The Book of Penguin (II)

[TrollBrute]

Abstain, haven't had a chance to keep up here.

[johnny139]

Yea

[Yodaking]

Yea, I'm for a different name too but I'm not sure what it should be. Last number in the Rolodex seems to suggest he is calling in some new ally, when the figures he will now be bonding with will have been part of his army from the beginning and he may have already bonded with them (Scarecrow). He's not really turning to a psycho as a last resort, he's just taking the leash off the dogs so to speak.

[Arkham]

This passes to Initial Playtesting. 5-0-1
@dok @Dysole @Soundwarp SG-1

Anything you would want to see tested? Any concerns?

[Arkham]

@Dysole @dok @Soundwarp SG-1

Any suggestions or concerns?

[dok]

Nothing about the card really concerns me - lots of little synergy hooks but nothing that says metagamey problem build to me. Scarecrow is nice because he's pretty good and you can activate him with or without rolodex being in play.

[Lazy Orang]

Scorpion (Mac Gargan) is worth bearing in mind for similar reasons.

[Arkham]

C3G INITIAL PLAYTEST FEEDBACK FORM

NAME OF THE TEST UNIT Penguin II

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Army Test 1
Map: Custom
Units:
Penguin II(140), Two-Face II(170), Hush(220), Scorpion(Mac G.)(200), Scarecrow(140), Harley Quinn I(130) (1,000)
vs.
Fantastic Four (1,000)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:


Crime Lord Collusion:
R1: +4 gets them the win.

Crime Syndicate:


Last Number in the Rolodex:
R2T3: Reveals the X.
R3T1: Takes a turn with Harley.
R3T2: Takes a turn with Scarecrow, throws down Fear Gas.

Notes:
Obsessive Vendetta choice is Mr. Fantastic.
R1T1: Human Torch puts 3 wounds on Two-Face(botch).
R1T2: Mr. F. kills Two-Face.
R1T3: Hush puts 3 wounds on Invisible Woman.
R1T3: Thing kills Hush with a devastating Clobberin' Time.
R2T3: HT puts 2 wounds on Scorpion with Fo4, then puts 2 wounds on Penguin and 1 wound on Scarecrow with Supernova. Mr. F. puts 1 wound on Scorpion.
R3T1: Harley's Bomb is blocked.
R3T2: HT kills Penguin(botch). Thing kills Scorpion.
R3T3: Thing kills Scarecrow.
R4T3: Thing kills Harley.


Invisible Woman with 3 wounds, Mr. Fantastic, Thing, and Human Torch with 0 wounds.

Rough game for the Criminals. They were bested at every turn. Their defense rolls were poor, their attacks were poor, and they couldn't get anything going. Just a poor game overall for them. The Fantastic Four steam rolled them. Penguin felt fun though from what he did do. Each of his specials came into play at some point during the game, so he felt useful.

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Army Test 2
Map: Custom
Units:
Penguin II(145), Two-Face II(170), Scarecrow(140), Doc Oc(215), Hired Guns(130) (800)
vs.
The Wrecking Crew (800)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:


Crime Lord Collusion:
R1: +2 allows them to win init.
R3: +2 allows them to win init.

Crime Syndicate:


Last Number in the Rolodex:


Notes:
R1T2: Doc Oc puts 2 wounds on Wrecker.
R1T2: Wrecker puts 1 wound on Doc Oc, Bulldozer kills Doc Oc.
R1T3: Wrecker puts 1 wound on Scarecrow, Bulldozer puts 2 wounds on Scarecrow, then Wrecker kills Scarecrow.
R2T1: Hired Guns kill Wrecker.
R2T2: Hired Guns put 5 wounds on Bulldozer.
R2T3: Hired Guns kill Bulldozer.
R3T1: Hired Guns kill Piledriver.
R3T2: Two-Face puts 3 wounds on Thunderball(botch).
R4T1: Thunderball kills 1 Hired Gun.
R4T1: Hired Guns kill Thunderball.


3 Hired Guns, Penguin and Two-Face with 0 wounds.

The Hired Guns once again prove in my eyes why they are an under costed unit. The Wrecking Crew did have a couple of botches, and suffered from having their OM hub destroyed a couple of times, but overall a 130 point squad did ~700 points of damage. Maybe I'm just lucky with them, as they were really potent in my Two-Face II playtests as well. I wouldn't attribute much of this win to Penguin. His initiative boost did help swing the favor to allow his team to win initiative twice, but his attacks were blocked, his ability to take a turn with a Criminal was pretty standard, and the Insane synergy was a non factor this go around.

___________________________________________________________

Army Test 3
Map: Custom
Units:
Penguin II(120), Poison Ivy II(175), Animated Vines(55), Black Tarantula(300), Joker(190) (840)
vs.
Luke Cage(190), Iron Fist(260), Swordsman(160), Iron Fist(230) (840)

Spoiler Alert!

Attack Damage:


Crime Lord Collusion:


Crime Syndicate:


Last Number in the Rolodex:


Notes:
R1: Joker moves 2 OMs from Luke Cage's card to Shang-Chi's card.
R1T2: Ivy puts a wound on Iron Fist.
R1T2: Shang kills an Animated Vine.
R1T3: Shang kills an Animated Vine.
R1: 1 Animated Vine regrows.
R2: Joker moves 2 OMs from Luke Cage's card to Shang-Chi.
R2T1: Ivy puts a wound on Iron Fist.
R2T1: Shang puts 4 wounds on Ivy.
R2T1: Ivy puts a wound on Cage and Iron Fist.
R2T2: Shang kills Ivy.
R2T3: Black T. takes 1 wound from LEA, kills Iron Fist.
R2T3: Shang puts 4 wounds on Joker, Cage puts 2 wounds on Black T.
R3: Joker moves 2 OMs from Luke Cage's card to Swordsman.
R3T3: BT puts 2 wounds on Swordsman(botch).
R4T1: Swordsman puts 2 wounds on BT, Cage puts 1 wound on BT.
R4T2: BT kills Swordsman.
R4T3: BT puts 3 wounds on Cage(botch).
R5: Joker moves 2 OMs from Shang to Cage.
R5T1: Shang kills the Joker, puts 1 wound on Penguin.
R5T2: Penguin takes 1 wound from MMA.
R5T2: Cage puts 2 wounds on BT.
R6T1: BT kills Cage.
R6T1: BT puts 1 wound on Shang.
R6T2: BT puts 3 wounds on Shang(botch).
R6T3: BT kills Shang(botch).


2 Animated Vines, Penguin with 2 wounds, and Black Tarantula with 0 wounds.

This felt like it could have gone either way. A pretty close game overall. Once again Penguin didn't play a huge factor in this, as this time it was more dominated by Black Tarantula and to a lesser extent Ivy. Penguin taking turns with Ivy, playing OM hub back at the base, was his only real contributing factor this go around. Some poor rolls by the fighters such as Swordsman and Cage's rolls, and Shang's late game attack rolls also didn't help.

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THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Penguin feels a little...uneventful. Besides his situational initiative boost, which in itself has some requirements to obtain, and a potential drawback, he's not really feeling like he brings much to the table. Ultimately I'm looking for a unit that you want to draft because he brings something useful to the Criminal/Crime Lord synergy, but he felt more like a non-factor. Perhaps it's the fact that a single turn with a Criminal is nothing new, nor is it providing a unique bonus that others can't do better. The Insane factor in his 3rd power requires the opponent to hurt him to trigger, so it could not come into play before it's no longer a possibility, and it also requires drafting Insane figures that are just sitting around until that point(at this stage anyways, which I hope to expand upon in the future with Black Mask which should help).

Really, they only change I feel is needed is something else to set his Criminal bonding as something worth drafting him for. So an upgrade to Crime Syndicate is the thing I'm looking for. So I'm open to suggestions.

Points wise, 120-140 feels like where we're at, and I'd like to ultimately settle around 140 once we add the upgrade.

[johnny139]

I saw we were talking about miniatures in the other thread, figured we'd talk about it here so we can discuss it in context with his powers.

I think we should avoid the cheapest mini out there because he's flying with an umbrella and... well, this one can't do that. So I'd say there are our options:

The Penguin (No Man's Land #007) - About $1
The Penguin (Fast Forces: Batman and his Greatest Foes) - About $5
The Penguin (Gotham City Strategy Game) - About $8

I think the middle one is our best bet, but if it's not available the cheaper one would work, even if he is in a chair.

[Tornado]

Looking forward to seeing how that second battle turns out. The Hired Guns can really throw the lead but The WC may be able to shrug it off and pulverize them.

[Yodaking]

I do own the Gotham City Game so I could get us pics of that one. Didn't even think about it when the call for a mini was made in the other thread.

[Arkham]

Initials are in. So far, I'm satisfied with how the design is playing, other than Crime Syndicate not feeling unique or useful enough. Overall the design doesn't feel worth drafting, and I think an upgrade to Crime Syndicate to offer some sort of additional quality, would help change that. As of now, he's ok for an initiative boost(with potential no boost or drawback), and the Insane aspect is pretty minor and can be hard to trigger/rely on in a timely manner. But I like both of those powers and how they operate. It's Crime Syndicate that feels like it's lacking.