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The Book of MACH-I

Ronin

Symbiotic
Site Supporter
The Book of MACH-I

C3G MARVEL SUPER SECRET EXCLUSIVE 55
JUSTICE, LIKE LIGHTNING...


C3G_MACH-I_comic.png

Comic PDF

C3G_MACH-I_mini.png

Mini PDF

The figure used for this unit is a Heroclix figure from the Sinister set.
Its model number and name are #040-042 / MACH-1, MACH-3, MACH-4.
Its model number and name are #202 / Abner Jenkins.

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Character Bio - Abner Jenkins was first known as the Beetle, a small-time enemy to heroes like Spider-Man and the Human Torch. Abe donned the guise of MACH-I when he joined the Thunderbolts, Helmut Zemo's new team of supervillains masquerading as heroes. Abe had been regarded as a failure throughout his criminal career, and found that he enjoyed the public admiration that came with the lifestyle of a hero. He quickly emerged as the most truly heroic of the Thunderbolts. When the Thunderbolts were outed to the public as villains, Abe joined most of his teammates in turning against Zemo and putting an end to his schemes.

Despite his heroic nature, Abe also had more skeletons in his closet than did his teammates; he was the only one with murder on his rap sheet. After the Thunderbolts defeated Zemo, Abe turned himself over to the police to prove that the Thunderbolts were sincerely trying to reform their ways. Abe went to prison for his crimes, but was eventually pardoned.
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-Rulings and Clarifications-
  • N/A
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-Combinations and Synergies-

Incoming Synergy:Outgoing Synergy:
  • N/A
Immunities, Benefits, and Weaknesses:
  • As a Human, MACH-I interacts differently with these special powers.
  • As a figure with a special attack, MACH-I may interact differently with these special powers.
  • As a flying figure, MACH-I interacts differently with these special powers.
  • As a figure with the Super Strength special power, MACH-I interacts differently with these special powers.
  • Flying figures may bypass MACH-I's Evasive Flying special power. Current Flying Figures.
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-Strategy, Tactics and Tips--Heroscapers Community Contributions-
  • Initial playtest: Ronin
  • Second playtest: Lazy Orang
  • Third playtest: Ronin
  • Fourth playtest: japes
  • Art: Comic, Figure, Background
  • Art by japes
  • Beetle created by Stan Lee and Carl Burgos
  • MACH-I persona created by Kurt Busiek and Mark Bagley
  • Comic art by Declan Shalvey
 
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Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

NAME = MACH-I
SECRET IDENTITY = ABNER JENKINS

SPECIES = HUMAN
UNIQUENESS = UNIQUE HERO
CLASS = CHARLATAN
PERSONALITY = REPENTANT

SIZE/HEIGHT = MEDIUM 5

LIFE = 4

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

POINTS = 200


SUPPORT FIRE 16
If an opponent's unengaged figure moves adjacent to a figure you control within 5 clear sight spaces of MACH-I, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 16 or higher, the opponent's figure receives a wound. MACH-I may not use Support Fire 16 if he is engaged.

DIVERSIONARY FIRE SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 5. Attack 3.
Immediately after rolling attack dice for this special attack against an opponent's figure, if MACH-I rolls at least one skull, you may move MACH-I or another figure you control within 5 spaces of MACH-I up to 2 spaces. Figures moved by this special attack never take leaving engagement attacks from the defending figure. After attacking with this special attack, MACH-I may attack 1 additional time.

EVASIVE FLYING
When MACH-I starts to fly, he will not take any leaving engagement attacks. When MACH-I rolls defense dice against an attack from a non-adjacent figure without the Flying or Stealth Flying special power, 1 shield will block all damage, and you may immediately move MACH-I one space for each shield rolled.

SUPER STRENGTH

FLYING
 
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Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

Comic art
Spoiler Alert!


Mini photos
Spoiler Alert!


There are a lot of moving parts here that can probably use some tinkering with, but I'm shooting for a Charlatan support piece with some interesting engagement/movement dynamics. Also angling to keep him in the 180-190 range if I can (and looking him over, he's probably a little higher than that right now). Aiming for the T-Bolts to hit 1200 even.
 
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Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

Why does his Aerial Superiority help his allies disengage from non-fliers?

I think I already brought this up before and I'm not saying you should change it if it is something you really like/want, but I hate the support fire power on Rocket's card. It never seems to be useful at all to me. Either the opponent engages Rocket first and shuts it down before I can even roll for it, or I mange to get one or two rolls in before he is engaged and they never hit. Now it does look like it could be more effective on this card with the disengage and free move of 4 on defense he has, you should at least be rolling for it a little more often, but I'm still wary of using one of your 3 power slots on it. Especially since it only works for Charlatans.

I also have gotten to a point that I feel 3 attack SA's are pretty useless with all the 5+ defense figures out there. I'd bump it up to 4.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

Why does his Aerial Superiority help his allies disengage from non-fliers?

Because it was conceived as a support power. I wanted him to have different upsides to being engaged/not engaged, and I liked the idea of him being able to swoop in and pin enemies down.

I think I already brought this up before and I'm not saying you should change it if it is something you really like/want, but I hate the support fire power on Rocket's card. It never seems to be useful at all to me. Either the opponent engages Rocket first and shuts it down before I can even roll for it, or I mange to get one or two rolls in before he is engaged and they never hit. Now it does look like it could be more effective on this card with the disengage and free move of 4 on defense he has, you should at least be rolling for it a little more often, but I'm still wary of using one of your 3 power slots on it. Especially since it only works for Charlatans.

I've had some decent luck with Rocket's power before. Not more than 1-2 wounds in a game, no, but free wounds are free wounds. If it's playing weaker than I expect, I'm willing to fiddle with it. But I really like the mechanic here and it doesn't need to work wonders.

I also have gotten to a point that I feel 3 attack SA's are pretty useless with all the 5+ defense figures out there. I'd bump it up to 4.

4 sounds a little too strong for the anti-swarm thing it currently is. I'd be up for shifting gears on that direction (especially since Support Fire is already kinda anti-swarm) and maybe going for up to two attacks of 4 instead of four attacks of 3.

The simplest version of that would be like this:

???
Range 5. Attack 4.
After attacking with this special attack, MACH-I may attack with it one additional time. MACH-I may not attack the same figure twice in one turn.

And I kinda like going simple like that, though we could also work in some of the effects to incentivize going after enemies engaged with your other figures. (Like in the current SA)
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

I don't know the character but the overall design looks cool. :up:

I like Support Fire here; if it's showing too weak, just lower the D20 roll. For the SA, what about allowing it to move your allies out of engagement? Something like:

???
Range 5. Attack 4.
Immediately after rolling attack dice for this special attack against an opponent's figure, you may move a figure you control that is engaged to that opponent's figure up to 3 spaces. Figures moved by this special attack never take leaving engagement attacks from the defending figure. After attacking with this special attack, MACH-1 may attack with it one additional time. MACH-I may not attack the same figure twice in one turn.

Adds in some of the movement/disengage support theme, and would play nicely with Support Fire. With that, you could then look at switching Aerial Superiority to one of the reuses (Evasive Flying?) or create a different support power (I always liked the idea of a flying figure giving out friendly clear sight, a sort of tactical Eyes in the Sky type power).

My :2cents:.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

I don't know the character but the overall design looks cool. :up:

I like Support Fire here; if it's showing too weak, just lower the D20 roll. For the SA, what about allowing it to move your allies out of engagement? Something like:

???
Range 5. Attack 4.
Immediately after rolling attack dice for this special attack against an opponent's figure, you may move a figure you control that is engaged to that opponent's figure up to 3 spaces. Figures moved by this special attack never take leaving engagement attacks from the defending figure. After attacking with this special attack, MACH-1 may attack with it one additional time. MACH-I may not attack the same figure twice in one turn.

Adds in some of the movement/disengage support theme, and would play nicely with Support Fire. With that, you could then look at switching Aerial Superiority to one of the reuses (Evasive Flying?) or create a different support power (I always liked the idea of a flying figure giving out friendly clear sight, a sort of tactical Eyes in the Sky type power).

My :2cents:.

I was just going to mention something similar here. Wrap the disengage into the support attack or his special and give him an eye in the sky.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

I'd be cool with that direction for the SA and switching up Aerial Superiority. Evasive Flying sounds better to me than an Eye in the Sky type thing. That direction would take away some of the trade-offs to having MACH-I engaged or unengaged and leave him wanting to be unengaged all the time, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

I like the added disengage type thing to his SA but think, in that case, it should probably be 3 Attack. Star-Lord has a similar theme to his attack and it's only 2 dice.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

Yeah, I'm cool with that. Evasive Flying is a pretty big bump to his survivability, so it makes sense not to juice his attack at the same time.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

So here's where I'm at:

CHARLATAN SUPPORT FIRE 16
If an opponent's unengaged figure moves adjacent to a Charlatan you control within 5 clear sight spaces of MACH-I, you may roll the 20-sided die. If you roll 16 or higher, the opponent's figure receives a wound. MACH-I may not use Charlatan Support Fire if he is engaged.

??? SPECIAL ATTACK
Range 5. Attack 3.
Immediately after rolling attack dice for this special attack against an opponent's figure, if MACH-I rolls at least one skull, you may move MACH-I or another figure you control within 5 spaces of MACH-I up to 2 spaces. Figures moved by this special attack never take leaving engagement attacks from the defending figure. After attacking with this special attack, MACH-I may attack 1 additional time.

EVASIVE FLYING

I just ripped Star-Lord's SA, but tweaked it to be 3 dice and a double attack instead of a triple.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

SP updated. Last call for any other opinions before going to initial.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Breathing)

Sticking with 3, since it has more of a point besides just the damage.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Vote for Initial)

yea, although I do think it should just be Support Fire 16 with the Charlatan restriction dropped. His second power can move any ally after all so why not just let him be drafted into more than one army?
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Vote for Initial)

yea, although I do think it should just be Support Fire 16 with the Charlatan restriction dropped. His second power can move any ally after all so why not just let him be drafted into more than one army?

My main fear is that defensive builds and figure-movement shenanigans would push his cost up above what I'm shooting for (180-190 points), and I'd rather not have to deal with that. (EDIT: Though if the CRB doesn't think it's a worry, I'd be willing to open him up)
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Vote for Initial)

Yea

I like the faction restriction personally. :shrug:
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Vote for Initial)

The T-Bolts aren't going to be the be-all end-all for Charlatans, either. Once we get down to business on the Dark Avengers (hopefully in the not-so-distant future), they'll open up some more Charlatan options as well. Plus there's plenty of room for the odd Charlatan unconnected to either team - laughing matter's Superior Spider-Man, in the public nomination right now, is one.

His build options are limited now, with the Charlatans being more a faction-bud than a proper faction, but that's a problem that'll work itself out.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Vote for Initial)

I've lost track of all the Charlatans at this point, but Ronin seems to be on top of my primary concerns; i.e. the power of passive support powers. Still, engagement strike 16 isn't all that amazing unless there's a bunch of Charlatans (squad? cheap ones) and/or strong figure movement abilities. I guess you could play with Graviton or something, but there are plenty of easier ways to exploit Graviton.
 
Re: The Book of MACH-I (Vote for Initial)

I've lost track of all the Charlatans at this point, but Ronin seems to be on top of my primary concerns; i.e. the power of passive support powers. Still, engagement strike 16 isn't all that amazing unless there's a bunch of Charlatans (squad? cheap ones) and/or strong figure movement abilities. I guess you could play with Graviton or something, but there are plenty of easier ways to exploit Graviton.

All we've got finalized so far are these three:
Songbird
Atlas
Meteorite
 
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