 wounds. Kept Hawkeye alive with one save and saved Cap and Hawkeye 1 wound each.

Fun 9 round game played solo. Round 1 was spent moving both teams forward. Round 2 got things going as Cap put 1 wound on Wrecker at the center of the map and Hawkeye hit Piledriver for 3 wounds from 9 spaces away. Round 3 again started with Cap hitting Wrecker but this time for 4 wounds. On turn 2 US Agent finished off Wrecker and pulled out his Sidearm and hit Piledriver for a wound. Bulldozer charged in and attacked Hawkeye for 5 skulls, Hawkeye rolled 2 shields and got his own auto, and US Agent tossed his Shield over to block another wound. Round 4 saw a lot of blocking but at the end of the round Black Panther hit Bulldozer for 2 wounds. Thunderball attacked Cap for what looked like a wound but US Agent again hit his roll and tossed his shield over to save Cap. Caps life was short lived though as on turn 1 of round 5 Piledriver hit Cap for 2 wounds, US Agent miss, and then 3 wounds which US Agent rolled a 2 and couldn't attempt a shield roll for the round. With Cap dead the Crew went on the attack, Bulldozer hit Hawkeye for 2 wounds. US Agent avenges Caps death by taking out Piledriver and hitting Thunderball for 2 wounds with his Sidearm. Thunderball hits US Agent for 1 wound and Black Panther hits Bulldozer for a wound. Round 6 starts with US Agent hitting Thunderball for 3 wounds. Bulldozer hits Hawkeye for the killing blow only to have US Agent toss his shield over and protect the archer. Thunderball strikes back, hitting US Agent for 3 wounds and Black Panther ends the round doing 2 wounds more to Bulldozer. At this point the game looks to be in hand with the Crew only having 1 life left each on Bulldozer and Thunderball. In round 7 the Crew get a key initiative switch and kill both US Agent and Hawkeye on turn 1. For the rest of round 7 and most of the nest round the 2 teams attack and block, back and forth. At the end of round 8 Black Panther takes out Thunderball and on turn 2 of round 9 Bulldozer falls to end the game.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Black Panther 4 full life

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: 210 seems right. US Agent can be strong both offensively and helpful defensively but American Zealot can hurt your plans sometimes with order marker movement. Lack of current synergy hurts his draftability some. I would definitely play him again with Fury and Brand.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: I really like this design. Lots of interesting tools and the ability to have multiple attacks is big. His American Zealot power is very thematic. The Sidearm power give him range and the possibility of a 2nd attack. And the Shield Defense was another great power that saved his team some wounds. All and all a great design. No changes recommended. His only weakness is Operative as a class, which made team building a little challenging.

[MrNobody]

2 wins here, but I'm prone to see Cinderquail's results before making big changes.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by Cinderquail

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: US Agent II

Version tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = U.S. AGENT
SECRET IDENTITY = JOHN WALKER

SPECIES = MUTATE
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = OPERATIVE
PERSONALITY = MISGUIDED

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 210

AMERICAN ZEALOT
If there is a revealed Order Marker on this Army Card, add 1 to U.S. Agent’s Attack number and Defense number. If U.S. Agent inflicts 1 or more wounds with his normal attack, you must choose an opponent, who may move an unrevealed Order Marker from another Army Card in your army to this card.

SIDEARM SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 5. Attack 4.
After attacking normally, if U.S. Agent is not engaged, he may attack a non-adjacent figure with this special attack. When determining engagement for this special attack, you may ignore any figures that U.S. Agent has inflicted wounds on this turn.

RECKLESS SHIELD DEFENSE
When defending against an attack, U.S. Agent always adds one automatic shield to whatever is rolled. Immediately after a friendly figure within 5 clear sight spaces of U.S. Agent rolls defense dice, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 13 or higher, add an automatic shield to the friendly figure's defense roll. If you roll 3 or lower, U.S. Agent cannot use this special power for the rest of the round.

SUPER STRENGTH

Army Test
Map: Ravaged Road
Units: US Agent II, Winter Soldier (Team-up), Falcon (MCU), Baron Zemo (Helmut), Black Widow (Yelena) VS Professor X, Jean Grey (180), Ice-Man, Beast, Angel, Cyclops (190)

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt:
Round 5: Beast 1 wound
Round 6: Beast 2 wounds (1 from leaving engagement)
Round 7: Ice-Man 4 wounds
Round 8: Jean Grey 3 wounds

AMERICAN ZEALOT: Got to use this power a few times, Having an OM moved to US Agent can potentially mess with your strategy.

SIDEARM SPECIAL ATTACK: Used a few times never landed a wound.

RECKLESS SHIELD DEFENSE: Having the auto shield is helpful. Kept Winter Soldier alive a lot longer then it should have.


R1- Nothing notable.
R2- Falcon destroys 2 trees dealing 1 wound to Cyclops and Angel. Falcon lands 2 more wounds on Cyclops with his normal attack. Cyclops uses his SA twice this round, with the first attack dealing 3 wounds to Falcon and WS also dealing 1 wound to US Agent. The second SA deals another wound to WS and 2 more to US Agent.
R3- Falcon lands 2 wounds on Professor X and destroys Cyclops. Jean Grey destroys Falcon with her Telekensis ability.
R4- WS gets attacked and would take a wound but US Agent rolls 18 for "Reckless Shield Defense".
R5- US Agent lands "Reckless Shield" again keeping WS alive on an attack from Beast. But WS luck runs out and is destroyed but Beast next turn. US Agent lands 1 wound on Beast, and uses "Sidearm SA" on Ice-Man but its blocked. Beast ends the round deal a wound to US Agent.
R6- US Agent lands another wound on Beast and tries "Sidearm" again on Ice-Man but its blocked. Beast leaves engagement with US Agent and takes a wound, Beast then attacks BW and Zemo dealing 2 wounds to both. Zemo ends the round destroying Beast.
R7- US Agent destroys Ice-Man in one attack dealing 4 wounds. BW deals 1 wound to Jean Grey.
R8- Jean lands a wound on Zemo with Telekenesis and another from her normal attack. US Agent takes out Jean Grey dealing 3 wounds destroying her.
R9- Angel destroys US Agent and Zemo.
R10- BW takes out Angel, and the game is called with Team 1 winning due to BW being able to kite Professor X.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Black Widow 2/5, Professor X 2/4

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: US Agent II, Hand Mystics, Masahiro Arashi, Talia al Ghul, Karai, Gray Fox, x2 Skrull Infiltrators VS Iron Man (Mark V), Iron Man (Stealth), Iron Man (MarkIV), Iron Man (Mark III)

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt:
Round 1: MkIII 3 wounds
Round 2: MkIII 1 wound, MkIV 1 wound
Round 3: MkIV 1 wound
Round 4: MkIV 6 wounds

AMERICAN ZEALOT: Good ability for boosting his stats, but requires some strategy from order makers being moved.

SIDEARM SPECIAL ATTACK: Used a few times but no wounds landed.

RECKLESS SHIELD DEFENSE: Auto shield is nice, rolled once for a friendly figure and missed it.


R1- US Agent lands 3 wounds on MkIII in one attack. Masahiro takes 2 wounds from MkV, US Agent rolls for "Reckless Shield" 7. US Agent takes a wound from MkIII
R2- MkV takes 1 wound from LE with Masahiro, then attacks him and destroys him. MkIII deals a wound to US Agent, then gets destroyed on US Agents next turn. US Agent ends the round dealing 1 wound to MkIV.
R3- Lots of attacks that US Agent defends, only wound during this round was US Agent dealing 1 to MkIV.
R4- US Agent takes 2 wounds from MkV and Stealth. US Agent the deals 2 wounds to MkIV. MkIV uses "Uni-Beam" on US Agent but its blocked, MkIV rolls 16 and fully heals. US Agent then destroys MkIV in two turns dealing 1 wound with the first and 3 the second.
R5- Gray Fox deals 1 wound to the Stealth suit, then US Agent gets attacked and destroyed along with one Skrull. Gray Fox gets taken out by MkV and Stealth suit.
R6- Karai deals 2 wounds to MkV, but gets quickly destroyed but MkV and Stealth suit. Talia gets destroyed by those two as well this round.
R7- The Iron Man team cleans up the Hand Mystics and the Skrull this round.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Iron Man (Mark V) 3/4, Iron Man (Stealth) 1/4

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Cost is good, and abilities are pretty solid. Had trouble figuring out teams for him to fit in due to his class.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Enjoyed using this version of US Agent. He can make strategizing a must with order markers being moved to his card every time he does a wound. I didn't feel like the "Reckless Shield" was to OP, having the risk of losing US Agent's auto shield for the round makes it so you really have to think about when to use it.

So one more win...and a draw? It looks like the draw would've been a win for US Agent's team if it hadn't been called, so that's really 3-1 post-changes.

Normally I'd consider just moving ahead as-is, but I do agree with the testers that he'll probably flourish a lot more once Operatives have more of a faction. It seems like most of his value is still coming from being a stat block, which is fine, but it also makes me hesitant to nerf his specials any more. I'd hate for him to out at 230 (same as US Agent vI), but I also don't want to drop his stats a ton.

So any thoughts? Would we be fine moving ahead at 220-230 or do we want to see a stat drop or something of that nature?

Also probably gonna swap out the Misguided personality. I have no problem with the Silver Sable crossover, but it wasn't tested.

[MrNobody]

So after giving it some thought, looking at the results, and comparing him to other characters at the same point cost, I think he's good at 210. I enjoy the design, so I'll probably toss him into a few more builds pre-release to make sure.

I propose a VOTE for Final Editing.

[Ronin]

yea

[LordVenoc]

Was he even tested with the existing Operative Synergies? He actually looks like he'd pair great with Apollo and Midnighter and the Operative stuff (and natural stuff in Apollo's case) they bring to the table.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by LordVenoc

Was he even tested with the existing Operative Synergies? He actually looks like he'd pair great with Apollo and Midnighter and the Operative stuff (and natural stuff in Apollo's case) they bring to the table.

Do we even really consider what Apollo and Midnighter do to be synergy? I guess I've always more just viewed them as generalist pieces with the Operative class, outside of that one minor callout on Midnighter. Happy to run a game with them, but outside of Jericho, none of the Operatives really seemed like essential testing to me.

[LordVenoc]

Originally Posted by MrNobody

Do we even really consider what Apollo and Midnighter do to be synergy? I guess I've always more just viewed them as generalist pieces with the Operative class, outside of that one minor callout on Midnighter. Happy to run a game with them, but outside of Jericho, none of the Operatives really seemed like essential testing to me.

Midnighter provides movement bonuses, and while Apollo is more generalist, he does naturally feed into the Reckless Shield defense, and they encourage an Order Marker spread so don't mind giving up a turn to US Agent in that regard.

Its fine if people don't feel its worth a look, just was surprised to see two things with a shared class overlooked that fairly naturally fed into what he seems to want to do.

[MrNobody]

I'll try a game with them, not like I'm in any particular hurry.

VOTE PAUSED.

[MrNobody]

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: Team 1 (1,160): US Agent (210), Jericho (250), Apollo (420), Midnighter (280)
Team 2: (1,160): Avengers Captain America II (220), Avengers Thor (440), Avengers Doctor Strange (320), Captain Falcon (180)

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Thor (7/8 wounds), Doctor Strange (2/6 wounds), Captain Falcon (0/4 wounds)

No super detailed notes obviously, but I ran a game and this was the result. Every piece of the Operative team felt functional (except maybe Midnighter, who died an early death to help the rest of the team position), they just didn't have a way to act cohesively. Maybe it'll be a problem if Operatives ever get a super effective factional leader, but that cost should go on the leader IMO. Glad I tested it though!

I propose we resume the VOTE for Final Editing.

[IAmBatman]

yea