The Book of Vance Astro

[Ericth74]

The Book of Vance Astro

C3G MARVEL WAVE 49
COSMIC WARS


Comic PDF


Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Guardians of the Galaxy set.
Its model number and name are #005 / Major Victory.

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Character Bio - Vance Astrovik was born in Saugerties, New York, the only son of a small-town butcher Arnold Astrovik and his wife Norma. Going into the U.S. Air Force at the age of 18, Astrovik (who changed his name to Astro when he was 21) became the youngest man to be accepted into the astronaut training program several years later. In 1988, Astro volunteered for the first manned interstellar mission ever conducted by the United States, Project: Starjump.
His ship, Odysseus I, was not equipped for faster-than-light speed; hence the journey to Earth's nearest interstellar neighbor, a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, would take about 10 centuries. To protect him from aging, Astro was covered with a skin-preserving copper alloy (which was upgraded with adamantium in the Guardians of the Galaxy series) body-suit, and his blood was transfused with a kind of preservative fluid. Astro was launched into space from the Houston Airport in the fall of 1988.
While on his way to Alpha Centauri, the ship automatically awoke him from his suspended animation in order for him to perform routine course adjustments. During the periods he was awake, sometimes for a year in duration, Astro eventually went insane from loneliness on several occasions, returning to a semblance of normality only after the ship automatically put him back in suspended animation again. During his long periods of sustained dream-state activities, Astro's latent psionic powers emerged. By the time he arrived on Centauri IV almost a thousand years later, he had full control over his psychokinetic abilities. -

Wikipedia (Links)

Wikipedia (Links)

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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Mutant, Vance Astro has these Mutant Synergies.
• As a Commander, Vance Astro has these Commander Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Ericth74
• Second playtest: Toyhandle/Karat
• Third playtest: Cinderquail w/SA change and attack at 5
• Fourth playtest: redstang
• Fifth playtest: Ericth74 w/SA change and attack at 5
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Card Art by Dr. Jekyll

[Ericth74]

NAME = VANCE ASTRO

SPECIES = MUTANT
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = COMMANDER
PERSONALITY = COOPERATIVE

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 6

POINTS = 230

NATURAL LEADER
After revealing Order Marker 1 on this card and taking a turn, you may take a turn with another figure you control within 6 spaces and you may not take any additional turns.

COOPERATIVE ATTACK PLAN
Before a figure you control attacks, if the defending figure has been attacked by another figure you control this player turn, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card. If you do, the defending figure subtracts a shield from whatever is rolled when defending against that attack.

PSYCHOKINETIC SHIELD BLAST SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 5. Attack 4.
After a figure that is not huge rolls defense dice against this special attack, you may place it on an empty space up to X spaces away from its current placement, where X is the number of shields you rolled for this attack. Figures moved by this special attack will not take any leaving engagement attacks. After attacking with this special attack, if Vance Astro is unengaged, he may attack 1 additional time and cannot attack the same figure more than once.

[Ericth74]

Art:

[IAmBatman]

Getting about 210-230 for him on the calculator.

I think you want wording more like this for Cooperative Strike:

COOPERATIVE STRIKE
If a figure you control targets an enemy figure that was already attacked by another figure you control this player turn, you may reveal an X-Order Marker on this card to subtract 2 from that enemy figure's defensive number for this attack.

I'd call that one basically an equivalent to what Oracle does with Secret Attack Plan, except more useful in some places (like against acrobatic style defensive powers), and slightly harder to pull off (needs multiple attacks on a turn).

Seems like he'll work well with Star-Lord, Robot, and a sniper with a nice single attack at long range.

[Ericth74]

Thanks I'll update the wording.

Cooperative Strike should work off of Martinex bonding power. Kept it with the x-marker to limit its power. Could drop the x-marker and leave it at once a round?

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Getting about 210-230 for him on the calculator.

I think you want wording more like this for Cooperative Strike:

COOPERATIVE STRIKE
If a figure you control targets an enemy figure that was already attacked by another figure you control this player turn, you may reveal an X-Order Marker on this card to subtract 2 from that enemy figure's defensive number for this attack.

I'd call that one basically an equivalent to what Oracle does with Secret Attack Plan, except more useful in some places (like against acrobatic style defensive powers), and slightly harder to pull off (needs multiple attacks on a turn).

Seems like he'll work well with Star-Lord, Robot, and a sniper with a nice single attack at long range.

[IAmBatman]

I think the X-Marker works just fine unless there's a specific reason to drop it? Also prevents you from doubling up with him and Oracle, which is probably a good thing.

[Ericth74]

Yeah that's probably a good idea to limit that combo

[Lord Pyre]

You'll want this syntax: "reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card"

Nice card though. I like the coordinated ability. He's a bit niche but in a fun way. I think he'll end up being a bit lower cost, as he's not dishing out a ton of damage himself, and the -2 defense isn't all that big a deal. Fun bonus but not game changing.

[tcglkn]

Is this the best design to be running next? Doesn't one of the Guardians have a bonding power they will need to get full value out of Vance? Right now seems hard to really use him with his teammates so it will be hard to get an accurate price for him.

[Lord Pyre]

He DOES work with any other bonding army. You could throw him in with the Wrecking Crew, or Spider-Verse, or any other bonding army that doesn't make use of the X marker. So I think it'd be fine to run now, but might be better to wait, since the WC or Spider-Verse don't really WANT to bring him along either.

[MrNobody]

I think his SI should be Vance Astrovik (Crossover Symbol). Including Major in his SI feels like a pretty big cheat.

I know Tickle has strong thoughts on CO symbols and where they belong, so let me just make a pre-emptive argument.
A) We're almost certainly going to be doing modern-day Vance Astrovik at some point, so one of the two Vances will need a CO symbol.
B) One of the future Guardians, Hollywood (Simon Williams) will already need a CO symbol most likely.
So in my mind it makes a lot of sense to give this dude the CO symbol now and have the dudes from a potential alternate future be the Crossover ones instead of the present-day guys.

[Arch-vile]

He should work well in Mutant armies. Just keep Prof X in the start zone so you don't need the X on him. Or use Cyclops II since he only needs the X for an initiative boost.