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The Book of Sgt. Drake Alexander (AoA)

Strack9

Strack9

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The Book of Sgt. Drake Alexander (AoA)
Age of Annihilation - Promotional Figure 2024



best

Basic Side Army Card
Spoiler Alert!

Character Bio:
Drake Alexander has always been a man of principle. On Earth, he fought to defend the rights and liberties of his fellow humans from the encroaching Reich. During a fateful battle, moments before his certain death, the Valkyrie Jandar intervened. Drake’s noble heart now beats in the strange and distant land of Valhalla.

Jandar promised Drake that if he fought against the vile Utgar, he would one day be returned to his homeland. As have so many before him, Drake agreed; and though time and countless battles have since passed, Drake is no closer to seeing Jandar’s promise fulfilled. Through it all, one of his closest friends remains the Kyrie Raelin. She may appear now to have joined the enemy, but Drake knows better, and he remains at the ready to aid her however he can.

CARD TEXT:
THORIAN SPEED
Opponents' figures must be adjacent to Sgt. Drake Alexander to attack him with a normal attack.

GRAPPLE GRAB 8
After moving and before attacking with Drake, you may choose one enemy Small or Medium figure within 4 clear sight spaces whose level is no more than 6 levels above or below Drake's level. Roll the 20-sided die. If you roll a 8 or higher, place the chosen figure on an empty same-level space adjacent to Drake. If the chosen figure is engaged when it is moved by Grapple Grab, it will not take any leaving engagement attacks

FLYING
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_________________________________________________________________
-Rulings and Clarifications-
  • THORIAN SPEED: Applicable Attack Types
    Q:     Can Sgt. Drake Alexander be hit by any ranged attacks?
    A: Sgt. Drake Alexander can be hit by any ranged special attacks only. He cannot be hit by normal attacks unless they are from an engaged opponent. (Hasbro FAQ)
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-Combinations and Synergies-

Synergy Benefits Received
  • MARCUS DECIMUS GALLUS: Soldier Leadership
    As a soldier, Sgt. Drake Alexander may benefit from Marcus Decimus Gallus’ SOLDIER LEADERSHIP movement bonus.

  • MARCUS DECIMUS GALLUS: Soldier Attack Enhancement
    As a soldier, Sgt. Drake Alexander may benefit from Marcus Decimus Gallus’ SOLDIER ATTACK ENHANCEMENT.

Synergy Benefits Offered
  • 4TH MASSACHUSETTS LINE: Valiant Army Defense Bonus
    Having a Valiant personality, Sgt. Drake Alexander may aid the 4th Massachusetts Line with their VALIANT ARMY DEFENSE BONUS.

C3V and SoV Custom Synergies
Spoiler Alert!

_________________________________________________________________
-Strategy, Tactics and Tips-

  • TBA
_________________________________________________________________
-Heroscapers Community Contributions-

Power Rankings

OEAO: B+​
​
Matthaias Maccabeus (Melee Perspective): C+​
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Dok (VC Inclusive): B-​

Master Thread Index
TBA

Unit Strategy Articles
TBA

Images

AoA Concept Art
Spoiler Alert!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
By far the best Drake. Grapple will give Raelin 1.0 turtle teams a headache if Drake manages to jet to height, snag Raelin, and chop her to bits. At 135, he's #2 on my list of Heroes with the most potential in AoA, next to Ewashia. 135 seems very balanced, I feel people are underestimating his mobility here. Solid Hero, very strong but not over powered and busted. Owlman's rankings: A-
 
Owlman said:
By far the best Drake. Grapple will give Raelin 1.0 turtle teams a headache if Drake manages to jet to height, snag Raelin, and chop her to bits. At 135, he's #2 on my list of Heroes with the most potential in AoA, next to Ewashia. 135 seems very balanced, I feel people are underestimating his mobility here. Solid Hero, very strong but not over powered and busted. Owlman's rankings: A-
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You have to grab to even ground with Drake so taking high ground and then grabbing Raelin will not work unless I guess if you can get on a two hex high ground position but still no bonus vs Raelin.
 
A new Raelin and SGT. Drake every (Heroscape not counting DnD or Marvel) master set. The new grapple replacing the ranged attack is interesting. He's overall going to be fun flying him in and grappling their character unexpectedly. RoTV Raelin is no longer as safe in backfields.
 
I wonder why Drake has grown to Medium 6. Isn't the original Drake supposed to be a "true" Medium 5 - scaled for a 6 foot man? Is the new mini that much larger, jet pack not considered?
 
I think that it is primarily for mini purposes. There's no way Jet Pack Drake could fit under an overhang of 5.
 
Oh, right, Wings never count for Kyrie height, and Shiori's afterimages don't seem to add height either.
 
Nukatha said:
Oh, right, Wings never count for Kyrie height, and Shiori's afterimages don't seem to add height either.
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I think Drake is the first physically flying miniature in heroscape, so there isn't really anything to compare him to in that I think... Shiori has also grown, fwiw, but Medium 4 to Medium 5 doesn't stand out to me as much as Medium 5 to Medium 6, which really is an unusual height (trying to think of the existing Medium 6 minis and coming up blank right now).
 
Dzu-Teh/Quasatch, and Protectors of Ullar, and their hero, Atlaga.
 
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Maklar the Silver Prince said:
Nukatha said:
Oh, right, Wings never count for Kyrie height, and Shiori's afterimages don't seem to add height either.
Click to expand...

I think Drake is the first physically flying miniature in heroscape, so there isn't really anything to compare him to in that I think... Shiori has also grown, fwiw, but Medium 4 to Medium 5 doesn't stand out to me as much as Medium 5 to Medium 6, which really is an unusual height (trying to think of the existing Medium 6 minis and coming up blank right now).
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Silver Surfer, if you want to count that.
 
boromir96 said:
Maklar the Silver Prince said:
Nukatha said:
Oh, right, Wings never count for Kyrie height, and Shiori's afterimages don't seem to add height either.
Click to expand...

I think Drake is the first physically flying miniature in heroscape, so there isn't really anything to compare him to in that I think... Shiori has also grown, fwiw, but Medium 4 to Medium 5 doesn't stand out to me as much as Medium 5 to Medium 6, which really is an unusual height (trying to think of the existing Medium 6 minis and coming up blank right now).
Click to expand...

Silver Surfer, if you want to count that.
Click to expand...

Venoc Warlord is Medium 6 as well.
 
Height 6 Drake is either because some designer forgot how tall Drake used to be or they were wrongly allowing his smokestand to be added to his height, which would be weird because they didn't do that for the new Shiori, whose "leaping in the air" shadow likely makes her miniature taller than Height 5 as well. I'm fine with new Shiori being Height 5 though, since original Shiori was basically a kid so we can assume she's taller now as an adult.

Height aside, having now played with this new Drake I have to say he's the first Drake that doesn't feel somewhat overcosted and is probably my favorite Drake, with SotM being second place. I'll miss SotM's 4 Defense, but the Flying and Grapple Grab make up for it. Sure, any time you miss the d20 roll for Grab you'll probably wish you had a Pistol SA instead, but more often than not it'll be so satisfying to grab a figure and roll that 6-die attack against it.
 
Agree with Sherman ^^^ by far the best (and my fave Drake), although I'm still partial to ROTV Drake over SoTM. Near perfectly costed too IMO. Have Eldgrim pull a suicide charge, and suddenly Drake gets a 6 movement. If you can boost his speed after that, look out... :)
 
I recently noticed that AoA Drake's Grapple Grab will not be using the same wording as the Drow Chainfighter's Chain Grab, which it is otherwise pretty much identical to (difference in italics):

GRAPPLE GRAB 8
After moving and before attacking with Drake, you may choose one enemy Small or Medium figure within 4 clear sight spaces whose level is no more than 6 levels above or below Drake's level.
Click to expand...
CHAIN GRAB
After moving and before attacking with a Drow Chainfighter, you may choose one opponent's Small or Medium figure within 3 clear sight spaces whose base is no more than 6 levels above that Drow Chainfighter's height or 6 levels below that Drow Chainfighter's base.
Click to expand...
My guess is that the designers were trying to streamline the new wording, but the unfortunate side effect is that Drake will not be able to reach targets as high up as the Drow Chainfighter can, which could lead to the occasional theme break as pictured below:

img_1027_thumb.jpg


In a situation like this, Drake would be unable to grab the 10th Foot figure, making his grapple line seem weirdly short. It's a shame the new power didn't simply replicate the old one, which didn't have this problem.
 
Kudos to Sherman Davies, whose AOA Sgt. Drake III beat mine in a proxy battle from my Wave I Tag Team Match scenario (see my signature thread for our monthly NYCG4 group activities). In 17 years of Scaping we've almost never have the same figure fielded in the same game, even with 4-5 players, but we both wanted to try him out when he was finally revealed Officially by Renegade, and his whipped mine's behind!
 
That's a really good point.

Curiously, the Necrotech Wraithriders also have Chain Grab, and they DO have different heights listed for up/down.

Drake might be an oversight that gets eratta in the future.
 
Oh wow, I hadn't even looked at the Necrotech Wraithriders before today's stream, but you're right - their Chain Grab works the same as the Drow Chainfighters' Chain Grab (slightly revised wording, but mechanically the same). That does make it look more like the Drake Grapple Grab wording might be an error, not just an attempt to streamline text.
 
It's actually even stranger than that. The original Necrotech Wraithrider card from Avalon Hill was even closer to the original Drow Chainfighter wording:

Spoiler Alert!


(Note that, after the Haslab failed, Scytale provided errata for some of the Avalon Hill cards; the Wraithriders were reduced to 90 points, while Rolling Movement was updated to read that the Wraithriders "cannot move onto a space more than 2 levels above its base." Renegade's card incorporates this errata).

Renegade's card is mechanically identical to the (errata'd) version of the Necrotech Wraithriders card, but removed all mentions of a figure's "base" or "height" and replaced them with "level." Unlike with Drake, though, Renegade adjusted the wording of Chain Grab 9 so that it still functions identically to the Avalon Hill version:

Spoiler Alert!


Considering all that, it really looks like that the wording for Grapple Grab is an error of some sort.
 
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