The Book of Captain America (Sam Wilson)

[Ronin]

yea

[Yodaking]

yea

[Tornado]

Yea

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Is that proposal with or without the preferred change to the SA? (You didn't change the SP)
Conditional Yea if you update.

[johnny139]

Good call, forgot that was still an open question. SP officially updated with the SA version.

With that, this passes to Initial! I'll probably do a small army with Wasp, mid-size with Iron Man, and big with Steve for army choices.

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Should it be RICOCHET SHIELD SA instead of RICOCHET ATTACK SA?

[johnny139]

That's what I'm not sure on. USAgent's is named "Shield Ricochet" and I'm not sure what we should do with the name for Sam's - open to suggestions that feel similar but not TOO similar.

[johnny139]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Captain America (Sam Wilson)

Army Test
Map: Spooky Swamp (Custom Map)
Units: Captain America @200, Wasp II, Wolverine (640 Points) vs. Citizen V, Songbird, Atlas (640 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Summary

ROUND 1: Sam and Wasp fly onto height while Citizen V and Songbird advance. Songbird stays parked on height, just barely keeping her allies in range. Sam engages her while Wolverine turns a corner, double-teamed by V and Atlas at the end of the round - he goes up to 4 wounds, heals one at end of round.

ROUND 2: Initiative lets Wolverine retaliate, carving Citizen V up to 3 Wounds, but not enough to finish the job - Cap decides to fly away and engage Atlas in an attempt to keep him away from Wolvie, taking an LEA in the process. But it's a good plan - Citzen V gets Wolvie up to 4 Wounds, and Atlas is forced to attack Wolvie from the low ground, so he only manages one wound, so Wolverine barely survives! He goes hog-wild on Zemo and takes him out for the round, but declines to attack Atlas, instead choosing to heal. Atlas takes his turn and decides to kill Wolverine. Cap falls back and Atlas and Songbird follow.

ROUND 3: Wasp sneaks away after trying to zap Atlas, but does no damage, while Cap comes in to tie them both down. Songbird hits Cap for one. Wasp once again can't sneak past Atlas's defense. He and Songbird double-team Sam and he goes down without much trouble. Wasp sneaks in to try and turn things around.

ROUND 4: Wasp gets a second turn, dealing two to Atlas, but it's not great news - his Imbalance blocks all damage and wounds her. The Thunderbolts do nothing in return, and she hops back to wound Atlas with her Sting. Songbird hunts her down and finishes the job.

Who won?: Thunderbolts win; 2 Wounds on Atlas, Songbird unharmed, Citizen V destroyed, 4 Rounds.

Thoughts: This one is closer than it looks - Wolverine was right on the edge after killing Zemo and, if he could have gotten a bit more momentum there, the game would have looked very different. Wasp and Sam were pretty redundant here (which I was expecting, honestly, with most of the eggs being in Sam's basket). He didn't get to pull off a shield throw and spent most of his time as a tiedown unit, Good performance but I'm not sure it's worth 200 points.

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Army Test
Map: Spooky Swamp (Custom Map)
Units: Captain America @200, Luke Cage, Iron Man MKIV, Spider-Man Hasbro (800 Points) vs. Nico Minoru, Molly Hayes, Chase Stein, Karolina Dean, Gert Yorkes, Old Lace (800 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Summary

ROUND 1: Spider-Man and Iron Man are Avengers. Luke leads Sam and Tony forward while the Runaways swarm up behind a ruin. Luke engages, punches a dinosaur, does no damage. Nico moves Karolina into the defensive corner and decides to blast Luke, dealing two wounds against a whiff. Tony flies in and blasts Nico twice, but does no damage (though she's forced to burn some Mana). Luke still can't break through Old Lace's defense. Molly tries to hit Luke, and gets six skulls, but only deals one wound.

ROUND 2: Old Lace pounces on Luke and ends up killing him - which turns the round into a rout. The Runaways swarm on Iron Man while Spidey swings in and manages to engage Karolina... but does no damage. Nico deals two wounds to Sam.

ROUND 3: Cap takes command of the field. Old Lace wounds Tony, but he lets out a Uni-Beam, dealing two to Gert and Old Lace and three to 'Lina. Nico takes control of the situation and sends everyone scattering, though Chase and Nico both takes an LEA wound. She tries and fails to hurt Spidey. Spider-Man can't hurt Karolina but no one can hurt the Avengers either.

ROUND 4: Cap takes the first turn, can't hurt Karolina. Nico can't hurt Spidey but does move Chase into position. Tony tries to blast Chase and Karolina, but does no damage, and his Uni-Beam shorts his suit (healing him for one in the process). Old Lace pounces and brings him up to 3. Finally Cap takes a turn and takes out Karolina. Old Lace finishes off Iron Man.

ROUND 5: Cap tries to sling his shield but fails to wound either Old Lace or Chase. Old Lace pounces next turn and finishes him off. Chase and Nico surround Spidey, and finally deal four wounds to him with one big attack from the Staff of One.

ROUND 6: Spidey swings away and deals three to Old Lace, leaving her with one Life left... but she strikes next turn, finishing poor Peter off.

Who won?: Runaways win; 1 Wound on Nico, 5 Wounds on Old Lace, 1 Wound on Chase, Molly unharmed, Karolina destroyed, 6 Rounds.

Thoughts: Another iffy showing here. The Runaways hit hard and fast, and that left Luke down for the count pretty early. You'd think this would make Sam a great backup commander, but not really - he just offered flexibility between Iron Man and Spider-Man at that point, and there's more efficient ways to use your points there. His Ricochet was lacking some oomph, too, and might need a tweak.

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Army Test
Map: Spooky Swamp (Custom Map)
Units: Captain America @200, Captain America: Steve Rogers, Bucky, Uncle Sam, Rocket Red x3 (1090 Points) vs. Aquaman II, Mera, Aqualad, Ocean Master, Namor (1100 Points)

Spoiler Alert!

Summary

ROUND 1: Cap, Cap, and Bucky all make up the welcoming party as Orm and Mera advance into the swampy water. Mera manages to Aquakinetically toss Cap behind a ruin, blocking him from the field. Namor zooms into battle and lurks in the water, while Uncle Sam tries to engage him - but swinging 9 Defense, that's a tough sell.

ROUND 2: Cap falls back and gets a good smash on Namor, dealing three wounds. Orm conjures up some more water and falls back a bit. Sam orders a Rocket Red to fly in and snipe Orm, which works well enough - one wound delt, and he drops the Trident, which Sam zooms in to grab. Aquaman and Aqualad hop over, with Aquaman hooking the Red and pulling him into the drink, bringing him to 3 Wounds. Another Red flies over to blast Orm but misses his shot. Mera can't do much with her Aquakinesis this time.

ROUND 3: Arthur and Garth team up to take down the Red he pulled over earlier. Bucky shoots Aqualad but is blocked, Cap punches Namor to no avail. Mera tosses Cap, while Sam sends that Red after Orm once more (one more wound, bit by bit). Orm goes after the Rocket Red and ticks up the tide - at this point, all but 14 spaces of the map are underwater, so no reason to keep it going. But the Rocket Red brings him up to 4 Wounds... it's a close one!

ROUND 4: Aqualad tries to take down the Red, but misses his harpoon shot. Garth hits Steve for no damage, and Steve moves away (taking an LEA wound) to attack Mera - she whiffs and is killed. Water Avenger Namor hops over and auto-wounds Steve in retaliation. Mera had the next turn, so Rocket Red goes and blasts away Orm. But it's not over yet - the water is still hanging around, so Namor gets height and his water boost to pop Steve Rogers like a grape. A Rocket Red tries to explore Namor and Arthur, but fails to do so - and Aquaman submerges over to deal an auto-wound.

ROUND 5: With the water drained, Uncle Sam takes a trip over to Aqualad and takes him out. Namor deals three wounds to Bucky. Uncle Sam comes over and hits Namor, bringing him to 4 Wounds. Namor attacks SamCap and deals three wounds (which knocks the Trident into the water), and Uncle Sam whiffs on his next throw. Aquaman falls back and hooks a Rocket Red, taking him out.

ROUND 6: Uncle Sam tries to smash Namor again, but misses. Aquaman nabs the Trident from the muck and uses its powers to zap SamCap, taking him out. Uncle Sam finishes off Namor. Sam hunts down Aquaman, but he submerges away and uses the Trident again to zap Bucky to death.

ROUND 7: Arthur hooks the last Rocket Red, taking him out of the picture. He then hooks Uncle Sam, dealing three wounds and bringing him up to 4. Sam retaliates with a good wound, which knocks away the Trident, but Arthur ignores it and rolls six skulls with his next attack - that's how it ends.

Who won?: Atlantean Invaders win, 1 Wound on Aquaman, all others destroyed, 7 Rounds.

Thoughts: Better game for Cap - with lots of moving pieces (three Rocket Reds, Uncle Sam, and a Steve Rogers who kept getting tossed around) the flexibility offered by unlimited range turn options made him a pretty valuable centerpiece. OM1 on Steve, OM2 and OM3 on Sam, and the whole field is under control. The ability to fly was also great, when he dove in and snagged the Trident after it was knocked out of Orm's hands.

That being said, he still didn't feel worth 200. It was a very close and very fun game, and I think it could have gone either way.

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THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: 200 is an absolute nope for him as-is - I'm thinking something closer to 160-180 is probably better. He's predominantly parked on height or stuck in an engagement, but OM flex + tiedown just isn't worth 200, and his SA isn't adding much to the mix. I do think he could use a minor bump, though, in powers, which I'll suggest below.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: He is actually very fun, and these games proved that he's a valuable part of an army even if he's a "boring" one. There's a great bit in Game 1 where Wolverine is being hounded by Zemo and Atlas, and would have absolutely bitten the dust next turn... if it wasn't for Sam swooping in to change the landscape of the battle. It felt cool, and felt very "comic book."

I'm happy with the fundamentals and think there's only one real tweak he needs: disengage. That brings him up to 4 powers if we slap Stealth Flying on there, but he really needs it. I was hoping it would make for tactical choices (take an LEA or not?) but with 4 Life it's never really worth the risk, so you're stuck with a lot of free movement going to waste.

Beyond that, I'd like to keep an eye on his special attack. As-is it's not super interesting, even in low point games where he's more prominent, but I think the freedom to disengage will help it a lot. If it still feels bad after that we might want to pump it a bit (or compensate elsewhere).

With Stealth Flying, I'd like to drop him to 180 and see how he feels in testing.

[Ronin]

I'm cool with the changes.

[Scapemage]

Stealth Flying seems alright with me. It's Sam Wilson, after all.

[Tornado]

Tell me more about the Spooky Swamp.

[johnny139]

Looks like no objections, so the SP is updated and I PROPOSE WE MOVE TO PUBLIC PLAYTESTING!

Originally Posted by Tornado

Tell me more about the Spooky Swamp.

Map I threw together to finally use those weird "shadowy ground" boards from Arena of the Planeswalkers. Big seas of swamp, an evergreen and some water in the middle, stone cliffs on either side... was a little cramped but surprisingly dynamic. I might add some more ground in the back just to push the start zones away.

I should probably take pictures of my homemade maps if only for posterity... since these are formal tests and all.