Nomad Sat Dec 21, 2013 4:27 pm
NAME OF THE TEST UNIT: Anubian Alphas, the third test. I increased the army sizes to give the A+ team a needed screen of Deathreavers while the Anubians added Khosumet.
THEME TEST: Are there are any powers or stats on the test unit card that do not accurately reflect the theme or likeness of what the character should be able to do? Also consider whether or not this character's powers should affect destructible objects. PASS.
FUN TEST: Was the unit fun to play? PASS.
FUN OPPOSITION TEST: Was the unit acceptable to play against? Could it be considered annoying? PASS. The Rats slowed them down a little bit. The A+ team still held out hope until the 5th round when the Anubians rolled two 20s for Unleashed Fury.
USAGE TEST: Were all of the powers on this card used, or at least usable? PASS.
STRATEGY TEST: Does the unit offer any real strategy or interesting tactics to the overall game? PASS. When to bring in an Alpha is the new strategy offered.
BONDING TEST: Compare the unit card with all currently existing Bonding abilities. Are there any Bonding loops that do not stop appropriately? PASS.
SYNERGIES TEST: Think of all the current cards that would have synergy with the unit card. Are there any factors that could break the game by making a unit too powerful or too weak? PASS. Khosumet was a nice addition to the Anubian army. His boost of Unleashed Fury paid off numerous times.
POWER CHECK: When considering the test unit against all existing units (including released C3V and SoV units) and all glyphs, are there any powers that could be overamplified and break the game? FAIL. Too powerful in my opinion – either the points need to increase or the powers/stats tweaked.
DRAFTING TEST: Is this unit worth drafting? PASS.
MIRROR TEST: Consider the test unit against itself. Are there any loops that would upset the balance of the Game? PASS.
ARMY TEST 1
Did the unit perform adequately? What should be the unit's point value? Give a brief summary. [insert pass/fail, point value, and brief summary] FAIL. The Alphas only killed a total of 122 points, but they spent much of their time contending with Rats. The A+ team did a decent job of engaging the Alphas with Rats and slowing them down, but it left some paths open for the wolves to do the majority of the killing. I think that these guys a tad too powerful as written.
Map: Jungle Hill
Units:
Army 1: Anubian Wolves x4, Anubian Alphas x4, Khosumet = 535 points
VS
Army 2: Q-9, Raelin v1, Stingers x3, Isamu, Deathreavers x2 = 530 points.
Rd 1: Wolves and Rats both moved out on OM #1 and #2. The Wolves managed to kill a couple of Rats with 6/9 and 4/5 skull rolls. Khosumet bumped a 19 to a 20 on OM#2. Q-9 came out and couldn’t kill a wolf with his Queglix.
Rd 2: Q-9 rolled 7/9 skulls with his special, but a wolf rolled 8/15 shields in defense. The wolves killed a Rat and then earned two wounds on Q-9 with attacks of 3/4 and 4/5 despite Q-9’s defense bumped by Raelin. The Stingers drained and rolled 7/12 skulls on the same wolf, but it defended with 7/15 shields. The wolves killed two Stingers with two 1/3 rolls. The Stingers finally made some headway, killing 2 wolves, only to have them both be replaced by Alphas. On the last OM, Unleashed Fury was a 1+1 for 2, but a wolf killed a Stinger with a 2/2 roll and then an Alpha took out another one with a 1/3 roll. Q-9 did defend a couple of attacks after taking the first two wounds in the round.
Rd 3: Stingers drain, roll 7/9 skulls to kill the Alpha on the left with two attacks, and then kill a wolf, who was shapeshifted. 1+1 Fury roll, but an Alpha sneaks into attack Raelin for two wounds with a 3/4 skull roll. Two wolves hammer Q-9 with 4/6 total skulls, but Q-9 defends. Stingers drain again, two 2/5 attacks on the Alpha engaged with Raelin kills the lead canine while Q-9 defends against another wolf. The Anubians get a 20+1 Fury roll. An Alpha roll 6/11 skulls to kill a Rat. Two wolves roll 10/20 skulls on poor Q-9, but he amazingly rolls 9/18 shields for only one wound, leaving him with one life left. Raelin flies out of the start zone up to the hill to offer her squads more protection to close the round.
Rd 4: Stingers climb the hill and manage to kill a wolf, the last Alpha in reserve decides to stay in reserve. All of the battle from here on out will take place on top of the hill. 18+1 Fury roll – an Alpha rolls 3/8 to kill another Rat and then a wolf rolls 4/6 skulls to kill Q-9, who rolled 3/9 in defense. Stingers drain and earn 2 wounds on the Alpha and then kill a wolf, he is replaced by the last Alpha. An Alpha can’t kill a Rat. The Stingers attack the two Alphas, killing the one that had two wounds but not damaging the other. To end the round, the Alpha and one wolf kill a couple of Rats, leaving only one on the board. The other wolf rolls 4/4 skulls to kill Raelin.
Rd 5: Three attacks on the same wolf by Stingers finally killed it. A 19+1 Fury roll results in a 3/11 Alpha kill of a Stinger, a 6/9 wolf attack to kill another Stinger, but the last Rat rolls 3/5 shields to defend against a 3/9 wolf attack. The Stingers drain but can only manage to kill one wolf with 5/5 skulls on their final attack of the turn. The Alpha kills the last Rat and a wolf kills a Stinger, leaving only 2 left. The Stingers kill a wolf and place a wound on the Alpha. On OM#3, a 20+1 Fury roll results in two dead Stingers from a 5/9 wolf roll and an 8/11 Alpha roll. Only Isamu remains for the A+ team.
Rd 6: It took a couple of turns, but the Alpha tracked down Isamu, rolled 4/7 skulls, Isamu rolled a 7 for vanish, and the battle was over.
Final thoughts: The Alphas are too strong in my opinion with three convincing wins over a top-flight team with 40%-55% of their total points remaining in the battles. In this one, the Anubians had 202 points left on the board with a 2-life Alpha, a full-life Khosumet, and 4 Wolves. It was closer than the other 2 battles previously reported. Khosument did a nice job of boosting Fury numerous times – which added dozens of dice to Anubian attacks. The Alphas rolled a total of 78 attack dice for 36 skulls, which is less than half. With 11 attacks, the Alphas averaged 7 dice per attack, which is just about right with Khosumet’s bumps. So, they played just about right luck-wise. A 40 point figure that averages an attack of 6 to 7 is pretty nice, and they get to be placed right in the heat of the battle, ensuring an attack on their next turn in most cases.
