From Panel To Play: Blade

CP48 Blade

Here to prove that some people are always trying to ice skate uphill, on today’s installment of From Panel to Play we’re looking at the foremost leech exterminator around, Blade!

Eric Brooks is Blade, a human-vampire hybrid who has sworn to rid the world of the bloodsucking fiends for good. Using the advantages his unique physiology offers, he has trained himself to be the perfect vampire hunter.

Blade’s mission started on the day of his birth. When his mother Tara Brooks suffered complications during labor, a doctor named Deacon Frost was brought in. Instead of helping Blade’s mother, Frost, a vampire, drained the woman of her blood, inadvertently passing on aspects of his vampirism to the child, making him immune to the bite of a vampire.

This immunity served Blade well in the following years, as he developed into one of the foremost slayers of vampire-kind in the world. A frequent ally of Doctor Strange and leader of the Midnight Sons, Blade will not rest until he’s planted a stake in the heart of the last vampire.

Blade leaps into battle (literally!) with a dynamic miniature that captures him as he descends on the grasping hands of some undead nasties that are about to have a really bad time. His trenchcoat gives the miniature an excellent sense of motion and drama, while his snarling expression shows how ready Blade is to slice up some bloodsuckers.

On the tabletop, Blade is a solid package for his threat. He brings a plethora of edged weapons into every crisis in the form of his signature katana and a whole bunch of throwing glaives, both of which deal a decent amount of Physical damage. Plus, they can impose the Bleed condition on his targets.

You know who loves bleeding targets? Half-vampires, that’s who. Blade’s Mystic Night of the Dhampir attack hits a target for a respectable Strength 7, and if his target already has the Bleed condition, he can reroll any number of attack dice before making a Medium advance. And if the target doesn’t have the Bleed condition already, Night of the Dhampir slaps it on.

Bleeding targets benefit Blade in other ways, as well. His innate superpower Vampiric Immortality rewards the Daywalker for each other character (friend or foe!) currently suffering the Bleed condition in Range 2 with 1 Power and by removing 1 damage!

Perhaps most exciting is the fact that Blade has a Leadership for the Midnight Sons affiliation. Bump in the Night gives every member of the affiliation the ability to spend 1 Power during their activation to be placed within Range 1 of their current position, perfect for refining the position of the team or driving deep into an enemy formation. Like some sort of stake. Into the heart of the enemy.

You get the idea.

If you’d like to learn more about how Blade and the powers he’s gained by his unique physiology, be sure to check out his full rules when they become available, and don’t forget to pre-order your own copy of the Blade and Moon Knight Character Pack from your local gaming store or our website. Until then, this has been Atomic Mass Transmissions’ first look at this sword-slinging fighter of all things hemophagic.

Until the next time, this is Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!