Showdown Saturday - Preparing for a Tournament, Bane style.

Our very own Tevesh is running a local Batman tournament in about a week from now, and I'm still struggling to figure out how I'm going to compose a band.  The tournament is going to be played at 200 reputation (and $1000), and we're going to be rolling with Patrol, Plunder, and Skirmish.  In other words, I need to build a reasonably strong all-comers list with Bane, a band that is traditionally, well, quite high-costed.  I'm hoping this article gives you some insight into my list creation process.

I'm starting off with Origins Bane, so that's immediately 93 reputation gone.  That leaves me with 107 to play with.  At this point, basically any Free Agent is going to leave me with very little for other henchmen, so I'm going to avoid taking them for this tournament...as much as I'd love to take Deadshot or The Riddler to handle my bigger problems.  Still, I want to have some Button Men to be able to take on enemy threats, and some Squires to clean up the mess.  I also don't want to have too few models, because cheap models (and their ability to just park on distance objectives) have been an issue for me in the past and I want to be able to contest those objectives while kicking ass at the same time.

I have a deep-seated love for Smash, so he's immediately going into my list.  I've spoken more about him here, but the short story is that I want a guy capable of reliably putting out multiple blood/stun a turn (Handy and Tough help here).  His flexibility due to Veteran is just icing on the cake, and I can use that to help me react when the situation doesn't go my way.  This guy can either make a mess or clean it up, which is exactly what I'm looking for.

In a 200 reputation game, I don't want Smash and Bane to be my only "heavy hitters".  As much as I'm looking for a higher model count, I want to play to some of the strengths of my faction: we're elites, and we're not just looking to spam the field like some lesser band.  Having decided that I'm going to be taking a second costly henchman model, I have to dig around at what's available to me.

Mohawk - a reasonably durable guy with Combo and a Handy/Tough 1 Blood weapon.
Ted Hunter - short-ranged support in the form of a Shotgun (ammo-dependent) and a Sharp 1 Blood weapon.
McGregor - a Sharp 1 Blood, but with Weapon Master to assist in hitting.
Dallas - the deadly Assault Rifle, but basically ineffective once out of ammo.
TNT - another ranged threat, and more pricy than Dallas.  Same deal, though.
High Security - nasty damage and decent durability, Combo with 1 Blood Sharp weapons. But 48 rep.
Venom Soldier - brutal and awesome, but 57 points (free agent level).
Little Spark - durable and able to put out damage with Unpredictable, Sturdy, Catcher Gear, and a Handy 2 Stun weapon.  Bonus: Handyman for objectives.  40 points.

I'm immediately going to disqualify Venom Soldier for his price tag.  High Security and Little Spark are still ok, as far as I'm concerned - I'm just going to need to see what else could fit in the list and go from there.  In what might end up a very controversial move, I'm going to give Dallas and TNT the pass: they're too easy to counter (just run a sacrificial model into base-to-base, and I don't have the model count to deal with lots of little suicide rockets), and limited ammo availability might make guns a liability rather than a benefit.  This leaves me with High Security, Little Spark, Mohawk, Ted Hunter, and McGregor.

Since I'm a Bane player first and foremost, I'm going to poke at the Bane henchmen first.  Mohawk, McGregor, and Ted Hunter are all capable of doing Blood damage.  McGregor hits well, but he can't help my overcome my natural tendency to roll 1s (no Handy!), so he gets the boot.  Ditto for Ted Hunter, even though I like the idea of some low-level fire support by way of a Shotgun.  Mohawk wins this round, putting him into the pile with High Security and Little Spark.

At this point, I just ran some numbers and tried to maximize the number of models in my list using models I actually own.  Little Spark won out over Mohawk and High Security because of his sheer versatility (he's tough, good at dealing damage, and has Handyman as a bonus), leaving me with just enough points to squeeze in some extra Prisoners.

Since I just picked up the new Blackgate Prisoners 2 box (but still haven't really assembled them...I should get on that!), I want to pick models from there.  Luckily and conveniently, adding Prisoners 03 and 04 to my list puts me exactly at 200 influence.  Sweet!

Of course, I'm not just fitting them in because I can.  Both 03 and 04 have some solid stuff to contribute in addition to swelling my model count.  As I said in my Bane Band Part 2 post, Prisoner 03 is a cheap mini-version of the average Bane goon - which is perfect, because I'm looking for cheap without sacrificing too much effectiveness.  He'll be able to put the same levels of hurt out at a lower price point, though I need to remember that he's still a Blackgate, and so still very squishy.

Prisoner 04 is a much more interesting choice for me here, because he's a Bodyguard.  He'll keep Bane (relatively) safe as I advance, and he can deal out 2 Stun per hit besides.  And hey, if he needs to stay behind to protect an objective and/or kill an enemy model, I wouldn't feel as bad as if I had to leave Smash or Little Spark behind.

After finishing off my list (and worrying about the lack of a firearm - a lot!), it was time to poke around at equipment.  Without any kind of gun, I didn't need to worry about Night Vision and Ammo - leaving me with a single Titan Dose ($100), 2 Batclaws ($300), and an Antidote ($100) - and I'm not even taking the Antidote out of spite, because I think it's an awful piece of gear insofar as the current releases stand.  So sad.

Possible Issues
My opponent is, without a doubt, going to place Ammo in my deployment zone.  I have no way to capitalize on it, making it a risk-free investment on my opponent's part.  I'm very mobile with two Batclaws, though, so I can relocate to defend it if I have to.  More probably, though, I'll steamroll towards my objectives and kill everything on the way so my opponent can't loop around me.

Batman or Ra's Al-Ghul.  These will be problems because I hate them, but more specifically because of their maneuverability and/or their incredible defense.  They're also reasonably common in our meta, so I have more reason to worry.

Tie-breakers may be an issue, too.  Since my list is exactly 200 rep and $900 (almost all cash used), I will definitely suffer in terms of breaking ties once the tournament has come to an end.  This just means that I need to try harder to push those 5-point tie margins (in a regular game) into minor victories.

With some luck, I'll be able to take first place against the ravenous and disordered hordes of Gotham.  I will keep you posted!