The Book of Evil Ernie

[Lord Pyre]

Originally Posted by Karat

Anything particular you want to see here? I'll hit this after cinder unless someone beats me to it and we have enough data.

Well Tornado definitely hit the Zombies! I want to see at least one more test with a Hell Lord. Lady Death obviously benefits the most. Maybe try out some different undead? The vampires were fun. Crow would be cool.

Basically try some weird stuff and see if any of that is broken.

[Karat]

Will do, I love the Undead, so definitely in my wheelhouse

[Tornado]

Will echo what LP said.

[MrNobody]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Evil Ernie

Army Test 1
Map: Custom Map
Units: Team 1 (1,200): Evil Ernie (400), Dracula (490), Brides of Dracula (110), Lurker x4 (100), Roamer x5 (20)
Team 2 (1,190): Brainiac 5 (130), Matter-Eater Lad (60), Abigail Brand (170), Nightshade (225), Mystique I (165), Agent Hunter (130), Mockingbird (130), Scorpion (Carmilla Black) (120), Ant-Man (Eric O’Grady) (60)

Pre-game thoughts: Definitely 2 funky armies here. I’m planning to lead with Drac and Ernie, potentially Vampirising some of the Agents (Though I’m hardly counting on it.) then following up with zombies. I am worried Agent Hunter could rock the results a bit, being a counterdraft to all of Team 1.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Hunter takes out 2 Lurkers
-Mockingbird kills another Lurker
-Ernie inflicts a wound on Mockingbird

Round 2: T2 wins initiative
-Ernie inflicts another wound on Mockingbird
-Hunter inflicts 2 wounds on Ernie, causing him to drop Smiley
-Roamers surround Scorpion and eat her
-Roamers also inflict 3 wounds on Mystique
-Hunter inflicts another 2 wounds on Ernie
-Drac kills Mockingbird

Round 3: T1 wins initiative
-A Roamer kills Mystique
-A Roamer also inflicts 3 wounds on Nightshade
-A Roamer also kills Agent Hunter
-Nightshade kills a Lurker
-Ernie re-equips Smiley

Round 4: T2 wins initiative
-Eric kills two Roamers
-Brand kills a Lurker

Round 5: T1 wins initiative
-Ernie inflicts 3 wounds on Brand
-Eric inflicts 2 wounds on Drac
-Drac kills Brand
-T2 loses a turn from having an OM on Brand
-Brainy inflicts 2 wounds on Drac

Round 6: T2 wins initiative
-Eric inflicts a wound on Ernie
-Eric inflicts a wound on Drac

Round 7: T1 wins initiative
-Eric inflicts 2 wounds on Drac
-Nightshade finishes off Drac

Round 8: T2 wins initiative
-Ernie kills Nightshade
-Eric gives Ernie 3 wounds, causing him to drop Smiley

Round 9: T2 wins initiative
-Ernie takes a LEA, but then picks up Smiley
-Eric kills a Lurker
-A Roamer inflicts 3 wounds on Brainy
-Eric kills a Lurker
-T1 loses a turn from all the Lurkers being dead

Round 10: T2 wins initiative
-Ernie inflicts a wound on Brainy
-Brainy inflicts a wound on Ernie
-Ernie kills Brainy

Round 11: T1 wins initiative
-Eric inflicts 2 wounds on Ernie, causing him to drop Smiley
-Drac returns
-Ernie kills Eric
-T2 loses a turn from having an OM on Eric

Round 12: T1 wins initiative
-Ernie picks up Smiley
-Drac inflicts a wound on M-E Lad
-M-E Lad inflicts a wound on Drac

Round 13: T1 wins initiative
-M-E Lad destroys Smiley
-Drac inflicts 2 wounds on M-E Lad

Round 14: T1 wins initiative
-Ernie kills M-E Lad


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Evil Ernie (3/8 wounds), Dracula (1/6 wounds), Brides of Dracula (3 figures), Roamers (3 figures)

Post-game thoughts: A rough game that came down to just rolling a bunch of A/D dice and ignoring attacks, but that’s what I get for bringing a D20 booster and D20 dodgers together in the same army. Ernie worked well here as a Cap surrogate, and him boosting those 6 potential zombie turns was devastating to the lower-life heroes.

I did forget the zombies are supposed to pop back up every time a character dies, instead of just every time a zombie kills someone. Still, all that would’ve done is just make this more of a landslide victory.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 2
Map: Custom Map w/ Glyph of Wannok
Units: Team 1 (1,005): Evil Ernie (400), Lady Death (365), Headpool (60), Vampire Minions x2 (180)
Team 2 (1,000): Fantastic Four

Pre-game thoughts: F4 are a classic sturdy faction. Can Ernie and gang break them? The idea here is to basically leave the Vampire as start zone fodder until Ernie and Death fall.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T1 wins initiative
-Johnny gets the first shot, hitting Ernie for a solid 3 wounds, causing Ernie to drop Smiley
-Ernie gets stuck on the low ground engaged with Reed
-Ernie manages to break past Sue’s force field to inflict 2 wounds on Reed
-Headpool Wisecracks at Sue, who inflicts a wound on him
-He then Wisecracks again, this time to Johnny, who inflicts another wound on Headpool
-Reed uses the Wannok to destroy a vampire
-Smiley hops back onto Ernie’s card

Round 2: T1 wins initiative
-Ben inflicts 4 wounds on Ernie, causing him to drop Smiley
-Reed finishes off Ernie
-Death manages to break through Sue’s force field to inflict a wound on Reed
-Thing kills Headpool
-Johnny gives Death 2 wounds
-Sue gives Death 2 wounds
-Ben finishes off Death
-Reed uses the Wannok to kills a Vampire

Round 3: T2 wins initiative
-Johnny goes Supernova, killing the remaining Vampires


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Mr. Fantastic (3/5 wounds), Invisible Woman (0/5 wounds), The Thing I (0/6 wounds), Human Torch (0/5 wounds)

Post-game thoughts: Yikes. So I feel like some explanation is due here.

The map I used is a slightly modified version of the C3G competitive map Country Road with the bridge part removed. In the middle, where the Glyph is on the official map, I put a Glyph of Wannok. What Reed was able to do was sit on that middle point on the Wannok and effectively stop any non-flyer (AKA the whole enemy team except Headpool) from getting past him. He could Rubber Wrap anyone who entered the land next to hom, and if you tried going in the water to avoid that, he could just Stretch Walk over to you and lock you down on that low ground. So Ernie and Death were essentially forced to take out Reed through brute force, while he was protected by Sue's force field, AND while Sue and Johnny were shooting down at them from height. Overall, a rough situation that I definitely could’ve done a better job predicting.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 3
Map: Country Road w/ Glyph of Wannok
Units: Team 1 (1,005): Evil Ernie (400), Lady Death (365), Headpool (60), Vampire Minions x2 (180)
Team 2 (1,000): Fantastic Four

Pre-game thoughts: A repeat of Game 2 with the bridge segment added back on to the map. We’re gonna see how this goes.

Summary of the game:

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: T2 wins initiative
-Ernie inflicts 2 wounds on Johnny
-Johnny takes a LEA
-Johnny uses Flame On, inflicting 2 wounds on Headpool and 2 wounds on Ernie, who drops Smiley
-Headpool Wisecracks at Johnny, protecting Ernie
-Death blasts Reed, inflicting a wound

Round 2: T2 wins initiative
-Johnny takes an LEA
-Johnny uses Flame On, inflicting 2 wounds on Ernie and killing Headpool
-Reed inflicts a wound on Ernie
-Ernie kills Johnny
-Reed inflicts 2 wound on Ernie
-Death equips Smiley
-Death breaks through Sue’s force field to deal a whopping 5 wounds to Ben with 2 attacks
-Reed kills Ernie
-Death kills Ben

Round 3: T2 wins initiative
-Sue inflicts 2 wounds on Death, causing her to drop Smiley
-Death inflicts 2 wounds on Reed
-Reed inflicts a wound on Death
-Death kills Reed
-T2 loses a turn from having an OM on Reed
-Death equips Smiley
-Death inflicts 3 wounds on Sue

Round 4: T1 wins initiative
-Death finishes off Sue


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Lady Death (3/7 wounds), Vampire Lackeys (6 figures)

Post-game thoughts: So Death and Smiley together is really good. 2 autoskulls combined with a double attack can shatter most things in the game, as it did here with Thing. Not sure it’s at the level where it needs to be nerfed, but once the button falls off Ernie, putting it on Death feels like an equally viable strategy to trying to get it back to Ernie.

___________________________________________________________

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: The simple fact is that he lacks the army building tools to really see his true potential at the moment. The zombies are probably his best partners, just because they’re cheap and can get in up to 6 attacks per turn, really maximizing the attack boost. The Dead Onez are totally going to shake up his gameplay quite a bit.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: He’s fun! He does feel a bit fragile against heavy hitters who can easily knock off his button, but 8 Life is still nothing to scoff at. I never used the 1 OM on Death to actually take a turn with her, because Ernie really wants that first turn. However, I burned that OM plenty for bonus attacks. He’s a cool half support/half bruiser type, a lot like Cap in many ways.

Here you go!

[Lord Pyre]

Awesome, thanks! I'm thinking maybe limiting Smiley to only work with Undead (Or heck, only with Ernie!). Opening it up to Hell Lords was just to make him more fun as a GLYPH, not as part of the design.

I feel like Matter Eater Lad will have a stomach ache after eating Smiley. How did the glyph mechanics feel here? Were they fun and interesting?

[MrNobody]

I do think I technically have an outdated M-E Lad card, the one on the site looks like he wouldn't have been able to eat Smiley. Didn't really effect the game though.

I like the Glyph mechanics! The idea of Smiley hopping (or whatever he's doing) back to Ernie is neat. He can fall off pretty easily if Ernie is facing heavy hitters, but that feels fair considering just how buff he feels while wearing Smiley.

[Lord Pyre]

Sometimes he rolls, sometimes he walks using the crossbones on his back as legs. He's pretty goofy

Alright, since I'm happy here, I'm going to propose we move to Final Editing!

I might normally ask for one more test because of how many options this guys has, but my plan is to put him on hold right when this vote passes and start up his squad. Then they can be tested together and tweaked if need be (Before we make Ernie's card, so we don't have to do a ton of edits!)

[Karat]

Sounds reasonable Yea

[Spidey'tilIDie]

Originally Posted by Lord Pyre

Sometimes he rolls, sometimes he walks using the crossbones on his back as legs. He's pretty goofy

Alright, since I'm happy here, I'm going to propose we move to Final Editing!

I might normally ask for one more test because of how many options this guys has, but my plan is to put him on hold right when this vote passes and start up his squad. Then they can be tested together and tweaked if need be (Before we make Ernie's card, so we don't have to do a ton of edits!)

Yea I was gonna suggest a hold on final cost after that last test and the comments made, so I am very happy to see you suggest it.

[Yodaking]

yea

[Tornado]

Yea

[Lord Pyre]

This passes! Thanks!