Black Mask's Enforcer - Feature Friday

Black Mask is known for coming out of nowhere to slice up a sizable portion of Gotham's underworld.  Like any good crime boss, you've got some men to handle problems and Black Mask is no exception.  While he has been known to throw cash around to hire professionals like Deadshot and Deathstroke, it is his own Henchmen that really benefit from Black Mask's No Mercy.  Just like the strengths of the greatest Henchmen around, Black Mask has a mid-tier Brute that can trade with the best of them.

The strength of these middling point Henchmen is that they've got enough equipment to be able to help damage the upper-tier opponents, like Batman, Deathstroke and Bane.  Yet, because they're not pure murder-in-a-man, you don't feel stupid for having the model run out of the entire fight to sit on Objectives to score points.  For example, Little Spark and Nightwing both have Handy Mechanic double stun weapons with a possible Electrical Storm. Having Nightwing sit on Ammo for 3 VP a turn might feel like a waste at his 85 point cost while Little Spark at 40 still feels like he's contributing.

So, this isn't Branden or Little Spark that people should fear in Black Mask.  Who is this fearsome beast? Why, it is Anatoly. How scary is this guy? Well, when I started Black Mask and took a second look at the model, I realized Anatoly is wearing hockey gear.  Yet, he insists to call it Football Gear and not even Black Mask corrects him.  This is from the city where Hockey Pants is a reason for Batman to lock you up. Perhaps Anatoly realized why he needed to call it Football Gear and wear some sensible jeans.

The first part that indicates Anatoly as a bruiser is his controversial Knife.  Many players dislike the Knife because it doesn't cause immediate Will Power loss by doing two damage.  I like the Knife because the idea of these mid-ranked Henchmen is they help take out troublesome foes or just bury other Henchmen.  Blood damage isn't something you can take on the chin.  Furthermore, with the changes to knock down where any matched dice that aren't 1s are successful, even if they don't Wound, Anatoly is perfect for the setup.  Sharp and Brutal makes fishing for knock downs so easy, which perfectly sets up for a more capable murderer to lay into the poor victim.

Ripped from the Bat-Builder

Football Gear makes Anatoly beat out most Henchmen and Acrobats.   Katanas, Axes, Bats and anything Sharp are some of the deadliest weapons because of how much they enhance their user's ability to do damage.  They're used to an increased damage potential, wielding Heavy and Sharp weaponry, which Anatoly's Football Gear negates.  This means Anatoly is quite fine with getting into trading blows with Ninjas, Hatchet Men and any Baseball fans.  His seven Endurance adds to this, meaning he'll wake from from many Knock Outs, but more importantly makes him four Reinforced Gloves strikes away from Unconscious than three. This is why I frequently buy Bribery Equipment on Anatoly - he's going to be around to give me timely passes. This is the benefit of both worlds: Mob to "Let's Go!" and Bribery for passes.

Tireless makes Anatoly far more mobile than he initially appears.  While many Henchmen have Movement 2, they very rarely get to use it due to a Move being used up in a Run action.  With Tireless, Anatoly is moving 20cm and 2d6 - possibly rocketing out further with Black Mask using Inspire.  This helps Anatoly be the first in, get a possible knock down stab to setup.  Tireless also really helps chasing down fleeing foes and they've got to run from Anatoly's knife.

Being the vanguard of assaults also means that he's the last out of engagements gone awry. Anatoly being tougher than the average Henchmen (and some Free Agents too!) helps, but it is Veteran that truly lets Anatoly adapt to any situation. Normally, you need to predict your opponent's turn but Veteran lets you move two dice according to the situation. It's quite possible to take a few licks, switch to offence and stab your way out.  With Tireless, Anatoly can easily run to/from engagements with an extra die where it is required.

This flexibility, solid stats, tenacity and deadly weaponry is why Anatoly is Black Mask's Enforcer.