How to combat the Batsignal (Part I)

After the 6.2 FAQ, placing the Batsignal on scenery elements unlike the other objectives makes it a hard objective for lesser mobile crews to deal with it’s also 'immune' to strategies such as Change of plans (move to 2d6cm target objective), which means that we have to find alternatives to counter it.

At La Biblioteca de Alfred we will try to offer some ideas that you might find useful:

LAMPS AND SEWERS

Perfects to deny the deployment of the Batsignal

The placement of sewers and lamps is the key in preventing our opponents placing the Batsignal on the towering rooftops of Gotham and as these are placed before the objectives, the Batsignal cannot then be deployed within 5 cm of them. Depending on the count of high buildings your opponent may not have space to place it out of reach of the criminal element of Gotham. Considering this 5cm exclusion zone and that the Batsignal has a footprint of 3cm means we can increase the exclusion zone to a radius of 8 cm. If the roof is a little larger, we can use a combination of sewers and lampposts to achieve this effect.

The success of this tactic relies heavily on the fact that we must start placing the sewers before our opponent, because otherwise they could place a sewer at the base of the building or on a balcony and due to how they have to be placed, at 20 cm from each other, we no longer could put ours on the roof.
Therefore, the strategy for increasing the number of lampposts and sewers becomes almost fundamental.

STRATEGIES

Additional Sewers and Lampposts, also Persuasive

• Maps (1/B): The possibility to putting more sewers or additional lamps increases the possibility that we can place ours first, allowing us place them where we want, besides we obviously have more options now to cover more rooftops.
• Fast Advance (2/C): Increases our deployment zone and so we will arrive at our objectives faster but will also give our opponents more options to place the Batsignal on unprotected buildings. So, try to avoid this strategy unless you have a grapple gun or similar.
• Reinforcements (1/C): This strategy may allow our opponents deploy Batman or Nightwing on one side of the table, reaching the Batsignal in the second round, if he achieves the roll of 4+. Cancelling this strategy will be our priority with the handy Snitch strategy.
• Ambush (2/C): The possibility of deploying our crew last and after the objectives phase allows us to mount a defensive strategy around the Batsignal. This is a bonafide godsend in protecting against the Bat and his beacon of hope in Gotham!
• Snitch (2/?): This strategy will be almost our first choice in most cases and especially if we face the Batsignal, in order to cancel Reinforcements or Maps strategies.

EQUIPMENT

Undercover and Smoke Grenades

• Whistle (Stop / Halt): This equipment is crucial, as miniatures under this effect may not use MC counters, and therefore cannot flip the switch and so again no Batsignal.
• Smoke Grenades + extra Charger: If your opponent’s miniatures are within the area of ​​smoke, they cannot use MC counters, so if we throw smoke in our first activation near the Batsignal, we can hold up the activation for a couple of turns. That is, if things go well (you have to roll a 3+ to hit the ground).
• Patrol training (Undercover): 
• This will allow us to deploy after our opponent has placed the Batsignal, which will come very well to defend it seed counters for Ivy are highly useful, if you play Ivy of course ;-).
• Trained in the shadows or Hidden: 
• Same function as above, but with the risk that Batman or Catwoman or others override this trait with Total Vision.
• Bribe/Informer: Having an extra pass means we can afford to have the last activation to try and turn off the Batsignal, but will have to consider that the opponent could cancel it with the many detectives Bats can bring to the show.
• Batclaw/Grapple gun: Getting mobile enough to play the Bat at his own game of reverse zip-lining means we can get a henchman to go turn it off but we need to be wary of sending a poor mook to his inevitable trip to the hospital or worse a cell.
• Climbing shoes: Same reasons as above, but we could add that we could turn it off and then stay glued to the wall so we cannot be the target of melee attacks.

CONTROL SKILLS

Adaptable, Acrobat and Stop!

• Confusion: If we void the use Special Counters of our opponents miniatures, they cannot use the Batclaw or Fly and therefore cannot reach the Batsignal.
• Disarray: Same as above but more useful because we can also move Movement Counters, preventing them from illuminating this pesky objective.
• Persuasive: If we force the activation of an opponent miniature they are more likely to turn on the Batsignal, we can then turn it off later with other models from our crew.
• Stop / Halt: As we have said before, this trait is fundamental if your crew has the possibility to equip it, equip it.

TRAITS DETECTIVE AND/OR INFORMER

Detective, Acrobat and Discourage

• Informer: To turn on/off the Batsignal is essential to have the last activation, so that no-one can return it to the on/off position at the end of the round. Therefore, a skill that gives you a free pass will be essential, and especially if your opponent has numerical superiority. Getting more passes than that of our opponent or so that they cannot cancel all of them with Detective, means we will gain the last activation.
• Detective: In a gang with numerical superiority and several characters with the detective rule, as is usual for Law Force lists, this crew can take advantage of his numerical superiority cancelling your passes and getting the last activation, turning on the objective. Try to reduce the numerical superiority as quickly as possible; especially focusing on their Henchmen with the detective rule, this would be our priority.
  
  

"SPRING INTO THE AIR" AND CHARACTERS WITH ACROBAT

Acrobat, Confusion, Bluff, Fast

The problem is that Batsignal can be placed in heights where it’s defensive and this is very difficult, especially for some crews. With the new changes to the rule spring into the Air after the FAQ 6.2, it adds "Vertical Jump" also allowing acrobat to jump up to the buildings.

"Vertical Jump" allows, by paying 1MC and using the JD, a vertical jump of up to 12cm (with other characters this is a measly 5cm), adding centimetres with Movement Counters means we can now climb buildings where you could not before. There are now many more characters with which to reach these heights, where before we were only permitted using Batclaw/grapple gun or climbing Shoes.

FREE AGENTS

Those Free Agents have very useful skills that can help us to complete our band and defend the Batsignal are as follows:

Acrobat, Undercover, he shoots,
he endures quite damage and hits really hard

• Deathstroke: Acrobat+ Undercover+ great defence
• Catman: Climbing Shoes+ defence 5+ Tracking
• Catwoman: Climbing Shoes+ Acrobat+ defence5
• Copperhead: Undercover+ Acrobat+ Climbing Shoes
• Firefly: Fly+ hover
• Killer Frost: Stop+ Acrobat+ Adaptable
• Enigma: Confusion+ Disarray
• Scarecrow: Undercover+ Persuasive
• White Rabbit: Confusion+ Acrobat
• Hush: Persuasive+ Cancel Strategy+ Scheming+ Automatic Gun

Next week we will publish the second part of this article with more ideas focusing on deployment, in order to combat this controversial beacon of hope in Gotham City.

Must go seems Master Wayne has returned from one of his spelunking trips and looks like he’s had a nasty fall.