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| THE RIDDLER'S CREW DEFENDS THEIR CLAIM ON GOTHAM VILLAGE |
“The story so far… The Joker, the Riddler and Two-Face have decided to try and establish their dominance over Gotham City once and for all, by 'taking over' large areas of Batman's place of residence in an effort to be declared the metropolis' undisputed crime king. Determined to bring this violence to an end however, is Commissioner Jim Gordon, whose G.C.P.D. have begun retaking the streets in the name of justice..."
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| GOTHAM CITY - THE JOKER MAKES HIS MOVE TO CONQUER UPTOWN |
"Having decided to launch a bold attack upon the Hokus & Pokus Occult Curioso in Gotham Village, and snatch the territory away from Edward Nigma, the clown prince of crime has come face-to-face with the puzzle-obsessed Riddler and seemingly gunned him down. Despite losing their leader however, Edward Nygma's crew continue to try and hold off the Joker's muscle-bound thugs..."
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| THE TABLETOP - GOTHAM VILLAGE |
Galvanised by the apparent demise of his boss, the Riddler's gunman plugged the closest Joker thug with a bullet, and then leaped behind a crate checking his fire-arm. The weapon was unfortunately empty, so he'd need to re-load it with his only extra ammunition clip before he could do much else. The crowbar-armed goon surrounded by Joker thugs approached the nearest one and swung his weapon. The blow momentarily brought one of his opponents to the ground, and encouraged Nygma's third crew-member to dust himself off and also leap into the fray developing on the western edge of the Hokus & Pokus Occult Curioso.
Dismayed at the evident 'fight' still left in their opponents despite the 'death' of the Prince of Puzzles, the Joker's men simply re-positioned themselves on the edge of their target's roof-top...
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| THE JOKER'S THUGS DOMINATE THE ROOF-TOP AS THE RIDDLER'S GOONS REGROUP |
Clutching his crowbar, one of the Riddler's goons aimed a hefty swing at the thug he'd recently felled, and put the unarmed criminal out of his misery with a killing blow. The goon's similarly armed colleague forced another of the Joker's minions back towards the sheer drop separating the two buildings, whilst the Riddler's gunman quickly reloaded his pistol.
Two of the Clown Prince of Crime's musclemen leapt upon the Riddler's goons, and throwing a huge punch, tried to make their superior numbers count. With the sound of a crowbar clipping the side of a head however, the Joker's thugs were soon put right, and another of the unarmed minions was down for the count. Sensing that his forces were about to be overwhelmed by Edward Nygma's more heavily-armed men, the white-faced criminal mastermind and expert chemist ordered for another of his gang to vault over onto the roof-top of Hokus & Pokus Occult Curioso.
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| DESPITE THEIR NUMBERS THE JOKER'S THUGS START TO FALL BEFORE TWO CROWBARS |
Fending off the Joker's gang as if they were an invading boarding party attacking their prized galleon, the Riddler's crowbar-armed goons tightened their grips on their hefty weapons once again, and with a heavy blow battered another thug to the ground. Three of the Clown Prince of Crime's minions was now out of action and that meant it would only take the purple and green-attired crew-members to fell a fourth muscle-head to win the day for Edward Nygma.
Having initially appeared on the verge of victory with the 'demise' of the Riddler, the Joker was now facing imminent defeat at the hands of his opponent's obstinate crew. He rushed to the eastern edge of Gotham Village Cathedral's roof and took aim at one of the crowbar-welding goons thwarting his plans for domination. The shot rang out, Nygma's man fell to the floor, but it was only a flesh-wound, and Edward's minion would clearly soon be back on his feet if the Joker let him. With a curse, the Clown Prince of Crime waved for his final henchman, still sheltering behind a sofa, to cross over onto the roof-top of Hokus & Pokus Occult Curioso.
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| THE JOKER TRIES TO WIN THE DAY WITH ANOTHER SHOT FROM HIS 'GOLDFISH-SHAPED' PISTOL |
Realising he was about to be pummelled by the Joker's thug if he didn't get up on his feet immediately, the Riddler's goon snatched up his crowbar, stood up and whacked his assailant to death before the amazed thug knew what had really hit him. The battle was won for Edward Nygma, and despite still maniacally laughing away to himself, the Clown Prince of Crime stole away into the shadows along with his remaining grim-faced henchman...
So the Riddler snatches victory from the jaws of defeat, or rather his henchmen do. I'm not sure why the Joker remained on his rooftop and didn't jump over to the Riddler's rooftop to cause mayhem himself? Still, who knows what goes on in his mind, eh?
ReplyDeleteWho knows indeed, Bryan. In many ways it would have made sense for the Joker to wade into the fray, as he had some Joker Venom on him to improve his melee abilities - and as such would've been quite thematic too. But having taken out the Riddler so early on, he literally just needed one of Nygma's goons to fall and would've won, and shooting one down was the easiest option.
Deletechalk up another victory to Ganesha and M&DRG. Excellent result, excellent fun and mayhem, tone-fully correct result for all concerned, Joker would bow out with a smile and a manic laugh, probably blowing a joke shop raspberry while he make his exit.. stage left. Riddler is not dead of course, sure he l-o-o-k-s dead.. but this is Gotham. His bullet proof jacket took the bulk of the blow, just leaving him bruised and unconscious is all. His goons would have dragged him to safety for sure :-))
ReplyDeleteThanks very much indeed, Steve. The Riddler is indeed alive and well, and ready to defend more of his territory should a certain clown prince of crime make a play for it; i need to paint up a couple of figures first though!! ;-)
DeleteIs that a goldfish, or a red herring? ;-)
ReplyDeleteGreat AAR and as promised, plenty of Blam, thwack and Arghh!
Riddle me this Simon, if you're playing solo, do you use the "D3 mod" for activation rolls?
Thoroughly enjoyed this, and hope we get to read more of the goings on in Gotham :-)
Cheers Greg, glad you liked it. When I do play solo I stick to just two rolls for all activation unless the character's quality is 2+ or they're the last model for that side to be moved - in which case I do indeed use all three dice.
DeleteThe campaign has already progressed since this battle with the Riddler, Gotham City Police Department and Two-Face all making some gains. However, presumably seething at this defeat, the Joker is looking to finally do a number on Edward Nygma, and this time (when I've finished painting them) he'll be bringing some different toys to the show ;-)
Nice AAR dude.
ReplyDeleteThanks Simon. I'm trying to get a few more in before the year ends - where does the hobby-time fly to?
DeleteGreat conclusion to the BatRep Simon, and it went the way I thought it might, strength beat numbers ! I think the clown prince needs to place a order with ACME to get some much needed toys for his goons before his next scuffle
ReplyDeleteCheers Dave. To be fair though, it was incredibly close, and only one of the Riddler's henchmen needed to fall for the Joker to win the day. The Joker will have a couple of new additions to his gang for the next encounter - I'm just painting them ;-)
DeleteA great read. What's next?
ReplyDeleteThanks Phil. I'll be returning to Middle Earth for the next BatRep as Faramir recovers from being 'slain' by Lurtz, and prepares a trap for the mighty Uruk-Hai and his raiding party.
DeleteBrilliant! Where else can you read 'the white-faced criminal mastermind and expert chemist'. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteCheers Mark. "Brilliant!" is high praise indeed :-)
DeleteWow what a tough turn of events for whiteface and I thought he had it in the bag too!
ReplyDeleteNext time maybe.
Excellent aar, very entertaining and I just about flinched everytime one of the Riddler's goons thwacked a crowbar into one of the joker's henchman's heads.
Thanks Joe. There were a lot of sore heads in this one, as the melee combat in "M&DRG" can be absolutely brutal. There will certainly be a "next time" though ;-)
DeleteBoo! The wrong side won. Joker needs some purple smoke grenades to lob across rooftops, and laughing gas bombs to throw his enemy of their game.
ReplyDelete"Boo!" - Cheers Roy - I think ;-) The Joker's gang will certainly contain a few changes for his next encounter with the Riddler...
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