After an extreme amount of persuasion aimed at my usual gaming group, the arrival of the new expansion book, 'The Flash & The Arrow', seems to have actually caused resistance to weaken. As a fan of the TV show, Wes was keen to see how the Flash would work in the game and agreed to play me.
Hooray!
To keep things themed, I created two crews based around the 'Arrowverse'. Wes would be using Team Arrow:
Green Arrow (Comics) - Boss
The Flash - Sidekick
Black Canary (Comics) - Free Agent
GCPD Policeman, a.k.a. Fat Cop - Henchman
GCPD Policewoman, a.k.a. Lady Cop - Henchman
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| Green Arrow could make the group photo. No doubt held up by some convoluted personal drama. |
In keeping with the theme, I would be playing the Season 3 bad guys, the League of Shadows:
Ra's Al Ghul (Batman Begins) - Leader
Talias Al Ghul (Tournament Card) - Sidekick
Scarecrow (Arkham City) - Free Agent
Ying - Henchman
Yang - Henchman
Lotus - Henchman
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| Blurry photo = Talia and Scarecrow might pass for Nyssa and Brother Blood |
We decided to not use either equipment or strategies as they would just give Wes more to try to remember whilst learning the game. In reality, this was probably more of a disadvantage to me as I could have made use of a grapple gun or Ra's Al Ghul's Grand Strategist trait to counter Green Arrow's mobility. However, given that I've played dozens of games and Wes has played one, about two years ago, it sort of evened out.
As a further nod to the theme, we decided to play using the Star City rules and one of the new scenarios, Failed Exchange. The major change that Star City makes is that Green Arrow gains +1 ammo but is worth more VP if defeated. There were also air ducts in addition to sewers.
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| The field of battle. |
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| The League's deployment...I don't know what I was thinking. |
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| Team Arrow's deployment. Black Canary is hidden behind the warehouse. |
The game was set - Wes had speed and range, I had close combat threat. If I could draw him into a fight, I'd cut his heroes to pieces. If not, I'd be picked off one by one.
TURN 1
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| Scarecrow seizes the initiative and solves a riddle. Flash runs in but fails to hurt the villainous Professor Crane. |
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| Talia's shot misses the Flash. |
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| Henchmen run up in support, whilst Lotus climbs into an air duct. |
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| Green Arrow fails to hit the crouching Scarecrow. |
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| Ra's Al Ghul and Yang don't get to the Riddle and are screamed at. |
Scarecrow solves a Riddle 1VP
Bat-Signal is off 1VP
Team Arrow 0 - 2 League of Shadows
TURN 2
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| Flash uses the speed force to reach the Bat-Signal. |
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| Flash turns on the Bat-Signal then jumps down to the Titan Container. |
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| Faced with the Demon's Head, Black Canary screams and runs, stunning Yang. |
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| Talia is forced to abandon the Titan to turn off the Bat-Signal. Meanwhile, Ra's Al Ghul solves the Riddle in style. |
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| Scarecrow and Ying advance, but Scarecrow is stunned by a 'special' arrow. |
Ra's Al Ghul solves a Riddle 3VP
Fat Cop holds Loot 1VP
Flash holds Titan 2VP
Bat-Signal is off
Team Arrow 3 - 6 League of Shadows
TURN 3
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| It must be Season 1. Green Arrow kills Scarecrow! |
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| Ying inflicts vengeance on Fat Cop. Talia and Flash play cat and mouse around the Bat-Signal. |
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| Yang gets screamed at again, and fails to hurt Canary in return. |
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| The cops back off with the Loot, but find themselves surrounded. Lotus' shuriken bring down the injured Fat Cop. |
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| Talia fails to push Flash off the van. He turns on the signal and drops down towards the Titan. |
Green Arrow kills Scarecrow 4VP
First Casualty of the Game 2VP
Lotus KO's Fat Cop 1VP
Lady Cop holds Loot 1VP
Bat-Signal is on 4VP
Team Arrow 14 - 7 League of Shadows
TURN 4
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| Flash uses the speed force to get up to the Bat-Signal again. Ra's Al Ghul persuade him to act before Talia, who turns off the Signal. |
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| Ineffectual fighting takes place around the board. Ying's attempt to hold the ammo is foiled by Green Arrow swinging in. |
Lady Cop holds Loot 1VP
Bat-Signal is off 1VP
Team Arrow 15 - 8 League of Shadows
TURN 5
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| Ying gets a strike in on Green Arrow before he leaves. |
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| Lethal force is authorised! Green Arrow complies and kills Ying. |
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| Ra's Al Ghul whiffs his attacks on Flash. But still persuades him to act before Talia again. |
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| Annoyed, Flash pushes Ra's Al Ghul off the van. Strobing continues as he turns the Signal on, only for Talia to turn it off. |
Green Arrow kills Ying 2VP
Black Canary KO's Yang 1VP
Lady Cop holds Loot 1VP
Bat-Signal is off 1VP
Lotus holds Ammo 3VP
Team Arrow controls 2 Objectives 4VP
Team Arrow 23 - 12 League of Shadows
TURN 6
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| Shuriken and arrows fly to no avail. Lotus holds the Ammo, Lady Cop holds the Loot. |
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| KO'd a turn earlier, Yang gets up. Canary screams him to death. |
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| Ra's and Talia manage to keep the Signal turned off. However, Flash manages to grab the Titan at the end. |
Black Canary kills Yang 1VP
Lady Cop holds Loot 1VP
Bat-Signal is off 1VP
Lotus holds Ammo 3VP
Team Arrow 25 - 16 League of Shadows
Summary
As I feared, not being able to get to Green Arrow, cost me heavily, and the Emerald Archer was in fine form, taking down both Scarecrow and Ying. As I've discussed before, my League of Shadows really needs a ranged threat, even if that is just giving a ninja a grapple gun.
The Flash is a royal pain in the backside. The ability to move at the start of each turn means you can never pin him down. He's not a massive physical threat, but combined with the Bat-Signal (or even just two objectives), he is a constant threat for points, it took Talia and Ra's Al Ghul to contain him, which left me a bit short-handed elsewhere.
Black Canary makes a total mess of ninjas. Their low Willpower leaves them extremely vulnerable to he scream. Although she only took out Yang, in future games I thoroughly expect Wes to use her more aggressively.
I wasted Ra's Al Ghul. He really achieved not a lot for most of the game. I perhaps should have used him more aggressively and sent him towards my objectives, rather than just reacting to the Flash. I also should have grouped the ninjas so that they could support each other more effectively.
Scarecrow was never in the game, and given the way Green Arrow was shooting, nothing would have saved him from a pointy death short of running and hiding. Perhaps he could have been a useful partner for Talia defending the Bat-Signal.
Basically, Wes made good use of his powerful heroes to isolate and clobber my weaker elements, and I was not aggressive enough in threatening my objectives to make him have to react to me.
However, this wasn't a winner takes all grudge-match. The aim was to have a good game. And we did. Result!
Looks like a great game. I'd suggest swapping out Scarecrow for more henchmen. He doesn't really help league that much. Ra's is a close combat beast, so use him as such. If you have a few more ninja with you to hold objectives you can send him out to slice up opposing characters. If you have the numbers take a cheap ninja with a loyalty tattoo to act as his bodyguard to keep him alive longer.
ReplyDeleteThanks for posting, nice to see people playing with the speed force stuff. Our models just arrived this week. Us folks in North America are always a few months behind with the releases. :(
Thanks. I was deliberately building a force that was roughly equal in numbers to what I gave Wes, and I'm aware that it wasn't that strong...I'm not sure AK Scarecrow adds much to anyone. :)
DeleteI need to buy the other henchmen pack for the League as I need the bow - I'm not going down the Mercs route yet.
I played Ra's like a numpty, there's no getting round that. :)
Flash is good fun to use, and the scenarios also add some nice bits of flavour that liven up the games. Enjoy.
Great overview Kieron. Flash certainly seem to present some interesting scoring options. :)
ReplyDeleteHis ability to threaten multiple objectives is definitely worth exploring.
DeleteI do love seeing how you work things out and a good time was had by all so a result in my books.
ReplyDeleteI find alternating action games difficult to write clear reports for, so tallying up the points helps keep things straight.
DeleteGlad it works.
What a great game!
ReplyDeleteThanks. It was fun.
DeleteI'm not really a fan of battle reports, but I thought I'd give yours a read after seeing the post on Facebook. I have to say I was impressed I really like the style you write in and found it most enjoyable. I will be keeping an eye out for future reports. Cheers Ray
ReplyDeleteThanks. Glad you liked it.
DeleteI'm trying to reduced the word count so it doesn't get bogged down in detail, but still keep things clear.
Well I think you did a great job and all the snap shots with the comments under them make it easy to see what is happening and digest the info easily.
Delete