C3G Session Report

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Hey Folks, I posted a C3G AAR on BGG, OK!
Here it is in its entirety, but the cool little MP3 mood music isn't working on this site. I'll try to fix the error.

Here's the thread with cool atmospheric music!

Last night, I tried my hand at some custom Heroscape Superhero units, courtesy of the talented and devoted C3G designers at Heroscapers.com. The chosen DC Comics characters were Heroclix miniatures in my collection since the early days of Heroscape and the custom superheroes Robin Spriggs (Capes and Cowls) designed and had shared.

These card images were obtained from the units’ entries on the Heroscapers.com’s C3G forum.




Two sets of Man-Bat Assassins squads were the opposition to Slade’s rescue mission.
I bypassed their unique limitation of one per army composition in order for their combined 300-points total to compliment Slade’s 280 points.

The scenario was an improv affair utilizing a swamp-based map from a previous game night. Four glyphs placed as consistently as possible, seven hexes from the four, middle hexes of the layout. Slade Wilson, Deathstroke, was to find an abducted Batgirl by discovering the Summoning glyph. Then both characters would have to exit the map by way of a generic glyph of Brandar artifact (not shown, but during gameplay, I randomly switched it out with one of the glyphs on the map. Bat-Girl would have no attack, but just used for movement and defense.


Deathstroke beginning on a random hex of a four-space plateau.


As you read this session report, play this background music to accompany the pictures. Music by Tanner.

The Man-Bat Assassins moved first, three closing in on three of the four glyphs spaces. They would see where Slade would move on his turn and respond accordingly.


Deathstroke went for the glyph where no Man-Bat Assassin had flown towards.
On his way, he took a shot at a nearby enemy.
His Quick Shot Special Attack is a nifty design, allowing him an average, unmodifiable attack of 3 at 5 range with the defender rolling two less dice. Following the attack, the one-eyed mercenary is allowed a bonus three-space movement. Here the Man-Bat defends without the benefit of height or jungle terrain bonuses (-2).
Regardless of the deficiency, the Man-Bat Assassin just needed one shield to block the skulls.

After the Special Attack, Deathstroke moved three spaces and made it to the first glyph.
Was it Bat-Girl? Nope. The glyph of Healing was revealed and its one-time use would stay in play if Slade could utilize its benefit or the Man-Bat Assassins summoning back one of their fallen.


On their turn, the flying assassins closed the gap between themselves and Slade.
When it was his turn activate again, Deathstroke hustled across the platform to reach the far side of the map. Here, he takes a shot with Quick Shot again to utilize the bonus movement and hopefully avoid the winged assassins’ vicious claws.


The targeted Man-Bat Assassin avoids the attack with one shield blocking all damage.


On their turn, one of the assassins assaults Slade with its Claw Grab. Ending its movement and pulling Deathstroke along, the bat creature then rolls one undefendable die, hoping for a skull. Lucky for Slade it’s a shield.


But the Man-Bat Assassins are not done with Slade. They both attack Deathstroke and this is where it gets quite fun playing the mercenary during the opponent’s turn.


Deathstroke has a neat little ability called Calculated Defense.
The player has an option to defend with as little as two of Deathstroke’s five defense die.
Regardless if he is hit or not, if Deathstroke is not destroyed by the attack, he gets to roll his remaining defense dice. Any shields rolled from these dice count as unblockable hits on the attacking character. So, if minimal skulls are rolled, the player can choose to roll the minimum amount and save the rest for hopeful Counterstrikes on low-on-their-life heroes or 1-life units.

Documented below, the Man-Bat Assassin rolled two skulls. Deathlock, using his Calculated Defense rolls the minimum of two dice with the result of one shield. One skull is blocked while the other deals Deathstroke a hit. Now he rolls the remaining of his three defense dice and gets one shield equal to one hit back on the Man-Bat Assassin. Dead!


On his turn, Deathstroke deals with the other Man-Bat and heals exactly one wound due to his Healing Factor ability. Now if he can only gain the initiative roll for the next round.


9 to 18. No luck.
Interestingly enough, for the entire game, Slade never won the initiative roll for this game.


On their first activation another Man-Bat Assassin catches up with and snags Deathstroke and deals one insulting wound to him

Attempting to damage Deathstroke proper, the creature rolls only 1 skull!
Deathstroke employs his Calculated Defense ability, rolls no shields on two dice (inflicting another wound), but rolls the remainder of his defense (3 dice) and lands 1 shield!
Die Assassin!
NOTE: I hadn’t yet laid down the ‘1’ turn marker for the Man-Bat Assassins.


Another Assassin flies to the Healing glyph and restores their fallen comrade.
This newly generated ally, flies to the other nearest glyph, waiting for a possible visit from Deathstroke.


On his activation, Deathstroke fires his Quick Shot Special Attack, killing another Assassin...

And with his bonus move of three, reaches the glyph to reveal...Bat Girl!
They must now exit the board via one of the two unrevealed glyphs.
I rolled the D20 to randomly determine which glyph would be the exit.
The result was the far glyph protected by two Assassins. Deathstroke and Bat-Girl would have to make their way back across the map.


As they begin to set off, they see another Assassin approach from across the boggy stream.
It’s furious and wants revenge for its fallen brethren.


Deathstroke and Bat-Girl set off to avoid the confrontation with the Assassin.
But that doesn’t stop Slade from taking a shot at the creature…
Slade rolls one skull while the creature easily defends with two shields.


Deathstroke has moved to the front along the path and doesn’t realize he’s endangered Bat-Girl’s rear. The creature strikes for two skulls, but Bat-Girl defends with three shields.
Her cape is shredded, but her vitals and major arteries remain intact, for now.


On their turn Bat-Girl disengages and moves on towards the exit glyph.
Slade charges forward and battles another Assassin: two skulls, but he creature matches it with two shields.


The other two Assassins converge on Bat-Girl.
She is in an extremely dangerous position, fending off the talons and bites of these furied flyers.




Bat-girl cannot defend successfully, but luckily only takes one wound thanks to the weak attack.


Another Man-Bat Assassin strikes out at Deathstroke.
Again using Calculated Defense, Deathstroke is hit for two wounds.
He rolls the extra three dice and counterstrikes the beast, killing it instantly.


On his activation, Deathstroke makes a full-powered attack with height advantage (6+1), but comes up with just two skulls. The lower Man-Bat Assassin easily defends with three shields.


When the action returns to the assassins, one of them disengages with Bat-Girl and Claw Grabs Deathstroke, inflicting one skull and and depositing the merc on a space lower in order to gain height advantage.

Luckily for Deathstroke, the creature rolls two skull and he matches, again using Calculated Defense, with two shields.
The remaining dice are rolled and the beast is destroyed with a counterstrike shield!


The last Assassin attacks Deathstroke for three skulls.
Deathstroke rolls just one shield and suffer two wounds.


Deathstroke gains level footing with the beast and strikes for three skulls.
BLAM!



BLAM!


Bat-Girl and Deathstroke escape with a victory!

Post-Game Thoughts:
This was a fun battle to play. Previous to it, I tried the matches four times with varying success.
I played a few things wrong on those previous games, but had ironed out most of the wrinkles by this game.

Deathstroke
Deathstroke is a hoot to play. The Quick Shot Special Attack enables him to move with no engagement swipe penalties to boot, up to nine spaces during a turn. I wonder, can he still use the Special Attack even if there aren’t any enemies to shoot at in order to gain the three bonus movement?

His Calculated Defense is a sweet reply to swarming squads who may not hit hard. If they do hit more than three skulls, Deathstroke has the Plan B option to rely on his normal five defense. Heavy-hitting Heroes going toe-to-toe with Deathstroke would definitely lessen the effectiveness of his defensive ability.

In this game, Healing Factor seemed too potent against squads. Playing the Man-Bat Assassins more effectively, I should have piled up on the mercenary with two or three of the squad member attacks during a turn.

Man-Bat Assassins
Another enjoyable custom unit. I’m not familiar with them from my superhero comic-reading days but it’s apparent they snatch folk up and and can be nasty buggers to deal.

Bat-Girl
Sorry, Barbara, I only employed you as a hapless victim.
I’ll have to give you a thorough play-through next time.

Using customs from the Heroscape community was an enjoyable time.
The C3G designers’ time, effort and talent are appreciated. Thank you guys!
I’ve already purchased dozens of DC and Marvel Heroclix figures for more C3G custom battles!

[japes]

Fun read. Thanks for sharing. Calculated Defense is a great power.

[Tornado]

Very cool.
Thanks for posting that!

The Man-Bats are really good especially when bonding with the Hand Ninja.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Thanks for looking and replying, guys.

Originally Posted by Tornado

Very cool.
Thanks for posting that!

The Man-Bats are really good especially when bonding with the Hand Ninja.

I'll have a look-see about the Hand Ninja. I think their card is already printed out, too. I'll give them a try with the M-B A. Good to know. Thanks, Tornado.

Tonight the Wrecking Crew faced off against She-Hulk, Wonder Woman, Tigra and Hellcat.
It was as slugfest with the men losing to the women if only due to unlucky initiative rolls and occasional empty attacks at critical moments.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Wreckers vs FemForce
Being a battle between brutes n' beauties



I began documenting the session well into the first round. Here we see She-Hulk make an eight-space leap from her starting space to the bridge, blocking all Wrecking Crew members from gaining the high ground.

[A3n]

Cool reports Hex. Great read & looks like a lot of fun had.

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by A3n

Cool reports Hex. Great read & looks like a lot of fun had.

Oh, yeah! I'm really digging the C3G stuff.
I'm curious, are there rules for civilians? It would be neat to have a scenario in which the heroes have to protect and/or rescue innocent bystanders who react differently to a villain's attack or destruction of an environment or terrain feature.

Also, are there ways to round out point discrepancies between armies?
Things such as very minor characters, brave bystanders, glyphs and such.
It's not a huge issue, especially if the heroic army is down by 20-40 points.
The situation for them feels more desperate.
But just in case, is there anything I can do to balance them as much as possible?

Thanks!

[A3n]

Originally Posted by Hex_Enduction_Hour

Oh, yeah! I'm really digging the C3G stuff.
I'm curious, are there rules for civilians? It would be neat to have a scenario in which the heroes have to protect and/or rescue innocent bystanders who react differently to a villain's attack or destruction of an environment or terrain feature.

Also, are there ways to round out point discrepancies between armies?
Things such as very minor characters, brave bystanders, glyphs and such.
It's not a huge issue, especially if the heroic army is down by 20-40 points.
The situation for them feels more desperate.
But just in case, is there anything I can do to balance them as much as possible?

Thanks!

No special rules for civilians. I think we talked about it at one point for a scenario but I don't recall it being used. Maybe just have them on the field & each player treats them like they are on their team when it's the other person's turn. That way each of you will activate the Panic power & try to get them in each others way. It would be nice & chaotic. Should be fun .

We do have figures starting from 10 points. In the index, there is a list by point value: http://www.heroscapers.com/community...71&postcount=2

[Hex_Enduction_Hour]

Originally Posted by A3n

We do have figures starting from 10 points. In the index, there is a list by point value: http://www.heroscapers.com/community...71&postcount=2

Ah-ha, perfect! I do recall seeing the Index based on points, but wasn't aware there were 'spare change' units. They look like a ton of fun!
Thank you.

[japes]

There is the hostage holdout scenario that A3n himself led so long ago that he has forgotten about it. There are also a few more in the works. When it comes time to test them I will be sure to keep you in mind.

[Tornado]

Great stuff Hex.

There was some work on designs for the Survivors from the Walking Dead. They would be around 10 points. Could be a long ways down the road though.

The suggestions from A3n and japes covers your question well.

There is an option for mages to fill in some points brewing in the Danger Room.
Join if you dare.