From Panel to Play: Crossbones, Merciless Merc

CP143Crossbones

Who likes to play with the big toys and is willing to work for anyone that lets him wreak some havoc? That’s right, the topic of today’s From Panel to Play is the Merciless Merc known as Crossbones!

Brock Rumlow has been on the wrong path in life from an early age. He started out leading a gang on the streets of New York and has risen to work with some of the Earth’s most nefarious individuals in schemes ranging from world domination to world destruction. One of the most prominent supervillains to employ Crossbones throughout his life has been the Red Skull, who has used Crossbones in countless plots.

Crossbones didn’t gain his powers through the Super-Soldier Serum like Steve Rogers, but Crossbones is almost a dark reflection of Captain America. Sharing similar attributes in terms of being at the peak of human potential, he is the epitome of the darker human emotions, the balance to Captain America’s representation of the best of humanity.

Crossbones, Merciless Merc may be able to mix it up with the world’s superheroes, but that doesn’t mean he’s on their level in everything. This 3-threat character is going to appear deceptively simple, but there is beauty in simplicity. When you just want someone that can get up in the enemy’s face, take a punch and then hit right back, he’s going to be your guy.

Crossbones, Merciless Merc is a master hand to hand combatant, often noted as one of Captain America’s most deadly foes. He has a strong 4 Physical Defense and 6 Stamina on his healthy side. He may only have 2 Defense against either Energy or Mystic attacks, but you’ll soon see why you may want him to take a few scratches. He does drop down to 5 Stamina on his Injured side, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be out of the fight.

When looking at his Short movement speed, you may consider him to be a slow character. He makes up for a lower base movement with two separate movement related superpowers though! First, this merciless merc has access to the Active superpower Hit and Run. For two power (and an action), he will immediately perform an attack action followed by a move action. He can only do this once per turn, but the action compression this rule provides means that he will often be effectively performing three actions during his activation.

You’ll also find that Crossbones is very Aggressive. This innate superpower means that anytime Crossbones suffers damage from an enemy attack, he can choose to Advance Short towards the attacking character. The tempting target of his lower Energy and Mystic Defenses may just end up getting that enemy character punched in the jaw!

You may be getting worried that all of this is going to end up meaning your Crossbones will often be sitting around Dazed. He may not have the same defense dice other characters have, but he has one thought running through his head, I Can Take It. This superpower means that anytime he would suffer damage from an enemy effect, you can reduce the amount of damage he’ll suffer by 1 to a minimum of 1. You’ll notice as well that this version of the character has a bit more experience under his belt, meaning it’s an innate superpower that costs no Power to use; he always has access to this reduction!

Now, let’s take a look at the attacks available to this version of Crossbones. The first thing you’ll notice is that he’s no longer limited to just a strong right hook or two, he’s brought some toys along to the fight. His Plasma Beam represents some of the tech at his disposal and provides a Range 3 Beam attack that melts enemy characters with 5 Strength. This attack is going to provide him 1 Power for each attack he makes during the Beam and can even Pierce through the enemies’ defenses when rolling a Wild and Failure. Changing one of the enemies defense dice to a Blank is definitely going to help push that payback through!

Nothing fancy or complicated for his final attack, but this is where some characters are going to regret allowing Crossbones to get Up Close and Personal. For 4 Power, Crossbones unleashes a devasting barrage of Physical damage. As can be anticipated from the name, this is only a Range 2 attack, but it smashes the opponent with an 8 Strength hit. It packs such a wallop behind it, it also ensures that he can Throw Size 2 or less characters Short after the attack is resolved.

When you’re ready to hire on to the bad side of life, be sure to pre-order your copy of the Earth’s Mightiest Core Set at your local game store or through the webstore today. Also, be sure to 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.

Until next time, Atomic Mass Transmissions, signing off!