Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Smack Down! Pulp City Supreme Edition Battle Report

Hi everyone,

The gang at Pulp Monsters are coming into the home stretch with their Supreme Edition Pulp City Kickstarter and Aaron and I wanted to walk you all through a battle report with the goal of enticing you to GIVE THEM ALL YOUR MONEY.  Check it out:

This is June Summers, reporting for PC22, Pulp City's #1 news station.  The past day brought another clash of Supremes to our streets.  It's not clear what drove these two bands into conflict today, but the damage inflicted by their battle on our fair city.  Let's go to the video:

Today's Smack-Down featured two level 6 teams intent on beating each other into submission (we fought until all of one team was eliminated and skipped the finer details of Pulp City games like Agendas and other, more complex scenarios.

For the Heroes, Aaron ran a Blood Watch team, comprising:

  • Sgt. Bale - Bale, a level 2 Brawler, uses the power of a dragon he defeated to smite his enemies.  He gets to pick an opponent to start the game--he gets bonuses against this target and a general bonus against all opponents after taking his target out (he picked Boreas)
  • Blood Rose - BR a level 1 Support, is an expert at moving her team around the battlefield via alternate dimensions. She can also heal Supremes.
  • Six Feet Under - 6FU, a level 3 dead-but-now-not-dead Powerhouse, brings the pain with his shovel. He generates 3 power-up dice a turn and can activate twice in a row if he inflicts enough EFX.
I ran four Villains, including one Hero/Villain:
  • Boreas - Boreas, a level 2 Blaster, is an ancient wind spirit who enjoys shredding innocents.  He's highly effective against other flyers and can really shift Supremes and objects around the battlefield.
  • Hellsmith - HS, a level 2 Brawler, is a good mix of debuff and AOE damage.  He's a tough customer.
  • Xenobi - X, a level 1 Support, looks small, but packs a wallop and brings some fun debuff abilities (note: we did not use any minions in this game, which is one of Xenobi's strengths normally).
  • Kity Cheshire - Kitty is a level 1 Speedster who teleports around the board.  She's a utility Supreme, and can deal damage, debuff and shift opponents around as needed.
Deployment: 

We line up 18" apart from one another and move to turn 1.
Villains, ATTACK!
Blood Watch, let's go to work!


Turn 1: Heroes win the Mind Roll and have the Villains move first.
Both teams begin moving up to the right of the 2-story building.  Kitty BAMFs to the roof, while Boreas flanks over toward the Crate.  6FU charges straight toward the Villains, while BR and Bale are a bit more cautious.  X and HS move to take the fight to the Heroes.

In terms of Action, HS launches a Cleave at 6FU, but fails to get inflict any Knockback via EFX.  Xenobi uses Ka-Boom to inflict 3 damage on 6FU and knock himself back to a safer location, while Boreas chucks a stray desk at Bale for a point of damage, despite a gang of extra dice (larger base, high ground, Blaster).

Boreas makes the first move
While the rest of the gang advances 

The Powerhouse comes around the corner

You want a piece of me, windy???

The stage is set...for CARNAGE!

Ka-BOOM!

Bale...I have a surprise for you...

Desk to the face!
Turn 2: Heroes win Mind Roll and elect to go first.

6FU goes right to work, charging into HS and unleashing a Power Smash.  The attack inflicts enough EFX to trigger a second activation for the Powerhouse, so he brings an encore...AN ENCORE OF PAIN!  At the end of the turn's first activation, HS is left with just 2 HP.  BAM, POW indeed.

This is not going to end well for the Smith from Hell.

Clash of Brutes!

Recognizing a great opportunity, Boreas then moves into the midst of the Heroes and activates Blood Wind.  This large pulse attack damages and moves all the targets it successfully hits.  He deals 2 damage each to BR and Bale, spreading them out, and then I roll the following against 6FU: 
That would be four Trump EFX
5 damage later, 6FU still has something like 8 left. Bloody Powerhouses!

Large-scale shifts like Blood Wind are some of my favorite abilities.  Board control is everything!
The rest of the turn saw Bale Flame Striking Boreas for a couple of damage, and HS and X whiffing on 6FU with Power Smash and Ka-Boom, respectively (2 Smashes for HS...).

Turn 3: Villains win the Mind Roll and go first.

With his trademark evil grin, Boreas moves slightly and calls on another Blood Wind.  He succeeds in killing BR, dispatching the Alien back to her own dimension.  However, the true targets of the attack, Bale and 6FU, are unharmed, as Boreas manages to tie both of them.  Since all three are Mystery in origin, the defender wins ties.  Curses!

Predictably, Aaron activates 6FU next, who does what he does: SHOVELS! Violently.

6FU starts by moving between X and HS and uses Buried Alive, killing HS and gravely wounding X.

I'm taking you down, HS!
He then gets to activate again, as he did sufficient EFX to HS, so he steps around X to hit both him and Kitty with a second Buried Alive, taking out the tiny mutant and bringing the planar walker to the brink.  6FU is not to be f*&#d with.
Really, don't f*@# with me.
Kitty moves to attack Bale, but misses.  Bale then returns the favor with Bale Fire, taking her down.
Give my regards the White Rabbit, Demon! 
Turn 4: Villains win Mind Roll, electing to go first.

We reach an interesting situation, as both sides now only have 2 AP (2 from Boreas and 2 from Bale).  Boreas can no longer summon the necessary AP to use Blood Wind, and Aaron has to choose between really only using Bale or 6FU to any effect.  If I can take out Bale, Aaron will have generate no AP, ending the game and giving me the victory.  

Boreas takes the chance to throw some crates at Bale, almost killing him.

However, moving into Turn 5, 6FU eventually gets close enough and uses his Shovel to great effect once again, finishing the Wind Demon.

Victory to the Blood Watch!

WHACK!  Apparently the only thing more important than board control is sheer, unadulterated violence.
This was a pretty even game, and was highly entertaining, even without agendas or a more complex scenario (or minions!).  It was great to see the interplay between the different Roles.  Aaron was hurting for AP once BR dropped, and Boreas could not take advantage of his best ability once his compatriots were defeated.  Team-building is key!

And there you have it.  I hope you enjoyed this report and are now ready to back the Kickstarter for Pulp City Supreme Edition!

I'll happily answer any questions I can in comments.

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