The Book of Martian Manhunter (Justice League)

[IAmBatman]

Thanks, ZJ! Much appreciated.

[TrollBrute]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Martian Manhunter

Army Test
Map: Island Plane Crash
Units: Martian Manhunter (420), Nite-Owl (130), Scarlet Spider (245), Echo (130), Punisher (190), Hit-Girl (135), Catgirl (60), Robin (Damian, 80) (1,390) VS Mr. Fantastic (235), Invisible Woman (215), Human Torch (225), The Thing (325), Silver Surfer (400) (1,400)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 5 wounds to Mister Fantastic, 3 to Surfer, 1 to Thing, 3 to Torch.
JLoA: 5 markers placed.
Telepathic League Link: 4 double turns taken, activated himself 3 of those times. Very useful.

Spoiler Alert!

Big win for the JLA, but luck was on their side for at least one round, and that was the difference maker. The FF were rolling well through the first two rounds, taking out Punisher and beating on Scarlet Spider, with only a couple wounds to Surfer. Toward the end of that second round, Spider got in on Invisible Woman and put 3 wounds on her.

Starting the third round, the JLA won Init with all 3 OMs on MM. This was huge, as he activated Spider to have him finish off IW. MM then shot at Mr Fantastic and one-shot him with 6/7 skulls. This took out all 3 of the FF’s OMs, and let Manhunter take down Silver Surfer in the same round.

From there MM took shots at Thing and Torch, teaming up with Echo once. Torch’s Flame On and Supernova took down MM before the end of the fourth round, but Torch fell to Echo and Thing couldn't withstand the other Vigilantes.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): R5T5: Scarlet Spider with 5/6 wounds, Nite-Owl with 2/4, Catgirl with 1/4, Hit-Girl and Robin unwounded.

Army Test
Map: Island Plane Crash
Units: Martian Manhunter (420), Nite-Owl (130), Scarlet Spider (245), Echo (130), Punisher (190), Hit-Girl (135), Catgirl (60), Robin (Damian, 80) (1,390) VS Mr. Fantastic (235), Invisible Woman (215), Human Torch (225), The Thing (325), Silver Surfer (400) (1,400)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 1 wound on Mister Fantastic,
JLoA: 5 markers placed.
Telepathic League Link: 2 double turns taken, activated himself once. Semi-useful.

Spoiler Alert!

The FF just hit too hard and too fast in this rematch. They claimed the top of the plane tail and blasted away at the advancing JLA. When the top Vigilantes fell quickly, Martian Manhunter had to move himself in early to get the full use of Mind Link, but he was also quickly KOed by the Fantastic Four, and couldn’t pull off all four uses. The Vigilantes also had some poor attack rolls, and once Scarlet Spider got stuck next to Mister Fantastic, they had no on to use against Invisible Woman. Mister Fantastic took a risk in the end game that didn’t pay off, and he got KOed by Hit-Girl, but it was too late for her to take on the rest of the FF on her own.

Martian Manhunter activated Scarlet Spider and Punisher with the first Mind Link, and himself with Punisher the second time. Poor attacks in both turns made the use of the power less useful this game.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): R4T2: Surfer with 3/6 wounds, Invisible Woman with 1/5, Thing unwounded.

Army Test
Map: Island Plane Crash
Units: Martian Manhunter (420), Thor (430), Beta Ray Bill (420), Punisher (190), Nite-Owl (130) (1,590) VS Ms Marvel (350), Captain America (240), Bucky (60), Valkyrie (350), Booster Gold (290), Doctor Strange (300) (1,590)
Unit Summary:
Damage: 2 wounds to Valkyrie, 1 to Doctor Strange.
JLoA: 4 markers placed.
Telepathic League Link: 4 double turns taken, twice activated himself.

Spoiler Alert!

At first, everything was coming up JLA. They won Initiative in most of the rounds, and almost all of the key rounds. Without that, this game probably goes south quickly for them. Thor also had amazing defense for most of the game, not taking a wound until midway through the game. Doctor Strange removed two OMs during the game, one of which could have hugely swung the game, but both turned out to be ‘X’s. Given all that, it’s a surprise where things ended.

To start off, Beta Ray and Thor moved toward the plane to meet the advancing Avengers, using Booster’s Temporal Displacement to great effect. At the start of the second round, Thor called down his Lightning on 3 Avengers. It only struck one, but that was Ms Marvel, which was a huge blow. Thor and Beta Ray spent the rest of that round and most of the third chipping away at Valkyrie’s defense. It was slow, but their own defenses held up, especially Thor’s. Martian Manhunter moved in on the third round, activating himself with League Mind Link. He nearly fell to Ms Marvel and Cap, but just held on at 4 wounds, allowing him full use of his Mind Link in the game.

Beta Ray and taken a few early wounds from Cap’s Shield, and the Avengers focused their attacks in the middle rounds on him and Martian Manhunter to try and remove the double turns, but they weren’t able to do it fast enough, and it left Thor undamaged for the later game. Once Valkyrie went down, Ms Marvel was not far behind. Cap also fell before doing much damage, but Doctor Strange finished off Beta Ray Bill before dying, leaving Thor, MM, Punisher and Nite-Owl againt Booster Gold and Bucky.

From here, Booster Gold became a one-man wrecking crew. He claimed the top of the plane tail and blasted away at Thor. In a head-to-head battle that he should have handily won, Thor lost to Booster, only dealing him a wound over three rounds. Punisher also moved in, using his Rocket Launcher to hit booster for two wounds, but being KOed before he could finish him. This still left Martian Manhunter with only 4 wounds plenty of chances to end it, but he failed his attacks against Booster and eventually died as well. Booster then finished off Nite-Owl easily.

Martian Manhunter used his Mind Link once each round in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th rounds, activating Thor with all four, Beta Ray and himself twice each. It was used all four times on the first OM of the round. It was very effective at keeping the Asgardians together while repositioning, and getting in some solid attacks.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): R10T2: Booster Gold with 3/4 wounds, Bucky with 3/4.

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Two losses here, one of them big, but the third game really should have gone to the JLA. I also played him at slightly lower costs than some of the other testers, and he will definitely shine at higher costs. He’s still very useful in the 1400-1600 range, and I could see him being very good closer to 2000. Both of his games were against armies with possible multiple-activations from high-cost figures and I would say he holds his own against them fairly well. His stats and Density Control also give him lots of play as a fighter.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: I actually enjoyed playing him more than I thought I would. Even at the costs I played him at, his Mind Link was extremely useful, and army building with him is an interesting challenge. A very good start to the JLA.

[Yodaking]

Looking good here. I really like how you ran a rematch and the results were flipped.

[Tornado]

Great tests as usual TB. Looking good.

[IAmBatman]

Sounds like we're good to go with what's in the SP?

[Arkham]

Before I call for a vote, what do people think about releasing him at 410 instead of 420? Looking at all the tests, he went 2-7 for his W/L record. That's over several different point values, ranging from 1,000-2,500. Is that a concern, or do we feel that's ok?

Makes no difference to me, but I don't want to release him at 420 if it turns out he's over costed down the road, and we had the results somewhat showing that. If that's not the case here, and we feel comfortable as is, I'm cool with it.

[IAmBatman]

From my tests, I don't think he'd feel broken at 410 or overcosted at 420. But when you're playing at 1500+, 10 points isn't a huge difference.

[TrollBrute]

A lot of the losses were pretty close (though a couple were major defeats), and he is the start of a faction. 10 points isn't a big difference once you're 400+ though, so I'm good either way.

[johnny139]

I'd definitely advise going slightly higher with this one - it's better to have that cushion here rather than on future units in his synergy web.

[Karat]

Originally Posted by johnny139

I'd definitely advise going slightly higher with this one - it's better to have that cushion here rather than on future units in his synergy web.

[Arkham]

Ok, sounds good.

I propose a vote to move to Final Editing at 420.
@IAmBatman Yea
@johnny139 Yea
@TrollBrute Yea
@Karat Yea
@SirGalahad
@Viegon Yea

Can anyone get a picture of his figure?

[TrollBrute]

Yea