I Shall Become a BAT - Batman, the Caped Crusader!

Greetings HeroClix Fans!

Our series of previews for the DC HeroClix: Batman set continues today with a closer look at Batman and some of his winged friends!

Batman begins play with a trait, Flock of Bats, which plays into his analysis that criminals are a superstitious cowardly lot who are fearful of the image of a bat. To use Flock of Bats, give Batman a free action to attach an adjacent Flock of Bats to his base or remove an attached Flock of Bats and place it in an adjacent square. When a Flock of Bats is attached, Batman can use its special power but the flock does not return to your starting area after the special power is used. If Batman is KOd with a Flock of Bats attached, place any attached Flock of Bats in an adjacent square before removing him from the game.

We’ll go into more detail later about what each Flock of Bats can do but for now let’s not keep the Dark Knight waiting and take a look at his dial!

Batman clocks in at 88 points. He also has a 60-point starting line on his fourth click that is used when he is brought into play via #002 Bruce Wayne’s Alter Ego: Batman special power. Batman also has the Improved plus on his base and his character card shows that he has an Improved Movement combat ability titled I Will Be Where I’m Needed. This ability allows Batman to ignore elevated terrain, hindering terrain, and characters while moving.

Batman has a range of six and can target a single character with his ranged attacks. However, Gotham City’s protector starts his dial by taking the fight up close with three clicks of Charge in his movement slot. His attack values stay consistent throughout his dial, never dipping below a 10. Mid-dial, Batman gains two clicks of Quake to let his foes know that he will never be outnumbered! Defensively, Batman has the Indomitable combat ability and starts with four clicks of Combat Reflexes.

Batman’s damage slot starts with two clicks of Outwit to show that he’s smarter than Gotham’s criminal element. He then gains two clicks of Perplex to represent his preparedness in fighting crime. Finally, Batman ends his dial with two clicks of Close Combat Expert to show his superior fighting skills.

This version of Batman has the Batman Ally team ability and only one keyword (Batman Family) but is an excellent addition to any force.

What’s this? A black bat has just flown through the window! A creature of the night! It must be part of the Flock of Bats (Black) that can attach to Batman! Flock of Bats (Black) costs 13 points and has a trait, Small, But Annoying, which prevents it from using the Carry ability. The Flock of Bats (Black) has Plasticity in its movement slot and a special power in its damage slot, Shadow of the Bats. When Flock of Bats (Black) is given a power action to use Shadow of the Bats, until the beginning of your next turn, squares that are adjacent to this Flock of Bats are hindering terrain for line of fire purposes. When this special power is used, at the beginning of your next turn place this Flock of Bats in your starting area.

Whew! That was interesting! We’ll take a look at another Flock of Bats later but now let’s turn our attention to The Caped Crusader!

The Caped Crusader is a Prime character, as noted by the green ring around his base and the green background on his character card. Prime characters take the Unique game mechanic to another level in that you may only field ONE Prime character per force regardless of the build total.

Weighing in at 139 points, The Caped Crusader has an Improved Movement ability, My Surroundings Can Be Advantageous, which allows him to ignore elevated terrain, hindering terrain, and characters while moving. The Caped Crusader also has a pair of traits. The first trait, Allies in Darkness, allows The Caped Crusader to begin the game with a Flock of Bats attached to his base at no additional cost. While at least one Flock of Bats is attached to The Caped Crusader, he can use Super Senses. You may give an attached Flock of Bats a move action to detach from The Caped Crusader and move on the map. When The Caped Crusader has less than three Flocks of Bats attached, the Flock of Bats may end its move in the same square as The Caped Crusader; if it does, the Flock of Bats attaches to The Caped Crusader.

The second trait, I Shall Become A Bat, allows The Caped Crusader to take a free action and switch places with any unattached Flock of Bats on the map, even if the Flock of Bats didn’t start the game attached to The Caped Crusader.

The Caped Crusader starts his dial with Charge and an attack value of 12. He has a range of five and can target two characters with his ranged attacks. Defensively, The Caped Crusader has the Indomitable combat ability and a full run of Toughness on his dial to represent his Kevlar, Titanium weave body armor. In his damage slot, The Caped Crusader starts with two clicks of Exploit Weakness.

On The Caped Crusader’s second click, he loses Charge but gains a special power in his attack slot, The Bats Obey Me. To use this special power, give The Caped Crusader a power action then give up to three unattached Flock of Bats move actions as free actions. The Bats Obey Me appears on The Caped Crusader’s second, fourth, and sixth clicks.

Mid-dial, The Caped Crusader gains Running Shot and drops Exploit Weakness in favor of Probability Control. On his next click, Probability Control is replaced by Close Combat Expert to show that The Caped Crusader has other ways to hurt you aside from utilizing pressure points.

As we reach the back end of The Caped Crusader’s dial, we see that he retains Close Combat Expert and regains Charge. On his last click, Probability Control returns and Charge makes way for Flurry as The Caped Crusader uses everything he has to vanquish his foes!

The Caped Crusader naturally has the Batman Ally team ability and an array of useful keywords to make his inclusion on any force that much easier.

But what have we here? A brown bat and a grey bat flying together! It’s an omen! These must be members of the Flock of Bats (Brown) and Flock of Bats (Grey)! Both Flock of Bats (Brown) and Flock of Bats (Grey) have the Small, But Annoying trait, which prevents them from using the Carry ability. Flock of Bats (Brown) comes in at 15 points while Flock of Bats (Grey) costs 18 points. (click on images below to enlarge)

Flock of Bats (Brown) has Super Senses in its defense slot and a special power, I Shall Become…, which comes into play when the Flock of Bats is given a power action. Until the beginning of your next turn, characters adjacent to this Flock of Bats who can use Stealth modify their attack value by +1. Flock of Bats (Grey) has Poison in its attack slot and its special power, Cowardly and Superstitious, activates when the Flock of Bats is given a power action. Until the beginning of your next turn, before any opposing character adjacent to the Flock of Bats may be given a power action, roll a d6. On a result of 1-3 place an action token on that character. If the character may still be given a non-free action, it must continue to be given it.

Like Flock of Bats (Black), when Flock of Bats (Brown) and Flock of Bats (Grey) use their special power, they’re placed in your starting area at the beginning of your next turn.

That’s all we have for today! Please join us next time as we reveal more secrets from upcoming HeroClix released. Until then, keep your Clix guano-free and off their K.O.’s!

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