BMG Analysis Sons of Batman 1-3

Good day fellow Batfans!

After seeing the "ringleader" of this new Batman starter, Carrie Kelley, we turn now to the other members, the characteristic Sons of Batman. Loyal fans of the Batman but with more aggression coursing through their veins. Their main attraction is the range of Henchmen they options they bring and that they are exclusive to the Bat, opening new tactics for an expensive band focused on well-known characters.

Starting with the Son of Batman 1 (SoB 1), 14 / $ 100 is the alternative to Gotham Policewoman * as far as reputation is concerned, but with a completely different use from her role. If the police agent is focused on defending thanks to the Protective trait of her weapon, the SoB 1 is intended to support his comrades. Leaving downed enemies in 20 cm or less (Short Range) with the Throwing trait and ROF 2 of his Wingdings combined with Brutal to repeat the collateral roll. After having run out of ammunition perhaps his greatest use is as support in melee with the same aim of knocking down his enemy but this time with his bare fists. SoB 1 has 3 AC to invest again with the added Brutal trait to reroll collateral but wounding will always depend on luck with his strength of 5+.

Despite having only Defense 2, his Endurance 5 forces the opponent to have to hurt him at least 3 times with common weapons that deal double damage, plus his Hardened allows him to convert him first blood of round into stun.

As far as equipment upgrades are concerned, since he is not a frontline character nor more useful beyond his 2 ammo, perhaps Street Guy ($50) is the improvement that suits him best as he can continue to have the bonus of crouch after coverage without sacrificing counters on it, so to run or move more would remain viable. Secondly, Magazine ($200) is always an improvement to be considered by the shooters of the team, but in the case of SoB 1 perhaps this only feasible if no other more powerful shooters are in the band and if funds are still available for it.

Turning to the Son of Batman 2 (SoB 2), his Sawn off shotgun forces him to approach more than his brother to fight, especially if he has option to affect multiple enemies in a single shot. Like all characters armed with this type of shotgun, it is a perfect candidate to use sewers and pop out of them to give a rival a good scare. Unlike other characters equipped with this weapon such as Bragg (Joker) and Ice Penguin (Penguin), this SoB is not limited to single shot of this weapon, since he also is armed with a gun ROF 2. Although unlike SoB 1 moving affects the ROF but instead hurts 2+ (Firearm) unless your target is fitted with Bulletproof Vest, some kind of Armor or Though Skin.

As far as his profile is concerned, both SoB 1 and 2 are exactly the same with Defense 2 and the combination of Endurance 5 with Hardened!, and in his case he doesn't need any equipment for being able to enhance his Pings! in -1 when crouching (Street Guy).

If SoB 2 was in the crew with other candidate for the sewers such as Carrie Kelley or SWAT Bravo, Sewer Map (1/E) can be a good strategy to put two of them in them at once, combining even with Maps (1/B) to have even more options to surprise the enemy from the rear and both leave together.

Regarding equipment upgrades that may be better for him, no doubt Extra Ammo ($200) for the Shotgun is almost a compulsory acquisition to take advantage as many times as you can with this weapon of mass control. Other improvements such as Flashlight ($100) or Whistle ($200) can come in handy because of his predisposition to use the sewers, but his Willpower 4 make combined use of getting out of the sewer, firing and using a whistle or lantern not possible.

Finally, it’s the turn of Son of Batman 3 (SoB 3), who could be classified as the high-profile Henchmen for the Batman band. For this SoB you have to tread more carefully in deciding how to act with him since he has good values in both attack and defence and Support/Control, however as far as mobility is concerned shares the same value of 2.

Offensively speaking, although maintaining the same Attack value of 3 characteristically shared among all the S.O.B, he is equipped with Reinforced Gloves and has an above average strength of 4+, which means that 50 % of his impacts should hurt. Since his attacks are unarmed, this makes him an ideal candidate to grab enemies and then for his teammates to take out advantage, plus this normally will also result in a situation of Numerical Superiority. And not only that, as with all weapons of double damage, each of his successful wounds will result in the loss of a counter from his rival (plus any that have been invested to block the blows).

In defensive terms he has a base value up to many renowned personalities: 4, to which must be added his Counterattack. This in exchange for 1 SC gives him option to land a free hit for each impact during the rest of round; this is also resolved before the rivals successful impacts. So if SoB 3 left his opponent KO or Knocked Down the enemy attacks would not be resolved. In addition to this, like his brothers he has the security of Hardened, they’re a tough bunch these batsons! and 1 more point of Endurance than them at 6.

Finally, in Support/Control tasks SoB 3 is a henchman to take into account. First because he improves the movement of friendly Henchmen near him with Follow me!, which combined with the Leader Inspire and strategy Rapid Response Training (1/E) can mean finishing with up to 5 counters of movement with a SoB/Police (20 + 4D6 = 24-44 cm) or 6 (20 + 5D6 = 25-50 cm) in the case of Detective GCPD SWAT. Although his Follow me! Is not compatible with Robin Arkham City (cannot suffer the same effect more than once), they can combine together to advance quickly in two independent groups.

On the other hand, he also indirectly enhances the durability of his colleagues in melee (regardless of rank) since his Bluff (1SC) allows you to once per round lower the attack an opponent to 10 cm or less by 1. Although the opponent can still hit the same amount of times (since the counters already assigned are not lost), it does make the hits easier to stop. It combined with Delta SWAT or Arkham Knight's Robin (Tim Drake) can turn them quite hard to be taken down due to the "+2" the win when blocking. Even himself combining it with his Counterattack can make the enemy to think it twice before attacking him.

As for equipment upgrades that might be useful, all those that require the use of a counter may end up not being used since he is a character who can often lack counters to do everything that is capable of doing. Perhaps the only permissible improvement in his case is Arrest ($200) given the nonlethal damage he can cause and that this would not entail any loss of AC (costs 1MC+1SC). Although circumstantial, EMP ($100) can be an inexpensive and interesting improvement (but only if Bruce Wayne is in the band) and where appropriate, since one of the drawbacks of this SoB is no reroll, and only against Vehicles, Cybernetic (as Cyborg or Brute Militia), Bot (such as robots of Riddler or recent 3 new Joker Henchmen) or Robot, would have margin of error of wounding.

Teamwork/1 (All) if Batman Arkham Knight is in the band it is a must to take advantage of situations of Numerical Superiority. Between him and the Bat they capitalizes on its "+2" to impact in these situations ("+1" by the situation of numerical superiority, and +1 for his Master Fighter), and also if Robin (Tim Drake Arkham Knight) is in the band. The Bat will not have a rival (with a potential amount of 5+2+1 hits), although this would result in a base cost of 267/$100 between the three.

Finally, Radio ($100) can also be interesting to take advantage of his offensive potential combined with a partner to sidelining an opponent without giving him time to react, although it is true that he is the one to activate first and grab enemies.

In short, this Son of Batman is perfect for reaching a point on the table and becoming immovable through his Defense 4 being Hardened and the conditioning of having Counterattack knowing that his hits will cause double damage. He is also the perfect companion for your allies, for several reasons. The first to improve the capacity of movement with Follow me! That may be further combined with Inspire from the Leader and strategy Rapid Response Training (1/E). The second reason is his Reinforced Gloves and what this means, since they are the ideal candidate to grab enemies and have his companions take advantage of the situation with numerical superiority. Finally his Bluff (1SC) can extend the life of his teammates and himself, facilitating their blocks; and improves his option of Counterattack. As for improvements, perhaps the most important for him to be Arrest ($200), given the nonlethal damage that is capable of causing, and Teamwork/1 (All) if Batman Arkham Knight was in the band with him.

Must dash, Master Wayne has some uncouth friends visiting and all they seem to want is burgers and pizza, if you ask me it’s a waste of Wagyu beef and fine mortadella, they also can’t use coasters and put their feet on the furniture but he seems to like them.

BMG Analysis Robin (Carrie Kelley)

Hello everybody.

We begin this month focused on one of the most important works of Frank Miller, (and now 5 Robins, Dick Grayson, Jason Todd, Tim Drake, Damian Wayne) and with this addition the only female version: Carrie Kelley. At only 54 rep and $100 funding she is near the Damian Wayne version in terms of cost, but with the main exception that she’s not equipped with a Batclaw, although she has the new and awesome trait Concealment (1MC+1SC) which gives her another approach. Additionally, she becomes the cheapest option to lead a Batman band being 5 points below Batgirl (Comic version) Barbara Gordon.

In Mobility terms she reminds us of Red Hood (Comic) since both lack the Batclaw but have Movement 4 combined with Agile and Acrobat. This will allow her to cover large distances and to land and jump to and from the top of roofs (Spring into the air: 12+3D6=15-30cm as 1MC is necessary to carry out this action). Agile is going to come in handy especially against anyone pushing her from above ground, as it gives her the option to land on the bottom and avoid the negative effects of falling if she exceeds an Agility check, which with Movement 4 is a 67% chance of success.

The offensive is clearly not her forte as she only has her Slingshot although it is true that this causes 1 lethal injury on impact, but is penalized by only having ROF 2 and requiring a 5+ to wound due to her low Strength. The positive side, with his lethal damage, is the ability to repeat failed impacts with Handy which can ensure that many times from the 20 cm (Short Range) she can cause damage be that lethal blood damage or stun from Just a Scratch!.


Defensively is where Carrie Kelley stands out, her Movement 4 together with Dodge makes her hard to hit from range. But mainly for Concealment (1MC+1SC) as this makes her only visible when in base to base contact with her and making rival shooters useless unless they possess traits such as Total Vision, Superior Sense of Smell or Enhanced Vision. This allows her to move freely around the table without much worry and even if she was hit dodge is her backup protection.

In support/Control tasks all she has is Handyman, and despite being the only character to date with an option to repair the Batmobile, her cost of $ 100 makes her incompatible, at least in 350 points games as the Batmobile already costs $1500. Although the inclusion of Adam West Alfred will allow her to be taken thanks to the $300 bonus he gives. As far as she is concerned, not having to pay MC to carry out actions to manipulate allows her, among other things, to use the sewers for only 1SC, recharge her Slingshot from Ammunition crates and turn on/Off the Batsignal and be unaffected by the ever annoying Whistles.

Given recent improvements in equipment list that are now accessible beyond just Henchmen, Carrie has the option to be equipped, provided that Bruce Wayne is in the band, some great toys. Perhaps the most interesting in this case is the Bat-Armor Mk II (+ 3/$400), which gives her a save of 6+, and especially Martial Artist (+2/$100) to further ensure her value of Defense 4 in situations of numerical inferiority,

In short, her Defense 4 together with her Concealment (1MC+1SC), and her lack of offensive power, makes her a character very focused on controlling objectives and you could even play with the strategies Secret Objective (2/C) and Change of Plans (1/C) to be able to control two ammo crates at once. While it is true that the "invisibility" allows her to move safely around the table, if combined with strategies to quickly reach the goals like Reinforcements (1/D) can give victory points from the first couple of rounds. Once she has reached her goal, her Willpower 6 is sufficient to activate Concealment and not have to worry about using the rest in MC to prevent ranged attacks with Dodge and focus only on defending in melee. With all this, if she also equips with the trait Martial Artist (+ 2/$100) she can become even more lethal.

If she wishes not to use these mechanisms to reach her goals, her high movement value makes her perfect to advance on the surface of the table even with a loot under her arm and, although it means sacrificing a little mobility, her "stealth" can be a massive advantage paired with her Sidekick rank allowing repeat Let's Go failed between the nearest Henchmen (20 cm or less). 

Finally, the Handyman lets her take actions to Manipulate without paying MC therefore allowing her to use the sewers only 1 SC or turn on/off Batsignal without having being affected by the whistles and Stop!

I do hope this weather doesn’t last it’s only June and the Robins are out in force it seems!

BMG: Analysis Black Canary (The Animated Series)

Hello Batfans, Can I get a coo coo?

As expected, after having met the Green Arrow from animated world, it was only a matter of time before the character that... feels... a special affinity to him returns to the nest in the form of Black Canary. It is not only at a rules level that this version is 19 points cheaper (50 rep 0$) than before but that she is only available for the band Emerald Archer. She has Free Agent status and although restricted to Green Arrow crews she can also work in the new team rules as part of the Birds of Prey which will allow you to team up her with other members of this famous group of heroines.

We start as always with Movement, this caricatured version stands out not only because she has Acrobat, but also by combining this with a movement value of 4, this then has a huge impact on being shot at due to her ability to Dodge up to four ranged attacks! If you think she’s fast, being Undercover intensifies this fast advance among her crewmates thanks to the extra 20 cm at deployment and the ability to position herself on the table after objectives. The bad point of all this is that Green Arrow, with whom she has Teamwork, "only" has a movement 3 and isn’t Undercover. Although this is perhaps an ideal situation for his new single strategy Adaptable Plan (1/E) to bring him to her and not lose her forward deployment, In addition, with the recent change to Spring into the Air it makes Acrobatic characters able to reach high areas by paying 1 MC and then moving as many CM as your jumping capacity. In the case of such acrobatic characters this means that Black Canary could jump up to 30 cm.

Offensively she is not a character that will be very useful in face to face attacks or distance, with strength 5+ and Attack 3 being effective is very circumstantial, and although her Canary Cry (2SC) itself causes blood to each of those affected, she has bigger use in areas of Support/Control.

Defensively, despite having only Endurance 5 she combines this with Defence 4 and with the immunity to situations of numerical inferiority being a Martial Artist, probably due to all that rough housing with Oliver! As mentioned before, her Acrobatic, Movement of 4 together with her value of 4 in Defence makes her a hard target to shoot, in addition with up to 4 chances of avoiding ranged attack with 67% chances on each roll. In melee she’s a tough egg to crack having up to 4 counters to block, plus counters from Oliver using Teamwork/2.

Finally, Support/Control is the strong point of this Black Canary, as its already known Canary Cry (1SC) is an assault on the ears and makes all those affected under the template suffer  and loose the use of counters until the end of round, although someone with Teamwork itself could continue to use them. Her impressive danger now, is that her Teamwork/2 with Green Arrow may allow you to perform this special action twice in the same round! which of course gives rise to various combinations

• Shout 2 times to the same group of people cause , although the Stunned effect applies only once.
• Shout - Move - Shout, hitting several enemies in the same round, although in both cases must be 10 cm or less than Oliver.
• Move to stay between two group of people and shout once each, but must be 10 cm or less than Oliver.
• There is a combination, although a little beardy, that would allow you to even use her cry up to 3 times, using a Titan Dose, so that she bumps her SC to 4, she could then borrow 2 from Oliver making her a cacophony of pain in one round.

In addition, the Sonic trait has a special impact against certain characters such as the "twins" Tweed (immune to Stun effect), the Symbyote (they will suffer double damage: ) or Daredevil (he will also suffer the Enervating/1 effect). Although the Stun already prohibits the use of counters, the Sonic itself also causes loss of 1 SC to those immune to the stun effect.

As is the case with Green Arrow, your Teamwork is not focused to capitalize offensively. It can be raised so that Black Canary can use up to 6 counters for movement and is able to cover a huge amount of ground in a turn. This though would lead her away considerably from Oliver and leave her without counters for anything else (1SC + 1MC to run and other 3MC to increase the distance). She could use them to defend up to 6 times, in fact the two together with 4 DC each can be really difficult to make them fall in melee. Or, as has commented and what seems more than worth it, scream twice either at separate groups stunning a potentially huge amount of your opponents crew or twice at the same target causing 2 blood damage and the loss of a counter!

To sum up, we are faced with a character that is worth 50 points, and 50 + 77 as it is with the Green Arrow, and encouraged to reach their full potential they can make use of her Canary Cry (2SC) twice (3 if she is powered by Titan), and he doesn't need more than 2AC and 2SC for shooting.

In addition to her impressive lungs she has great mobility and protection from shots with values of 4 in movement and defence, combined with Acrobat to dodge. She also has the advantage of deploying last after objectives due to Undercover.

As a short reference, her Teamwork/2 Green Arrow can mainly be used for:

• Move With up to 6 counters in movement (one to run and 5 to increase the distance 29-54 cm).
• Defend as if there were no tomorrow, with up to 6 options to block (could be combined with MC to also defend against shots).
• Blast her enemies with her audible cry twice, which could be broken up with a movement Cry- move –cry a little more.

Now, I hear the coo coo of the pigeons in the south wing and Master Wayne won’t be impressed if his new yellow Lamborghini is a mess when he wakes up...

BMG Hawkman vs Hawkgirl

Hi everyone.

As we take this pair of lovebirds among us, it is time to see what each one of them brings to the table. Although very similar, they are not the same character, but they seem to pretty well empathize with each other (as lovers do) perfectly. Both can be part of the same bands, but including them both in the same crew can be expensive (109 + 99 + the boss cost, that’s pretty close to the 300 points of reputation right off the bat!) But it is possible to put them together in a team of Birds of Prey which given the new team rules seems like a good chance to run them both.

As always, in summary here are their stats:

	Hawkman 109/$0 Willpower 7	Hawkgirl 99/$0 Willpower 7
Mobility	Mov 2 Fly (1MC+1SC) Flying High (3SC+1MC)	Mov 3 Fly (1MC+1SC) Flying High (3SC+1MC)
Attack CC	Str 3+ Att 4 Nth Metal Mace Power Strike (1SC) Savage Fighter	Str 3+ Att 3 Nth Metal Mace Unstoppable (1SC)
Defence	Defence 4 Endurance 9 Hover (1MC) Immune to Fire Hardened	Defence 4 Endurance 7 Hover (1 MC) Immune to Fire
Support/ Control	Teamwork 2 Power Strike (1SC)	Teamwork 2

MOBILITY

Kendra is a slight step ahead with a value 3 for Movement vs her eternal lover’s value of 2 but considering Fly consumes 1 MC and Hover another, leaves no choice for Carter to do anything else.

Both have the enormous mobility advantage that the trait Fly provides, and since this movement is totally free form and has no restrictions is another quintessential element of their effectiveness. In addition, unlike other flying characters like Cyborg and Firefly, both have their particular trait or kinda “sewer like” ability Flying High. (may disappear from the table in a round and swoop down in the next in any legal position. This is especially useful for:

• Getting quickly to a high value target, such a Batsignal or an opponent that has used change of plans to move their objectives close together.
• Go against an unprepared character, and if this is someone important more the better
• Go back to defend something / someone at one point, although this is perhaps the last reason for the trait to be employed.

In this case the usefulness of their Teamwork does not have much impact, because for Fly or Hover it is already necessary to pay MC, and in the case of Carter this limits you to one remaining.

ATAQUE CUERPO A CUERPO

Even without having a value of 5 in attack, they’re good in their own way. Their Nth Metal Mace allows them to repeat failed impacts in addition ignoring the trait Though Skin (Swamp Thing, Gotham`s Butcher, Killer Croc), Invincible and incorporeal. Which combined with its Strenght 3+ and damage  can cause considerable damage per attack, and to make matters worse both have mechanisms to improve their chances of this happening:

• Hawkgirl has +1 to impact roll with Weapon Master and she can also pay 1 SC to force the opponent to have to get 2 successes to stop each of her strikes (Unstoppable). This makes it perfect to squish lesser Henchmen as usually they only have a Defence of 2-3. This means at most these henchmen would be able to stop 1 hit, although at 3+. Hawkgirl then is a punishing combatant, giving the constraint of having to block one hit with two counters and the loss of a counter for each successful wound!
• Hawkman has +1 to impact and Push given to him by his Savage Fighter and for support of his crewmates can cause his opponents to get knocked down using his Power Strike. 

In both cases both of them have to add 1 SC to their attack to enhance it even further: Hawkgirl to do Unstoppable and Hawkman to apply Push or Power Strike.

Teamwork with both of them is highly useful and if the opponent has an odd number of DC it may be more interesting to strike first with Hawkgirl since her attacks are Unstoppable. It is statistically impossible, under normal conditions, to block all her attacks (3 or 5 with teamwork boost) since it would take 6 or 10 DC and with all of her attacks having handy it is not unreasonable to say that they would all hit.

DEFENCE

Again both of them are practically identical, although Carter is one step ahead because of the resistance offered by his Hardened trait, first, that will allow you to transform the first blood you get in each round on contusion, and second by value 9 Endurance.

Their common aspect is both have a base chance of 50% for opponent’s attacks impacting given their Defence 4, and using Hover this increases to 6+ in close combat without applying any other beneficial bonus. Against shooting however this does not apply and they also lose any protection from Pings!. In addition to all this, they are immune to the fire effect (but not the damage caused by the attack) and although not common in the game as yet, Starfire is on the way and there are sure to be more villains under the rocks of Gotham.

APOYO/CONTROL

The only thing that can be attributed to them in this area is their control of the opponents crew members, Kendra by forcing the spending of DC to stop her attacks and Carter knocking down his enemies using Power Strike. And that each successful wound the opponent model loses a counter with their Nth Metal Maces.

RESUMEN

In short, both Hawks have great mobility in part because of their Flying High, that will allow them to reach any area one round to another and keeping them both near each other to make 100% use of their Teamwork ability.

Offensively both of them exert control over opponents, Kendra forcing the opponent to block in twos with Unstoppable (1SC) and Carter by knockdown if you add Power Strike. In addition, both can repeat impact rolls given their Nth Metal, Handy, Mace. Both have a +1 to hit and wound on 3+, Kendra being Weapon Master and Carter because of his Savage Fighter when Pushing. Here Teamwork can indeed take advantage of the destructive power of both.


Fending both can be complicated, especially in the melee if they Hover since the opponent must always impact 6+, and if they also use Teamwork it can be almost impossible to impact them. Hover though, has its bad side to ranged weapons (they, after all are birds!) As they lose all protection from Ping! In the case of Carter though, Hardened and Endurance 9 is beastly and can be almost impossible to knock down even when he has received the damage from attacks.

Anyway, Master Wayne has the urge for a spot of grouse today so I better dust off the old Purdey and sons and head off into the woods.

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.

BMG: Analysis Hawkman

Hello everybody.

If two months ago it was Harwkgirl who appeared on the streets of Gotham, it was just a matter of time until we saw her soul mate, Hawkman. Despite having a cost that can be considered expensive for a Free Agent (109 reputation points), he hovers above others in three of the four facets for every character: he hits really hard, he is difficult to take down and he has huge mobility.

Let’s start at the beginning with his mobility; being able to Fly is pretty cool right? And although being the same as a Batclaw, it doesn’t share the same restriction as it. His movement value of 2 counters and the possibility of using Hover, will limit his movement distance to 30 cm in most cases, but as soon as he uses his Flying High (1MC+3SC) trait he can arrive in close combat distance to anyone on the board the next round.

Flying High is the main reason for his dangerousness (as in the case of Hawkgirl), forcing the enemy into not neglecting his most important models but also having to think about his weaker characters such as Penguin, the Riddler or the Mad Hatter. Although due to the descent happening at the beginning of the raise the plan phase, it won't be a total surprise and so his opponent he will still be able raise a plan to defend himself. Still, Hawkman can be a huge use gliding effortlessly down to any objective to control it faster than most, can I hear people cry Batsignal? (Although only in the case of a Batman crew), and then defend it from the enemy.

On the Offensive Hawkman is an enemy to be feared. His offensive potential is generated with the exchange of 4 AC and 2 SC, to hit the enemy and then applying Push (1 SC) and Power Strike (1 SC). The combination of his Savage Fighter with his Nth Metal Mace makes Carter a perfect candidate to face enemies with a high defence due to the +1 to impact rolls when he applies Push (1 SC) and being able to repeat failed impact rolls thanks to the Handy trait of his mace. Although he doesn't have a skill to repeat the roll for damaging, his Strength 3+ is good enough to secure success 66% of the time. His Power Strike (1 SC) becomes the best friend of his allies thanks to the knocked down effect he applies after succeeding on a hit (should the enemy fail his block rolls). Also, as his mace deals , for each impact that deals damage it means the loss of an action counter to all but the sturdiest of his opponents’ crew.

The Magic trait of his weapon was, up until today only found on Cyborg and Hawkgirl and effects characters with Though Skin trait such as Solomon Grundy, Gotham Butcher and Swamp Thing, ignoring the penalty to damage them. The Incorporeal and Invincible traits are still unknown but it will also ignore them when they arrive on other shiny new toys.

Defensively he combines his endurance of 9 with the difficulty hitting him, especially in close combat. First of all the enemy has to impact him, ranged attacks suffer here too with 50% chance of failing given his Defence of 4. While in close combat if he is using Hover the enemy only can impact him to 6+ without having to account any modifiers to that roll, although this is an inconvenience against ranged attacks as he loses all the Pings!.

Albeit circumstantial, Carter is totally immune to all fire effects (Immune to Fire), although not to the damage dealt by the attack applying this effect. It is important to comment on Azrael because his double critical will apply its effect twice, but due to the attacker being able choose to apply the useless fire critical or the normal of 1 stun, this would still affect him. If it can be difficult impacting him, it’s even more difficult to deal real damage to him as at the moment he receives damage, his Hardened will let him to change the first blood damage for a stun once per round, and as his Endurance is 9 he becomes a character that’s really hard to take down.

Lastly, in Support/Control tasks he has more than his ability to apply the knocked down effect by hitting his enemies with Power Strike (1 SC). He can use Hawkgirl's counters thanks to his Teamwork/2 Hawkgirl, whose usage will be more focused in being able to hit up to 6 times with him, Defend more if it is needed, or having more chances to recover any stun damage. He can also make an early run for important objectives by flying high and camping on them until back up arrives, expensive but certainly useful if needed.

To Summarise, being able to Fly makes Carter a highly mobile character, and his Flying High also makes him highly unpredictable as it can be mainly used for:

• Pouncing quickly against on the enemy and considering his ease to hit it can be against somebody important. It can condition the enemy to not let anybody split apart from the group if the player doesn't want to lose one of their models easily.
• Arrive quickly on the Batsignal or other important objectives (who knows what’s around the corner?) in Round 2. Having Carter in a Crew means about 200 reputation points (because as we all know a crew isn’t a crew without a Boss), which means there will be only a few members left to choose from in a crew that includes him, this will however allow more options to "pass on activation" than your rival, so knowing how to use them and having the last activation is very important.
• Go back quickly to defend any objective and/or important crew member (be that the Boss or his eternal love Kendra).

His offensive potential should be highly praised. The combination of Attack 4 + Savage Fighter + Power Strike + Nth Metal Mace + Strength 3+ can end badly with low defence swarm crews with the possibly of more than one on the ground after he lets loose, either by all the damage dealt or the Knocked Down effect of his Power Strike.

His endurance shouldn't be ignored either as in close combat his Hover forces the enemy to impact him on 6+ although against ranged attacks he loses all the Pings! he could have! And if he is damaged his Hardened and Endurance 9 could be the thing that saves his life.

As it could be expected, his Teamwork is totally focused with Hawkgirl, meaning these 2 "extra" counters can be used for:

• Hitting up to 6 times, although taking into account his ease in knocking down enemies it would be interesting to let Kendra hit more due to the damage both of them deal being the same and the enemy wouldn't be able to use counters to defend her attacks, and it is more complicated to stop her due to her Unstoppable attacks.
• Up to 6 options to defend himself in a bad situation thus becoming almost immortal in close combat.
• If he has received huge quantity of non lethal damage, (as for example facing the Bat), he could have up to 6 options to recover from it (1 free + 3 SC of him + 2 SC of Kendra).

Now... I’m off to make tea for Master Wayne, until next time.

MUMG: Analysis Starlord

Hello everybody.

Despite have begun with Groot, finally it’s time for the starter of this peculiar group, and as always who better to begin with than their "leader", the looter from the Earth: Starlord. Let’s start with his Level, as this, is even more striking than Cyclops! Among all the Guardians of the Galaxy he has the lowest Level with a (some would say, human) value 6, just above the Black Widow from the Avengers. Regarding his power of 7, he is at the same level as his team mates, with the obvious exception of Gamora who is top dog on 8 (the same as the mighty Thor and the quintessentially American, Captain America), although it decreases to 6 when he is in the red area of his Endurance bar.

Beginning with his Mobility, Peter stands up to most with his ability to Fly, which will let him move freely with the option to arrive at any place on the board, and although his two first tiers have the average value, the third one is 2 points below it for these kind of characters: 4/7/12 (10/17.5/30 cm).

In defensive terms Peter’s another of those characters that can be considered easy to hit due to his low values for Physical, Energy and Supernatural Defence, as all of them come in with a value 14. His Mental Defence of 17 is between that of Deadpool at 20 and Colossus at 13. His Fly skill however not only grants him more mobility as mentioned, but it also gives him a +1 to his Defence against close combat attacks, unless his rival also has this skill. His defensive ace in the hole is his Energy Field (2) which, once per game, lets him reduce the wounds by 2 from all damage coming from either Physical or Energy sources and due to the Resistance/2 he wins, although characters like Wolverine and Captain America will be able to ignore that thanks to the Irresistible trait attached some of their attacks.

His Agility 8 grants him a 44% of chance of success with rolls of this kind, as the needed for reducing to the half the damage from Expansive, Spray or Explosive attacks, as well as the chance to avoid being impacted by throws with him in the firing line. Also it’s worth noting that, while he remains in the top area of his Endurance bar this value, his agility, is increased to 10, so the chances are further increased to 67%. Regarding Stamina he has the same value as his basic Agility, 8 this grants him a 44% chance of not getting KO’d in rolls of this kind as well as being able to recover from it; with Peter KO’d it is almost impossible for the enemy to fail any impact roll as his defences are decreased to 10/10/10/13. His Willpower value of 11 is more encouraging as it grants him a 77% of chance of succeeding in these kinds of rolls, for example avoiding Trick (1).

His 12 Endurance points are closer to the 9 of Black Widow rather than that of the 20 his teammate Groot, distributed in 4 points in each area. While he remains in the top area, as it has been mentioned, his Agility is increased by 2 points up to 10, on the other hand, when he is in the critical zone not only is his Power is decreased to 6, he also loses his Fly ability, as does billionaire playboy, philanthropist Iron Man, and so he becomes a target that can be taken down quite easy.

Offensively talking, Starlord is another character that should stay far from the combat due to, in addition with his low defences, the fact that all his attacks are ranged and he doesn't have the Strength value for throwing objects bigger than human size such as motorbikes. The only difference with his two attacks are the nature of them and the effects they apply (and the 1 more POW on the second one), both have a range of 12' (30 cm) and deal 2 wounds, in addition they are not limited in usage beyond the POW:

• Quad-Laser (2): The real danger of this attack is the combination of its Penetrative trait with Starlord's Total Vision, making impossible to hide from it using cover. Additionally it can destroy elements in its trajectory, or at least deal them some damage.
• Element Gun (3): Interesting for the control it offers on the enemy slowing them by 1 point thanks to the Ensnare/1 it applies if it damages due to its freezing effect, which can be increased even more with the Wall of Roots (3) from his friendly Ent like teammate, Groot.

Lastly, in Support/Control roles, Starlord has some things to offer. In addition his already mentioned Total Vision, making those characters with the Stealth or Invisible skill useless and unable to protect from him by keeping their distance, and the Ensnare trait from his element gun. Peter can decide once per game, which player begins activating thanks to his Perfect Plan. Despite not being good at going toe to toe with the enemy, Starlord can, once per round, try to decrease by 1 point the Physical Defence of a visible target, which in his case could be used against enemies totally hidden! (Total Vision) and so he doesn't have to expose himself to their reprisals, using his Trick (1).

NOTE: The word Target means there has to be line of sight with the objective.

Summarizing, Starlord is other of these characters to use at distance and not expose him too much due to his low defences and how complicated it can be to keep him stood up as, as soon as he leaves the top area of his Endurance bar (4 wounds) he becomes an easy target. His Quad-Laser (2) makes his ranged skills impressive thanks to the combination of the Penetrative trait of the weapon and with Total Vision, which will let him to attack hidden enemies piercing all the scenery in its path, or better, attack enemies while hiding himself behind the scenery.

Regarding the use of POW Peter is a character that has something to offer on the four basic aspects (mobility, attack, defend, support/control):

• If he hasn't used his Energy Field (2), the ideal option would be to save at least 2 POW for reacting to enemies attacks, which will leave him with 5 POW to attack twice with his Quad-Laser (2) (sacrificing at least one Overload), perfect if he is hidden; or attacking once and using the rest of his POW to move, improve his defences, to use Trick (1)...
• Once he has used it, he can use his 7 POW to attack once with each attack in exchange for 5 POW, 7 if Overloading, although if the Ensnare of his Element Gun (3) doesn't impact, his Quad-Laser (2) could be used a second time instead of it, which will leave him with 1 remaining POW.

As is normal, he gives his full potential while he is in good condition, increasing his Agility to 10, although at the moment he leaves this comfort zone his value goes back to 8. In the critical area his power is decreased to 6 and his wings are clipped (he loses Fly).

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