From Panel to Play: Sandman

You’ll be shaking sand out of your clothes and hair after today’s From Panel to Play but not because we are going to the beach. We are bringing the beach to you as we look at one of Spider-Man’s iconic enemies, Will Baker, a.k.a. Flint Marko, a.k.a. Sandman!

At a young age, William Baker learned that the way to get respect and attention was through having money and being stronger than those around him. This led him to become a bully to his classmates before graduating to petty and then serious crimes. During one of his early stints in jail he adopted the name Flint Marko in order to hide his identity and look tough to the other prisoners.

While fleeing police pursuit after escaping from prison he accidentally took refuge in a place he shouldn’t have. The stories vary on what exactly happened, but they all end the same way. He was exposed to a large amount of radiation that caused his body to mutate and interact with the sand beneath him. He soon realized he could turn himself into sand and with some practice he could do amazing things with that ability.

He found his way to New York City where his criminal activity soon made him a nemesis–Spider-Man. Sandman’s many encounters with Spider-Man eventually attracted the notice of the notorious Doctor Octopus which led to his inclusion in the Sinister Six!

Sandman is known for being able to keep his opponents off balance and out of position by moving the ground beneath them rapidly and violently. He can bury them in sand or blast them out of position with a blast of stinging sand. This 4 Threat Value character also brings some unique rules and a unique playstyle sure to give the Spider Foes some new strategies against their web head opponents!

Sandman has 6 Stamina on his Healthy side (7 when Injured) boasting 4 Physical and Energy defense along with 3 Mystic defense. At first glance he is not very fast with Slow speed, but he makes up for it with his Grunt characters. Yes, Sandman can have more than one Grunt. Sandman is the first character to break the core rule that a squad can only have one Grunt character at a time. However, players are still unable to have two Grunts from multiple parents. More on his Sand Constructs in a bit.

Before we get to his Grunts, let’s go over Sandman’s attacks. Sandman’s three attacks showcase his control over the ground upon which his enemies tread. The first of them, Silicate Strike, is a Strength 5 attack that generates power for him. On a Wild result he demonstrates his mastery of the ground by Throwing enemies Short in any direction!

His second attack, Sand Blast, is a Range 3 beam attack. With a deft use of the pummeling sand, Sandman can Push enemies that are damaged by this attack in any direction he wants! This is a great way to manipulate the battlefield and setup for his third attack, Punchin’ Your Ticket!

Punchin’ Your Ticket requires 4 Power to use, but it has a high Strength of 8 and gets stronger if your Sand Constructs are near the target. This attack can potentially be 12 dice which is sure to leave opponents coughing up sand!

Sandman’s superpowers dovetail with his attacks to ensure he is able to keep pounding opponents. His first superpower is Reabsorb. His Sand Constructs are extensions of his mind and body, and he can use this superpower to swiftly move to their position and incorporate them into himself giving him surprising durability and mobility! This 3 cost superpower has two effects. First, it allows Sandman to Place within Range 1 of a Sand Construct before destroying it then it removes damage from himself. The range on this Place can be used to give him a lot of extra movement into a fight or a quick escape from one going the wrong way.

His second superpower is the previously hinted at Create Sand Construct. This Innate superpower allows Sandman to have two Grunts in play! Before getting too far into this rule let’s clarify some important things about this rule. This superpower does not allow players to have multiple Grunts from different parent characters. You are still limited to only one Grunt parent character having a Grunt on the battlefield at a time. Additionally, these Grunts are both activated before Sandman. One Sand Construct will complete its activation before the second begins.

Create Sand Construct is an Innate superpower that gives him a way to bring more Sand Constructs onto the battlefield after they are KO’d. At the start of his Activation, if he has fewer than two Sand Constructs in play, he can sacrifice two Stamina to bring another into play within Range 2 of him. This can easily sap Sandman of his Stamina so to help offset the loss, Sandman has the Healing Factor superpower.

Sandman’s Grunts have a few nice rules but one of their best may be on Sandman’s card. Sand Manipulation gives Sandman Power whenever his Grunts deal damage or take damage from an enemy which can give him surprising bursts of Power generation to bury his opponents in a never ending wave of sand!

The last superpower on his card is Wallcrawler. He may be made of sand, but there’s enough sand for him to scale all but the biggest of terrain features quickly and easily.

With Sandman’s card covered, let’s take a look at his Grunts in detail. The Sand Constructs are weak Grunts with a measly 2 Stamina and a 1 for every defense along with a Slow speed. They’ll be dispersed quickly by almost anything Sandman’s opponents can throw at them–except Throws!

Sand Constructs have one attack, the Sand Slap. This 4 dice attack has the same Underfoot rule Sandman’s Sand Blast attack has which can result in a lot of enemies not being where they planned to be. The Sand Constructs cannot contest, hold, or Interact with objectives due to their Crumbling Form. This prevents them from contributing to the crisis in most ways, but their slaps can make it difficult for enemy characters to remain relevant to the crisis.

Difficult Terrain allows them to reduce the damage they take from Physical attacks, but that may not come up too often given their low Stamina. As an added benefit, Difficult Terrain makes the Sand Constructs immune to damage from collisions and prevents them from being Thrown. One of the best ways to remove a low health character is to Throw something or someone at them but this rule completely eliminates that as a valid strategy.

Sandman needs to use some of his attention to keep his constructs active and their final superpower, Dust to Dust, illustrates this by destroying them if they wander too far from Sandman and will KO them if he is Dazed. He may need to use that extra bit of Stamina on his Injured side to bring one back into play if he is to keep up the pressure on his opponents.

That’s all we have for Sandman. Be sure to shake out your shoes before coming inside and check back later for yet another installment of From Panel to Play, the series where we give you your first look at how your favorite characters transition to the tabletop in Marvel: Crisis Protocol. Pre-order your copy of Sandman at your local game store or through the webstore today.

Until next time, Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!