Monday 21 October 2019

Swamp Thing- Model Review

Hello again all! For what will be the last of my 2nd edition reviews (now that 3rd edition is confirmed) I'm back to discuss another Magic user for Brave and the Bold, but also for Gotham City Sirens. This was planned to be alongside Jason Blood and Etrigan, with Black Orchid and Deadman to follow, but only Swamp Thing was finished so I decided to just put this out as is.

A big brute of a model available to both Brave and the Bold as well as Gotham City Sirens, Swamp Thing is a very expensive Free Agent that also brings Magic to the table.
Offensive
Strength 3+ and attack 4 aren't strictly amazing, but they do the job when factoring in his other offensive abilities. Large gives him access to Charge, which is excellent, and with Supernatural to give all his attacks the Magic effect stripping Tough Skin, Invulnerable and Incorporeal off of enemy models that have it (suck it Ghost).
His Spikes are basically the same as a Batling and as such they're ok but not amazing. I think that's all that's worth mentioning here, double stun short range is decent when he can't attack in melee but otherwise you want to be hitting up close.
He also has a Metamorphic Branch as his melee weapon, dealing double stun with Reach and Crushing. Crushing compensates for his attack 4 and means he isn't especially easy to block (halving the effectiveness of successful blocks), while Reach gives him the option of keeping himself safe (or on an objective) and still hitting opponents from 2" away.
Outside of the standard Magic Bolt 2 blood, Green Magic gives him access to a couple of spells that buff him up. One of those is offensively based in giving him +1 strength and Claws for some blood damage in melee (and a very good strength 2+). The Claws are an interesting option, but losing both Reach and Crushing to do blood damage isn't fantastic in my opinion, with them offering far too much versatility to trade off (especially in Brave and the Bold crews where Arrest is easy to find). The spell is well worth using though just for the +1 strength, because not only does it cost only 1MP (of his 5) it is also auto-passed in most cases (unless he is hit with a willpower reduction he passes on double 1s)
Defensive
Swamp Thing, despite being only defence 3, is a very good tank. Endurance 12 with Tough Skin means he is tough to stack damage on (and auto-passing endurance rolls) and with Regeneration and Elemental Magic he can take the damage right off again, as well as Green Magic giving him a once per game 2 stun heal for the cost of a single Magic Point. Even when he is killed, Immortal denies the VP for the kill and only awards 3VP for KOing him as a Free Agent, which factors in very well with his unique spell. Insert unique spell here Natural Immunities is the last thing to note here, making him immune to Poison, Steal and Blind which is something that really helps him stay useful at his steep points cost.
He does however have Vulnerability to Fire, which means if he gets hit with those weapons he will be taking good amounts of damage quickly. He has to be very careful to avoid them and take them out because of this.
Overall
There isn't much left on his card to make note of, but what is there is important. Pollution Hate means he can never enter sewers under any circumstance, slowing him considerably, although he does make up for it with being movement 3 and Large for possible 12" movement even before factoring in Green Wings as a spell and Chlorokinesis. Chlorokinesis requires Plants to be taken, so won't work in a BatB crew, but enables the Plants to move him around a bit more effectively in their own activation area. Green Wings is 3MP but incredibly easy to cast (he needs anything but double 1s to pass) and gives him Flying High and Hover. Flying High is a huge speed buff, although once per game, and Hover is very useful for him against melee heavy crews (see Owls) because of his lower defence.
He has Elite Boss:Plants for when he is in a Gotham City Sirens crew without Ivy (read:very uncommon and only possible with Sirens Harley) which lets him take more than 1 Plant in the crew.
All in all, Swamp Thing is tough to build lists for given his steep points cost and the fact he can no longer lead his own crew (Eternal Swamp Thing was a Sidekick which helped immensely), forcing him to be locked into a leader in 2 crews where they aren't exactly cheap (GCS and BatB with a few exceptions). I personally think the best place for him is alongside Constantine as they both provide solid lynchpins for the crew and the combination is cheap enough to justify taking henchmen afterwards. In Gotham City Sirens I don't feel like he has much of a place, if any, because the playstyle of that crew overall doesn't support the addition of such an expensive piece after paying for the better options in that crew, and with Possession Ivy won't have a huge need of a Large beatstick with access to Borgon, Goro or Quiz 4 for a third of the cost.

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