Competitive Unit Alters

[lefton4ya]

I really like what the Competitive Unit Congress is doing with units that are not generally tournament worthy and making them so with slight modifications. They playtest them in tournament situations and make sure the quality is great. However, I am too impatient to wait for their changes so have come up with some additional ones. I hope they don't take offense as they are not slow - they are spending quality time testing, while mine below are thrown together and barely playtested. They are meant to be played in tandem with CUC approved changes, and you can also play with other customs such as C3V, but that might prove overpowering. I recommend them for casual games and not any tourneys, unlike CUC. If you play any of the below, please let me know how they are. They were made in MSE with high-res dungeon style cards, so please excuse artifacts of mixing card backgrounds from older designs with the dungeon style.

You can download a single PDF of all the cards at 3/page here. (I updated for cards added/changed 9/16/14)
While you are at it, download the CUC Passed & Proposed cards at 3/page here.
Also, check out my Classic Customs to Fill in Holes.
If you like CUC & CUA changes, see other threads/users who have made their own modifications of HS cards to make them more competitive:
Competitive Unit Congress
@lefton4ya - Competitive Unit Alters
Custom Competition Balanced Unit Costs: Delta/Delta+ - Army Builder
@Dignan - Competitive Unit Errata
@rouby44 - Official Units Revisited or A thorough reexamination of Heroscape
@wriggz - Thematic Classic Redesigns
@TheSparkleInYourWater - Recreating Some Official Cards
Customs using Master Set Figures (RotV, SotM, BftU)
Everything is better with bonding! - Custom power mods


AQUILLA

Spoiler Alert!

Blue Wyrmling
Proposal: Change Defense from 3 to 4.
Logic: For 5 more point than other Wyrmlings, it needed something to make him better, and since the White Wyrmling already has 4 defense that was the easiest fix.


Brave Arrow
Proposal: Make Uncommon Hero.
Logic: Changing this BA is about making Mohican River Tribe better as they only have one bonding option, now it can be as many as you need.


Fyorlag Spiders
Proposal: Increase defense from 2 to 3 and change power ENTANGLING WEB to "... If you roll a 16 14 or higher..."
Logic: They need more survivability and an easier way to activate entangling web. They need to be playtested more to see if 3 defense is too much for a 40 point bonding squad.

EINAR

Spoiler Alert!

Ashigaru Yari
Proposal: Change ENCIRCLE SPECIAL ATTACK to "Range 1. Attack 6 Special. If 2, 3, or 4 Ashigaru Yari you control are adjacent to the same enemy figure, they may roll their attack dice as one combined attack of 4, 6, or 8. The defending figure compares height to the lowest Ashigaru Yari to determine any height advantage. Encircle Special Attack may only be used once per turn. If Encircle Special Attack is used, figures not involved in the attack but that moved this turn cannot attack may still do a normal attack."
Logic: The special attack should be easier to pull off, less of an all or nothing, and possibly even more powerful than before, especially to be chosen with Kato Katsuro as below


Kato Katsuro
Proposal: Change power KATO KATSURO'S COMMAND to "Instead of taking a turn with Kato Katsuro, you may take a turn with one up to two of the following that you control: • 1 Samurai Hero or 1 Samurai Squad, • 1 Ashigaru Harquebus Squad, • 1 Ashigaru Yari Squad. You may choose which Hero or Squad to activate first. Any figure in the above list that is taking a turn instead of Kato Katsuro must be within clear sight of Kato Katsuro before moving."
Logic: He needs more options than just him and a bunch of Ashigaru Harquebus and Ashigaru Yari. Now you can pick one of those common squads and then some Samurai unique heroes and squads, or just have more versatility of you want both common squads and some uniques.


Gurei-oni:
Proposal: Change personality from TORMENTING to WILD. Change general to Valkrill.
Logic: Bonds with Death Chasers of Thesk along with the other Ogres. I just picture this Lord of The Rings Ogre look-alike going with Orcs. Made Valkrill for the hell of it as he does have an "Evil Eye".


Master of the Hunt
Proposal: Reduce cost from 140 to 125 and change JAVELIN to "...If you roll a 16 an 11 or higher..."
Logic: He definitely needs to cost less, plus his javelin is not that great a power so needed a higher chance. I though of rolling before moving, but I like the fact the power is still somewhat unpredictable who you can attack.


Ninjas Of The Northern Wind:
Proposal: Add Ninja Hero Bonding & condense Disengage & Ghost Walk into Phantom Walk.
Logic: All the ninjas (besides Isamu) $uck - this helps a bunch, but remember they are still a unique squad so it is not overpowered. Makes Shiori great as you can just place the X order marker on her and take turns whenever. Isamu is overpowered with this, but the only other option was to have bonding with female ninjas, of which that has not been done before. In practice, only 1 or 2 ninja heroes are best with them and they never get more 3 attacks a turn. Best if used with range support. I use all the time, but let me know how you feel on the Ninjas as a whole on How would you help the Ninjas?


Retarius
Proposal: Increase life from 4 to 5. Change Net Trip 14 to Net Trip 11 "...If you roll a 14 an 11 or higher..."
Logic: Now Crixus has someone somewhat comparable in a gladiator army.

JANDAR

Spoiler Alert!

Dzu-Teh
Proposal: Change GLACIER CAMOUFLAGE to NATURE CAMOUFLAGE "If a Dzu-Teh is adjacent to a Glacier Mountain, Rock Outcrop, Tree, Palm Tree or Brush, opponent's figures must be adjacent to this Dzu-Teh to attack it with a normal attack."
Logic: They needed to be less terrain dependent and have more survivability against ranged commons.


Erevan Sunshadow
Proposal: Change Eladrin to Elf and add EVASIVE 1 (see ULLAR elves)
Logic: Eladrin are just an Elvish name for Elves, plus they also needed defense too. Now he can be part of the Elf Wizard Pod.


Greater Ice Elemental
Proposal: Decrease cost from 130 to 110
Logic: I think the unit is designed well, just costs too much for today's metagame and army size.


MacDirk Warriors
Proposal: Increase Defense from 2 to 3.
Logic: They are still no Knights of Weston, but at least they are close with only one less defense, and starting with one less attack but possibly a lot more.

ULLAR - Elves, Eladrin and Half-Elf:

Spoiler Alert!

All Elves except WoA (Acolarh, Arkmer, Aubrien Archers, Chardris, Emirroon, Jorhdawn, Kyntela Gwyn, Morsbane, Sonlen, Syvarris, Ulginesh) and all Eladrin and Half-Elves : Add EVASIVE 1 "When {uncTHIS()}{sqA()}{card.key_name_sing} rolls defense dice against an attacking figure who is not adjacent, add 1 defense die to the defense roll."
Logic: I think all the elves need extra help against range to stay alive, and I always pictured the elves as able to dodge arrows and bullets easily (maybe because of Hugo Weaving playing both Elrond & Agent Smith). They still have no help against melee squad armies and are still overpowered by ranged powerhouses such as 4th/10th and Major Q9. I play-tested EVASIVE 2 but that was too good. I may change where it is just 1 extra defense against Squad figures.

Acolarh
Proposal: Add EVASIVE 1. Change LEAF OF THE HOME TREE AURA to be "...you may roll 10 12 Ullar Valkyrie Dice..."
Logic: He definitely needs extra defense. Also, why not use all 12 dice that came with him? See Stats below to see the actual difference:

Spoiler Alert!

Chance of at least 3 symbols
10 dice: 22.48%
11 dice: 27.32%
12 dice: 32.26%

For an attack of 3 on 3 defense (WoA or Aubrien on height):
Chance of death
No aura: 51%
10 dice: 39.5%
11 dice: 37.1%
12 dice: 34.5%

Arkmer


Aubrien Archers


Brandis Skyhunter
Add EVASIVE 1 as above for elves (but still keep half-elf) and change Archer's Glory to "Each time Brandis Skyhunter destroys an opponent's non-adjacent Unique Hero figure, you make take another turn with Brandis Skyhunter."
Logic: He needed multiple attacks more easily to take on squads better, plus the defensive bonus of the elves.


Chardris


Emirroon


Jorhdawn


Kyntela Gwyn


Morsbane


Sharwin Wildborn
Proposal: Change Eladrin to Elf and add EVASIVE 1 as above for elves
Logic: Eladrin are just an Elvish name for Elves, plus he also needed defense too. Still kept a Battle Mage, so no Elf Wizard Pod.


Sonlen
Change to Wizard, in addition to adding EVASIVE 1 as above for elves.
Logic: You can use him in the Elf Wizard Pod, plus he also needed defense too


Syvarris


Ulginesh

ULLAR - Other

Spoiler Alert!

Deadeye Dan
Proposal: Increase Life from 3 to 5.
Logic: He does not last long - now he can. Makes him a great 60 point filler, on par with Zetacron and Sam Brown.


Elite Onyx Vipers
Proposal: Increase defense from 2 to 4, change EVASIVE 8 to EVASIVE 6.
Logic: They need more defense against the people they are attacking, after all they are ELITE.


Saylind
Proposal: Increase life from 4 to 5, Change FLYING to STEALTH FLYING.
Logic: Some other Kyrie heroes have 5 life and he needed more survivability. Stealth Flying helps him summon better.

UTGAR

Spoiler Alert!

Anubian Wolves
Proposal: Add power UNHOLY MOVEMENT BONDING "Before taking a turn with the Anubian Wolves, you may first move any small, medium, or large relentless Hero you control up to 6 spaces."
Logic: He can have Khosumet, Dumatef Guards, and Taelord follow them easier for their bonuses. Although with CUC Khosumet being cheaper and has an attack aura, it is not so bad. Same units as Death Knights so you can play both squads if you want (The Air Elemental, The Dumutef Guard, Khosumet the Darklord, Sir Hawthorne, Taelord the Kyrie Warrior, The Venoc Warlord).


Khosumet The Darklord
Proposal: Change cost from 75 to 50. Add power ONE SHIELD DEFENSE "When rolling defense dice, if Khosumet The Darklord rolls at least one shield, the most wounds it may take for this attack is one."
Logic: CUC Khosumet also changes the RELENTLESS ASSAULT to have "within 4 clear sight spaces" and I think this change is great, but overpowered when played with my above Anubian Wolves or many of the C3V/SoV changes, especially Knights of Blackgaard, Skull Demon, and the various Varkaanan Wolf Pack. This card is only meant to be played in tandem with my CUA Anubian Wolves or C3V/SoV Relentless/Varkaanan cards, otherwise use the CUC card.


Frost Giant of Morh
Proposal: Change from Fearless to Wild, Change BATTLE FRENZY to "After attacking with this Frost Giant of Morh, roll the 20-sided die. If this Frost Giant of Morh is on a snow or ice space, add 3 to your die roll. If you roll a 16 or higher, you may attack again take another turn with this Frost Giant of Morh. Battle Frenzy may be enhanced with Frenzy Enhancement and Berserker Charge Enhancement.
Logic: Now bonds with C3V Dreadgul Raiders who needed a cheaper Giant bonding hero. He also needed an easier way to attack more than one unit a turn. Plus being a Frost Giant, he should have some power based on tundra terrain.


Grok Riders
Proposal: Decrease Cost from 130 to 100. Increase Defense from 3 to 4. Change MARK OF THE WARLORD as follows "When attacking a figure that is adjacent to within 4 clear sight spaces of any Marro warlord you control..." Change WARLORD BONDING to MARRO WAR BONDING: "... you may take a turn with any Marro Warlord small, medium, or large Marro Hero you control."
Logic: Basically adapted CUC approved change so they can now bond with Kee-Mo-Shi & Tul-Bak-Ra. Now they are like Phantom Knights with bonding but without defensive bonus.


Isamu
Proposal: Increase cost from 10 to 15.
Logic: He is too good for his points - now Otanashi is your 10 point choice.


Iskra
Proposal: Change FLYING to STEALTH FLYING. Change SUMMON THE RECHETS OF BOGDAN to "...If you roll a 14 12 or higher...
Logic: Iskra and the Rechets need Disengage (Stealth Flying) to get into the foray easier. The 10% boost to summon helps a bit too.


Rechets of Bogdan
Proposal: Change FLYING to STEALTH FLYING.
Logic: See Iskra above.


Mind Flayer Mastermind
Proposal: Change cost from 100 to 85. Change ENSALVE 17 to ENSALVE 16 "...If you roll a 16 or higher...
Logic: With the release of SoV Cxurg'gyath, you will want an army with multiple Mind Flayers, so I they definitely needed the cost reduced. The 5% boost to Enslaving makes them a little more intimidating as Sharks.


Obsidian Guards
Proposal: Change LAVA THROW to "When an Obsidian Guard is on a molten lava space it may add 2 4 to its range. Otherwise, when a Obsidian Guard is adjacent to at least one figure with the Lava Resistant special power it may add 2 to its range."
Logic: They are rated D so need a lot of help, so I don't know if adding 2 to its range in post circumstances it that great. Will need some playtesting to see if they need more help, but they still are the only 4/4 squad in the game.


Sahuagin Raider
Proposal: Add power FEROCIOUS BONDING "Before taking a turn with Sahuagin Raider, you may first take a turn with any small, medium, or large ferocious hero you control that follows any general."
Ferocious heroes (non-huge): Feral Troll, Ice Troll Berserker, Rhogar Dragonspine, Sahuagin Raider, White Wyrmling, Wyvern.
Logic: I really wanted to help Sahuagin, the uncommon units, and Rhogar. Bonding with the Trolls and Rhogar helps them heal and get out of the way simultaneously. I also made a common squad with the same bonding options.


Shades of Bleakewoode
Proposal: Increase attack to 3. Change SOUL DEVOUR to "Before or after moving, ..." and add INSUBSTANTIAL 2 "A Shade of Bleakewoode adds 2 additional defense dice when rolling a defense against a normal attack from a figure who is not adjacent."
Logic: The soul devour is now possible unlike the original. They still cost 30 more than Phantom Knights - would you pay this for one more move and the chance to take over a hero?


Deathstalkers
Proposal: Change Maul to Maul Special Attack "Range 1. Attack 1, 2, or 3. Each Deathstalker may use Maul Special Attack instead of a normal attack. Choose any figure within range and attack by rolling 1, 2, or 3 atack dice. When rolling attack dice for Maul Special Attack against a small or medium figure, if you roll a skull on every die, the defending figure receives a wound for every skull, and cannot roll any defense dice."
Logic: A lot stronger as if you roll 1 die, as it is a 50% kill on commons regardless of their defensive bonuses and the SA bypasses most defensive powers. I like that you have to choose how many dice to roll.


Deathwalker 7000, 800, and 9000
Proposal: Make them all Common Heroes, and reduce cost of each by 20.
Logic: You loose less order markers if you have a spare, especially with the below or CUC card for Zettians, and with SoV Zettian Infantry and C3V Deathcommander Mark 3.

Deathwalker 7000
Proposal: Reduce cost from 100 to 80


Deathwalker 8000
Proposal: Reduce cost from 130 to 110


Deathwalker 9000
Proposal: Reduce cost from 140 to 120


Zettian Guards
Proposal: Add ability SOULBORG STRATEGIC BONDING "Before taking a turn with Zettian Guards, you may first take a turn with any Soulborg Hero you control that follows Utgar. If you take a turn with any Soulborg Hero you control who follows Utgar, you may not attack with the Zettian Guards this turn."
Logic: You can use the Zettians as GUARDS because they can move ahead of the deathwalkers. CUC has change at 55 point as a common squad, but that seems way too powerful.

VYDAR

Spoiler Alert!

Agent Carr
Proposal: Add power EVASIVE 2 "When Agent Carr rolls defense dice against an attacking figure who is not adjacent, add 2 defense dice to the defense roll." Also, condense Disengage & Ghost Walk into PHANTOM WALK.
Logic: I like that in melee he is 6 attack, 4 defense, and range he is 2 attack and now 6 defense. On par with Iron Golum and my below major X17.


Evar Scarcarver
Change FROST RAGE, to "... add 1 to Evar Scarcarver's Attack, Defense, and Move values for each wound marker on his Army Card.", and add power FROST MOVEMENT "Evar Scarcarver does not have to stop his movement when entering water spaces and is never attacked when leaving an engagement. Slippery Ice and Heavy Snow only count as 1 space when moving. Evar Scarcarver can use Frost Movement only if he ends his move adjacent to at least one enemy figure."
Logic: I have to admit, most of the changes are based on theme and the sculpt more than anything else, as he looks like he is speed skating everywhere. The combined Disengage, Slither, and Snow and Ice enhanced movement and up to 9 move make him a lot faster. I playtested with one extra life, and that was too powerful as it greatly increased his survivability by his FROST RAGE giving him even up to 8 defense on his last life and with 7 attack.


Major X17
Proposal: Increase Defense from 3 to 5. Change MELEE DEFENSE 4 to MELEE DEFENSE 2 "...adds 2 defense dice."
Logic: Now he gets 2 more defense against range and special attacks. He is comparable to Iron Golum now.

MARVEL (Copied from @IshMEL 's Valkyrie cards for Marvelscape figures)

Spoiler Alert!

Doctor Doom
Proposal: Reduce cost to 215. Change Mind Exchange 17: After taking a turn with Doctor Doom, you may choose any Unique Hero figure within 4 clear sight spaces of Doctor Doom. Roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 17 or higher, take temporary control of that figure and that figure’s Army Card and immediately take a turn with the chosen Army Card. Any figure taking a turn with Mind Exchange must be within clear sight of Doctor Doom before moving. At the end of that turn, control of the chosen Army Card returns to the player who controlled the Army Card before the Mind Exchange. All Order Markers that were on the chosen army card will stay on the card.
Logic: He definitely costs too much. Also, he needs to be better with squads.

Red Skull
Proposal: Reduce cost to 160. Change Master Manipulator: After revealing an Order Marker on Red Skull’s card, instead of taking that turn with Red Skull, you may take a turn with any Unique Hero or Squad that you control. Any figure that is taking a turn instead of Red Skull must be within clear sight of Red Skull before moving.
Logic: He definitely costs too much. Also, he needs to be better with squads.

Silver Surfer
Proposal: Change Cosmic Force Blast Special Attack: Range 5. Attack 5 ...
Change Hyper Speed 5 to Hyper Speed 4: After taking a turn with Silver Surfer, Silver Surfer may move up to an additional 4 spaces. Silver Surfer cannot use Hyper Speed 4 if he attacked with his Cosmic Force Blast Special Attack during that turn.
Logic: He is fine against range as is, but is overpowered against melee armies, so this card should only be used to nerf him in melee matchups.

 

[flameslayer93]

Casual Unit Alters

I think that CUA would be a better title(Casual Unit Alters) for this project. If your going on a whim with these unit alterations, I doubt that the CUC care, but a nice way to differentiate the two ideas(other than saying lefton4ya's project) is to change the name a bit.

On to the units(that I know)!!!

Syvarris:
Evasive 1 seems to be better suited for him(in fact that would work for the AA's too). Something to remember is that ranged units generally don't have better base stats than melee units(at least when it comes to Atk/Def). Sure evasive stops during adjacency, but it is still essentially a bonus 2 defense. Note this also would make Syvarris be a relatively good kiting unit when paired with Theracus. Bad news all around.

Deadeye Dan:
That boost from 3HP to 5HP seems like a 5 point increase would be in need. Similar to Syvarris being able to kite with Theracus, DED will be able to do as well, with a better HP count as well. My logic of adding in the 5 points? Deter players from Theracus/DED(revised) combos. Making a 105 point duo is painful to include in most armies.

Agent Carr:
Are you trying to make Chuck Norris? Seems pretty powerful to me(or even more so). A point bump to 110 might be in question. High stats for a low cost tend to make the game break a bit. And no, Stealth Dodge does not need to be implemented, it is the Krav's thing(not including the story on this one, but gameplay wise it would be unwise to make 2 units too similar, unless of course you did not own a Stealth Dodging unit).

Major X17:
Interesting. His heightened natural defense will make him less fearful of your Elves. Of course, we might be using slightly different scales here, I play casually and your making custom alteration for casual use(but designed to fit into the competitive metagame), so I could be wrong. As with Carr, a price bump to 110 might be in question.

Retiarius:
A few more steroids and a stronger net. Personally, I think leaving his Net Trip 14 at Net Trip 14 is your best bet. Something to remember is that Crixus is a defensive beast. His eye-patch wearing comrade is offensive. With Sparticus at the lead(with a big fat "X"), Retiarius is really a hero-slayer with 6 attack. A 50-50 chance to drop the defense of his prey to 1 is just too much. I think that his normal net is just fine.

Anubian Wolves:
Did you reduce the number of Wolves by 1? Your missing the last wolf's hit zone if you didn't. If you did, well you would need a picture with 1 fewer wolves. I'll wait until your response to this question to give my feedback on the Wolfies.

Deepwyrm Drow:
60 points might be the sweet spot for the Deepwyrm Drow. That would definitely require some testing to be sure.

Isamu:
I would just play him at 20 and be done with it. Or simply keep him at 10 points and make Vanish 9 into something like Vanish 13.

Sahuagin Raider:
A bonding power does not seem to be the best way to go. Perhaps Frenzy? If nothing else it seems a bit more thematic and will definitely be an interesting hit with Mittens. With that, I can see 100 points of revised Raiders killing Agent Carr.

Shades of Bleakewoode:
The fact that they can only Soul Devour at the start of their turn has always irked me a bit. Adding in the idea that they can use it before and after their move is a neat concept. It really makes you wanna see if they are capable of pulling their weight like the Phantom Knights(or perhaps lack of, as they are ghosts).

Deathstalkers:
Maul Special Attack would certainly pass at my table, and I think you have found an elegant way to create the "Death" in "Deathstalker"(without using Raelin anyways).

Deathwalker 9000:
Making him a Common Hero is a very impractical way to give this robot some love. If you wanted to draft him in multiples, I would highly recommend the change to an Uncommon Hero. Seeing 3 Deathwalker 9000s(as common heroes) and two squads of rats is not quite the same as seeing Q9 and rats. Q9 is able to be folded in half with some whiffs on his end, but in reality the chances of one experiencing a Deathwalker Roll is low as it is. Of course squads can continuously attack that number and typically win out, but trying that 3 times is almost unreal. Plus if you do have an OM on the DW9K card, if one dies you can still activate another. That's a lot of death. At least as an Uncommon Hero, you can reduce that from happening.

Zettian Guards:
Soulborg Strategic Bonding and a Common Squad status might be a bit much still. One of the things about Unique Squads is that they always have some sort of benefit that Commons do not have(if the Krav had the same powers as the Microcorp Agents would you use the Krav? Obviously no...). The reason the Zettians should stay as a Unique Squad(with the official card), is that massive 7 defense. No Common Squads have a base defense greater than 5. Now then, if we decided to keep that reasoning, we would need to at least drop their basic defense to 6. Because, if for nothing else, it will help to distinguish them from the Death Knights of Valkrill(both squads have an Attack based power, regardless of wording or effect and well as some form of bonding with this revised version of yours).

Overall, you didn't do too badly with MSE(it's obvious, the "artsy" mistakes are everywhere as well as many tell-tale parts of the cards). With some practice these cards could come to work nicely. Something to remember is that you can make it to where the text of powers does not appear by hitting the [...] button near the top of the window.

(Of course I could always just fix the cards if you want, with exception of Gueri).

Nice start lefton4ya!!!

 

[lefton4ya]

Re: Casual Unit Alters

I think that CUA would be a better title(Casual Unit Alters) for this project. If your going on a whim with these unit alterations, I doubt that the CUC care, but a nice way to differentiate the two ideas(other than saying lefton4ya's project) is to change the name a bit.

Thanks. I changed the name - couldn't think of a different word for mod(ification). Also, thanks for taking the time for constructive feedback as it really helps.

On to the units(that I know)!!!

Syvarris:
Evasive 1 seems to be better suited for him(in fact that would work for the AA's too). Something to remember is that ranged units generally don't have better base stats than melee units(at least when it comes to Atk/Def). Sure evasive stops during adjacency, but it is still essentially a bonus 2 defense. Note this also would make Syvarris be a relatively good kiting unit when paired with Theracus. Bad news all around.

I have playtested AA w/evasive 2 against ranged squads (10th/4th) and they still have trouble against them. However I never playtested Syvarris this way and with his extended range, maybe it is too much to have +2 defense, but I was going for consistency. FYI Theracus can't be used for kiting (running and gunning) as you can't move w/ Theracus and shoot with Syvarris on the same turn.

Deadeye Dan:
That boost from 3HP to 5HP seems like a 5 point increase would be in need. Similar to Syvarris being able to kite with Theracus, DED will be able to do as well, with a better HP count as well. My logic of adding in the 5 points? Deter players from Theracus/DED(revised) combos. Making a 105 point duo is painful to include in most armies.

At 5 life, he is on par with other 60 point heroes Zetacron or Sam Brown. With only 2 defense, an extra 2 life will allow him to take 1 or 2 more shots.

Agent Carr:
Are you trying to make Chuck Norris? Seems pretty powerful to me(or even more so). A point bump to 110 might be in question. High stats for a low cost tend to make the game break a bit. And no, Stealth Dodge does not need to be implemented, it is the Krav's thing(not including the story on this one, but gameplay wise it would be unwise to make 2 units too similar, unless of course you did not own a Stealth Dodging unit).

Maybe you are right on him being overpowered now, as basically he is now Iron Golem with phantom walk and a wimpy ranged attack to boot. I will have to playtest him more.

Major X17:
Interesting. His heightened natural defense will make him less fearful of your Elves. Of course, we might be using slightly different scales here, I play casually and your making custom alteration for casual use(but designed to fit into the competitive metagame), so I could be wrong. As with Carr, a price bump to 110 might be in question.

I think he is still a less powerful version of Iron Golum, but with Cyberclaw, so I think 100 points is still fair.

Retiarius:
A few more steroids and a stronger net. Personally, I think leaving his Net Trip 14 at Net Trip 14 is your best bet. Something to remember is that Crixus is a defensive beast. His eye-patch wearing comrade is offensive. With Sparticus at the lead(with a big fat "X"), Retiarius is really a hero-slayer with 6 attack. A 50-50 chance to drop the defense of his prey to 1 is just too much. I think that his normal net is just fine.

He needed 5 defense, but with just this change you would still never draft him over Crixus unless his Net Trip was a little more frequent. He is definitely more of a hero killer with this, though.

Anubian Wolves:
Did you reduce the number of Wolves by 1? Your missing the last wolf's hit zone if you didn't. If you did, well you would need a picture with 1 fewer wolves. I'll wait until your response to this question to give my feedback on the Wolfies.

Interesting - I got the card from his Heroscape.com image, which is missing one fig in the hit zone. I will have to fix.

Deepwyrm Drow:
60 points might be the sweet spot for the Deepwyrm Drow. That would definitely require some testing to be sure.

Yeah, he is still good at 70 with a bunch of chainfighters.

Isamu:
I would just play him at 20 and be done with it. Or simply keep him at 10 points and make Vanish 9 into something like Vanish 13.

Yeah, he could be upped to 20, but I think the game could use a 15 point unit.

Sahuagin Raider:
A bonding power does not seem to be the best way to go. Perhaps Frenzy? If nothing else it seems a bit more thematic and will definitely be an interesting hit with Mittens. With that, I can see 100 points of revised Raiders killing Agent Carr.

This change is probably the biggest change of all the ones I made and is more of a custom unit by itself than a modification. I may scrap this and make a custom ferocious squad that has the same bonding options, but I like the idea of a common hero that can bond with other heroes, including itself. The other idea is make him 15 or 20 points.

Shades of Bleakewoode:
The fact that they can only Soul Devour at the start of their turn has always irked me a bit. Adding in the idea that they can use it before and after their move is a neat concept. It really makes you wanna see if they are capable of pulling their weight like the Phantom Knights(or perhaps lack of, as they are ghosts).

Yea, they are definitely comparable to Phantom Knights now, although they cost more, they have one more move and one less defense against range, so you are paying 30 points for the chance to Soul Devour - which is not worth anything if you are playing mostly squads but worth a lot if against heroes.

Deathstalkers:
Maul Special Attack would certainly pass at my table, and I think you have found an elegant way to create the "Death" in "Deathstalker"(without using Raelin anyways).

I think this is the weakest change I made, but I like the extra choice of how many dice to roll each attack.

Deathwalker 9000:
Making him a Common Hero is a very impractical way to give this robot some love. If you wanted to draft him in multiples, I would highly recommend the change to an Uncommon Hero. Seeing 3 Deathwalker 9000s(as common heroes) and two squads of rats is not quite the same as seeing Q9 and rats. Q9 is able to be folded in half with some whiffs on his end, but in reality the chances of one experiencing a Deathwalker Roll is low as it is. Of course squads can continuously attack that number and typically win out, but trying that 3 times is almost unreal. Plus if you do have an OM on the DW9K card, if one dies you can still activate another. That's a lot of death. At least as an Uncommon Hero, you can reduce that from happening.

The whole point of a common hero is to reduce the chance of lost order markers - I'm not quite sure what you mean.

Zettian Guards:
Soulborg Strategic Bonding and a Common Squad status might be a bit much still. One of the things about Unique Squads is that they always have some sort of benefit that Commons do not have(if the Krav had the same powers as the Microcorp Agents would you use the Krav? Obviously no...). The reason the Zettians should stay as a Unique Squad(with the official card), is that massive 7 defense. No Common Squads have a base defense greater than 5. Now then, if we decided to keep that reasoning, we would need to at least drop their basic defense to 6. Because, if for nothing else, it will help to distinguish them from the Death Knights of Valkrill(both squads have an Attack based power, regardless of wording or effect and well as some form of bonding with this revised version of yours).

My mistake - I meant to keep them a unique squad as I felt the same as you that making them a common squad would be to great a change (which is why I think the CUC will never pass them this way) unless you lower defense or increase cost. I will have to change.

Overall, you didn't do too badly with MSE(it's obvious, the "artsy" mistakes are everywhere as well as many tell-tale parts of the cards). With some practice these cards could come to work nicely. Something to remember is that you can make it to where the text of powers does not appear by hitting the [...] button near the top of the window.

(Of course I could always just fix the cards if you want, with exception of Gueri).

Nice start lefton4ya!!!

The MSE high-res templates all use dungeon styles, so the pre wave-8 cards have artifacts of designs over the figure image space, SotM and waves 8-12 have remnants of the vine motif in the figure backround, but the D&D units have a matched look. I also made Gueri-Oni Valkrill but never changed his background. Maybe I or someone can make high-res templates in MSE for the other styles.

Thanks again for the comments.

 

[flameslayer93]

The MSE high-res templates all use dungeon styles, so the pre wave-8 cards have artifacts of designs over the figure image space, SotM and waves 8-12 have remnants of the vine motif in the figure backround, but the D&D units have a matched look. I also made Gueri-Oni Valkrill but never changed his background. Maybe I or someone can make high-res templates in MSE for the other styles.

You can change the style of the card to any style. In fact you can even mix and match from within the sets.

A custom(sans pictures) done using RotV's background in MSE. The "blurry" effect is because Mediafire is hosting the image for me. Otherwise, the card looks fine.

You can do it easily enough so that you can fix the image. All cards "made" by me are done in MSE(others probably tend to use GIMP/Photoshop).

If nothing else, I wish your alters all the best. Cheers!

 

[ollie]

Re: Casual Unit Alters

I think that CUA would be a better title(Casual Unit Alters) for this project. If your going on a whim with these unit alterations, I doubt that the CUC care, but a nice way to differentiate the two ideas(other than saying lefton4ya's project) is to change the name a bit.

Thanks. I changed the name - couldn't think of a different word for mod(ification). Also, thanks for taking the time for constructive feedback as it really helps

The change does raise the question "Competitive unit alters what?"

Less snarky; more constructive: How about LeftOn4ya's Alternative Universe Designs. That would be, um, laudable.

 

[lefton4ya]

Updated my Competitive Unit Alters PDF with below changes.

Updated Cards:
Shades Of Bleakewoode (fixed wording)

Sahuagin Raider (no longer bonds with marvel)

Anubian Wolves (fixed hitzone to use 3 figures)

Zettian Guards (fixed to be unique squad)

Syvarris (fixed wording)


New Cards:
Grok Riders
Proposal: Change cost to 95. Add power Disengage. Change Marro Warlord Bonding to Marro War Boinding: "... you may take a turn with any small, medium, or large Marro Hero you control."
Logic: You can now bond with Kee-Mo-Shi & Tul-Bak-Ra. Now they are like Phantom Knights with bonding but without defensive bonus and still die easily - so unsure on final pricing.


Saylind
Proposal: Increase life to 6, Change Flying to Stealth Flying.
Logic: Some other Kyrie heroes have 6 life and he needed more survivability. Stealth Flying helps him summon better.

 

[quozl]

For the Ninjas, why not just change Ninja Hero Bonding to:

Before taking a turn with the NotNW, you may take a turn with any Ninja Hero you control that does not follow Utgar.

 

[ollie]

Saylind
Proposal: Increase life to 6, Change Flying to Stealth Flying.
Logic: Some other Kyrie heroes have 6 life and he needed more survivability. Stealth Flying helps him summon better.

He sure is ballsier this way.

 

[lefton4ya]

For the Ninjas, why not just change Ninja Hero Bonding to:

Before taking a turn with the NotNW, you may take a turn with any Ninja Hero you control that does not follow Utgar.

Thanks for the suggestion. Seems kinda weird, but I guess similar too Sahuagin Raider bonding with units ..."that follows any general" to exclude Marvel. I might do after I get more feedback on this and other units.

Saylind
Proposal: Increase life to 6, Change Flying to Stealth Flying.
Logic: Some other Kyrie heroes have 6 life and he needed more survivability. Stealth Flying helps him summon better.

He sure is ballsier this way.

Dunno exactly what you mean by "ballsier" but I guess he can be more aggressive and make a run for the start zone or Raelin easier, both because of stealth flying and one more life.

 

[lefton4ya]

OK, I went a little crazy and updated almost all my cards and added 28 new cards!
Changed: Acolarh, Aubrien Archers, Syvarris, Saylind, Grok Riders
Added: Blue Wyrmling, Brave Arrow, Fyorlag Spiders, Ashigaru Yari, Kato Katsuro, Master of the Hunt, Dzu-Teh, Erevan Sunshadow, Greater Ice Elemental, MacDirk Warriors, Arkmer, Brandis Skyhunter, Chardris, Emirroon, Jorhdawn, Kyntela Gwyn, Morsbane, Sharwin Wildborn, Sonlen, Ulginesh, Elite Onyx Vipers, Khosumet The Darklord, Frost Giant of Morh, Iskra, Rechets of Bogdan, Mind Flayer Mastermind, Obsidian Guards, Evar Scarcarver
Kept (except fixed wording on most): Gurei-oni, Ninjas Of The Northern Wind, Retarius, Deadeye Dan, Anubian Wolves, Isamu, Sahuagin Raider, Shades of Bleakewoode, Deathstalkers, Deathwalker 7000, 800, and 9000, Zettian Guards, Agent Carr, Major X17
Removed: Deepwyrm Drow (CUC passed them)

I will update my PDF compilation once there is some feedback (including proofreading for grammar and typos). To make the feedback more manageable, besides grammar and typo issues, give feedback on the following first:

• Blue Wyrmling: Change Defense from 3 to 4.
• Brave Arrow: Make Uncommon Hero.
• Fyorlag Spiders: Increase defense from 2 to 3 and change power ENTANGLING WEB to "... If you roll a 16 14 or higher..."
• Ashigaru Yari: Change ENCIRCLE SPECIAL ATTACK to "Range 1. Attack 6 Special. If 2, 3, or 4 Ashigaru Yari you control are adjacent to the same enemy figure, they may roll their attack dice as one combined attack of 4, 6, or 8. The defending figure compares height to the lowest Ashigaru Yari to determine any height advantage. Encircle Special Attack may only be used once per turn. If Encircle Special Attack is used, figures not involved in the attack but that moved this turn cannot attack may still do a normal attack."
• Kato Katsuro: Change power KATO KATSURO'S COMMAND to "Instead of taking a turn with Kato Katsuro, you may take a turn with one up to two of the following that you control: • 1 Samurai Hero or 1 Samurai Squad, • 1 Ashigaru Harquebus Squad, • 1 Ashigaru Yari Squad. You may choose which Hero or Squad to activate first. Any figure in the above list that is taking a turn instead of Kato Katsuro must be within clear sight of Kato Katsuro before moving."
• Master of the Hunt: Reduce cost from 140 to 125 and change JAVELIN to "...If you roll a 16 an 11 or higher..."
• All Elves (except WoA) and all Eladrin and Half-Elves : Add power EVASIVE 1.
• Change Eladrin to Elf for Sharwin Wildborn and Erevan Sunshadow, and change Sonlen to a Wizard
• Brandis Skyhunter: Add EVASIVE 1 as above for elves (but still keep half-elf) and change Archer's Glory to "Each time Brandis Skyhunter destroys an opponent's non-adjacent Unique Hero figure, you make take another turn with Brandis Skyhunter."

 

[IshMEL]

These are really great! A few suggestions and observations:

Brave Arrow: Like the idea, but I would change his name. "Brave Arrow" is a given name, and it seems odd for a Uncommon. Perhaps "Mohican River Tracker"?

Elves: A suggestion for Evasive 1 -- since you're adding it to the Elves, how about "Elven Speed"? It would recall Thorian Speed and would help tie the power name to their race. (Also, why not just make Brandis an Elf?) On Sharwin, glad to see her as an Elf too. The combination of the Evasive +1 and her ranged counterstrike could be a lot. I don't think she should have both, but that's just a gut-check.

Anubian Wolves. The movement bonding fixes their main problem (keeping their cheerleaders adjacent) but while "Unholy Bonding" works as a name for the Death Knights, I think "Relentless Movement Bonding" would be a better name for the Anubian's power. Don't ask me why, it's just a style thing.

Thanks for keeping these coming!

 

[Seraph]

You been able to get much testing on these since January?

 

[lefton4ya]

@IshMEL Good point about Brave Arrow being a name, but I think it could be a common name but really just hate the idea of changing any unit's name. Thorian Speed might be an alternative, but again I playtested EVASIVE 2 and that was too powerful, at least for ranged units like Syvarris and the Aubrien Archers, so maybe only for melee heroes. Only played Sharwin once with an elf-pod (Emirroon summoning but no Ulginesh bonding) and once by himself and was OK, although I think one time he just whiffed and died on one turn. For AW "Unholy Movement Bonding", I guess I can change the name, but it is easier to recognize the same units as Death Knights, and Anubus is the god of the underworld so Unholy fits.
@Seraph Honestlly, I have only been able to play on average one or two games a month against rommates, which are my only games outside of tournaments, and most use some combination of C3V/SoV, CUC, CUA, and my customs. I have played about 2/3 of the new changes at least once, some (like the elves) 3 or 4 times. The following is some units I have never playtested as they currently are: Blue Wyrmling, Fyorlag Spiders, Ashigaru Yari, MacDirk Warriors, Frost Giant of Morh, Iskra, Rechets of Bogdan, Mind Flayer Mastermind, Evar Scarcarver. Again, that is why these should only be in casual games, not tourneys, unlike CUC. I have played the others, but need some more testing. Kato Katsuro, Dzu-Teh, and Obsidian Guards are fun changes but really depends on army size and whether facing melee or ranged heavy armies so need a lot more testing for different levels. Some units like Frost Giant of Morh, Mind Flayer Mastermind and Evar Scarcarver I playtested almost as they are but tweaked to make a little better (like adding terrain bonuses) and need to retest. Really, I think a group testing with 5+ trials by 5+ people is really needed, but again the whole purpose of this is I am too impatient for CUC to do it properly, so did it quickly. I would love to hear feedback on people who actually played any of these cards.

 

[IshMEL]

I wasn't quite clear on Evasive 1 -- I meant to suggest just changing the name of the power to "Elven Speed" but keep the power as is. Again, purely style. (Also, I think Sharwin's female... )

 

[lefton4ya]

I updated the PDF compilation. Also, here is a list of the other changes I made:

• Dzu-Teh: Change GLACIER CAMOUFLAGE to NATURE CAMOUFLAGE "If a Dzu-Teh is adjacent to a Glacier Mountain, Rock Outcrop, Tree, Palm Tree or Brush, opponent's figures must be adjacent to this Dzu-Teh to attack it with a normal attack."
• Greater Ice Elemental: Decrease cost from 130 to 110
• MacDirk Warriors: Increase Defense from 2 to 3.
• Elite Onyx Vipers: Increase defense from 2 to 4, change EVASIVE 8 to EVASIVE 6.
• Khosumet The Darklord: Same as CUC Khosumet minus RELENTLESS ASSAULT change to aura.
• Frost Giant of Morh: Change from Fearless to Wild, Change BATTLE FRENZY to "After attacking with this Frost Giant of Morh, roll the 20-sided die. If this Frost Giant of Morh is on a snow or ice space, add 3 to your die roll. If you roll a 16 or higher, you may attack again take another turn with this Frost Giant of Morh. Battle Frenzy may be enhanced with Frenzy Enhancement and Berserker Charge Enhancement.
• Grok Riders: Basically adapted CUC approved change so they can now bond with Kee-Mo-Shi & Tul-Bak-Ra
• Iskra: Change FLYING to STEALTH FLYING. Change SUMMON THE RECHETS OF BOGDAN to "...If you roll a 14 12 or higher...
• Rechets of Bogdan: Change FLYING to STEALTH FLYING.
• Mind Flayer Mastermind: Change cost from 100 to 85. Change ENSALVE 17 to ENSALVE 16 "...If you roll a 16 or higher...
• Obsidian Guards: Change LAVA THROW to "When an Obsidian Guard is on a molten lava space it may add 2 4 to its range. Otherwise, when a Obsidian Guard is adjacent to at least one figure with the Lava Resistant special power it may add 2 to its range."
• Deathwalker 7000, 800, and 9000: Make them all Common Heroes, and reduce cost of each by 20.

 

[quozl]

Thanks for the PDFs! Sadly, I can't print 3 to a page on my printer. Would you also be willing to make 2 to a page versions?

 

[lefton4ya]

It won't print at all, or is it just cut off or the wrong size? Just print at 100% actual size. It will cut off the borders of some cards, but should be playable. I could update my GIMP ScriptFu to print 2-page as well I guess if there was enough demand for 2/page.

 

[quozl]

It cuts off the bottom of the 3rd card.

 

[fomox]

This is an older thread, but I hadn't seen it until now. There's a lot of fun ideas here. I really like the Mac Dirks with 3 defense. Small change, but makes a great difference. The ninja and samurai stuff is great, too.

 

[ekoxe1]

someone pointed me to this thread, great ideas!
FOr the Obsidian guards I'd thought of some lava creating ideas but Good Pig had some very useful cautions and counter ideas

but how about if each squad or figure (maybe figure would be too much) had a single lava hex or lava field hex that they could add to an adjacent empty hex. It could still be quite a useful way to block retreats and cause problems, it could even be something like rolling an attack or defence die per adjacent empty hex to "erupt" them into some kind of lava. Would also mean they could be used on non lava maps and still have some power.

 

[rednax]

I got directed to this thread from a discussion in the Book of Hatamoto Taro, and I really like a lot of the alterations for these figures. I realize this is probably a few years late, but I noticed some interesting things with the alteration to Saylind. First, it says that Saylind's life was increased from 4 to 5, but the original life was already 5. I think this might have been confused with Saylind's defense, which is now at 4, though the original card is at 3. Second, it refers to Saylind with male pronouns, but the original card uses female pronouns. I'm sure just a small oversight, but I thought I'd point it out.

Again, really cool alterations! Might have try one of these out sometime.

 

[lefton4ya]

@rednax My first version of Saylind had extra life, but I changed it to extra defense, but forgot to update the text in the opening post. I never did realize that Saylind is female so I'll have to change. I have a few other typos and small revisions I have to make anyway, especially for the combined PDF.

But thanks for checking it out. Again, I and others really should play test and help out the CUC more (what this thread is based off) as multiple people working together would not only prevent typos, but make a lot better unit.

 

[UberQ9]

Spoiler Alert!

I like the changes you've made here. A couple things I would like to say:

You said that you want the notnw to not bond with Isamu but be able to bond with the other ninjas, but couldn't figure a way to do that. How do you feel about something like Honorable Ninja Bonding, which would let them bond with ninjas that do not follow Utgar?

Why did you stop the Sahuagin unable to bond with Venom and Abomination? They both are powerful units but I don't think them bonding with fish-face would break anything.

How do you feel about full Frenzy on the frost giant?

 

[lefton4ya]

@UberQ9 thanks for responding, you probably saw my comment on the Competitive Unit Congress thread.

For NotNW I thought of the non-utgar wording with bonding. Now with the release of Kantono Daishi I think this custom is moot, but if I were to change the bonding it would have to start with "When revealing an Order Marker on..." and Isamu will just be even more OP with them, but gives a reason to even draft NotNW then as opposed to all the Ninja Heroes.

I guess I could remove "that follows any general" which was specifically designed to nix Marvel. If you are going to mix Marvel and not only normal Heroscape but my CUA you obviously just want a fun army.

For Frost Giant of Morh, I actually thought of changing Battle Frenzy back to the original "attack again" instead of "take another turn" as I changed my mind that I like this power as is, although I still like the + for snow/ice and Valguard/Venoc Warlord. I played my card once with Dreadgul Raiders and Valguard and he was way too OP.

 

[Heroscaper 101]

I don't want to change stats on classic cards, but I did make a thread called Remake or Remaster. That thread is just a reminder, I mostly use to it for special power reminders. The cards are not in Heroscape, so I have no use changing classic Army Cards.