The Book of Black Mask (II)

[Arkham]

Works for me

[Arkham]

Alright, looks like we're all on board with that change. I updated the SP, and now I'm calling for a vote to move to Public Playtesting with that change, at 140.
@Viegon @Ronin @japes @Yodaking @johnny139

[Ronin]

yea

[japes]

Yea

[Yodaking]

yea

[johnny139]

Yea

[Viegon]

Yea

[Arkham]

This passes to Public Playtesting.

[Arkham]

Lazy's tests:

Name Of The Playtest Unit: Black Mask (vII)


- Theme Test - Inconclusive, as I don't know the character, but nothing felt wrong.
- Mirror Test - Pass
- Bonding Test - Pass - Chain bonding Bodyguard movement, Hired Guns attacks and a turn with a Criminal is really strong, but I don't think OP.
- Synergies Test - Pass - He lives and breathes this, and bringing the Insane into Criminal synergy conditionally is pretty awesome.
- Power Check - Pass, though he may be a tad undercosted.
- Fun Test - Pass - I had a lot of fun building criminal syndicates with this guy, especially when you can sprinkle in a little insanity.
- Fun Competitive Test - Pass - He was fun to play against.
- Drafting Test - Pass - Definitely, though you’d probably be building around him rather than adding him into another army.
- Usage Test - Tentative Pass - I never found use for moving Order Markers with him, but the option doesn't hurt.
- Strategy Test - Pass - He seems fairly strategic.

Army Test 1
Map: Bad Moon Rising (no glyphs)
Armies:
Black Mask (vII), Penguin (vII), Two Face (vII), Deadpool, Scarecrow, Mister Zsasz (975 points)
vs.
Batman (vI), Batwoman, Black Bat, Batgirl (Barbara Gordon), Robin (Tim Drake), Robin (Damien Wayne), Alfred Pennyworth (970 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Black Mask’s performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 1 wound on Batgirl, 3 wounds on Alfred Pennyworth, 1 on Black Bat.
Turns taken with Criminal Strategist: Two with Deadpool, one with Scarecrow, two with Mister Zsasz.
Order Markers moved with Criminal Strategist: None
Order Markers removed through Torturous Interrogation: 2 X Order Markers, 1 Order Marker 3.
Wounds inflicted with Torturous Interrogation: 1 on Batgirl.

Batwoman is equipped with a Flash Bang Grenade and a Gas Mask.
Black Bat is equipped with a Bat-Grapnel.

Round One

The Vigilantes claim the initiative and Batman and Tim advance.
Harvey flips his coin, and it lands Scarred side up. He and Deadpool advance.
Schmidt advances, uses the Cosmic Cube to move Scott into the river, on low ground, before punching him - the mutant blocks the blow.
Bruce charges Deadpool, punching him for two wounds. Robin grapples forwards and chucks a Batarang at the Mutant to no avail.
Black Mask advances and fires a bullet at Batman, but misses wildly.
Batgirl and Damien grapple forwards.
Two-Face tosses his coin again, and it lands on the un-scarred side. He commands Deadpool to reposition to height, remaining adjacent to Batman, and strike him twice, though he fails to harm him. Deadpool heals a wound.

Round Two

The Gotham Crime Syndicate claims the initiative. Black Mask shoots Tim Drake to no avail, but the commands Deadpool to strike Batman twice - his first blow inflicts a wound, but his second is countered by the Bat, causing him to receive a wound he immediately heals.
Both Bruce and Tim engage Deadpool on equal ground, but cannot harm him.
Two-Face flips his coin, and it lands scarred side up. Deadpool attempts to strike Batman twice, but is countered both times and can only heal one of the wounds. Harvey repositions and shoots Robin twice, inflicting one wound.
Barbara runs to height and throws an ineffectual Batarang at Two-Face, before Robin punhces Deadpool for a wound.
Two-Face flips his coin, and it lands un-scarred side up. He commands Mister Zsasz to advance.
Batgirl leaps down and punches Two-Face for two wounds. Tim strikes Deadpool to no avail.

Round Three

The Gotham Crime Syndicate claims the initiative. Black Mask shoots Robin to no avail and orders Scarecrow to advance and deploy his Fear Gas.
The Vigilantes are crippled by Fear Gas and unable to act.
Two-Face tosses his coin and it lands unscarred face up. He commands Mister Zsasz to charge Robin - he does so, slitting his throat with deadly efficiency before adding another tally to his skin.
The Vigilantes remain pacified by the Fear Gas.
Two-Face tossess his coin, and it lands scarred-side up. He commands Mister Zsasz to charge Batman. He does so, and, in two stabs, ends the Dark Knight’s life, before adding another tally to his skin. Two-Face shoots Batgirl twice - one bullet finds its mark, inflicting two wounds.
Batgirl, pulling herself together and moving forwards in utter desperation, grapples into combat with Scarecrow and kicks him in the head, inflicting three wounds.

Round Four

The Vigilantes claim the initiative, and Batwoman and Damien advance. Damien throws a shuriken at Scarecrow, but misses wildly.
Black Mask strikes Batgirl for a wound, and tortures her into forfeiting the ‘X’ Order Marker. He then commands Wade to strike her - he inflicts a wound, and she then dies under interrogation before Deadpool fires a bullet at Damien, inflicting two wounds. Deadpool heals.
Batwoman throws a Flash Bang Grenade at Mister Zsasz and Deadpool before charging in - she strikes Zsasz for a wound, inflicting a second with Surgical Strike. Damien runs to height and throws a bat-shuriken at Scarecrow which embeds in his jugular, killing him. Alfred brings him back to base for a time-out.
Two-Face flips his coin, and it lands on the scarred side. He commands Zsasz to strike Batwoman, who blocks his blows - he is still disoriented by the Flash Bang, after all. He then shoots her twice, but his bullets bounce off her armour.
Batwoman punches Mister Zsasz, but he evades her blow.
Two-Face’s coin lands on the side of mercy. Nevertheless, he commands Zsasz to attack Batwoman. She receives three wounds from his onslaught.

Round Five

The Gotham Crime Syndicate claims the initiative. Black Mask shoots Batwoman, but the bullet bounces off her armour. He then commands Deadpool to engage to finish her off, but she blocks his blows. Deadpool heals a wound.
Alfred extracts Batwoman.
Two-Face flips his coin, and it lands on the side of pain. Deadpool advances and fires two shots at Black Bat, inflicting a wound with each, before healing entirely. Harvey advances and also shoots her twice, though to no avail.
Alfred patches Black Bat up before she grapples forwards. He does the same to Damien before he advances, preparing to throw a shuriken at Two-Face. He receives a call from Penguin - it appears Bruce was merely injured, not dead, but will be soon if Damien doesn’t put the shuriken down. Damien complies.
Two-Face’s coin lands on the side of pain. Deadpool shoots Black Bat twice, inflicting two wounds. Two-Face shoots Damien twice, inflicting one.
Black Bat charges Deadpool and punches him, inflicting two wounds as he is taken completely by surprise. Damien grapples up to join her, and knifes Deadpool for a wound.

Round Six

The Criminals claim the initiative, and Two-Face flips his coin - it lands on the face of mercy. Deadpool strikes Black Bat twice and manages to inflict a wound before healing.
Black Bat knocks Deadpool out in two savage blows. Damien charges Two-Face, but receives another warning from Penguin.
Two-Face flips his coin, and it lands on the scarred side. He shoots Damien clean through the head before firing a shot at Black Bat, who retaliates with a quickly thrown shuriken, knicking his neck and leaving him nearly felled.
Black Bat charges Two-Face, and Penguin pulls his last strings to keep her from striking him. Two-Face flips his coin - he looks at the results, grins coldly, and raises his gun to finish Black Bat. She ducks down just as he squeezes the trigger, before rearing up and striking him across the head, knocking him out.
Black Bat runs back to Alfred.

Round Seven

The Vigilantes claim the initiative. Alfred fails to patch Black Bat up, so she reluctantly waits.
Black Mask advances.
Alfred continues to fail to tend to Cassandra’s wounds adequately, and she continues to hold tight.
Black Mask commands Mister Zsasz to advance.
Alfred heals Black Bat up, but she holds her ground.
Black Mask advances and shoots Alfred through the head.

Round Eight

The Crime Syndicate claims the initiative. Black Mask shoots Black Bat to no avail and Mister Zsasz holds his ground.
Black Bat grapples up and punches Black Mask twice, inflicting one wound.
Black Mask strikes Black Bat for a wound and forces her to forfeit the X. Mister Zsasz charges her and stabs at her three times, puncturing her abdomen with his third blow, inflicting a wound - he twists the knife, forcing her to forfeit her third turn or die.
Black Bat punches Black Mask twice, knocking him out and eliminating the criminals’ third turn, before turning around and focussing on Mister Zsasz, who blocks the one blow she throws his way.

Round Nine

The Vigilantes claim the initiative, and a weakened and broken Black Bat throws one pathetic and easily blocked blow at Mister Zsasz.
Mister Zsasz slits her throat, adding another victim to his tally.
Batwoman repositions, making sure that Mister Zsasz can’t quite get to her.
Mister Zsasz advances, slinking into the shadow.
Batwoman moves to height to strike him, but is blocked.
Mister Zsasz moves to equal height with Batwoman and stabs her four times. The final blow buries in her lung, and Kate Kane gasps out her last breaths, as Victor Zsasz grins.

Gotham Crime Syndicate Victorious - Mister Zsasz 2 wounds, Penguin unwounded.

Overview: Okay - that was awesome! I'll be honest, Criminal Strategist didn't feel that great when Two-Face was an option, especially since moving OMs to anyone other than a Crime Lord negates Criminally Insane, but Torturous Interrogation was really evil and useful, and, quite honestly, just opening up the Insane to Criminal synergy is useful in and of itself. In this game, Deadpool's always great, though the ‘all OMs on Crime Lords' restriction on CI kept him from healing at the end of the round, and Mister Zsasz... I'm going to say it, he's never seemed that easy to use before, but when you can get him into a proper criminal syndicate and pick his times to strike... he's bloody devastating! He was my biggest, and perhaps most pleasant, surprise of this whole game, honestly. The real turning point here was probably the Vigilantes losing all but an entire round thanks to Dr. Crane (insert Frasier joke here). I can see Roman getting a price bump, and I wouldn't mind something a tad more interesting than Criminal Strategist (not sure what that would be), but, in general, I really like him.

Army Test 2
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (No Glyphs)
Armies;
Black Mask (vII), Penguin (vII), Green Goblin, Floronic Man, Hired Guns, 4x Bodyguards (835 points)
vs.
Black Tarantula, Poison Ivy (vII), Cheshire, Red Mist, 2x Street Thugs (835 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Black Mask’s performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 1 Street Thug killed, 2 wounds on Cheshire, 3 wounds on Poison Ivy
Turns taken with Criminal Strategist: Two with Floronic Man, three with Green Goblin.
Order Markers moved with Criminal Strategist: None
Order Markers removed through Torturous Interrogation: 1 X Order Marker
Wounds inflicted with Torturous Interrogation: 1 on Cheshire.

Round One

Black Tarantula’s Syndicate claims the initiative. He and four Street Thugs advance.
The Hired Guns advance and two of them throw lead at Black Tarantula, inflicting two wounds.
Black Tarantula advances and fires an Eye Blast at two of the Hired Guns, killing one of them. He heals a wound. The Street Thugs advance and open fire on the Hired Guns, killing one of them.
Black Tarantula commands three Bodyguards to advance and his Hired Guns to open fire, killing two Street Thugs and inflicting a wound on Black Tarantula. Black Mask commands Floronic Man to advance, plant a tree to block the northern corridor around the side of the central height, and animate the plants, killing one Street Thug and inflicting a wound on Black Tarantula.
Black Tarantula charges, firing an Eye Beam to kill a Hired Gun and inflict a wound on Floronic Man, before healing. Three Street Thugs advance from reserve, and the one on the front line opens fire on the last Hired Gun, failing to harm him.
Three bodyguards advance, two locking down a Street Thug, two (including one who didn’t move) locking down Black Tarantula, and one moving up from reserve. The last Hired Gun opens fire on Black Tarantula, inflicting a wound. Black Mask commands Floronic Man to animate the plant life, inflicting a wound on Black Tarantula and killing a Street Thug.

Round Two

Black Mask’s Syndicate claims the initiative. Two Bodyguards advance. The last Hired Gun opens fire and blows Black Tarantula’s brains out. Green Goblin flies a little forward.
Red Mist advances and opens fire on a Boduguard, failing to kill him. The Street Thugs gang up on the forward Bodyguard, killing him.
Three Bodyguards advance, forming a wall of bodies against the enemy advance. The last Hired Gun opens fire, killing a Street Thug. Green Goblin, at Black Mask’s command, flies forwards and drops a Pumkin Bomb on one of the Street Thugs, but only manages to kill one of his own side’s bodyguards. He does knock a Thug out with a punch, though.
Red Mist charges and punches Norman to no avail, while the last two thugs gang up on him, inflicting a wound.
Black Mask advances and shoots a Street Thug, but fails to kill him.
Red Mist punches Norman for a wound before offering him a Payoff - the Goblin flies back, drops a bomb on two bodyguards, killing them both and receiving a wound himself, before firing a missile at Floronic Man which fails to harm him.

Round Three

Black Mask’s Syndicate claims the initiative, and Black Mask shoots a Street Thug dead. Green Goblin bombs Red Mist, and Red Mist sacrifices his last Street Thug to save himself. Green Goblin fires a missile at Red Mist, killing him.
Cheshire runs forwards.
The last Bodyguard runs forwards to intercept Cheshire. Green Goblin flies forwards and fires a missile at Poison Ivy, inflicting three wounds.
Cheshire lashes at the Bodyguard engaging her - she only scratches him, but the poison takes hold in his veins, and kills him.
Black Mask advances and fires a bullet at Cheshire, but she dodges.
Cheshire charges Green Goblin, slashing him for a wound, but the poison fails to take hold.

Round Four

Black Mask’s Syndicate claims the initiative. Roman shoots Cheshire, but she dodges. Green Goblin bombs Poison Ivy, inflicting a wound, before flying out and firing a missile at Poison Ivy, inflicting a wound.
Poison Ivy moves forwards, commands the undergrowth to swallow Norman, before failing to heal.
Black Mask retreats.
Cheshire advances.
The last Hired Gun opens fire on Cheshire to no effect. Floronic Man fails to harm her with Plant Animation.
Cheshire charges Floronic Man, slashing him for two wounds and allowing the poison to take hold.

Round Five

Cheshire claims the initiative. She slashes Floronic Man for a wound, and he dies of poisoning.
The last Hired Gun, at Black Mask’s command, strikes Cheshire twice, inflicting a wound and forcing her to yield the X.
Cheshire rips the last Hired Gun’s throat out.
Black Mask strikes Cheshire for a wound before torturing her for another one.
Cheshire moves to strike Black Mask, but is informed it would be a bad move by Penguin.
Black Mask shoots Cheshire through the head.

Round Six

Black Mask claims the initiative and advances.
Poison Ivy runs to height and next to a jungle brush, before healing a wound.
Black Mask runs up north and fires a bullet at Poison Ivy, failing to hurt her.
Plants lash at Black Mask, inflicting a wound, and Poison Ivy heals.
Black Mask charges Poison Ivy and strikes her, but she blocks.
Poison Ivy achieves nothing.

Round Seven

Black Mask shoots Poison Ivy through the head.

Black Mask’s Syndicate Victorious, Black Mask 1 wound, Penguin unwounded.

Overview: Criminal Strategist was much more useful here - being able to chain moving Bodyguards, attacking with Hired Guns, and then taking a turn with a possibly Insane Criminal is pretty impressive. The Order Marker moving is still not that useful, since unless you move it onto another Crime Lord, your Insane figures are no longer Criminals and you can’t even activate one of them with Criminal Strategist.

Thoughts On The Tested Unit's Cost, Balance, & Draftibility:

He seems a lot of fun, and actually surprised me by how strong he was in these games. It is worth noting that I’d chalk a lot of his strength up to Penguin in those games - Political Investment makes him a lot harder to assassinate, and is a nice deterrent against trying to, whereas without Penguin on his side he’d be much easier to take down. That being said, I’d still say he deserves a bump to at least 150, and even 160 would neither surprise nor bother me.

[Yodaking]

Looks like Ronin only used the OM rearrangement one time in the 3 games he ran. Perhaps cut that part out if it isn't all that useful.

[Arkham]

Getting the X off of Penguin and onto Black Tarantula seems like it'd be worth it, but I suppose people find the restriction of all OMs on Crime Lords to make it not as needed. Not sure.

[japes]

I think we need to make this a Priority test and give away the extra point for public test...This is the last figure for our December release and we missed our last release and we need a Christmas release...