The Book of Frank Drake

[Yodaking]

yea

[IAmBatman]

yea

[MrNobody]

Yea

[Karat]

This passes. Thanks guys.

[Tornado]

Besides Frankenstein, who else currently benefits from the blanks?

[IAmBatman]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Besides Frankenstein, who else currently benefits from the blanks?

Occult Batman and Swamp Thing II do. Not sure if there are others.

[Karat]

Originally Posted by Tornado

Besides Frankenstein, who else currently benefits from the blanks?

In addition to Bats' list, Hannibal also likes the blank, which was intentional.

[Tornado]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: (Frank Drake)

Army Test
Map: City Park (modified).
Units: Frank Drake(200), Frankenstein(320), Spider-Hulk(310) & Man-Bat(170) vs. Ms. Marvel, Captain America, Punisher & Kraven [1000].

Spoiler Alert!

Converted a couple of shields to blanks for Frank.
Came down to Drake on Castle.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Punisher: 1 Life left.

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Army Test
Map: City Park (modified).
Units: Frank Drake(200), Frankenstein(320), Spider-Hulk(310) & Man-Bat(170) vs. Ms. Marvel, Captain America, Punisher & Kraven [1000].

Spoiler Alert!

2 shields converted to blanks.
Spider-Hulk smashes everyone

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Frank Drake: Full, Man-Bat: Full & Spider-Hulk: 4wounds.

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Army Test
Map: City Park (modified).
Units: Frank Drake(200), Batman (Occult, 230), Hellboy(II, 340) & Zatanna(II, 220) vs. Frankenstein, Wendigo & Dragon Man [990]

Spoiler Alert!

2 shields converted to blanks.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Wendigo & Dragon Man: Both Full.

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THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Feels pretty good. I think he just needs a few more friends to benefit from the blanks.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Interesting and thematic design. The Zatanna and Occult Batman combo has some real potential for auto wounds that will be awesome in some match-ups. Was not so great against the high Life Creatures.

[Karat]

Thanks T! 1 more set of results and I'm thinking we may be good to move forward here.

[IAmBatman]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM
NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: FRANK DRAKE
VERSION TESTED

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = FRANK DRAKE

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = INVESTIGATOR
PERSONALITY = RESIGNED

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

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

POINTS = 200?

HUNTING PARTY
Before taking a turn with a figure you control within 4 spaces of an enemy figure, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card. If you do, for the rest of the round you may change one die rolled to a blank for any Creature, Investigator, or Slayer once per turn.

THE EXORCIST GUN 13
Before a Demon or Undead figure within 5 clear sight spaces of Frank Drake would move, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 13 or higher, that figure may not move this player turn.

MOVING TARGET
When rolling defense dice for Frank Drake, add one automatic shield to whatever is rolled. After rolling defense dice, you may move Frank up to 3 spaces. Frank will not take any leaving engagement attacks when moved with this special power.

Team Test
Map: CITY PARK
Units: Frank Drake (200), Hellboy (II) (340), Buffy (210), Wasp (I) (50) (800) vs Wrecking Crew (800)
Unit Summary: Frank survived a bit but didn’t do anything productive here for his team otherwise. Dice mildly favored the Wrecking Crew but not by much and largely because they were rolling a lot more of them.
Game Summary

Spoiler Alert!

Frank and Hellboy ally against the evil of Mutates. Buffy chooses Wrecker as her big bad of the season.
Round 1: Initiative Wrecking Crew. Piledriver and Wrecker advance. Wasp advances. Bulldozer and Wrecker advance. Buffy advances. Wrecker attacks Buffy from height for a wound. Hellboy can’t hit Wrecker with a special attack from height disadvantage. Frank can’t hit Wrecker from height disadvantage.
Round 2: Initiative Investigators. Wasp engages Wrecker and stings him for a wound. Wrecker defeats Wasp but fails to activate a buddy. Frank uses the “X.” Buffy takes a swipe to get to even heigh with Wrecker. She rolls 4 skulls and no blanks and hits Wrecker for 3 wounds. Wrecker and Piledriver tag team Buffy and finish her. Hellboy can’t hit Wrecker and Frank can’t hit Piledriver. Wrecker punches Hellboy for 3 wounds.
Round 3: Initiative Investigators. Hellboy punches Wrecker for a wound. Frank fails to finish Wrecker. Wrecker KO’s Hellboy. Piledriver and Wrecker pursue Frank but Moving Target keeps him clean. Hellboy had OM2. Thunderball and Wrecker fail to hit Frank. Frank can’t hit Wrecker. Bulldozer advances.
Round 4: Initiative Wrecking Crew. Bulldozer gets in a full charge and one-shots Frank.

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): Inflicted [0] wounds
• HUNTING PARTY: Changed [0] dice into blanks.
• EXORCIST GUN: Was not usable here
• MOVING TARGET: His strongest ability, making him tough to hit or hurt in endgame.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Piledriver with Full Life, Bulldozer with Full Life, Thunderball with Full Life, and Wrecker with 1/6 Life win.

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Team Test
Map: DARK DIMENSION
Units: Frank Drake (200), Zatanna (II) (220), Batman (Occult (230), Wolfsbane (130), Etrigan (320) (1100) vs Trigon (680), N’Garai (x9) (405), Hellfire: Fireball spell (x3) (15) (1100)
Unit Summary: It felt like he had more potential to do things here, but both his first two abilities are so niche and limited in effect that things didn’t break just right for them to be relevant and he didn’t do much with the rest of his stats and abilities, even in what seemed like a more thematic match up.
Game Summary

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: Initiative Investigators. Batman advances. Trigon advances. Etrigan and Batman advance. Trigon advances. Batman advances. Trigon advances and blasts a whiffing Etrigan for four quick wounds.
Round 2: Initiative Demons. Trigon attacks Batman and is blocked. Frank reveals the X. Batman rolls 3 blanks, unassisted, and puts 3 wounds on Trigon. Trigon uses Demonic Reality Shift to move 6 N’Garai, then destroy 3 of them and shift his 3 wounds onto Batman. Batman Trap Door Teleports to swap places with Zatanna, whose slight of hand inflicts a wound on Trigon. Trigon fails to hit Zatanna with his attack. Etrigan advances. Zatanna can’t hit Trigon.
Round 3: Initiative Demons. Trigon smacks Zatanna for two wounds. Frank uses the X. Frank advances. Etrigan leaps forward but can’t hit Trigon with his special attack. Trigon finishes Zatanna. Frank shoots at Trigon for a wound. Etrigan destroys one of two N’Garai targets with his special attack. Trigon puts 2 wounds on Frank with a Fireball. Batman advances.
Round 4: Initiative Trigon. Trigon finishes Frank with a Fireball. Batman advances but can’t hit Trigon. Etrigan takes out another N’Garai. Trigon engages Batman and KO’s him, ending the Investigator round. Trigon uses Demonic Reality Shift to heal up and put two wounds on Wolfsbane.
Round 5: Initiative Etrigan. He can’t destroy a N’Garai with his special attack. Trigon blasts Wolfsbane for two wounds from height. Etrigan blasts a N’Garai to bits. A N’Garai advances but can’t get to Etrigan. Etrigan finishes the last N’Garai. Trigon finishes Wolfsbane.
Round 6: Trigon and Etrigan close in on each other until Etrigan gets one wound on Trigon and Trigon gets two on Etrigan.
Round 7: Initiative Etrigan, who gets in a second wound on Trigon with his special. Trigon finishes Etrigan for the win.

• Damage Done (Normal Attack): Inflicted [1] wounds on [Trigon [1]]
• HUNTING PARTY: Changed [0] dice into blanks
• EXORCIST GUN: Rolled [0] times to stop figure movements
• MOVING TARGET: Saved him from two wounds.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Trigon with 7/9 Life wins.

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UNIT SUMMARY: I’m not sure what the right builds are for Frank Drake, but the ones I used here didn’t feel like them. Hunting Party’s blank effect is limited due to needing the ally close to the enemy first and then only producing one blank, which doesn’t offer very consistent or high level value considering the class restriction. I didn’t roll for Exorcist Gun at all in either match because it was in the wrong match up for the first and in the second, Trigon didn’t need to move by the time Frank was in range to use it. And then Trigon just KO’s Frank with a fair amount of ease. Frank has OK attack and defense stats, but not at 200. I’m not sure he’s terribly draftable as is with the nicheness of his abilities, especially at 200 points.

[Yodaking]

What if Hunting party let him change a die to a skull/shield/blank instead of just a blank? Then he has more universal synergy.

[Karat]

What if we swapped the effects and made it so it's harder to trigger but worked for everyone?

HUNTING PARTY
Before taking a turn with a Creature, Investigator, or Slayer you control within 4 spaces of an enemy figure, you may reveal an "X" Order Marker on this card. If you do, for the rest of the round you may change one die rolled to a blank for any friendly figure, once per turn.