The Book of Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) (II)

[Arkham]

Updated with that qualifier.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

No, not the count blanks as shields bit, I don't care about that. I'm talking about the teleport carry bit. You should not be able to attack your own dudes to trigger it, that just gets silly.

[Arkham]

Derp. Didn't realize they were separately worded like that. Fixed.

[dok]

I'm mildly put off by weirdness against area affect special attacks , where you could get to use Bamf Protection's movement twice in a row, one of them potentially from 3 spaces away from the targeted spaces. This could be avoided with targeting wording ("... After Nightcrawler or a figure you control adjacent to Nightcrawler is targeted with an attack and rolls defense dice..."). But this is more of an aesthetic concern than a balance one.

Balance wise, he's sort of a cross between Angel and Red Tornado and Speedball. That's three really good figures, so no surprise that I think he looks really good. That doesn't bother me, as I think he also looks really thematically cool and appropriate and Nightcrawler-y, but I wouldn't be surprised to see price go up here. Low attack is obviously the biggest limiting factor.

He benefits a ton from both attack and defense buffs, so consider testing in Avenger builds and/or alongside Sage. Star-Lord is an option too, but that takes out Sage and also takes out all bonding options except Yukio (no Captain Britain, no Mutant Sidekicks, no ProfX).

[Arkham]

Glad you dig the design. He's fitting with the synergy you've begun with Xcalibur, so obviously I'd hope it's to your satisfaction.

[Arkham]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) II

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Army Test 1
Map: Custom
Units:
Nightcrawler II(205), Captain Britain(285), Shadowcat II(170), Sage(190) (850)
vs.
Luke Cage(190), Iron Fist(260), Tigra(170), Shang-Chi(230) (850)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
1 wound on Tigra. (Sage boost + En Garde)
2 wounds on Iron Fist. (Sage + height + En Garde)
2 wounds on Luke Cage, kills him. (Sage + En Garde)

BAMF! Protection:
Moved Kitty after defense.
Moved Kitty after defense.


Notes:
Nightcrawler is enhanced by Sage.
Captain B. kills Tigra.
Captain B. puts 3 wounds on Luke Cage.
Iron Fist kills Captain B. with a big attack.
Iron Fist puts 2 wounds on Nightcrawler.
Iron Fist kills Nightcrawler.
Kitty is enhanced by Sage.
Iron Fist kills Sage.
Kitty puts 2 wounds on Shang.
Shang's MMA kills Kitty.


Shang-Chi with 2/5 wounds, and Iron Fist with 0/5 wounds.

This game felt like it could have gone either way, but Captain Britain fell early which caused the flow of battle to sway in the Fighters favor. Even though Cage went down early too, the Fighters just had the bigger hits. Nightcrawler managed to dodge a couple of attacks but fell victim to a couple of decent sized attacks by Iron Fist that he couldn't keep up with.

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Army Test 2
Map: Custom
Units:
Nightcrawler II(200), Bane(190), Star-Lord(250), Invisible Woman(215) (850)
vs.
Luke Cage(190), Iron Fist(260), Tigra(170), Shang-Chi(230) (850)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
1 wound on Luke Cage. (Star-Lord + Bane + En Garde)
3 wounds on Iron Fist. (Star-Lord + Bane + height + En Garde)
1 wound on Iron Fist. (Bane + En Garde)

BAMF! Protection:
Nightcrawler ferries around Bane for most of the match, and helps setup Star-Lord early on.

Notes:
Cage puts 2 wounds on Invis. W.
Iron Fist puts 1 wound on IW.
Cage kills IW.
Iron Fist puts 4 wounds on Star-Lord with a big attack of 6 skulls.
Iron Fist kills Star-Lord.
Iron Fist puts 2 wounds on Nightcrawler.
Iron Fist kills Nightcrawler.
Iron Fist kills Bane.


Iron Fist with 2/5 wounds, Luke Cage with 0/5 wounds, Shang-Chi with 0/5 wounds, and Tigra with 0/5 wounds.

Man, the Fighters just won't go down here. Nightcrawler had all the boosts he could need, but he still couldn't get it done. His attack rolls weren't anything to write home about, and the Fighters were still rolling decent defense. Invisible Woman was taken out quickly, then Star-Lord, then Nightcrawler, then Bane. Nightcrawler put in a couple solid defenses,
even reaching a total of 7 shields in a defense, but ultimately the blanks aren't always going to come and he fell to Iron Fist's power. Constantly having Bane next to him was cool, and led to some fun placement strategies throughout the game to try and gain height as best as possible.

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Army Test 3
Map: Custom
Units:
Nightcrawler II(210), Professor X(220), Sage(190), Gorgon(300) (920)
vs.
Warriors Three(920)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:
2 wounds on Volstagg. (Sage + height + En Garde)
1 wound on Volstagg. (Sage + height)
4 wounds on Volstagg. (Sage + En Garde)
2 wounds on Volstagg. (Sage + En Garde - Meat & Meade)
1 wound on Volstagg. (Sage + En Garde - Meat & Meade)
2 wounds on Fandral. (Sage + En Garde)
2 wounds on Hogun. (Sage + En Garde)

BAMF! Protection:
Pulls Gorgon away so Fandral can't attack him after Hogun.

Notes:
Nightcrawler enhanced by Sage.
Volstagg removes Meat and Meade marker, puts 3 wounds on Nightcrawler.
Fandral puts 3 wounds on Sage.
Gorgon is enhanced by Sage.
Gorgon kills Volstagg.
Fandral kills Sage.
Hogun kills Nightcrawler.
Hogun puts 2 wounds on Gorgon.
Gorgon puts 2 wounds on Hogun.
Hogun kills Gorgon.
Hogun kills Professor X.


Hogun with 5/6 wounds, Fandral with 3/6 wounds.

Welp, it was at least a close game. Nightcrawler did quite a bit of damage this go around, and Gorgon did what he could, but the Warriors Three proved too much to handle. Not much to say other than the Warriors Three just outlasted the Mutants.

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THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY:
Overall Nightcrawler plays like Nightcrawler. You'll be moving teammates around on his turn, to get your troops into prime position. You'll BAMF! support figures around with Nightcrawler so you can focus on his turns. He has some great team ups such as Captain Britain and Bane etc. that can afford you 2 turns or stat boosts. I played his En Garde special as if you need to BAMF! prior to each attack in order to get the -2 defense bonus, so perhaps some wording clarification on that would be nice as I feel it's more thematic that way. It feels great BAMF!ing around enemies to lower their defense, as well as moving your figures around to control the battlefield. His defense feels pretty good. It has great potential, but still succumbs to the occasional botch or rolling only 1 shield, so it's certainly not annoying. His defensive ceiling is high with the blanks aspect, so you always feel you have a chance, which is great.

He's a lot of fun, feels fast, strategic, supportive, and strikes with deadly surprise/stealth attacks. I'd say the 3 losses for me makes me feel his points are a little lower than I was playing him at, but it could have been just poor luck. I'm thinking 190 going into Public testing to start.

[Arkham]

Initials are updated and posted.

[Yodaking]

I can see myself running him with Bane quite often, and that isn't a bad thing as I find myself not using Bane much these days.

[Margloth]

Probably need a size restriction on BAMF! Carry. Be pretty funny to see him BAMF! Galactus onto the scene.

[Arkham]

Probably best to just state it can’t be used on Huge figures as I think tiny-large should be fine.

[Yodaking]

IDK, who all is large these days? Ghost Rider & his motorcycle? Can't seem to think of who else but that one seems like a bit of a stretch.

edit *Awesome Android is large too*

[japes]

Juggernaut