Radical Captain Compilation#1197

I saw that MiniVoid had some great success in posting a unit compilation here, so I’ll do the same!
Images attached, but I’ll post the descriptions as well. These are all captains playing in new and interesting space, each in their own way.

<Arawatu’s Bane>
Captain
Perilous Payloads: When rivals take Construct damage [reminder text: damage dealt by constructs], they take 1 more.

+2 cinder, 4 Speed, 2 Melee damage, 25 health

1 Cinder: Hot Potato
Push a touching unit away. If it hits another unit, both take 2 damage.

2 Cinder: To Smithereens!
Set an Explosive Charge within range. It explodes when destroyed for 5 damage in a small range and destroys Cover.

<Blasko Blackjaw>
Captain
Ruthless Harvest: When a rival Crew or Construct is destroyed, you gain 1 cinder.

+2 Cinder, 4 speed, 1 Melee damage, 25 health

1 Cinder: Punch It!
Expend the rest of your cinder. For each spent, gain +1 Speed this turn.

2 Cinder: Iron Fist
Permanently steal 1 attack from an allied Crew in range.

<Inflatable Pete>
Captain
Puncture: When Inflatable Pete touches terrain, return him to his original size.

+2 Cinder, 5 Speed, 2 Melee damage, 25 health

1 Cinder: Inflate
Pete grows a size category. While Inflated, Pete can’t be moved by other units.

2 Cinder: Explosive Shrinkage
Pete returns to his original size. For each Size Category shrunk, deal 2 damage to ALL other units in range.

<The Scourge>
Captain
From Thin Air: You can only deploy one crew per turn. Crew you deploy have Ambush.

+2 Cinder, 5 speed, 2 Ranged damage, 15 health

1 Cinder: Smoke Bomb
If The Scourge isn’t touching a rival, they swap places with an allied Crew and takes 1 damage.

2 Cinder: Guerilla Tactics
Refresh the move of ALL allied Crew. Their speed is set to 3 this turn.

What these captains have in common is that they press the envelope. They make the captain feel like an awesome centerpiece to the squad, and one that in its own way defines the course of the game.

Arawatu’s Bane destroys cover, slowly opening the map up for a brawl. Until then, it sends big explosives at the enemy and kicks people around. It’d work best when supported by an archetype of constructs, but even just Motivator Azti will be enough to help this one feel cool. With units to support it, expect big domino effects of explosions and a map sooty and torn apart. This, of course, opens up for a whole lot of consideration for the opponent. How does their list play in a more open space? Do they let the robot do its thing, or do they try to rush it down and use its primary disadvantage- no good escape tools?

Blasko Blackjaw is very much the antithesis to current captain design. He steals and hoards resources to try and become a late-game menace all on his own. That requires a lot of setup, though, and risks putting all your eggs in one fragile basket, as Blasko has no good defensive ability other than running away really fast. Aside from playing greedy, Blasko can work well together with damaging abilities and chain more than you would expect using Ruthless Harvest. It’s a tradeoff though, as those units don’t have any attack for Blasko to steal.

Inflatable Pete is the most silly one of these four, and yet he has his place. He takes up a lot of space and can act as a nigh-impenetrable barrier on the field, and one you don’t want to get too close to. Pete doesn’t like tight spaces, though, and needs to have a solid healing or accuracy buffing backline to really shine. He’s a big stopping block, but he’s a big stopping block where you lose when it dies.

The Scourge is radically different. It has borderline overpowered abilities for controlling the map and getting in position, and it completely screws with deployment rules. In return, if you can box them in, they’re toast- especially with only 15 hp and its crew spread all around. Playing this guy will put both you and your opponent in a tenuous position where good plays are ripe for the taking. High stakes, high risk, high reward gameplay that breaks all the rules.

In conclusion, Mar said it quite well. “This feels like a cargo run boss.”. I agree, and I think that’s something to strive for. Each player only has one captain, and they start with them. That means if you’re going to shake up gameplay and break rules in fun ways, captains are the place to do it.