The Book of Ares

[Arkham]

The Book of Ares

C3G DC PUBLIC EXCLUSIVE COLLECTION 16
RULING THE RABBLE


Comic PDF

Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the DC 75th Anniversary set.
Its model number and name are #058 / Ares.

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Character Bio - Ares is the god of war in Greek mythology, son of Zeus by Hera and a villainous cosmic entity who acts as antagonist to Wonder Woman. Dedicated to forwarding the cause of war, he acts as a corrupting influence to manipulate others and spread violence. He has offspring known as the Children of Ares, demi-gods who act as super-villains. His Roman counterpart is the god Mars. Ares was created by William Moulton Marston, first appearing in Wonder Woman #1. (1942) - DC Wikia
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• Ares is an Event Hero and follows Event Hero rules.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• N/A

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

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-Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses-

Immunities:

• N/A

Benefits:

• N/A

Weaknesses:

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• Ares strategy guide

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: (Arkham) @6 Def.
• Second playtest: (Ronin) @6 Def.
• Third playtest: (All Your Pie) @7 Def.
• Fourth Playtest: (Lazy Orang) @7 Def.
• Fifth Playtest: (Ronin) @7 Def.
• Sixth Playtest: (Ronin) @580
• Seventh Playtest: (Arkham) @580
• Art: Figure, Background, Comic
• Art by Arkham

Card Updates:
16 Feb 2022 - Typo fix in Class
7 March 2021 - Class changed to Diety

[Arkham]

NAME = ARES

SPECIES = OLYMPIAN
UNIQUENESS = EVENT HERO
CLASS = DEITY
PERSONALITY = MALEVOLENT

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 6

LIFE = 9

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

POINTS = 570

GOD OF WAR
At the end of each players' turn, if at least one Unique Hero or Event Hero received any wounds or was destroyed, place 1 black War Marker on this card, to a maximum of 3, otherwise you must remove a War Marker from this card.

FUELED BY DEATH
Anytime a Unique Hero or Event Hero is destroyed, remove one Wound Marker from this Army Card. If you control the destroyed figure's Army Card, you may place any unrevealed Order Markers from its card on this card.

MALEVOLENT INFLUENCE
When attacking an adjacent figure, add one to Ares' Attack number for each War Marker on this card. If there is at least:
• 1 War Marker on this card, all other figures within 4 spaces of Ares add 1 to their Attack number;
• 2 War Markers on this card, all other figures within 4 spaces of Ares subtract 1 from their Defense number; and
• 3 War Markers on this card, all other figures within 4 spaces of Ares cannot leave engagements and must attack an adjacent figure after ending their movement, if possible.

SUPER STRENGTH
FLYING

[Arkham]

Comic:

Spoiler Alert!

Figure:

Spoiler Alert!

Background:

Spoiler Alert!

[Arkham]

This design is being done in the public so that we can all enjoy Ares to coincide with the release of the Wonder Woman movie in June. Enjoy!

[Ronin]

Probably gonna take a lot of testing to really nail the balance on this guy, but I dig the direction.

[Arkham]

Yeah, I have started testing him to get an idea on how he actually plays, and so far there's some tweaks that are likely to be made. I put him up against the Fantastic Four, with Catwoman, Destiny, and Lizard on his team to make the most out of their high life but relatively lower cost. He ended up losing with Mr. Fantastic with 1 wound, Invisible Woman and Thing with 0 wounds.

The issue being, it wasn't exactly a guarantee that he gained a War marker if someone died, and with the Fantastic Four's multiple turns, if any of them didn't cause a wound on their individual turns, he just had to roll a 6 or lower to lose a War marker. So he only ever gained 1 War marker and quickly lost it. They bombarded Ares after Lizard died, and Ares couldn't hang in there long enough to take down another one of them with Invisible Woman boosting the team and Mr. Fantastic holding him down.

So far, I'm thinking some tweaks could be made as such:

• gain a War marker on a roll of 13(instead of 16) or higher.
• lose a War marker on a roll of 4(instead of 6) or lower.
• possibly altering the +1 attack and -1 defense to others around him to +1 auto skull and -1 shield.

With those changes, he would likely stand a much better shot in the early game to hopefully gain some momentum to get things going in his favor. I don't feel the +1 auto skull or -1 shield are too much, as everything is affecting both his team and the opponent's. The goal being to have everyone else die in battle but himself. His teammates are simply pawns to aid in the destruction, but ultimately there to make him more powerful all the same when they die. So with mutual boosts/drawbacks for both sides, I think it helps keep Ares ultimately balanced. Until he gets at least 2 War markers on him, he's not really reaching his potential.

Naturally though, I'm going to run some bigger games, as that's where he will likely do better.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Arkham

Yeah, I have started testing him to get an idea on how he actually plays, and so far there's some tweaks that are likely to be made. I put him up against the Fantastic Four, with Catwoman, Destiny, and Lizard on his team to make the most out of their high life but relatively lower cost. He ended up losing with Mr. Fantastic with 1 wound, Invisible Woman and Thing with 0 wounds.

The issue being, it wasn't exactly a guarantee that he gained a War marker if someone died, and with the Fantastic Four's multiple turns, if any of them didn't cause a wound on their individual turns, he just had to roll a 6 or lower to lose a War marker. So he only ever gained 1 War marker and quickly lost it. They bombarded Ares after Lizard died, and Ares couldn't hang in there long enough to take down another one of them with Invisible Woman boosting the team and Mr. Fantastic holding him down.

So far, I'm thinking some tweaks could be made as such:

• gain a War marker on a roll of 13(instead of 16) or higher.
• lose a War marker on a roll of 4(instead of 6) or lower.
• possibly altering the +1 attack and -1 defense to others around him to +1 auto skull and -1 shield.

With those changes, he would likely stand a much better shot in the early game to hopefully gain some momentum to get things going in his favor. I don't feel the +1 auto skull or -1 shield are too much, as everything is affecting both his team and the opponent's. The goal being to have everyone else die in battle but himself. His teammates are simply pawns to aid in the destruction, but ultimately there to make him more powerful all the same when they die. So with mutual boosts/drawbacks for both sides, I think it helps keep Ares ultimately balanced. Until he gets at least 2 War markers on him, he's not really reaching his potential.

Naturally though, I'm going to run some bigger games, as that's where he will likely do better.

What about surrounding him with a swarm of common figures that will easily get one figure knocked off a turn but will benefit from the attack boost. Just a thought as a devils advocate to the high life teammates.

EDIT: missed the unique/Event hero portion. Though he'd still be able to use them to not lose markers...at least the way I read it.

[Arkham]

Yeah the Unique/Event hero restriction is there just to avoid that easy means of gaining the markers. As for using them to ensure he keeps them, if the opponent wants to still attack Ares, they could. Granted, if none of them have range, that could possibly work.

[Tornado]

You know I am excited to see this one and I will not try to convince you to spice it up anymore.

I think japes may be on the right track. Perhaps more chances to roll is better than enhanced rolls. You could destroy your own low cost unique heroes. Not a great strategy currently but if we ever get around to the Walking Dead, I could see a few really low cost Unique Heroes.

Speaking of WD, perhaps some Walkers and a Lurker to lead them would work(and some Civs to replace them). Hopefully the enemy will be pressured to attack, with that lower roll you may be able to hold on to those markers. The problem of course being your limited access to markers but really I think he is best at two markers, he just needs to hold them better.
He reminds me a bit of Judge Death and his finite opportunities.

What is the story behind the background art for the mini(which is pretty cool)?
It feels more sci-fi than greek god.

[Arkham]

That was copied over from Cosmo's thread. Just haven't changed it yet. I've got his card already together, I have to put the mini background in the thread though.

I did include your idea of making his Defense get lower as he gets more offensively powerful. I like that change a lot as before I had him at a static 5 defense. Which means in a match with Wonder Woman, if he got lasso'd, he'd likely get bested by her. However, with this approach, if he gets lasso'd, he can withstand the 1 on 1 longer than she can, theoretically.

[Tornado]

OK, right on. Was hopeful for a cool story but that works.

I like the mechanics on the markers, we just have to get that d20 roll figured out.

[Yodaking]

I think I would drop it down to 3 markers and drop the last ability, I don't see why you would not be attacking anyway at that point of the game where he has 4 markers on his card. I guess someone could be choosing not to attack in order to try and remove a marker but I just don't see that as a viable strategy at all. You are better off just trying to kill off the figure you are engaged with than allowing them to continue to beat on you while you do nothing. I really, really like the no disengage power and would actually move that up to the first thing that becomes activated. Force ghostwalkers to stand and fight someone they don't really want to fight, then start adding boosts after that. I do think the markers should be coming into play fairly easily then with disengage being the first one, so maybe get rid of the d20 roll for adding them all together. Just every time a UH dies he adds a marker, but still roll for removing them when no wounds are inflicted.