Soldiers of Valhalla - nominations and discussion

[Astroking112]

I would like to resubmit Masha Shingai for SoV review.

Original Card:

Spoiler Alert!

Almost all of the criticism in UF review last time was directed towards his species of Demon; I have addressed these concerns by replacing it with Yokai. This is still a thematic species while avoiding any current or planned synergy interactions.

Yokai are supernatural monsters or demons from Japanese folklore, often known for shapeshifting powers but generally having supernatural abilities. It's a species new to the game, but one that could potentially be expanded down the line with other Japanese creatures of any shape and size.

Other than the species, nothing else has changed from Masha Shingai's previous submission (provided below):

Spoiler Alert!

I would like to submit this revised version of Masha Shingai for SoV consideration. For context, here is a link to the original submission that was accepted for review.

Bio:

Spoiler Alert!

A foreigner from the East stood before us, an omen of what was to come.

We froze, bowstrings tensely drawn and no boar in our sights. Our hunt had ended the second that we detected the outsider.

Standing before us was no elf: it was a Samurai.

Heavily armored from a faraway land, it was clear that this outsider meant to make war with us. But what could he seek? What brought him to the great forest of Feylund?

I briefly considered speaking with him, briefly considered trying to reach an understanding.

Then he smiled.

In the span of a second, dozens of arrows flew through the air; in the span of a second, a monster was unleashed.

I watched in horror as my friends fell before me. The outsider was on us with a frightening speed, rushing and slashing and cutting and burning until there were none of us left... except for me.

Amidst the carnage, the outsider reared his head back and relished in his work. As an evil laugh rang throughout the wood, I realized what he was.

He was a demon.

Overcome with anguish at the sight of my friends on the floor, I let loose a final arrow, hearing the welcome thud of it finding its mark. The wood fell silent as the demon stood still. Slowly, he turned around.

Then he smiled.

Before I could even ready another shot, the world faded away to a blue flame.

He was a foreigner from the East: an omen of what was to come.

BALANCE
I spent most of my previous submission talking about why Masha wasn't too strong, but given that both of his negative votes were because he was too weak and felt underwhelming as a cheerleader hybrid, I think that it's prudent to discuss how he's been improved.

There are precisely three changes from a balance perspective that have been made: his attack debuff aura now works against unique squads but excludes Samurai, his Fiery Retribution now extends two spaces, and his move has been bumped up to 6.

These are all essentially improvements that make playing Masha less frustrating. There are now more builds that you can make with him (given that the Tagawa Samurai Archers are an option), he now has more positioning freedom and ways to get value with his Fiery Retribution, and each turn has a bit more value and options now that he can move a bit quicker. The many restraints on the design have been loosened ever so slightly, resulting in a unit that falls flat on his face less often and generally augments the Samurai in a more impactful way.

That's not to say that all of Masha's downsides have been removed, though. He still demands a third of your turns, refuses to play nicely with non-Samurai squads, and falls easily to heroes and ill-timed initiative losses. His anti-ranged power for the Samurai is now easier to set up and get value out of, but it also still only activates after a wound. The design still has plenty of built-in costs, and it represents a more balanced revision of the terrifying demon Samurai.

THEME
Pretty much every aspect of Masha's design stems from the idea of a demon Samurai. He has very aggressive stats befitting both demons and the aggressive Samurai like the Kozuke. His aura of terror excludes the Samurai as they guard him (simultaneously boosting their Counterstrike), and if one of his guards falls to a ranged attacker, he might even be annoyed enough to avenge them.

Masha lacks the faction's iconic Counterstrike, but he trades it for a very thematically appropriate ranged twist. It evokes the "attacking-while-defending" theme of the Samurai quite well. Ultimately, despite being a big angry demon, he still feels very much like a Samurai, and the figure looks right at home with the others.

Once again, big thanks to BiggaBullfrog for the name Masha Shingai. It's a fantastic name meaning "Evil Being," and it's much better than my previous attempts from Google Translate.

CREATIVITY
Call it creator's bias, but I'd argue that this design is very creative. Terror of the Honorless is obviously a highlight, acting as a simple power that boosts one of the most iconic parts of a faction. However, it also comes with a steep cost by requiring a revealed Order Marker on a melee hero, resulting in a very unique and demanding playstyle.

Fiery Retribution is similarly simple, but it addresses one of the Samurai's main weaknesses, ranged attacks, in a new way while avoiding removing their weakness entirely. Both powers combine to create a unique cheerleader-attacker hybrid that is pretty much unlike anything else that we've seen in HeroScape.

PLAYABILITY
I've addressed this a bit in balance above, but Masha's improvements make him much more fun and exciting to play. He adds a high level of tension to the army as you try to plan where to leave him each round, whether you'll win initiative for his aura, and whether it's worth it to go for that tempting attack from height on an opposing figure but leave your army exposed.

Previously, his limitations were a bit too strict, resulting in some undue frustration. Now with 6 move, he can reach new spaces, waste less time getting into position from the starting zone, and strike out against isolated targets. With 2 spaces on his Fiery Retribution, he can more reliably find value in ways other than his Terror, subtly encouraging opponents to target other figures and indirectly protecting your Samurai. Even with those 2 spaces, you'll quickly find that setting up the ideal Raelin-Masha-Tagawa Samurai Archer anti-ranged anti-melee pod is difficult, though, given that Masha'll always want to take another turn again pretty soon.

Masha also plays much more nicely with the Unique Squads and Tomoe Gozen now. Neither of them offer the Samurai as much competitive power as Raelin, of course, but now that he's a little bit quicker and extends his Fiery Retribution further, the two no longer clash as frequently in practice. If you're trying to juggle him, her, and Raelin, though, then you'll quickly find that you just can't keep up with your opponent when using so many Order Markers to position supports.

ACCESSIBILITY
Masha uses the Oni Mage sculpt from Pathfinder's Kingmaker set. He released a while ago, but the sculpt is still available at most online retailers and averages $3 to $5. Here's some quick numbers for proof:

• MiniatureMarket: 20+
• RPGLocker: 36
• SunCity Games: 5
• NobleKnight Games: 3
• Auggie's Games: 3
• TrollandToad: 3
• Amazon: 2

That's a total of at least 72 sculpts out there, before even delving into eBay which has plenty of further copies. Furthermore, Masha was also under SoV consideration for nearly a year, so it is very possible that other members of the community already own a copy of the sculpt.

Overall, Masha's not going to change the face of the meta or suddenly make melee infeasible, but he can give the Samurai a fighting chance and makes them significantly more fun to play. I think that he's an excellent addition to the game, and he's been a fun staple at my table for the past year.

Whew. I think that that's everything that I have to say in this post. Sorry for my verbosity and thank you for your consideration.

As always, many thanks to the judges for their time and consideration.

[superfrog]

excited to focus on Samurai in testing

[All Your Pie]

[Scytale]

to review Masha Shingai.

[Sir Heroscape]

Please remove A-N from the process, thank you.

[Scytale]

Agrith-Naar has been removed from the process by the submitter's request.

[caps]

to review Masha

[Scytale]

Masha Shingai has received 4 Yea votes to review (Scytale, BiggaBullfrog, superfrog, and capsocrates) and moves forward in the process.

[Sir Heroscape]

After almost 2 years of working on this and over 17 different versions, I've landed on what I believe to be the tightest and most balanced design yet.

I submit Agrith-Naar

Cloaked figures lowered their arms in the circle as they completed the monotone incantation; a massive, muscled demon standing before them. The foremost of Valkrill’s clerics stepped forward to speak. “Agrith-Naar! We have summoned you — “ but he was cut off as long, blade-like teeth flashed out to take him. His body dropped; lifeless. Clerics scattered in every direction, fearing to be next. Then the Demon spoke. “Who do I hunt?” Hesitantly a woman stepped forward, and pointing south said, “Over that hill and camped in the valley.” The Demon’s eyes turned stark white as a grotesque grin etched it’s way across his face. He flew into the air, beginning his hunt. The woman lowered her head and whispered, “What have we done?”

Agrith-Naar is the Greater Death Demon #37 from the D&D Legends of Golarion line.

• Balance
  He has comparisons to Master Woo, Raelin, Azazel and others who can attack all adjacent figures and share a similar stats and point values. A big difference is that A-N depends a lot more on his ability because his life depends on it, literally. He's one of the few figures in Heroscape that takes wounds upon not succeeding. Ulfrid is a nice comparison in a way, but overall a very different mechanic. Alastair is a nice comparison because their stat lines are exactly the same, but Alastair can only target 1 figure at a time, though his Overextend is a player choice and he can move to a better position. A-N's mobility is better though, so there's that. Even if a player wants to get off multiple attacks, it requires A-N to destroy all figures (watch out allies) to not take damage, so the player has to constantly be considering if the reward is worth the risk of losing him in a vulnerable situation. It’s never a easy “no-brainer” decision with A-N because his strongest potential/output is engaged with multiple foes.
  
• Playability
  A-N is unique in that he has a simple, understandable powers that take very little effort to remember. Flying we’ve seen, Ravenous Assault is Whirlwind Assault but with a title that is more thematic (ala Master Woo) and Starved is new but simple and thematic. His high attack is a representation of his 4 muscular arms that he uses as he hunts enemies. The Ravenous Assault is also a direct theme link between his left box stats as a Ravenous Devourer and the mini also suggests the same. So while he’s simple, he play style is rich with tough, strategic decisions. You want to get him engaged to pull off multiple powerful kills, but doing so might also isolate him, which will only make him more vulnerable to a counterattack as well as his own self-inflicted wounds.
  
• Creativity
  Does it add something new to the game? Yes absolutely. It adds a distinct, purposeful tension between the offensive output and survivability. You have to know when to use him at the right time. The beauty of heroscape design is being able to create something simple that results in tough and strategic gameplay decisions all the while making you feel like the unit "really is" what it was designed to be. I believe this iteration does that.
  
• Theme
  This figure is a Demon. Check. This figure is visibly ravenous in his facial expression and a devourer fits with his abilities and the mini. Check. This figure is clearly an offensive powerhouse by looking at his pose, multiple muscular arms and weapons. Check. May his foes cower in fear!
  
• Accessibility
  As of Sept 25th, 2019, Paizo confirmed they had 109 in stock
  eBay ~20

[caps]

This design is very appealing. I liked some of the versions that had a more forced mechanic. The implicit choice here (attack your own figures or choose not to) is also interesting.

to review Agrith-Naar.

[Scytale]

While I like the design (due to my level of input, which was enough that I should perhaps abstain), but the renaming of Whirlwind Assault rubs me the wrong way. Yes, there are other names. The ODs started with Shaolin Assualt, then Master's Assault, then finally Whirlwind Assault, which we've stuck with ever since. The first two were stupid and short-sighted. I have less than zero desire to make yet another name, when Whirlwind Assault is a perfectly good generic name. Besides that, "Ravenous Assault" doesn't feel like a "may" to me, it feels like a "must."

I'm not sure it's enough to downvote, but like I said, I'm not sure I should vote.

[Sir Heroscape]

Originally Posted by Scytale

the renaming of Whirlwind Assault rubs me the wrong way. Yes, there are other names. The ODs started with Shaolin Assualt, then Master's Assault, then finally Whirlwind Assault, which we've stuck with ever since. The first two were stupid and short-sighted. I have less than zero desire to make yet another name, when Whirlwind Assault is a perfectly good generic name.

I can understand the frustration with having the same ability renamed, BUT my interpretation of the OD's was that if it's renamed for the sake of theme then it makes sense. Whirlwind Assault "fits" better on a Kyrie (Raelin) whereas it doesn't on a Monk (Master Woo). Same here with a Demon. It's too generic and too "fluffy" for a Demon. Something more descrptive for the them like Ravenous Assault is much more appropriate imo than Whirlwind Assault. And there's a precedent for it.