Confusing Card of the Week #84 – War Machine: “Rhodey”

Greetings Fellow Dice Fans!

 

For this week’s confusing card of the week article, we’re going to take a look at War Machine: “Rhodey”  from the Marvel Iron Man and War Machine starter set.

Ruling – Fast Keyword

Fast is a keyword ability that several characters have. Fast gives the character the ability to deal their combat damage before other characters without Fast. Fast characters will all deal their damage at the same time. A blocking character with 2A/2D and Fast with still KO and be KO’d by a Fast attacker with 2A/2D.

If you have an attacker with 2A/1D and Fast that’s blocked by a Sidekick without Fast, the attacker will strike the Sidekick before the Sidekick can strike the attacker. This means the Sidekick will be KO’d and not be able to deal it’s damage to the attacker.

Ruling – Ability

When War Machine KO’s an opposing character die with combat damage, you can deal two damage directly to your opponent. War Machine must KO the character die with combat damage. Using an ability to KO an opposing character die will not trigger his ability.

War Machine’s ability is one that can trigger multiple times in a single turn, with the right conditions. If War Machine is blocked by more than one character die and he has enough attack to KO each blocker, your opponent would take two damage for each KO’d blocker.

Special Note – If you give War Machine the Deadly Keyword, it would not trigger his ability. The character dice must be KO’d by combat damage from War Machine, and not by an ability.

War Machine has a burst ability that only works on his level one character side. The burst ability gives him +1A. The burst ability is a static effect and if his card text is blanked, he will lose his +1A on level one. If you have a level one War Machine and a level two War Machine in the Field Zone, only the level one War Machine die will get the +1A, because that’s the only character side with the burst.

Miscellaneous Card Information

~ War Machine is a Shield type character card.
~ He has the Stark Industries affiliation.
~ He has a max dice of four.
~ This card is a Common and is #23 of 34.

Examples

These examples are for information purposes only, to show what would happen in certain scenarios. I am not suggesting that these examples are the best outcomes for each scenario and each example only features relevant parts of the turn, not the entire turn.

Example One:
War Machine KO’ing multiple blockers.

~ I have a level two War Machine die (3A/4D) in the Field Zone. My opponent has three Sidekick dice.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) I assign my War Machine die to attack, moving him into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) My opponent assigns all three Sidekicks to block War Machine, moving them into the Attack Zone and placing them in front of the War Machine die.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) I choose not to use any Action dice or Global abilities. My opponent can now use Globals, but also chooses not to.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) War Machine has Fast. He gets to resolve his damage before other characters without Fast. War Machine assigns one damage to each Sidekick die. Each one has a defense of one, and they are all KO’d before they can assign and deal their damage. I deal two damage to my opponent with War Machine’s ability for each of the Sidekicks that War Machine KO’d, for a total of six.

Example Two:
War Machine KO’ing an attacker.

~ I have a level two War Machine die (3A/4D) in the Field Zone. My opponent has a character with 4A and 3D in the Field Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Attackers) My opponent assigns their character to attack, moving it into the Attack Zone.
~ (Attack Step – Assign Blockers) I assign my War Machine die to block, moving him into the Attack Zone in front of the attacking die.
~ (Attack Step – Actions and Globals) My opponent chooses to not use any Action dice or Globals. I also choose to not use any Globals.
~ (Attack Step – Assign and Resolve Damage) War Machine has Fast. He gets to resolve his damage before other characters without Fast. War Machine assigns his three points of damage to the attacker’s three defense. This is enough to KO the attacker and the attacking die is KO’d before it can assign and resolve its damage. I deal two damage to my opponent with War Machine’s ability because the attacker was KO’d with combat damage from War Machine.

Official Sources

WizKids Official Rules Forum (WORF) does not have a ruling for this specific card.

You can find a relevant ruling about ‘When something happens’ wording, here.

You can find more info about specific Keywords on the WizKids Keywords page.

Turn Order Summary Reference

Opinion and Strategy

Rhodey is a force to reckoned with in Modern Age and Prime. I’m not sure how effective he’d be in Golden Age since there are loads of teams that don’t need characters in the field.

“Rhodey” has never been nice to me! I’ve played with him and played against him. When I use him, his dice never want to roll a character face. When I play against him, I only see characters! Mr. DDK has a team with Rhodey and Wasp: Fashionista and the only way to keep Rhodey from smashing your face in is to not field characters he can easily KO, KO him with an ability or action, or blank him. He’s difficult to play around if you aren’t prepared.

If you’re playing with Rhodey, I would definitely use a force block of some kind, like Wasp or Giant Spider: Greater Beast. I would not recommend using a force attack, like Bane: Professional Criminal, because you’re opponent could easily use that against you and force your Rhodey to attack. They would likely not block him just so he has to make his way back through your bag. If you had a way to protect him from being targeted by your opponent, then Bane is fine, but that’s an awful lot of work just to be able to use Bane on the same team. Bane is a popular meta piece though, so having a backup against Bane is a good idea. If you’re using Wasp or Giant Spider, you can just force one of their characters to block, which helps you keep Rhodey active. If you’re worried about your opponent not fielding many characters, bring White Tiger: Mystical Amulet and force them to field a Sidekick. White Tiger is not legal for Prime, but she is Modern Age legal.

Even though Rhodey is a really good card, I would definitely recommend a backup win condition. Mr. DDK and I like to use She-Hulk: Sensational, because she pairs well with Wasp. If She-Hulk isn’t your style, there are plenty of other options out there.

Summary – I like Rhodey for Prime and Modern Age. I don’t think he’s got what it takes to stand up in Golden Age though. He’s a great win condition, but bring a backup!

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