The Book of Ice

[Hahma]

Probably should specify Unique Heroes, which will also cover Uncommon Heroes. No reason a Common Hero figure 10 spaces away from another Common Hero figure that shares its card should be affected by Freeze Blast.

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, I tend to agree. Thanks, Hahma. Didn't have the brainpower to suss that one out.

[A3n]

When I wrote the power I intended to include Event Heroes also. I'm if we decide not to for simplicity sake.

[quozl]

"Unique or Event Hero" has been used before and it's pretty simple.

[johnny139]

I don't mind keeping Event Heroes out... since they're fundamentally powerful and all that.

Would the Anti-Monitor be slowed down by a little ice?

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, good point. Thematically, going just Unique Heroes probably works best. It's a shame it won't work better with squaddies, though.

[A3n]

SP updated. I believe this is ready for an initial when you have a chance Bats. Thanx.

[IAmBatman]

Cool. It's number one on my "to do" list and will hopefully happen over the course of this week.

[IAmBatman]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (ICE)

- THEME TEST/ Check to see if there are any powers or stats on the test unit card that does not accurately reflect the theme or likeness of what the character would and could do. Also consider destructible objects, and whether or not this characters powers should affect them.
PASS

- MIRROR TEST/ Check to see if the unit were played against itself, if there would be any loops that would upset the balance of the Game.
PASS

- BONDING TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing Bonding abilities to make sure there are no continual Bonding possibilities that do not stop appropriately or do not stop at all. This is to prevent loops in Bonding.
PASS

- SYNERGIES TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing synergies to make sure there are no factors that could break the game by making any unit to powerful or too weak.
PASS

- POWER CHECK/ Consider the test unit and all existing units and all glyphs to compare to and check for any powers that could be over amplified and break the game. Each power must define when it takes place, who or what it affects, and What are the stipulations on the power if there are any.
PASS

- FUN TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play.
PASS

- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against.
PASS

- DRAFTING TEST/ Consider whether or not this design is worth drafting.
PASS

- USAGE TEST/ Consider whether or not all of the powers on this card were used or at least usable.
PASS

- STRATEGY TEST/ Consider whether or not the design offers any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game.
PASS

Heavy Hitter or Mid-Level Hero Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes.
- What should be the unit's point value? 130-140.
- Give a brief overview. Ice is a tough match up in one-on-one situations due to how her powers work. She’s also very streaky, because a Blizzard roll can be very all or nothing, and all is very nice one-on-one, whereas nothing isn’t so good. I think her powers will probably be slightly less valuable (because they’ll be easier to avoid) in army tests, so I’d lean towards 130 so far.

Spoiler Alert!

TEST 1
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Firefly (120)
Ice dominated most of this one, but Firefly got in a solid shot to make it closer. Ice hit an 18 for Blizzard on her first turn, which ended up killing Firefly’s third turn (he didn’t start within 5 spaces of her before that). She used her two to one attack advantage in the round, along with reliable skull rolling, to get 3 wounds on Firefly, along with 3 Ice Markers. Firefly got in a solid three wound shot on Ice in Round 2, but it wasn’t enough to save him once he was down to one defense die.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Ice with 3 Wounds wins Turn 3, Round 2.

TEST 2
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Firefly (120)
This was very similar to last game, but Firefly only got in a shot on his first attack, and didn’t last until the second round, thanks to better attack rolls by Ice. Ice once again hit for Blizzard on her very first turn, robbing Firefly’s third turn of usefulness.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Ice with 1 Wound wins Turn 6, Round 1.

TEST 3
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Firestar (120)
Ouch. Ice hits Blizzard on her first turn for the third straight game (hot D20 rolling!), climbs to height after Firestar burns a useless OM2, hits 4 attack, shifting an Ice Marker to Firestar to reduce her defense to 3, and then Firestar whiffs, taking all 4 wounds. Down in one shot!
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Ice with Full Life wins Turn 4, Round 1.

TEST 4
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Firestar (120)
Yet another first turn hit for Blizzard! This time Firestar turtled in the start zone, forcing Ice to chase her down, and Firestar actually managed to get a shot in with her special attack and roll 4 skulls. Ice rolled three shields on defense, though, and then Firestars third turn was lost in the snow. Then Ice hit Firestar for two wounds, followed by winning initiative and finishing the job. Firestar died with 2 Ice Markers on her card.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Ice with 1 Wound wins Turn 1, Round 2.

TEST 5
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Batroc the Leaper (130)
Yet again, Ice hit Blizzard on her first roll, but turtling let Batroc still sneak in an attack on his second turn, scoring a wound, before wasting his third turn in the snow. Ice managed to get 2 markers on him in Round 1, but only one wound.
Ice fell into a trap of thinking she could finish Batroc quickly enough to not worry about his attack, but when she didn’t roll for Blizzard again and he defended well, he got in one attack from height, and a second attack later, that finished her even as he collected his third Ice Marker and third wound from her attacks.
Definitely even all around!
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Batroc with 3 Wounds wins Turn 4, Round 2.

TEST 6
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Batroc the Leaper (130)
Ice finally misses a first turn Blizzard roll! Given the choice to roll for Blizzard again on her second turn, or attack from height, she chooses to attack from height, rolling 4 skulls, putting an Ice Marker on Batroc, and giving him 3 quick wounds.
He responds with a nasty leaping kick, that goes for 4 skulls, and hits 3 wounds on Ice. Her next attack puts a second Ice Marker on him, but he rolls 2 skulls, blocking all wounds, and then counters by jumping to even height and knocking Ice out of the match.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Batroc with 3 Wounds wins Turn 6, Round 1.

TEST 7
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Siryn (140)
Siryn has a bad match up here, with her powers not that useful one-on-one. Ice misses her first turn Blizzard try, but does get two Ice Markers on Siryn in Round 1 (if only one wound to go with it). Then Ice wins initiative in Round 2, rolls 4 skulls, and finishes poor Siryn (who’s down to 1 defense) off with ease.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Ice with 2 Wounds wins Turn 1, Round 2.

TEST 8
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Siryn (140)
Ice failed her Turn 1 Blizzard roll once again here. Siryn rolled really well on her attacks (4 skulls, then 3 skulls) and Ice didn’t roll defense well. Ice did get one Ice Marker on Siryn’s card, and one wound on Siryn, but fell to Siryn’s furious attacks.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Siryn with 1 Wound wins Turn 5, Round 1.

TEST 9
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Human Torch (Jim Hammond) (150)
Ice fails her Turn 1 Blizzard roll, then Human Torch (who had initiative in Round 1), hit her with a nasty six dice attack from height, putting 3 early wounds on her. Ice hit back, placing an Ice Marker, and hit Human Torch for 2 wounds. Human Torch was unfazed, though, and finished Ice off on his next attack.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Human Torch with 2 Wounds wins Turn 2, Round 1.

TEST 10
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Human Torch (Jim Hammond) (150)
Ice just couldn’t roll well here, from missing her Turn 1 Blizzard roll, to rolling one skull on all three of her attacks. She ended up putting three Ice Markers on Human Torch, but couldn’t slip in many wounds to go with them. Meanwhile, he hit her twice with normal attacks (once from height) and once with his special attack, which also scored an additional burn wound.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Human Torch with 1 Wound wins Turn 2, Round 1.

_____________________________________________________________

Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes.
- What should be the unit's point value? 110-130?
- Give a brief overview. Ice rolled poorly on her attacks and didn’t get enough of a boost from her powers to compensate.
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Beat Cops x2 (130)

Spoiler Alert!

Ice hit her first Blizzard roll, on the first turn of the first round. She had no use for her Freeze power in this match, though, and couldn’t roll well enough on attack to take out the Cops very fast. Meanwhile, their numbers and activation flexibility helped them get in one turn of attacks before getting frozen for OM3.
In the second round, Ice wasted her first turn failing a Blizzard roll, and the Cops rolled well on attack (3 attacks of 2 in a row!) to get her down to 1 life. She battled back, taking out one Cop, but she didn’t dare risk another Blizzard roll, and fell to attrition instead.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Beat Cops with 4 of 6 figures left win Turn 6, Round 2.

_____________________________________________________________

Squad Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes.
- What should be the unit's point value? 110-130?
- Give a brief overview. Ice just doesn’t have a lot of counters to squads, especially if her Blizzard rolls aren’t hitting.
Map: Custom
Units: Ice vs. Street Thugs x2 (150)

Spoiler Alert!

Blizzard really had no chance on a map almost completely covered in Asphalt and Concrete, but failing her first turn Blizzard roll didn’t help. She did manage to grab the only Concrete spot on height early, and picked off two Thugs from there, but even with two of them whiffing on their first attacks, she didn’t defend well enough to ward off wounds. The other two Thugs to attack on their second Order Marker wounded her, and the first Thug to attack on their third Order Marker finished her off.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Street Thugs with 4 of 6 figures remaining win Turn 6, Round 1.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes.
- What should be the unit's point value? 140-150
- Give a brief overview. Interestingly, while Blizzard was worth less in team play (too hard to keep her teammates out of the range of it to take full advantage, even with Martian Manhunter’s help), her Freeze Blast is worth a lot more, as she managed to put two on Superman, one on Wonder Woman, and one on Batman, that had great effect even when she wasn’t attacking.
Map: Custom
Units: Ice (130), Doctor Fate (290), Huntress (170), Martian Manhunter (300), Oracle (110) (1,000) vs. Superman (450), Batman (250), Wonder Woman (300) (1,000)

Spoiler Alert!

Though Doctor Fate was poised to help her (often at the cost of a “secret attack plan” auto skull from Oracle), he never ended up boosting one of Ice’s rolls, because her two misses were both 3’s. She hit 2 of 4 for her Blizzard rolls and got some value, but also cost her teammates a few Order Markers of their own as a result.
Oracle and Martian Manhunter are huge helpers for any mid-level hero teams, but Ice was a great equalizer here as well, lowering Superman’s defense by two (to the extent where she was able to put the last wound on him), and lowering Batman and Wonder Woman’s each by one. Wonder Woman lassoed Ice early and almost took her out, but Doctor Fate came in to rescue her.
Ice also slipped in one wound on Batman, whom only hit one Shadow Strike roll in six or more attempts, and burnt his Emergency First Aid Kit before going down. Ice fell in Round 7, right after Superman, and right before Wonder Woman. When she fell, Batman was facing end game with a Full Life Doctor Fate, an untouched Oracle in the start zone, and a two life Huntress. Superman performed poorly in this one, only putting 5 wounds on Martian Manhunter and one on Ice before falling.
This was a bit ugly for the Trinity. I think better dice rolls could have made this a lot closer, but the effects of Freeze Blast probably make Ice worth a bump. I’ll try her at 150 in the next match.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Full Life Oracle, Doctor Fate with 1 Wound, and Huntress with 3 Wounds win Turn 5, Round 8.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes.
- What should be the unit's point value? 160+
- Give a brief overview. I figured out how to optimize Ice’s value, especially on a small map with a clustered start zone. Load her up with Order Markers in the first round, especially if Captain Marvel allows you to pull some back if needed, roll for Blizzard on her first turn since she’s not in attack range anyway, then if she hits, go to the enemy startzone and freeze them all up, then attack their biggest heavy hitter until their defense is nothing due to freeze markers.
Map: Custom
Units: Ice (150), Captain Marvel (Billy Batson) (360), Green Lantern (Guy Gardner) (320), Blue Beetle (160), Green Construct (Mech Warrior) (120), Booster Gold (290) (1,400) vs. Darkseid (380), Parademon Shock Troopers x6 (480), Deadshot (150), Weather Wizard (100), Ragdoll (100), Bane (190) (1,400)

Spoiler Alert!

Ice pulled off the above strategy, putting 4 wounds on Darkseid and 3 Ice Markers, while the villains languished in the start zone during Round 1. By Round 2, she was dead, but the villains didn’t have much firepower left and Captain Marvel plus Blue Beetle (and his explosive special attack) were able to tear through Parademons.
Weather Wizard, despite zillions of chances, never hit a Fog Cover 13 roll and the Parademons only hit one of their many Apokolyptic Weaponry attempts (putting the only wound on the Mech Warrior Construct), both of which were devastating in the loss here.
This is another case where I think the opposing army didn’t fulfill their full potential, and I don’t consider the Parademons all that competitive anyway (I though a small map might help them provide a good screen for their shooters, but it just made them fodder for Blue Beetle’s explosive attack). I don’t think Ice was super overpowered in this match and it’s probably closer than the results, but still, when optimized, she has a lot to offer. I could see 160-170 in army tests!
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Booster Gold with Full Life, Guy Gardner with 3 Wounds and 1 Battery Marker, and Green Construct Mech Warrior with 1 Life win Turn 4, Round 9.

[IAmBatman]

I was starting to think thematically that Freeze Blast shouldn't work against any figure with the Ice Resistance special power, and then I realized that her power markers are the exact same as Mister Freeze's, which is fine, except that she'll trigger her power with any of his markers as well. So a move to the Ice Resistance exception would be needed not to cripple Mister Freeze if he's on the playing field at the same time as her.

That said, I'm not sure if that crossover with Mister Freeze is intentional anyway, because a marker from either of their cards would stack in effect from both of their powers like an Uncommon Hero. We should probably work around that somehow.

[IAmBatman]

OK, I see the thematic side of that is already covered in a line at the end of the power.

That said, I think the best solution here is to change the name of the marker from "blue Ice Marker." If it's not the same marker as the one Mister Freeze has, the powers won't stack.

[IAmBatman]

Also, for Blizzard, I think we should specify that they can't use any special powers on any Army Card or Glyph during their turn. I don't believe the intent here is to cancel out Spidey-Sense and the like.