Groot

[Yodaking]

I think Pilot Rocket has stealth.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by MrNobody

The Battle Cat method feels like it would add a lot of text to achieve mostly the same gameplay experience. That works for that card because it's primarily focused on being a Mount and has the space to let that shine, but I'm worried Groot here would struggle because of the other stuff he wants to do.

Totally reasonable. Mostly just wanted to point out that we have sound mechanical precedent to lean on as needed in Battle Cat (and Iron Giant).

[MrNobody]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Groooooot

Army Test 1
Map: Elm Street
Units: Team 1 (1,050): Groot (250), Star-Lord (250), Drax (350), Rocket Raccoon (200)
Team 2 (1,000): Fantastic Four

Pre-game thoughts: We realized post-game that we had played the Guardians 50 points too high! Still, I think the hands-on experience was valuable. I also played this game with Toy on TTS, so my notes may be kinda shoddy as I sometimes miss details while playing.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Drax rushes rushes in and Groot follows behind, carrying Rocket

Round 2: T2 wins initiative
-Ben throws a car at Drax, inflicting 2 wounds
-Johnny inflicts 2 wounds on Drax with Flame On
-Drax inflicts 1 wound on Reed

Round 3: T1 wins initiative
-Drax lets loose on Ben, inflicting 4 wounds
-Sue takes out Drax
-Star-Lord catches up to the fight, inflicting 1 wound on Johnny
-Johnny inflicts 1 wound on Groot
-Reed inflicts 1 wound on Groot
-Groot stops Johnny’s movement
-Rocket inflicts 1 wound on Reed
-Groot inflicts 1 wound on Reed
-Sue inflicts 1 wound on Groot
-Johnny inflicts 1 wound on Groot

Round 4: T1 wins initiative
-Rocket blasts away at Reed, inflicting 2 wounds
-Groot stops Johnny’s movement
-Reed takes out Groot
-Rocket takes out Reed

Round 5: T2 wins initiative
-Ben inflicts 3 wounds on Rocket
-Rocket drops a bomb, inflicting 1 wound on Sue
-Rocket takes out Sue
-Rocket drops bombs, taking out Ben


Special power usages:
Normal attack: 1 wounds inflicted (1 on Mister Fantastic)
Entangling Roots: Used 2 times, mainly to stop Human Torch from using Flame On
Rocket and Groot: Used repeatedly, letting Groot and Rocket be an effective tag-team
Ragtag Protection: Not used.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Star-Lord (2/5 wounds), Rocket (3/4 wounds)

Post-game thoughts: Obviously hard to gather balance data with a 50 point advantage, but I think the Guardians (me) also rushed Drax out too early which hurt them in the long run. Kinda shocked I never used Ragtag Protector - there may have been 1 opportunity to use it that I just missed, right about when Drax died, but otherwise Groot was such a high priority target that it didn’t feel important.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 2
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: Team 1 (1,000): Groot (250), Star-Lord (250), Gamora (300), Rocket Raccoon (200)
Team 2 (1,000): Fantastic Four

Pre-game thoughts: We set Groot’s move at 6 in this second game. I also played this game with Toy on TTS, so my notes may be kinda shoddy as I sometimes miss details while playing.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Johnny would inflict 1 wound on Gamora, but Groot takes it instead

Round 2: T2 wins initiative
-Rocket inflicts 1 wound on Reed
-Groot inflicts 2 wounds on Reed
-Thing would inflict 1 wound on Rocket with Rock Wall, but Groot takes it instead
-Groot inflicts 2 wounds on Ben
-Rocket takes out Reed

Round 3: T2 wins initiative
-Groot stops Johnny’s movement
-Rocket inflicts 1 wound on Ben
-Groot inflicts 2 wounds on Ben
-Johnny Flames On, inflicting 2 wounds each on Gamora and Groot
-Groot takes out Reed

Round 4: T1 wins initiative
-Groot and Rocket both fall to Flame On

Round 5: T1 wins initiative
-Gamora and Quill inflict 1 wound on Johnny with Flanking Strike
-Johnny inflicts 2 wounds on Quill with Flame On
-Quill inflicts 1 wound on Sue
-Gamora takes Johnny out with a counterstrike
-Gamora inflicts 1 wound on Sue

Round 6: T1 wins initiative
-Gamora finishes off Sue


Special power usages:
Normal attack: 5 wounds inflicted (4 on Thing,1 on Mister Fantastic)
Entangling Roots: Used 1 time, to stop Johnny from Flaming On
Rocket and Groot: Used repeatedly, letting Groot and Rocket be an effective tag-team
Ragtag Protection: Used 2 times (1 wound from Gamora > Groot, 1 wound from Rocket > Groot)

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Star-Lord (3/5 wounds), Gamora (2/6 wounds)

Post-game thoughts: Groot generally felt effective here, maybe a bit too powerful?

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 3
Map: Castle Dracula (Custom Map)
Units: Team 1 (1,100): Groot (250), Rocket Raccoon (170), Moondragon (230), Martinex (200), Charlie-27 (250)
Team 2 (1,100): Superior Spider-Man (260), Peter Parker Spider-Man (250), Spider-Woman (170), Takuya Yamashiro Spider-Man (120), Leopardon (270), Spider-Bots (30)

Pre-game thoughts: Groot and Otto are Moondragon’s Pawns. Groot has +1 Attack and Otto has -1 Defense.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T1 wins initiative
-Groot inflicts 2 wounds on Peter
-Charlie takes out a bot
-Peter would inflict 2 wounds on Charlie, but Groot eats one of those wounds

Round 2: T2 wins initiative
-Peter would inflict 1 wound on Rocket, but Groot eats that wound
-Peter would inflict another wound on Rocket, but Groot eats that wound
-Rocket inflicts 2 wounds on Ashley and takes out a Bot with BFG
-Ashley would inflict 1 wound on Rocket, but Groot eats that wound
-Rocket takes out the last Bot

Round 3: T1 wins initiative
-Charlie inflicts 1 wound on Ashley
-Peter would inflict 3 wounds on Rocket, but Groot eats 1 of those wounds
-Leopardon arrives and takes out Groot
-Charlie takes out Ashley
-Charlie inflicts 2 wounds on Leo with BFG
-Rocket inflicts 1 wound on Peter
-Leo takes out Rocket

Round 4: T2 wins initiative
-Leo inflicts 2 wounds on Charlie
-Leo inflicts 2 more wounds on Charlie
-BFG spidey dead 2 wound Leo
-Leo takes out Charlie

Round 5: T2 wins initiative
-Leo inflicts 2 wounds on Moondragon
-Leo inflicts 2 wounds on Marty
-Otto inflicts 1 wound on Moondragon, but Moondragon counters and inflicts 1 wound back
-Marty inflicts 1 wound on Otto
-Moondragon counters Otto, inflicting 1 wound

Round 6: T2 wins initiative
-Otto inflicts 1 wound on Moondragon
-Leo takes out Marty
-T1 had OM1 and OM2 on Marty, so they lose those turns
-Leo takes out Moondragon


Special power usages:
Normal attack: 2 wounds inflicted (2 on Peter Parker,)
Entangling Roots: Used 0 times
Rocket and Groot: Used
Ragtag Protection: Used 5 times (1 wound from Charlie-27 > Groot, 4 wounds from Rocket > Groot)

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Superior Spider-Man (3/5 wounds), Spider-Man Japan (0/4 wounds), Leopardon (3/6 wounds)

Post-game thoughts: I feel like the Spiders ended up being a bad matchup for this Guardians build, since the GotG were really leaning on the BFGs for firepower…and the Spiders were able to avoid bunching up and stayed up in Rocket/Charlie’s faces. Groot feels like less of a natural fit for this Rocket, but he’s still not bad. Being able to cheat height advantage on an enemy with BFG is nice and gives some strategic depth.

Here's the changes Toy and I made during the 2nd game;

MOVE = 6

ENTANGLING ROOTS
Once per round, when a Small or Medium enemy in clear sight moves onto or over a space within 5 spaces of Groot, you may stop that figure's movement. It cannot use Flying until the end of your next turn.

I'm pretty happy to move ahead with those at 250, but if somebody wants to see another game to make up for my error in the first, I can do that!

[Yodaking]

Clear sight restriction is a good addition.

[MrNobody]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

Clear sight restriction is a good addition.

Yeah, we were about 3 minutes in and it came to a point where Groot was gonna grab Invisible Woman, so we just made that change immediately.

Anyways, updated the OP. Let's go to public playtesting!

[Ericth74]

yea

[Arch-vile]

Size/Life/Points should be spaced out in the OP. Fire Weakness -> Heat Weakness.

I'd probably move Rocket and Groot to be the first ability, since right now it's in between two abilities which happen outside of Groot's turn.

yea

[Soundwarp SG-1]

yea

[Skinderella]

Yea

[MrNobody]

Thanks all! This passes. (And thank you for the edits, Archie.)

[Ericth74]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Groot

Version tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = GROOT
IDENTITY = N/A

UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
SPECIES = FLORA COLOSSUS
CLASS = PROTECTOR
PERSONALITY = BENEVOLENT

SIZE/HEIGHT = LARGE 8

LIFE = 7

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 2
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 5

POINTS = 250

ROCKET AND GROOT
Before Groot’s move action, you may choose an unengaged allied Rocket Raccoon that is adjacent to Groot. After the move action, place the chosen figure adjacent to Groot. When determining height advantage between an adjacent allied Rocket Raccoon and a non-flying figure, add 8 levels to Rocket Raccoon’s elevation.

ENTANGLING ROOTS
Once per round, when a Small or Medium enemy in clear sight moves onto or over a space within 5 spaces of Groot, you may stop that figure's movement. It cannot use Flying until the end of your next turn.

RAGTAG PROTECTION
If an ally in the Guardians of the Galaxy faction within 5 clear spaces of Groot would take 1+ wounds, you may inflict 1 wound on Groot to ignore 1 wound inflicted on that figure.

FACTION = GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY
PUBLISHER = MARVEL
KEYWORDS = Nature
SYMBOLS = HEAT WEAKNESS, SUPER STRENGTH

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: 1000 – Martinex 200, Rocket Raccoon 200, Gamora 300, Groot 250, Wasp 50 VS 1000 – Luke Cage 190, Iron Fist 260, Misty Knight 180, Moon Knight 150, Jessica Jones 220

Spoiler Alert!

Wasp is a Guardian of the Galaxy.

R1 – Gamora hits Cage for a wound. Groot hits Iron Fist for 3 wounds. Rocket hits Iron Fist for a wound. Groot stops Iron Fist's move. Iron Fist heals a wound. Cage hits Groot for 2 wounds.
R2 – Groot attacks Cage, its blocked. Rocket drops his third bomb and detonates 2 of them doing 2 wounds to Cage. Moon Knight Darts Rocket and Groot each taking a wound. Cage hits Rocket for 3 wounds, Groot takes 1 of those wounds. Rocket sneaks away from Cage and attacks down from range on Cage, its blocked. Marty and Gamora flank Cage but miss both damage dice. Groot stops Iron Fists movement, Iron Fist heals a wound on Cage. Cage attacks Groot, its blocked. Groot attacks down on Cage, its blocked. Rocket hits Cage for 1 wound from Range. Moon Knight darts Rocket, Groot takes the wound instead. Moon Knight darts Groot. Cage attacks up on Groot, its blocked.
R3 – Moon Knight Darts Groot and defeats him but misses Rocket. Cage hits Marty for 2 wounds. Rocket hits Cage for 1 wound. Gamora attacks down on Cage, its blocked. Iron Fist leaps over to attack Marty, its blocked, he heals a wound on Cage. Cage attacks Marty doing 1 wound. Rocket attacks Cage, its blocked. Gamora attacks down on Cage and does a wound to him. Moon Knight darts both Rocket and Marty defeating them both. Luke doesn't attack Gamora out of fear of counterstrike.
End Game – GtoG wins initiative and Gamora defeats Cage and OM1. Gamora attacks again defeating Iron Fist and OM2! Wasp moves into position. Moon Knight darts Gamora for her first wound. The Next Round Jessica Jones hits Gamora for 2 wounds and finds the X marker to boost her team. Gamora defeats Misty but takes wounds from Jessica Jones and Moon Knight and hit hot darts. Wasp hits Moon Knight for a wound while Jessica takes out Gamora. Wasp defeats Moon Knight with her SA but Jessica Jones one shots Wasp.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Jessica Jones 3 wounds/2 life left

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: 1000 pts – Iron Man 270, Rocket Raccoon 200, Groot 250, USAgent 230, Wasp 50 VS 1000 pts – JLA Trinity

Spoiler Alert!

Rocket and Groot are Avengers.

R1 – Rocket attack WW, its blocked. Batman hits Groot for a wound with his SA. USAgent attacks Batman, its blocked.
R2 – WW uses a marker. Groot attacks Superman, its blocked. Rocket drops a second bomb and detonates them both doing 2 wounds to Superman. Superman moves but Groot stops his movement. Superman uses a marker. WW attacks down on Iron Man doing 1 wound. Batman uses his SA and puts a wound on Rocket. USAgent attacks Superman, its blocked. Wasp attacks Superman with her SA, its blocked. Superman attacks USAgent and puts 3 wounds on him but also takes 3 counterstrike wounds leaving him with 1 life left. Iron Man attacks WW twice doing 2 wounds. Superman attacks and defeats Superman.
R3 – WW uses a marker. Superman attacks Iron man its blocked. Superman uses a marker. WW attacks Iron Man doing 1 wound. Groot attacks Batman, its blocked. Rocket drops a bomb next to Superman and uses it and defeats Superman. Order Markers and JLA markers move to WW. WW attacks Iron Man its blocked. Wasp attacks WW with her SA doing 2 wounds. Iron Man attacks WW twice doing 1 wound. WW attacks and defeats Iron Man. Wasp defeats WW with her SA.
R4 – Batman attacks Groot, its blocked. Rocket attacks Batman, its blocked. Groot engages Batman and attacks him doing 1 wound. Batman defeats Groot. Wasp hits Batman with his SA doing 1 wound. Batman attacks Wasp and defeats her. Rocket attack Batman, its blocked.
Endgame – both Batman and Rocket exchange attacks but Batman finally rolls a 5 skull attack and takes Rocket out.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Batman 2 wounds/2 life left

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Groot plays very well at 250 points and pairs well with Rocket Raccoon. His ability to soak wounds is really helpful. I didn't get a game in with Mantis but her ability to heal figures with the Nature keyword looks like a solid pairing. All of Groot's powers came into play in both games. He's movement shutdown power is great and it was a good decision to limit it to once a round. No issues moving forward with Groot.

[MrNobody]

Thanks Eric!