The Book of Kang (II)

[Ronin]

I can get behind that. So a rewrite of the special powers might be looking like this:

ONE TRUE KANG
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Nathaniel Richards figures that do not have the One True Kang special power. The most wounds this Kang can take from any attack is one. Anytime this Kang would receive one or more wounds, you may instead destroy another Nathaniel Richards figure you control to ignore those wounds.

TIMESTREAM REINFORCEMENTS
At the start of the game, you may choose any other Unique Heroes you control that would begin the game on the battlefield and instead place them on this card. After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Kang, if Kang did not attack during his turn, you may place a figure from this card on any unoccupied space within 4 clear sight spaces of Kang and take an immediate turn with that figure, and you may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

DAMOCLES ORBITAL ASSAULT
At the end of the round, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card and choose a space on the battlefield. Roll the 20-sided die for each figure on the chosen space and for all spaces within 1 space of the chosen space, one at a time. If you roll 14 or higher, the figure receives 1 wound.

My first rewrite of the last sentence of One True Kang was "Whenever this Kang would receive one or more wounds, you may destroy another Nathaniel Richards figure you control to ignore those wounds.", but I tweaked the wording and edited it down to make it more like Treacherous Tactics, Serve and Protect, and other similar powers.

[IAmBatman]

Much nicer looking to my eyes.

[japes]

Mine as well. Looks good Ronin. For the record I have the boring first mini so if we go that route no need for anyone else to take pictures.

[TrollBrute]

Originally Posted by Ronin

I can get behind that. So a rewrite of the special powers might be looking like this:

ONE TRUE KANG
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Nathaniel Richards figures that do not have the One True Kang special power. The most wounds this Kang can take from any attack is one. Anytime this Kang would receive one or more wounds, you may instead destroy another Nathaniel Richards figure you control to ignore those wounds.

TIMESTREAM REINFORCEMENTS
At the start of the game, you may choose any other Unique Heroes you control that would begin the game on the battlefield and instead place them on this card. After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Kang, if Kang did not attack during his turn, you may place a figure from this card on any unoccupied space within 4 clear sight spaces of Kang and take an immediate turn with that figure, and you may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

DAMOCLES ORBITAL ASSAULT
At the end of the round, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card and choose a space on the battlefield. Roll the 20-sided die for each figure on the chosen space and for all spaces within 1 space of the chosen space, one at a time. If you roll 14 or higher, the figure receives 1 wound.

I had some suggestions I was going to make, but these tweaks cover all of them. One fun strategy I thought of when comparing this guy to Kang(I) is to draft him with a bunch of Kang(I)s, have one or two of them drop their Temporal Markers down, then have Kang(II) take a turn, summon a Kang(I), let him take a turn and then pick up the marker for another turn. I'd like to call this "going Kangbusters."

Originally Posted by Ronin

• I believe that the clause in One True Kang that allows Kang to be co-drafted with other Nathaniel Richards figures would, according to the FAQs in Iron Man Mk V's thread, allow you to draft this Kang with multiples of other Unique Nathaniel Richards figures. That could be avoided by making sure any other future Unique Nathaniel Richards figures have similar language, but I know TB's got an Iron Lad (Nathaniel Richards) in the works, so I wanted to mention it in here.

Iron Lad is a ways out still (need to finish the other Young Avengers first), and his design is still kind of rough, so I can work something in. What kind of language do we need to avoid it? Does "You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Nathaniel Richards figures that are not [class]" work? Or does that just create a loop where Iron Lad lets you draft multiple Kang(II)s?

[Tornado]

Not sure if this works but what about:
ONE TRUE KANG
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Uncommon Nathaniel Richards figures.

[dok]

Glad to see this design out. Now I have to actually think about what gets my top vote next time around.

Originally Posted by Ronin

I think the current wording comes from dok.

Well there's your problem.

Originally Posted by Ronin

ONE TRUE KANG
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Nathaniel Richards figures that do not have the One True Kang special power. The most wounds this Kang can take from any attack is one. Anytime this Kang would receive one or more wounds, you may instead destroy another Nathaniel Richards figure you control to ignore those wounds.

Shouldn't it just say "The most wounds Kang can take from any attack is one."? "This" is an uncommon figure keyword, and he's not uncommon. I don't think the common name creates any issues. It's not like the Batmans get to use each others' powers if you use Bruce and Dick and Terry and Jean Paul at the same time. (Or, more applicably, nobody argues that IM5 gets stealth dodge if he drafts Stealth Suit as well.)

Originally Posted by Ronin

DAMOCLES ORBITAL ASSAULT
At the end of the round, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card and choose a space on the battlefield. Roll the 20-sided die for each figure on the chosen space and for all spaces within 1 space of the chosen space, one at a time. If you roll 14 or higher, the figure receives 1 wound.

Personally, I'd prefer just moving it to the beginning of his turn instead of the end of the round. It's a lot less tactical if your opponent knows it can only come at the end of the round.

[Lazy Orang]

Originally Posted by dok

Shouldn't it just say "The most wounds Kang can take from any attack is one."? "This" is an uncommon figure keyword, and he's not uncommon. I don't think the common name creates any issues. It's not like the Batmans get to use each others' powers if you use Bruce and Dick and Terry and Jean Paul at the same time. (Or, more applicably, nobody argues that IM5 gets stealth dodge if he drafts Stealth Suit as well.)

To be fair, I agree with you, but I'm fairly sure that the word 'this' has been used in this way on Lanterns before now.

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Not sure if this works but what about:
ONE TRUE KANG
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Uncommon Nathaniel Richards figures.

That was my original angle, but I do want him to be able to team up with other potential Unique Nathaniel Richards figures (like Iron Lad or Immortus). I just don't want it to work like Iron Man V's where he breaks Uniqueness on all the others.

Originally Posted by TrollBrute

I had some suggestions I was going to make, but these tweaks cover all of them. One fun strategy I thought of when comparing this guy to Kang(I) is to draft him with a bunch of Kang(I)s, have one or two of them drop their Temporal Markers down, then have Kang(II) take a turn, summon a Kang(I), let him take a turn and then pick up the marker for another turn. I'd like to call this "going Kangbusters."

Nice!

Iron Lad is a ways out still (need to finish the other Young Avengers first), and his design is still kind of rough, so I can work something in. What kind of language do we need to avoid it? Does "You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Nathaniel Richards figures that are not [class]" work? Or does that just create a loop where Iron Lad lets you draft multiple Kang(II)s?

That's the kind of language I was thinking of, yeah. Interesting question about the potential loop, though. I'd like to get some other people's opinions on that. Maybe slightly tweaking the wording to step away from Iron Man Mk V would help:

ONE TRUE KANG
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Unique Nathaniel Richards figures that do not have the One True Kang special power. (...)

SOME IRON LAD POWER
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Unique Nathaniel Richards figures that are not [class]. (...)

A pretty minor edit, but I feel like dropping the "any" might help. The inclusion part isn't quite as strongly worded, so you can't argue that there's anything that would override the "that are not"/"that do not" clause.

Originally Posted by dok

Shouldn't it just say "The most wounds Kang can take from any attack is one."? "This" is an uncommon figure keyword, and he's not uncommon. I don't think the common name creates any issues. It's not like the Batmans get to use each others' powers if you use Bruce and Dick and Terry and Jean Paul at the same time. (Or, more applicably, nobody argues that IM5 gets stealth dodge if he drafts Stealth Suit as well.)

Like L_O says, I don't think Kang would be the first to use "this" in this way. But it could be dropped, yeah.

Personally, I'd prefer just moving it to the beginning of his turn instead of the end of the round. It's a lot less tactical if your opponent knows it can only come at the end of the round.

Yeah, that timing would give him more options. I might leave the in-turn/end-of-round decision up to how well he's doing in testing.

Speaking of which, I suppose I should make the usual appeal to CRB input. Anything we should be on the lookout for, balance-wise? I know he's going to be good with anyone you don't want to take the time to mobilize, and anyone who can be dropped into melee like a weapon. Blob springs to mind.

[dok]

Originally Posted by Ronin

Speaking of which, I suppose I should make the usual appeal to CRB input. Anything we should be on the lookout for, balance-wise? I know he's going to be good with anyone you don't want to take the time to mobilize, and anyone who can be dropped into melee like a weapon. Blob springs to mind.

I actually do not suggest loading his card with defensive pod figures (e.g. Cash, Jocasta, etc). You're giving up turns to deploy them so it's really not a great deal. You want to make those Timestream reinforcement turns count.

Instead, it should be more surprise attack/disruption figures. The first guy I am putting on his card is Blob - lockdown on demand. Angstrom Levy loves to appear out of nowhere and send you off the board. On the offensive end, you could throw out Harley Quinn or Liz Sherman or even Human Torch so that Kang is basically throwing grenades. More funky options would include Karnilla and Purple Man.

Arnim Zola is a nice insurance policy. Jackal is a less nice insurance policy but still viable.

Playing him with Arthrian Invaders is pretty sweet, but you can't use Invasion Tactics and Timestream Reinforcements in the same turn, which does cap it a little.

You could try stuff with Loki, or Ozy+Kang1s, but much like playing him with defensive figures I don't think it really works out. You end up having to take a bunch of turns with Loki/Ozy to get those extra markers/free temporal defense, and I don't think it's worth constraining your turns with Kang2. If you have a bazillion points you could play Loki and Dr. Manhattan and Ozy and a bunch of extra Kangs, and use DrM to re-set the OMs, But at that point level there's all sorts of insanity you could be pulling out.

[TrollBrute]

I have to agree that I like Orbital Assault at the beginning of the turn, or even after moving.

Originally Posted by Ronin

That's the kind of language I was thinking of, yeah. Interesting question about the potential loop, though. I'd like to get some other people's opinions on that. Maybe slightly tweaking the wording to step away from Iron Man Mk V would help:

ONE TRUE KANG
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Unique Nathaniel Richards figures that do not have the One True Kang special power. (...)

SOME IRON LAD POWER
You may draft this figure into the same army with any other Unique Nathaniel Richards figures that are not [class]. (...)

A pretty minor edit, but I feel like dropping the "any" might help. The inclusion part isn't quite as strongly worded, so you can't argue that there's anything that would override the "that are not"/"that do not" clause.

I'm no wording expert, so I'm not sure if that works or not. I've always thought that Iron Man(V)'s wording was not clear either.

[Ronin]

Breathing period's up, so I've updated the SP with the discussed changes (currently the end-of-round version of Damocles).

Originally Posted by dok

...synergy tips...

Alright, thanks for the pointers!

Originally Posted by TrollBrute

I have to agree that I like Orbital Assault at the beginning of the turn, or even after moving.

I've been feeling like he might be on the high side of my target points range, so it was my instinct to go with the end-of-round version. Definitely seems like more people are liking the in-turn version, though. I'll let the end-of-round version simmer in the SP overnight and see how I feel about it tomorrow (probably amending it to be in-turn unless someone pops in with an argument against that).

I'm no wording expert, so I'm not sure if that works or not. I've always thought that Iron Man(V)'s wording was not clear either.

I'm not the biggest fan of Iron Man V's wording either, re: breaking uniqueness. I'd love to hear from @Just_a_Bill on this, but I don't think he's been around much lately.

[IAmBatman]

I'm fine with the orbital assault being in-turn, btw, so long as the timing is clearly defined and doesn't overlap with other triggers.