The Book of Jason Blood - Final Editing

[IAmBatman]

Definitely recommend running him with Occult Batman at some point as well.

[Shiftrex]

Totally > that is a bumping team. So happy to finally get Etrigan engaged in a meaningful way there.

I'm unsure if there is an easy way to incorporate that suggestion about getting them both chosen by stuff, I do see why it would be awesome to do. Curious to what the language looks like.

[Karat]

Probably something like:

ARISE THE DEMON ETRIGAN!
If you have a figure named Etrigan in your Army, it does not start the game on the battlefield. If Jason Blood would be chosen for a special power at the start of the game, Etrigan is also considered to be chosen or have any markers that are on Jason's card. After taking a turn with Jason, you may replace his figure with a figure named Etrigan in your Army. After placing Etrigan, you may make an immediate attack with him. If Etrigan is not engaged at the end of any round, replace his figure with Jason's.

[Yodaking]

Looked at Occult Batman and will for sure try that pairing out.

Trying to plan out some army ideas here and I had another thought. Was looking at Spell Options since he has MD, and it's unfortunate that he can't use the Hellfire Spell without risking damage (since he's a human instead of a demon). I might try it out anyone since I suppose I can risk the human side taking a W or two, before switching to the Demon and hopefully staying in that form till then end.

[Yodaking]

Originally Posted by Karat

Probably something like:

So is this something that would be acceptable here? Need to know before I complete the initial.

[Karat]

I have no issues with that approach.

[Shiftrex]

Would definitely be on board to support that approach if no one sees any issues with it!

[Yodaking]

Cool, I'll plan on testing it that way then. Looking like Wednesday right now.

[Ericth74]

Works for me

[Yodaking]

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = Jason Blood S = Human U = Unique Hero C = Investigator P = Conflicted
SIZE/HEIGHT = Medium 5 LIFE = 4 MOVE = 5 RANGE = 3 ATTACK = 3 DEFENSE = 3 POINTS = 120

ARISE THE DEMON ETRIGAN!
If you have a figure named Etrigan in your Army, it does not start the game on the battlefield. If Jason Blood would be chosen for a special power at the start of the game, Etrigan is also considered to be chosen or have any markers that are on Jason's card. After taking a turn with Jason, you may replace his figure with a figure named Etrigan in your Army. After placing Etrigan, you may make an immediate attack with him. If Etrigan is not engaged at the end of any round, replace his figure with Jason's.
EXORCISM WARDING
If an enemy figure begins their turn adjacent to Jason Blood, immediately roll 1 unblockable attack die against them. If a blank is rolled then you may remove an Order Marker from that figure's Army Card.

MAGICAL DEFENSE
When Jason is attacked by an opponent's figure that does not have the Magical Defense special power, the most wounds Jason can take for this attack is one.

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NAME OF THE TEST UNIT (Jason Blood)
Army Test 1
- Give a brief preview. Just wanted to try the Blood/Etrigan combo by itself to get a feel for what it can do first. I gave him one ally with their own issues in Gorilla-Man, then pitted them against a couple of solid 200 point heroes to see how it stacks up. Kraven picks Jason/Etrigan.
Map: Puddles in the Rain (custom map)
Units: Jason Blood @120, Etrigan, Gorilla-Man (600) vs. Kraven, Scorpion, Lizard (600)

Spoiler Alert!

Arise the Demon Etrigan! Usage: Kraven ended up picking both Jason & Etrigan as his Prey. Kraven then hit him with his Bolas, which I believe would then impact both Jason & Etrigan when they switch. Kraven dealt a W to Jason before that could come into play though, removing the Bolas marker from his card. R1T3, uses to transform into Etrigan and attacks, Etrigan deals 4W to Scorpion from HG.
Exorcism Warding Usage: Never used.
Magical Defense Usage: Limited damage to 1W.
Normal Damage Dealt: 0W in one attack on Scorpion from HG.
Damage Received: 1W from Kraven on LG at range while Bolas wrapped (3A vs. 2D).
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Full life Lizard won, Jason had just 1W on his card bu could not return into play.

Recap: Scorpion spinted in to try and tail whip Jason & Gorilla-Man from HG, which didn't deal any damage but did succeed in locking them down to let Kraven move up to HG on Jason/Etrigan. Scorpion went down, but his sacrifice ended up being worth it as Kraven on HG repeatedly Nerve Punched Etrigan, eventually getting him with the Bolas and taking him down.
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes, mechanics worked well. I liked how the it played with Kraven's Prey power & Bolas marker. It really made it feel like the two figures were the same person.
- What should be the unit's point value? Hard to say at the moment as once Etrigan goes down, Jason is also lost even though he still had 3 life to work with. With the same potentially happening in reverse with a multi-life Etrgan being lost when Jason gets taken out, fairly pricing him could be a bit tricky.
_____________________________________________________________
Army Test 2
- Give a brief preview. Blood/Etrigan should work well with Occult Batman since both forms can be activated by Batman's power. Needed another of each result (Skull/Shield) in the army though, so I added in Constantine & Abe Sapien. Abe uses the d20, so he should pair well with Constantine. Also with Constantine in play, spells would have two casters so I took some of those.
Map: Puddles in the Rain
Units: Jason Blood @120, Etrigan, Batman (Occult), Constantine, Abe Sapien, Spells: Final Ruin, Hypnotize, Hellfire: Ignition, Temporal Inversion (1000) vs. Nightwing, Raven, Changeling, Starfire, Wonder Girl, Aqualad, Lightening Bolt x2 (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

Arise the Demon Etrigan! Usage: R2T2, Batman can activate an Investigator and chooses Jason, who moves up and drops Aqualad in one attack, transforms into Etrigan, moves to HG and drops Wonder Girl in 1 attack (5 skulls on 8 dice vs. 0 shields on 4 dice).
Exorcism Warding Usage: Never Used.
Magical Defense Usage: Used to cast Temporal Inversion at the start of R2.
Normal Damage Dealt: 3W to Aqualad on Water in 1 attack (3 skulls vs. def whiff).
Damage Received: None.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Constantine w/2W's & Batman w/2W's won. Unused Spells: Hypnotize & Hellfire: Ignition vs. 2x Lightning Bolt. Jason Blood had no W's but was eliminated when Etrigan went down.

Recap: Occult Batman is a real good counter to Nightwing, with his many ways to hand out auto-wounds. In this game Batman rolled so many blanks early game and Nightwing went down without ever being directly attacked. Constantine & Batman together were a real problem for the Titans, as those two led the charge out and couldn't be targeted. Batman with his no clear sight rule kept the Titans from hitting him at range, then Constantine would con them out of attacking him. He also rolled quite a few 18+ to shut down turns completely. As for Jason Blood/Etrigan, Jason was able to mess with the Titans plans via a Temporal Inversion spell before they threw down some skulls and took out Aqualad & Wondergirl. Etrigan later beat the crap out of Changeling after he flew in and engaged Etrigan to keep the severly wounded Demon from switching back to Jason. Starfire went on a tear and took Etrigan & Abe Sapien. Raven when down to Batman and Constatine double teaming her, plus the Final Ruin spell. All in all a good showing for JLD.
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes, everything continues to check out.
- What should be the unit's point value? Continues to be difficult to judge with a full life Jason w/1 common spell lost when Etrigan went down. Beating this Titans team was pretty impressive, but I'd say more of that was due to Batman & Consantine. I was trying to save the Inferno Spell to use on Raven, so Jason just attacked normally here, but I could see having him cast a spell then turn into Etrigan being a solid one-two punch. Spells cost even more points though and risk being unused (Constantine can't cast common spells like the Hellfire spells, Fireball, & Lightening Bolt).
***Just realized that Etrigan should not have moved after Jason turned into him. My thinking it was a full turn instead of just an attack didn't impact the first game as Jason was engaged when he trasformed there, but it certainly impacted this game. Etrigan was able to move to HG and use his normal attack on Wondergirl. She most likely would not have been dropped in one attack like that if she faced the SA instead. In the end though, I think the Titans would have still lost as Nightwing going down to auto-wounds was the bigger blow to their chances.***


Army Test 3
- Give a brief preview. Going to try and use Storms' Blinding Rain power to get Etrigan unengaged at the end of each round. That way I can take more double turns with Blood/Etrigan while hopefully using Blood's life + MD to extend the pair's run. Hellboy lets me test out that pairing to see how it plays out, picks Mutate.
Map: Puddles in the Rain.
Units: Jason Blood @120, Etrigan, Hellboy II, Storm (1000) vs. Fan 4 (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

Arise the Demon Etrigan! Usage: Both Jason & Etrigan are chosen as Hellboy's partner. R1T3, trasforms into Etrigan and uses SA on Reed, blocked. Turned back into Jason at start of R2. R2T1, transforms into Etrigan, attack Thing from HG, blocked. Turned back into Jason at start of R3. R3T1, transforms into Etrigan, uses SA on space Sue occupies, also hits Human Torch, both from LG, negates Sue's shields via Hellboy's Allied vs. Evil power, rolled 3 skulls, 3W to Sue, 1W to Johnny. Turned back into Jason at the end of R3.
Exorcism Warding Usage: Never Used. I'm finding that as soon as Jason is engage, you want to switch to Etrigan and use his base attack of 7 (or the SA). Then he only trasforms back into Jason when he's not engaged. So it's pretty rare for a unit to be engaged to Jason when their turn starts, as such this power just doesn't get used. I did consider staying with Jason once Etrigan had 6W's on his card, and seeing if I could get some auto-wounds in, but ended up trying to use Etrigan's SA to take out Sue (since I could negate her shields via Hellboy's power). So it could come into play, just not very often.
Magical Defense Usage: Limited W to 1.
Normal Damage Dealt: 0W to Reed at range. 0W to Sue from LG.
Damage Received: 1W from Thing on LG. 1W from Human Torch on HG.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Hellboy w/1W, Etrigan w/6W's, & Jason Blood w/2W's won.

Recap: Early game Hellboy has a decision to make, go after Sue but not reach her right away, or take HG on Reed and see how his & Etrigan's big attacks of 7 fairs vs. the high defense of the Fan4. I decided to test the dice and it didn't look like it would work out at first. Reed kept blocking everything I was throwing at him, and since he had Storm locked down I couldn't use her SA to try and hit Sue. Thing came up and Etrigan ended up putting him down & Storm was dropped without ever doing anything. Hellboy finally started chipping away at Reed, while Jason/Etrigan went after Sue. Etrigan had 6W already, so Johnny thought he could help Sue out by finishing him off, but his defense held. Then Johnny took 4Ws and couldn't risk the LEA to use Flame On and finish him. Reed does down, then Johnny, and then Sue.
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes, looking good here.
- What should be the unit's point value? This game was pretty close, with Etrigan holding on with 6W's for quite a while. Had he fallen, I'm certain Reed/Johnny/Sue would have taken out Hellboy. I got in 3 switches back to Jason here, and Jason took a couple of W's, so I'd say this is a good representation of what the combo can do. As such 120 seems fair. Although I could also see him coming in lower just because it is pretty easy to lose one of the two cards with multiple life still in play.

[IAmBatman]

Looking good!

[Lord Pyre]

Looks pretty fun.