The Book of The Darkness

[IAmBatman]

I never used the word "requirement" so I won't argue with you there. I don't think there's any clear precedent that the LD needs to be separated from establishing the initial cost, though. It *can* be all up to the initial tester, but it certainly doesn't have to be, and I'm not sure that's fully preferable either.

That's all a pretty big rabbit hole, though and the shortened version is: it's not that black and white and doesn't need to be.

What are folks thinking would be a good place to start testing at from what's in the SP? I can run the calculator if need be (though I've taken some crap from that in recent months).

[Cinderquail]

So correct me if it seems to low or to high but would 350 be a ok place to start?

[Tornado]

350 feels high but not sure which is why I asked. He is sort of Gorr-lite.
Was going to knock out the initial today but I will leave it for someone more qualified.

[IAmBatman]

Getting about 310 on the calculator, but wouldn't be surprised if he goes a bit in either direction.

[Ericth74]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: (Insert Name Here)

Version tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = THE DARKNESS (ARTIFACTS)
SECRET IDENTITY = JACKIE ESTACADO

SPECIES = DEMON
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = VAGABOND
PERSONALITY = RUTHLESS

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 6

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

POINTS = 310

ARTIFACT BEARER: DARKNESS
Start of the game with 6 shadow tiles. Before moving The Darkness, you may place a shadow tile onto a land space within 6 spaces of The Darkness. When The Darkness attacks an adjacent figure from a shadow tile, add 2 to his attack.

UNLEASH THE DARKNESS
After attacking with a normal attack, if The Darkness inflicted any wounds you may choose up to 3 shadow spaces within 6 spaces of The Darkness. Roll one unblockable attack die against all enemy figures on or within 1 space of the chosen spaces.

SHADOW SIPHON
Once per round if The Darkness ends his turn on or within one space of a shadow tile, you may roll 1 combat die plus one additional die for each shadow space within 2 spaces of The Darkness. For each skull rolled remove one Wound Marker from this card.

SUPER STRENGTH

FLYING

Army Test
Map: Martian War Zone
Units: 1000 pts – Darkness 310, Batman Occult, Spider-Man Noir, Venom II 240 VS 1000 pts – Luke Cage, Daredevil 200, Ronin, Spider-Man 250, Songbird

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt: R1T2 Ronin 3 wounds
R1T3 Ronin 1 wound(dead) – Unleash
R2T2 Cage 3 wounds
R2T2 Cage 1 wound(dead) – Unleash
R3T1 Daredevil – 1 wound(dead)
R3T1 Songbird – 1 wound – Unleash
R3T1 Spider-Man – 1 wound – Unleash



Artifact Bearer: Placed all tiles, map had a bunch to start with. Very easy to keep his attack bonus.

Unleash the Darkness: Did 4 wounds, lots of shadow available to take advantage of.

The Host Must Not Die: Healed 3 wounds. Again lots of shadow in this game to really be able to roll quite a few dice.

R1 – Darkness kills Ronin with an attack and Unleash the Darkness. Zatanna hit Cage for 1 wound. Zatanna puts a negation marker on Cage.
R2 – Zatanna puts a wound on Songbird. Songbird hits Darkness for 2 wounds. Darkness hits Luke Cage for 3 wounds. Zatanna hits Daredevil for 2 wounds. Songbird hits Batman for a wound. Spider-Man hits Zantanna for a wound. Noir hits Songbird for 2 wounds. Spidey webs Zantanna into Water for 1 wound. Daredevil takes a lava field wound. Batman reappears and does a wound to Daredevil.
R3 – Batman does a wound to Daredevil, he ignores it. Darkness attacks Daredevil killing him. Darkness does 1 wound each to Spider-Man and Songbird with Unleash the Darkness. Spider-Man puts a wound on Zantanna. Batman does a wound to Songbird killing her. The Darkness attacks Spider-Man who Swing Lines away. Spider-Man webs The Darkness and pulls him into lava doing a wound. Spider-Man attacks down on The Darkness doing another wound. Zatanna attacks Spider-Man doing 3 wounds. Darkness attacks Spider-Man who Swings away. Darkness heals 3 wounds.
R4 – Spider-Man attacks the Darkness who blocks it. Zatanna attacks Spider-Man who swings away. Spider-Man webs Zatanna and drops her in lava killing her. Spider-Man attacks The Darkness doing 2 wounds. Batman rolls 2 shields and has no target. Spider-Man webs The Darkness, dropping him in Water for a wound and attacking down and killing him. Batman does an auto wound to Spider-Man to end the game.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Batman 1 wound/3 life left, Spider-Man Noir full 6 life left.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: City Park
Units: 1200 pts – Wasp 160, She-Hulk 370, Rick Jones, The Darkness, Obsidian VS 1200 pts – Captain America 240, Thor 430, Ms Marvel 350, Giant Man

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt: R2T3 Thor 2 wounds
R3T1 Thor 2 wounds
R3T1 Cap 1 wound – Unleash
R3T2 Thor 1 wounds
R3T2 Cap 1 wound – Unleash
R3T3 Cap 1 wound
R4T3 Cap 2 wounds(dead)



Artifact Bearer: Placed all his tiles and Obsidians as well. Lots of spaces for keeping attack bonus up.

Unleash the Darkness: Did 2 wounds, missed lots of rolls this game.

The Host Must Not Die: Healed 4 wounds.


R1 – Ms Marvel hits She-Hulk for 2 wounds. Darkness attacks Cap who blocks it. She-Hulk puts 3 wounds on Ms Marvel. Thor hits She-Hulk for 1 wound. The Darkness attacks down on Thor but its blocked. She-Hulk hits Ms Marvel for 1 wound. Rick Jones moves.
R2 – Rick reveals the x-marker on She-Hulk. She-Hulk Objects Caps turn. Obsidian kills Ms Marvel. She-Hulk hit Thor for 2 wounds. Thor attacks She-Hulk who blocks it. The Darkness hits Thor for 2 wounds, but misses his Unleash the Darkness power. She-Hulk attacks Thor, its blocked. Rick Jones moves.
R3 – Rick reveals the x-marker on She-Hulk. The Darkness puts 2 more wounds on Thor. The Darkness does 1 wound on Cap with Unleash. She-Hulk attacks Thor and misses. Cap hits She-Hulk for a wound. The Darkness kills Thor and order marker 2. The Darkness hits Cap for 1 wound with Unleash. She-Hulk misses Cap. The Darkness puts another wound on cap but misses Unleash. Cap hits She Hulk for 2 wounds.
R4 - Rick reveals the x-marker on The Darkness. Cap kills She-Hulk. Darkness misses Cap. Cap attacks the Darkness, its Blocked. Darkness misses Cap. Giant-Man hits the Darkness for 4 wounds. The Darkness hits Cap for 2 wounds killing him, he misses Unleash on Giant-Man. The Darkness heals all 4 wounds.
R5 - Rick reveals the x-marker on The Darkness. Giant-Man hits Darkness for 2 wounds. Obsidian hits Giant-Man for 3 wounds. Giant-Man hits The Darkness for 3 wounds. Obsidian kills Giant-Man.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): The Darkness 5 wounds/1 life left, Obsidian full 6 life, Rick Jones full 3 life, Wasp full 3 life.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Custom Map – Wakandan Royal Forest
Units: 1100 pts - Batman Occult 230, Hellboy 340, Darkness 310, Zatanna 220 VS 1100 pts – Ms Marvel 350, Captain America 240, Winter Solider 240(Team-up), Wolverine 270

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt: R2T1 Captain America 3 wounds
R2R2 Captain America 1 wound
R2T2 Ms Marvel 1 wound – Unleash
R2T2 Winter Soldier – Unleash


Artifact Bearer: Placed 3 tiles. Used to attack from height on Captain America. Was next to a Tree of Death which canceled out its defensive bonus.

Unleash the Darkness: Did 2 wounds. Didn't get to do as much this game as he went down quickly.

The Host Must Not Die: Healed 1 wound.


Hellboy's partner is The Darkness, species is Human. Winter Soldier picks Cap.
R1 – Movement
R2 – Hellboy cancels Caps special powers. Hellboy hits Cap for 1 wound. Darkness hits Cap for 3 wounds. Darkness misses Unleash. Winter Soldier hits Darkness for 1 wound. Cap hits Darkness for 2 wounds. Winter Soldier attacks Darkness from range doing 2 wounds. Darkness kills Cap. Wolverine misses Flurry. Darkness puts a wound on Ms Marvel and Winter Soldier with Unleash. Darkness heals 1 wound. Wolverine kills The Darkness. Batman puts a wound on Wolverine. Hellboy puts 5 wounds on Wolverine killing him. Winter and Ms Marvel put 2 wounds each on Hellboy.
R3 – Batman puts a wound on Ms Marvel. Winter Soldier kills Hellboy. Zatanna moves. Winter Soldier hits Zatanna for a wound. Zatanna takes a wound from both Ms Marvel and Winter Soldier. Ms Marvel kills Zatanna. Batman reappears doing a wound each to Ms Marvel and Winter Soldier.
R4 – Ms Marvel and Winter Soldier kills Batman.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Ms Marvel 3 wounds/2 life left, Winter Soldier 2 wounds/3 life left

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: I feel like The Darkness has too much potential for doing big damage at 310. I'd like to see him at 330. Great pairing with Batman Occult and/or Hellboy. Played well on his own and most likely will only be better with Darklings.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: The Darkness was a lot of fun to play. I looked forward to taking turns with him as he gives you lots of options and decisions to make. That said there is a lot going on during his turn. You can place a Shadow tile, move, attack, Roll for Unleash the Darkness(on up to 3 figures) and once a round heal, all in the same turn. If and when the Darklings Unique Squad gets designed there could be more to do on his turn. I'm not sure if it's too much or not, but you do have longer turns with him. As is, I'm not concerned but it is something to watch for when The Darklings Squad get tested with him. Stats seemed right on. His 4 defense makes him a little soft but his 6 life and once a round healing offsets that, along with the fact his should be parked on shadow tile all the time. Of his 3 powers, Unleash the Darkness is the one that on paper feels like it can swing a game. In my games that wasn't the case and I don't recommend any changes on that power or any other power. I do feel like he could go up in points and would like to start playtesting at 330. He had 2 big wins and one medium loss. The first win in game one, partly had to do with a map that was already loaded with Shadow and Luke Cage getting a Negation Marker on his card early in the game. Game two's win had more to do with the deadly combo of Wasp/She-Hulk/Rick Jones. Anything is good with that team. I really like The Darkness design and look forward to seeing what other people do with him.

[Tornado]

Great tests.
Looking good.

[Cinderquail]

After reading through the initial playtest I'm pretty happy with where The Darkness is at and increasing his point cost to 330.

I propose we move to public playtesting

[tcglkn]

Yea

[IAmBatman]

Yea

[Tornado]

Yea

[Dr. Jekyll]

Yea

[Lord Pyre]

Yea