The Book of Piledriver

[Griffin]

I don't know if you are being funny or not, because I barely know the character. Does he do anything more interesting that should be on the card to help make this design a bit more attractive to a player that is drafting for some fun cards?

[tcglkn]

This is about all he does power-wise. He's just a super strong criminal.

[Hahma]

Here's the wiki entry Griff

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piledriver_%28comics%29


There's not much special about him other than being super strong, very durable and has over-sized fists from when he got his powers. I tried to tie in his big fists and cruel nature with the Pounding Fists power where he would be more likely to pick on and be extra cruel to a person without super strength.

Unfortunately, if people are drafting for a Wow factor, he's not it. Now he might fit in as some decent cost muscle in a Kingpin Criminal army. But he and the other Wrecking Crew will be better together as a team where the Wrecking Crew power will give them some sense of them being a team and some flexibility.

[Hahma]

So people kind of have an idea of what I have for the Wrecking Crew and how they can work together, I'll post what I have for them. Some are kind of vanilla, but that's kind of what these guys are and have been for many years. They battle many heroes in the Marvel world, get their asses kicked sometimes and sent back to jail or get their powers taken away from them, and then bust out of jail and regain their powers if they lost them. They just keep coming back for more.

Honestly, while I was working a side job today, I was thinking, "I bet Griff is going to think Piledriver is too bland."

Thunderball (Eliot Franklin)
Mutate
Unique Hero
Criminal
Resentful
Medium 5

Life 6
Move 5
Range 4
Attack 5
Defense 6
Cost 180?

WRECKING CREW
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, instead of taking a turn with Thunderball, you may take a turn with any other figure you control with the Wrecking Crew special power.

BALL AND CHAIN SLAM SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 1. Attack 4.
Choose a space adjacent to Thunderball that is no more than 3 levels higher than Thunderball’s height and no more than 3 levels lower than his base. All figures on or adjacent to the chosen space are affected by Ball And Chain Slam Special Attack. Roll attack dice once for all affected figures. Affected figures roll defense dice separately. Thunderball is not affected by his own Ball And Chain Slam Special Attack.

SUPERSTRENGTH


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Piledriver (Brian Philip Calusky)
Mutate
Unique Hero
Criminal
Cruel
Medium 5

Life 6
Move 6
Range 1
Attack 5
Defense 5
Cost 180?

WRECKING CREW
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, instead of taking a turn with Piledriver, you may take a turn with any other figure you control with the Wrecking Crew special power.

POUNDING FISTS
If Piledriver inflicts 1 or more wounds with his normal attack, he may attack the same figure one additional time. Defending figures without the Super Strength special power roll 1 fewer defense die against Piledriver’s normal attack.

SUPERSTRENGTH


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Bulldozer (Henry Camp)
Mutate
Unique Hero
Criminal
Undisciplined
Medium 5

Life 6
Move 7
Range 1
Attack 5
Defense 5
Cost 160?

WRECKING CREW
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, instead of taking a turn with Buldozer, you may take a turn with any other figure you control with the Wrecking Crew special power.

CHARGING HEADBUTT
If Bulldozer attacks a figure that was at least 2 spaces away before Bulldozer moved this turn, roll 1 additional attack die. If Bulldozer attacks a figure that was at least 4 spaces away before Bulldozer moved this turn, roll 2 additional attack dice. Charging Headbutt may only be used if Bulldozer used his normal move for all of his movement this turn.

SUPERSTRENGTH


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Wrecker (Dirk Garthwaite)
Mutate
Unique Hero
Criminal
Destructive
Medium 5

Life 6
Move 5
Range 1
Attack 6
Defense 6
Cost 220?

WRECKING CREW
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, instead of taking a turn with Wrecker, you may take a turn with any other figure you control with the Wrecking Crew special power.

CROWBAR THROW
Wrecker may subtract 2 from his attack number to add 4 to his range number.

DEMOLITION
Instead of attacking with Wrecker, you may choose a space within 3 spaces of Wrecker and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 11 or higher, you must place any small or medium figure that occupies the chosen space or is within 2 spaces of the chosen space, on any empty space up to 2 spaces from its original placement if possible. Figures moved by Demolition must be placed on the same level or lower than its original placement and do not take any leaving engagement attacks, but will take any falling damage that may apply. You must roll a single attack die separately for each figure that is moved to a lower level by Demolition. If you roll a skull, the figure receives 1 wound.

SUPERSTRENGTH

Thunderball has a ranged attack since he can throw his ball and chain and he slams it down to hurt people too, besides his normal attack of slamming them in the head with it. He has a better defense than Piledriver and Bulldozer because he has been know to spin the ball and chain really fast to deflect attacks/bullets etc.

Piledriver is the plainest of the group. I gave him 6 move since he's not carrying anything and to help set him apart from the others' base stats. He can be a hero killer if he gets to use two attacks, especially with height.

Bulldozer is basically a guy that either headbutts someone with his helmet or charges them. He's especially fast, thus the 7 move. Perhaps with the Wrecking Crew power he can get set up or opponent's figures can get set up for full power Charging Headbutt.

Wrecker is the badass of the group, thus the leader. Like Thunderball, he has a ranged attack with his crowbar. He also likes to bring buildings down, especially when an enemy is on top of it and he likes to smash it on the ground to mess people up. So his Demolition power is like him smashing the the ground versus lower level figures, but for figures that are in the area of affect so to speak, it's like him smashing the bottom of the building and sending them possibly over the edge and down to the ground. That's why it's set up so that you can only place figures on the same level or lower. Something different.

So while these guys aren't the most exciting units, they are what they are. They are an iconic team of villains in the Marvel world and I for one would love to see them on the battlefield, boring and all.

[IAmBatman]

He's a nice, straightforward heavy hitter in the style of the official Marvel Master Set. He's just what a lot of our fans have been pining for. Nothing wrong with that.

[Hahma]

Well I don't know if people are pining for Piledriver so to speak, but more for the Wrecking Crew as a whole, as they are an infamous group of scoundrels after all and it would just be fun to see them on the battlefield.

Grundy, Cops and Thugs are simple and get play from Worlds Finest. Heck, Kingpin is extremely simple and is still a great design that gets plenty of play.

[IAmBatman]

I more meant that a lot of people have been pining for straightforward designs without tons of text on them.

[Hahma]

oye.

Yeah, I think you're right with that for sure.

[Griffin]

OK, I have one suggestion that may help the fun factor a bit for the entire wrecking crew. This is my take on the WRECKING CREW power with their competitive and clumsy nature in mind.

WRECKING CREW
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, instead of taking a turn with Piledriver normally, you must roll the 20-sided die once for each other figure you control with the Wrecking Crew special power. If you roll 14 or higher, stop rolling the 20-sided die and take a turn with that figure. If you do not roll a 14 or higher for any of the figures you control with the Wrecking Crew special power, take a turn with Piledriver.

Just a though.

[Hahma]

Well I don't know about how fun that would be, it would be like having 4 Penguins in your army and he can mess up plans as it is just by himself with Self Importance

You would have to figure out HH and Squad test value of these guys and then subtract a bunch of points from their cost because most people are going to use these guys in an army together and if it's random chaos, they will be worth crap as a Wrecking Crew army build. To me, this would inspire me to only draft one of these guys at a time in a Kingpin army because they would be more likely to get their value. If I have any of these guys in my army and can't use a certain power on their card for the entire game just because of a d20 roll, then that would be the last time I played them.

We've been subtle with having bad guys affecting each other negatively, but this would be very overt and making them look like the 4 Stooges that have never worked together.

I think the way it is currently written would allow for a more subtle means of achieving that competitiveness amongst themselves as different players controlling them could have personal favorites and thus trying to showcase them, where it might cost the team as a whole. Or the player might have an opportunity to attack with Piledriver against Wolverine (who doesn't have SS and would roll one less defense) or use Bulldozer to possibly get a 7 attack (or 8 with height) because he has a figure lined up for his full power Charging Headbutt. Meanwhile you could have Wrecker next to a building with several opponents on it and he could choose to use Demolition to knock them down to ground level, and Thunderball could have a cluster of squaddies he can Ball and Chain Slam. So in a situation where the player has to make the decision as to which WC to use, he would be the determining factor of whether it was a dumb move or not instead of a d20.

Hopefully should chime in and offer their opinions.

[Hahma]

I won't let it be said that I'm not open to suggestions or changes. So I took Griff's idea and made it a little less self-abusive.

My only concern is text space, particularly for Wrecker. I wanted him to have a cool power to help make him more fun and it would suck he got a lame power in place of Demolition just because of text space.

WRECKING CREW
After revealing an Order Marker on this card, you must roll the 20-sided die.

• If you roll 1-4, your turn immediately ends.
• If you roll 5-10, you may take a turn with this figure.
• If you roll 11-16, you may take a turn with any figure you control that has the Wrecking Crew special power.
• If you roll 17-20, you may take a turn with up to 2 figures you control that have the Wrecking Crew special power.

[Griffin]

That is what I am looking for. Interesting, chance for good and bad luck, and FUN.