Updated 2017-09-04: Wriggz's Thematic Classic Redesigns

[wriggz]

Hello all.

For a while I have lamented that some of my collection just isn't that fun to play. Maybe they are too specialized, fall to easy in battle or simple do not play in a way that I find fun. In the spirit of the CUC, Competitive Unit Alters , and Official Units Revisited I am adding my own collection of redesigns. These are not meant to be specifically competitive, but more thematic.

Tul-Bak-Ra
Added Healing factor and made summoning on turn possible.


Wo-Ga-Sa
Added a defensive ability similar to the Nikita's


Sujoah
Added Insect supremacy (to go with my customs), increased life by 1 and gave stealth flying.


Acolarh
Increased movement aura by 1 space, increased odds of Leaf of home tree, increased life by 1.


Armoc Vipers
Added ability to switch one attack for 4 range.


Shades of Bleakwoode
Added scurry like ability.


Khosumet

Spoiler Alert!

Simply added one shield defense, still not very powerful but better than before.

Taelord

Spoiler Alert!

This is similar to Truth’s custom Taelord. Smaller aura, but with Deadly strike make him much more playable with minions.

Morsbane

Spoiler Alert!

Not a huge change, but added a wound on successful Negation and allowed it in addition to his normal attack.

Gurei-Oni

Spoiler Alert!

Added the ablity to potentially throw a spear from the pack on his back. Gives Evil eye a bit more use.

Sir Denrick

Spoiler Alert!

Gave him a slight edge against large figures too.

Agent Carr

Spoiler Alert!

Added moving target so that Carr can get more into position to use his sword.

Deathwalker 7000

Spoiler Alert!

Now DW7000 explodes when destroyed!

Deathstalkers

Spoiler Alert!

I think they are one of the few squads deserving of a special attack.

Valgaurd

Spoiler Alert!

2 attack on Valgaurd never seemed right to me, so I upped his standard attack and lowered first assault.

Retiarius

Spoiler Alert!

The small addition of letting Retiarius get lost among the squad of gladiators and improve his survivalblity.

Saylind

Spoiler Alert!

It is only a slight modification, but now Saylind is even more useful in the endgame and can be a real game changer in the early game. I like the 10% summon an opponent figure option.

Johnny Shotgun Sullivan

Spoiler Alert!

Another Slight modification. It always bugged me that 2 of the cowboys were so similar. This makes James a great counter draft to medium range, without really boosting his power. A fun thematic addition.

Erevan:

Spoiler Alert!

I was writing a USR on Erevan and two things struck me. One he is really not very fun to play, and two someone said he should be a controller. Thus, I added a Slime power! I also allowed Fey Step to be used once a round rather than once a game. Now he is super fun to play and really adds lots of options.

MacDirks

Spoiler Alert!

I have always HATED how Alastair runs away when he is about to die when you are using him with MacDirks. Nope it simply would not do to have him hide behind a tree when he is too wounded. Thus MacDirk Inspiration! Now you can keep running him at your enemy like a good Scotsman until he falls. Sure you loose a few attack dice but the MacDirks are still plenty dangerous with 5 attack.

I figured while I was at it may as well give my favorite squad a leg up. They are still made of paper and need some wounds on their champion before they can do much damage, but now they move a tad faster. Because Traverse only ignores two levels of elevation they won't get any closer to the enemy on flat ground, but can get up on height much easier. Gilbert still makes them fairly fast, but I don't think it is enough to be broken.

[Crixus33]

Originally Posted by wriggz

Hello all.

For a while I have lamented that some of my collection just isn't that fun to play. Maybe they are too specialized, fall to easy in battle or simple do not play in a way that I find fun. In the spirit of the CUC, Competitive Unit Alters , and Official Units Revisited I am adding my own collection of redesigns. These are not meant to be specifically competitive, but more thematic.

First up Erevan and the MacDirks:



I was writing a USR on Erevan and two things struck me. One he is really not very fun to play, and two someone said he should be a controller. Thus, I added a Slime power! I also allowed Fey Step to be used once a round rather than once a game. Now he is super fun to play and really adds lots of options.



I have always HATED how Alastair runs away when he is about to die when you are using him with MacDirks. Nope it simply would not do to have him hide behind a tree when he is too wounded. Thus MacDirk Inspiration! Now you can keep running him at your enemy like a good Scotsman until he falls. Sure you loose a few attack dice but the MacDirks are still plenty dangerous with 5 attack.



I figured while I was at it may as well give my favorite squad a leg up. They are still made of paper and need some wounds on their champion before they can do much damage, but now they move a tad faster. Because Traverse only ignores two levels of elevation they won't get any closer to the enemy on flat ground, but can get up on height much easier. Gilbert still makes them fairly fast, but I don't think it is enough to be broken.

Cool redesings (too bad I have 0 of those figures), just wanted to point out on Erevan's card it says he may use Fey step once per turn but below the card in your explanation you say it was supposed to be used once per round.

Anyway cool redesigns.

[wriggz]

Thanks for the correction. Once per turn would be quite broken. I'll have to fix that.

[orgsbane]

I really like the new Everan. He was definitely underpowered!Awesome job!

[obfuscatedhippo]

Wow, I really like the new "Shotgun" Sullivan! Quick-Draw is fantastic and makes me want to dust-off the Cowboys.

[lefton4ya]

Not sure why I never commented here, plus I noted you have made some updates, so I will through it my . Obviously, overlaps slightly with my Competitive Unit Alters so I think we agree for the most part on what units need helping, but I see where I and the CUC went for more subtle changes and very rarely added or significantly changed a power, you sometimes decided to make more noticeable ones but ones you thought appropriate "thematically". Disregarding all playability comments on the changes, I thing you did a great job on thematically adding powers, and my biggest gripe with your "Redesigns" is just a matter of personal opinion in that I would rather have less noticeable changes, but I could see getting past that and maybe others would not find it such a big issue and some of your changes are less dramatic than mine anyway, while many people could not accept any change so they wouldn't care about yours, mine, the CUC, or any other changes besides official errata. Anyway, on to individual playability comments:

Deathwalker 7000: Love the Auto-Destruct addition, but I still think he sucks even with that additional power, as range squads can destroy him and will not get destructed. But I would add that change to my mod of reducing cost by 20 points and making a common hero, and honestly even that would probably not be that great of a unit even if played with Zettian Infantry.
Deathstalkers: You also decided to make Maul a special attack, and the stacking is nice, but kinda nerfs the original skull on every dice part, but I still like it.
Valgaurd: Great change - totally something I would do and surprised I didn't make that change myself - slight change to card that thematically fits and bumps up to playable but not overpowered.
Retiarius: - I actually laughed out loud at this change as the "Amongst the mob" power is the most thematic change on a meta (in game) sense if not by character, as what player has not asked "which one is Retiarius again?" in a game. One of the few times I might go with your card rather than my card if only to make me and others laugh when playing.
Saylind: People have asked for years why can't he summon opponents, and yours is a simple change to accommodate that, and he could definitely change the course of a game by one time moving Raelin or someone out of the way. Also noted you also changed his life from 4 to 5 like my CUA card. I still wish he had disengage/stealth flight, but your resign is a great card too.
Johnny Shotgun Sullivan: This does make him have kind of a "If I'm going down, I'm taking you with me" kinda feel, but the 15 or higher does not make it that often - kinda like engagement strike. He didn't need that much help, so I think this would bump him up to playable.
Erevan Sunshadow: This is probably my least favorite of your changes. The "Conjure Slime" does not fit thematically to me with a High Elf Wizard - maybe just change the name to something more highbrow such as "Summon Winds of Change" or something. Also, it is way too powerful. You could remove all 3 order markers in one turn. If it was just the order marker of the one target it would still be a really powerful change that I am not sure I would want. Changing the Fey Step to once a round is a nice change, but you still need to correct it on the card from once a turn.
Alastair MacDirk: MacDirk Attack Inspiration is nice, but I have a couple of suggestions: Make it 1 or at most 2 extra attack, 3 is much too much as I would just suicide him near the start of the game. I know you don't want him to run away, but you don't want him to do a "Leeroy Jenkins" either, so 1 or at most 2 attack spirit is fine. Secondly, if you had it as a 1 attack spirit, why even tie it to the MacDirks? Just make like any spirit that you could put on a common squad with a range of 1. You don't have to take my advice, as its just me jealous of you coming up with him having a spirit and me just co-opting it into how I would do it.
MacDirk Warriors: I like the Highland Traverse as guys in kilts can outrun anyone I would also still do my addition of increasing defense to 3, as I think the Knights and Heavy Orcs are just so much better that I never would consider MacDircks unless they were buffed a bunch, and the extra move by itself is not enough to be worth it to me.

Anyway, again great changes overall: some I would do outright, some I would combine with some of my CUA changes, and others I would play with slight revisions. Keep them coming! Also, do you mind if I "steal" some of your changes and use them to revise my CUA? I might just copy Valgaurd & Johnny Shotgun Sullivan into my thread and give you full credit, but others I might combine with mine and give you partial credit. We could even combine forces and collaborate, but again I feel bad for the Competitive Unit Congress as it was such a great project that just lost steam, and I feel I could have helped it, but now I along with most of their members barely play anyway outside of tournaments where we can actually playtest against real people.

[wriggz]

Added 6 more cards.

[Pumpkin_King]

Wow! I showed a lot of these to my brother and we really, really like them. We're going to print some out and play some games with them, hopefully sometime soon, if that's okay!

[wriggz]

Originally Posted by Pumpkin_King

Wow! I showed a lot of these to my brother and we really, really like them. We're going to print some out and play some games with them, hopefully sometime soon, if that's okay!

More power to you. You'll notice I didn't just want to make the units more competitive, but more interesting.

While a lot of cards can benefit form more Defense dice, adding a unique flavorful and fun power is much more exciting to me.

[Pumpkin_King]

Yeah, I completely agree. Much better than just adjusting prices.