Ninja's Customs: Niydac 3/24/2020

[Ixe]

Always nice to see a member sharing some customs, even a familiar face ! I look forward to seeing more designs from you in the future.

Knights of the Valedon
Two figure unique squads have it rough, about as rough as it gets. You lose one and you cut their efficacy in half. I like the side-by-side dynamic and they are quite inexpensive but these buddy cops are going to be a challenge to use productively. The champion synergy further stretches your order markers to try to take advantage of that.

Edward Nessing
Van had a long lost brother who also had a divine mission and became infected by a lycanthrope? The theme just isn't working for me on that front given Van Nessing's bio. As far as the wording for Brother's Keeper, I would try something like this:

If Van Nessing receives one or more wounds, if Edward Nessing is adjacent to Van Nessing, you may instead place up to 3 of those wounds on Edward Nessing. You may not use Brother's Keeper if it would destroy Edward Nessing. You may only use Brother's Keeper once per game.

This is assuming that it is supposed to be a reaction ability (it is unclear from the wording). If it is supposed to be more of a heal ability that Edward uses on his turn, I would say:

Once per game, after moving and before attacking, you may choose an adjacent, wounded Hero named Van Nessing. You may remove up to 3 wound markers from Van Nessing's Army Card and place that many wound markers on Edward Nessing's Army Card. You may not use Brother's Keeper if it would destroy Edward Nessing.

In any case, I must agree that he is mostly a worse version of Van Nessing for 10 more points. Despite being a support unit, they fight each other for order markers and make it difficult to use his ability to aid his brother in the first place.

Mar-Kor-Na
I'll buy him for a Marro. It's tough to find miniatures for what was such a distinctive race. Tunneling Rupture seems like a cool power (the extra mention of "after his movement" is redundant) that can give a little bit more mobility. I'd imagine I'm rolling that for adjacent figures for the majority of the time so I can still attack in case I whiff. The chance to destroy a figure outright will probably be enough of a threat to make him quite the target. Fortunately bonding with Romans (let's not worry about the groks ) will give him some support in that capacity. He seems solid. Why was Petrifying chosen over Terrifying?

J-42 Oppression Troopers
I'm liking the evil Mariedians. I'd imagine they are from the time before the soulborgs rose? Or are they evil collaborators. Very cool. Hold the Line is narrow but nicely thematic. In Flank the Enemy, "after the turn is completed" is redundant and you only need to say "move up to 3 spaces" (no need for maximum). Is that additional attack with all Mariedians moved this way or with only one of them. If it is with all 3, then these guys are looking awfully powerful for their points.

Druin
Blade of Fury is potentially quite good on a life drainer but will probably lend itself to be swingy. Otherwise he seems like a solid beater for his cost who will eat up your order markers and hopefully deal some real damage along the way. Very cool unit.

Draugr the Kyrie Warrior
I've been contemplating using this guy as a Valkrill Kyrie myself for my own designs. I was a little on the fence but I think he works. Rules-wise I'm a little uncertain if the number of wounds on the cards would be checked only after your first attack or if you would determine whether or not you still attack after each swing. I think it needs to be the former since he can attack other figures which can lead to oddities. He's nicely anti-hero if not quite vulnerable for his cost. Considering all of the top tier heroes at 120 I think his points are looking a tad high.

Egrok the Master
I like Ogre Mages. Maybe I should take a crack at one. In any case, I always appreciate some more synergy so I enjoy him leading his brethren with Binded Mind. Evil-Eye Entrapment feels a little weird since he's not cyclopean but I guess both his eyes can be evil. Is it your intent that you cannot also attack if you roll high enough to remove an order marker from the opponent? I could actually see passing on it from time to time if I really need the attack if that is the case. If playing him with Gurei Oni, I could you''l want to give him order markers while also painting a big target on his head (especially since they only risk retribution making ranged attacks on Gurei Oni). His move of 4 is also unusually low.

Some cool customs here. I look forward to seeing more of your designs!

[Ninja Status]

Thanks for the feedback, Ixe!

My most recent custom design, thanks to some help from Dad_Scaper, is done. Enjoy.


The miniature I used for this guy is the D&D Aberrations Dragon Samurai.

[Just_a_Bill]

I like Kozu's new name! This is a nice custom. I don't use very many non-VC customs at all, but this guy might be one of the few that won't let me forget him. If the miniature was a bit more available/affordable, I would suggest you submit it to SoV.

His punctuation is misbehaving just a tad, though. You'll want to delete the one right after "Range" and add the three shown in red.

BLADE OF THE DRAGON SPECIAL ATTACK
Range[.] 1[.] Attack 3[.]
When attacking a large or huge figure with Blade of the Dragon Special Attack, Komatso Kozu may attack that figure one additional time. If Komatso Kozu destroys the defending figure with the second attack, you may remove one wound marker from this Army Card.

COUNTER STRIKE
When rolling defense dice against a normal attack from an adjacent attacking figure, all excess shields count as unblockable hits on the attacking figure. This power does not work against other Samurai[.]

[Ninja Status]

Thanks for the feedback/advice, JaB. I'm currently browsing for a more available miniature that might be able to replace the Dragon Samurai. If I find one perhaps SoV submission would be an option.

[Ninja Status]

Here's my newest custom idea.

The miniature I used is the Pathfinder Half-orc Adept. I couldn't find anything on abprices (when I typed in the name of the miniature nothing came up) so I'm not sure on the availability. Thoughts?

[Heroscaper Guy]

Originally Posted by Ninja Status

Here's my newest custom idea.

The miniature I used is the Pathfinder Half-orc Adept. I couldn't find anything on abprices (when I typed in the name of the miniature nothing came up) so I'm not sure on the availability. Thoughts?

Is it from a set not quite out yet? If I recall Pathfinder is about to release another miniature set and that might be the one.

[Ninja Status]

@Son of Arathorn and I put this together shortly after I showed him my most recent custom design, which needed work. Here's what we came up with.
Keleki


NAME = KELEKI
GENERAL = AQUILLA
PLANET = GRUT
SPECIES = AVIAN
UNIQUENESS = COMMON HERO
CLASS = HUNTER
PERSONALITY = FEROCIOUS
SIZE/HEIGHT = LARGE/6

LIFE = 1
MOVE = 7
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 3
POINTS = 30

VICIOUS BITE:
When a Keleki attacks a small or medium figure with a normal attack, that Keleki receives 1 additional attack die.

WILD BATTLE FRENZY
After attacking with a Keleki, roll the 20-sided die. Add 3 to your die roll if at least 1 other Wild figure is adjacent to that Keleki. If you roll a 16 or higher, you must attack again with that Keleki, if possible.

WILD HUNTER BONDING
After revealing an order marker on this Army Card, before taking a turn with a Keleki, you may take a turn with another Hunter Hero you control.


The miniature used is the Pathfinder Terror Bird. Availability isn't much of an issue, and I suspect there will be higher numbers in the near future, but here's what I found after a short search:
Auggies - 44
eBay - 26
Troll and Toad - 5
Coolstuff Inc - 10+

[TheAverageFan]

Keleki: With an Attack value of 5 (most of the time) and an enhanced Battle Frenzy, that's one crazy chicken for 30 points! I find it strange that Wild Hunter Bonding applies to any Hunter Hero, and not any Wild Hunter Hero, since it's called Wild Hunter Bonding. I'd give it less grief if Wild weren't already an extremely common Personality, plus it also has another "Wild" power, and that one does require a Wild figure. Why not just call it "Hunter Bonding"? Otherwise, it's a cool and plenty destructive Common Hero.

~TAF

[Marro_Warlord]

Cucco Rage! In Heroscape!
Moving on, I like how they synergize with each other, like gaining extra attacks. The bonding is good, but I think the name might need some clearing up. Also, why not pair them with the Marro Drudge? Wild Hunter Bonding could help those under-appreciated squads!

[Son of Arathorn]

Ah, shoot. Knew I forgot something. The power started out functionally as Wild Hunter Bonding, and was changed to Hunter Bonding later (without the accompanying name-change).

Changing the power name to match the text okay by you, @Ninja Status ?

[Ninja Status]

Originally Posted by Son of Arathorn

Ah, shoot. Knew I forgot something. The power started out functionally as Wild Hunter Bonding, and was changed to Hunter Bonding later (without the accompanying name-change).

Changing the power name to match the text okay by you, @Ninja Status ?

Makes sense to me. I'll make the necessary changes and post the fixed version soon.

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

[Just_a_Bill]

Originally Posted by Ninja Status

NAME = KELEKI
PERSONALITY = FEROCIOUS
...
WILD BATTLE FRENZY
After attacking with a Keleki, roll the 20-sided die. Add 3 to your die roll if at least 1 other Wild figure you control is adjacent to that Keleki. If you roll a 16 or higher, you must attack again with that Keleki, if possible.

That word "other" is out of place since the Keleki itself is not Wild. You can address the mismatch by deleting that word or by changing the bird's personality to Wild.

Also, I'm not sure whether you want an opponent's adjacent wild figure to trigger this, but if not then throw in a "you control" where indicated.