The Book of Jackal

[Viegon]

Originally Posted by Dysole

I already did a solid look at humans and clones and didn't see anything game breaking but hadn't checked mutates yet (worth noting that mutates and metahumans are currently not in the Synergy Archive although I think that's more @Viegon territory). I'll keep you posted if I find anything.

~Dysole, glad to help

If I find the time I can put an Archive post together for the Mutates, but for Jackal I was using SirG's Sortable Index because I could sort it to show the high-life/high-cost Mutates and Humans.

Also, I haven't signed up yet but I've already knocked out a couple games with Jackal. So far he seems to be proving weak for me, though in the first game he did bring back Captain Marvel (Batson), which was huge for his team. I want to run at least one big game (like 1,600 or higher) before I post my report.

Personally, I really think if there's going to be tweaks his Cloning roll needs to come back down, it's just way too inconsistent as-is. My .

[Zettian Juggernaut]

Originally Posted by Karat

I thought of that one too. I think that might be the first step. Then, if it still seems that his Cloning roll is too high we could lower it to 17.

I personally would rather see the 20 come down before the dice. If the 20 stays up, then you could have games where you never hit it, but other games where you get lucky and hit it multiple times. Lower 20 and more dice, means that more will come back, but will fall more constantly.

[Karat]

Originally Posted by Zettian Juggernaut

I personally would rather see the 20 come down before the dice. If the 20 stays up, then you could have games where you never hit it, but other games where you get lucky and hit it multiple times. Lower 20 and more dice, means that more will come back, but will fall more constantly.

Good point. With the ability to give a unit up to 8 wounds a round just from Cloning them, maybe back down to 16? Arnim zola is still the better choice as who he Clones doesn't Degenerate

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, if he continues in this direction, I'd like to see the Cloning roll dropped to 17+ and everything else kept the same as our first move.

[Dysole]

True but Zola only gets humans and once per game. The trade off is interesting and I haven't yet figured out which one I like better.

~Dysole, bringing people back from the dead

[dok]

Zola is probably better, but he's one of my guys so maybe I'm biased.

I think old school Hasbro Hulk makes sense with this guy for obvious reasons.

[Dysole]

Others that I like include Lizard, Mister Hyde, Morbius, She-Hulk, Wendigo, and my personal favorite because of how cheap he is Agent Hunter.

~Dysole, noting that he doesn't find any of these broken simply very optimal

[Viegon]

Update on the playesting: I've gotten in four games now (three of them in the 1,000-1,200 range, and the last one at over 1,700). I need to finish typing it up and I should be able to post it tomorrow.

Originally Posted by Dysole

Others that I like include Lizard, Mister Hyde, Morbius, She-Hulk, Wendigo, and my personal favorite because of how cheap he is Agent Hunter.

~Dysole, noting that he doesn't find any of these broken simply very optimal

Yeah, those were on the top of my list too. I put Lizard, She-Hulk, and Wendigo in some of my games, but I decided to drop Mister Hyde due to him being so slow (if it takes them too long to get to the battle, they'll just take too many Degeneration wounds; though I guess with Mister Hyde his healing will be able to handle that as long as he's not too unlucky). I hadn't thought of Agent Hunter, he'd make a nice cheap ranged option. The one that did best for me though was Black Adam; in the big game I got to bring him back twice and he did most of the damage to the opponent's army.

One weird interaction with Jackal that I didn't get to try is Hugo Strange. If he uses his Mutagenic Experiment on one of Jackal's clones, their species changes to Mutate, which means they are no longer a Clone Experiment and therefore don't have to roll for Cellular Degeneration if they take turns that round. Could be kind of fun.

[Viegon]

Here's my report.

As-is, I think Jackal's balanced. He has the potential to swing the game, but he's too unreliable and too costly to be overpowered at anything under 1,200 points. Once you get into higher cost games (1,600 to 2,000) he's incredibly valuable, but there's no way to avoid that and there's plenty of units that get much stronger in games like that.

The theme is great. Cellular Degeneration is very thematic and makes Jackal very interesting to play. However, the roll of 18+ is just too high in my opinion. It makes him so extremely unreliable that I don't think I'd draft him unless I was playing at at least 1,600 points. Personally, I'd like to see the roll brought down to at least 16+ and his cost bumped up to compensate (260 maybe?). Alternatively, I think you could get away with making Degeneration even worse, like 1 die at the end of each turn but 3 unblockable wounds at the end of each round. That paired with a lower roll would make him a little more consistent that you could play him at a lower cost, but without completely losing his swingy feel. My .

Anyways, here you go:

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT Jackal

- THEME TEST
Pass

- MIRROR TEST
Pass

- BONDING TEST
Pass

- SYNERGIES TEST
Pass

- POWER CHECK
Pass

- FUN TEST
Pass

- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST
Pass

- DRAFTING TEST
Pass

- USAGE TEST
Pass

- STRATEGY TEST
Pass

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test 1
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Pass
- What should be the unit's point value? 235, maybe more
- Give a brief overview. Jackal didn't do anything this game except hit his Cloning roll once, which really helped his team get the win. Had he failed to get an 18+, it would have been much closer and his team could have lost; but as it happened, he brought back Captain Marvel (Batson), who tore apart the enemy despite taking 6 wounds from Cellular Degeneration and dying a second time. However, despite the big win this game, Jackal didn’t do anything Arnim Zola couldn’t have since he only successfully got Cloning once, and it was on a Human.

UNIT SUM-UP
Damage: Never attacked.
Power Usage/Effectiveness:
Experimental Cloning 18: 18+ rolled 1 times out of 4 attempts; cloned Captain Marvel (Batson).
Drug Tipped Claws: Never attacked.
Cellular Degeneration:
- Captain Marvel V2: Took 3 turns, was alive at the end of 1 round; 6 wounds taken out of 8 total dice.

Map: Grundy’s Graved (no glyphs or special rules)
Units: Jackal, Captain Marvel (Batson), Oracle, Green Arrow (Ollie), Red Arrow, Beat Cops x3 (1,200 points) VS Mr. Fantastic, Invisible Woman, The Thing, Iron Man (Hasbro), Magma (1,185 points)

Spoiler Alert!

QUICK GAME SUMMARY:
Mr. Fantastic rolled poorly for his Fantastic Leader ability, which meant his team couldn’t get into position fast enough to take on the charging Captain Marvel. Captain Marvel got in and immediately began dealing heavy damage to the Adventurers, though he sustained plenty too. In the second round Captain Marvel took down Mr. Fantastic, though not long afterwards Iron Man eliminated the threat. Invisible Woman and Iron Man tag-teamed forward to take on the Archers; for awhile neither side was dealing damage, but then Green Arrow got in a couple lucky shots to take down Iron Man. Jackal started the fifth round with cloning Captain Marvel, who was able to fly out, take down Invisible Woman, and deal the Thing a couple wounds before secumbing to Cellular Degeneration. At that point, it was easy for the Archer Duo to finish off the Thing and take down Magma.

During the First Round: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Red Arrow positions.
ARMY 2: Reed and Thing advance.
ARMY 1: Captain Marvel flies out and puts 3 wounds on Thing.
ARMY 2: Reed puts 1 wound on Captain Marvel.
ARMY 1: Captain Marvel puts 3 wounds on Reed.
ARMY 2: Reed, Sue, and the Thing position and put 5 wounds on Captain Marvel.

During the Second Round: Army 1 wins Initiative (Captain Marvel heals a wound).
ARMY 1: Captain Marvel takes a disengagement wound to get height on Reed and use Secret Attack Plan, but he does no damage.
ARMY 2: Reed and Iron Man fail.
ARMY 1: Captain Marvel kills Reed.
ARMY 2: Turn lost on Reed.
ARMY 1: Captain Marvel puts 1 wounds on Sue.
ARMY 2: Iron Man takes a disengagement wound to kill Captain Marvel.

During the Third Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to Clone).
ARMY 2: Sue flies forward.
ARMY 1: Green Arrow fails.
ARMY 2: Iron Man flies forward.
ARMY 1: Green Arrow fails.
ARMY 2: Iron Man fails.
ARMY 1: Green Arrow fails.

During the Fourth Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to Clone).
ARMY 2: Iron Man kills a Cop.
ARMY 1: Green Arrow puts 2 wounds on Iron Man.
ARMY 2: Iron Man kills a Cop.
ARMY 1: Green Arrow kills Iron Man.
ARMY 2: The Thing charges.
ARMY 1: Red Arrow fails.

During the Fifth Round: Army 1 wins Initiative (Jackal clones Captain Marvel).
ARMY 1: Captain Marvel V2 flies out and takes 1 Degeneration wound.
ARMY 2: The Thing fails.
ARMY 1: Captain Marvel V2 takes a disengagement wound to kill Invisible Woman (takes another Degeneration wound).
ARMY 2: The Thing fails.
ARMY 1: Captain Marvel V2 puts 2 wounds on Thing and takes 2 Degeneration wounds.
ARMY 2: Magam places a Lava tile.
ROUND END: Captain Marvel V2 takes 2 wounds from Degeneration to die.

During the Sixth Round: Army 1 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 1: Green and Red Arrow kill the Thing.
ARMY 2: Magma flies out and places another Lava tile.
ARMY 1: Green and Red Arrow put 2 wounds on Magma.
ARMY 2: Magma puts 1 wound on Red Arrow.
ARMY 1: Green and Red Arrow kill Magma.

Jackal unwounded, Oracle unwounded, Green Arrow unwounded, Red Arrow with 1 wound, 7 Beat Cops.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test 2
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Pass
- What should be the unit's point value? 235 seems okay
- Give a brief overview. Jackal just wasn’t needed this game. His team got kind of lucky and was able to take on the Warriors Three fine by themselves. Jackal got to roll for his Cloning in attempt to bring back Lizard twice, but failed both his rolls.

UNIT SUM-UP
Damage: Never attacked.
Power Usage/Effectiveness:
Experimental Cloning 18: 18+ rolled 0 times out of 2 attempts.
Drug Tipped Claws: Never attacked.
Cellular Degeneration: N/A

Map: Grundy’s Grave (no glyphs or special rules)
Units: Jackal, Wendigo, Lizard, Frankenstein (1,105 points) VS Asgardian Warrior x1, Fandral, Hogun, Volstagg (1,110 points)

Spoiler Alert!

QUICK GAME SUMMARY:
Both teams took the first round to move out, with the Warriors Three ending it by rushing into engagement. Getting the initiative switch, the Warriors Three killed Lizard in a single turn. This enraged Team Creature, and Frankenstein and Wendigo were able to kill first Fandral, then Hogun before the second round was over. Volstagg had to quickly burn his Meat and Mead markers just to stay alive, and due to some bad dice, wasn’t able to score any kills before going down in the fourth round. The Asgardian Warrior fell at the same time as Volstagg, securing the Creatures a comfortable win.

During the First Round: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Lizard moves up.
ARMY 2: Asgardian Warrior moves up his team.
ARMY 1: Frank moves out.
ARMY 2: Asgardians advance.
ARMY 1: Frank gets height and puts 1 wound on Fandral.
ARMY 2: The Warriors Three engage.

During the Second Round: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: The Warriors Three kill Lizard.
ARMY 1: Frank and Wendigo kill Fandral and put 1 wound on Hogun.
ARMY 2: The Warriors Two put 1 wound on Frank and 1 on Wendigo.
ARMY 1: Frank and Wendigo kill Hogun (Wendigo heals a wound).
ARMY 2: Volstagg puts 2 wounds on Wendigo.
ARMY 1: Wendigo puts 5 wounds on Volstagg.

During the Third Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 2: Volstagg eats one of his markers to heal but fails his attack.
ARMY 1: Frank puts 2 wounds on Asgardian Warrior but Wendigo fails (Volstagg eats another marker).
ARMY 2: Volstagg fails.
ARMY 1: Frank and Wendigo fail.
ARMY 2: Volstagg puts 2 wounds on Wendigo.
ARMY 1: Frank puts 2 wounds on Asgardian Warrior and Wendigo puts 2 on Volstagg.

During the Fourth Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 2: Volstagg fails.
ARMY 1: Frank fails; Wendigo puts 1 wound on Volstagg (Volstagg eats his last marker).
ARMY 2: Volstagg puts 1 wound on Frank.
ARMY 1: Frank and Wendigo put 4 wounds on Volstagg.
ARMY 2: Volstagg fails.
ARMY 1: Frank and Wendigo kill Volstagg and Asgardian Warrior.

Frankenstein with 2 wounds, Wendigo with 3 wounds, Jackal unwounded.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test 3
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Pass
- What should be the unit's point value? 235 seems high this game
- Give a brief overview. The Mutants outmatched the Wrecking Crew severely, and the only hope the Wrecking Crew had was Jackal; if he had cloned once or twice, the game could have been there’s. But as it is, Jackal just didn't offer anything to his team and ultimately let them down.

UNIT SUM-UP
Damage: 1 wound to Blob.
Power Usage/Effectiveness:
Experimental Cloning 18: 18+ rolled 0 times out of 4 attempts.
Drug Tipped Claws: Never attacked a figure with OMs on its card.
Cellular Degeneration: N/A

Map: Grundy’s Grave (no glyphs or special rules)
Units: Jackal, Wrecker, Bulldozer, Thunderball, Piledriver (1,035 points) VS Professor X, Blob, Magneto (I), Silver Samurai, Dazzler (1,035 points)

Spoiler Alert!

QUICK GAME SUMMARY:
By the end of the first round, things were already looking bad for the Wrecking Crew. Magneto and Blob teamed up to tie them all down so that Silver Samurai, backed by Dazzler’s markers, could take them on without worrying about Xavier’s safety. Wrecker was dead by the middle of the second round, and Thunderball went down in the third. Piledriver was able to take down Silver Samurai after Thunderball had dealt him some wounds, but the Mutants finished off Piledriver the next turn. Without allies and being tied down by Blob, Bulldozer stood no chance and he was dead before the fourth round was over. Jackal’s defense held up surprisingly well and he lasted a couple more rounds, but he never hit his cloning roll and he wasn’t able to do enough damage. The Mutants walked away from the battle with only a single casualty.

During the First Round: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Thunderball moves up.
ARMY 2: Magneto removes his marker, moves up, and tosses Blob forward.
ARMY 1: Wrecker moves up.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto puts 1 wound on Wrecker from range while Silver Samurai moves up.
ARMY 1: Wrecker moves forward; Piledriver moves up; Bulldozer advances.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto tosses Blob next to Bulldozer and Piledriver, then tosses Wrecker next to Blob; Silver Samurai puts 2 wounds on Wrecker.

During the Second Round: Army 1 wins Initiative.
ARMY 1: Wrecker fails; Thunderball puts 1 wound on Silver Samurai.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto tosses Thunderball next to Blob but does no wounds; Dazzler puts 1 wound on Wrecker and also Dazzles him.
ARMY 1: Thunderball fails.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto pulls Xavier and Dazzler forward while Silver Samurai kills Wrecker.
ARMY 1: Piledriver is stopped by Psychic Defense X.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Dazzler dazzles Thunderball so Silver Samurai can put 2 wounds on him.

During the Third Round: Army 1 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 1: Piledriver fails; Thunderball puts 1 wound on Blob and 3 on Silver Samurai, but also accidently puts 1 on Piledriver.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Dazzler and Silver Samurai kill Thunderball.
ARMY 1: Piledriver is stopped by Psychic Defense X.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Dazzler and Silver Samurai put 3 wounds on Piledriver.
ARMY 1: Bulldozer fails; Piledriver kills Silver Samurai; Bulldozer puts 1 wound on Blob.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Dazzler and Magneto kill Piledriver and put 3 wounds on Bulldozer.

During the Fourth Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 2: Xavier: Dazzler and Magneto put 1 wound on Bulldozer.
ARMY 1: Bulldozer is blocked by Psychic Defense X.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Dazzler and Magneto kill Bulldozer.
ARMY 1: Turn lost on Bulldozer.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto and Blob advance.
ARMY 1: Jackal charges.

During the Fifth Round: Army 1 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 1: Jackal fails.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto fails but Dazzler dazzles Jackal.
ARMY 1: Jackal fails.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto tosses Jackal next to Blob and deals a wound, then pulls Xavier closer; Dazzler fails.
ARMY 1: Jackal is stopped by Psychic Defense X.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto and Blob fail.

During the Sixth Round: Army 1 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 1: Jackal puts 1 wound on Blob.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Dazzler and Magneto put 1 wound on Jackal.
ARMY 1: Jackal fails.
ARMY 2: Xavier: Magneto and Blob kill Jackal.

Xavier unwounded, Magneto unwounded, Dazzler unwounded, Blob with 3 wounds.

_____________________________________________________________

Army Test 4
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Pass
- What should be the unit's point value? 235 or so
- Give a brief overview. I intentionally designed this game to last longer so that Jackal would get more chances for cloning, and it worked. Over ten rounds Jackal was able to clone Black Adam twice, and due to some lucky Degeneration rolls, he was able to stick around long enough both times to deal serious amounts of damage to the enemy.

UNIT SUM-UP
Damage: Never attacked.
Power Usage/Effectiveness:
Experimental Cloning 18: 18+ rolled 2 times out of 7 attempts; order of cloning: Black Adam, Black Adam.
Drug Tipped Claws: Never attacked.
Cellular Degeneration:
- Black Adam V2: Took 6 turns, was alive at the end of 1 round; 6 wounds taken out of 14 total dice.
- Black Adam V3: Took 3 turns, was alive at the end of 0 rounds; 2 wounds taken out of 6 total dice.

Map: Swamp Lab (no glyphs or special rules)
Units: Jackal, Sage, Invisible Woman, Beat Cops x4, Black Adam, She-Hulk, Judge Dredd (1,730 points) VS Master Mold, Sentinels x6, Forge, Mastermind (1,740 points)

Spoiler Alert!

QUICK GAME SUMMARY:
It took the Sentinels the entire first round to get into position, and just as they did Black Adam came flying in to take them on. With his first two attacks he took down Master Mold’s healer, Forge, and then proceeded to deal Master Mold 4 wounds before he fell to the overwhelming attacks of the Sentinels. She-Hulk came in next at the start of the third round, and she went straight for Master Mold; due to bad dice on her first couple rolls, she was only able to deal Master Mold 4 wounds before dying. This left Jackal’s team without a bruiser for a round, but the Sentinels had to spend the whole round simply moving forward, and Judge Dredd was able to hold them off well enough. Entering the sixth round, Jackal successfully cloned Black Adam, who immediately rushed forward and took down a Sentinel in a single attack. Before the Sentinels could recover from this blow, Black Adam zoomed in and finished off Master Mold. With his Cellular Degeneration moving remarkably slow, Black Adam had enough time in the seventh round to take down two more Sentinels before dying. The last of the Sentinels got in and began whittling away at the number of Cops, and then took on Invisible Woman. Judge Dredd was struggling to finish off the big bots, and the Sentinel would have most likely killed Invisible Woman had Jackal not cloned Black Adam for a second time in the tenth round. Black Adam had no trouble finished off the last of the enemies, and even ended the game with some life remaining.

NOTE:
For this report, the 6 Sentinels will be referenced by color (Orange Sentinel, Yellow Sentinel, Red Sentinel, Green Sentinel, Blue Sentinel, and White Sentinel).

During the First Round: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Mastermind and Forge position.
ARMY 1: Cops position.
ARMY 2: Master Mold positions next to his two Mutant buddies.
ARMY 1: Black Adam charges.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Orange, Yellow, and Red Sentinels move up.
ARMY 1: Black Adam puts 2 wounds on Forge.
ROUND END: Forge heals a wound.

During the Second Round: Army 2 wins Initiative.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels fail.
ARMY 1: Black Adam kills Forge.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels put 1 wound on Black Adam.
ARMY 1: Black Adam puts 2 wounds on Master Mold.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels put 4 wounds on Black Adam.
ARMY 1: Black Adam puts 2 wounds on Master Mold.

During the Third Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Black Adam heals a wound).
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels kill Black Adam.
ARMY 1: She-Hulk Super Leaps forward.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels move up.
ARMY 1: She-Hulk leaps at Master Mold but fails.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels put 3 wounds on She-Hulk.
ARMY 1: She-Hulk fails.

During the Fourth Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (She-Hulk heals a wound; Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels put 3 wounds on She-Hulk.
ARMY 1: She-Hulk puts 3 wounds on Master Mold.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels fail.
ARMY 1: She-Hulk puts 1 wound on Master Mold.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels kill She-Hulk.
ARMY 1: Judge Dredd kills a Orange Sentinel.

During the Fifth Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone and Master Mold fails to produce using the “X”).
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels advance.
ARMY 1: Dredd fails.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels advance.
ARMY 1: Dredd puts 1 wound on Red Sentinel.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels move in.
ARMY 1: Dredd fails.

During the Sixth Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal clones Black Adam but Master Mold fails with the “X”).
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels kill 2 Cops.
ARMY 1: Black Adam V2 smashes Yellow Sentinel to bits and takes no Degeneration wounds.
ARMY 2: Master Mold: Sentinels reposition.
ARMY 1: Black Adam V2 kills Master Mold (he takes 1 wound from disengagement but none from Degeneration).
ARMY 2: Turn lost on Master Mold.
ARMY 1: Black Adam V2 puts 2 wounds on Red Sentinel and takes 1 Degeneration wound.
ROUND END: Black Adam V2 takes 2 Degeneration wounds.

During the Seventh Round: Army 1 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 1: Black Adam V2 kills Red Sentinel and takes 1 Degeneration wound.
ARMY 2: White Sentinel kills a Cop.
ARMY 1: Black Adam V2 puts 2 wounds on Green Sentinel and takes 1 Degeneration wound.
ARMY 2: White Sentinel kills a Cop.
ARMY 1: Black Adam V2 kills Green Sentinel but dies to Degeneration.
ARMY 2: White Sentinel kills a Cop.

During the Eighth Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 2: White Sentinel kills a Cop.
ARMY 1: Dredd puts 2 wounds on White Sentinel.
ARMY 2: White Sentinel puts 2 wounds on Invisible Woman.
ARMY 1: Dredd kills White Sentinel.
ARMY 2: Blue Sentinel advances.
ARMY 1: Dredd puts 2 wounds on Blue Sentinel

During the Ninth Round: Army 2 wins Initiative (Jackal fails to clone).
ARMY 2: Blue Sentinel puts 1 wound on Dredd.
ARMY 1: Dredd fails.
ARMY 2: Blue Sentinel fails.
ARMY 1: Dredd fails.
ARMY 2: Blue Sentinel puts 1 wound on Invisible Woman.
ARMY 1: Dredd fails.

During the Tenth Round: Army 1 wins Initiative (Jackal clones Black Adam).
ARMY 1: Black Adam V3 kills Blue Sentinel and takes 1 Degeneration wound.
ARMY 2: Turn lost on Blue Sentinel.
ARMY 1: Black Adam V3 charges and takes 1 Degeneration wound.
ARMY 2: Turn lost on Blue Sentinel.
ARMY 1: Black Adam V3 kills Mastermind and doesn’t take any Degeneration wounds.

Jackal unwounded, Sage unwounded, Invisible Woman with 3 wounds, Judge Dredd with 1 wound, Black Adam V3 with 2 wounds, and 6 Beat Cops.

[IAmBatman]

He sounds really right as is, IMO. I like the higher roll and the lower chance of success, because I think it keeps him reasonable. As you modeled, there are plenty of ways to design your army around keeping him alive longer and taking better advantage of the power. If anything, I'd be OK with 17+, but I'd probably want a slight cost bump with it. 16+ is too low, IMO. Especially following 3 out of 4 victories with the loss not really being with an army that plays to his strengths, IMO (no D20 boosters, no defensive figures keeping him around longer).

Edit: If anything, I see an argument to boost his cost in those tests and keep his D20 as is.

[Viegon]

I don't think you're looking at the results close enough there. They only won so big in the first two games because his team was getting very lucky, and the fourth was highly in his favor (Sentinel armies move slower than almost any other army, which gave him more chances to roll for cloning than he would against almost any other match-up). Rolling an 18+ 3 out of 17 total rolls is kind of lucky, both the first and the last game could have been very different if he missed one more time.

Also, I don't think protecting Jackal is as important as you think. Jackal's whole point is giving your big guys more time on the board, and if your opponent is spending multiple turns to take him down he's still achieving the same thing (whereas if your opponent ignores him there's a really good chance he does nothing). After playing that last game, I would have preferred to drop a couple squads of Cops and potentially Invisible Woman for another bruiser or two.

The thing is, by increasing how quickly the clones deteriorate, it seriously lessens the impact of Jackal hitting his roll. Even if he's cloning 2+ times per game, if those clones are only surviving roughly a round each, it's often less powerful then when he brings back 1 unit that survives for multiple rounds.

If we're looking to design an extremely swingy unit, then the current design works. But personally, he's so inconsistent that I don't see myself ever drafting him in a 1,200 or less game. That much swing just isn't enjoyable for either player in my opinion; whereas a version with a lower roll but higher deterioration rate would be a very fun addition to the game. My .

[IAmBatman]

Based on the LD's vision/desire, I think we are looking for an extremely swingy unit. In which case, I think staying at 18+ and his current cost is the way to go.

IF we want to lessen swing, I agree with you on how to go about it.