Halo TCG - Halo - The Covenant (9/22: Not your everyday pack of Jackals)

[AgentDrake]

All three look good.
I assume default is from play if unspecified.

[DáinIronfoot]

Now that we've got these little Grunts running around, let's get them armed, eh?

Covenant Plasma Pistol [Covenant]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +1
Dual-wield. Bearer must be a [Covenant] character or Spartan II.
Regroup: Exert bearer and discard this possession to exert an opponent's character and remove 2 culture tokens.
"This weapon is a semi-automatic directed energy weapon. If the trigger is held and then released, the weapon may become over-charged. Use of the over-charge capability rapidly depletes the weapon's power core."

The token part was inspired by the tokens placed on MJOLNIR Battle Armor, but I decided to leave it even once tokens began to spread to other uses. The biggest advantage to this weapon other than that is that it's free, which is certainly good for your swarming Grunts.

Covenant Needler [Covenant]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Spartan II.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [Covenant] token on him or her. Remove all [Covenant] tokens on characters.
Maneuver: Exert bearer to place a [Covenant] token on an opponent's character. Limit twice per character.
"Its projectiles penetrate soft targets no matter what the angle of impact. The composition and energy signature of its projectile is unknown."

The Covenant equivolent (in Halo TCG, anyway) of the UNSC's Flamethrower. It's a nice touch that Sparatans can bear either. :hey:

Covenant Plasma Grenade [Covenant]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Spartan II.
At the start of the sniping phase, you may exert bearer and pay to transfer this possession to an opponent's character (except the Hero).
At the end of the assignment phase, wound bearer twice. Bearer's owner may exert 2 of their companions or minions to prevent this. Discard this possession.
It has some kind of internal mechanism that allows it to distinguish between targets and background, and a three-second fuse that is activated after it sticks to a target or otherwise comes to a rest.

Grenades are SO hard to design in a card game, but they're such a vital part of the UNSC and Covenant arsenal that I can't just leave them out of the game, you know? If you hate it, that's fine...just tell me how to represent it better.

Most grenades will obviously not transfer to other characters, but instead just explode. This one is the exception, since Halo players are well familiar with the fun property this grenade has in sticking to targets before blowing them up.

[sickofpalantirs]

Now that we've got these little Grunts running around, let's get them armed, eh?

Covenant Plasma Pistol [Covenant]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +1
Dual-wield. Bearer must be a [Covenant] character or Spartan II.
Regroup: Exert bearer and discard this possession to exert an opponent's character and remove 2 culture tokens.
"This weapon is a semi-automatic directed energy weapon. If the trigger is held and then released, the weapon may become over-charged. Use of the over-charge capability rapidly depletes the weapon's power core."
fine by me.


Covenant Needler [Covenant]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Spartan II.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [Covenant] token on him or her. Remove all [Covenant] tokens on characters.
Maneuver: Exert bearer to place a [Covenant] token on an opponent's character.
"Its projectiles penetrate soft targets no matter what the angle of impact. The composition and energy signature of its projectile is unknown."
fine by me. maybe give the freeps a way to prevent the maneuver clause

Covenant Plasma Grenade [Covenant]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Spartan II.
At the start of the archery phase, you may exert bearer to transfer this possession to an opponent's character.
At the end of the assignment phase, wound bearer twice. Discard this possession.
It has some kind of internal mechanism that allows it to distinguish between targets and background, and a three-second fuse that is activated after it sticks to a target or otherwise comes to a rest.

blatantly OP...as can easily kill off the hero. a better way to do it would be...oh IDK...I like everything it just seems slightly powerful...like there should be someway to provide the chance of the missing, maybe the freeps discards the top card of their draw deck to make it one wound? or top 2 cards?

[Elf_Lvr]

Covenant Plasma Pistol [Covenant]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +1
Dual-wield. Bearer must be a [Covenant] character or Spartan II.
Regroup: Exert bearer and discard this possession to exert an opponent's character and remove 2 culture tokens.
"This weapon is a semi-automatic directed energy weapon. If the trigger is held and then released, the weapon may become over-charged. Use of the over-charge capability rapidly depletes the weapon's power core."

Fine.

Covenant Needler [Covenant]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Spartan II.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [Covenant] token on him or her. Remove all [Covenant] tokens on characters.
Maneuver: Exert bearer to place a [Covenant] token on an opponent's character.
"Its projectiles penetrate soft targets no matter what the angle of impact. The composition and energy signature of its projectile is unknown."

Bold Maneuver. It seems a tad good. I might limit the maneuver clause to only adding 1 token, just in case.

Covenant Plasma Grenade [Covenant]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Spartan II.
At the start of the archery phase, you may exert bearer to transfer this possession to an opponent's character (except the Hero).
At the end of the assignment phase, wound bearer twice. Bearer's owner may exert 2 of their companions or minions to prevent this. Discard this possession.
It has some kind of internal mechanism that allows it to distinguish between targets and background, and a three-second fuse that is activated after it sticks to a target or otherwise comes to a rest.

The prevent clause makes it fairly balanced, I suppose.

[sickofpalantirs]

just since you changed the plasma grenade, thats much better and really captures the flavor IMSO.

[AgentDrake]

Looks good. Maybe make the Needler exert instead of wound, and remove the limit. Not sure that's very useful, though. Should be fine as-is.

[MR. Lurtzy]

The pp is way overpowered.

[lem0nhead]

Covenant Plasma Pistol [Covenant]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +1
Dual-wield. Bearer must be a [Covenant] character or Spartan II.
Regroup: Exert bearer and discard this possession to exert an opponent's character and remove 2 culture tokens.
"This weapon is a semi-automatic directed energy weapon. If the trigger is held and then released, the weapon may become over-charged. Use of the over-charge capability rapidly depletes the weapon's power core."

Fair enough.

Covenant Needler [Covenant]
Possession • Ranged Weapon
Strength +2
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Spartan II.
At the start of the regroup phase, wound each opponent's character for each [Covenant] token on him or her. Remove all [Covenant] tokens on characters.
Maneuver: Exert bearer to place a [Covenant] token on an opponent's character. Limit twice per character.
"Its projectiles penetrate soft targets no matter what the angle of impact. The composition and energy signature of its projectile is unknown."

I think trying to make an equivalent of the flamethrower for the covenant is odd because there isnt one however ironically this text does suit the needler very well. I presume youre basing the needler on the books, where one shard can have explosive effects whereas the video game requires more to make contact (8 actually)?
 
Covenant Plasma Grenade [Covenant]
Possession • Grenade
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Spartan II.
At the start of the archery phase, you may exert bearer to transfer this possession to an opponent's character (except the Hero).
At the end of the assignment phase, wound bearer twice. Bearer's owner may exert 2 of their companions or minions to prevent this. Discard this possession.
It has some kind of internal mechanism that allows it to distinguish between targets and background, and a three-second fuse that is activated after it sticks to a target or otherwise comes to a rest.

Gees i hate getting stuck lol. Its an accurate reflection of the grenade (well not the get out but that is necessary) but feels a bit OP. Youre getting 2 wounds out of 1 cost and an exertion.

[DáinIronfoot]

Well, it seems the last batch is probably about as crowd-pleasing as they're going to get.

Now a couple more cards before we slide over to the Elites. These can help any of your [Covenant] guys, but are probably best with Grunts...especially the latter one.

Shade Cannon [Covenant]
Possession • Turret
Crew: Gunner.
To play, spot 3 [Covenant] cards.
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Man. Bearer is strength +3 and damage +1.
Your sniping total is +1 for each Grunt and Elite minion you can spot over 2 (limit +4).
At the end of the regroup phase, discard this possession.

Ah, the Shade. Everyone who's played the Halo games knows that, while each game has its own fixed turrets, there has never been one better than the original.

This puppy can wreak havoc in the hands of the Free Peoples OR Shadow player thanks to its eligible bearers, with awesome stat boosters and potential sniping fire in the mix as well. (Especially with, say, a Grunty swarm? ). The downside? Its spotting requirements make it tricky to grab early on (and even harder for the FP player until later when they can play their own FP [Covenant] cards), and the cost means less to spend on other characters, ships, etc. Oh, and as a fixed turret, you have to leave it behind when you move on...no moving it around the map with grenades and rockets like in the game! Hopefully it's all still worth it, though.

Covenant Dropship [Covenant]
Ship • Transport • Dropship
Weapons: 6
Armor: 2
Staff: 1 Silver
Maneuver: Spot 2 [Covenant] minions and pay to play a Grunt from here as if played from hand.
Response: If there are fewer then 2 cards stacked here and a Grunt is about to be killed, stack that Grunt here.

Ultimate Grunt protection! One of your little guys about to bite the dust? Stack him here and prepare to swarm with him later. These U-shaped terrors could dump tons of guys on you at once in Halo: Combat Evolved, so why shouldn't the Halo TCG do the same?

"Pay", by the way, is not a misprint. "Pay " will be the same thing as "add " if you are the FP player and "remove " if you are the Shadow player. I will use it on ships, possesions, and other cards that can be borne/used by either the Free Peoples or Shadow player. Saves me a LOT of text.

[lem0nhead]

Shade Cannon [Covenant]
Possession • Turret
Crew: Gunner.
To play, spot 3 [Covenant] cards.
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Man. Bearer is strength +3 and damage +1.
Your sniping total is +1 for each Grunt and Elite minion you can spot over 2 (limit +4).
At the end of the regroup phase, discard this possession.

Ok.

Covenant Dropship [Covenant]
Ship • Transport • Dropship
Weapons: 6
Armor: 2
Staff: 1 Silver
Maneuver: Spot 2 [Covenant] minions and remove (or add if the Free Peoples player uses this ability) to play a Grunt from here as if played from hand.
Response: If there are fewer then 2 cards stacked here and a Grunt is about to be killed, stack that Grunt here.

Wow seems quite good for the grunts id remove 2 maybe as the ship is cheap enough, its like treebeard ally but crazy.

[sickofpalantirs]

I agree with lem0n. and make the plasma grenade cost 2.

[DáinIronfoot]

Changed the dropship to for either player...and came up with a new word on the fly that will save me a LOT of text in the future. Mind re-reviewing with the new word in mind?

As for the grenade...do you really think is necessary? Other LOTR TCG cards like Final Cry and Frenzied Attack do basically the same thing cheaply, and have no get-out clause (or exerting of your own characters) like the grenade does.

What do the rest of you think? Should the plasma grenade be further tweaked?

[sickofpalantirs]

frenzied attack does cost 2, and final one has another clause. plus those trigger with skirmishes, this one is assignment...IDK especially since can be used as a freeps thing, it just seems safer to have it cost 2.

[Elf_Lvr]

Shade Cannon [Covenant]
Possession • Turret
Crew: Gunner.
To play, spot 3 [Covenant] cards.
Bearer must be a Grunt, Elite, or Man. Bearer is strength +3 and damage +1.
Your sniping total is +1 for each Grunt and Elite minion you can spot over 2 (limit +4).
At the end of the regroup phase, discard this possession.

I'd throw unique on it. Though it shouldn't matter a lot, since it does get discarded, I'd still rather not have a shadow player toss out 4 of these, then a horde of minions. This wouldn't be so bad if I knew exactly how many minions a Grunt player could get out, but I don't know what kind of hand extension and/or twilight adding these guys are gonna get.

Covenant Dropship [Covenant]
Ship • Transport • Dropship
Weapons: 6
Armor: 2
Staff: 1 Silver
Maneuver: Spot 2 [Covenant] minions and pay to play a Grunt from here as if played from hand.
Response: If there are fewer then 2 cards stacked here and a Grunt is about to be killed, stack that Grunt here.

This is the kind of hand extension I was talking about, but balanced since it costs so much twilight. I might reduce the removal to , but I'm unsure. Depends on how much twilight adding Grunt swarms can have. 

As for the grenade...do you really think is necessary? Other LOTR TCG cards like Final Cry and Frenzied Attack do basically the same thing cheaply, and have no get-out clause (or exerting of your own characters) like the grenade does.

Oh, my dwarvish friend, you must know those two cards are bad examples to have picked. They are both exceptionally conditional - one requires a specific weapon, the other, at least 4 burdens. Whereas this is two wounds (either on one guy or two guys) for a simple exertion and a mere . Plus, it can't be prevented by cards that stop skirmish events and abilities. Much easier to pull off.

I'd do two things - change the transferring to the maneuver phase (because I think that any Freeps cards you make that discard shadow cards from companions will probably be mostly in that phase) and perhaps lower the initial wounding of the companion to one wound. It makes the prevention more costly, but if you slap it on an exhausted guy, then it's worth it. cost for wound-to-wound is very normal.

Or just up the cost to . Either one sits well with me.

[DáinIronfoot]

I'll consider uniqueness on the Shade, but I'd rather wait on another review or two before I do so.

As for the Plasma Grenade, I kept the cost at , but now that I have this "pay" thing seemingly ironed out, I added an additional cost to transferring it in the first place. The funny thing is that it could potentially blow up in the Shadow player's face if they don't have enough twilight left by the sniping phase now...quite literally.