The Book of Ares

[Arkham]

Go ahead and try him at 7 defense, I'll update the SP and we'll continue with that from here on out at Ronin's suggestion.

As for units to test with, anything that can potentially keep your opponent locked down away from Ares, as well as ranged units that can benefit from the attack boost such as Merlyn and Green Arrow. If you go back a couple of pages, you'll see some suggestions from the CRB.

[All Your Pie]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: (Insert Name Here)

Army Test
Map: Bad Moon Rising (BoV)
Units: Ares(550), Wolverine(280), Deadpool(285), Sage(190), Armor(100), Wild Child(160), total 1495
VS
Captain America(240), Ms. Marvel(350), Incredible Hulk(380), Fantomex(260), Kirigi(175), Vertigo(90), total 1495

Spoiler Alert!

In the first two rounds, Sage boosted Deadpool and Wolverine while they and the sidekicks advanced. Hulk, Ms. Marvel, and Cap advanced, with Deadpool and Hulk receiving wounds and Ares netting 1 marker. In round 3, with Armor holding up Ms. Marvel and Cap while getting Ares to a second marker, Deadpool deals a huge 4-wound hit to Hulk using the Sage and Ares boosts. Hulk then swings right back with a 12-dice attacks that destroys Deadpool, and then Ares finishes off Hulk with his full 8 attack. Meanwhile, Kirigi pulls Wolverine into an attack by Ms. Marvel and kills Armor, with Wolverine taking a big hit for 4 wounds.

At this point, Wolverine takes height, and on an initiative switch starts laying into Kirigi with triple attack of 7 against -3 defense. Kirigi manages to outlast the first onslaught thanks to Undead resilience, but falls to the second. Both sides back off momentarily, Wolverine to avoid nasty attack bonded turns and to get Wild Child back into LoS, and Cap's team to stay out of Ares's aura. Ares loses all his markers during this. Wolverine and Wild Child then charge towards Ms. Marvel, landing 4 wounds on her,
but she and Cap take out a fully-healed Wolverine in a single turn of attacks. Cap then takes advantage of an advancing Ares's boost to one-shot Wild Child.

Ares starts to attack Cap while Fantomex advances to take advantage of the double boost. He lands 5 wounds total on Ares before Ares finishes Cap (note: for all of Fantomex's attacks, I forgot to account for the fact that Ares was within 6 spaces of Vertigo). Ares is brought back up to 7 wounds before he finishes off Ms. MArvel as well, and then Fantomex fails Misdirection and blanks defense to go down in one shot. After that, Vertigo is cleanup (and I remember that I forgot Disorientation, heh).

Who won?: Ares 5w, Sage unwounded
This battle was very close, and might have gone the other way if I had remembered Vertigo in the fight between Fantomex and Ares. There were some crazy rolls in that exchange, but for the most part they were on both sides, with Ares rolling stellar defense against big shots by Fantomex. 7 defense felt justified here; even with it, Fantomex came very close to single-handedly taking him out. My worry here was that Wolverine would both allow Ares to gain markers easily and gain an incredible advantage from them, but fortunately the points necessary to use the two of them means that opponents can use Malevolent Influence to take out Wolverine quickly.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Bad Moon Rising (BoV)
Units: Ares(550), Merlyn(160), Hawkeye(2)(160), Mysterio(115), Holographs (35), S.H.I.E.L.D. Sniper (40), Iron Man Mk 1(70), total 1170
VS
Magneto(2)(375), Mystique(2)(200), Gorgon(300), Destiny (55), Avalanche (145), Toad (95)

Spoiler Alert!

Ares's team tries to set up their snipers with Mysterio and the Holographs running interference, but the Outcasts were upon them fairly quickly. The Sniper got off a 3-wound shot on Gorgon before being tossed to death by Magneto, and Mystique quickly deals with Mysterio. With a boost from Ares, Merlyn lands 1 wound on Gorgon and 3 on Mystique before Magneto tosses Ares away from his allies.

At this point, Ares goes on a tear, quickly eliminating all of the weaker outcast heroes and the wounded Gorgon with Magneto unable to stop him. Eric's dice were extremely cold this game--most of his attacks against Ares were with 7 dice, but he could barely scratch him, while Ares rolled pretty well even at 1 or 2 markers. Once Ares is in the fray, Hawkeye and Merlyn are never activated again as he fairly handily cleans up the Outcast team.

Who won? Ares 2w, Merlyn 1w, Iron Man 1w, Hawkeye unwounded.
I was intending to test Ares's potential with a team of deadly ranged attackers, but all I did was highlight his effectiveness against teams with a lot of low-cost heroes. He probably shouldn't have had as much impunity as he did--Magneto's 7-dice attacks were so ineffective that he was free to disengage and move around the map as he pleases--but this game clearly emphasizes the kind of army you don't want to bring against him. Merlyn was certainly helped out by his boost, but not to any amazing degree. Sadly, I never got a 10-dice Godkiller attack in from Gorgon, who didn't have the mobility to keep up. I always underestimate how tricky the Outcasts are to play, which might have contributed to the outcome as well.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Overall, Ares definitely has some swingy traits about him, but that I think just comes with the territory of figures that can heal themselves. The first game could have easily gone the other way, but the second one was a blowout, largely because the only figure batting in Ares's weight class just couldn't get the dice going. I do think he is balanced and appropriately costed, but it should be kept in mind that mid-range heroes will have a lot of trouble against him unless they have multiple normal attacks.

7 Defense felt right in these tests. Even with it, Fantomex still nearly took him out on his own. As for drafting him as part of a ranged pod, I just don't see it. Ares comes with such a big price tag that you'll really have trouble getting what you need both to support his aura and to protect your units. Ares himself has a big enough attack that, if you're drafting him, you'd much rather build your army around him then around a sniper like Merlyn. Once Ares was in the thick of things, I never wanted to put markers on my archers because he was fast enough to get where he needed to be and he was hitting harder.

Ultimately, while one game was a blowout, I don't think any of the reasons for that necessarily indicate a problem, and in the other game he felt very fun and balanced.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: The first game was really fun--I enjoy Ares's ability to make even games with rather high point totals move at a quick and exciting pace. It's always fun when in thinking about your moves, taking wounds isn't always a downside. For the opponent, while it's usually not worth forgoing an attack to remove a marker from Ares, it can be a nice bonus if its in your advantage to retreat and regroup anyway--something that feels very thematic, since Ares gets weaker when cool, tactical choices prevail.

The only thing that worries me slightly is that, around Ares, double attack is king. If the opponent can't effectively leverage multiple attacks per OM, they may find themselves at a significant disadvantage.

[Arkham]

Great insights, thanks for the tests! Glad 7 defense felt right, and ultimately you felt he was balanced. As for the mid level heroes without multiple attacks struggling with him, I feel that's pretty reasonable with most high stat characters. However, I feel he gives just about anyone a shot with the attack boost, to break through and cause some wounds.

Good stuff and thanks for the quick turn around!

[Arkham]

I'm thinking we could probably do with 3 more sets of tests at 7 Defense, and if all go smoothly, that should be enough. I'll likely be doing one of those sets. Overall though, he's looking good from all who have tested him.

[Ronin]

Saw you mention Ares in another thread, but I didn't want to derail that one. I'm still planning on running another set of games here, but I may not be able to hit him until early next week.

[Arkham]

Sounds good. Thanks for helping out with him.

[Lazy Orang]

Here's a first test for Ares.

Name Of The Playtest Unit: Ares

Army Test 1
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs)
Armies:
Ares, Wolverine, Blob, Jubilee, Angel (Warren Worthington III), Wasp (vI), Hawkgirl (1,420 points)
vs.
Martian Manhunter (vII), Wonder Woman (vII), Hercules, Phobos (1,420 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Ares’s performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 4 wounds on Hercules, 4 wounds on Wonder Woman, 3 wound on Phobos, 5 wounds on J’onn J’onzz.
War Markers placed: 8
War Markers removed: 5
Wounds healed with Fueled By Death: 9
Order Markers salvaged with Fueled By Death: 3 from Wolverine (though one of them was an X, so...), 2 from Blob
Extra wounds inflicted thanks to Malevolent Influence: 1 wound on Ares from Hercules, 2 wounds on Hercules from Ares, 2 wounds on Wonder Woman from Wolverine, 1 wound on Wolverine from Wonder Woman, 1 wound on Hercules from Blob, 3 wounds on Wonder Woman from Ares, 2 wounds on Ares from Wonder Woman, 1 wound on Hercules from Hawkgirl, 1 wound on Hawkgirl from J’onn, 4 wounds on J’onn from Ares, 1 wound on Ares from J’onn

Round One

The Scions of War claim the initiative and Ares flies forwards.
Diana flies forwards.
Angel flies Logan forwards. Jubilee follows and flings fireworks at Diana to no effect.
Stark punches Brock, but is blocked. His robot suit shoots Venom twice, inflicting two wounds.
Hercules tackles across the landscape (sorry - that’s still just a hilarious visual in my mind ).
Wolverine charges Diana and slashes at her with his claws, inflicting a wound and granting Ares a War Marker.
J’onn burns a marker to take command.
Wonder Woman slashes at Wolverine with her Sword of Hephaestus, but he blocks. Hercules challenges Hades to a Test of Might, tackling him onto low ground and smashing him with 11, inflicting two wounds, one of which is thanks to Malevolent Influence. Ares gets another War Marker, and is flown back to equal height by Angel.

Round Two

The Scions of War claim the initiative. Wasp flies up and attempts to sting Hercules, but fails to.
J’onn burns a marker to command the League. Wonder Woman slashes at Wolverine, inflicting a wound plus an additional wound thanks to Sword of Hephaestus, prompting Angel o fly away. Hercules is forced to crush Wasp in his hands, her death fueling Ares, and Angel flies Blob a little bit forwards. Ares gains a War Marker.
Ares slashes Hercules for two wounds and throws him into the water, claiming another War Marker.
Wonder Woman slashes at Wolverine for a wound, plus an additional one thanks to Sword of Hephaestus.
Wolverine in his rage slashes three times at Wonder Woman, inflicting a wound each with the first two blows which he would not have inflicted were Diana not blinded by Ares’s rage. Wolverine heals a wound. Jubilee charges to a grassy hill next to the water Hercules is next to, punching him, but even in her Hades induced rage she cannot harm him.
Hercules, so blinded by rage that he cannot break engagement with Jubilee in order to go after a more worthwhile target, moves in the water and smashes her skull in - had Ares not enraged him, she’d be nearly broken, but still alive. Ares draws strength from her death.
Wolverine heals a wound.

Round Three

Justice League Greece claims the initiative, and J’onn once again takes command. Wonder Woman slashes Wolverine for two wounds, inflicting another thanks to Sword of Hephaestus. Hercules tackles Ares to low ground and smashes his face for two wounds, but Angel flies him out of the way.
Blob charges into combat with Hercules and smashes him for two wounds.
Wonder Woman decapitates Wolverine, and Hades feeds off his death.
Ares flies up to Wonder Woman and slashes at her, inflicting three wounds, leaving her near death and enraged.
Diana punches Ares twice, inflicting two wounds with each blow.
Ares runs Diana through, feeding off her death.

Round Four

Justice League Greece claims the initiative, and Hercules punches Blob in the face - the mutant shockingly blanks and receives three wounds!
Hawkgirl swoops in and bludgeons Hercules twice, inflicting two wounds with her second blow.
Hercules punches Hawkgirl in the face, but shockingly only manages one skull - she evades the blow, and Ares’s power wanes slightly.
Blob punches Hercules, but his blow is blocked, and Ares’s power wanes further.
Phobos advances but does not attack, causing Ares’s power to wane entirely.
Blob punches Hercules in the face, but is blocked.

Round Five

Justice League Greece claims the initiative, and Hercules punches Blob in the face - the mutant shockingly blanks and receives three wounds!
Hawkgirl swoops in and bludgeons Hercules twice, inflicting two wounds with her second blow.
Hercules punches Hawkgirl in the face, but shockingly only manages one skull - she evades the blow, and Ares’s power wanes slightly.
Blob punches Hercules, but his blow is blocked, and Ares’s power wanes further.
Phobos advances but does not attack, causing Ares’s power to wane entirely.
Blob punches Hercules in the face, but is blocked.

Round Six

The Scions of War claim the initiative, and Hawkgirl swoops in and strikes Phobos twice, inflicting a wound with each blow, empowering Ares.
J’onn burns his last marker to take command, flies forwards and punches Ares in the face, inflicting two wounds and causing Angel to fly him out of the way, onto low ground. Phobos fails to make Hawkgirl feel fear, but slashes at her for a wound.
Ares charges Hercules, keeping to low ground. He slices his half-brother open, feeding on his death and becoming empowered by War!
J’onn is so enraged that he is unable to leave engagement with Hawkgirl, and kills her, empowering Ares. Angel flies Blob to stand where Hawkgirl fell.
Ares fires a magical blast at Phobos, inflicting a wound.
J’onn punches Blob, but fails to harm him, causing Ares’s power to wane.

Round Seven

The Scions of War claim the initiative, and Blob punches Phobos for a wound - a wound that would not have been inflicted were it not for Blob’s attack being boosted and Phobos’s defence being dropped - empowering Ares back to full strength in doing so.
J’onn punches Blob in the face - the mutant blanks and is killed, allowing Ares to feed off his death and take over his Order Markers.
Ares flies in and slashes Phobos from equal height, disembowling his traitorous son and feeding off his death.
J’onn is too enraged to leave engagement with Angel and strikes him for three wounds, leaving him near death.
Ares charges J’onn and slashes him for three wounds.
J’onn punches Ares, but is blocked - this causes Ares’s power to wane.

Round Eight

The Scions of War claim the initiative, and Ares strikes J’onn for two more wounds, gaining a War Marker.
J’onn strikes Ares for two wounds.
Ares kills the Martian, feeding off his death

Scions of War victorious - Angel 3 wounds, Ares 5 wounds.

Overview: Wow, that was fun! This guy is amazing! I really did get the feeling you were talking about, the sheer brutality and the fact that it was all about him and everyone else is truly expendable - I found myself liking it when my other guys died and allowed him to heal, and made full use of the 3 War Marker effect by tying my enemies up with pawns to keep Ares safe and allow him to heal from their deaths. He absolutely dominates the game - I really, really like him! When it comes to cost... I have no idea how to judge figures this scale, but the game felt competitive, so it can't be far off.

[Lazy Orang]

- Theme Test - Pass - while I only know the DC version of the character from one Justice League Unlimited episode, he seems very accurate to his portrayal there, and, as a big fan of Greek Mythology, he seems too fit how I'd imagine the God being pretty well as well. The one thing that feels a bit off is how strong he is in comparison with other Gods I'd have imagined being stronger than him, but it's still probably accurate to his DC version and I can jusify it from a general perspective by saying that this is what Ares is like when he's been feeding off a lot of warfare lately - World War level stuff.
- Mirror Test - Pass, though two Ares's feeding off war and whipping up the people around them could get pretty insane pretty quickly.
- Bonding Test - Pass - No synergies, unless you play Mixed and take him with the Romans! Not that we should remotely consider that, but that could actually be pretty fun, potentially - though you are then legally required to call him Mars.
- Synergies Test - Pass - Again, no synergies in Superscape.
- Power Check - Pass - He's pretty strong and really terrifying, but the fact that he's affecting you and your opponent equally tempers him somewhat.
- Fun Test - Definite Pass - He's colossal amounts of fun to play - every battle becomes an utter bloodbath!
- Fun Competitive Test - Definite Pass - With fights this fast paced and brutal, it's hard not to have fun.
- Drafting Test - Pass - He's certainly a fun unit to build an army around.
- Usage Test - Pass - All of his powers got a decent amount of use - I was particularly pleasantly surprised by how useful the 3 War Marker effect was for keeping Ares safe and forcing the enemy to remain tied up with expendable peons whose deaths would feed Ares.
- Strategy Test - Definite Pass - You have to be thinking and making the most of his powers all the time with him. He’s incredibly strategic, and the feeling you were talking about of the battle being all about him with everyone else being not only expendable, but merely fresh meat to add to the grinder that you almost want to die is certainly there.

Name Of The Playtest Unit: Ares

Army Test 1
Map: Conflict Chernobyl (no glyphs)
Armies:
Ares (550), Wolverine, Blob, Jubilee, Angel (Warren Worthington III), Wasp (vI), Hawkgirl (1,420 points)
vs.
Martian Manhunter (vII), Wonder Woman (vII), Hercules, Phobos (1,420 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Ares’s performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 4 wounds on Hercules, 4 wounds on Wonder Woman, 3 wound on Phobos, 5 wounds on J’onn J’onzz.
War Markers placed: 8
War Markers removed: 5
Wounds healed with Fueled By Death: 9
Order Markers salvaged with Fueled By Death: 3 from Wolverine (though one of them was an X, so...), 2 from Blob
Extra wounds inflicted thanks to Malevolent Influence: 1 wound on Ares from Hercules, 2 wounds on Hercules from Ares, 2 wounds on Wonder Woman from Wolverine, 1 wound on Wolverine from Wonder Woman, 1 wound on Hercules from Blob, 3 wounds on Wonder Woman from Ares, 2 wounds on Ares from Wonder Woman, 1 wound on Hercules from Hawkgirl, 1 wound on Hawkgirl from J’onn, 4 wounds on J’onn from Ares, 1 wound on Ares from J’onn

Round One

The Scions of War claim the initiative and Ares flies forwards.
Diana flies forwards.
Angel flies Logan forwards. Jubilee follows and flings fireworks at Diana to no effect.
Stark punches Brock, but is blocked. His robot suit shoots Venom twice, inflicting two wounds.
Hercules tackles across the landscape (sorry - that’s still just a hilarious visual in my mind ).
Wolverine charges Diana and slashes at her with his claws, inflicting a wound and granting Ares a War Marker.
J’onn burns a marker to take command.
Wonder Woman slashes at Wolverine with her Sword of Hephaestus, but he blocks. Hercules challenges Hades to a Test of Might, tackling him onto low ground and smashing him with 11, inflicting two wounds, one of which is thanks to Malevolent Influence. Ares gets another War Marker, and is flown back to equal height by Angel.

Round Two

The Scions of War claim the initiative. Wasp flies up and attempts to sting Hercules, but fails to.
J’onn burns a marker to command the League. Wonder Woman slashes at Wolverine, inflicting a wound plus an additional wound thanks to Sword of Hephaestus, prompting Angel o fly away. Hercules is forced to crush Wasp in his hands, her death fueling Ares, and Angel flies Blob a little bit forwards. Ares gains a War Marker.
Ares slashes Hercules for two wounds and throws him into the water, claiming another War Marker.
Wonder Woman slashes at Wolverine for a wound, plus an additional one thanks to Sword of Hephaestus.
Wolverine in his rage slashes three times at Wonder Woman, inflicting a wound each with the first two blows which he would not have inflicted were Diana not blinded by Ares’s rage. Wolverine heals a wound. Jubilee charges to a grassy hill next to the water Hercules is next to, punching him, but even in her Ares induced rage she cannot harm him.
Hercules, so blinded by rage that he cannot break engagement with Jubilee in order to go after a more worthwhile target, moves in the water and smashes her skull in - had Ares not enraged him, she’d be nearly broken, but still alive. Ares draws strength from her death.
Wolverine heals a wound.

Round Three

Justice League Greece claims the initiative, and J’onn once again takes command. Wonder Woman slashes Wolverine for two wounds, inflicting another thanks to Sword of Hephaestus. Hercules tackles Ares to low ground and smashes his face for two wounds, but Angel flies him out of the way.
Blob charges into combat with Hercules and smashes him for two wounds.
Wonder Woman decapitates Wolverine, and Hades feeds off his death.
Ares flies up to Wonder Woman and slashes at her, inflicting three wounds, leaving her near death and enraged.
Diana punches Ares twice, inflicting two wounds with each blow.
Ares runs Diana through, feeding off her death.

Round Four

Justice League Greece claims the initiative, and Hercules punches Blob in the face - the mutant shockingly blanks and receives three wounds!
Hawkgirl swoops in and bludgeons Hercules twice, inflicting two wounds with her second blow.
Hercules punches Hawkgirl in the face, but shockingly only manages one skull - she evades the blow, and Ares’s power wanes slightly.
Blob punches Hercules, but his blow is blocked, and Ares’s power wanes further.
Phobos advances but does not attack, causing Ares’s power to wane entirely.
Blob punches Hercules in the face, but is blocked.

Round Five

Justice League Greece claims the initiative, and Hercules punches Blob in the face - the mutant shockingly blanks and receives three wounds!
Hawkgirl swoops in and bludgeons Hercules twice, inflicting two wounds with her second blow.
Hercules punches Hawkgirl in the face, but shockingly only manages one skull - she evades the blow, and Ares’s power wanes slightly.
Blob punches Hercules, but his blow is blocked, and Ares’s power wanes further.
Phobos advances but does not attack, causing Ares’s power to wane entirely.
Blob punches Hercules in the face, but is blocked.

Round Six

The Scions of War claim the initiative, and Hawkgirl swoops in and strikes Phobos twice, inflicting a wound with each blow, empowering Ares.
J’onn burns his last marker to take command, flies forwards and punches Ares in the face, inflicting two wounds and causing Angel to fly him out of the way, onto low ground. Phobos fails to make Hawkgirl feel fear, but slashes at her for a wound.
Ares charges Hercules, keeping to low ground. He slices his half-brother open, feeding on his death and becoming empowered by War!
J’onn is so enraged that he is unable to leave engagement with Hawkgirl, and kills her, empowering Ares. Angel flies Blob to stand where Hawkgirl fell.
Ares fires a magical blast at Phobos, inflicting a wound.
J’onn punches Blob, but fails to harm him, causing Ares’s power to wane.

Round Seven

The Scions of War claim the initiative, and Blob punches Phobos for a wound - a wound that would not have been inflicted were it not for Blob’s attack being boosted and Phobos’s defence being dropped - empowering Ares back to full strength in doing so.
J’onn punches Blob in the face - the mutant blanks and is killed, allowing Ares to feed off his death and take over his Order Markers.
Ares flies in and slashes Phobos from equal height, disemboweling his traitorous son and feeding off his death.
J’onn is too enraged to leave engagement with Angel and strikes him for three wounds, leaving him near death.
Ares charges J’onn and slashes him for three wounds.
J’onn punches Ares, but is blocked - this causes Ares’s power to wane.

Round Eight

The Scions of War claim the initiative, and Ares strikes J’onn for two more wounds, gaining a War Marker.
J’onn strikes Ares for two wounds.
Ares kills the Martian, feeding off his death

Scions of War victorious - Angel 3 wounds, Ares 5 wounds.

Overview: Wow, that was fun! This guy is amazing! I really did get the feeling you were talking about, the sheer brutality and the fact that it was all about him and everyone else is truly expendable - I found myself liking it when my other guys died and allowed him to heal, and made full use of the 3 War Marker effect by tying my enemies up with pawns to keep Ares safe and allow him to heal from their deaths. He absolutely dominates the game - I really, really like him! When it comes to cost... I have no idea how to judge figures this scale, but the game felt competitive, so it can't be far off.

Army Test 2
Map: Arctic Divide (No Glyphs)
Armies;
Ares (550), Red Skull (C3G), Doctor Octopus, Deadpool, Jubilee, Ant-Man (Hank Pym), 3x Fire Ant Swarms, 1x Killer Bee (1,405 points)
vs.
Professor X, Magneto (vII), Psylocke, Gorgon (Tomi Shishido), Beast, Angel (Warren Worthington III) (1,405 points)

Spoiler Alert!

Overview of Ares’s performance:
Damage inflicted through normal attacks: 5 wounds on Magneto, 2 wounds on Psylocke
War Markers placed: 5
War Markers removed: 2
Wounds healed with Fueled By Death: 6
Order Markers salvaged with Fueled By Death: None
Extra wounds inflicted thanks to Malevolent Influence: 1 wound on Red Skull from Magneto, 3 wounds on Angel from Doctor Octopus, 3 wounds on Magneto from Ares, 1 wound on Psylocke from Doctor Octopus, 3 wounds on Beast from Deadpool, 1 wound on Gorgon from Deadpool, 1 wound on Ares from Gorgon.

Round One

The Scions of War claim the initiative and three Fire Ant Swarms tunnel forwards. Red Skull runs forwards and uses the Cosmic Cube to teleport Octavius up with him.
Angel flies Psylocke forwards, and she murders a Fire Ant Swarm.
Ares flies forwards and blasts Psylocke from range to no effect.
Angel swoops in to attack a Fire Ant Swarm, but his punch misses. Magneto flies forwards and shoots Red Skull at extreme range, inflicting two wounds, empowering Ares and causing Schmidt to lose the Cosmic Cube.
Shmidt charges Angel and punches him for a wound, but the mutant holds his ground. Deadpool runs forwards and opens fire twice on Angel, missing twice. Ares is empowered.
Psylocke charges Red Skull and strikes him uphill, inflicting a wound. Magneto blasts the Nazi, killing him. Ares is empowered.

Round Two

The X-Men claim the initiative. Angel takes out some ants, clearing the way for Psylocke to charge into combat with Doctor Octopus, slashing him for a wound.
Otto repositions to engage Angel as well as Psylocke, ripping at the mutant four times with his tentacles and inflicting two wounds.
Magneto throws Octavius once out of the way, inflicting a wound, allowing Psylocke to charge Ares and strike him for a wound.
Ares breaks engagement with her, taking a wound in the process, to charge Magneto, slashing at the Master of Magnetism for three wounds.
Magneto strikes Ares, being unable to throw him since he is so enraged, but his blow is blocked. Gorgon advances and his Stare of Stone achieves nothing. Ares’s power wanes.
Ares decapitates Magneto, becoming empowered and feeding off his death.

Round Three

The Mutants claim the initiative. Gorgon charges into melee with Ares, slashing at him with Godkiller and inflicting three wounds. Psylocke charges Ares, striking him for a wound.
Otto charges into melee with Psylocke and Angel, on low ground - he rips Angel apart, allowing Ares to feed on his death, before attacking Psylocke with his three other tentacles - he gets exceptionally lucky, inflicting three wounds and not worrying about counterstrike.
Gorgon aims a blow at Ares, but is blocked. Psylocke slashes at Ares, inflicting two wounds.
Ares slaughters Psylocke, feeding on her death.
Beast leaps forwards while Gorgon slashes at Ares, who blocks the blow. Ares’s power wanes.
Ares retreats behind Octavius, taking a wound from Gorgon on the way out, before firing a mystic blast at Tomi Shishido, which fails to harm him. As he himself was nicked by Gorgon’s blade, Ares becomes further empowered by War.

Round Four

The Scions of War claim the initiative, and the last fire ant swarm tunnels in to harass Beast and Gorgon. Octavius charges in and attempts to strike Gorgon, but the mutant makes a Precognitive Strike against him before even one tentacle can move to land a blow.
Beast circles to strike Doc Ock, but is unable to leap and has to stay on low ground to do so since his fury means he cannot leave engagement with the ants. He kills the ants and Octavius with ease, and Ares feeds off Otto’s death. Gorgon charges Ares, and slashes at him with Godkiller, inflicting two wounds.
Deadpool runs forwards and shoots Beast twice from height, inflicting three wounds. Jubilee moves forwards, but blasts the killer bee with her Fireworks from height, hoping it will kill Hank and empower Ares - the bee is killed, but Hank survives.
Gorgon slashes Ares, but misses wildly, blanking on seven dice, somehow. Beast leaps into combat with Ares and Deadpool - he strikes Deadpool for a wound, before smashing Ares for another wound, leaving the God of War close to death.
Deadpool fires one shot at Beast at point-blank range, blowing his brains out across a glacier, granting Ares strength. He fires another shot at Gorgon, inflicting a wound before healing. Jubilee runs down to blast Ant-Man with her Fireworks, but only hurts herself in the process.

Round Five

The Mutants claim the initiative. Gorgon swings Godkiller, opening a gash in the Olympian’s stomach, leaving him a wound off death.
Deadpool fires two shots at Gorgon, inflicting a wound. Jubilee fries Ant-Man with her fireworks, hurting herself in the process but empowering Ares.
Gorgon finally decapitates Ares, slicking his blade with the blood of the God of War.
Deadpool fires two bullets at Gorgon, but Tomi deflects them with his katana. Jubilee runs up, ending up near inches from the Cosmic Cube.
Gorgon charges Deadpool, slashing at him for two wounds.
Deadpool draws his katanas and slashes twice at Gorgon, inflicting a wound before healing. Jubilee picks up the Cosmic Cube and blasts Deadpool with her Fireworks, in the hopes they will splash onto Gorgon - it backfires, wounding Wade Wilson but leaving the mutant terrorist unharmed.
Deadpool heals a wound.

Round Six

Gorgon claims the initiative and slashes at Deadpool with Godkiller, inflicting three wounds on him.
Deadpool attempts to strike Gorgon, but his foe predicts the blow, decapitating him before it can land. Jubilee is too in shock to act.
Gorgon charges Jubilee and runs her through.

Mutants Victorious, Gorgon 3 wounds, Professor X unwounded.

Overview: Wow. Just... wow. Another bloodbath. Ares turns every battle into an utter slaughter, whether he wins or not. As he should.

Thoughts On The Tested Unit's Cost, Balance, & Draftibility:

I absolutely love him! As I do many times, I feel like I’ve already said pretty much everything already. Just a couple of little things:
1) I love that the 3 War Marker effect forces you, specifically, to attack. I originally thought it was a weird but perhaps necessary theme break to say they can’t instead use damaging special powers such as Magnetic Assault, but it works perfectly as representing them being too blinded by rage to think clearly about the best plan of attack.
2) I’d make it so that a War Marker got placed whenever a Hero is wounded or destroyed - there aren’t many auto-destroy powers in superscape, but there’s a handful, and I feel like it should trigger if Gorgon manages to turn Spider-Man to stone or Magneto dunks Batman into a bath of lava.

[Arkham]

Thanks for the tests!

I'm thinking 1 more set of tests for him, if close, could be enough to send him through. Otherwise, maybe 2 sets if there's still some concerns. I think we're pretty close on points given that those that have tested him feel he's pretty well balanced and fun as-is, with perhaps a point bump as the only needed adjustment to close it out. We'll see what the next set of games results in for him to determine what kind of point change we should make. I'm thinking 20-40 is the window we're looking at.

[Ronin]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Ares

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Ares, Walker x5, Skrull Infiltrator x5, Kraven, Atom, Ragdoll, Kid Flash, Angel (Warren) (1400) vs Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer (C3G) (1400)

Spoiler Alert!

Ares gets some good hits in during this one, but he's also threatened by Silver Surfer and Thing. Despite the Walkers bogging down Reed, it looks like the Adventurers have the upper hand going into the endgame. However, Ares gets lucky and turns it around by miraculously OHKO'ing Thing (6 skulls to 0 shields). He kept Ben off his back with help from Ragdoll, Walkers and Skrulls long enough to keep from being Clobbered. Following that up with a lucky kill swung the momentum of the match in the endgame. Ares still came out the loser in a scrap with Silver Surfer, but only just, and he managed to put enough damage on Surfer to set up Kid Flash (the last remaining Hero in his army) to take the win.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done: 2 wounds to Reed in 1 attack, 5 wounds to Sue in 2 attacks (destroyed), 4 wounds to Silver Surfer in 3 attacks, 6 wounds to Thing in 1 attack (destroyed)
• God of War: got up to 3 Markers by the end of round 2 and remained at 3 markers until he was destroyed
• Fueled by Death: recovered 1 OM, healed 4 wounds
• Malevolent Influence: modified stats throughout and helped lock down the battlefield
• Damage Taken: 2 wounds taken from leaving engagement attacks, 10 wounds from Silver Surfer in 5 attacks, 1 wound from Sue in 1 attack

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Kid Flash with 2 wounds, Skrull Infiltrator x2

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Ares, Cable, Deadpool, Jason Voorhees, Invisible Woman, Professor X, Wolverine (2000) vs Captain America (C3G), Rover, Ms. Marvel, Red Tornado, Blink, Doctor Doom (C3G), Sif, Baron Zemo (Helmut) (2000)

Spoiler Alert!

Zemo gets left out of the Avenger Marker loop, and Cap is Rover's Companion. Sif and Doctor Doom jump out to mid-field at the start of the first round with Sword Slash Teleportation.

Cable and Deadpool pop out to take potshots at the on-rushing Avengers at the start of the first round, and Ares ends up getting up to 3 Markers by the end of the first round, as the two teams trade some early wounds. Ares has the last turn of the round and tries to hit Blink from range to keep himself fully markered-up, but whiffs the roll.

At the start of the second round, Sif and Doom leap into the fray. Team Ares overcomes Zemo's initiative debuff to go first this round, and Professor X has the OM. A Malevolent Influence-boosted Cable slings 7 attack dice at Captain America and comes up with 6 skulls. The Captain had already taken a wound from Jason Voorhees, and Cable's attack was just enough to finish him off. Cable averages himself out by going after Doom and only coming up with 1 skull, which is handily blocked. Deadpool follows up by attacking Doom a couple times for just 1 wound. Ares gets back up to 3 markers.

The Avengers' first OM was on Captain America, so Team Ares gets the next turn. It's on Ares. He goes after Ms. Marvel, and inflicts 3 wounds. Ms. Marvel retaliates by having Doom go after Ares. Doom hits him for 1 wound, Power Drains him, and then hits him for 2 more wounds. Ms. Marvel attacks him, but fails to wound.

Ares goes after Ms. Marvel again, but fails to get the kill, inflicting only 1 wound. The Doom-vengers hit back, but only deal 1 wound between them (nice attack rolls, guys).

Doom-vengers take the round three initiative with help from Zemo. Doom and Carol again fail to inflict serious damage. Ares kills Carol and recovers a wound. After getting a few wounds in on Doom, Ares goes down for the count.

The Avengers retake some momentum when they win initiative and then, on the first OM, Doctor Doom Power Drains Deadpool to become a double-attacking, healing juggernaut, then promptly kills Deadpool on his Power Drain turn.

Despite Doom going on a tear and taking out the Mutant gun-slingers, Wolverine is just too much to overcome in clean-up, giving Team Ares a solid win. Also, Jason got killed off during clean-up, but showed back up at the very end. Didn't contribute anything post-resurrection (though he would have been annoying for Zemo and Blink to deal with at the very end). Just showed up to get on the scoreboard.

Ares' Malevolent Influence didn't have as much of an impact as in the other times I played (though it did lock a few people down and restrict some of Blink's options during the Carol/Doom/Ares throwdown), mainly because I was going for more of a straight bruiser play here instead of going heavy on lockdown pieces, with the sniper Mutants to get him all markered up quickly (and clean up after Ares took out some key pieces). Cable taking out Cap so quickly really swung this one in Ares' favor.

Unit Summary:

• Damage Done: 0 wounds to Blink in 1 attack, 5 wounds to Ms. Marvel in 3 attacks (destroyed), 3 wounds to Doctor Doom in 1 attack
• God of War: got up to 3 War Markers by the end of round one, largely stayed there throughout
• Fueled by Death: healed 1 wound
• Malevolent Influence: modified stats throughout
• Damage Taken: 10 wounds from Doctor Doom in 6 attacks, 0 wounds from Ms. Marvel in 3 attacks

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Wolverine and Jason, both unwounded

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Couple wins this time. Definitely a fun play, with some flexibility in how you can take advantage of Malevolent Influence. Haven't been that keyed into how the overall results are looking, but he feels really good mechanically, so I'd just fiddle with the cost based on how he's been showing.

[Arkham]

Thanks for the tests again!

Ok, so he went:

0-3 at 6 Defense at 550
5-1 at 7 Defense at 550

So clearly that Defense boost helped him tremendously. It's worth noting that even on his wins, every tester felt he was balanced, fun, and not broken. Several of his wins were also by minor, low point characters remaining. I'm thinking we'll raise his point value to 580.

I'd imagine we'll want more tests, at least another set or two at that point value.

[Yodaking]

Raising his points sounds like a good plan now that you are happy with how he performs. He is an Event Hero after all so being expensive kind of comes with the territory.