The Book of Galactus

[IAmBatman]

The Book of Galactus

C3G MARVEL SUPER SECRET EXCLUSIVE 19
DEVOURER OF WORLDS
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Comic PDF

Mini PDF

Alternate Cards:

Spoiler Alert!

Comic PDF

Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Galactic Guardians set.
Its model number and name are #G01/Galactus.

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Character Bio - “Galactus was originally the explorer Galan from the planet Taa, which existed in the universe before the Big Bang. When an impending cataclysm gradually kills all other life in his universe, he and other survivors leave Taa via a space vessel, eventually becoming engulfed in the Big Crunch. However, Galan does not die, but is transformed through a bonding with the Sentience of the Universe. He gestates for billions of years in the next universe that formed, emerging as Galactus. A Watcher ("Ecce") observes the birth of Galactus, but chooses to not take the opportunity to kill him. Once fully aware, Galactus experiences hunger so strongly that he consumes the nearby planet of Archeopia. The planet ultimately becomes the first of many, as Galactus must consume their life energies for sustenance [….] Eventually, Galactus decides to empower others as a Herald to locate worlds for him. Galactus makes his first herald, the Fallen One, but is unhappy with him, and dismisses him. He later recruits Norrin Radd as the Silver Surfer [….] An undetermined amount of time afterwards, Galactus makes his way to Earth, but is defeated by the efforts of the Fantastic Four, Uatu the Watcher, and a rebellious Silver Surfer. Galactus leaves Earth, vowing that he will never try to consume it again. As he leaves, he relegates the Silver Surfer to Earth for betraying him [….] Galactus considers himself a higher being than all non-abstracts, maintaining his existence by devouring planets that have the potential for supporting life. This has resulted in the elimination of entire extraterrestrial civilizations on numerous worlds. Galactus wields the Power Cosmic and can employ it to produce nearly any effect he desires […] As Galactus must continuously feed to sustain himself, his power levels are inconsistent throughout any given period […],” (Wikipedia.org, 2012). _________________________________________________________________


-Rulings and Clarifications-

• Base Clarification: Galactus is a 2x double based figure (Template for basing).
• Galactus is an Event Hero and follows Event Hero rules.
• Galactus' Devourer of Worlds special power follows the C3G Removing Terrain Rules.
• Q: Are there any limits on the size or type of terrain that can be chosen for the Devourer of Worlds special power?
  A: As specified in the Devourer of Worlds special power, you may choose terrain pieces, glyphs, destructible objects, or obstacles that are unoccupied by figures regardless of size. If you choose terrain pieces, they can be of any type.
• Q: What impact does Galactus' base have on placement and engagement rules?
  A: When placing Galactus with Herald of Galactus, all 4 spaces of the 2 double spaced bases must be on the same level. It is possible for Galactus to have his feet on either side of terrain that is either higher or lower level than that which his bases are on, as long as the bases are on the same level. Figures that can fit on and move through the spaces between his feet are allowed to do so. Figures on the eight spaces surrounding each foot (15 spaces in total) can be considered engaged with Galactus as per official engagement rules.
• Q: Can I turn Galactus for free at any point during my turn, like with a double based figure?
  A: No, Galactus cannot be turned without Movement, due to the unique nature of his base, and he can only be moved with the Herald of Galactus special power.
• Q: If a destructible object is removed with Devourer of Worlds, does it trigger abilities such as the Evergreen Tree's Falling Tree? What happens to figures inside vehicle destructible objects and figures frozen by the Frost Giant when the Ice Rock is removed?
  A: Devourer of Worlds uses the term remove instead of destroy, so destructible objects removed with this ability aren't technically destroyed. Therefore, any ability that activates when a destructible object is destroyed would not be triggered by Devourer of Worlds. Figures on a vehicle's Army Card would not be able to return to the game, and figures placed on the Frost Giant's Army Card with Freezing Touch 14 would not have a way to return to the battlefield. The Ice Rock removed would not return to that Frost Giant's Army Card, so that Frost Giant would be prevented from using Freezing Touch 14 on another figure.

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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Huge figure, Galactus has these Huge Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• N/A

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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• N/A

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: (IAmBatman)
• Second playtest: (tcglkn)
• Third playtest: (Scapemage)
• Fourth playtest: (Griffin)
• Art: Comic Art More Comic Art/Mini Pics/Background
• Art by Griffin

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

NAME = GALACTUS


SPECIES = TAAEN
UNIQUENESS = EVENT HERO
CLASS = DEVOURER
PERSONALITY = INSATIABLE

SIZE/HEIGHT = HUGE 32

LIFE = 28

MOVE = 0
RANGE = 12
ATTACK = 7
DEFENSE = 6

POINTS = 1600

HERALD OF GALACTUS
At the start of the game, you may choose a Unique Hero on the battlefield to be Galactus' Herald. Before taking a turn with Galactus, you may place him within 4 spaces of his Herald. If his Herald is a figure you control, when Galactus is adjacent to his Herald, add 2 to your roll for Devourer of Worlds. When Galactus is placed with this special power, he will not take any leaving engagement attacks. Galactus cannot be moved by any other means.

DEVOURER OF WORLDS
After taking a turn with Galactus, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll:
• 1-2, Galactus receives one wound;
• 3-15, choose up to three unoccupied terrain pieces, glyphs,destructible objects, or obstacles on the battlefield;
• 16 or higher, choose up to five unoccupied terrain pieces, glyphs, destructible objects, or obstacles on the battlefield.
Remove the chosen items from the battlefield. If there are no unoccupied terrain pieces, glyphs, destructible objects, or obstacles, Galactus may destroy one figure instead.

SUPER STRENGTH

Spoiler Alert!

[*]Victory Condition: According to the official rule books, players are suppose to determine their own victory conditions in their games, and we certainly don't want to infringe on that for anyone else. With that said, we did want to share with you how we have decided to rule victories when playing with Galactus.
As you already know, the standard norm for victory in C3G games that we test and play by is: At the end of each turn, after all special powers have been activated and completed, if you do not have any figures on the battlefield, you lose. Adding onto that with Galactus: when Galactus eats away at a map where the map separates into two or more separate maps, each map becomes its own separate battlefield and game. Figures, Glyphs, Army Cards, special powers, etc. cannot interact with anything on a separate battlefield.
As soon as each battlefield has a winner, winning players will then need to determine their "Total Winning Score". To determine a Total Winning Score, you will need to calculate only your surviving figures.
For each surviving Unique Hero, divide the number of Life Points into the Point Cost of the Unique Hero's Army Card, then round that number so that there are no fractions. This tells you the value of each life point. Then multiply that value by the number of remaining life points on the Unique Heroe's army card. The result is the winning score of the Unique Hero. Do the same thing for each Event Hero and Uncommon Hero.
For each surviving Squad or Common Hero, divide the number of figures you started the game with into the total Point Cost of the army card(s), then round that number so that there are no fractions. This tells you the value of each figure. Then multiply that value by the number of surviving/remaining figures on that Army Card. The result is the winning score of the Squad or Common Hero.
Now that you have the winning score of each surviving card in your army, add those scores up and that is your Total Winning Score.
Once each winning player has a Total Winning Score, determine the placement of the winners from highest score to lowest score, highest being the Grand Winner.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

Also, I'd love to know your guys' thoughts on a mini for this guy. I don't come in with any opinion except that it should be big. Really, with the way the design works, any sized figure is fine, we just need to pick one.

 

[tcglkn]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

If Galactus' Herald is destroyed shouldn't he be allowed to choose another one or is he just stuck wherever he is for the rest of the game?

What happens if the map is split into two separate maps?

What happens if there are terrain pieces with things like Battlements attached to them, are they considered occupied?

I really like this design and am glad to see it started up. I just think these need to be answers and possibly fixed.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

Both great questions. He has a range of 12, so there aren't a lot of figures who'll be able to stop him from attacking them. Honestly, I'd be fine with him being stuck in the mud at that point. Strategically speaking, you shouldn't let any of the few figures that might be able to attack him at more than 12 spaces away out-survive his herald. If you let it happen, you deserve any disadvantage (and he can still make those figures hurt by devouring the Earth itself!).

As for the second question, it sounds like the ultimate annoying turtle tactic. Basically at that point the game would be over and you'd win (likely with Galactus) on points. I don't know if there's an easy way to prevent it or if we should really feel burdened to. If someone really wants to do it, I'm fine with letting them, because they're killing their own fun. I think as an opponent knowing this strategy exists would/should encourage you to rush to battle Galactus right next to him, which makes thematic sense to me anyway, and should encourage you to avoid turtling. Granted, you have to lock down his herald too, but hopefully this shouldn't be problematic on most maps.

I'm definitely open to suggestions if anyone thinks there's an elegant way to address the "two maps" issue, though.

 

[tcglkn]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

I think your answer covers it well. It would be a "stalemate" of sorts and then you would calculate the victor through points. Very annoying and not much fun for either player.

 

[SirGalahad]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

I'm more concerned that not all terrain pieces are 1-hex pieces. Wording will definitely need to clarify that the pieces he devours must be uncovered (he can't take the 24-hex piece that the others are stacked on, for example. Maybe restrict it to removing the highest level pieces first?

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

What happens if there are terrain pieces with things like Battlements attached to them, are they considered occupied?

I missed this one before.

To answer - no, they wouldn't be occupied, but the power only allows you to remove one terrain piece, DO, or obstacle at a time. You couldn't remove a terrain piece with Battlements on it, because you'd be removing the Battlements in the process. You'd have to remove all of the Battlements first in order to avoid removing multiple things at once.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

I'm more concerned that not all terrain pieces are 1-hex pieces. Wording will definitely need to clarify that the pieces he devours must be uncovered (he can't take the 24-hex piece that the others are stacked on, for example. Maybe restrict it to removing the highest level pieces first?

You 'd me here, but my last post basically contains my answer to this as well. If removing a terrain piece would cause you to displace any other terrain pieces, obstacles, or DOs, then you're removing more than just that one terrain piece. The power only allows you to remove one terrain piece, not to upset or remove more than that. So by that interpretation, you could not use this power to remove a terrain piece with other terrain pieces on top of it.

I think we should create an FAQ for this, but I don't think it needs to be spelled out any more in the power.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

P.S. Many thanks to Griff for helping me figure this out in initial drafts and save a lot of messy wording and clarification attempts from being a part of this power!

 

[tcglkn]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

Yea I think that covers it but there should definitely be some FAQs for these confusing situations that people are likely to encounter since this is probably the first and only design of it's kind.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

Oh, absolutely. I do think it's a tad counter-intuitive, but I also think it's entirely justified in the wording and that it can be very intuitive once people read that FAQ a single time.

 

[Hahma]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

Looks great Bats I remember you telling me about this awhile ago and it's nice to see it.

Now a fortress wall is an obstacle. You'd have to remove any battlements first from the top of the wall because they are DO's. Then do you remove each fortress wall individually or everything that is connected?

A fortress door would have to come off first before the fortress wall connected to it right?

A fortress wall that has an additional level of wallwalk pieces would have to take those off first.

A Warehouse can be both an obstacle and a DO, but in both cases the breakable wall is a DO. So you would have to remove that breakable section of wall first in either case?

I might be wrong on some of that, I'm just not clear on how some stuff would work, but I'm sure it will get figured out.

 

[Griffin]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

What happens if there are terrain pieces with things like Battlements attached to them, are they considered occupied?

I missed this one before.

To answer - no, they wouldn't be occupied, but the power only allows you to remove one terrain piece, DO, or obstacle at a time. You couldn't remove a terrain piece with Battlements on it, because you'd be removing the Battlements in the process. You'd have to remove all of the Battlements first in order to avoid removing multiple things at once.

Correct.

P.S. Many thanks to Griff for helping me figure this out in initial drafts and save a lot of messy wording and clarification attempts from being a part of this power!

Thanks for the shout out. We both worked really hard on this and Silver Surfer together. I traded this design to you because we both knew where it was going but I felt you would do a better job as an LD and you would get this out faster than I would.

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HERALD OF GALACTUS
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Hero on the battlefield to be Galactus' Herald. Before taking a turn with Galactus, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 8 or higher, you may first take a turn with Galactus' Herald. After taking a turn with Galactus' Herald, you may place Galactus adjacent to his Herald. When Galactus is moved with Herald of Galactus, he will not take any leaving engagement attacks. Galactus may not be moved by any other special power on any Army Card or glyph.

This is essentially a mind control power, and we need to treat it like one with the wording I think. What is our most recent mind control card and aesthetics?

GALACTIC HUNGER
At the end of a round, if Galactus did not use his Devourer of Worlds special power to remove at least one terrain piece, destructible object, or obstacle from the battlefield that round, he receives one wound.

How could Galactus NOT devour something? This could only happen if he didn't take any turns or if he did and the player just forgot to devour something. I am starting to think this power is unnecessary.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

HERALD OF GALACTUS
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Hero on the battlefield to be Galactus' Herald. Before taking a turn with Galactus, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 8 or higher, you may first take a turn with Galactus' Herald. After taking a turn with Galactus' Herald, you may place Galactus adjacent to his Herald. When Galactus is moved with Herald of Galactus, he will not take any leaving engagement attacks. Galactus may not be moved by any other special power on any Army Card or glyph.

This is essentially a mind control power, and we need to treat it like one with the wording I think. What is our most recent mind control card and aesthetics?

Yeah, I agree that we should look into that (which might mean for some more text, but I think we can make room. Not sure who our most recent one was - anyone?

GALACTIC HUNGER
At the end of a round, if Galactus did not use his Devourer of Worlds special power to remove at least one terrain piece, destructible object, or obstacle from the battlefield that round, he receives one wound.

How could Galactus NOT devour something? This could only happen if he didn't take any turns or if he did and the player just forgot to devour something. I am starting to think this power is unnecessary.

Well right now the Devourer of Worlds power is optional, but a quick fix would be to make it a "must" "if possible" power and cut this power to save big time on text.

Good stuff. For the record, I'm in no rush on this guy. He's definitely one where I plan to take it easy and take enough time to make sure he's done just right.

Oh, and any thoughts on "minis" from anyone (in quotes, because I think it will probably end up being a pretty big "mini"!).

 

[tcglkn]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

I like the concept of making the first Devouring a must and just getting rid of the Galactic Hunger power. Right now I'm not seeing a reason to skip Devouring the world anyways, so that power isn't gonna help much.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

There may be occasions in which destroying a piece of terrain could be disadvantageous to you, but it's your only option, but I'm sold on that direction.

Just need to figure out wording for both of the powers, especially the Herald one for the mind control bits. Is there anyone fresher than Puppet Master I should be looking at?

 

[tcglkn]

Pied Piper or Joker (II) might help you here.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

Thanks! I'll check those out for sure. I'll probably put out some proposed post breathing period language some time tomorrow.

 

[Griffin]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

Looks great Bats I remember you telling me about this awhile ago and it's nice to see it.

Now a fortress wall is an obstacle. You'd have to remove any battlements first from the top of the wall because they are DO's. Then do you remove each fortress wall individually or everything that is connected?

A fortress door would have to come off first before the fortress wall connected to it right?

A fortress wall that has an additional level of wallwalk pieces would have to take those off first.

A Warehouse can be both an obstacle and a DO, but in both cases the breakable wall is a DO. So you would have to remove that breakable section of wall first in either case?

I might be wrong on some of that, I'm just not clear on how some stuff would work, but I'm sure it will get figured out.

I think our FAQ should be something along the lines of "if it is named in the rulebooks, then you may remove it as a single piece". So no removal of an entire castle basically, you have to remove each named piece as you remove a single piece.

Also Bats, I think we need to mention the destruction of glyphs along with figures when the terrain is devoured. Otherwise, a single glyph could hold down the map and prevent Galactus from devouring anything.

Also, I think most maps that have lots of terrain, will prevent Galactus' Devouring power from ever being all that relevant unless we increase how much he can eat. I am thinking that we should let him eat two things per turn.

 

[tcglkn]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

With the third power gone what if we made his Devour a d20 power with a few tiers. One where he takes a wound and can't use it, and then one where he can remove one, two and three pieces of terrain? It might make him more interesting to play. Just keep the initial roll to get at least one really low but also put the element of his insatiable hunger back onto the card in a issuable way.

EDIT: I know I am totally spitballing here but it could go something like this:
1-4, receives one wound.
5-10, remove one terrain piece.
11-17, remove two terrain pieces, if possible.
18 or higher, remove 3 terrain pieces, if possible.

 

[Margloth]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

Sorry I'm late to the party here, I've been busy at events all weekend and wanted to make sure I could post my more drawn out thoughts from my laptop rather than trying to do it from my phone.

First, the Herald power:

HERALD OF GALACTUS
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Hero on the battlefield to be Galactus' Herald. Before taking a turn with Galactus, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 8 or higher, you may first take a turn with Galactus' Herald. After taking a turn with Galactus' Herald, you may place Galactus adjacent to his Herald. When Galactus is moved with Herald of Galactus, he will not take any leaving engagement attacks. Galactus may not be moved by any other special power on any Army Card or glyph.

I guess I would rather see it work so the Herald turn is guaranteed as an instead of taking a turn with Galactus, you may take a turn with his chosen Herald power, with the 'coming of Galactus' aspect becoming the 'chance' d20 part. To me, iconically the Herald arrives first and dirties up the scene, with kind of the overhanging sense of dread of "who or what is Galactus, and how bad is it gonna be when he gets here?" Not to mention, early in game if you get a couple of bad d20 rolls, your team is just gonna sit in the startzone. Booooooring.

EDIT" Suggested change to Herald:

HERALD OF GALACTUS
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Hero on the battlefield to be Galactus' Herald. Instead of taking a turn with Galactus, you may take a turn with his chosen Herald. After taking a turn with Galactus' Herald, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll an 8 or higher, place Galactus adjacent to his Herald. When Galactus is moved with Herald of Galactus, he will not take any leaving engagement attacks. Galactus may not be moved by any other special power on any Army Card or glyph.

Love Devourer Of Worlds! One quick thought: if we drop Galactic Hunger (which I don't think necessarily applies in the short space of time captured by Heroscape battles), can we add some sort of healing aspect to Devourer? I have to admit that it kind of bothers me that Galactus has less lives than Anti-Monitor. If he could 'replentish' himself, I would be much more on board.

Finally, I'm a little disappointed not to see The Power Cosmic on this card. It's just as iconic on this card as Surfer's, and allowing him that potential boost could really help the fact that he's a single attacker who can't move, so he needs to hit hard when he can (I know he's got range of 12, so it's not as much of an issue).

Great design though, I'm excited to see where he goes!

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

I like that suggested change to Herald of Galactus, Margloth.

I like Tickle's suggested change to Devourer of Worlds (I'll have to take a look and see how texty it makes things, though).

Good point about the glyphs, Griff. I'll make sure to work that in when I put up proposed post-breathing period changes.

I don't think he needs any healing worked in on the card, Margloth. If we really need him to have more power, we can give him more life. But thematically speaking I believe he should be less powerful than Anti-Monitor. You can feel free to disagree, but that's my position on the matter.

I don't think he needs the Power Cosmic represented outside of his stats on this card, honestly. With Surfer, he only has a sliver of the power, so he needs to really focus to channel it. With Galactus, he uses it with ease, all of the time. There's no real effort involved. It is his stats. So, if anything, I'd rather see us tweak his stats upwards if necessary. But, with a range of 12, I think an attack of 6 is pretty solid. I wouldn't go up past 7.

 

[tcglkn]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

I am also on board with Margloth's suggest change to the Herald power. But I also wonder if there should there be a stipulation that the Unique Hero has to have Super Strength? I can't see Galactus choosing a wimp as his Herald.

With us dropping Galactic Hunger and only keeping Herald of Galactus and Devourer of Worlds, I think you could do bullets easily and not run out of room on the card. I don't think anyone will complain if we have a really wordy Galactus card.

I also do not think he needs healing, as his life is enoungh and if we want him to cost more than Anti-Monitor simply adjust his life during testing. One thing to keep in mind though is Galactus needs a fairly strong Unique Hero to be drafted with him, he can't be drafted on his own, so that should kinda factor into his cost a bit. We don't want him too high or he won't see too much play. Although the long the game goes, the more he will be able to Devour the map.

Something to keep in mind when thinking of his Attack potential too, is depending on the figure, he will rarely have height if he takes up too many spaces as most height is uneven. So I could easily see a bump in his attack to 7 to compensate for that depending on the mini we use.

 

[IAmBatman]

Re: The Book of Galactus - Design Phase

I am also on board with Margloth's suggest change to the Herald power. But I also wonder if there should there be a stipulation that the Unique Hero has to have Super Strength? I can't see Galactus choosing a wimp as his Herald.

I figure most of the time (since he'll cost a lot) you'll depend on unique heroes in the opponent's army to be your Herald. I'd hate to see him go up against a bunch of mid-levels and have no shot at picking a Herald.

Also, Human Torch has been his Herald (though temporarily) before, and Johnny doesn't have SS.

With us dropping Galactic Hunger and only keeping Herald of Galactus and Devourer of Worlds, I think you could do bullets easily and not run out of room on the card. I don't think anyone will complain if we have a really wordy Galactus card.

I'm sure you're probably right here, just noting I'll have to take a look at it and see how it goes.

I also do not think he needs healing, as his life is enoungh and if we want him to cost more than Anti-Monitor simply adjust his life during testing.

I don't.

One thing to keep in mind though is Galactus needs a fairly strong Unique Hero to be drafted with him, he can't be drafted on his own, so that should kinda factor into his cost a bit.

That's not true at all.

We don't want him too high or he won't see too much play. Although the long the game goes, the more he will be able to Devour the map.

I like him right in the neighborhood of Anti-Monitor, and probably just slightly under. I think the tiered approach to his eating will help him a lot with devouring.

Something to keep in mind when thinking of his Attack potential too, is depending on the figure, he will rarely have height if he takes up too many spaces as most height is uneven. So I could easily see a bump in his attack to 7 to compensate for that depending on the mini we use.

That's a good point. I think I'll try out 7 attack when I make the change. He doesn't have other offensive things helping him like Anti-Monitor does (Erase from Existence, Order Marker removal, the extra turn every round - though he does have his Herald).