That American Idiot's Random Casual Customs

[That_American_Idiot]

These are just some custom units I have made with powers I find interesting and wanted to explore in Heroscape. Some of them fill gaps that I feel the base game was missing, and I had plenty of placeholder minitures to mess around with.

Honora Rhys Master Manipulator of the Caribbean

Spoiler Alert!

Since there are no official pirate units, I was excited to craft one. This idea came from my Smash Up pirate customs. Honora Rhys' main draw is her ability to mess with any units class. Shanghai gives the player an option on who joins Honora's crew. Transforming a units class into a pirate has two main benefits. The first being her Mutiny attempts on a Hero figure becomes more likely, while the second is the potential to mess up synergies in your opponents army. Don't have an answer for Marcus and his legionaries? Recruiting either of them with Shanghai messes up their whole synergy! Be strategic though as Honora can only transform three units each game. This, of course, includes your own units if you so desire. Honora's Mutiny can work on any Hero in the battle, whether it be yours or your opponent's. The only way to increase your odds of the extra turn is by recruiting that unit to Honora's crew! I've play tested her a couple of times and do not find her overwhelming for 80 points. Stat wise she provides almost no offensive pressure, even with a range of 6. She is also quite frail, especially when her abilities require her up in the front lines. She works best tracking down a straggler from your opponent who has broken away from their main forces. Not to mention Shanghai and Mutiny's 20-sided die rolls are inconsistent. The effects they do provide, however, can be game changing. In those ways I compare her to Dund who works in a similar manner.

Even a ship as infamous as the Cacophonous Trinity needs a crew, and Honora Rhys knows how to recruit one. Persuasive charisma flows through her lips as if it were her first language. Her knack for survival against impossible odds won her a second chance on Valhalla. Aquilla honors her talent of being able to talk any foe to help her cause, even if only temporarily. Her tongue has never failed to save her skin.

Marro Mimics Terrifying Shapeshifters

Spoiler Alert!

Entirely inspired by my Smash Up customs for the shapeshifters, the Marro Mimics are most certainly in my top three favorites customs I've made so far. I once heard that simple powers make for some of the best units. An easy example of this is Krug who is a fan favorite. Well the Marro Mimics can find themselves in this easy to understand category! Marro Mimics use their victims attack value against them. With a low point value, good movement, and the ability to be reborn by the Hive, I've found the best way to play these troops is by swarming. Overwhelming a hero unit with an attack of 4 or more and getting three attacks per turn is truly a terrifying position for your opponent to be in. The most notable example I've had is when I was facing them. I approached my friend's defensive line with Shurrak, ready to get a meaty Sweeping Sword Special Attack off on some of his ranged heroes, but he advanced the Marro Mimics and I found myself in quite a sticky spot with their three attacks of 5 against my giant. They actually struggle the most against ranged units. Ranged squads in particular tend to have low attack values with their abilities and height advantage giving them a boost. The Mimics will most likely be attacking up on any ranged unit in position and having to use just the attack value printed on the defending figures card. The biggest issue with these units in a competitive setting would be the fact that games could come to a stand still if two opposing Marro Mimics were the only figures left on the battlefield. With an attack value of 0, they would have no way of damaging each other unless one was on height advantage or took a disengagement strike. This is quite easy to deal with in a casual game as you can simply state that they are only allowed to be in one person's army. This avoids any possible stalemate outright.

The grey abomination of flesh transformed once again. After cutting down yet another member of the Imperium, it turned to her. Skeletal wings sprouted covered in a thin fleshy membrane. It's skin draped down mimicking her gown. It's arm grew unnaturally long, becoming sharp and blade like. Worst of all, it's face. A spitting image of the empress it faced, contorted in a twisted smile.

[yamissflash]

For the Marro Mimics, something you could consider is making their attack 1 and putting a line that says “this power does not affect other mimics”. This would solve the Marro Mimic Vs. Marro Mimic problem.

Originally Posted by That_American_Idiot

It's arm grew unnaturally long, becoming sharp and blade like.

Also the Marro Mimic’s bio seems to imply they use flesh to make weapons, so would that mean their weapon’s should be targetable?

Balance wise, the Marro Mimics seem oppressive against high single attack heroes, while very weak against ranged squads, like you mentioned. Maybe let them copy range values but lower their defense to 2 (since they don’t appear to have the same hard exterior normal marro have). Not sure how much that would raise their points.

[That_American_Idiot]

Originally Posted by yamissflash

Also the Marro Mimic’s bio seems to imply they use flesh to make weapons, so would that mean their weapon’s should be targetable?

This is actually such a great point! I should change that right away!!


I think you're also right on giving them a single attack die to fix the mimic on mimic problem. When I designed the unit I definitely wanted the shock of seeing an Army Card with a 0 Attack value, and I think only something like the Mimics could pull that off. As is right now, you can always gain at least one attack die on them if you have height , but in a theoretical Mimic vs Mimic fight your opponent would probably never let that happen, nor would they ever disengage as that is the only other way I can think of with a Mimic wounding another Mimic.

I just also know that my games at home will never see mimics vs mimics as I only have the one army card of them which is why I haven't been more pressed on fixing that matter. But if I change them to make their weapons tangible (as I should given your excellent point!) I may as well also give them 1 attack die since functionally it will almost never matter whether their attack value is 1 or 0.