Analysis releases BMG January: Harley Quinn & Cyborg

Muy buenas a tod@s.

After the more detailed analysis of the rest of releases of this month such as The Court of Owls, Hawkgirl and Catman, it's time for Harley Quinn and one of the most surprising releases of this month: Cyborg.

Beginning for the 4th version of the girlfriend of the Clown, at least the version which was the origin of this character appears: the animated series. The most remarkable difference with her "sisters" is her rank because she is no longer Sidekick as it could be expected, instead of that she is Free Agent, mainly because that newbie version of Dr. Quinzel hadn't enough skills for leading a Joker's gang. Also she has a very cheap cost (40 points) for being someone known, even cheaper than the 44 points of the Dr. Strange.

As the other versions, she remains her high mobility with Movement 4 and Acrobat, which also makes her quite hard to be hit by shots while she still has some movement counters. Offensively talking is where she is totally different, mainly because she is not focused on hitting, she only has a short range weapon with ammo 2 which its main task is to apply the Stunned effect and making the enemy to lose immediately all his/her counters, although the damage it can deal shouldn't be ignored due to there are 2 contusion, and being Firearm is quite easy to damage (unless the enemy has a Bulletproof Vest). On her case, that lose of counters due to the double damage is "ignored" due to the Stunned effect is more powerful.

Although in Defensive terms she still has the 4 value, the most affected attribute is her Endurance, just with two double damage hits she can be killed fast due to she has the same Endurance as the weakest Henchmen: 4, just like the also animated Catwoman.

So, this Harley is mainly thought to support and not only for her "gun", she also has some control and supporting skills as Disarray, for moving until two counters on an enemy, Follow me!, for increasing the movement of the allied Henchmen, and Distract, for decreasing the Defense of close enemies.

And finally is time for one of the most impressive releases of the few last months: Cyborg, one of the members of the Teen Titans and founding members of the Justice League (at least in the new DC Universe). Even without having 5 value in Attack and Defense it can be said that Victor Stone is at the top level on the three basic aspects of each character: mobility, offensive power and endurance.

Regarding mobility he not only has a typical Movement on the Acrobat character, he can also fly which until the date it can be said is the best trait for moving, even better than the Batclaw.

On the offensive skill is where he hits really hard, and it doesn't matter the way he is attacking because all his attacks inflict double damage, although only one kind of them cause lethal damage, which is enough having in mind he is a member of the Batman crew. Also, due to his weapons are part of his modified body, they can't be stolen (Safe Hands):

• For the medium distance (40 cm) he can use his Plasma Cannon which has the particularity of being the first distance weapon with the trait Handy, which makes it perfect for attacking enemies with a high Defense value or ensuring impacts against Defenses 2-3. For being a Beam weapon he not only damages on 2+, he also ignore all the Bulletproof Vest and makes Pings! to be more difficult for the target, which makes him the worst enemy for Delta SWAT. To all this it must be added his Night Vision, which lets him to ignore the restriction of having to see his targets within 30 cm.
• For short distances he can choose if using the already commented weapon or his White Sound Disruptor, that is neither precise nor lethal as the Plasma Cannon because it only deals contusions and it has ROF 1, but the enemy still loses 1 action counter for the doubles damage, and in addition to that he loses 1 SC for being Sonic. Also, as Hawkgirl it deals the new Magic type of damage, which until today only has some effect against character such as Gotham Butcher or Killer Croc due to it ignores the trait Resilient, as well Invulnerable and Incorporeal which are still unknown. It is important that this lost counter due to this kind of attacks (Enervating, Sonic...) that apply that effect in addition to the damage is resolved at the same time of the attack, so losing counter for damage accumulation comes later; so against that attack the enemy will lose first 1 SC and then 1 counter decided by the owner of the attacked model.

• In close combat he is at the same level as almost all the Batman, dealing double contusions thanks to his Reinforced Gloves and damaging at 3+.

On the defensive area he has interesting things to offer, Victor makes honor to his surname and he is hard as a rock due to his Endurance 9 it must be taken into account his Light Armor, which forces the enemies to apply a -1 to any damage roll against him, it mean that almost all the Henchmen will damage him on a 6+. But it also has a bad point, Anti Tank weapons can be a pain for him because they not only ignores his armor, they repeat failed damage rolls. Lastly, for being Cybernetic the enemy should think seriously to attack him with lethal damage because he will recover the contusions on a 3+ instead the typical 4+, although once more this trait has a negative point and on this case is he has to apply also a +1 for any Endurance roll, that on his case will be successfully on  a 8-, which still is a good value for accomplish them.

As additional traits, he can even be a support for his mates thanks to his ability to move up to 2 counters (Order), although he can do the same among the enemy lines but only on the mechanic members (Hacking). Lastly, regarding his Scheming/1 maybe he is not who is going to be the target mainly because he is thought for attacking, and he can even defense himself thanks to Willpower 8 and planning Attack-Defense 4, but it can be useful to use it on character that can accomplish some tasks and will be good to know what the enemy has in mind before planning him/her.

Maybe his big handicap is his high cost in $. It is true he is also expensive in reputation, but due to he is a Sidekick he can lead a Bat gang without having to include the also expensive Batman.

And with this we end the analysis of this month. Now we only have to try then on a board game,which we will do it as soon as possible (until now only in spanish, but we are thinking in doing it also in english, or something similar to it xD)

You can find all these release, and the Spiderman Miniature Game ones, in our updated Databank, with the released extra profiles known until now.

Greetings and we keep reading in La Biblioteca de Alfred and Reino de Juegos.