The Book of Jemma Simmons

[Ronin]

Anything specific that we're looking for in testing?

[Yodaking]

I don't think so. Just play to her strengths as usual. I'll say the last army I played her in felt like her best set up if you want to take any inspiration for it. Coulson is a good ally to have. Iron Man Stealth Suit is a 4 life Agent that can quickly disengage and retreat to her position for some healing. Rodgers is another high point human Agent she could try to heal (with Fitz help for the retreat move). Could try to make a ranged pod out of her, so people can just sit next to her and shoot while she keeps trying to heal them. That sets you up for an explosion type attack though on fairly low def/life human Agents.

[Ronin]

Cool. I'll start getting some Agent-y things together for her and run the tests this weekend.

[Arch-vile]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Simmons

Army Test
Map: A Couple Puddles
Units: Simmons (80), Fitz, Coulson, Quake, Dum Dum Dugan, Mockingbird (720) VS Nightwing, Raven, Robin (Damien), Wonder Girl (Donna), Kid Flash (Wally) (720)

Spoiler Alert!

Fitz upgrades Quake with the Stun marker.

Round 1: Coulson moves his agents out. The Titans take out Mockingbird immediately on their Titans Go turn. Simmons does manage to get a Bio-Negation marker on Wonder Girl. The Agents then take out Wonder Girl from height.

Round 2: Coulson repositions his forces. Raven moves up and Simmons places a Bio-Negation marker on Raven. The Agents wound Raven. Kid Flash misses and gets a Bio-Negation marker, Raven misses, and Nightwing misses. Coulson uses the secret weapon to put 2 wounds on kid flash. Kid Flash gets negated but says big deal and stays put next to Coulson and is blocked.

Round 3: Raven deals 2 wounds to Quake, then Nightwing wounds Dum Dum. Quake wounds Raven. Raven soul selfs Quake. Quake wounds Raven. Robin kills Quake. The agents miss.

Round 4: Coulson kills Kid Flash and Dum Dum wounds Robin. The Titans take out Dum Dum. Coulson kills Robin. Coulson wounds Raven then she soul selfs him.

Round 5: Fitz extracts Coulson. Raven wounds Fitz. Coulson wounds Raven. Raven (who gets negated) and Nightwing finish Fitz off. Nightwing puts 2 wounds on Coulson. Coulson wounds Raven.

Round 6: Raven soul selfs Coulson to kill him, then the Titans easily finish Simmons off.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Nightwing (0 wounds), Raven (3 wounds) win.

Pretty close match I felt - an initiative switch in the last round probably would have killed Raven. Simmons offered a nice negation ability which prevented Raven from using soul self one round. The d20 boosts from her and Fitz are nice. Her Team Doctor ability never got to activate unfortunately.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: A Couple Puddles
Units: Simmons (80), Fitz, Coulson, Quake, Dum Dum Dugan, Mockingbird (720) VS Luke Cage, Daredevil (II), Captain America (Falcon), Moon Knight (720)

Spoiler Alert!

Fitz upgrades Quake with the Stun Marker.

Round 1: Agents and Fighters move up. Luke deals 2 wounds to Dum Dum - both Luke and Captain America get a Bio-Negation marker. Quake deals 2 wounds to Luke. Daredevil deals 2 wounds to Mockingbird.

Round 2: The Agents bring Luke to 4 wounds. Captain America kills Dum Dum and Simmons places a second Bio-Negation marker on him. Quake wounds Daredevil and Mockingbird kills Luke. The Agents bring Daredevil to 3 wounds and kill him, but he goes the distance to survive. Captain America gets negated and thus can’t use his ranged special attack, so he gets Quaked away when he engages Mockingbird.

Round 3: Mockingbird kills Daredevil, but he goes the distance to survive. Moon Knight drops in to deal Quake 2 wounds. Quake wounds Moon Knight and sends an OM over to Daredevil - then Mockingbird kills Daredevil. Quake misses. Captain America is negated again, but he still manages to engage Mockingbird and kill her.

Round 4: Quake wounds Moon Knight. Moon Knight wounds Quake and Coulson. Captain America gets negated again and Quaked away when he tries to engage Coulson. Quake wounds Moon Knight. Captain America flies up and takes out Quake.

Round 5: Fitz extracts Coulson, then he moves his agents out. Moon Knight brings Coulson to 3 wounds. Simmons heals Coulson. Captain America is blocked. The agents are blocked. Captain America is blocked.

Round 6: Simmons podding forces the Fighters to take out her first, which they eventually do, finally freeing Captain America from near-constant negation on his turns.

Round 7+: A very long slugfest between Captain America and Coulson/Fitz. Captain America’s defense proves stalwart here.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Captain America (0 wounds) wins.

Great showing by Simmons here, negating Captain America nearly constantly. She and Fitz offer a lot of tricks to an otherwise pretty unthreatening Agent build. The healing was clutch in the endgame, podding up so the enemy had to take out Simmons first.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Loved it, was a very unique design. She’s probably safe at 75, but I felt like she had decent impact both games, both of which were fairly close.

Also, I’d consider making this change to limit Simmons from being thrown into any random build just for her power negation. It’s not a super powerful power, but any figure that gives a net benefit to your army just by sitting in the start zone gives me worries. Adding a class restriction really limits the cheese potential.

BIO-CHEMICAL COUNTERMEASURES
Start the game with 3 blue Bio-Negation Markers. If an opponent's Unique Hero that is not an Android, Cyborg, or Human ends its turn within 6 spaces of an Agent you control, you may place a Bio-Negation Marker on that figures card. At the start of that figure's turn, you may roll the 20-sided die. Add 2 to your roll for every Bio-Negation Marker on their card beyond the first, if you roll an 15 or higher that figure may not use any special powers on its army card for the rest of its turn.

[Ronin]

Does Fitzsimmons boost her own d20 rolls, or is the power missing an "other"?

[Yodaking]

Yes, it boost her own rolls.

[Yodaking]

Thanks for the tests Arch!

I kind of wanted her to be draftable in a future Engineer/Scientist focused army if that ever gets fleshed out. I know she's an Agent, but would making her or Fitz go on the front lines be a limitation in that regard?

[Arch-vile]

I kept Simmons & Fitz in the start zones in my games (until the rest of the army sans Coulson was dead), so yeah that'd definitely be a limitation.

[IAmBatman]

Their staying in the start zone works for me thematically. I know they end up in the field a lot, but the lab is more their home.

[Yodaking]

Here the tests from Siege:

Originally Posted by SIEGE

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Jemma Simmons

Version Tested

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = JEMMA SIMMONS

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = SCIENTIST
PERSONALITY = SUPPORTIVE

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 4
RANGE = 5
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 3

POINTS = 85

FITZSIMMONS
Jemma Simmons has the class of Agent in addition to what is on this card. When any Agent, Engineer, or Scientist you control rolls the 20-sided die, you may add or subtract 1 from the result.

BIO-CHEMICAL COUNTERMEASURES
Start the game with 3 blue Bio-Negation Markers. If an opponent's Unique Hero that is not an Android, Cyborg, or Human ends its turn within 6 spaces of a figure you control, you may place a Bio-Negation Marker on that figures card. At the start of that figure's turn, you may roll the 20-sided die. Add 2 to your roll for every Bio-Negation Marker on their card beyond the first, if you roll an 15 or higher that figure may not use any special powers on its army card for the rest of its turn.

TEAM DOCTOR
Before taking a turn with a wounded Human or Inhuman Unique Hero figure you control that is adjacent to Jemma Simmons, you may first roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 13 or higher, remove up to 2 Wound Markers from that Hero's Army Card.

Army Test
Map: Swamp Lab
Units: Agents (Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Nick Fury, Scarlet Spiders, Scorpion (Carmilla Black), Skrull Infiltrator) (650) vs S&B (Superman (I), Batman (II)) (650)

Spoiler Alert!

Start of game: Rolled 6 + 2 (for Jemma and Leo’s FitzSimmons) for 8. Gave Accuracy Marker to Nick Fury. Nick, Jemma, Leo, and Scorpion are the Drop Team. Batman chooses Bolas, Bat Shuriken, and Bat-Grapple for Utility Belt 3.

Round 1: Drop team lands on top of castle. Initiative Agents. Scarlet Spiders move on and toward castle. Leo shoots Superman but Superman blocks. Superman flies up to castle and attacks Jemma. He rolls 1 skull, and Jemma rolls 1 shield. Jemma considers placing a Bio-Negation marker on Superman but realizes that Superman has no special abilities that are usable during his turn (No glyphs for X-Ray Vision either), so she does not bother with it.
Scarlet Spiders finish moving up to castle. 1st rolls 4 skulls but Spuerman rolls 5 shields! 2nd misses. 3rd rolls 3 skulls, and Superman rolls 2 blanks for 1 wound. Nick shoots Superman but misses. Batman moves toward castle. Attempts Bolas on a Scarlet Spider but rolls a 9. Batman uses Bat Shuriken on a Scarlet Spider but misses. The Scarlet Spider moves away to avoid line of sight. Batman uses Bat Shuriken on a Scarlet Spider twice but misses both times.
Scarlet Spiders shoot Superman. Superman rolls no shields and takes 2 wounds. Superman blocks the next 2 attacks. Jemma moves next to Leo and attacks Superman but misses. Batman uses Bat-Grapple to get to top of castle. Batman uses Bolas to deal a wound to a Scarlet Spider destroying it. Batman attacks a Scarlet Spider but the Scarlet Spider blocks.

Round 2: Initiative S&B. Superman attacks Jemma and deals 3 wounds.2 Scarlet Spiders attack Superman but miss. Scorpion moves onto height next to Batman. Scorpion attacks Batman, but Batman uses Shadow Strike 15 and deals a wound to Scorpion.
Superman attacks Jemma dealing 2 wounds. Jemma is destroyed. 2 Scarlet Spiders shoot at Superman, but he blocks. Nick attacks Superman but he blocks.
Batman uses Bolas to deal one wound to a Scarlet Spider destroying it. Batman attacks a Scarlet Spider, but it blocks. Scarlet Spider attacks Superman but misses. Nick attacks Superman but he blocks.

Round 3: Initiative Agents. Scarlet Spider attacks Superman but misses. Nick attacks Super. He uses Accuracy Marker to reroll and rolls 4 skulls. Deals 1 wound to Superman. Superman attacks Leo for 3 wounds.
Scarlet Spider attacks Superman but misses. Nick attacks Superman but he blocks. Batman uses Bolas but only rolls a 4. He attacks Scorpion but misses.
Scarlet Spider attacks Superman but misses. Nick attacks Super. He uses Accuracy Marker to reroll and rolls 2 skulls. Superman blocks. Batman uses Bolas but only rolls a 4. He attacks Scorpion but misses.

Round 4: Initiative S&B. Superman destroys the last Scarlet Spider. Nick attacks Superman but misses.
Batman uses Bolas on Nick. Batman attacks Nick but he blocks. Scorpion attacks Batman dealing 1 wound. Rolls 8 (+1 for wound, +1 for Fitzsimmons) for Scorpion Sting dealing 1 additional wound.
Batman attacks Nick for 2 wounds. Nick attacks Batman but misses.

Round 5: Initiative S&B. Superman attacks Scorpion but misses. Scorpion attacks Superman. 4 skulls vs 4 shields/blanks.
Superman attacks Scorpion but misses. Scorpion attacks Superman but misses.
Superman attacks Scorpion for 1 wound. Scorpion attacks Superman but misses.

Round 6: Initiative S&B. Superman attacks Scorpion for 2 wounds. Scorpion attacks Superman for 1 wound. Rolls 8 (+1 for wound, +1 for Fitzsimmons) for Scorpion Sting dealing 1 additional wound.
Superman attacks Scorpion for 2 wounds. Scorpion is destroyed. Skrull Infiltrator replaces Scorpion. Nick attacks Batman for 2 wounds. Batman fails to roll for Shadow Strike. Batman is destroyed.
Superman attacks Skrull Infiltrator. Rolls 4 skulls destroying it. Nick attacks Superman for 2 wounds destroying him.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Nick {3/5}, Leo {1/4}

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Swamp Lab
Units: Agents (Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz, Phil Coulson, Abilgail Brand, Nightshade (Eve Eden), Spider-Woman (Jessica Drew)) (945) vs Justice League (Superman (III), Batman (I), Wonder Woman (III)) (950)

Spoiler Alert!

Start of game: Rolled 10 + 2 (for Jemma and Leo’s FitzSimmons) for 12. Gave Accuracy Marker to Spider-Woman.

Round 1: Initiative Justice League. Wonder Woman moves to top of castle. Nightshade uses Through the Land of the Nightshades to move herself, Phil, and Abigail to top of castle and grab height.
Superman moves to top of castle and attacks Abigail but misses. Abigail uses Contact Pyrokinesis 15 on Superman but misses. Abigail attacks Superman for 1 wound. Nightshade attacks Superman for 1 wound.
Superman attacks Abigail but misses. Abigail uses Contact Pyrokinesis 15 on Superman but misses. Abigail attacks Superman for 1 wound. Nightshade attacks Superman, but he blocks.

Round 2: Wonder Woman uses Ambassador of Justice. Initiative Justice League. Jemma places a marker from Bio-Chemical Countermeasures on Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman attacks Phil but misses. Abigail uses Contact Pyrokinesis 15 on Superman but misses. Abigail and Nightshade both attack Superman but miss.
Superman attacks Abigail for 2 wounds. Abigail uses Contact Pyrokinesis 15 on Superman but misses. Abigail and Nightshade both attack Superman but miss.
Jemma use Bio-Chemical Countermeasures on Wonder Woman but the roll fails. Jemma places a marker from Bio-Chemical Countermeasures on Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman attacks Phil. 5 skulls vs 0 shields. Phil is destroyed. Phil loses a turn.

Round 3: Wonder Woman uses Ambassador of Justice. Initiative Justice League. Superman attacks Abigail for 2 wounds. Spider-Woman moves up to top of castle. Abigail uses Contact Pyrokinesis 15 on Superman but misses. Abigail attacks Superman, but he blocks.
Superman attacks Abigail for 3 wounds destroying her. Nightshade attacks Superman, but he blocks.
Jemma use Bio-Chemical Countermeasures on Wonder Woman and succeeds. Jemma places a marker from Bio-Chemical Countermeasures on Wonder Woman. Wonder Woman attacks Spider-Woman. Pheromone Distraction 16 fails. Spider-Woman take 1 wound. Nightshade attacks Superman, but he blocks.

Round 4: Initiative Justice League. Superman attacks Nightshade. Superman rolls 6 skulls, but Nightshade rolls 12 + 2 (for FitzSimmons) for 14. Spider-Woman attacks Wonder Woman. Rolls 2 skulls and uses Accuracy Marker and rolls 5 skulls! Wonder Woman rolls 1 shield for 4 wounds.
Wonder Woman takes a turn, but Spider-Woman uses Pheromone Distraction. Rolls 14+2=16, so Wonder Woman can’t do anything. Spider-Woman attacks Wonder Woman. Rolls 2 skulls and uses Accuracy Marker and rolls 4 skulls. Wonder Woman takes 3 wounds destroying her.
Wonder Woman loses a turn. Nightshade attacks Superman but misses.

Round 5: Initiative Justice League. Superman leaves an engagement with Nightshade and takes a wound. He moves next to Jemma. He attacks Jemma for 1 wound. Spider-Woman moves next to Superman on height. Her attack misses.
Superman attacks Jemma for 2 wounds. Spider-Woman attacks Superman for 1 wound.
Batman moves toward castle. He attacks Nightshade with Batarang Special Attack, but Nightshade uses Reactionary Phasing to avoid the attack. Spider-Woman attacks Superman. Rolls 6 skulls vs 4 shields/symbols. Superman is destroyed.

Round 6: Initiative Justice League. Batman moves to top of castle. He attacks Nightshade but she avoids using Reactionary Phasing. Spider-Woman attacks Batman for 2 wounds.
Batman attacks Nightshade. 5 skulls vs 1 shield. Nightshade’s Reactionary Phasing fails and she is destroyed. Spider-Woman attacks Batman but he uses Evasive Strike 15 to avoid the damage and deals 1 wound to Spider-Woman.
Batman attacks Spider-Woman for 3 wounds. Spider-Woman loses a turn.

Round 7: Initiative Justice League. Batman moves to ladder and attacks Leo and Jemma with Batarang Special Attack. He deals 2 wounds to Leo. Jemma fails to roll for Team Doctor to heal Leo. Leo shoots at Batman, but Batman blocks.
Batman attacks Jemma for 3 wounds destroying her. Batman attacks Leo but misses. Leo attacks Batman but he blocks.
Batman moves next to Leo. He attacks Leo for 4 wounds destroying him.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Batman {2/4}

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY:

Spoiler Alert!

Jemma and Leo felt very balanced at 150 points combined. Both games contained periods of stalemates and periods of swinginess, but both ended up being very close games. Jemma and Leo’s support special abilities definitely felt like they contributed 150 points worth to the team both times.

The only real difference between them is Leo has Tech Upgrade and Field Extraction Protocol and Jemma has Bio-Chemical Countermeasures and Team Doctor and is 20 points more. Out of these four abilities, Tech Upgrade was the most useful in my two games. If I was basing their costs on my two games alone, I would say Leo should be 85 points and Jemma 65, or they both should be 75. However, it’s possible Bio-Chemical Countermeasures and Team Doctor could be put to better use in other games compared to my two games making Jemma worth 20 points more than Leo. I am curious to know how these four abilities performed relative to each other in other playtests.

Jemma’s draftability is spot on because she fits in well with a variety of army builds and it leads to complex strategic choices. Do you also draft Leo or not? A lot of Agents only work well with other Agents, so do you draft an all Agent army or do you do a Scientist or Engineer army? Team Doctor only works on Humans and Inhumans so how much do you focus on having Humans and Inhumans in your army vs other species? Fitzsimmons only benefits Agents, Engineers, and Scientists that make 20-sided die rolls, so do you try to draft only these units that make 20-sided die rolls or do you draft some Agents, Engineers, or Scientists even if they don’t make 20-sided die rolls?

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT:

Spoiler Alert!

I don’t know much about Jemma as a character, but I get the impression she is sort of like Krillin from Dragonball Z. Krillin isn’t the strongest fighter or a front-line fighter, but he plays an important support role in the group by aiding the stronger fighters. Jemma is the same way. She doesn’t do most of the fighting, but she aids the units who engage in the fighting so that they can be more effective. I really like Jemma and Leo at 150 points combined because it fits this type of support role well. If they were worth any more points, they would no longer fill this support role and would instead be a more dominate part of your army.

[Yodaking]

Pretty good looking tests there from Siege. Split the games 1-1 with both games being pretty close. He said they felt great as a pair for 150, but thought Fitz was the more useful of the two. I'm not sure I agree with that take as healing & negating powers has more potential big time impacts IMO. It wouldn't really bother me if they were just both 75 points each though, I like the idea of them being equals. What say you?

[IAmBatman]

Yeah, they seem to be coming in as fairly balanced as is.