Gotham invitational game 3 - Riddler v Batman/GCPD

Game 3 was to be between the GCPD who were entering Riddler's home turf and cracking a few heads. Both crews had a draw in the bag already though GCPD crew's draw against Joker would put them ahead in League terms as it was a higher scoring draw. Crews remained identical for both sides with GCPD lead by Chief Mackenzie. Batman Pattinson and Catwoman Kravitz were also on hand to bulk out the cops Gordon, Horse guy, Martinez, Stop Lady and Officer Truncheon. A lesson learned from the first game was that Catwoman should not have had Handcuffs and does not this time. She retains the Grapple gun and Horse guy has a radio. I believe Truncheon and Stop Cop both have Patrol Training allowing them a bit of pre game movement whilst Martinez has a radio.

The starting hand was pretty good as well and it does seem that reliably consistent scoring is a strength of the GCPD crew

Riddler at home gained a +1 to all initiative rolls but this was never an actual advantage as I think all were won comfortably without using home advantage. I could not make sense of how the Easy Riddle objective card worked so replaced them with alternative Riddler cards. Additionally should Riddler die Quelle will not be the new leader as happened last game which was both incorrect and actively disadvantageous to the crew as she has her own inspire shenanigans.

Starting cards for Riddler were less consistent than for GCPD but would allow the placement of at least 2 and possibly 3 Riddle markers as 'Riddle of the night' as a resource each allows the placement of a marker and having played 2 resources any mini with 'drop a riddle' could pop down another. Bagamn, Batguy and Finn MacBikey all have this skill.

Deployment Turn 1

GCPD were looking to score all but 'get them off the streets' in turn one and possibly even that should they get the chance. Stop Lady and Catwoman could do 'Perimeter', Martinez as a detective could do 'Detective' and 'Snitch' might go down late to also score.

Riddler planned to get the Riddle markers out early and enough suspects to score 'Activate the riddle' and have some left over should any ? cards come out needing suspects.

Turn 1 No phase I or II cards to play

Sickles got the game started and although set up touching a sewer to give the option of Sewer movement he just ran out and dropped an early suspect and by spending a resource used 'riddle of the night' to drop a Riddle marker.

Stop Lady went for the perimeter and obviously dropped a suspect to prep for 'Secure the perimeter.'

Finn MacBikey then put a ? card up into play ' Riddles everywhere', then moved up into the ruined Park folly and did the same as Sickles dropping a Riddle marker which combined with Sickle's marker gave good coverage. The

resource played here to count as a second resource for Finn's 'Drop a riddle' allowed him to move Stop Cop's suspect away from the edge and temporarily foil 'Perimeter'

Truncheon activated with Inspo from Chief and dropped a suspect for no obvious reason except to use up a Riddle marker that had been expensive in the opportunity cost to put down as it had used a probable phase IV scoring card for Riddler. Unfortunately for GCPD it did score the ? card 'Riddles everywhere'which requires 2 Riddle Markers in play.

Quelle the annoying was next to go for Riddler and in true annoying fashion she moved used inspo from Quelle to drop a suspect and then diarrayed the Audacity from Batman to Martinez. That is so annoying and almost impossible to stop without launching the best characters into action straight away. She also played a ? card 'Psycho riddle' into play which would be an autoscore.

In response Catwoman moved to the edge of the board and in keeping with the original 'perimeter' plan dropped a suspect using inspo from Chief. This again triggered a ? card as was within range of Finn's Riddle marker and allowed 'Psycho riddle' to score off the existence of a riddle marker!

This left the Riddler Bereft of on table Riddle markers and due to a misreading of 'Drop a Riddle' Riddler would be stymied the whole game. I read the Drop a Riddle text as meaning that it was a once per turn thing having played two cards as resources. Howver a post game rereading reveals that once two resources are played anybody with the Drop a riddle'special action can drop a riddle! Mini's such as Bagman who usually do not get audacity can use their single action to drop a riddle anywhere within 4", even within their own deployment area possibly. In any event going forward this will make playing Riddler significantly easier.

...and talking of Riddler he moved a little to maximise his inspiration range now Quelle was forward and at the same time dropped two suspects, almost immediately removing 2 suspects for 'activate the riddle' and then using the final resource of the turn to move an enemy suspect 4" once again putting paid to 'Perimeter'. Another classically annoying Riddler turn.

Horse guy now rode out hoping to do his ride by arrest moveagainst the exposed Sickles. This is possible but means forgoing the special attack bonus as you cant get the bonus and do the arrest as they are both special actions. However with both efforting and Sickles being as hard as a wet paper bag the job was done and a nice 'Get them off the streets' was scored and a 'plant evidence' drawn.

Bagman moved and dropped a suspect when had I understood the drop a riddle I would have just popped another riddle marker out. Rassen Frassen Frissen Frassen!

Attempting to overcome Quelle's emasculation of Batman Gordon then 'supported' Batman into position next to Finn so at least he would be able to KO Finn in his activation. He then moved and dropped a suspect by Quelle scoring 'Plant evidence'

Seeking vengeance for his mate Sickles, Knuckles ran through the sewers and popped out next to Martinez on whom he inflicted a hefty 3 blood and then using his inspo from Riddler dropped a suspect

Sadly this moment of triumph was punctured - as was Knuckles - by Chief mac who shot him straight to dead. He then moved to a more useful turn 2 inspire position and finally used a special action to move a suspect back into 'Perimeter' contention.

Seeing the threat to Finn MacBikey Echo grappled into position to hit Batman and after both efforted once left Batman with enough stun (5) to make an attack on Finn less effective, especially as Finn doesnt really care about stun damage. Echo herself also has some defensive moves.

Realising his predicament Batman chose to get out of Dodge and grappled out of Echo's normal 11" range way into Riddler's empty deployment area and dropped the Snitch. Dropped this close enough to the edge to help 'Perimeter'. Between Echo and Quelle Batman was having a really hard time.

Batman skulking

Query had no audacity and was out of inspo range so just ambled forward to try and get a target.

Martinez who now found himself audacious ( and wounded ) went through the same sewer recently used by Knuckles and came out close to Batguy so he shot him, moved and dropped a suspect in Riddler's deployment Zone scoring 'Detective work'

Without Audacity but within Inspiration range Bat guy wandered forward and popped down a suspect to help score a phase IV 'riddle me softly'. Again had I understood the drop a riddle this might have been more use. To be honest by this point I was kicking myself as i realised I had also forgotten to 'Level up' at the start of the game wherein Riddler pops down two suspects for free. I really was playing with my hands tied and tied hard by myself. He also put 'riddles of nowhere' into play hoping that GCPD crew would not reveal at their first activation next turn.

Having said that a good set of turn one cards had allowed Riddler to score 10 points as both 'Riddle soft' and 'Riddle hero' scored in phase IV as did Snitch and 'Perimeter' for GCPD leaving the score at 10 each at the end of the turn.

End of Turn 1 situation

Riddler 10 : 10 GCPD

Turn 2 Riddles on the storm in play as a phase 1 card and Riddles of nowhere still in play

Photo shows those with Audacity

Riddler won initiative and Quelle went first and disarrayed audacity from Catwoman to Stop cop and then after dropping a suspect 'activated the riddle' for a quick 2 pointer.

Quelle causing chaos

Without audacity - which may have been an error given the possiblity of 'et them off the streets' cards turning up - horse decided to get out of the light in the face of Query's gun but not before revealing the suspect he was stood on. Fortunately it did not trigger a ? card and also caused 'Riddles of nowhere' to fail.

Bagman played the resource to move a suspect and get 1 resource in the bag for 'drop a riddle' but as a mini who could drop a riddle this was very inefficent. He did move an edge suspect however in case GCPD had another 'Perimeter'

Stop Cop with an unexpected Audacity but no actual weapons attempted to downgrade Echo using 'stop!'

but failed so then moved a bit and dropped a suspect putting 'wait for backup' into play.

Query used a second resource - which was efficent and moved up again into shooting range. She was poorly deployed initially and wont be left so isolated in future.

Truncheon revealed the suspect with a '5' on near the tower in the hope of disrupting 'Riddles on the storm' and did not set off a scoring ? card.

Finn now did the drop a riddle again thanks to Query. he then moved, dropped a suspect and knocked Stop cop into next week. This negated 'wait for backup'.

Martinez who again is having a great game, shot Riddler for a couple of blood/stun then moved further into Riddler's deployment zone and using his radio based inspo dropped another suspect for another 'detective work'

Riddler moved a bit and with another activate the riddle' in hand popped down his two suspects and scored the card. For a laugh he then Goaded truncheon for no reason.

Catwoman deprived of audacity had to content herself with a simple move and 'Snitch' using Chief's inspire. It was impossible that it could be negated as she had gone beyond Echo's range.

Echo in fact had other plans and charged Gordon. Both Efforted but Echo KO'd Gordon and revealed a suspect in an effort to get ahead in the suspect game and drive the GCPD to less than 5. Taking out Gordon before he activated also dented the GCPD's plans.

Chief decided Quelle's disarray shenanigans were too annoying so shot her but only got three though so she was still hanging on. He then moved to a better inspiration point. This was actually an error as he did not have audacity.

Looking at 'Riddles on the storm' phase I card Bat guy trailed blood across to the central GCPD suspect and revealed it putting Riddler ahead on 'storm' again. Last time I will mention it but could instead have dropped a riddle but probably less vital here.

Lastly Batman with audacity moved into contact with Bagman and should have just KO'd him effortlessly but proceeded to roll binary numbers and in the end only did 2 stun. Bagman had not even bothered efforting and had lain down to be be more comfortably KO'd.

A notable feature of this turn was the lack of manipulations within range of Finn's riddle marker - which was annoying

At the end of the Turn 2 'Riddles on the storm', 'Snitch' and yep another 'perimeter' all scored and put GCPD ahead 19 to 16. Batman now moved from Vengeance to Hope on his card becoming inspirational and both Gordon and Stop cop woke up. All was looking rosy for GCPD

Turn 3 - Another 'Riddles on the storm and 'Psycho riddle' in play. Named minis have audacity.

Once again Riddler easily won initiative and Quelle lead off by placing a suspect with a '4' then moving and disarraying audacity from Batman to Truncheon which is the definition of a downgrade.

As a strong response Horse guy did another Ride by beating this time battering Batguy and arresting him to score another 'get them off the streets'. Horse guy has been very effective this game. It did however place him in the line of fire of Query who with her 3 template explosive LMG was not only able to cover Horse but also Chief and then rolled two 6s and a 5 inflicting 6 blood on both. Chief was mistakenly dead and Horse as good as with one life left. This was a mistake (again) as Chief should only have taken 2 not 6 but it sort of made up for the errors made earlier with 'level up' and 'drop a riddle'. As a side effect Gordon was now the GCPD boss.

Catwoman made for Riddler to score 'wont see me coming' but took lessons off Batman and fluffed the attack so badly no damage was scored. Miaow?

Completely oblivious to Catwomans pathetic attack the man himself then played 'Riddles of the night' as a resource to pop out a Riddle marker, created 2 more suspects and then attempted but failed to goad Batman. This was an attempt to park Batman far enough away from Gordon that the latter's 'support' could not move the audacityless Batman into contact with anybody.

Sure enough Gordon on one willpower ran around the ruins and shot Bagman which was a bit unnecessary I thought however he played 'non lethal ammo' and got just enough stun to KO Bagman. Gordon then moved Batman into contact with the annoying Quelle so hopefully it would be the end of her finally.

However in a show of feminine solidarity Echo leapt into action and efforted twice to Batmans once. As the dust settled even Batman's ballistic armour had not saved him, the earlier stuns added to Echo's attack damage left him KO! Echo has really punched above this game and also put a 'Riddles of nowhere' into play.

As mentioned earlier Truncheon finding himself with audacity ran over and arrested Bagman scoring yet another'get them off the streets' (above). This also scored 'riddles of nowhere' however as he did not remove a suspect and might not have been optimal play...

Finn fed up of Gordon's effectiveness while almost KO'd moved over and actually KO'd him. Just stay down dammit!

Finally Stop cop having woken from KO on a double one at the end of turn 2 found herself with nothing to do and considered where the best place to be for inspiration would be next turn assuming Gordon would not wake up again. She moved to within 4" of the unlikely next leader Truncheon!

End of Turn 3 the scores were Riddler 24 to GCPD 27, still in draw territory.' Riddles of the storm, of the night and box hero' all scored in the end phase for Riddler making this a useful turn. Amazingly Batman failed to wake up but Gordon did and retained his promotion to Boss.

Turn 4 began with everybody on Riddler's team except Query having audacity and all but Truncheon and Stop cop for the GCPD. A final 'Riddles on the storm' went into play for Riddler. Once again Riddler took initiative and having had such fun turn 3 Query opened up again on Horse and turned both rider and horse into dog food. Satisfying but no score and possibly a tactical error.

Horsemeat

Because Gordon again on his last legs moved and shot Quelle. Mistakenly he failed to remove the correct number of dice on his shot and pushed through two blood on two dice killing Quelle when it should have been only one dice.. To add insult to death he also scored 'wont see me coming'. This was karma for Chief's death earlier!

Quelle finally 'killed' but not really

Echo could have KO'd Gordon but with the final 'Riddles of the storm' in play moved and revealed a suspect. In response to which Catwoman moved and removed a Riddler suspect. This was within Riddle marker range and so scored 'Psycho riddle' but importantly evened up 'riddles on the storm' and scored a handy 'comb through everything' so was probably a net positive. However this allowed a Riddler inate ability to kick in and he moved a GCPD suspect closer to himself

Which in his turn he was able to reveal once again taking the lead on 'storm'. He also rather hopefully put a last 'Riddles of nowhere' in play

Riddler wanders over to look at useless Batman

However in a tit for tat Martinez revealed a suspect with a '1' scoring another 'comb' and denying 'Riddles of nowhere' and evening up the score on 'Storm'. This did however score another ? card, this time 'diversion tactic' as so many GCPD suspects had been revealed there were now less than five on table

Finn at this point could have KO'd either of the cops but chose just to reveal yet another GCPD suspect to get a final unbeatable lead on 'storm'.

At this point I mistakenly believed that neither stop cop or truncheon were able to do anything useful except that with Gordon's waking up he was still boss and both cops were within inspire range. Had I remembered then either could have revealed a suspect and cancelled out 'riddles on the storm'. Combined with the play of 'perimeter' by Stop cop this would have been decisive changing the score from a draw to a win for GCPD. However given the fact Quelle was mistakenly dead and could have activated to re- KO Gordon before this it is fair enough to let it go.

However this is VAR territory and we wont be doing that. In the end phase 'Riddles on the storm' and 'Riddle me softly' both scored.

Final score Riddler 32 : 35 GCPD

Final thoughts - I definitely feel I am making fewer mistakes with the rules but still some howlers such as misunderstanding drop a riddle but tactically am still annoyingly inept. Both the failure toremember 'Level up' at the beginning and Gordon was now the boss at the end cost both sides points, though in this case they probably balanced out

Playing Riddler still seems like playing on hard mode using just the Riddler deck as there are times when you can be sat with just ? cards in hand and no way to cycle as the cards in hand are all 'trap' cards which only play as part of the ? mechanic. GCPD seems much more straightforward in terms of cards and cycling. For most crews killing Quelle early on seems to be a good idea - except Joker who doesn't care about Disarray as he has trickster. Next game could be a hard time for Riddler!

Next game Riddler v Joker