The Book of Blacksmith

[IAmBatman]

The Book of Blacksmith

C3G DC WAVE 38
FLASH FORWARD


Comic PDF


Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a MODIFIED Heroclix figure from the DC Arkham Asylum set.
Its model number and name are #019 / Lashina.

Tutorial on how to create and paint this figure

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Character Bio - “Amunet Black has been running and operating the Network, an underground black market in Central City and Keystone City, the twin cities, for supervillains to buy, sell, or move contraband. During that time, she had a brief marriage to Goldface. When they divorced, she stole the elixir that gave him his powers and changed it to gain the ability to merge metal with flesh and shape it to her will. She was able to keep the Network hidden from the authorities and if any villain reformed or quit crime, she made sure the memories of the Network were erased from their minds. Soon, with a vision of power, Blacksmith planned out her takeover of the twin cities, with her as the leader.
“First, she organized a new group of rogues, which consisted of the Weather Wizard, Mirror Master II, Magenta, Murmur, Girder, Plunder, and Trickster II. She made sure that her rogues were strong and had better control of their powers. She had Magenta use her powers to keep Girder from rusting and taught the Weather Wizard better control with his wand” (Wikipedia 2020).
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Metahuman, Blacksmith has these Metahuman Synergies.
• As a Rogue, Blacksmith has these Rogue Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• Blacksmith can bond with and upgrade Rogues with her Rogue Roster Upgrades special power.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• Rogues faction strategy

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: (IAmBatman)
• Second playtest: (Arch-vile)
• Third playtest: (AlexH12)
• Fourth playtest: (Zakizzryn)
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by Arkham

[IAmBatman]

NAME = BLACKSMITH
SECRET IDENTITY = AMUNET BLACK

SPECIES = METAHUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = ROGUE
PERSONALITY = RUTHLESS

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

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

POINTS = 210

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and before taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Rogue Hero you control. During this turn, if that Rogue attacks with a normal or special attack, before defense dice are rolled, you may choose to reroll all dice for that attack once. After taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

INORGANIC FUSION SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 3. Attack 2 + Special.
Choose a figure to attack. Add one to your attack for each destructible object or obstacle within 2 spaces of the chosen figure.

WATER WEAKNESS
If Blacksmith is on a water space, she rolls 1 fewer defense die and 1 fewer attack die.

[IAmBatman]

Hmm, not to slow my own process, but since we made this change, should we give some love to the Girders and Mirror Masters of the world?

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Rogue Hero you control. After taking a turn this way, if that Rogue attacked with a special attack and did not inflict any wounds, you may immediately take an additional turn with that Rogue, during which it cannot move.

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

Hmm, not to slow my own process, but since we made this change, should we give some love to the Girders and Mirror Masters of the world?

OK, this is the direction we WERE going in, and I was fine with it, even if it lost a bit of the "upgrades" theme to me.

It SEEMS that folks are OK with the idea of rerolls not being seen as modification to a special attack (perhaps because it doesn't increase the ceiling any, but keeps the results in the already tested for range of outcomes?). How would folks feel about this change?

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Rogue Hero you control. If that Rogue attacks with a normal or special attack on this turn, then before dice are rolled for the defending figure you may reroll all blanks until no blanks are shown.

(Or if the Bronze Tiger style is too powerful, it can just be a straight reroll of blanks or a straight reroll. Basically let me know what you guys are game for and prefer!).

[IAmBatman]

Crap. Unintentional stacking with Golden Glider here! And Blacksmith is powerful enough not to allow static three or potential four (with Cold) figure turns with Rogues.

Originally Posted by IAmBatman

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Rogue Hero you control. During this turn, if that Rogue attacks with a normal or special attack, before defense dice are rolled, you may choose to reroll all dice for that attack once.

Originally Posted by Golden Glider

ROGUE DUO
At the start of the game, choose another Unique Rogue Hero you control. After revealing an Order Marker on the chosen Hero's card and taking a turn with that Hero, you may take a turn with Golden Glider. You may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

I would like to still stack with Captain Cold, though:

Originally Posted by Captain Cold

COLD GUN SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 4. Attack 3.
For each skull rolled when attacking with this special attack, the defending figure rolls 1 fewer defense die. Figures with the Ice Resistance special power cannot be targeted for this special attack. If Captain Cold inflicts one or more wounds with this special attack, you may take an immediate turn with any Unique Rogue Hero you control within clear sight of Captain Cold.

So I'm thinking maybe this change?

Originally Posted by Updated Version

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
After revealing an Order Marker on this card and before taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Rogue Hero you control. During this turn, if that Rogue attacks with a normal or special attack, before defense dice are rolled, you may choose to reroll all dice for that attack once. After taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

I believe that works. So you'd be able to A. Take a turn with Captain Cold B. Reroll with him if needed C. Use his Cold Gun immediate bonus turn if it triggers and D. Take a turn with Blacksmith, since everything else still happened before a turn with Blacksmith

But you wouldn't be able to E. Take a turn with Golden Glider because the last line of Rogue Roster Upgrades now prevents it.

Thoughts? Anything I'm missing?

[IAmBatman]

Mini Picture

Spoiler Alert!

Comic Picture


Background

Originally Posted by Arch-vile

Posting this here for future use:

Blacksmith miniature painting tutorial

Spoiler Alert!

This is the comic art of Blacksmith that was used as my main reference.


Start with the Lashina Heroclix figure.


Cut off the whips she's holding. Nail clippers work great for this and are much safer than using a knife.


Paint the majority of the figure grey. I used "pewter grey." I elected to cover her more than official artwork, so see the comic art above if you prefer to make yours more comic accurate.


Now paint the skin a peach color. I used "peach." Be liberal with the paint as you want to cover up those straps on the miniature.


Paint the hair & the cap blue. I used "cobalt hue." Again, be liberal with the paint on the cap to cover up the straps on the miniature. You want it to look like hair.


Now you'll need to pull up comic art of Blacksmith to accurately draw all these lines. Use the same hue of blue as her hair for the face markings. I used "pewter grey" for the light lines on her outfit. Follow the strap lines on the miniature when possible.


Here's a closer view at the pattern I used. On some lines I applied a bit too much paint, but that's okay. Once it dries you can clean it up by applying the darker grey paint.


Clean up your lines with the darker grey and flesh colors. And now you have a completed Blacksmith! It's time to make Flash start taking the Rogues seriously.

[IAmBatman]

Last Chance Workshop left me a bit unsettled on where to go with Blacksmith’s marquee power, so I’m going to present what I feel are my main options here and poll it out while we’re in the breathing period here:

OPTION ONE: ALL-IN ON SPECIAL ATTACKS

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
At the start of the game, you may choose up to 5 Unique Rogue Heroes you control and place a black Rogue Marker on each of their cards. After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Hero you control with your Rogue Marker on its card. While there is a revealed Order Marker on Blacksmith's card, any figure you control with a Rogue Marker on its card adds one die to any special attack on that card.

OPTION TWO: D20 BOOSTS

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
At the start of the game, you may choose up to 5 Unique Rogue Heroes you control and place a black Rogue Marker on each of their cards. After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Hero you control with your Rogue Marker on its card. While there is a revealed Order Marker on Blacksmith's card, when you roll the 20-sided die for any special power on an Army Card you control with a Rogue Marker on it, you may add one to the roll.

OPTION THREE: DEFENSIVE BOOST

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
At the start of the game, you may choose up to 5 Unique Rogue Heroes you control and place a black Rogue Marker on each of their cards. After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Hero you control with your Rogue Marker on its card. While there is a revealed Order Marker on Blacksmith's card, any figure you control with a Rogue Marker on its card adds one die to its defense.

OPTION FOUR: SPECIAL ATTACK MODIFICATION END AROUND A (ALA EVIL DEAD)

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
At the start of the game, you may choose up to 5 Unique Rogue Heroes you control and place a black Rogue Marker on each of their cards. After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Hero you control with your Rogue Marker on its card. While there is a revealed Order Marker on Blacksmith's card, when any figure you control with a Rogue Marker on its card attacks with a special attack, they may attack one additional time.

OPTION FIVE: SPECIAL ATTACK MODIFICATION END AROUND B

ROGUE ROSTER UPGRADES
At the start of the game, you may choose up to 5 Unique Rogue Heroes you control and place a black Rogue Marker on each of their cards. After revealing an Order Marker on this card and taking a turn with Blacksmith, you may take a turn with one other Hero you control with your Rogue Marker on its card. While there is a revealed Order Marker on Blacksmith's card, after any figure you control with a Rogue Marker on its card attacks with a special attack, if you rolled at least as many skulls as shields were rolled for the defending figure, roll one unblockable attack die against the defending figure.

OPTION SIX: SOMETHING ELSE (PLEASE SPECIFY)

[tcglkn]

Like Option 4 followed by Option 4 (Assume it should be 5)

[Karat]

Originally Posted by tcglkn

Like Option 4 followed by Option 4 (Assume it should be 5)

That's 4 B

[Karat]

Lots to digest. My choice is pending.

[MrNobody]

I like Option 4A under the condition that there are no Rogue SAs that get screwy when attacking multiple times. That's why we've generally avoided "attack again" as a boost in the past. Only thing I can immediately think of is Itching Powder Bomb...does the attack again override the once per game? I'd personally say no. But I think that's the kind of thing you can just FAQ.

If that gets ruled out, I like 4B, or some other similar effect. It seems like there's plenty of proof that SAs can be "buffed" without wading into the murky waters of modification.

Option 3 is the least exciting to me, just cause it feels like nothing new.

[johnny139]

As mentioned before, Option 1 is right out for me. Option 2 and Option 3 are both fine, but I suspect you wouldn't be happy with them, and frankly they're not super interesting.

Option 4 and Option 5 would both be an interesting angle on synergy, and I think they work well within the Rogues as a faction. Can't speak for theme, but I'd be happy with either. Preference for Option 4, which to be just seems flashier - it's more interesting if you get two shots from a cold gun or two throws of a boomerang, than just a single unblockable.