The Book of Crossbones

[japes]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

I don't think he's better then Hawkeye (150 & 160 w/a jet cycle) or Black Widow (170). Those are the types of heroes he faces and loses to, other non-powered but highly skilled humans. 150-170 seems like a fitting range.

Let me be clear...180 would be the max. My comment was more that testing at 150 he lost all three and I took that as he was under powered as 150 felt like the floor.

However him fitting in a HYDRA build is also a good goal.

[Yodaking]

Yeah, him getting subbed into a Hydra build in place of Madam Hydra makes sense if their is a popular Hydra build people are already using with her in it. I'm not sure what the Hydra builds look like since Red Skull's price was bumped up, don't think I've played them since that happened.

[MrNobody]

Red Skull (250), Strucker (210), Madame H (140), and Hydra Agents x5 (400) is now a 1,000 point build. So having some alternates for that army could be fun. 160 would also make him swapable with Hydra Agents x2, which would be cool as well.

[japes]

I think 160 was my thinking forever ago for this reason.

[Yodaking]

Since I generally max my squads out at x3, the 160 direction looks better to me.

[Lord Pyre]

I threw some mini pics in the art post.

[MrNobody]

Thanks, LP!

[japes]

Originally Posted by Lord Pyre

I threw some mini pics in the art post.

Those will be great. Thanks.

[MrNobody]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Crossbones

Army Test
Map: Shiver (No Glyphs)
Units: Team 1 (800): Crossbones (150), Red Skull (250), HYDRA Agents x2 (160), Clayface (Karlo) (240)
Team 2 (800): Star-Lord (250), Jack Flag (190), Rover (160), Kraven (200)

Spoiler Alert!

Pre-game: Kraven is Rover’s Companion, Red Skull is Kraven’s Prey, Snow and Ice are Heavy and Slippery

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Troops advance and some preliminary shots are fired, but no damage is done

Round 2: T2 wins initiative
-Kraven charges forward and kills 2 Agents
-Red Skull kills one of his own Agents to increase motivation
-Agents fire on Kraven, giving him 3 wounds
-Red Skull finishes Kraven off
-Quill shoots down 2 Agents

Round 3: T2 wins initiative
-Flag swiftly finishes off Red Skull with a 1-2 punch, sending the Cube flying across the battlefield
-The Agents, having lost their leader, are still taking fairly ineffective turns
-Quill scoops up the Cube and shoots down 2 Agents

Round 4: T1 wins initiative
-Clayface kills Rover and takes his form
-Star-Lord shoots down another Agent

Round 5: T2 wins initiative
-Flag sits around, making small talk with the giant robot that totally isn’t just Clayface in disguise
-Star-Lord does the same
-Clayface breaks character, inflicting 2 wounds on Flag
-Jack kills Clayface
-T1 had an OM on Clayface so they lose a turn

Round 6: T2 wins initiative
-Crossbones snipes Flag, inflicting 1 wound
-Flag kills the last Agent
-Crossbones finishes off Flag

Round 7: T2 wins initiative
-Quill wounds himself to use the Cube to fling Crossbones off of height
-Quill punches Bones, inflicting 1 wound
-Bones picks up the Cube and uses it to wound Star-Lord, but then drops it again
-Bones also fires off a shot at Quill, inflicting 1 wound
-Quill picks up the Cube

Round 8: T1 wins initiative
-Quill uses the Cube to inflict a wound on Bones but drops it in the process
-Quill finally finishes Crossbones


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Star-Lord (3/5 wounds)

One Punch Jack.

Don’t feel like I got all too much useful info in this game. I did enjoy the 2-round Star-Lord vs. Crossbones slugfest at the end, but it was basically just a stat fight by that point.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Under The “El”
Units: Team 1 (900): Crossbones (150), Captain America (240), Hawkeye II (160), Huntress (170), Robin (Tim Drake) (170), Alfred (60)
Team 2 (900): Sinestro (330), Lyssa Drak (240), Sinestro Corps Soldier x3 (330)

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Sinestro blasts Cap, inflicting a wound
-A SCS follows suit, inflicting a wound on Cap
-Alfred patches Cap right back up to full health
-Cap throws his mighty shield, inflicting 2 wounds each on 2 separate SCS and 1 wound on Drak
-Sinestro inflicts a wound on Cap
-A SCS attacks Alfred, inflicting 1 wound
-Hawkeye carries Crossbones to the top of the bridge
-Crossbones snipes Sinestro, inflicting 2 wounds
-Robin finishes off a SCS

Round 2: T2 wins initiative
-Sinestro gives Cap 3 wounds
-A SCS finishes off Cap
-T1 had an OM on Cap, so they can’t take a turn
-Sinestro uses the Force of Fear to kill Crossbones
-Drak gives Hawkeye 3 wounds
-A SCS kills Alfred
-Huntress puts a crossbow bolt through Sinestro, finishing him off
-Robin gives Drak a wound

Round 3: T2 wins initiative
-Drak gives Robin a wound
-A SCS tries to attack Huntress, but she dodges and counters him for 1 wound
-A SCS kills Hawkeye
-Drak gives Robin a wound
-A SCS gives Huntress 3 wounds

Round 4: T1 wins initiative
-Huntress gives a SCS a wound
-A SCS kills Huntress
-Robin kills a SCS
-Drak kills Robin


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Lyssa Drak (2/5 wounds, 2 Battery Markers), Sinestro Corp Soldier (2/3 wounds, 2 Battery Markers)

Crossbones + Hawkeye + Cap is a fairly effective combo, and tossing Alfred on top theoretically just makes it even better. That theory just didn’t happen to hold up in this specific game.

I wanted to try him against some Lanterns just to explore how they felt against Brutality, and yeah, I think it needs a SS restriction.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Under The “El”
Units: Team 1 (800): Crossbones (150), Captain America (240), Wasp II (160), Red Skull (250)
Team 2 (800): Wrecking Crew

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Crossbones snipes Wrecker, inflicting 1 wound

Round 2: T1 wins initiative
-Cap inflicts a wound on Thunderball
-Wrecker inflicts 2 wounds on Crossbones
-Skull uses the Cube to move a wound from Bones to Wrecker
-Wrecker inflicts a wound on Bones
-Skull uses the Cube to move Wrecker off height
-Skull shoots Wrecker, inflicting 2 wounds
-Piledriver punches Cap, inflicting 3 wounds
-Wrecker finishes off Cap

Round 3: T1 wins initiative
-Skull uses the Cube to move a wound from Bones to Wrecker
-Wrecker inflicts a wound on Bones
-Piledriver kills Bones
-Skull uses the Cube to pull Wrecker off of height
-Skull kills Wrecker
-Thunderball inflicts 2 wounds on Skull, sending the Cube flying
-Bulldozer charges Skull, inflicting 2 wounds

Round 4: T2 wins initiative
-Thunderball kills Skull
-Thunderball charges Wasp, inflicting 2 wounds
-Wasp stings Piledriver several times, inflicting 4 wounds total
Round 5: T1 wins initiative
-Wasp stings Piledriver, inflicting a wound
-Wasp kills Piledriver
-Thunderball picks up the Cosmic Cube
-Wasp stings Bulldozer, inflicting a wound

Round 5: T2 wins initiative
-Thunderball finishes off Wasp


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Thunderball (1/6 wounds), Bulldozer (1/6 wounds)

Team 1 didn’t really feel like it had the connective tissue to take on the Wrecking Crew. Maybe if Crossbones had a vantage point where he could snipe from relative safety and get the benefit of being in clear sight of Cap and Red Skull, but that didn’t really exist on this map.

___________________________________________________________

NOTE: Made the change to Brutality 4 and added SS restriction

Army Test
Map: Road Rampage (No Glyphs)
Units: Team 1 (670): Crossbones (150), MK Scorpion (205), Hand Mystics (145), Hand Ninja x2 (170)
Team 2 (670 680): Hood (180), Whirlwind (190), Scarecrow (170), Wizard (140)

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Hood comes in guns blazing, killing 2 Ninjas and giving Scorpion 2 wounds
-Scorpion inflicts a wound on Hood

Round 2: T1 wins initiative
-Hood kills Crossbones
-Scarecrow injects Scorpion with some toxin
-Scorpion shrugs off the toxin and gives Hood 2 wounds
-Hood gives Scorpion 2 wounds
-Scarecrow injects Scorpion again, but Scorpion shrugs it off immediately
-Scorpion gives Scarecrow a wound
-Hood shoots Scorpion, inflicting 1 wound
-Whirlwind finishes off Scorpion

Round 3: T2 wins initiative
-A Ninja gives Hood a wound
-Mystics attack Scarecrow, inflicting 2 wounds
-A Ninja kills Hood
-T2 had an OM on Hood, and can’t take their turn
-Mystics kill Scarecrow, and plan to resurrect him
-Whirlwind kills 2 Ninjas
-A Ninja gives Whirlwind 2 wounds
-A brainwashed Scarecrow returns to the battlefield

Round 4: T2 wins initiative
-Whirlwind gives Scarecrow a wound
-Scarecrow injects Whirlwind with the last of his toxin
-A Ninja takes advantage and kills Whirlwind
-Since they had an OM on Whirlwind, T2 can’t take their turn
-Wizard kills a Mystic
-A Ninja gives Wizard a wound

Round 5: T1 wins initiative
-A Ninja gives Wizard 2 wounds
-Wizard kills a Ninja
-A Mystic kills Wizard


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Scarecrow (1/4 wounds), Hand Mystics (2 figures), Hand Ninja (1 figure)

It’s really frustrating to see Human Shield fail when trying to use it with one of your own Squad figures. That is something I’d consider changing.

Crossbones again proved to be pretty fragile. He tried to use Ninjas as shields, but couldn’t get the roll and Hood was able to take him out with a lucky double attack from height. Still, for a Hand build he’s a natural fit

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: A double attack of 4 for 150 points is a really solid deal. Sure, you have to jump through the OM hoop to get that out of Crossbones, but there are more than enough OM managers that work with him, so I never felt limited.

His main weakness is his fragility. He desperately wants to stay unengaged, and even then 4/4 aren’t exactly great stats for keeping him alive. I think making Human Shield more consistent would help with that a bit. I think it might be nice to have Human Shield trigger after attack dice are rolled as well, just to give you a tiny bit more of a tactical option on when to use it.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Fragility is an issue, but other than that, Crossbones is pretty rad! Trigger Man and Human Shield both bring something pretty fresh to the game, which is always cool to see. He’s a fun expansion to the Terrorist army that offers a pretty decent ranged attack option on the cheap.

Some kinda funky results, but I feel like I have enough data now. I'm not putting too much credence on Game 2's blowout loss; it was non-flying figures vs. flying figures on a map with a ton of elevation.

[MrNobody]

So after that, here's the changes I'm considering.

NAME = CROSSBONES
SECRET IDENTITY = BROCK RUMLOW

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = TERRORIST
PERSONALITY = SADISTIC
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4
MOVE = 5
RANGE = 7
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 150

TRIGGER MAN
After attacking a non-adjacent figure with Crossbones's normal attack, if you did not reveal an Order Marker on Crossbones this turn, he may attack one additional time.

BRUTALITY 4
When attacking an adjacent figure with Crossbones, if the Attack number on the defending figure's card is 4 or less and the defending figure does not have the Superstrength special power, that figure rolls 1 fewer defense die.

HUMAN SHIELD 11
Anytime Crossbones is attacked by a non-adjacent opponent's figure with a normal attack and at least 1 skull is rolled, you may choose an adjacent small or medium figure without the Super Strength special power. If you do not control the chosen figure, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 11 or higher, or if you control the chosen figure, and Crossbones would receive one or more wounds from that attack, ignore one of those wounds and inflict a wound on the figure chosen for Human Shield.

The Brutality change is the one I suggested earlier.

Switched up Human Shield a little bit. I found it really frustrating to have this power set up perfectly, with one of my own squad figures adjacent to Brock, only to have the power not work because of a D20 flub. I tried to use it twice in my games, and it failed both times. Hoping this new version isn't too much of a course correction in the opposite direction, but I really feel like choosing your own figure should always work, similar to Lex II or Madame Hydra.

[Yodaking]

I'm okay with it being more of an automatic thing for human shield, it's why I mentioned lowering the roll when you said he wasn't winning any matches at 150. It should be a key note power of his. The fact you only used it twice in 4 games is a little concerning. I know you only ran him with squads once and heroes are harder to keep adj. to each other, but someone like Bane should be a natural ally for him. Boosts his stats by 1 and has 6 life to soak up some wounds. At that point I might just target Bane though instead of Crossbones, but that's still buying him more time to use his double attack. I'm just not 100% sure how I feel about him auto grabbing someone like Cap to use for a human shield. Squads I can see automatically getting used as pawns, but I have to think about how to deal with his hero allies.

[johnny139]

I'd like a small failure rate for Human Shield still, even if it's just 1 or 2. People should be able to wriggle out of it - he's just strong arming, he's no Lex. And I still have some pretty strong objections to "4 attack or less" and "no Super Strength" - it's just a messy, inelegant power which is the opposite of what a light thematic touch should be.

Other than that, I agree he probably could use a minor boost.