The Book of Spike

[Ronin]

The Book of Spike

C3G DARK HORSE WAVE 30
TOIL AND TROUBLE


Comic PDF


Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Repainted Heroclix figure from the Superman set.
Its model number and name are #028 / Manchester Black.

Tutorial on How to Repaint this Figure

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Character Bio - In life, Spike was known as William the Bloody... for his bloody awful poetry. William was an object of scorn, until the day he was sired by Drusilla and became a vampire. Under his new nom de guerre, Spike toured and terrorized the world with his love, Drusilla. Their relationship eventually came to an end in Sunnydale, as a result of Spike turning against Dru and helping Buffy to save the world.

After being dumped, Spike started walking a more noble path. He first joined Buffy's "Scooby Gang" due to circumstances beyond his control, but stuck around out of love for Buffy. Eventually he fought to regain his human soul and successfully won it back. He's teamed with the likes of Buffy and Angel to save the world several times, since his redemption.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a figure with a secret identity, Spike has these Secret Identity Synergies.
• As an Undead, Spike has these Undead Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• Spike may choose a Unique Hero you control that is a Slayer or Undead for his Undying Dedication special power.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• As a figure with a secret identity, Spike interacts differently with these special powers.
• As an Undead, Spike interacts differently with these special powers.

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Ronin
• Second playtest: Midgieboy
• Third playtest: IAmBatman
• Fourth playtest: Soundwarp
• Art: Comic, Figure, Background
• Art by Scapemage
• Figure repaint by Yodaking
• Spike created by Joss Whedon and portrayed by James Marsters

[Ronin]

NAME = SPIKE
SECRET IDENTITY = WILLIAM PRATT

SPECIES = UNDEAD
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = REBEL
PERSONALITY = PASSIONATE

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 6

MOVE = 6
RANGE = 1
ATTACK = 5
DEFENSE = 4

POINTS = 190

FOOL FOR LOVE
At the start of the game, you may choose a Unique Undead Hero or Unique Slayer Hero that you control to be Spike's Partner. After moving and before attacking with Spike's Partner, you may move Spike. Spike must end this move within 3 clear sight spaces of his Partner, if possible.

SUCKER PUNCH
Once per player turn, when an enemy figure adjacent to Spike is targeted for an attack by another figure you control, you may roll an unblockable attack die against that enemy figure.

HEALING
At the end of the round, remove 1 Wound Marker from this card.

[Ronin]

Comic art:

Spoiler Alert!

Prefer the first, because it's a callback to the cover we used for Angel's comic art. Can't find a higher-res version, though. Second one is pretty close to the mini we're using, which is nice.

And speaking of which, I'm leaning on one of the artsy types to come through with some mini pics here. May as well tag @japes , since he's offered his services.

[Ronin]

Okay, this write-up has not changed a lot in the last few years, but I still really like it. Big bucket list item for me. Thoughts/feelings?

[johnny139]

I have no Buffy knowledge but I like the mechanics.

I'm iffy on Punk as a class, though. Don't know him well enough to offer alternatives. And is letting him bond with any Unique Undead Hero really thematic? Like, is he often hanging with zombies and Frankensteins and so on?

[Ronin]

Originally Posted by johnny139

I have no Buffy knowledge but I like the mechanics.

I'm iffy on Punk as a class, though. Don't know him well enough to offer alternatives.

You could maybe abstract Punk out to Rebel or something? I'm not married to it.

And is letting him bond with any Unique Undead Hero really thematic? Like, is he often hanging with zombies and Frankensteins and so on?

I mean, we could try to capture 'vampires' more specifically, but I think that ship is pretty well and truly sailed.

[johnny139]

Rebel works better for me just based on reuse. Might end up giving him some weird synergy down the line but that wouldn't be a first.

[Scapemage]

More Undead stuff!

I also have no Buffy knowledge but this guy seems pretty straightforward.

[MrNobody]

My first impression was very against Rebel, but it would be a sort of Billy Idol reference which I’m for.

[Ronin]

The gist of Spike, for the unfamiliar, is that he was kind of a nebbish poet as a human. He gets vamped and is a legitimately evil/threatening villain for a long time: running around in evil vampire circles, summoning demons, terrorizing the countryside, etc.

In particular, he's tight with and Drusilla, the vampire who turned him and remains his main romantic interest for a hundred years and change. Worth noting that despite being an impulsive, violent type and all around evil, he isn't as bad as pretty much all the other vampires in the lore. Somehow, he's still a romantic, even as a soulless undead monster.

He eventually ends up breaking good to help Buffy save the world from Angelus and Drusilla. It's a temporary alliance of convenience and more down to pragmatism than nobility, but it does end his relationship with Drusilla. After the break-up, Spike is still evil, but too much of an emotional wreck to be a significant threat to anything other than perhaps a liquor store.

Then, embarrassingly, he gets captured by a government operation that's experimenting on supernatural monsters. He gets tagged with a microchip that inflicts terrible pain on him whenever he tries to hurt a human. He's super disappointed until he figures out that he can still hurt demons and undead. So he starts fighting for the forces of good, for basically the worst possible reason.

That said, with the option to do evil (directly at least) taken away from him, he does have a redemptive arc. He falls in love with Buffy, becomes a full-fledged member of the gang, and gets his soul back. He also joins Angel's team and has a nice little rivalry with Angel in the excellent final season of Angel.

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Despite the arc, the core of the character is pretty consistent between his evil phase (where he's tagging along with Drusilla and co) and his good phase (where he's tagging along with Buffy and co).

There's maybe an argument for trying to hit Drusilla by class instead of by species, for a little better symmetry, but I'm not sure there's an 'obvious' Drusilla class. Also not sure when and if we'll get around to actually designing her. She's not as big a player as Spike in the Buffy lore. Plus I just like throwing Undead a bone and letting him pair with Angel.

Originally Posted by MrNobody

My first impression was very against Rebel, but it would be a sort of Billy Idol reference which I’m for.

I'm still kind of mulling over Rebel to see how I feel about it, but that's a pretty solid argument.

[Yodaking]

I kind of like Rebel, but I didn't watch the show much at all.

[IAmBatman]

I like the entire Undead bonding because then if there's an undead "big bad" that he was involved with, he can still move and get in his sucker punches.

Still really dig this one overall.

Can't wait to pair him with Bump and Set.