The Book of Talon (Uncommon)

[IAmBatman]

They're solid as defensive/tie-down figures. But they're not very useful as offensive pieces.

[fret_gurglo]

Army Test
Map: Swamp Lab
Units: Court of Owls (200), Talons x 3 (420) (620)vs Batgirl (130), Batman (200), Catwoman (170), Robin (120) (620)

Design tested

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = TALON
SECRET IDENTITY = N/A

SPECIES = UNDEAD
UNIQUENESS = UNCOMMON HERO
CLASS = ASSASSIN
PERSONALITY = RELENTLESS

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 3

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 3
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 2

POINTS = 140

NIGHT OF OWLS
Before placing Order Markers for the round, if this Talon is on the battlefield and is not engaged, you may place this Talon on this card. At the end of the round, if this Talon is on this card and not destroyed, you may place them on any empty space on the battlefield, so long as they are:
*not within clear sight of any opponents’ figures; and/or
*within 4 clear sight spaces of a Mastermind you control.

ASSASSINATION TACTICS
When this Talon attacks an enemy figure, if that figure is engaged with one or more Assassins, subtract 1 from the defending figure's defense.

UNSTOPPABLE RESILIENCE
If this Talon would receive one or more wounds, ignore one of those wounds.

Powers Used:
Electrum Investment(Placed at beginning): 1 on Talon 1, 2 on Talon 2, 3 on Talon 3
Electrum Investment(Heaing): 1
Electrum Investment(Revival): 1
Behind Granite and Lime: Tough to tell when invoked
Assassin Command: 9

Night of Owls: 0
Assassination Tactics: 4
Unstoppable Resilience: 13

Damage from normal attacks(Talons): 1

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: Batman throws a Batarang at Talon 3 for 1 wound. Catwoman throws her bolas on Talon 3 and drops caltrops to reduce movement options. Next turn Catwoman bolas Talon 2 and attacks for 1 wound.
Round 2: Talon 2 uses an Electrum for 1 heal. Talon 3 takes a turn to remove bolas. Batman throws batarang at Talon 3 for 1 wound and Robin attacks Talon 2 for 1 wound. Next turn Robin hits Talon 2 for 1 wound. Talon 3 attacks Catwoman for 1 wound. Then Catwoman destroys Talon 2.
Round 3: Robin destroys Talon 3. Batman attacks Talon 1 for 2 wounds and Robin follows up and destroys him.
Round 4: Talon 3 revives. Batman one punch destroys Talon 3 with 5 skulls rolled. Catwoman destroys an Owl. Owls do a collective 1 damage on Catwoman. Batman destroys an Owl and Catwoman does the same. Last turn, Batman and Catwoman destroy the last 3 Owls.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Batgirl 4/4 Life, Batman 4/4 Life, Catwoman 2/4 Life, Robin 4/4 Life remaining.

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Talons are just not worth 140 points. They did very little damage and died pretty easily. Even with the advantage of healing and revival it did not bring them up to the Bat Family level.


GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Without a climb/leap/grapple power the Bat Family was able to easily dispatch them at range.

[IAmBatman]

Ah, I see SW didn't bump this thread when he made changes to the SP, so you tested the old version. Yeah, I agree heavily with your conclusions. I'm hoping the changes SW made here and to the Court do the trick.

[tcglkn]

Yep, set up for these today, plan on running them tomorrow then packing up my testing map.

[fret_gurglo]

Sorry for only the single test, but I was rushing to get it done and I wanted to propose a change before doing a second.

I'd like to offer the following ideas:

Increase Defense by 1 from 2 to 3
Add a power on either Court or Talons with the general effect that it only takes 1 Electrum Marker to revive a Talon.

I don't know if that will bring them up to 140, but I think it will be much closer.

[fret_gurglo]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Ah, I see SW didn't bump this thread when he made changes to the SP, so you tested the old version. Yeah, I agree heavily with your conclusions. I'm hoping the changes SW made here and to the Court do the trick.

I see the change to Court of Owls. I did play the old version, but I don't think it would have added that much. It does have better movement for the assassins, but it would not have been enough to even the playing field.

[fret_gurglo]

And I see the change to Talons too. Even with both changes I still don't think it would be enough to even that game, but it is enough to make my test obsolete.

[IAmBatman]

The extra movement is meant to make it easier for them to get the defensive reductions stacked up. I’m not sure an Owls/Talon army will be terribly strong even with that change, but it might make the combo feel more viable in a Hand Ninja army, whereas beforehand I couldn’t see taking them over any of the other Assassin options.

I wouldn’t be surprised if the Talons still feel a tad overpriced with this change, but hopefully testing will show that!

[Yodaking]

Even with the auto-shield from their def. power, 2 def/3 life is pretty weak for a 140 point figure. Do they have to be 140 points for some reason or can the points just come down? Also, I kind of like the idea of them being revived at the cost of just 1 marker where as any other assassin needs 1 marker per wound. That would certainly make them a little more attractive an option. Just food for thought as testing proceeds.

[IAmBatman]

Ubu, comparatively, has 4 Life and 5 Defense, while also 4 Attack, for 100 points. He has no range, no defensive reduction, and is slightly slower. I struggle to see where they're necessarily better than him as Assassins, and they're 40 points more.

I got 135-150 on the calculator, but in practice I think their powers were worth a lot less than I thought.

[Soundwarp SG-1]

They don’t have to be 140 points, I never aim for specifc point costs.

I think y’all are underestimating Unstoppable Resilience though. Like compared to Ubu they have basically equivalent defense (one ‘auto sheild’ is worth 3 defense dice) plus ‘disengage’, fall damage immunity, lava field immunity, and immunity to the vast majority of auto-wound powers.

[IAmBatman]

It was easily their best power in my tests.