The Book of Kingpin (II)

[Soundwarp SG-1]

The Book of Kingpin (II)

C3G MARVEL PUBLIC EXCLUSIVE COLLECTION 16
RULING THE RABBLE

Comic PDF

Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Universe set.
Its model numbers and name are #067-069 / Kingpin.

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Infinity Challenge set.
Its model numbers and name are #043-045 / Kingpin.
Its model numbers and name are #163 / Wilson Fisk.​

_________________________________________________________________

Character Bio - Fisk's criminal empire has fallen many times, but he inevitably rises to reclaim it. Working from the shadows, he may be be seldom seen, but his influence is always felt. The ranks of the criminal underworld know, and many a 'Hero' has learned, everyone has a weakness and everyone must eventually pay homage to the once and future Kingpin of Crime.
_________________________________________________________________

-Rulings and Clarifications-

• N/A

_________________________________________________________________

-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:

• As a Human, Kingpin has these Human Synergies.
• As a Crime Lord, Kingpin has these Crime Lord Synergies.

Outgoing Synergy:

• Kingpin may change one Crime Fighter, Lawman, or Vigilante Hero into a Criminal, removing any synergies gained by their original class and granting them these Criminal Synergies. Current Crime Fighter, Lawman, and Vigilante Heroes.
• Kingpin may raise the move, attack, and defense of Assassins, Criminals and Theives with his Kingpin of Crime special power. Current Assassins, Criminals and Thieves.

Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:

• As a Human, Kingpin interacts differently with these special powers.
• As a Manipulative figure, when Kingpin attacks Jewel, she rolls one fewer defense die, due to her Psychological Vulnerability special power.

_________________________________________________________________

-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

• Break-down of his tangled synergy web

-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

• Initial playtest: Soundwarp SG-1
• Second playtest: Ronin
• Third playtest: Arkham
• Forth playtest: LOB5T3R
• Fifth playtest: Lazy Orang
• Art: Comic, Background
• Art by Soundwarp SG-1
• Kingpin created by Stan Lee and John Romita Sr.

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

NAME = KINGPIN
SECRET IDENTITY = WILSON FISK

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = CRIME LORD
PERSONALITY = MANIPULATIVE
SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 5

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

POINTS = 230

CRIMINAL FRAME-UP
At the start of the game, you may choose one Unique Hero that is a Crime Fighter, Lawman or Vigilante. For this game the chosen figure's class is Criminal instead of what is listed on its card.

KINGPIN OF CRIME
If at least one of your Order Markers for a round is placed on this card, and:
• All of your other Order Markers are placed on Assassin cards you control, then all Assassins you control add 1 to their Attack numbers for the rest of the round;
• All of your other Order Markers are placed on Criminal cards you control, then all Criminals you control add 1 to their Defense numbers for the rest of the round;
• All of your other Order Markers are placed on Thief cards you control, then all Thieves you control add 2 to their Move numbers for the rest of the round;
• You have one Order Marker each on an Assassin card you control, a Criminal card you control, and a Thief card you control, then all Assassins, Thieves and Criminals you control add 1 to their Move, Attack and Defense numbers for the rest of the round.

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Comic

Spoiler Alert!

Background

Spoiler Alert!

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Ok, this thread is up, hopefully everything looks right, I'll add some synergy lists to this post later as this Kingpin has his fingers in many pies.

-EDIT-

Interesting synergies and the like:

Criminal Frame-Up

Spoiler Alert!

Criminal Frame-Up allows Kingpin to change one Crime Fighter, Lawman, or Vigilante Hero into a Criminal for the current game. This can be used to either enable synergy for yourself (or potentially a teammate) or on occasion disrupt your opponent's synergy. As the disruption option is not guaranteed to be relevant in non-drafting formats, it's typically best to have at least one frame-up option among your own forces if you wish to get any value out of this power.

Current Synergies Kingpin can enable:

Kingpin's own Kingpin of Crime, allowing him to grant the newly minted Criminal an extra defense die and potentially and extra point of movement and attack die as well. This is the most efficient synergy to shoot for, as it does not require a third card for Kingpin to 'Middleman' for.

Amanda Waller's Suicide Squad (and by extension, her other powers), granting the new Criminal 'bonding' with other Suicide Squad members, an extra attack die under certain situations, and the negative of potentially turning on you. None of Waller's positive powers can come into play at the same time as Kingpin of Crime. Note that Waller also offers Thief synergy as Kingpin does.

Black Mask's Criminal Motivation, granting an extra attack die at the risk of receiving a wound. Criminal Motivation does not require Order Markers on Black Mask to be effective, and thus does not interfere with Kingpin of Crime, though you would need to use the Street Thugs or the like to get Black Mask into position without disrupting Kingpin of Crime.

Hush's Obsessive Vendetta, granting an extra attack die against a select target. Like Waller, Hush's benefits cannot come into play at the same time as Kingpin of Crime, though Kingpin himself can benefit from Obsessive Vendetta.

Kingpin I's Organised Crime, granting bonding. As you can not draft both Fisks into the same army, this can only come into play if you have a Hero capable of copying an enemy Kingpin I's powers or your opponent takes control of your Frame-Up target.

Lex Corp Security's Criminal Alliance, granting bonding and an extra attack die. Cannot come into play at the same time as Kingpin of Crime.

Lex Luthor I's Criminal Deception and Villainous Entrapment, granting protection to Lex and bonuses to leaving engagement attacks. Neither of these powers interfere with Kingpin of Crime or require much positioning on Lex's part.

Redmist's Payoff, granting bonding. Cannot come into play at the same time as Kingpin of Crime, but can be used against an enemy Hero Kingpin has framed.

The Riddler's Criminal Ambush, granting a conditional extra attack die. Does not interfere with Kingpin of Crime, but moving Riddler into position will without outside help.

The Hood's Criminal Ambition, granting conditional bonding. Cannot be used at the same time as Kingpin of Crime, but can be used on Kingpin himself.

Ventriloquist's Heist Planner, granting extra move. Does not interfere with Kingpin of Crime, but Ventriloquist will need help to move into position without doing so. Heist Planner can also boost Thieves as Kingpin of Crime can.

Wizard's Criminal Leadership, granting extra move. Uniquely, at present, Wizard is a Criminal with Criminal synergies and thus can be activated without risk of disrupting Kingpin of Crime, though he does not require any positioning or Order Markers for Criminal Leadership to come into play in the first place. Unfortunately, Wizard's Force Field X does not play especially well with Kingpin of Crime.

Madame Hydra's Necessary Sacrifices, allowing Ophelia to redirect wounds onto the framed Hero. Does not interfere with Kingpin of Crime, though it isn't a very useful power unless Ophelia is doing something to earn the save, which most likely will disrupt Kingpin of Crime without outside help.

In addition to the synergies he can enable, Kingpin can break the synergies granted by a number of figures; most prominently Luke Cage and the various Robins.

Daredevil, Judge Dredd, Lieutenant Stone, Rorschach, and Spoiler all have anti-Criminal powers that Kingpin can enable against an enemy figure. Of those, all but Dredd and Spoiler are valid Frame-Up targets themselves, allowing them to pull double duty where one of them can either be framed if no better targets are present, or get a bonus against a framed enemy.

 

[japes]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Ok, this thread is up, hopefully everything looks right, I'll add some synergy lists to this post later as this Kingpin has his fingers in many pies.

One step I might not have mentioned...send a PM to all the heroes with a link to the thread.

Everything else looks good.

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Ok, this thread is up, hopefully everything looks right, I'll add some synergy lists to this post later as this Kingpin has his fingers in many pies.

One step I might not have mentioned...send a PM to all the heroes with a link to the thread.

Everything else looks good.

Cool, Wilco

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

I'm a fan of this one. Pretty polished design.

I had some (purely thematic) misgivings about the lack of conditions or downsides to Criminal Frame-Up, but I've come around on that point. Not out of character for him to have that kind of leverage, and we are talking about a guy who's gone under the name 'Brainwasher'.

I could see him at 5 Attack, but he doesn't totally need it.

 

[Qualizium]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

I like it. Immediately makes me think of teams I want to put him in.

 

[johnny139]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

I liked it when it was a draft, and I still like it now.

 

[Yodaking]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Second power has an extra 'if' in it, otherwise looking good. The bonus for one OM on each tempts me to try and bring a mixed army, but I could also see myself just running an all criminal or all assassin team with him.

Any OM rearrangement powers we need to make a FAQ for? Say Riddler or Ozy is in your opponents team, can they knock out the bonus or is the bonus locked in at the start of the round when OM's are first placed? If it is 'locked in' then can you have an OM re-arranger in your own army and keep the bonuses going after you move an OM from Kingpin to ?

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

I'm a fan of this one. Pretty polished design.

I had some (purely thematic) misgivings about the lack of conditions or downsides to Criminal Frame-Up, but I've come around on that point. Not out of character for him to have that kind of leverage, and we are talking about a guy who's gone under the name 'Brainwasher'.

I am open to having a way to clear a Hero's name if that's the desired path, my personal custom this is based on does so by Kingpin either being destroyed or mindshackled, I didn't include a method in this draft mostly to keep the card a bit more streamlined. As you say though, a lasting influence isn't really a massive theme break for Kingpin.

I could see him at 5 Attack, but he doesn't totally need it.

I'm pretty flexible with the stats, as they're mostly irrelevant. I think there is some merit to keeping him at 4 though, as it helps him not overshadow Kingpin I too much.

Second power has an extra 'if' in it, otherwise looking good.

Thanks, fixed.

Any OM rearrangement powers we need to make a FAQ for? Say Riddler or Ozy is in your opponents team, can they knock out the bonus or is the bonus locked in at the start of the round when OM's are first placed? If it is 'locked in' then can you have an OM re-arranger in your own army and keep the bonuses going after you move an OM from Kingpin to ?

The power is based off of Spartacus's, which is locked in at the start of the round in classic scape and stays around for the round no matter what happens to Sparty. I don't think there is anything in C3G that contradicts that ruling for Kingpin. So Riddler and such can't deactivate the bonuses, but Oracle/Captain Marvel/Whatever could let you rearrange your OMs without losing the bonus. I don't there is anyone that can rearrange your OMs in a way efficient enough to be a problem though, even old school Sage and Rodgers wouldn't have worked.

 

[japes]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

I'm a fan of this one. Pretty polished design.

I had some (purely thematic) misgivings about the lack of conditions or downsides to Criminal Frame-Up, but I've come around on that point. Not out of character for him to have that kind of leverage, and we are talking about a guy who's gone under the name 'Brainwasher'.

I am open to having a way to clear a Hero's name if that's the desired path, my personal custom this is based on does so by Kingpin either being destroyed or mindshackled, I didn't include a method in this draft mostly to keep the card a bit more streamlined. As you say though, a lasting influence isn't really a massive theme break for Kingpin.

I could see him at 5 Attack, but he doesn't totally need it.

I'm pretty flexible with the stats, as they're mostly irrelevant. I think there is some merit to keeping him at 4 though, as it helps him not overshadow Kingpin I too much.

Not sure if clearing his name mechanic is really needed but I have a very open mind to it and would listen to the reasons it would be necessary.

Also I think you may be right and leaving him at 4 attack makes sense.

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Alrighty, I added some info on the assorted synergies KP can enable with Criminal Frame-Up to the 4th post. The short version is: Using Kingpin as a middleman between a framed hero and other cards granting Criminal synergy is not anything terribly worrisome, as almost all of those synergies come at the cost of Kingpin of Crime. There are a few fun interactions in there, but nothing game breaking when you're basically paying 200+ just to change a Hero's class.

I'll add more info on the various other ways Kingpin interacts with his synergy web as I can.

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Your analysis of the synergies looks pretty on-point. Kingpin of Crime doesn't mesh well with the stuff you could normally exploit by recruiting someone into the Criminal synergy, so you can't really do anything too bonkers with it.

 

[Yodaking]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Only concern that comes to mind on Frame Up is turning the Punisher into a Criminal and then bonding him with the Lex Corp Security. That is a lot of ranged firepower to get out of one OM and could come into play in larger point games where Kingpin could lead a second wave of the army after Castle and the Lex Corp are dead.

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Only concern that comes to mind on Frame Up is turning the Punisher into a Criminal and then bonding him with the Lex Corp Security. That is a lot of ranged firepower to get out of one OM and could come into play in larger point games where Kingpin could lead a second wave of the army after Castle and the Lex Corp are dead.

Punisher is definitely one of Kingpin's better Frame-Up targets, but I don't think it will end up anything super concerning simply because Punisher already has a couple ways to get to similar output levels with other builds. Worth a test though.

Fortunately, none of the current Criminal synergy is anything terribly crazy, and Frame-Up can only pull from classes that already are established synergy recipients themselves, so I think the power will remain reasonably stable.

--

Anyway, on to other business, there are a couple of mini options for Kingpin-

Option A: A bit short for Kingpin (I had to completely replace the legs on my modded one to get him to the right height), but has the best pose for a 'behind the scenes' Kingpin.

Option B: Better on size but the pose is all wrong.

Option C: I don't have this one, so I can't speak to the size, but the pose isn't great.


This is the comic art I'm leaning towards at the moment, only one I could find that has the right feel so far. If we go with this one, I can edit it a bit to match whatever mini is picked.


Anyone have any thoughts here? Also, I don't really know what the steps are for a design or when to change them, so if y'all could let me know when I'm supposed to do that stuff I'd appreciate it.

 

[japes]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

I like the comic art and don't really have an opinion on the mini at this time. As far as protocol...

1. 48 hour breathing period - lets everyone have a chance to see the original draft and make comments and discuss things they like/dislike and offer suggestions.

2. After the breathing period is over if any changes are to be made they can be finalized in a discussion if the LD is undecided on options they may do an informal poll in the thread to see if there is a prevailing opinion.

3. Vote for Initial Playtest (Allies should do an informal test or two to make sure the design that is to be tested plays the way the want. Nothing formal and write-ups not needed. Just see if it "feels" right.)

4. Once vote passes initial may be started (Allies will have a Hero/Sidekick do it and Sidekicks/CRB may do their own)

5. If changes seem neccessary during early stages of initial then conversation of changes can happen before jumping back in the Initial.

6. Once an approximate cost has been worked out we Vote for Public Playtesting. If the LD did not do the initial it is HIGHLY encouraged that they do one set of test once it goes Public.

Hope that helps. May be more than you needed but there are more newbies doing Public Designs coming up so maybe they needed to know.

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Yeah, if you're comfortable with the design and there's nothing needs sorted out (and I don't think there is), you can propose we move to initial whenever.

 

[Tornado]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

We really should make this easier to find.

Ally Design Process

 

[Soundwarp SG-1]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

Cool, thanks for the help guys. It doesn't look like there's any need to change anything at this time, so:

I propose a vote for Initial Playtesting.
@Arkham - Yea
@japes - Yea
@johnny139 - Yea
@Ronin - Yea
@Viegon - Yea
@Yodaking - Yea

Also, I'll go ahead and tag the rest of the CRB now, as I'm pretty sure that's supposed to happen nowish.
@dok @Dysole @weebaer @nuts to that Soundrap guy

 

[Ronin]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

yea

 

[dok]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

I think it would be cool if Frame-Up went away when Kingpin was destroyed, but this is more theme than balance.

Some old comments of mine:

Thieves are the one class that has a bonding squad that shares their class, so you do have the option of running Kingpin, crooks, and a bunch of thief heroes, and being really fast.

Criminals have a few options for high efficiency. The obvious one is Wrecking Crew. You could also play Whirlwind and/or Mentallo, plus one of Bishop/Firestar/Spider-Girl, along with some Mutant Sidekicks. Scorpion and Harley is a third option.

Assasins are limited to X-23/Typhoid Mary and Mutant Sidekicks for bonding options, but that's still pretty good.

I think Kingpin + Wrecking Crew is the obvious place to start as it's so straightforward. You're basically just adding Kingpin to gain the defense bonus. The mutant-based Criminal build also seems reliable and solid.

The bottom bullet point could be fun to trot out in some 2000+ point mega-game, where you can manage a ton of different options - probably crooks, thieves, X23, Typhoid Mary, some Mutant Criminals, and mutant sidekicks + Yukio/Robot. Not really concerning since there's a million ridiculous things you can do at those point totals, but something you could try as sanity check.

 

[Yodaking]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

yea

 

[Arkham]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

yea

 

[japes]

Re: The Book of Kingpin (II) (Opening Phase)

The bottom bullet point could be fun to trot out in some 2000+ point mega-game, where you can manage a ton of different options - probably crooks, thieves, X23, Typhoid Mary, some Mutant Criminals, and mutant sidekicks + Yukio/Robot. Not really concerning since there's a million ridiculous things you can do at those point totals, but something you could try as sanity check.

I think it would be pretty cool to see you and Soundwarp go at it in a 2000 point online test so we can watch the magic happen.

oh and officially a YEA from me.