The Book of John Constantine

[MrNobody]

For what it's worth, I think R1 is a good fit for Vertigo John. Sorry, forgot to comment on that.

[japes]

After taking several photos I realized his right hand was broken. I fixed it and tried again.

[Yodaking]

Thanks! I linked the pic, now I need to figure out what his background should be. Maybe some kind of satanic church or voodoo ceremony or something like that?

[MrNobody]

Okay this guy needs Range 4.

[japes]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

Thanks! I linked the pic, now I need to figure out what his background should be. Maybe some kind of satanic church or voodoo ceremony or something like that?

Thank Karat as well. He sent me the figure so I could take the photos.

[Yodaking]

Alright, finally started the testing here with 1 game done this afternoon. Not sure when I'll be able to get to the other 2 games but I wanted to post up the first results for an early review. His powers were firing a lot in this one.

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (John Constantine)
Army Test 1
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes, although I’m thinking about adding in a range limitation on the Con-Man power as thematically I’m not sure how far away he can be from someone and still con them into not attacking.
- What should be the unit's point value? All his powers saw use in this one and were impactful so I’m thinking he could come up some in points even after a loss, the loss had more to do with having a 7 life X healer as the final unit for the mutants and Doom’s 6 attack dice failing him at the end.
- Give a brief preview. Instead of trying to have Constantine support a bunch of different figures, in this game he is going to be focused in on just making one figure really excel and that figure would be Doctor Doom. N’astirh turns John in to a demon so he can help Doom out with his own demons. Doom with be the primary weapon on offense and try to bond with N’astirh if he can. N’astirh gets one Hellfire Spell to throw, the 3 unique spells can be used by all 3 of them. Guessing the Crimson Bands will end up being used on Archangel to try and keep him from flying around for a round. For the other team, I wanted to have some figures who used the d20 on offense so John could try to thwart them, Magneto turns Archangel into an Outcast here. With Magneto throwing people around it seems unlikely that I’ll be able to keep John in range of both Doom and the Doombot at the same time, so I’ll make sticking close to Doom the primary goal.
Map: Sherwood Forrest
Units: Constantine@140, N’astirh, Doctor Doom (Sorcerer), Doombot, Condemn Spell, Final Ruin Spell, Crimson Bands Spell, Hellfire: Ignition Spell (980) vs. Magneto II, Archangel, Sabretooth, Destiny, (980)

Spoiler Alert!

Con Artist 14 Usage: R2T2, after Constantine att. Archangel, Archangel uses Avenging Angel power to target Constantine, a 20 is rolled on the first die and the attack is avoided. R3T3, Magneto finds himself engaged with Constantine and decides to try and toss him aside rather than take the LEA, bad idea as Constantine rolls a 16 on his 2nd die to shut that down. With no one else in range to toss this effectively shuts Magneto down for a turn. R4T1, Archangel flies over Constantine and Constantine fails to prevent being targeted. R4T3, Sabretooth moves up and pounces on Constantine, Constantine can’t talk him out of doing it. R5T1, Archangel flies over Constantine and att. him under protest from Constantine. R5T1, Sabretooth is thinking about finishing Constantine off, but he talks him out of it and Sabretooth att. Doom instead. R5T2, talks Archangel out of targeting him with Avenging Angel. R5T3, Archangel won’t be fooled again, targeting Constantine with Avenging Angel. R6T1, prevents Sabretooth from attacking him, then fails to prevent Archangel from targeting him. R6T2, fails to prevent Sabretooth from attacking him.
Riding the Synchronicity Highway Usage:
Self: R4T1, tried to prevent Archangel from targeting him but failed. R4T3, tried to prevent Sabretooth from pouncing on him but failed. R5T1, tried to prevent Archangel from targeting him with Avenging Angel but failed. R5T3, tried to prevent Archangel from targeting him with Avenging Angel but failed, changed the results of that d20 attack though to prevent a W from being inflicted. R6T1, tried to prevent Archangel from targeting him with AA, but failed. R6T2, tried to stop Sabretooth from attacking him but failed.
Allies: R1T3, used on Doom’s Mystic Domination after an 8 was rolled, rolled a 16 to bond with N’Astirh, who cast the Hellfire Spell on Archangel for 2W (then Archangel rolled a 2 for his Avenging Angel power but a 2nd spell couldn’t be cast.). R4T3, used on Doom’s Mystic Domination after an 11 was rolled, rolled a 9 so no help. R5T1, used on Doom’s Mystic Domination after Doom rolls a 2, a 6 is then rolled to avoid disaster.
Laughing Magician Usage: R4T2, used to cast Crimson Bands on Archangel.
Normal Damage Dealt: 0W to Archangel in 1 att., 2W to Magneto in 1 att. (4 skull roll!), 2W to Sabretooth in 1 att.
Damage Taken: Sabretooth pounces on him for 4W (whiff on def.), Sabretooth attacks him for 1W, dead.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Archangel w/5W and Sabretooth @full life (healing factor) won.

Recap: Magneto is hitting his d20 rolls early and often with his first 6 rolls being a 9 or 10 and taking out N’Astirh. N’Astirh did fire off his Hellfire spell though and used Magnetos throws against him by going after Destiny in her SZ (4W inflicted, and healing himself in the process), which forced Magneto to retreat and deal with the situation. Doom took control of Magneto and had him finish Destiny off with a normal attack. Magneto misses one throw after that (rolled a 7), but hits 3 of his next 4 to deal a quick 3W to Doom while moving him out of range of Constantine, Archangel then puts another W on Doom, then Doom takes control of Magneto again and has him engage with Constantine while tossing Archangel far away for 2W to him. Magneto doesn’t want to take a LEA so he targets Constantine instead and gets conned out of doing so. Constantine then stabs Magneto in the gut. Magneto opts for the LEA this time (1W!) and finishes off Doom, but it was just a Doombot! Doom then hits Magneto hard, but a stellar def. roll saves him, Doom then takes control of Magneto for a 3rd time and has him go after Archangel (he misses both times with a 2 & 5 roll, but I can’t hit him with the Condemn spell since he’s my guy at the time). Doom wins initiative and hits Magneto for 1W, then cast Final ruin and takes him out with OM2 on his card, again Archangel rolls low for his Avenging Angel power but I can’t cast a 2nd spell this turn. The d20 has turned against the mutants as Archangel rolled low again and this time Condemn hits him for a W (could have been Doom or Constantine casting the spell as both were in range). Constantine ties Archangel up in red ribbons, preventing him from flying around for the rest of the round, the auto shield saves him from Doom’s attack though so I guess it backfired on me here. The d20 has likewise abandoned Team Magic as Doom succumbs to his demons and loses all his powers, this after Constantine already bailed him out earlier in the round. Doom & Constantine try to keep fighting the good fight, but it’s hopeless now with Sabretooth healing too quickly for them to have any chance of winning. Sabretooth eventually takes down Constantine and Archangel finishes off Doom.


_____________________________________________________________
Army Test 2
- Does it pass, Yes or No? yes
- What should be the unit's point value? Not a lot went Constantine’s way in this one, still he contributed to 3W on Conan either directly or indirectly and his use of the Vapors spell saved the team from some arrow attacks. Had the d20 been a little kinder to Constantine in this one it could have ended up a pretty close match so 150 doesn’t seem too far off after another loss. That Team Arrow is pretty deadly with a ton of synergy though so his hodge-podge of non-synergy allies didn’t really do too bad considering the poor d20 results they had.
- Give a brief preview. For this game I just wanted to give Constantine lots of d20 using allies to boost while also making use of his other two powers. Weather Wizard & the Vapors Spell should force the opponent’s army to engage, where they encounter the Giant Swap or Engagement Strike d20 roll. Typhoid Mary has two different d20 rolls on offense Constantine might opt to influence if not used on defensive powers, so she’ll get OM3 a few times. As for the opponents, they are a crew that might find the Fog/Vapor somewhat troubling, and Green Arrow’s might avoid targeting Constantine if he can, but Conan will be just fine going toe to toe and Red Arrow is pretty good mixing it up in melee too.
Map: Sherwood Forrest
Units: Constantine @150, Giant-Man, Mystique I, Typhoid Mary, Weather Wizard, Wasp I, Vapors Spell (800) vs. Hawkeye II, Hawkeye (Kate), Green Arrow (Ollie), Red Arrow, Conan (800)

Spoiler Alert!

Con Artist 14 Usage: R3T2, Conan opts to use his SA this time and targets an adj. Constantine first, Constantine fails to convince him to not attack him with a 3, then a 5 roll. R3T3, Conan again targets Constantine and Constantine is unable to charm the Barbarian, rolling a 3 again, then a 13.
Riding the Synchronicity Highway Usage:
Self: R3T2, fails to protect himself from Conan (see above and below). R3T3, again fails to protect himself from Conan.
Allies: R2T2, Giant-Man tried to swat away Conan but failed, rolled a second time and still failed. R3T2, Typhoid Mary had rolled an 18 on her own for a +2 boost to her Pyro power this round, then rolled a 4 so Constantine had her roll another die for an 18, she then rolled another 4 for 1W total to Conan where 2W would have KOed him.
Laughing Magician Usage: Used to cast Vapors at the start of R2.
Normal Damage Dealt: Dealt the first 2W to Conan (def. whiff).
Damage Taken: Conan uses his SA on Constantine, block, 3W, 1W. Conan uses his SA again on Constantine, 2W – KO (only 1 life left).
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Red Arrow w/1W & Hawkeye W/2W won.

Recap: Opening round was good to the archers and their very long range, inflicting 5W total split between Mystique and Weather Wizard while the other team just moved up and didn’t attack anyone. Constantine cast Vapors right away at the start of the second round as the rest of his team moved up. That saved them from some arrows but Conan was launched at them as well so Giant-Man took a W but it cost Conan 2W. It was all Conan in R3 while the archers watched him work. Weather Wizard hit him with 2 Lightning Bolts, and Typhoid Mary set him on fire, but Mystique couldn’t finish him off with a bullet. In the end Conan took out Constantine and gave Giant-Man another W. Mystique finishes off Conan while engaged with Red Arrow, freeing up Giant-Man to rush the other archers and slap Hawkeye II around a bit before Green Arrow and Hawkeye take him down before he can use OM3. WW finally provides some Fog cover, but that doesn’t stop Red Arrow from punching out Mystique before she can reveal OM1. Things finally start to go WW way when he moves up and drops a couple of Lightning Bolts on Hawkeye II to take him out before he can reveal OM3. Typhoid Mary burns Red Arrow. Red Arrow drops both WW & Typhoid Mary in the next round, but Mary did manage to stab Oliver. Now it’s just Wasp left to try and pull out a victory, luckily they can’t shoot their arrows at her (as long as she avoids the many trees or Oliver will shoot an Exploding Arrow at the tree) so she has a small chance. Green Arrow rushes Janet but can’t hit her, Janet then finishes off Oliver and stings Kate as well. Wasp uses hit and run tactics to stay sting Kate again while forcing Kate to engage her on LG, Kate steps up to the challenge and rolls 3 skulls on 3 die though to put Janet down.

Army Test 3
- Does it pass, Yes or No? yes
- What should be the unit's point value? Another loss in the books here and even though Batman almost pulled out a win, things didn’t really go all that well with the d20 rolling team and Batman still had an unused JL marker on his card when he fell. I’m starting to be convinced that the 2nd d20 roll for an ally once per round just isn’t as powerful as we feared it might be and thinking the 140 game was his best chance at a win so that is where we should send him out for public testing at.
- Give a brief preview. Thor joins a little JL team in this one so I can double down on the d20 manipulation on offense with Thor & Green Arrow. They face the high defense Fan4 to see if John & Bruce can help Green Arrow reduce that defense to 0 a few times before he goes down, while Thor’s lightning can also bypass that high defense for a quick couple of wounds. John brings the Condemn spell along with him in case Reed botches a roll or Johnny tries to Flame him.
Map: Sherwood Forrest
Units: Constantine @160, Batman III, Green Arrow (Ollie), Thor, Condemn Spell (1000) vs. Fan4 (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

Con Artist 14 Usage: R4T3, Sue & Reed both target John but he fails to prevent either one from attacking him (see below). Reed att. John again after John fails to convince him not too. Finally John convinces Reed that attacking him is a bad idea, so Reed att. Batman instead. Sue tries to att. John again, but John convinces her not too, Batman is behind a tree and she can’t see him to attack him instead. Reed isn’t fooled though and att. John. Reed targets John again and att. Sue targets John and att.
Riding the Synchronicity Highway Usage:
Self: Rolled a 6, then a 9 while trying to convince Sue not to attack him, then rolled a 5 & a 6 when Reed attacked. Reed att. John again after John rolled a 7 twice. Rolled a 5, then a 17 to prevent Reed from attacking him. Sue tries to attack John and he rolls a 3, then a 13, which Batman boosted up for him to a 15. Reed then targets John and he rolls a 6 & 7. Reed targets John again and he rolls a 10 & 2. Sue targets John and he rolls a 2 & 3.
Allies: R1T3, Oliver moves up and targets Reed, he rolls a 15 on his own but since it’s the last OM reveal for his team anyway he tries to get that 18+ he’s looking for and rolls a 2nd die, 11 is rolled so the 15 is used. R2T1, Oliver takes another shot at Reed, rolling a 10, looking for an early score a 2nd die is rolled and a 17 is the result. Not close enough for Batman to boost but still good for -2 def., Reed blocks the attack though. R3T3, Thor unleashes his Lightning Storm, rolls for the Thing first and really wants to finish him off but rolls a 10, so he rolls a 2nd die for the Thing and rolls a 13, which is still too far away from 16 to have Batman boost it into a hit.
Laughing Magician Usage: R5T1, Reed rolls a 2 for his leadership roll while engaged with John, so John casts the Condemn spell for 1W.
Normal Damage Dealt: 0W to Reed in 1 attack.
Damage Taken: Sue hits him for 2W, he blocked Reed’s att. though. Blocked another Reed att. Reed scored 1W. Blocks a 3rd Reed att. Sue hits him for 2W again and finishes him off.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Reed w/4W & Sue@full health win.

Recap: Oliver’s first two attack rolls of the game are both 4 skull on 4 dice rolls vs. -2 def., and Reed blocked them both (with help from Sue). Oliver rolls a natural 18 for his 3rd shot though, which Batman boosts into a 20, and he rolls 4 skulls on 4 dice for a 3rd time in a row!!! The target was Ben though this time as to avoid the Rock Wall defense and not trigger Clobberin’ Time with a no def. attack. Reed is reeling as his best friend screams out in agony and can’t get his leadership rolls on track. Reed comes out of it at the start of R3 though and rolls a 20 on leadership, Ben jumps into action and goes after Thor while Johnny engages Thor & Oliver. Thor fails to smash Johnny and he flies off burning both Thor and Oliver for 2W each, he took 2W for the 2 LEA to do so though, then Johnny finishes Oliver off and Batman takes the lost OM2 and places it on Thor’s card. Thor uses that OM2 to take a big gamble on the d20, moving down to LG to unleash a lighting storm on the whole F4 crew. Batman burns a JL marker to help him hit Johnny for 3W and put him down but that is it. Reed traps Thor on LG now but Thor’s and Thor starts taking more W’s. Thor is getting desperate so he tries to hammer the rock pile even though that means facing down an 11 def. Rock Wall, luck finally shines on him and he scores avoids the Rock Wall def. while crushing stone with his hammer, Ben falls! Thor drops right after that and his OM’s are moved to Constantine & Batman, 1 each. Constantine engages with Reed. Reed moves to be engaged with both John & Batman, John eventually convinces Reed to att. Batman instead of him and Reed takes a W from counterstrike. John eventually goes down and Reed keeps using Stretch Walk to disengage and att. Batman from range 2 while Batman keeps engaging and attacking Reed since he can’t past Reed to reach Sue. It’s starting to look like Batman might pull this off but then Reed suddenly hits Batman for 3W in one attack to end things before he could.

[MrNobody]

I’m personally against a range limit on Con-Man, just seems like an unneeded complication and thematically I feel like you could justify it.

[Yodaking]

Yeah, I kind of just threw that out there because I was hoping someone could give me a theme justification for it. I'm assuming that it's more than just a straight fast talking, silver tongued charmer effect and some magical influence can be incorporated into how it works. Struck me as a bit off that he could talk Sabretooth out of pouncing on him from 4 spaces away, but then even if I added in a range limit it would be at least 4 spaces so I was going to just forget about it until I considered I had Green Arrow coming up next as an opponent. Talking him out of getting an arrow fired his way from 8-9 spaces away seemed like a stretch too far if no magical effect was taking place and it's just the gift of gab.

[MrNobody]

For Sabretooth, the guy can outplay the Devil himself so I don’t see Sabretooth being a problem. He’s also a big man with a plan. I can imagine him blackmailing an angel or demon beforehand to screw up GA’s shots. I think thematically it could be justified either way, honestly.

[Yodaking]

With the new year upon us my Holiday vacation from testing is over, initial test has been updated above. 0-3 in his games but he was an active participant in each game so I'd say he was fun to play, just a low point kind of guy.

[Yodaking]

Some background ideas for the mini pic.

[Yodaking]

Bio - John Constantine is an occult detective and professional sorcerer from Liverpool, England. His gritty and brutal attitude makes him recognizable as a cynical, foul-mouthed, chain-smoking anti-hero. He has been a member of Justice League Dark, the Newcastle Crew and the Trenchcoat Brigade. In addition, he has also acted as a supernatural adviser and ally to the Swamp Thing. (DC Database)

I've pulled a bio write up from the DC Database (ie. DC wiki) since we earlier saw the wiki article was filled with some inaccuracies. It's pretty basic but it works for me, so unless someone else wants to put one together I'll update the FP with this.