The New York City Gang Of Four

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Originally Posted by chas

I'm fine with testing four new figures at once, if nobody else objects (and they rarely do). But I'll just point out that some purists, (like SOV Judges perhaps?) won't think testing a new figure with so many other new figures is a valid test. A certain other member of our group only runs playtests with one new figure at a time.

Again, I myself have no problem with it. But then, I'm more interested in having fun playing than the test results...

One of the people telling you on your preSOV thread that you should be testing specifically with 2 Players only on a Tournament map with armies of 500 Points, showcases to me how far removed our group is from the Official Tournament scene, which is fine with me as usual.

To my knowledge, Kha has never appeared in a tournament.

I'm not concerned. I, too, am "more interested in having fun playing than the test results." I believe that I'll learn more from having 5 players' takes than just chas' and mine in isolation, as we're not really tournament players.

I anticipate that, even if I am pleased with them, many who comment in the Pre-SoV Workshop thread (once I post them there) will suggest changes to them, or reject them outright. Rather than merely acquiescing, I will probably seek support from the usual suspects (@Dad_Scaper, @BiggaBullfrog , @IAmBatman , @Blue Trails , etc.).

By the time any of them are ready, in my mind, to submit formally to the Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion thread, any issues will have been dealt with to our satisfaction.

[chas]

Satisfaction? Sorry, but I just saw my first Taylor Swift videos--hey, she's pretty good--and in the one with Mick Jagger they both sang "I can't get no...satisfaction! And if you can get any from fan custom committees like you did with Kha, then more power to ya!

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Maybe I should start working on my pitches.

Ladies and gentlemen, thanks for taking the time to examine my designs for fitness to be submitted as candidates for SoV. Someone said not too long ago that 1 power leaves more to the imagination, while more powers create a more immersive figure. I have settled on 3 as the magic number for powers on a card. Case in point:

I believe that the 4 customs I will present to you below are fun, playable, and would be positive additions to the SoV. And their sculpts are readily available and cheap. The only questions I have are about costing them. So, without further ado, we'll start with the most recently created:

Serpentfolk Hunter
Pathfinder Battles
Jungle of Despair

KOMURA
General: Ullar
Race: Serpentfolk
Uniqueness: Unique Hero
Class: Rogue
Personality: Tricky
Size: Medium 5
Life: 4
Move: 6
Range: 7
Attack: 3
Defense: 3

WYVERN RIDER
If Komura is unengaged and adjacent to a Wyvern you control, instead of moving Komura normally, you may move that Wyvern 7 spaces. After moving that Wyvern, place Komura adjacent to that Wyvern. Komura may then attack normally.

SIGHTED IN
If Komura attacks and rolls at least 2 skulls, he may attack 1 additional time.

POISON WEAPONS
Each time Komura attacks a small, medium, or large Hero with a normal attack or a leaving engagement attack and inflicts at least 1 wound, roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 1-11, nothing happens. If you roll a 12 or higher, add 1 additional wound to the defending figure.

Points: 75

I suggested the Wyvern as a proxy for the animal Renegade's Evil Raelin rode in on. It immediately occurred to me that it would be cool to design a Wyvern Rider. As I was scrolling through Pathfinder's minis, as is my wont, I came upon the Serpentfolk Hunter. Perfect for what I had in mind.

C'mon! You really want to. Komura is the answer to a prayer. The problem with Carry has always been the waste of the carrier's turn. With this, that issue is resolved. And the Wyvern's turns won't be wasted either. He's just what our Serpentfolk archer needs to deal with anyone that gets to close, as well as bringing opponents' figures into range of Komura's bow. Their synergy is unique, fun, and easy to use. A brother in arms to the classic Kha. What more could you want? Why yet another Rogue hero with yet another unique set of powers:

Human Female Barbarian
Pathfinder Icons of the Realms

RIEKA THE WOLF
General: Aquilla
Race: Human
Uniqueness: Unique Hero
Class: Rogue
Personality: Ferocious
Size: Medium 5
Life: 5
Move: 6
Range: 4
Attack: 3
Defense: 3

GO FOR THE THROAT
When Rieka the Wolf attacks she may attack any or all figures adjacent to her, and she receives 1 extra attack die for each wound marker on the defending figure's Army Card to a maximum of 3 additional attack dice for Go for the Throat. Roll each attack separately.

STEALTH LEAP
Instead of her normal move, Rieka the Wolf may Stealth Leap. Stealth Leap has a move of 3. When counting spaces for Rieka the Wolf's leaping movement, ignore elevations. Rieka the Wolf may leap over water without stopping, pass over figures without becoming engaged, and leap over obstacles such as ruins. Rieka the Wolf may not leap more than 12 levels up or down in a single leap. If Rieka the Wolf is engaged when she starts to leap, she does not take any leaving engagement attacks.

CORNERED
If Rieka Ravenwolf has only 1 Life remaining or is the last remaining figure in your army, add 1 to her Attack and Defense.

POINTS: 95

Rieka the Wolf's Race was initially Wolf, in addition to Human. While that wrinkle was dropped, she remains wolfish. While Stealth Leap and her particularly nasty version of Whirlwind Assault make her comparable to a few Monks, her Ranged attack (representing her throwing her axe) and, most of all, her unique power, Cornered, clearly separate her from the pack. Yes, I did! A sophisticated package at a reasonable cost. What more could you want? How about yet another Rogue hero? Groan. But one that turns this rag-tag faction into a force to be reckoned with:

Valeros, Human Fighter
Pathfinder's Iconic Heroes Evolved

RAVENWOLF
General: Ullar
Race: Human
Uniqueness: Unique Hero
Class: Rogue
Personality: Disciplined
Size: Medium 5
Life: 4
Move: 5
Range: 7
Attack: 4
Defense: 4

MARK OF THE RAVEN
Place two black Raven markers on Ravenwolf's card. If Ravenwolf wounds an enemy Unique Hero with her attack, place a Raven marker from this card onto that figure's card. The same target can receive up to two markers. The defending Unique Hero rolls one less defense die for each marker on its card when attacked by a normal attack. If the defending Unique Hero is defeated, return the marker(s) to Ravenwolf's card.

GRIT
When Ravenwolf attacks, he may attack one additional time for every two wound markers on this Army Card.

RAVENSHIELD
All Rogues you control adjacent to Ravenwolf add 1 die to their defense.

POINTS: 125

The sculpt is an evolved iconic hero, and Ravenwolf is just that. His base stats are identical to Kaemon Awa's, but there are marked differences in their powers and utility. While Kaemon Awa is a straightforward shark, Ravenwolf is primarily a cheerleader, especially for the Rogues. He mitigates their major weakness (defense) with Ravenshield, and strengthens all their attacks with the unique power, Mark of the Raven. The Rogues have arrived! What more could you want? How about the She Who Must Be Obeyed of the Seas:

Lirianne, Half-Elf Gunslinger
Pathfinder Battles Iconic Heroes IV

CAPTAIN XUE
General: Utgar
Race: Human
Uniqueness: Unique Hero
Class: Pirate
Personality: Ruthless
Size: Medium 5
Life: 5
Move: 5
Range: 7
Attack: 3
Defense: 3

HAND CANNON
When Captain Xue attacks an opponent's figure, you may choose an opponent's figure adjacent to that figure. If the defending figure receives any wounds from Captain Xue, the chosen figure receives 1 wound. When Captain Xue attacks, she may attack 1 additional time.

CAPTAIN XUE'S SCOURGE
When a Pirate figure you control that is within 4 clear sight spaces of Captain Xue rolls attack dice for a normal attack against an adjacent opponent's figure, you may add 2 attack dice to its roll. If you do, and that Pirate figure does not inflict a wound, inflict a wound on that Pirate figure.

MUTINY
After a Unique Captain you control recieves a wound or is destroyed, any or all Pirate Squads you control that chose that Captain for The Captain's Way special power may choose Captain Xue to be their chosen Captain for the rest of the game. If you do, remove all wound markers from Captain Xue.

Points: 115

Captain Xue gives the Pirates some real firepower and she can stay aggressive, pick and choose her spots for her unique power, Scourge, and lead a Mutiny at just the right time to remove all her wound markers. She is uniquely formidable. The Princess Aura of the Pirates. What more could you want? Well too bad, 'cause that's all I have at the moment. Except to reiterate that any and all of these customs would be great additions to the SoV, and I look forward to working with you to make that happen. Thank you! Thank you very much!

[kolakoski]

Well met!

@mac122 made us cards! They look great!

I can't believe he got all that text on the cards.

[chas]

MY AOA REVIVAL PROJECT RIDES AGAIN IN A BRAND NEW FORM!

Since the recent prepublication reveal of the new Renegade Games' Age of Annihilation Wave 1, I've been assured that there is only one substantive change to the old Anitar AOA cards we have been using. That the reassignment of some of the cards to different Generals is the only other change. I got this from Thrasher Darkrai and Anitar herself.

However, upon reviewing these cards, I found that it is not so. I can't account for this, other than to think that some of Anitar's own additions to a few cards that were not complete accounts for these various changes, since the AOA card versions we've been playing with came out some time ago.

In addition, there are of course more changes to those few cards that were never released at all by Haslab's failed AOA offering. This includes the revamped Swarm of the Marro non Marro heroes and the new Kyrie warriors kept out as future characters to be distributed later as special additions. For them, since all we had were our own cards for them--both Anitar and I made versions, both of which we've used in games, since I prefer my own and the misguided Kolokoski prefers the Anitar versions--these are now revealed in complete revamps, although some of the basic concepts of the new versions of these characters were similar to those we made a while ago: Shiori grows up from a teenager to a more mature and potent ninja, Drake now has a rocket pack and some kind of revised grapple power, and Raelin is now Evil Raelin working for Utgar and riding a Manticore, under the influence of a magic necklace similar to the plot of the old comic story from the days when Heroscape was first being marketed, etc. for the others not in Wave 1 but probably coming out later. The two Valkyrie Warriors now revealed are also substantially different than what we came up with back between the Haslab offering and this new Wave 1 Reveal: one bonds with Evil Raelin and another is Undead!

I've gone over these cards and made changes not only to their assigned Generals but their Heights, Stats, and in at least one case their powers. So my new rule for our NYCG4 games, is that the newly revealed Renegade Wave 1 cards must be used from now on, rather than the versions we've been using ever since the Haslab offering failed and we started using them with proxies. And this will continue as Wave 2 and other later versions are revealed! Those cards revealed now are only part of these characters, but those now revealed just now will be using their now Official Renegade Cards.

Kolakosi had been banning AOA Characters/cards from his last few recent games, so he could playtest his new SOV bound customs against "official" cards only. But now that the first Wave of AOA has been revealed and they are so similar to the ones we are using in the main, he's reinstated the AOA cards we've been using in our games, such as his scenario coming up next week; "The Dirty Dozen Freeze." This will use all four of his new customs/revisions as noted upthread in his armies.

So our five players may be looking at the new cards and reconsidering them for this next game. How many of them will use AOA now that they are allowed in the game? Will Kolakoski himself, who will be playing two armies if all five of us show up--the host often does this to balance out the teams/armies in a scenario--use some of the new cards, which I've prepared in hand drafted copies on 8 1/2 x 11 paper for now?

Thrasher Darkrai has left his set of 3D AOA Walls, which are very similar to the new ones which are now available for preorder by Renegade, here at The Game Palace (my place) on my request so we can all build maps with them for future games. They come in greater quantity than their counterparts will appear in their new Master Set; and the new Renegade figures, whether painted or unpainted, will not be available until August at any rate. Since none of us have decided to purchase any Wave 1 ourselves, the old or revised cards and proxies will remain in effect and available to all comers. Meanwhile TD has purchased a number of very nice 3D prints of some AOA characters which he uses as he wishes in his armies in games where AOA is allowed.

And since the rules for the new Wellspring Water hexes are so simple, I've just put some gold star stickers on some sparkly water hexes--currently seven of them to match the number available in the new Renegade Wave 1 Small Battle Box--and voila: we have that new terrain available now as well for our future game. As for the new Renegade Terrain Set of Jungle Foliage, which is only different sculpts for the Palm Trees and Bushes we already have the old ones here to use.

The game next week will not use any of the new terrain in proxy form, but my April game will use all three of the new types. The walls may use my rules for Illusory Walls, which may or may not been picked up in the Wave 1 Master Set. These were hinted at in the old Haslab offering but not revealed to us, but may also be in our next game. These rules are available upthread.

It remains to be seen if and when these will be used in future games beyond my own April extravaganza...which already exists in draft from on my drawing board in draft form!

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Tomorrow's the big day! Fielding the following in a Rogue army:

Spoiler Alert!

125 Ravenwolf
100 Wyvern
95 Rieka the Wolf
75 Kha
75 Komura
70 Nottingham Brigand x 2
60 Elaria the Pale
600 points, 9 spaces

In April, chas will be Hosting, and has given me permission to test (with none of the other custom) Komura (as an Uncommon Hero), and a new Uncommon Hero, Shi-Tarkas:

SHI-TARKAS
General: Aquilla
Race: Insect
Uniqueness: Uncommon Hero
Class: Predator
Personality: Fearless
Size: Medium 5
Life: 5
Move: 6
Range: 1
Attack: 3
Defense: 3
Points: 75

ACID SPIT
When a Shi-Tarkas attacks an adjacent opponent's figure, roll the 20-sided die. On a roll of 17 or higher, that figure may not roll defense dice against that Shi-Tarkas' attack.

THRI-KREEN ASSAULT
A Shi-Tarkas may attack any or all figures adjacent to her. If a figure is within 2 spaces of a Shi-Tarkas, and its base is no more than 1 level above or 1 level below that Shi-Tarkas' base, that Shi-Tarkas may add 1 to her Range when attacking that figure. Roll each attack separately.

EVASIVE 1
When a Shi-Tarkas rolls defense dice against an attacking figure who is not adjacent, add 1 defense dice to the defending Shi-Tarkas.

I've created a few armies for them:

Spoiler Alert!

200 Wyvern x 2
150 Komura x 2
70 Nottingham Brigand x 2
60 Darrak Ambershard
60 Izumi Samurai
60 Elaria the Pale
600 points, 13 spaces

150 Shi-Tarkas x 2
150 Mimring
120 Fyorlag Spiders x 3
100 Wyvern
80 Estivara
600 points, 16 spaces

200 Amberhive Protectors x 4
150 Shi-Tarkas x 2
150 Mimring
100 Mellifera
600 points, 21 spaces

While, thematically, having more than 1 Wyvern Rider seems cool, building an army with more than 1 was tough. The Shi-Tarkas, on the other hand, were easy, for both Insects and Spiders. Mimring over Major Q10 was a purely thematic decision.

[chas]

Yikes! Both Thrasher Darkrai and Taeblewalker had to drop out of today's game at the last minute. How will Kolakoski adjust the scenario? Tablewalker had sent me his army roster so I could fill it out, and we can have it available to play.

Its not like this has never happened before. At least there are three of us left. I remember a day when everyone had to cancel on me! I think that only happened once.

But for now, the map is up on the table, and two and a half of our armies are set up around it...

[chas]

We had two fun games yesterday.

In the first one Sherman Davies and I were against Kolakoski, who was playing 2 armies. He looked good to win at the start, and played really well, but later on we turned it around and won. The person working two armies had more to do of course, but had perfect coordination between his armies.

In the second game, I took my army again and the absent Taeblewalker's, and lost against the other guys. It looked pretty one sided against me, but I managed to move forward and get in some good attacks against them, so when I lost I was satisfied that I'd acquitted myself well. Neither of my armies had any shooters at all, while there were many opposing me, including K.'s with very long range!

Army construction included various reactions to a wintery map with thick snow and slippery ice that covered almost all of the map except the two Start Zones--Mt. Thaelin's Saddle v2 by Nomad, as posted upsthread. This battlefield also featured many Glacier Mountains of all the different sizes. But My Dzu Teh couldn't be shot atfrom range, and my Phantom Knights had good defense against range.

Kolakoski fielded two armies, which is our usual procedure when we have an odd number of players. I was interested in Taeblewalker's army which he'd posted to me. So I took two armies in the second game including both mine and his, so K. wouldn't have to run two in both games. I'd played Talingul, which I happen to have the correct figure for, using two Iron Golems, but not with Ice Elementals. Luckily, I have three of them as needed.

Our individual solutions to the Arctic map were mostly a combination of winter terrain type Characters and Fliers. There were also besides K.'s four customs he's been preparing for submission to the SOV Commitee, his previously accepted design for them being Kha, who was also used.

The armies we used were:

Kolakoski's Armies
(* = New Customs Being Playtested)

Main Playtest Army
Ravenwolf* 125
Wyvern 100
Rieka The Wolf * 95
Kha 75
Komura* 75
Nottingham Brigand x2 70
Elaria The Pale 60
600 Points, 9 Spaces

Age Of Annihilation Army
(** = Using New Renegade AOA Wave 1 Cards Where Just Revealed)
Bok Bur Na** 125
Cpatain Xue* 115
Raelin The Kyrie Warrior (Utgar)** 100
Dorrim The Bulkhead Brawler** 100
Loviatak The Kyrie Warrior** 80
Dreadnoughts of New Tortuga** 80
600 Points, 10 Spaces

Chas Army
Dzu Teh x2 150
Ice Troll x2
Taelord 180
Phantom Knights 70
570, 12 Spaces

Taeblewalker Army
Talingul 100
Greater Ice Elemental x3 390
Iron Golem 100
Isamu 10
600, 10 Spaces

Sherman Davies Army
Atlaga 90
Protectors of Ullar x3 330
Cyprien Esenwein 150
Guilty McCreach 30
600 Points, 12 Spaces

My new procedure for our games in the light of the newly revealed Renegade Wave 1 AOA Cards (just made available for Preorder) is to use the updated Official cards in place of the ones Anitar or I had made up, which we had been using previously. Since only those revealed in Wave 1 are now available in hand written form with our proxies, only some of the AOA designs were updated. Completely new cards were revealed for those not shown in the old Haslab offering that did not fund. these included updated versions of the Swarm of the Marro Heroes and for the new Kyrie Warriors, as noted above if used.

I've now made up handwritten cards either new or modified in according to Wave 1, and have them here for playing future games. I'll do the same for Wave 2, especially since for now none of us are buying (preordering) the new stuff.

[chas]

AOA TAG TEAM MATCH!
ChasScape Wednesday April 3, 2024

This is a multiplayer Free For All
For The New York City Gang of Four

Victory: Each player takes the cards they kill using Full Card Scoring. The most points after Ten Turns wins; or alternatively the last player standing.

Armies: Each army is composed of 600 Points of Classic/VC Figures (No Supers), including one (and only one) Age of Annihilation (AOA) card, whether Hero or Squad. The Army maximum is 24 hexes, including the AOA figure(s).

This AOA card can be from either the Haslab offering as previously played in our NYCG4 AOA Revival Project (by Anitar or Chas), or from the new Renegade Wave I release, using the recently revealed Official versions of those cards. This will be our practice going forward with future Renegade releases for now.

Tagging Out and In!

The figure(s) from the AOA card in each army start off the board. At the start of any player round before activating an Order Marker, he may replace the figure(s) of any of his cards still on the board with the AOA figure(s). The card Tagging Out must have a point value at least half of that of the one Tagging In. It must hold the next Order Marker being used.

The substitute AOA figure(s) appears on the same hex(es) as figure(s) being removed--or adjacent hexes if there is more than one AOA figure to place but fewer figures being removed. If there is not enough room to place all AOA figures, the remainder are out of the game.

No points are counted from the figure(s) being removed. Only one such substitution takes place per army per game. No points are scored for figures which cannot enter the game.

If all of an army's figures are taken off the board before their Tag In substitution is made, that army's AOA figures are lost, and do not come into the game, nor do they score any points for anyone.

The AOA unit tagging in is now activated by the Order Marker placed on the card Tagging Out.

The Map will be freebuilt, to include all three kinds of new terrain just revealed by Renegade: 7 hexes of Wellspring Water, Palm Trees and Jungle Bushes ("Laur Terrain") with different sculpts but working the same way, and Kevin's version of the 3D Walls he generously left here afer we used them for the first time in his last scenario.

But this time we'll be using my rules for Illusory Walls, which we've used before (to be replaced by the Official Rules when they are revealed by Renegade): we roll the D20 for each wall section of connected pieces to see if they are Real or Illusionary, when someone moves a figure adjacent to them. If they are Illusionary, they block Line of Sight but can be moved through. If they are Real, they act as normal walls and can only be moved through by their archways. We'll mark each section with the usual colored plastic stones to note their status when they are revealed.

I have a copy of these rules here, and they are posted on our thread on Page 1214 Post #1480.

This draft is still being tweaked as necessary, following comments by the membership as well as my own thoughts.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Thanks, chas, for another fun game day. Discussion of my customs' performance can be found here.

[kolakoski]

Well met!

Thanks to @mac122, we now have:

[Sherman Davies]

Given Heroscape's all ages, family friendly nature, you may want to reconsider that thing's name.