The Book of Rip Cord

[Yodaking]

Here's the full initial PT report. I'll update the SP with what I'm proposing we continue testing at.

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = RIP CORD
SECRET IDENTITY = WALLACE A. WEEMS

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = COMMANDO
PERSONALITY = DARING

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 7
ATTACK = 3
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 120-140?

HALO JUMPER
Rip Cord does not start the game on the battlefield. Once per game, after revealing an Order Marker on a card you control, you may place Rip Cord on any empty space on the battlefield. You cannot place him adjacent to opponents' figures and you may not take a turn with Rip Cord during the same player turn that he is placed on the board.

DEMOLITIONS MISSION
Start the game with two Glyphs of Remotely-Detonated Bomb on this card. After moving Rip Cord, you may place one Glyph of Remotely-Detonated Bomb from this card power-side up on an unoccupied space within one space of the space Rip Cord occupied before being moved. At the end of the round, you may destroy any number of Glyphs of Remotely-Detonated Bomb on the battlefield placed by this special power. When a Glyph of Remotely-Detonated Bomb is destroyed this way, if it inflicts any wounds to a destructible object, that object receives one additional wound.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NAME OF THE TEST UNIT ( Rip Cord )
Army Test 1
Set the Stage: The Decipticons have learned about a toxic waste dump site and are interested to see if they can turn it into poisoned Energon cubes they could trick the Autobots into taking. Megtron and Soundwave go to the site, while the Seekers patrol above. The Autobots learned about the plan and have responded to try and stop them, while informing the GI Joe team of what's going down. The situation is developing fast, so the Joes send whatever help they can. Rip Cord is the one guy who could drop in from an airplane too high up and too fast for the Seekers to not just shoot out of the sky. Will he make the difference?
Give a brief preview. I wanted to see how he played in a Transfromers team up and he'd make a solid 1000 point team at 120 so that's where the testing will start out. Using Prowl as if he's been updated with Commando's in Military Planner. Basic idea here is that Bumbleebee can pick up Rip Cord after he drops and drive him around planting bombs and/or Prowl can use the forward positioned Rip Cord for his Guided Missiles. Prime will charge forward and try to engage early so that Rip can get boosted up if he takes any turns. Thinking I'll drop Rip at the start of R2, once Prime and Bee have already moved up into position some. The initiative bonus from Prowl should help. Throwing them up against the Decipticons to see how it all shakes out. The map is has some toxic waste barrels located on it to give Rip Cord some DO's to target with his bombs, which could extend their threat range or result in multiple wounds. The double based Decipticons will find it hard to avoid being next to all the DO's I've put down on this map.
Map: Roxxon Corp. Illegal Toxic Waste Dump Site (2 grassy hills covered in tree DO's on either side of the map, 3 hex truck DO (parked car) in middle, 2 Toxic Waste barrel DO's at the rear, in front of truck 2 Porta Potty DO's, and site is surrounded by 4 pre-fad temp (sm. & lag. ruin DO) walls to prevent pics being taken)
[spoiler]NAME = Portable Toilet
DESIGNATION = DESTRUCTIBLE OBJECT

COVER = FULL
UNIQUENESS = UNCOMMON
OCCUPANCY = 1
SIZE/HEIGHT = LARGE 6

LIFE = 2

MOVE = 0
DEFENSE = 3

OCCUPIED!
While this Portable Toilet is occupied when rolling defense dice against a normal attack, add 1 automatic shield to whatever is rolled.

FOUL STENCH
If this Portable Toilet has been occupied this game, figures cannot use any special power to pass over this space or any space within 1 space of this Portable Toilet. Androids and Constructs are not affected by this special power. [/spoiler]
Units: Rip Cord @120, Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Prowl (w/Commando update) (1000) vs. Megatron, Soundwave, Laserbeak, Ravage (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

HALO Jumper Usage: At the start of R2, I placed OM3 on Rip Cord and committed to dropping him no matter the initiative outcome, won initiative, and placed him next to the two Chemical Waste Barrels. Found out that I couldn't place him next to Bumblebee though, which made things a little more difficult of a pairing as I had to waste one turn driving next to Rip before I could pick him up.
Demolitions Mission Usage: Placed one bomb next to the two Chemical Waste Barrels after Bee picked him up and gave him a ride over next to Soundwave (R2T2). Took a LEA (1W) to move away from Soundwave and place a bomb next to him and a Portapotty (R2T3). Bomb next to Soundwave was detonated, dealing 1W to him (end of R2).
Normal Damage Dealt: 0W in 1 att on Soundwave from HG, 0W in 1 att on Ravage,
Damage Received: 0W in 1 att from Laserbeak on HG, 1W from a LEA, 1W in 1 att from Soundwave on LG, 1W from having Ravage Pounce on him, 1W from Laserbeaks' Observe and Report unblockables.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? Soundwave w/4W, Ravage w/2W, & Laserbeak w/2W won.

Recap: Optimus Prime fell at the start of R2 and that hurt the Autobots chances for sure. Beyond that, I found the limitations on Rip Cords' powers to be a pretty big hindrance. Not being able to drop in already next to someone like Bee who wants to give him a ride somewhere made this combo less efficient. Then having to take a LEA (and receiving a W) to plant a bomb next to Soundwave proved less than ideal. R2, an initiative tie was turned into a +3 win thanks to Prowl, while OM3 was on Rip's card. Could have just as easily had the X on Bee or Primes card and received the same +3 bonus. Bee is the next to fall. Rip runs for the hills, while Prowl moved over by the Chemical Waste Barrels in an attempt to draw the Con's that way before Rip got killed and could no longer detonate the bomb. R4, +2 was added to initiative with 2OMs on Rip's card, it wasn't enough and initiative was lost. Laserbeak was ordered to Observe and Report on what the human was up to, which resulted in Rip's death. OM1 is lost. Prowl finishes off Megatron at the end of R4. Prowl whiffs to end the game, taking 3W from Soundwave at the start of R5.
Does it pass, Yes or No? No, I think a few small tweaks are needed to make him more useful. He doesn't have the luxury of a lot of time to set up and do his thing at just 4 def & life.
What should be the unit's point value? Using the direct comparison to Laserbeak here at 140 points and Laserbeak out shined him by a wide margin in this one. Laserbeak has a similar skill set in that he can pop onto the board unexpectedly via Eject and also deliver unblockable wounds to hard targets via O&R. The first one requires a points investment in Soundwave, but is all around better as he gets to take a turn right away and can pop out mid turn instead only at the beginning of a turn (maybe that's something to look at, could Rip drop in before any OM reveal?). Then the second part are 50/50 odds for unblockables vs. Rip's bombs being 100%, but are much easier to set up with the bombs only able to detonate at the end of a round.
*****update to card made*****

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = RIP CORD
SECRET IDENTITY = WALLACE A. WEEMS

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = COMMANDO
PERSONALITY = DARING

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

MOVE = 5
RANGE = 7
ATTACK = 3...4
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 130-140?

HALO JUMP EXPERT
Rip Cord does not start the game on the battlefield. Once per game, after revealing an Order Marker on a card you control, you may place Rip Cord on any empty space on the battlefield. You cannot place him adjacent to opponents' figures and you may not take a turn with Rip Cord during the same player turn that he is placed on the board.

DEMOLITIONS MISSION
Start the game with two Glyphs of Remotely-Detonated Bomb on this card. After moving Rip Cord, you may place one Glyph of Remotely-Detonated Bomb from this card power-side up on any empty space Rip Cord occupied before or during the move.

DEMOLITIONS COMMANDO
For the rest of the game, instead of attacking with a Commando you control, you may destroy any number of Glyphs of Remotely-Detonated Bombs on the battlefield placed by the Demolitions Mission special power. When a Glyph of Remotely-Detonated Bomb is destroyed in this way, if it inflicts any wounds to a destructible object, that object receives one additional wound.

Army Test 2
Set the Stage: Cap & US Agent have found Zemo hiding out at a Toxic Waste dump site and placed him under arrest. They are not the only ones that have found him though. A group of Mercenaries have been hired to hunt down Zemo and take him out before he can betray all the secrets he knows. Cap & US Agent are cornered and outnumbered, so the reluctantly team up with Zemo to escape. A call goes out for help from anyone in the area. Rip Cord just happens to be in a plane 30,000 feet above them, on loan to the DEA. He answers the call and comes to Cap's rescue.
Give a brief preview. Here I'm going to give Rip some human allies. Zemo can provide some OM flex, giving Rip a turn when he needs it or slow rolling Cap up without losing the bonuses. Cap's stat boosting at any distance should pair well with Rip dropping in anywhere on the board, although there are a lot of LOS blockers on this map. Map also has lots of choke points too, so the bombs could be used to limit the movement options for the non-flying mercs.
Map: Roxxon Corp. Illegal Toxic Waste Dump Site
Units: Rip Cord @130, Capt. America (C3G), Baron Zemo (Helmut), US Agent (800) vs. Nebula, Silver Samurai, Batroc, Madripoor Mercs x2 (800)

Spoiler Alert!

HALO Jump Expert Usage: R3T3, Rip drops in onto a hill behind a merc, such that he can see Cap.
Demolitions Mission Usage: Never used, waiting to drop him into play didn't work out here at all.
Demolition Commando Usage: Never used.
Normal Damage Dealt: 0W in 1 att on a Madripoor Merc while boosted by Cap.
Damage Received: 2W in 1 att from a Madripoor Merc. 2W in 3 att from Silver Samurai's SA.
Who won and how many wounds did they have? 2 Madripoor Mercs, Nebula w/4W's, Silver Samurai & Batroc at full health win pretty easily.

Recap: US Agent is rolling lots of skulls on defense, against non-adjacent attacks, and few skulls on attack. Zemo also takes a big hit early due to poor defense dice, but Cap's defense is holding strong. A merc cuts and runs at the end of R2, even though their side seems to be winning. Trying to get something out of the US Agent before he falls keeps me from dropping Rip into play until the end of R3, where I tired to do an end of round drop, then hope to win initiative. Zemo starts that round out by taking a turn from Cap and surprising Nebula with some Swordplay for 4Ws. Batroc leaps to her rescue and takes out Zemo. US Agent tries to finish Nebula off but fails, he's just not stepping up in this one. Silver Samurai can't get past Cap's shield, and neither can Nebula. Rip drops in, while Cap uses his SA to no effect. Samurai changes tactics and goes after US Agent, leaving him with just 1 life. R4, the Rip wins initiative, but Zemo isn't there to give him Cap's turn, so Cap just hits Nebula for 2W's. Batroc leaps over and kicks Cap (whiff) for 3W! Rip fails to kill a merc on the hill. Nebula rolls a natural 20 and finishes off Cap, then lets the mercs att for her, Rip takes 2Ws. OM3 lost on Cap. Samurai finishes off US Agent. R5, Rips the only one alive, so he'll be getting all the OM's, but we don't get to see what he can do as Silver Samurai wins initiative and takes him out.
Does it pass, Yes or No? IDK, I didn't get much out of this test. Dropping him in at any time seemed useful, but this map was small enough that the fight got pretty intense right out the gate and then it was wiser to leave him in the plane. I think he'll be more interesting once some Commando synergy is built up where you don't have to give him an OM for him to participate in the battle.
What should be the unit's point value? Pretty poor showing by both US Agent and Rip Cord in this one lead to a pretty big blow out. Even with Cap boosting his attack up to 4, he failed to kill the one merc he fought with. I think his base attack needs to come back up to 4 or the only time you'll ever use him is to blow up a bomb. The Madripoor Mercs are giving you 3 ranged attacks of 3, a single Unique Hero Commando needs to at least be giving you an attack of 4. I'm also going to cut the line about waiting a turn after landing on the board.


****Base Attack bumped up to 4 & the 'no taking a turn right away' language was cut before this test****
Army Test 3
Set the Stage: Rip is training for HALO jump, when command informs him of a distress call. Hawkeye leads a small team tasked with finding out what Roxxon Crop has been up to of late. They have stumbled onto an illegal Toxic Waste Dump site that's heavily guarded and now find themselves out numbered. Rip Cord decides to drop in and give Hawkeye a hand.
Give a brief preview. Here the idea is that Hawkeye II can be used to give Rip Cord a lift around the map to place his bombs after dropping in. Since Hawkeye could be getting a fair number of OM's, Kate's nice to have around for some extra attack power. I'm going to proxy the Comedian as a Commando here for this test and see if how the 'any commando can blow up the bombs' idea plays.
Map: Roxxon Corp. Illegal Toxic Waste Dump Site (stopped playing the walls as DO's)
Units: Rip Cord @140, Hawkeye II, Hawkeye (Kate), Comedian (600) vs. Lex Corp x2, Wizard, Scorpion (600)

Spoiler Alert!

HALO Jump Expert Usage: R1T2, Rip drops onto the map next to Hawkeye, who is on a hill. Rip is also next to a Tree DO and 2 spaces away from Kate.
Demolitions Mission Usage: R1T2, Hawkeye has rip jump right onto his Skycycle and they take off, Rip leaves a bomb under his parachute. It's next to a tree DO as well as an open hex next to Kate, so if anyone tries to engage Kate and stop the bonus attacks she gets by to that spot, or if they just try to get some high ground while next to the tree, Rip or Comedian can blow up the bomb. Left a bomb on the top of the parked pick-up truck to make the LCS and Wizard think twice about perching up there.
Demolition Commando Usage:
Normal Damage Dealt: Attacked Wizard and rolled 2 skulls, he used his X shield to block it.
Damage Received: 3W in 2 att from Scorpion on LG,
Who won and how many wounds did they have? 1 LCS, Scorpion w/4W's, and Wizard at full health won.

Recap: The LCS send one figure to each of the two hills and try to gain an advantage over the main field of play. Hawkeye x2 move to the hill on one side and challenge them there, with Hawkeye dropping the LCS using his SA. A new LCS & Wizard move up and target Hawkeye with 3 ranged attacks from LG, failing to harm him. Rip then drops in next to Hawkeye, Kate shoots at a LCS and his Krytponian armor saves him. Then Hawkeye & Rip jet over onto the truck in the middle of the board, Hawkeye uses his SA on the LCS that Kate previously pinned, the LCS blocks with a 2 shield on 2 dice roll! LCS gets unpinned and flies over to the far side of Kate, avoiding the bomb, and hits her for 1W. Scorpion races out and tail whips Rip & Hawkeye from the ground, targeting Rip and Rip blocks a weak 1 skull attack! Hawkeye uses his SA and bails on Rip in an effort to try and help Kate out next round. R2, Scorpion hits Rip (whiff) for 3Ws, while Kate blocks the LCS. Hawkeye flies up by Kate and takes out the LSC (all skulls on def!), then moves to the spot the LCS was in. Since they can't get up to even ground with Kate, a LCS & Wizard try to take her out from below and succeed! Rip jumps down from the truck, leaving a bomb behind while never leaving engagement with Scorpion, then engages both Wizard & a LCS too, attacking Wizard, who uses his X to block it. Lex Corp finishes off Rip while Wizard goes after Hawkeye and scores 3Ws. Comedian steps up and shotgun's down the LCS, while giving Scorpion & the parked pickup truck a W each. R3, Hawkeye wins initiative, takes a LEA (miss) from Wizard, flies over next to Comedian, shoots Scorpion for 1W, gives Comedian a lift over by the port-a-potty. The last LCS hides in the other port-a-potty, Scorpion jumps down next to Comedian and Hawkeye, Tail Whips them both taking out Hawkeye. Comedian uses him Flamethrower on Scorpion and the port-a-potty the LCS is in, rolls 4 skulls! Both Scorpion and the port-a-potty take 2W's each, the DO is destroyed and the LCS is placed where it once stood. The LCS moves & attacks Comedian, blocked, Scorpion attacks and deals 3Ws to end the game.
Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes, he was feeling better in this one with Hawkeye moving him around without having to give him OM's as well as the threat of Comedian blowing up the bombs. As such I think he'll do okay once more Commando's are around to help him out.
What should be the unit's point value? That's 3 losses in a row now. He never had his bombs deal any auto-wounds in this one, but even if you gave Scorpion & Wizard 1W each, the criminals still would have won. Thinking of going back to the 120 price point and having the public test him there. I'd like to see how he does as an Autobot ally again with the updated power set.

[Yodaking]

I propose Rip Cord for Public Testing.

YK - yea
Bats - yea
Nobody - yea
Arch - yea
LP - yea

[IAmBatman]

yea

[MrNobody]

Yea

[Arch-vile]

Yea

The Joes really need a leader!

[Yodaking]

Yeah, I'm thinking I may knock out Low Light next just to have another Commando for testing, then circle back around to my Stalker design and adapt it to what we are doing here. I'll leave the bigger name leaders like Duke and Flint for others, but Stalker could be a mid tier leader type you could build a team around and get some synergy established. I don't recall his mini being very difficult. Beachhead is another easy mini I'd be interested in getting done that could have some light Commando/Soldier synergy as he had a Drill Sgt. back ground.

[Lord Pyre]

Yea

[Yodaking]

Thanks! This passes then, I'll post him up in the PT thread.

If anyone tests him who can see this thread, I'm asking for at least one test with him as an Autobot ally (1000 point team, Prime/Bee/Prowl/Rip) during the public testing phase. If already hit by a public tester you don't need to worry about it, but something to consider if it hasn't been run yet. Also since you can see this design, you can also see Snow Job & Scarlet's cards so please try him out with at least one other Commando in a game since the public testers don't have access to those cards.

Side note, I was thinking I'd ask a public tester use one or more 100-200 point publicly available human soldier as a Commando Proxy like I did with Comedian. No overlapping Soldier synergy, just something to give us a good approximation for what other Joe cards might play like to make sure we evaluate that aspect of the card (sanctum testers could do this as well). I could alternately send them Snow Job (and/or Scarlet once she's in Final Editing) card along with Rip. Didn't want to force everyone to play on snow and ice maps though. What do you think?

[Yodaking]

Had a pretty quick sign-up here, faster than I was expecting so it's pretty exciting! Ericth74 also tested Snow Job for us, so I sent him along the final Snow Job card. I also mentioned the Autobot test desire and the 100-200 point human Joe proxy idea to him.

[tcglkn]

Originally Posted by Yodaking

Had a pretty quick sign-up here, faster than I was expecting so it's pretty exciting! Ericth74 also tested Snow Job for us, so I sent him along the final Snow Job card. I also mentioned the Autobot test desire and the 100-200 point human Joe proxy idea to him.

Did you share a link to the card or just the SP text?

[Yodaking]

copy and pasted a card image

[Yodaking]

Been chatting a bit with Eric about testing ideas and came to the realization that getting in a game where Rip might blow up a VDO would be a good idea. Don't think it absolutely has to happen, but something to consider if anyone is thinking about testing him.