Fisticuffs! - Character Update #6 - The Congo Bongo

Reposted from our successful Fisticuffs! Kickstarter

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Week six of our character introductions brings the haymakerin' hammerin' hunk, the security guard, Gene the Gorilla, otherwise known as The Congo Bongo.

Congo Bongo character card

Gene the Gorilla received an artificial heart following a violent explosion at the London Zoo. The heart was built on experimental hydrolium technology that slowly invaded his body, gifting him with the ability of speech but robbing him of his animal natures and desires. Taking a job as a security guard for a local bank left Gene feeling aimless, as though the world had nothing for him. Then he found his desires in the skies. His wish - to have a heart!

The Congo Bongo is a hard punching combatant with the ability to turn any brawl into a massive swing. His ability, the Heartless Haymaker, allows him to convert his Round Cards into Haymakers of any color, at any time - meaning he can not only swing with a haymaker whenever he has a Round Card in his hand, but he can also use them to Block and Counter!

In playtesting, Gene was picked often by players who just wanted to bash their opponents in the face! His ability allowed players to instantly have something to do, no matter what Round Card they drew, as well as protect themselves from getting Haymaker'ed themselves.

The Congo Bongo lends himself well to players who like an aggressive play style. Gene can almost always turn any Brawl into a hard swing in his favor ...

Gene's most obvious weakness is that he depends on Round Cards to make it work - meaning his first turn is a wash since you don't draw a Round Card until the end of the first round. Further, if he wants to play his Round Card, then he can't Heartless Haymaker, making his ability useless. You won't know if he wants to play his Round Cards as Haymakers until it is too late, so try to Haymaker him if you want to burn some of his Round Cards as Haymaker Blocks instead of allowing him to play them normally. Additionally, use the "Crash The Airship" Round Card to force everyone to discard their hands, rendering his ability useless.

Our tip: Lay off everyone for the first two turns until you can build up some Round Cards, then get aggressive and don't lay off. Once Gene gets going he's hard to slow down, so get in a good spot to build momentum and don't stop pounding on your enemies. Play your enemies like a bongo, and keep on playing until you win!

<3 The Nerdologues