OverDrive Locker Room: Introducing The Spawn

Welcome Coaches to the OverDrive Locker Room! This is the place to come for exclusive sneak peeks at the players you'll be battling it out with in the arena when OverDrive launches this September. In each blog we'll be taking a closer look at the background, stats and tactics for each player. Today we're getting our tentacles into a twist with The Spawn.

If you want to learn a bit more about how the game plays, before reading about each character, check out this video from Blackjack Legacy, which explains the basics.

BACKGROUND

Although the Nameless have become one of the biggest threats to the GCPS since the Mandrake Rebellion, some Nameless sects remain on friendly (if complicated) terms with the corporations in the First Sphere. Since becoming an OverDrive star, the Nameless Spawn has settled in GCPS space and, from the few spoken words Exo-linguists have managed to decipher, it seems to enjoy the experience... or it's reporting back to its home world about the most effective ways to kill humans. The Exo-linguists are not quite sure.

STATS & TACTICS

The Spawn is a good all-rounder with a Move of four, Strength of 4+ and Agility of 4+. As a result, he can dish out some damage and potentially even Dodge attacks from the rear too. So far, so average. However, it's The Spawn's Drag ability that really helps it to shine. Drag can be used to target an enemy up to three hexes away and then pull them toward The Spawn. This is particularly useful when you want to move an enemy out of the Active Scoring Zone but don't want to engage them in a fist fight (or should that be tentacle fight?). Even better, the enemy can't try and Dodge the attack. Instead, for each success The Spawn drags them inexorably toward it hex by hex.

Tentacles also come into play with the Long Tentacles ability, which allows The Spawn to target an enemy up to two hexes away. This means you don't have to be in base-to-base contact with an opponent, so they can't Slam back. Although The Spawn doesn't compare to Brank Reborn, Dozer or even Karadon when it comes to Slamming, the fact it can target them without the threat of a Slam Back is hugely powerful. It's not just Slamming either, Long Tentacles also works with actions like Pass the Bomb or Steal! As a result, although The Spawn's move is only four, it's actually got a threat range of six hexes (before Dashes), which can catch your opponent off guard.

Finally, The Spawn's OverDrive ability, Spawn Again, allows it to perform an action against an enemy it has successfully Dragged into one of its threat hexes. The action gains a +2 modifier and the target can only Dodge - probably because it's become tangled in all The Spawn's tentacles. Suddenly that 4+ Strength isn't looking so shabby when Slamming the likes of Dozer or Brank Reborn who now have to Dodge on a 5+.

The Spawn is one of the best Players when it comes to re-positioning your opponents and moving them around the arena. Underestimate this tentacled terror at your peril.

OVERDRIVE IS HEADING TO STORES THIS SEPTEMBER AND PRE-ORDERS WILL BE GOING LIVE SOON!