Feature Friday - Mr. Freeze

It's Feature Friday, and today we bring you a run-down of that rather sympathetic villain Mr. Freeze.

Argh give me Nora argh!

Victor Fries works for any faction as a Free Agent, so it stands to reason that he isn't going to be a specialist looking to fill gaps in band construction.  Instead, he comes in a durable package that thrives when supported by other objective-claimers.  Let's look at his stats, and then we'll discuss possible roles for the sub-zero scientist.

As good a size as I could get it...

Mr. Freeze's stats aren't magnificent.  He has a passable Free-Agent level Willpower 6, a decent Strength 4 (but no melee weapon to take advantage of it), and a sub-par Movement 2.  His Defence 3 is barely average for someone of his points cost, and even his Endurance 6 - arguably his biggest strength - is only "ok".  His only real stand-out stat is Special (4 due to Scientific).

Clearly you're not going to be taking Mr. Freeze for his statline, especially not for 75 rep and $500 (!).  What you're actually bringing him for is ranged weaponry, incredible durability, and a small dose of control.

I repeat: incredible durability.

Freeze's ranged weaponry includes both a medium-ranged gun and a grenade.  The Freezing Gun (2 Blood) has a  passable Rate of Fire 2, but it's also Mechanic, meaning it bypasses those pesky bulletproof vests.  It also has a nice Ammo score of 3, which means you can engage in a more protracted firefight with lesser gunmen.  The Freezing Grenade is a weaker version of the gun (1 Blood, RoF 1, Ammo 2, Short Range), but it benefits from the Explosive rule (a template!).  Both weapons have Crt: Freeze, which is nice if you can get it...but that's just icing on the cake.  I personally don't believe in shooting for crits.

Mr. Freeze's durability is a lot more interesting.  Sure, he only comes with an Endurance 6, but when you tack on his other traits, he becomes a downright tank capable of weathering all but the most concentrated of attacks.  Desensitized means that Freeze isn't taking any action counter penalties, which works well with the fact that he wants at least 2 going into Special for Power Armour (which repairs with those 2 Special, and allows him to ignore the first 3 damage markers he takes, period).  The combination of Desensitized and Power Armour let Freeze take a serious beating and stay standing, which is ideal if you want a defence-oriented model.  He is vulnerable to Fire, though, so you need to be careful if any fire-users are around.

Last but not least, Scheming /2 and Primary Target (Loot) help you dictate the terms of engagement.  Scheming lets you hold back allocation for two models, allowing you a bit more flexibility in how you'll deal with your opponent.  Primary Target (Loot) means that you'll be getting more out of the Loot on the table (+1 vp a turn, to be exact!), and you can use this to control where your opponent may/may not go, depending on where you decide to move Freeze himself.

Now that we've looked at the basics, I'm going to sum up what I believe to be Mr. Freeze's strengths and weaknesses on the tabletop.  Different players may play in different ways, but these seem like the best (and worst) uses for the mad/sad scientist.

Strengths

Durability - he's not tough exactly, but keeping 2sc on him allows him to soak some crazy damage.  Insensitive allows him to play at full strength long enough to repair, and to fire off those weapons of his.

Ranged Firepower - his ranged weapons aren't amazing, but they typically stock more ammo than most standard shooters (allowing Freeze to get into protracted firefights) and bypass bulletproof vests because of the Mechanic trait.  The grenades may be a weaker version of the Freezing Gun, but they're explosive, which allows the destruction of bothersome scenery pieces while hurting the enemy, or putting damage on multiple enemies that are already within the threshold of losing action counters i.e. one damage away.  Crt: Freeze is awesome (insta-paralyze!), but as I said before, I don't bank on crits to win me games.

Strategy - Freeze's Primary Target (Loot) forces you to develop a plan early, but Scheming /2 allows you to be more flexible in its execution.  Freeze's attraction to loot, plus his durability, make him good for snagging loot and then finding another objective to sit on, though he'll need some backup for melee fighting.  It's always good to have someone backing him up.

Weaknesses

Speed - or the lack thereof.  Freeze is so slow (2 Movement), and he doesn't really want to be wasting action counters on running if he can help it (holding loot + running already equals 3 counters, which means he'd be doing nothing else but restoring his Power Armour if damaged...not even fighting).

Melee - or the lack thereof.  For a guy who wants to get up there and hold an objective, he's neither fast (as above) nor beefy in melee: he just does 1 Stun at Strength 4+, and that's it.  Ultimately, he seems to want to grab some Loot and back the eff up, using his durability as a defensive fall-back rather than relying on it to save him.

Cost - compared to many Free Agents, Mr. Freeze is costly at 75 rep and $500.  With Freeze, you definitely need a plan; you can't just use him to whiff around the board seeking opportunities.  Given his cost and desire to be near loot, I often wonder if Catwoman isn't a better choice - for those bands that can take her.