The Book of Hela

[Arkham]

The Book of Hela

C3G MARVEL WAVE 30
TOIL AND TROUBLE

Comic PDF



Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Hammer of Thor set.
Its model number and name are #050/Hela.

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Character Bio - Hela was born aeons ago to the being who would one day be called Loki and the sorceress giantess Angrboda. On the day of her maturity, Odin appointed her as goddess and ruler of the northernmost realms of the dead. Her special dominion was over the souls of all who did not die in battle, while Odin himself built the palace Valhalla to house the souls of all of those who died as heroes. In recent years, when Odin’s attention had strayed from the maintenance of Valhalla, Hela tried to annex that realm to her own, hoping to consolidate her power over all Asgard’s dead. Eventually Odin grew aware of her ambitions and opposed them. In the course of battle, Odin’s band of Valkyrior, the custodians of Valhalla, lost their physical forms, no longer able to travel from Valhalla except in their wraith-like astral forms. Hela gave up her contest for Valhalla when Odin vowed to keep better watch over it in future, and she returned to her realms. Although, Hela's province is over Asgard's dead, she has occasionally formed alliances with other death gods, including Pluto (the Olympian god of death), and has held court with many rulers of demonic realms such as Blackheart, Dormammu, Mephisto and Satannish. - Marvel.com
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• Hela is an Event Hero and follows Event Hero rules.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As an Asgardian, Hela has these Asgardian Synergies.
• As a Hell Lord, Hela has the following Hell Lord Synergies.
• Hela's Queen of Hel special power activates when Hela or a Thrall you control destroys an opponent's Unique Hero or any Unique Asgardian Hero is destroyed.

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• As an Asgardian, Hela interacts differently with certain special powers.
• As an Event Hero, Hela interacts differently with certain special powers.
• As a figure with the Super Strength special power, Hela interacts differently with certain special powers.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Arkham
• Initial playtest 2: Arkham
• Second playtest: L0B5T3R
• Third playtest: Ronin
• Fourth playtest: Soundwarp
• Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by Arkham

[Arkham]

NAME = HELA

SPECIES = ASGARDIAN
UNIQUENESS = EVENT HERO
CLASS = HELL LORD
PERSONALITY = CONNIVING

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 7

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 5
ATTACK = 4
DEFENSE = 7

POINTS = 525

TOUCH OF DEATH
When attacking an adjacent figure with Hela's normal attack, each skull rolled counts as an additional hit. If the defending figure receives one or more wounds, you may roll the 20-sided die, subtracting the defending figure's remaining Life number from the roll. If you roll 15 or higher, the defending figure is destroyed.

QUEEN OF HEL
Immediately after an opponent's Unique Hero is destroyed by Hela or a Thrall you control, or any Unique Asgardian Hero is destroyed, you may place the destroyed figure on this Army Card. Before attack dice, defense dice, or the 20-sided die is rolled for Hela or for a Thrall you control, you may remove any number of figures from this Army Card and add a skull, shield, blank, or 1 to that roll for each figure removed.

GODDESS OF DEATH
Once per game, after taking a turn with Hela you may choose a destroyed Unique Hero on this card. For the rest of the game, the chosen figure has the class of Thrall instead of what is listed on its card. Take control of the chosen Hero and its card. Place the chosen figure adjacent to Hela and place or remove Wound Markers on its card until it has up to 3 Life remaining.

SUPER STRENGTH

[Arkham]

Comic:

Spoiler Alert!

Background:

Spoiler Alert!

Figure:

Spoiler Alert!

[Arkham]

I'm pretty happy about where the design is currently at. However, Goddess of Death is a bit up in the air for me. From what I've read, she doesn't really bring people back to life often, so I'm not quite sure if it's worth putting on the card. So I'm open to some ideas to round out the design that capture the character and fulfill her role on the battlefield.

[Ronin]

Awesome! Psyched to see you start up another design.

She might be a bit too tough with those stats and Mystical Redirect at 9.

I feel like Hela's really often reluctant to let go of souls. You could do something with that, like preventing destroyed figures from coming back to the game, but it might be a bit niche.

[Arkham]

Originally Posted by Ronin

Awesome! Psyched to see you start up another design.

She might be a bit too tough with those stats and Mystical Redirect at 9.

I feel like Hela's really often reluctant to let go of souls. You could do something with that, like preventing destroyed figures from coming back to the game, but it might be a bit niche.

I was thinking of something like that myself. It'd be a nice counter to those who can come back to life, the soul gem, and anyone in the future that can potentially resurrect.

I'm also playing with the idea of her extending the life of someone upon death, by keeping them at 1-2 wounds away from death if they were to be destroyed. Not sure where to take it, but I'd like something simple but useful.

We could always start with Redirect at 13 and feel it out in testing.

[Arkham]

What about something like:

GODDESS OF DEATH
Anytime a Unique Hero is destroyed, you may roll a 20-sided die. If you roll 6 or higher, take control of the Unique Hero and its Army Card and remove all Order Markers from that Army Card.

Essentially makes her a huge counter pick to those who can come back to life, which may be an issue or just flat out un-fun for the other player, but it's where my mind goes in terms of an interesting/useful way to play up that power of taking control of someone's soul. Still a bit niche though. Hmmm...

Alternatively we could just run with something else entirely and ditch the Goddess of Death focused power. Teleportation, Illusion, Mystic Bolts etc. are other possibilities. There's always the Touch of Death insta-kill as well:

TOUCH OF DEATH
Instead of attacking, you may choose an adjacent figure and roll the 20-sided die, subtracting the chosen figure's remaining Life number from the roll. If you roll 12 or higher, the chosen figure is destroyed.

Which could in all honesty be combined with the prior proposed Goddess of Death:

GODDESS OF DEATH
Instead of attacking, you may choose an adjacent figure and roll the 20-sided die, subtracting the chosen figure's remaining Life number from the roll. If you roll 12 or higher, the chosen figure is destroyed. Anytime a Unique Hero is destroyed by Goddess of Death, take control of the Unique Hero and its Army Card and remove all Order Markers from that Army Card.

It'd work really well in combo with Hand of Glory. In fact, if we really want to connect it all, the roll for Goddess of Death could come after using Hand of Glory.

[Arkham]

That'd give us:

HAND OF GLORY SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 1. Attack 3.
When attacking with Hand of Glory Special Attack, each skull rolled counts as an additional hit, and each blank rolled counts as 3 additional skulls. Hand of Glory Special Attack can only be used once per round.

GODDESS OF DEATH
After attacking with Hand of Glory Special Attack, you may roll the 20-sided die, subtracting the defending figure's remaining Life number from the roll. If you roll 12 or higher, the chosen figure is destroyed. Anytime a Unique Hero is destroyed by Goddess of Death, take control of the Unique Hero and its Army Card and remove all Order Markers from that Army Card.

MYSTICAL REDIRECT 13
If Hela is attacked by an opponent's non-adjacent figure, choose either the attacking figure or a figure within 6 clear sight spaces of Hela and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 13 or higher, ignore that attack and the chosen figure receives a wound.

SUPER STRENGTH

[Ronin]

Hmm. I'll have to think that one over. It feels a little weird that Goddess of Death is essentially an extension of Hand of Glory, but it works.

Might be a slightly better theme point for her to be a Lord/Lady to match up with Pluto? Not sure she needs the Moloids and I like them being in the same grouping.

[Arkham]

I've thought about just changing her Class to Goddess.

As for it being an extension of Hand of Glory, not a make or break for me, I just like powers working hand-in-hand with one another, but it's not required. It reminds me a lot of Darksei'd Omega Beam Special Attack and Ultron's Special Attack + Special. You're attacking, with a follow-up d20 roll to destroy. If she's using her Hand of Glory to deal a powerful blow to her opponent, if the force itself doesn't kill the opponent, her touch can potentially finish the job. Which in turn means she's around to take the soul. So logically it works for me.

[Ronin]

Goddess feels a bit generic. My preference would be Lord/Lady and then Ruler. I'd like her to have something that works as a good synergy hook for dead Asgardians.

I like the idea of her death power working extra well for Asgardians (since she's always in charge of their dead, but others only when they die in a locale or situation where she has 'jurisdiction'). I'm not sure exactly how that would gel with the current incarnation of her power, so I'll have to think that over.

[Arkham]

We could always combine Hand of Glory with the Touch of Death part of Goddess of Death, since they are the parts that naturally fit together. If she's hitting them with her fist, enough to cause at least 1 wound, that's when it's most likely she'd be able to touch their skin for Touch of Death.

HAND OF GLORY SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 1. Attack 3.
When attacking with Hand of Glory Special Attack, each skull rolled counts as an additional hit, and each blank rolled counts as 3 additional skulls. If Hela's Hand of Glory Special Attack inflicts at least one wound, you may roll the 20-sided die, subtracting the defending figure's remaining Life number from the roll. If you roll 13 or higher, the chosen figure is destroyed. Hand of Glory Special Attack can only be used once per round.

MYSTICAL REDIRECT 13
If Hela is attacked by an opponent's non-adjacent figure, choose either the attacking figure or a figure within 6 clear sight spaces of Hela and roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 13 or higher, ignore that attack and the chosen figure receives a wound.

SUPER STRENGTH

Then we'd just need to figure out how to simply introduce the Goddess of Death aspect of taking their soul into the 3rd power. Then you could include the dynamic of easier to gain the soul of an Asgardian compared to others.