Hold tight guys, we're nearly there. We have two more articles left to go in the Brotherhood Character Deep Dive Series (until the release of Pyro and Blob anyway) and this week we're going to be taking a look at Rogue.
Born with a power that is both blessing and curse, the mutant Rogue can absorb the powers and memories of anyone she touches. This remarkable but devastating power allows her to wield the abilities of her foes but leaves them depleted— or worse. Prolonged contact with her skin drains the vital energy from those she touches. Afraid to harm those close to her, Rogue fled her past life. A runaway from the American South, she started her career as a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants under Mystique before joining the X-Men to fight on the side of good.
Character Card
Let's take a look at her character card then, and it's important to note her card does not change between her healthy and injured sides. Rogue is 6 health, with a medium move and 4/3/3 defences which is about average for a 4 threat character.
Absorbing Strike is Rogue's builder, which is a Range 2, 5 dice attack and she can choose whether the attack is physical or energy. The attack also has the Sap Power stipulation where for every wild rolled in the attack the target character loses a power and Rogue gains it. This attack can be extremely effective at generating power to enable the rest of her kit.
Southern Hospitality is Rogue's spender, this is a range 2, 7 dice physical attack and costs 3 power to use. If the target is size 4 or less, after the attack is resolved, it may be thrown short. For 3 power a 7 dice attack and an auto throw is extremely good value and at size 4 she's pretty much able to displace most characters in the game.
Moving on to her superpowers, and the first of these is charge which costs her an action and 2 power to use. She immediately makes a move action followed by an attack action. This is a fairly standard superpower for most characters with only range 2 attacks (sorry Sabretooth) and enables her to close a gap before attacking.
Marvelous Strength costs 3 power to use. Rogue can choose an interactive terrain feature of size 4 or less and within 2 and throw it medium. *Laughs in Magneto*
For 2 power, she can use Mutant Absorption. Rogue can choose a character within range 2 and roll 5 dice. The chosen character loses power equal to the number of crit, wild and hit results. If the character chosen would lose more power than it has, it suffers a damage for each power it could not lose. The target character does not gain power for any damage taken this way. It's important to note here, although the superpower say's "Absorption" - Rogue isn't actually absorbing anything here, she only saps the power on her builder. This is arguably one of her best superpowers if she's in the face of a character with no power. She can use mutant absorption to try to get some damage through action free, and then use two attacks plus a potential character AND terrain throw. That's a lot of damage coming in should the situation allow.
Her final superpower is Kree Mutant Physiology. When Rogue would suffer damage from an enemy effect reduce the amount suffered by 1 to a minimum of 1. With 6 health and Kree Mutant Physiology, along with that 4 physical defence, your opponent is going to need to put a fair bit of work into taking her off the table.
She also has the benefit of Flight and Poison immunity.
Tactics Cards
The following cards are included in the box and are useable by Rogue:
When an allied character is choosing the target character for a non-area or non-beam attack and Rogue is in range and LOS, the enemy character may pay 1. If they do not, the attack must target Rogue if possible. When I first read this, this looked like a relatively good card in that is was essentially a basic bodyguard. Having re-read this multiple times, there's a number of stipulations here which essentially, knocks it's stocks down massively. The first downside is that this cant be used on beam or area attacks, which isn't terrible owing to the fact most attacks that are done over the course of a game wont be beam or area attacks. The second stipulation here, is that Rogue needs to actually be in range and line of sight of the attack. This would sound like common sense, but a number of bodyguard tactics cards don't actually have this stipulation, like Lethal Protector or Sacrifice - they require a certain distance from the target character, but not to the enemy character making the attack. The last downside, which for me is the sole reason you don't take this card, is that the attacking character can just pay 1 power to stop the card. It's definitely a leave at home in my opinion.
Pardon Me, Sugah is the next card available for Rogue to use. There's a lot of things on this card so we'll just take a look at the part relevant to Brotherhood (since this is a Brotherhood article after all). If Magneto is within range 2 of Rogue she gains cover against all attacks targeting her this round. Magneto suffer 1 damage. I'm not sure you take this one either, since it's only being used with Magneto and pretty much gives you the same effect as Magnetic Refraction (and Magneto doesn't take a damage) and that card comes back every round. Granted Magnetic Refraction only applies within a Range 3 bubble of Magneto, but I think there's only a place for one of these in your 10 slots and Refraction just has so many more advantages.
Where Does She Fit In Affiliation?
Given the fact the other two 4 threats in the affiliation are on the underwhelming side, Rogue is the the premier 4 threat for Brotherhood. She has so much built into her kit she has a lot of flexibility in how you use her on the table. She has the ability to output a lot of damage, between her attacks and throws so can be used an attrition piece under Magneto, and she has a good amount of control between the throw on her spender and the ability to drain her targets of power so also fits well under Mystique. The fact she also has 6 health, 4 physical defence and automatically reduces damage from enemy effects means she has a lot of staying power on the table too so wont go down easily without a bit of effort from your opponent. Rogue is an excellent addition to any Brotherhood roster.
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These articles gave been great man, I really enjoy them!
Keep up the great work.