The Book of N'Astirh

[Yodaking]

Very quick turn around by Bambam, I just sent him the info yesterday afternoon!

Originally Posted by b57123m

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: N’Astirh (Nasty)

Army Test
Map: Fulcrum (BOV)
Units: .[N’Astirh, Etrigan, Fire Demons] [Wonder Man, She-Hulk, Blade]

I decided to go with a demon themed team, learning through play that bringing a non-demon is the most beneficial way to use Demonic Conqueror.
My plan was to get Nasty in there quick to summon some hoards, problem was that he needs to be used at the end of the round to take full advantage of summoning the overbearing horde.
Nasty held his own but his lack of reinforcements lead to his downfall. Once his main gun fell, the fire demons couldn’t scratch the movie star or the lawyer.
He used all of his powers, although Magical Defense was probably his god(Mephisto?)-send. He needed that extra buff to get time to call in his team.
Techno-Organic didn’t overwhelm him at any point, leading to a tiny little boost every once in a while. I found height early with Nasty and tried to use range to avoid the potential wound.

HIGHLIGHTS
Round 1:
Places the Lava Spaces for the Fire Demons
Nasty kills his own Fire Demon with the hopes that it will spawn right in the enemy base at the end of the round (3 left)
Nasty wounds Blade (4)
She-Hulk wounds Nasty (4)
No Fire Demon Spawn

Round 2:
Nasty Summons Etrigan
Nasty Rolls a Skull on his Techno-Organic Virus but has no wounds
Wonder Man puts 3 on Etrigan (4)
Blade wounds Etrigan (3)
Fire Demons wound She-Hulk (5)
She-Hulk puts 2 on Nasty, Magical Defence gives him 1 wound (3)
No Fire Demon Spawn

Round 3:
She-Hulk heals (6)
Wonder Man wounds Nasty (2)
Etrigan gets 2 on Blade (2)
She-Hulk wounds Nasty (1)
Nasty wounds She-Hulk (4)
Nasty heals with TO Virus (2)
No Fire Demon Spawn

Round 4:
Etrigan Hellfires Wonder Man (5)
Wonder Man kills Etrigan (0)
She-Hulk wounds Nasty (1)
Wonder Man kills Nasty (0)
No Fire Demon Spawn (Seriously?)

Round 5:
Fire Demon wounds Wonder Man (4)
Wonder Man kills a Fire Demon (2 Left)
Wonder Man kills a Fire Demon (1 left)
Fire Demons kill Blade (0)
Wonder Man kills last Fire Demon (0 left)

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Wonder Man (4), She-Hulk (6)

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Fulcrum (BOV)
Units: [N’Astirh, Fire Demons, Blood Demons (2), Blink (Demonized)] [Blade, Wonder Man, She-Hulk, Harpoon]

Took a different approach this time. Before you read the results, I’ll tell you my plan that didn’t quite work out.
Step 1: Fire Demons put 4 Lava hexes down.
Step 2: Blink teleports Nasty onto the tallest point in the map.
Step 3: Blink teleports enemies into a Hot Lava Death.
Step 4: Call in the Demon Army to swarm the burning enemies.
Step 5: Profit.
You will notice that She-Hulk was the heavy hitter that killed pretty much the entire Nasty Squad, this is due to a failed Step 2. She-Hulk super leaped on the tall point and sat there most of the match. And then you think that Blink could have still teleported her into lava, read and find out for yourself…

HIGHLIGHTS
Round 1:
She-Hulk leaps onto height (remember when I mentioned that?) and kills a Fire Demon (3 left)
Blink teleports Nasty to the center (Step 2!! SUCCESS!)
Blink whiffs on She-Hulk (not according to the plan (see above if you forgot the plan))
Nasty puts two nasty wounds on She-Hulk (4) (rolled a skull for TO Virus, already full health. Nice.)
Wonder Man wounds Nasty (4) (really needed that TO Heal right about now)
No Fire Demon Spawn (The fact that I had gone 6 collective rounds without rolling a 13 or higher is baffling)

Round 2:
She-Hulk heals (5)
Nasty spawns in the First Legion of the Nasty Army. BLOOD DEMONS!
Blink whiffs on She-Hulk again, shucks.
She-Hulk attacks Blink, Blink whiffs AGAIN (0). Dead. Step 2 = Catastrophe
Fire Demon put a wound on She-Hulk (4) and Harpoon (3)
She-Hulk wounds Nasty (3)
Nasty nastifies Wonder Man with 2 wounds (4) No TO Virus because he was at Range
Wonder Man renastifies Nasty (2)
FINALLY A SUCCESSFUL SPAWN. 2 Whole Games For This. TWO. (4 left)

Round 3:
She-Hulk is back to full health (6)
Nasty brings in the second wave of Blood Demons (6 left if you’re curious)
Nasty wounds Wonder Man (3) and successfully heals!!! (3)
She-Hulk wounds Nasty (2)
The new recruits whiff all 3 attacks, stupid Blood Demons
She-Hulk wounds Nasty (1) yikes…
Fire Demons wound Harpoon (2)
Wonder Man kills Nasty (0)

Round 4: The Martyr
Kinda looks like we are screwed here.
She-Hulk heals (Of course she does *grumble grumble*)
She-Murderer kills a Fire Demon (3 Left)
She-Hulk kills a Blood Demon but takes a wound due to their power (5 Blood Demons left) (5 health left for She-Hulk)
Fire Demons kill Harpoon (0)
Blood Demons wound Wonder Man (2)
No Fire Demon Spawn

Round 5:
She-Hulk Heals (6)
Blood Demons kill Wonder Man (0) [I know, RIGHT!?]
Blood Demons put 2 on She-Hulk (4) [What is happening!?]
No Fire Demon Spawn [Don’t even care, the Blood Demons are where it’s at]

Round 6:
She-Hulk heals (5)
She-Hulk kills a Blood Demon without the auto-wound (4 left)
She-Hulk kills a Blood Demon without the auto-wound (3 left)
Blood Demons wound She-Hulk (4)
She-Hulk kills a Blood Demon without the auto-wound (2 left)
No Fire Demon Spawn

Round 7:
She-Hulk heals (5)
Fire Demons (on their comeback!) put 2 on Blade (3)
She-Hulk kills a Blood Demon with the auto-wound (1 left)
She-Hulk is at (4)
Fire Demons kill Blade (0)
Fire Demons wound She-Hulk (3)
FIRE DEMON SPAWN (4 LEFT)

Round 8:
She-Hulk heals (4)
She-Hulk is adjacent to 2 Fire Demons with height so she risks the Leaving engagement strike to reach higher ground.
She takes both strikes (2)
She-Hulk kills a Fire Demon when she reaches height (3 Left)
Fire Demons wound She-Hulk (1)
She-Hulk kills another Fire Demon (2 left)
ALL THAT IS LEFT IS 2 FIRE DEMONS AND THE GREEN BEAST
Fire Demons whiff… NOOOO.
She-Hulk kills another Fire Demon (1 left)
THE FIRE DEMON PULLS THROUGH FOR TEAM NASTY AND WOUNDS SHE-HULK (0)

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Team Nasty [1 Fire Demon]


THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: He felt a little overcosted, especially by comparison with both +300s (Wonder Man and She-Hulk) But he isn’t supposed to be as physical of an attacker as those two. The balance seems set, I tried to get a good strategy going with my recruited Demon and it went decent, there are probably many other fun choices to choose as someone Nasty can summon in. If the demon faction continues to develop, N’Astirh only becomes more and more fun/useful. An interesting idea I came up with after was to recruit a lot of Blood Demons, summon them in to get killed by the other army, just to have Ghost Rider come in a Penance Stare the heavy hitter from the other army. In the second game, he did what he was supposed to do. Yes, he died early each time but the only reason his team won the second battle was because the Demon Army was able to successfully flood in and overwhelm the opponents.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: I enjoyed him, I feel like he needs his own specific demon squad that can work with his powers. I like the Demon recruitment part, it makes it so anybody can be part of his Demon ambush. I had fun playing with this guy.

[Yodaking]

And now Ronin has his test in too! Really like seeing the Ms. Marvel combo here with her bonding requiring her not to move. Summoning her into the fight and having her then attack bond with him was a clever way to make good use of the power. Also some more demon squads getting summoned along with a demon hero in game two.

Originally Posted by Ronin

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: N'Astirh

Army Test
Map: Sacred Shrine
Units: N'Astirh, Ms. Marvel, Spawn (990) vs Red Skull, Robot, Green Goblin, Juggernaut (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

This was an odd one, mainly due to a real shortage of shields being rolled on either side. N'Astirh Demon-ized Ms. Marvel at the start of the game.

Spawn took heavy wounding in the first two rounds as Red Skull bounced attacks off him to activate other figures. Red Skull and Robot only pulled off the full Skull-Robot-Goblin turn chain once. Attack rolls were high and defense rolls were low, so once N'Astirh brought Ms. Marvel into the fray with Demonic Conqueror and they started slinging a lot of attack dice, team two folded fast.

Skull took out Spawn (who only attacked once with his special, but put two wounds on Goblin) in round two, but N'Astirh managed to clean up him and Robot while Ms. Marvel destroyed the Goblin and put 4 wounds on Juggernaut in just one attack.

However, the Juggernaut retaliated in kind and took out Ms. Marvel in short order (I cannot emphasize enough how weirdly fast and furious this game was), drawing the game down to Juggernaut and N'Astirh.

Both characters remembered to try and average the rolls out a little, and they ended up going at it for nearly a round and a half. N'Astirh took a while to break through Juggernaut's defense, but Magical Defense kept him in the game long enough to win.

Didn't hurt that N'Astirh healed himself 2 wounds with Techno-Organic Virus. His one blank came after he destroyed Juggernaut, so it was really moot. He rolled a skull every other time he rolled for T-O.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done: 5 wounds to Red Skull in 3 attacks (destroyed), 4 wounds to Robot in 2 attacks, 3 wounds to Juggernaut in 5 attacks (destroyed)
• Demonic Conqueror: made Ms. Marvel a Demon. Advanced Ms. Marvel at the start of round two
• Techno-Organic Virus: rolled 5 times. 4 skulls, 0 shields, 1 blanks (only healed 2 wounds in total, due to rolling when at full Life)
• Magical Defense/Damage Taken: 1 wound taken from an LEA, 1 wound in 2 attacks from Robot, 3 wounds in 4 attacks from Juggernaut

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): N'Astirh with 3 wounds

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Sacred Shrine
Units: Baron Zemo (Heinrich), N'Astirh, Bane, Blood Demons x2 (1000) vs Original X-Men (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

This one went badly for Team N'Astirh. Partially mis-strategy, partially poor rolling. N'Astirh can't do his thing fast enough to keep up with the X-Men, and he was lucky to last as long as he did as a (near-) solo act. He was hoping to be able to take out their special attackers and bring in Bane and the Demons to do some work, but he only barely managed to take out Cyclops, and the X-Men were able to keep Bobby out of harm's way so that they had a secret weapon for dealing with the Blood Demons, once the Demons started showing up.

Still, decent showing for N'Astirh, considering he was mostly alone against the X-Men. Still managed to eke out some damage before going down at the start of round three.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done: 4 wounds to Cyclops in 2 attacks (destroyed), 1 wound to Beast in 3 attacks (1 blocked by Psychic Defense)
• Demonic Conqueror: made Bane a Demon. Teleported Bane in round 2, a squad of Blood Demons in round 3
• Techno-Organic Virus: rolled 2 times. 1 skulls, 1 shield, 0 blanks
• Magical Defense/Damage Taken: 0 wounds from Cyclops in 2 attacks, 3 wounds from Jean Grey in 4 attacks, 1 wound taken from T-O Virus, 2 wounds from Beast in 4 attacks

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Jean Grey and Iceman with 2 wounds each, Beast with 1 wound, Professor X and Angel unwounded

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: He seems pretty close on value. Right now there aren't a ton of shenanigans you can pull with Demonic Conqueror, but that's mostly due to the lack of Demon synergy. Funnily enough, he can make Batman III a Demon so that you can reinstate the Batman (III)/Doom (II)/Doombots trio, but N'Astirh costs enough to prohibit that strategy in smaller matches, and I'm not as concerned about it in bigger ones.

Might play a couple big games (2000-2500 points) like that if I get a chance, though, just to be on the safe side. And because JL/Demon fusion just sounds like a cool team.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Good to see some Demon synergy cropping up. Really liking the theme here.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

Here is my attempt at a bio, most of which came from wiki with a little editing. Thoughts? Further edits?

Bio - N'astirh is a demon with great magical skills and a master manipulator. When the Hobgoblin offers to make a Faustian bargain to trade his soul for the power of a demon, N'astirh grants Hobgoblin the requested power free of charge by fusing him with a demon, which would eventually break away to become the Demogoblin. Later N'astirh and S'ym manipulate Illyana Rasputin into opening an inter-dimensional portal at the Empire State Building, through which N'astirh's demons invade Manhattan. During the invasion, N'astirh coerces Illyana, Meggan, and Madelyne towards their darker sides. Meggan being an empathic shapeshifter, who is swayed by the dark emotions around her, is transformed into the Goblin Princess and Madelyne transforms into the Goblin Queen by having her psionic powers triggered. Illyana eventually closes the portal, sealing the demons in Limbo. While N'astirh battles S'ym for rule of Limbo and Earth, he is infected and transformed by the transmode virus. He claims he has 'become' magic, since he can now process and cast spells almost simultaneously.

Bumping this as I just added it to the FP. Any desired changes should be voiced soon.

[Yodaking]

With those tests we have several Demon Squad tests that I didn't get to in the Initial PT. I'm feeling pretty good him at the 310-320 range and prefer to leave him at 320 since there may one day be additional demon figures & squads for him to summon that may be even better options than what we already have.

I propose N'astirh for Final Editing at 320 points.

@johnny139 - yea
@TrollBrute - yea
@Viegon - yea
Yodaking - yea
@Zettian Juggernaut - yea
@japes -
@Tornado - yea

[Yodaking]

How does this look for synergy?

This book:

Other Demons you control in your start zone may be placed within 3 spaces of N'astirh when he uses his Demonic Conqueror special power. Current Demons.

Other Demon Books:

As a Demon, _______ may be placed within 3 spaces of N'astirh when he uses his Demonic Conqueror special power.

[Viegon]

Do we only have the two public playtests? I agree that there's nothing concerning so far but we normally wait for at least three public playtests before moving forward.

The bio looks good.

For the synergy, we generally go a little simpler. Something more like:

• N'astirh may summon Demon figures you control with his Demonic Conqueror special power. Current Demons.

and:

• As a Demon, XXX may be summoned by N'astirh's Demonic Conqueror special power.

[Zettian Juggernaut]

I agree with Viegon, nothing looks too concerning, but would like for at least another test.

[Tornado]

Sounds like fret completed his tests.
Hopefully we are good to go after those results.

[Yodaking]

I forgot I even sent fret the info too. So you asked for more tests and here we have them already. He thinks the price was a little too high, but also wasn't able to maximize the demon summoning power so I'm still comfortable with the current price of 320. I expect players will figure out ways to make that summoning power have a greater impact as time goes forward and they can try out different summoning options considering all the units we have. I won't be against dropping him to 310 as well though if you guys feel I'm over correcting here.

Originally Posted by fret_gurglo

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: N’Astirh @320

Army Test
Map: Fire Isles
Units: Blood Demons x2 (320), Juggernaut (340), N’Astirh (320) (980) vs Cyclops (190), Rogue (300), Storm (220), Wolverine (280) (990)

Powers Used:
Demonic Conqueror: 1
Chosen Unique Hero: Juggernaut
Teleport: 1
Techno-Organic Virus: 3
Rolled a Skull(Heal): 1
Rolled a Shield(Damage): 0
Magical Defense: 2

Damage from normal attacks: 1

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: Storm moves all X-men 2 spaces. N’Astirh advances. Cyclops orders Wolverine to advance. N’Astirh hits Wolverine for 1 wound (rolls skull for virus). Cyclops orders Storm to advance. N’Astirh hits Wolverine for 3 wounds (rolls blank). End of Round, Wolverine heals 1 wound.
Round 2: Start of Round, N’Astirh teleports Juggernaut. N’Astirh hits Wolverine for 2 wounds(rolls a blank). Wolverine attacks N’Astirh 4 times for 3 wounds total and then heals 1 wound. Juggernaut charges at Storm, who deftly dodges. Cyclops blasts N’Astirh and orders Wolverine to high ground. N’Astirh misses Wolverine. Wolverine destroys N’Astirh and then heals 1 wound. End of Round, Wolverine heals 1 wound.
Round 3: Juggernaut hits Storm for 2 wounds. Cyclops hits Juggernaut for 1 wound and orders Rogue to advance. Juggernaut misses Storm. Cyclops misses Juggernaut and orders Rogue to advance. Juggernaut hits Storm for 1 wound. Cyclops hits Juggernaut for 1 wound and orders Rogue to advance. End of Round, Wolverine heals 1 wound.
Round 4: Juggernaut destroys Storm. Cyclops misses Juggernaut. Juggernaut hits Wolverine for 4 wounds. Cyclops misses but moves an OM to Wolverine. Blood Demons swarm Rogue for no damage. Wolverine destroys Juggernaut and heals 1 wound. End of Round, Wolverine heals 1 wound.
Round 5: Rogue destroys a Blood Demon by using Draining Touch. Blood Demons attack Rogue for a total of 3 wounds. Rogue fails. Blood Demons miss. Rogue fails. Blood Demons do 1 damage. End of Round, Wolverine heals 1 wound but receives 1 wound from lava field.
Round 6: Rogue fails. Blood Demons miss. Wolverine advances and heals 1 wound. Blood Demons destroy Rogue. Wolverine destroys a Blood Demon and heals 1 wound. Blood Demons gang up and destroy Wolverine.
Round 7: Blood Demons advance. Cyclops destroys a Blood Demon with his Special Attack. Blood Demons advance. Cyclops misses. Blood Demons attack Cyclops and roll awesome to destroy him.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Demons win. There are 3 Blood Demons remaining.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Fire Isles
Units: Absorbing Man (260), Atom (50), Hellboy (360), N’Astirh (320) (990) vs Giant-Man (180), Incredible Hulk (380), Thor (430) (990)

Powers Used:
Demonic Conqueror: 1
Chosen Unique Hero: Absorbing Man
Teleport: 2
Techno-Organic Virus: 3
Rolled a Skull(Heal): 2
Rolled a Shield(Damage): 1
Magical Defense: 4

Damage from normal attacks: 3

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: Teams advance. Hulk superleaps to N’Astirh but does no damage. Absorbing Man absorbs Atom’s defense and advances. Hulk hits N’Astirh for 1 damage.
Round 2: Hellboy teleports by N’Astirh. Hellboy then hits Hulk for 3 wounds. Hulk hits Hellboy for 4 wounds. N’Astirh misses Hulk. Hulk hits Hellboy for 2 wounds. N’Astirh hits Hulk for 1 wound (rolls a shield for Virus).
Round 3: N’Astirh teleports Absorbing Man. Hellboy hits Hulk for 2 wounds. Hulk destroys Hellboy. Absorbing Man leaves engagement from Giant Man for 1 wound to go and destroy the Hulk. Atom irritates Giant Man. End of round, Absorbing Man takes a damage from Lava Field.
Round 4: N’Astirh hits Giant-Man for 1 wound.
Round 5: Atom irritates Giant-Man. Thor hits Absorbing Man for 2 wounds. N’Astirh misses Giant-Man. Thor destroys Absorbing Man. End of round, Thor takes 1 damage from Lava Field.
Round 6: Thor hits N’Astirh for 1 wound. N’Astirh misses Giant Man. Thor hits N’Astirh for 1 wound. N’Astirh hits Giant-Man for 1 wound (rolls a skull). Thor hits N’Astirh for 1 wound. Atom hits Giant-Man for 1 wound. End of round, Thor, Atom and Giant-Man takes 1 wound. Giant-Man is destroyed.
Round 7: Thor destroys N’Astirh. Thor destroys Atom.




Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Avengers. Thor with 2 wounds (6 Life remaining).

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Cost seems pretty close, but I would lean to slightly high. Alhtough his team won our first game, it was not because of anything N’Astirh did. I would guess he should be about 300 as written.


GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Overall I like this design. However, the Techno-Organic Virus is of little help as he either attacks with range or has a nearly equal chance to lose health as he does to gain it. A suggestion might be to make that he removes 2 wounds on a skull. Also I tried very hard to make use of Demonic Conqueror, but overall I don’t think it helped much. Neat power though.

[Tornado]

I am not the best at evaluating final cost as some are. A little drop would be nice for more spells. I think his value will increase with time with more spells and more Demon options so erring on the high side sounds safe and I am cool with it if you are YK.

[TrollBrute]

Given that not all the testers used Demonic Conqueror to its fullest potential, I'd err on the high side. 320 still seems fine.

Irrelevant sidenote now but, yes, our minimum is 3 public tests.

[Viegon]

Agreed, 320 seems best.