The Book of Predator Elder

[fret_gurglo]

Yea

[Yodaking]

Yea

[Splash]

Sweeeeet, this passes!

[Ericth74]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Predator Elder

Version tested:

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = PREDATOR ELDER


SPECIES = YAUTJA
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = HUNTER
PERSONALITY = HONORABLE

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 6

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 5
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 5

POINTS = 280

BEGIN THE HUNT
At the beginning of the game, choose an opponent's Unique or Event Hero. That figure is considered Predator Elder's Prey. After revealing an Order Marker and before taking a turn with Predator Elder, you may take a turn with one other Unique Hunter you control. If Predator Elder inflicted a wound on or destroyed his Prey this turn, you may take a turn with a Yautja you control that has not taken a turn this player turn. You may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

YAUTJA CLOAKING DEVICE
Predator Elder may move through all figures and is never attacked when leaving an engagement. While occupying a non-water space, Predator Elder cannot be targeted by opponents' non-adjacent figures for any attacks or any special powers that require clear sight.

TRAINED TO PERFECTION
Before attacking with Predator Elder, you may choose to either:
• attack any or all figures adjacent to Predator Elder, rolling each attack separately; or
• add one automatic skull when attacking an adjacent figure.

Army Test
Map: Island Plane Crash
Units: 1000 pts - Predator Elder, Predator x3(Pink, Yellow, Blue) VS 1000 pts - Professor X 190, Iron Man 270, Black Panther 210, Dr Strange 320, Lightning Bolt Spells x2

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt: R2T1 Dr Strange 1 wound

BEGIN THE HUNT: Picked Iron Man, died before I could take advantage

YAUTJA CLOAKING DEVICE: Forced Dr Strange to attack Dos and come into engagement to attack him.

TRAINED TO PERFECTION: Attacked once with the Auto Skull.

Played this game with Toyhandle.
The Elder picks Iron Man.
R1 – Elder takes a wound from a falling Palm Tree.
R2 – Dr Strange attacks the Elder and does 2 wounds to him. Blue hits Iron Man for a wound. Elder hits Dr Strange for a wound. Dr Strange kills Elder. Stopped playtest.

Mostly this game ended quickly because the Elder rolled terribly on defense rolls. Decided to restart and play again.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Island Plane Crash
Units: 1000 pts - Predator Elder, Predator x3(Pink, Yellow, Blue) VS 1000 pts - Professor X 190, Iron Man 270, Black Panther 210, Dr Strange 320, Lightning Bolt Spells x2
Damage Dealt: R1T2 Iron Man 1 wound
R1T3 Dr Strange 1 wound
R2T1 Dr Strange 1 wound
R2T2 Dr Strange 1 wound
R3T1 Black Panther 2 wounds.

BEGIN THE HUNT: Picked Iron Man, was able to get in one extra turn which killed Iron Man. Regular bonding really makes the team go and feel like a viable army

YAUTJA CLOAKING DEVICE: So good, really takes the teeth out of some teams that relay on range or clear line of sight.

TRAINED TO PERFECTION: Attacked with the Auto Skull every possible time.

Played this game with Toyhandle.
Iron Man is the Elders prey.
R1 – Elder hits Iron Man for a wound. Bonus attack with Pink attack does 3 wounds to Iron Man killing him. Professor X Mind Blasts the Elder for 2 wounds.
R2 – Pink and Elder each do a wound to Dr Strange. Pink and Elder each do a wound to Dr Strange. Dr Strange hits the Elder for 1 wound. Blue attacks and kills Dr Strange. Elder kills the Long Ruin.
R3 – Professor X Mind Blast the Elder for 1 wound. Elder hits Black Panther for 2 wounds. The Elder attacks Panther who blocks it and Blasts him into the water. Black Panther attacks and kills Black Panther.
R4 – Professor X wins initiative using his special power. Blue gets Mind Blasted by Prof X for a wound. Blue hits Prof X for 2 wounds. Panther kills Blue. Pink takes a wound from Black Panthers Daggers. Pink kills Professor X.
R5 – Pink hits Black Panther for a wound. Yellow hits Black Panther for 1 wound killing him.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Full 5 life Yellow, Pink 2 wounds/3 life left[/spoiler]

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Conflict Chernobyl
Units: 1000 pts - Predator Elder, Predator x3(Pink, Yellow, Blue) VS Godzilla

Spoiler Alert!

Damage Dealt: R2T2 Godzilla 3 wounds
R3T1 Godzilla 1 wound


BEGIN THE HUNT: Picked Godzilla. Allowed for 2 extra turns which did 3 wounds.

YAUTJA CLOAKING DEVICE: Used to avoid Godzilla Special attack and to be able to disengage to avoid Godzilla big attack.

TRAINED TO PERFECTION: Not used as he only wanted to attack Godzilla from range.

Terrible match-up for Godzilla. The range and multi-attacks overwhelmed Godzilla. He couldn't put any big attacks together or really use his specail attack. Also only hit 1 out of 6 stomp unblockable rolls. The Aliens split up as to not be easy stomp targets and to utilize their range. This worked out really well get 2 attacks every turn and a couple of bonus attacks as well. Godzilla went town on turn 2 or round 3 and didn't put up much of a fight.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Predator Elder 2 wounds/3 life left, Pink 2 wounds/3 life left, lue 1 wound/4 life left, Yellow full 5 life left

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Predator Elder went 2-1(I'm calling the first game a loss as it was hopeless once the Elder dropped). He is a real difference maker for the Predator faction. Really a must draft if you are playing them. The design fits on both theme and function. Tool set is right in line with the Uncommon Hero Predator. I think 280 points are right on point. Their aren't any changes I would recommend.


Thoughts from Toyhandle(games 1 and 2):

GENERAL THOUGHTS:
Predator Elder leads the hunt well. Cool how he's incentivized to hunt down the highest-life/most difficult to destroy figure. They would have performed even better if his Prey were Doctor Strange, being high life with MD.
Will be fun to see the Predator faction develop with new Hunters.

[Splash]

Awesome, thanks Eric!!!

[Arch-vile]

C3G STANDARD PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE PLAYTEST UNIT: Predator Elder

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Predator Elder, Predators x3 (1000) VS Fan4 (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

Predator Elder chooses Mister Fantastic as his Prey.

The Predators get a few wounds in on Johnny and Thing early on, but Invisible Woman and Mister Fantastic stay back to avoid triggering the extra bonding from the Elder. The Elder is an easy target with his relatively short range, so he’s taken out pretty quickly by a Johnny Supernova. The Fan4 cleans house easily after that, this one was no contest.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Mister Fantastic (2 wounds), Invisible Woman (0 wounds), Thing (1 wound) win.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test
Map: Custom
Units: Predator Elder, Predators x3 (1000) VS Android 16, Android 17, Android 18, Krillin, Beam Struggle Story (1000)

Spoiler Alert!

Predator Elder chooses Android 16 as his Prey.

Again, Predator Elder falls early before his army has even inflicted a single wound. I’m going to replay this and keep Predator Elder further in back more as an OM manager instead of moving him up early.

—————————
Game replay. Predator Elder chooses Android 16 as his Prey.

Android 16 overextends himself early on. The Predators bring Android 16 to 4 wounds. The Elder misses his kill shot on Android 16. Android 17 rushes in and deals a few wounds to the Elder. The Elder finally kills 16, to activate a second Predator, and they wound Android 17. Android 18 rushes in as well to kill the Elder. Again, the Predators are just outmatched here by the turn efficiency and speed of their enemy, and the other Predators fall easily.


Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Android 17 (2 wounds), Android 18 (2 wounds), Krillin win.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: I did not have good luck with the Predators. I thought they should be great in theory, but I often found their auto-skulls tricky to activate. For the normal Predators, they have to not move and be unengaged, and enemy figures will be engaging them ASAP due to their Cloaking Device. For the Elder, if he engages the enemy to use his auto skull, he’s suddenly vulnerable, and then he dies quickly. Their self-destruct power was also very difficult to activate. It just felt like a tricky army to best utilize. I also found myself wounding their Prey with my normal Predators then my Elder would whiff - kinda frustrating cause then I missed the extra bonding. That said, their Cloaking Devices + 5 range is a really nice combo and forces an enemy to come to them.

The Predators seemed to have done much better in the other playtests, though, so hard to say if my results were just an anomaly! They might just be a swingy faction.

[Splash]

Thanks Arch!

[Splash]

Those games looked rough.
I was thinking of doing an extra X thing or some space-tech themed OM management for easier Predator explosions but felt the design was solid as is.

I think we definitely want another set of tests on this one, if heavy losses come in again, I'd probably just bump defense back up to 6.

[fret_gurglo]

Version tested

Spoiler Alert!

NAME = PREDATOR ELDER


SPECIES = YAUTJA
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = HUNTER
PERSONALITY = HONORABLE

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 6

LIFE = 5

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 5
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 5

POINTS = 280

BEGIN THE HUNT
At the beginning of the game, choose an opponent's Unique or Event Hero. That figure is considered Predator Elder's Prey. After revealing an Order Marker and before taking a turn with Predator Elder, you may take a turn with one other Unique Hunter you control. If Predator Elder inflicted a wound on or destroyed his Prey this turn, you may take a turn with a Yautja you control that has not taken a turn this player turn. You may not take any additional turns with other figures you control.

YAUTJA CLOAKING DEVICE
Predator Elder may move through all figures and is never attacked when leaving an engagement. While occupying a non-water space, Predator Elder cannot be targeted by opponents' non-adjacent figures for any attacks or any special powers that require clear sight.

TRAINED TO PERFECTION
Before attacking with Predator Elder, you may choose to either:
• attack any or all figures adjacent to Predator Elder, rolling each attack separately; or
• add one automatic skull when attacking an adjacent figure.

Army Test
Map: Martian Warzone
Units: Omnidroid (175), Predator (240), Predator Elder (280), Ravage (110) (805) vs Wrecking Crew (800)

Powers Used:
Begin the Hunt: Choose Wrecker – Used once (Wrecker died too quick)
Cloaking: Used too numerous to count
Trained to Perfection (multi attack): 0
Trained to Perfection (auto skull): 3

Damage from normal attacks: 9

We nearly called this game after Wrecker fell to some extremely poor defense rolls, but decided to keep going. The Wrecker Crew did make a game of it, and a close game is what makes it really fun.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Predator 1/5 Life Remaining, Predator Elder 1/5 Life Remaining, Ravage 2/5 Life Remaining

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: Wrecker hits Ravage for 2 wounds and Piledriver follows up for another wound.
Round 2: Predator attacks Wrecker for 4 wounds (0 shields rolled) and Elder destroys him (again he rolled 0 shields). Wrecking Crew loses entire round of OM that were on Wrecker. Omnidroid rolls though Piledriver for 1 wound and Elder attacks him for another wound. Omnidroid rolls again for 1 wound on Bulldozer and Elder attacks Piledriver for 3 wounds.
Round 3: Piledriver this Elder for 4 wounds. Predator destroys Piledriver. Elder hits Thunderball for 2 wounds. Thunderball hits Omnidroid for 3 wounds and later he destroys it. Predator hits Thunderball 1 wound. Lava field does 1 wound to each Thunderball and Predator.
Round 4: Predator hits Thunderball 1 wound and Elder destroys him. Predator hits Bulldozer for 2 wounds. Bulldozer charges at Predator for 3 wounds. Predator hits Bulldozer for 2 wounds (no shields) and lava field destroys Bulldozer.

___________________________________________________________
Map: Martian Warzone
Units: Predator x3 (720), Predator Elder (280) (1000) vs Bucky (60), Hulkbuster Soldiers x3 (375), Sgt Rock (175), Thaddeus Ross (160), US Agent (230) (1000)

Powers Used:
Begin the Hunt: Choose Sgt. Rock – Used twice before Rock fell
Cloaking: Used too numerous to count
Trained to Perfection (multi attack): 1
Trained to Perfection (auto skull): 3

Damage from normal attacks: 5

Soldiers thought they had lost when Sgt. Rock fell, but they were able to turn it around by the skin of their teeth.

Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): Thaddeus Ross 4/4 Life Remaining, US Agent 2/5 Life Remaining

Spoiler Alert!

Round 1: Rock is able to use his grenade for a ranged attack on the Elder, but fails to deal any damage. Predator hits Rock for 1 wound and Elder follows up for 1 more. Rock attacks green Predator for 3 wounds. 3 predators gang up on Rock and destroy him.
Round 2: Ross calls in an air strike for 1 wound on green Predator and the Elder. Elder & Predator destroy 3 soldiers. Soldiers attack yellow Predator for 1 wound. Elder destroys a Soldier. Soldiers all attack Elder and destroy him. Predator destroys a Soldier.
Round 3: Predator attacks Bucky for 2 wounds. Bucky hits yellow for 1 wound. US Agent destroys green Predator.
Round 4: Bucky hits yellow for 2 wounds. Predator hits Agent for 2 wounds. Predator hits Bucky for 1 wound. Lava field then destroys Bucky.
Round 5: Agent hits blue Predator for 1 wound. Predator attacks Agent for 1 wound. Agent this blue again for 2 wounds and next turn destroys him. Yellow explodes taking out 2 soldiers.

THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY:
A win and a loss with both games that could go either way and ending fairly close seems like this guy is fairly well balanced. He is a must draft for a Predator build.

GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Begin the Hunt sounds scary by offering multiple turns, but the power diminishes over time (prey falls) and makes the Elder a target. It seems to balance it out nicely.

[Splash]

Awesome, thanks so much fret!

[Splash]

Looks like the heavy losses earlier aren't as much of a worry, more of a possible result of the potential swinginess.

I propose we move to Final Editing!

[Arch-vile]

Yea