Team Builder Series: Battle Royale Batman Villains

When I design a team I always aim for 2 goals, to make it a theme in some way (which is usually the easier part) and make it not only playable but also competitive in some regards. I try and stay away from going to generic with what is considered the popular easy win teams (like a Telekinesis person and someone with flying and Hyper Sonic Speed) which I think makes for more interesting team builds. This is one of those “interesting” teams. I’ve been trying for a while to come with a good Hush team and this was my first attempt from earlier this summer, it was for our ill fated HeroClix Battle Royale, and after Collateral Damage comes out I think I’ll try again since I didn’t want to use any of that sets figures because they’re not out yet. One thing to remember is that I had to build the team based off of what figures I knew I had access to and not necessarily the ones that might have been the best.

The Players:

Name	Rarity	Points	Amount
Hush	Unique	75	1
Victor Fries	Limited Edition	54	1
Joker	Rookie	72	1
Harley Quinn	Rookie	27	1
Jinx	Experienced	48	1
Checkmate Medic	Experienced	17	1
Armor Peircing	Feat	10	1
Total: 297

Breaking down the team:

Whenever I design a team I choose one figure as my core unit this time it’s Hush, a relatively new Batman Villain, who has some useful powers like Stealth and Willpower for his whole dial and then Leadership for 2 clicks, Perplex for 2 and Outwit for 3. However I’ve found him kind of expensive for what a unit like him is more, mainly support and leadership. He dose do two damage for his whole dial but his attack value of 10 drops quite fast and with no damage reduction powers and an average range of 6 you may find yourself having trouble keeping him out of the way of melee figures. On the other hand his full dial of Stealth and Willpower means you don’t have to worry about loosing those useful powers while always having some type of support power. I’ve added Armor Piercing since he has the best all around attack of this team plus the addition of Stealth and Willpower for his whole dial means he’ll be able to get the most use out of the feat.

The LE Victor Fries is in for ranged support; I use the LE over the regular versions because I found it was either 66 points for the Experienced Mr. Freeze or the Checkmate Medic. The LE version’s starting stats of Stealth, Incapacitate, Barrier and Ranged Combat Expert with an attack of 9, range of 8 and defense of 15 are the same as the Experienced version but looses the powers much quicker. With RCE he dose the most starting damage then anyone else on this team and after that one good click he can still Incapacitate or throw up a Barrier so he’s not a one click wonder.

Rookie Joker is in the team for extra damage and support, though I like the Experienced version of the Joker from Legacy better he does not have the Batman Enemy team ability and since everyone else on the team, except the medic, has this ability it seamed a waste to add in the Injustice League, which isn’t that good of a team ability anyway. This version from Legacy can be quite unwieldy if you don’t know what to expect from each click so I suggest you read Fell’s guide to using him, for those that don’t want to read the whole thing here’s my take on him he’s a harasser that can deal good damage if you’re on the right click and if you aren’t you can use him as support with either his Outwit, Leadership or Perplex.

Jinx is a fun piece and one of the better Probability Controllers out there since she’s got a wide assortment of useful powers to go with it like Psychic Blast, Pulse Wave, Energy Shield and Phasing with one click of Energy Explosion at the end of her dial. While she’s only got 5 clicks of life and only does a max of 2 damage with a 9 to attack she’s very mobile because of phasing and her Psychic Blast keeps people away from her and if someone does manage to hit her she can respond with a Pulse Wave. And while she’s not really a combat piece as long as she hits she’ll deal at least 1 damage for the first 4 clicks of her live which is nice, Jinx is a figure you opponent won’t expect you to deal damage with. Also he wildcard ability lets her take advantage of either Hush’s or the Joker’s better attack values for her Psychic Blast which is another thing people won’t be expecting.

I’m not a huge fan of the Rookie Harley Quinn since the Veteran and LE versions are so nice (and both can use Brilliant Tactician on their fist clicks!) but at 27 points she’s a very cheap perplexer for a team that needs the extra help. She’s only got one click of Perplex and doesn’t have much of a defense to go with it, a low 15, so it’s best to keep her behind the lines. Once she looses that click of Perplex she’s got two clicks of Smoke Cloud and one of Energy Explosion but that’s it only 4 total clicks of life.

Not all teams need medics to be playable this isn’t one of them, outside of the Joker and Mr. Freeze no one has any damage reducing powers and they’ll be dropping like flies without anyone with support. The Experienced Checkmate Medic is one I tend to use a lot since he’s got 3 clicks of Support at a 7 attack, so there shouldn’t be much of a problem with healing anyone in this team.

The Plan:

There are a lot of people on this team so don’t forget to roll Leadership while either Hush of The Joker has it. Since Hush and Fries has stealth make sure you take advantage of it, in the case of Hush it’s the only defense he’s got. The biggest problem with this team is range since most are 6 or less with only Fries at 8, while that’s not as much of a problem if you’re playing against DC only it’ll be a huge problem against any Marvel team. The key to winning is to not break your team up since none of the figures are really strong enough to be out by them selves in most cases and it’s their ability to share combat values while being able to Perplex damage and Outwit defenses that is this team’s strongest point.

It’s best to keep both Quinn and the medic behind the rest of the group and maybe the Joker depending on which click he’s on. While Hush and Fries are obviously the main attackers in the group the big question, and one that could have a large impact on the game, is how to use Jinx. Both her starting clicks of Phasing, Psychic Blast and Probability Control make her a tempting choice to be a main attacker but I think the best method would be to use her as a secondary attacker only when it’s safe that she won’t get attacked back and just use her Probability Control to frustrate your opponent.

Summation:

This team was made for a specific scenario game that was more about theme and pitting villains against heroes then actually being a tournament winning team and although it has potential I don’t think it would do the greatest against any of your standard Black Adam or Ultimate Thor teams out there.

Discuss it in our forums.

Written by Spriggan on December 28th, 2005