Welcome to the Heroscapers 2.0 site! We've still got some dust to clear and adjustments to make, including launching a new front page, but we hope you enjoy the improvements to the site. Please post your feedback and any issues you encounter in this thread.
JOKER
HUMAN
UNIQUE HERO
PSYCHOPATH
INSANE
MEDIUM 5
LIFE 6
MOVE 5
RANGE 1
ATTACK 4
DEFENSE 3
160 POINTS
"BANG!" GUN SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 4. Attack 3.
When Joker attacks a non-adjacent figure with this special attack, if at least one blank is rolled, each skull rolled counts for an additional hit and the defending figures subtracts 2 from their defense dice. JOY BUZZER 13
If an opponent's small or medium figure moves adjacent to Joker, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 13 or higher, the opponent's figure cannot move, attack, or use any special power on any Army Card or Glyph for the remainder of its turn. Figures may only be targeted as they move into an engagement with Joker. ACID FLOWER
Once per round, after revealing an Order Marker on this card, you may roll an unblockable attack die against a figure adjacent to Joker. An opponent's figure that receives a wound from this special power cannot move, make leaving engagement attacks, or use any special power on any Army Card or Glyph for the remainder of this turn.
NAME OF THE TEST UNIT(Joker III)
- THEME TEST/ Check to see if there are any powers or stats on the test unit card that does not accurately reflect the theme or likeness of what the character would and could do. Also consider destructible objects, and whether or not this characters powers should affect them. Pass, good theme here with the gag effects.
- MIRROR TEST/ Check to see if the unit were played against itself, if there would be any loops that would upset the balance of the Game. pass
- BONDING TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing Bonding abilities to make sure there are no continual Bonding possibilities that do not stop appropriately or do not stop at all. This is to prevent loops in Bonding. pass
- SYNERGIES TEST/ Compare the unit card with all possible currently existing synergies to make sure there are no factors that could break the game by making any unit to powerful or too weak. Pass, I really liked how he played with the Joker Goons. He was able to rush forward into the thick of things and try to make use of his Acid Flower on the following turn, than swap out for a Goon.
- POWER CHECK/ Consider the test unit and all existing units and all glyphs to compare to and check for any powers that could be over amplified and break the game. Each power must define when it takes place, who or what it affects, and What are the stipulations on the power if there are any. Pass, Acid Flower has a lot of potential for disrupting certain unit’s defensive powers but I never got a chance to make it shine in these games. The restriction of an OM reveal and having it occur at the start of the turn before he moves really keeps it in check.
- FUN TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play. pass
- FUN COMPETITIVE TEST/ Consider whether or not the design was fun to play against. pass
- DRAFTING TEST/ Consider whether or not this design is worth drafting. Pass, I like how he fits in between the other two Jokers on the points scale. Now you can draft a Joker into many different builds and each one has a different play experience.
- USAGE TEST/ Consider whether or not all of the powers on this card were used or at least usable. Pass, I never rolled for Joy Buzzer but that is my normal experience for engagement powers. It was however useful in preventing my opponent from flanking my position with a melee unit.
- STRATEGY TEST/ Consider whether or not the design offers any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game. Pass, some of those have been discussed above.
_____________________________________________________________ Army Test 1
- Does it pass, Yes or No? Yes, enough restrictions to feel well balanced and fun.
- What should be the unit's point value? Hard to say for sure, the Insane faction really had a good run of luck in this one so the Vigilantes never managed to get much going for themselves. I wouldn’t say 160 seems too far off though, he was clearly better than all the 120-130 figures in play. 10 points more than Batman (Terry) didn’t seem wrong to me after playing them both head to head in faction armies.
- Give a brief preview. Testing out all the Insane Synergies here along with the Joker Goon’s ability to sacrifice themselves to protect Joker from harm. Early idea here will be to lead Joker out and see what kind of traction he can get from Joy Buzzer, than swap Joker out with a Goon as needed.
Map: Yellowstone Throwdown 3
Units: Joker, HQ, Joker Goons, Mad Hatter, Mister Zsasz (600) vs. Batman I, Robin (Tim), Batgirl (Cassandra), Batman (Terry) (600)
Spoiler Alert!
Bang! Gun SA Usage: Used to att. a 1 life Robin from LG, rolled 2 skulls & 1 blank, Robin couldn’t roll enough shields to save himself on just 3 dice so he was eliminated. Used on 1 life Batman (Terry) from LG, rolled 2 skulls & 1 shield, Terry 3 whiffs on def. for the 3rd time and goes down, this cost his team an OM. Used on 2 life Batman (Bruce) from LG, rolled 2 skulls & 1 blank, this Batman also whiffs on def. and goes down. Joy Buzzer 13 Usage: Never used. Acid Flower Usage: After engaging both Batman’s and Batgirl via Joker Goon bonding, the next OM was revealed on his card and he attempted to put the final wound on Batgirl but missed, he then used Clowning Around to switch with a Joker Goon when attacked. Next round he ran this scenario again, this time the Acid Flower kills Batgirl. Normal Attack Damage Inflicted: 2W on Batman (Terry) when he whiffed on def. 1W on Batman (Terry) from LG when he whiffed on def. Damage Taken: 2W from Batman (Terry) attacking from HG, 2W from Batgirl attacking from HG, Who won and how many wounds did they have? Joker w/4W, HQ w/1W, Mister Zsasz @full health won.
Recap: Insane faction gets off to a hot start when HQ hits Batman, Robin, & Batgirl with a 4 skull bomb attack and then also knocks an OM off of Batman’s card. Mad Hatter then also manages to put a hat marker on Batman and deny him another OM reveal. The vigilantes did however manage to take down 2 Joker Goons before they could be sacrificed or switched out. Joker then took out Robin. Batman (Terry) is forced to retreat, Joker twice chases after him, uses his Acid Flower on Batgirl, and switches out with a Joker Goon when attacked. Mad Hatter tries to make Batman take out Batman but fails and it all backfires on his when Batman Batglides over adj. to the Mad Hatter on HG. Batman manages to take down Mad Hatter and free the other Batman from his control. Both Batmen fall to Joker’s Pop Gun.
_____________________________________________________________ Army Test 2
- Does it pass, Yes or No?yes
- What should be the unit's point value? 160 seems okay, clearly not on the same level at the 190 point Criminals he faced but has a few tricks up his sleeve that make him useful.
- Give a brief preview. For the second test I wanted to pull Joker out of the Insane faction to see how he held up on his own. Star-Lord can boost him as well as potentially move him up into position to use his Acid Flower. Then with the Wrecking Crew in opposition, he has a chance to make use of his Joy Buzzer power if his allies can take Wrecker & Thunderball out first. As such a boosted Black Canary & Bug will lead the attack with Joker coming into play later.
Map: Yellowstone Throwdown 3
Units: Joker, Star-Lord, Black Canary, Bug (800) vs. Wrecking Crew (800)
Spoiler Alert!
Bang! Gun SA Usage: Used to att. a 2 life Thunderball from LG, rolled 2 skulls & 1 shield, blocked. Used to att. Wrecker from LG, miss. Used to att. Wrecker from LG, 1 skull & 2 shields rolled, blocked. Used to att. Bull Dozer on even ground, rolled 3 skulls, blocked. Joy Buzzer 13 Usage: Used only as a deterrent, Joker protected Star Lords blindside preventing Bulldozer from wanting to run around a 3 hex rock outcrop and flank Star Lord. Acid Flower Usage: Attempted to use on Wrecker twice but missed both times. Normal Attack Damage Inflicted: 4W to Bulldozer from HG when Bull Dozer whiffs on def. 1W to Wrecker on even ground. Damage Taken: 2W from an adj. Wrecker. 1W from an adj. Wrecker. 2W from an adj. Wrecker. 4W (only 1 needed) from adj. Wrecker. Who won and how many wounds did they have? Wrecker w/2W won.
Recap: Black Canary rolls just 1 shield on 7 dice when making her first def. roll of the game and takes a quick 3W from a thrown crowbar. Soon after Piledriver pounds Star Lord into the ground on his first set of attacks, scoring 1W and then following up with a perfect 5 skull attack to which Peter whiffs his def. roll on. Wrecker then finishes off Black Canary and Thunderball puts 2W on Bug the first time Bug gets attacked. I just call the game here as these results will tell us nothing at all. Joker never did anything but move up once in this game and it is already over. I’ll try it again with the same armies and see if I can’t squeeze a better result out of the Star-Lord team. Take 2: This time I push out Joker ahead of Star-Lord and try to keep Joker always in front of or beside him to act as a screen. Now it is Thunderball that takes a quick 4Ws from Bug on HG. Bug finishes off Thunderball and Black Canary rushes forward to engage Wrecker. Black Canary tries to put down Wrecker quickly but fails to roll 3 skulls on her first attack, then on her second attempt she only rolls 3 skulls once, the result is only 1W from 2OM. Wrecker though gets a lucky break when Black Canary rolls only 1 shield on 6 dice and falls with 1OM still on her card. Bug starts to quickly put Ws on Piledriver and Piledriver returns the favor. Bug wins the showdown with Piledriver the next to fall. Wrecker squishes the Bug. Star Lord’s luck finally runs out and he falls to a combination of Wrecker & Bulldozer. Joker can’t force Wrecker to engage him so he engages first and takes down Bulldozer in the process. Wrecker takes down Joker to win.
Thanks, added to the first post. Yeah, I'm glad the Goons finally have a good Joker. They're a great design but neither of the first two iterations really work well with them.
Army Test
Map: If You Can’t Take the Heat
Units: Joker(III) (160), Harley Quinn (130), Joker Goons (120), Scarecrow (140), Ragdoll (100) (650) VS Cyclops (190), Phoenix (230), Emma Frost (170), Jubilee (60) (650)
Spoiler Alert!
Unit Summary:
Damage w/normal: none. ”BANG!” Gun SA: 4 blanks out of 7 rolls; damage: 3 wounds to Phoenix, 1 to Jubilee, 3 to Emma Frost Joy Buzzer 13: 0 out of 0 rolls Acid Flower: 0 skulls out of 0 rolls
Once I got started, I was worried about Phoenix on this map, as the Lava could have been an issue. She only hit her Psionic Blast roll twice though, in part due to Scarecrow shutting down three of her turns in one round with the Fear Gas. That was a big round for Insane team and it kept them going for a while. The Goons went down fairly quickly, and only got got to sacrifice himself for Joker to take another turn. Their OM flex was nice though, and allowed Scarecrow and Harley to be used effectively.
Joker came into play in the middle of the game, and he used his SA almost exclusively. The Mutants had too much range to engage him, and he was angling for an Acid Flower use to knock out Emma, but he was blown away by Cyclops first. Still, he and Harley put up a good show in the later rounds and made this a close one.
Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): R5T4: Cyclops with 1/4 wounds
Army Test
Map: Modified Hydra Base (no wall caps, minor terrain changes)
Units: Joker(III) (160), Harley Quinn (130), Joker Goons (120), Scarecrow (140), Ragdoll (100) (650) VS Luke Cage (190), Iron Fist (260), Scarlet Spider (Ben Reilly, 190) (640)
Spoiler Alert!
Unit Summary:
Damage w/normal: none. ”BANG!” Gun SA: 3 blanks out of 8 rolls; damage: 2 wounds to Cage over 3 attacks, 2 to Iron Fist over 2 attacks. Joy Buzzer 13: 0 out of 1 roll Acid Flower: 4 skulls out of 4 rolls (2 wounds to Scarlet Spider, 1 to Cage, 1 to Fist).
This one came way closer than it should have thanks to a whiff from Harley Quinn, though it was only heading to an easy win for the Arkham Escapees because of very good luck. Beyond Joker’s 4 for 4 on Acid Flower, his team also won Initiative in the first four rounds, as well as round six. That was huge for them as it allowed Scarecrow to put the Fear Gas out first thing each round. Some decent rolls there plus Harley knocking off a couple OMs with her bomb in round one and the Escapees kept the Fighters from doing much in the early going. That in turn gave the Escapees time to get things set up, though they were often sacrificing attacks for superior positioning.
Joker got most of the activations after the second round. He made the most of it too, even his attacks never got through to Scarlet Spider. Once Spider got a couple attacks in on him, he went down fairly easily, just before he could finish off SS. Spider won Init in the 7th round and dealt 3 wounds to a whiffing Harley Quinn, taking her out with 3 OMs on her card, and leaving only Ragdoll. Spider nearly had Ragdoll, but a miss on his Spidey-Senses and a whiff knocked him out.
Who won? List figures remaining in the winning army (include life remaining for heroes): R8T4: Ragdoll with 3/4 wounds.
THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT'S COST, BALANCE, & DRAFTABILITY: Seems fine around 160 to me. He has a lot of ways to mess up the opponent and score some easy wounds, but it’s swingy. He’ll do well if he’s rolling hot, but a couple misses and he’s done. Mobility and Range can keep him at arm’s length too. 6 Life will keep him around, but he’s not defending many attacks with 3 Defense.
GENERAL THOUGHTS ON THE TESTED UNIT: Really cool abilities. Feels appropriately Joker-ish with all his options and tricks. Nice pairing with the Joker Goons, though he wants OMs once he gets a chance for Acid Flower. Using the extra turn from a Goon sacrifice to rush him into engagement with the next OM on his card is a fun strategy.
Quick question about the wording for Acid Flower: is ‘this turn’ Joker’s turn or the player’s turn? Didn’t end up mattering in may games, but the latter option allows Harley to take advantage of it as well.
Sounds good to me! Probably would want another set of tests but I'm happy with him at 160 still.
As for the latter: intent was just for the Joker's turn but it shouldn't make much of a different either way. Have we hashed out how to differentiate them, wording-wise?
I think 3 sets of tests, all from very experienced play testers, is enough when no issues seem to be popping up for anyone in those tests. If you are concerned, I'd send Ronin a PM and ask him to test him without sharing any details with anyone.
Cool write up! Love the gadgety version of Joker getting some love.
Just as a small thing, I'd put the last power in the SP first in order since it triggers after revealing an OM on the card, which is before the special attack in turn order.
Good call Bats... the "once per round" bit sort of pushed me to put it last, but I think in the end strict turn order makes sense here.
Since no one else has piped in I'll agree with YK since we had experienced testers, no one raised any issues, and we all found him fun and in the right range point-wise. Plus, no real concerns from the CRB. So, I PROPOSE WE MOVE TO FINAL EDITING!
Does anyone have this figure for pics? If not, @Xorlof, would you be able to snap some for us?
In the meantime I'll try to find better art. Really surprised by the lack of good choices for the JOKER of all characters!
Good call Bats... the "once per round" bit sort of pushed me to put it last, but I think in the end strict turn order makes sense here.
Since no one else has piped in I'll agree with YK since we had experienced testers, no one raised any issues, and we all found him fun and in the right range point-wise. Plus, no real concerns from the CRB. So, I PROPOSE WE MOVE TO FINAL EDITING!
Does anyone have this figure for pics? If not, @Xorlof, would you be able to snap some for us?
In the meantime I'll try to find better art. Really surprised by the lack of good choices for the JOKER of all characters!
He was going to send me a mini and I planned to photo it but it either got lost in the mail or my old company threw it in the trash when they decided I wasn't coming back.