Supreme Editorial Eye #2
What are Supreme Roles?
When we looked at simplifying the way Supremes worked one of our first mandates was being able to pick up a Supreme Card and know what that Supreme does. The Role defines what a Supreme does on the table. Not only does the Role define what a Supreme does it also offers a bonus to that Role to make it better at its job.
What are the Roles?
There are eight different Roles in Supreme Edition. Just by seeing the Role listed on a card you will know right away how a Supreme will function on the table.
- Blaster: Ranged combat masters. They get bonuses as long as they are not in Base to Base with Enemy Models. Examples: Ace of Wraiths and Tangent
- Brawler: The melee fighters. They get bonuses when engaged with an enemy in Base to Base contact. Examples: Crimson Oni and Hellsmith
- Tank: Tanks are a support Supreme; they usually have a powerful attack and lots of Damage. Friendly models can transfer Damage suffered to a Tank in Base to Base. Examples: Iron Train and Rook
- Speeder: Speed is the name of the game for these Supremes. They can move a third time each round, making them exceptional Objective takers. Examples: Androida and Night Fright
- Infiltrator: Ninjas! These guys can begin the game anywhere on the tabletop, except the enemy deployment zone. Examples: Chimp Chi and Shadow Mask.
- Support: These guys provide powerful buff to the team, though are very weak on their own. They supply Bonus AP when surround be their team. Examples Red Riding Hoodoo and Sister Bedlam.
- Leader: The big team leaders you know and love! They can bring with them a Leader Card unlocking further boost and team powers to enhance a Sub-faction or Origin Themed Team. Examples: C.O.R.E. and Mysterious Man.
- Powerhouse: These guys are the real damage dealers. They generate more attack successes than just about any other role. Example: Six Feet Under, Father Oak.
Roles and Team Building
Supreme Edition is going to see bigger games as you can run them more effectively. We expect to see a Level 12 Encounter become the normal size for a Pulp City game. One of the things we’ve changed is to allow you to take any combination of Supreme levels. So if you want 12 Level 1 Supremes that’s legal. The only restriction is that you can only have a single Leader, and a single Powerhouse. Other than that you’re free to do as you will.
This is possible because of how the Roles balance out against one another. If you want to bring a Level 3 Leader and a Level 3 Powerhouse and your opponent brings 6 Level 1 Supremes this is a legal game now. Be warned though having the right mix of Roles is going to be CRITICAL. You’ll want a Support Supreme to add AP. But Supports are dangerously squishy, so you’ll probably want to bring a Tank to protect them. If you bring a Powerhouse they add zero AP to the team so you’ll really need a support or two to keep them going. Of course if you wanted you could just bring a bunch of Infiltrators and Speeders. They bring a good number of AP and are relatively self-sufficient. But then you lack staying power. We’ve run multiple test games to find out that a healthy mix of Supremes that work well with each other.
What does it mean for you, Citizen?
So if this is starting to sound a little like your favorite MMORPG you might be right. There is a kind of simplicity that Roles give us that really helps keep things balanced and focused. This means less wall of text on the card, and more fun on the table. From a design perspective it allows us to have each Supreme really excel at doing one thing.
But just because a character is a Brawler don’t expect them to lack ranged attacks. In fact Guerilla is a Brawler but 2 of his 3 Actions are Ranged Attacks. In addition his Powers boost his ranged ability making him very formidable with his minigun, even if he’s really a Brawler.
Expect to see a lot of talk about the perfect mix of Roles in a team. There is no right formula but a solid grasp of what each Role does is going to allow you to build a team of Supremes that operate exactly how you want them to.