Last Thursday, I reviewed the main set for Harley Quinn and the Gotham Girls, and came to the conclusion that like many DC sets, it’s actually pretty strong. Now I want to move on to the Fast Forces and see if it’s worth picking up, along with the release LE.

Fast Forces tend to be a mixed bag; while the intent is to sell a kit that’s great for new players, there’s usually one or two really good pieces that make the set worth picking up for veterans. That’s a good and a bad thing. If there’s something strong in the Fast Forces, it gives new players a bit of an edge, but it also leads to the veterans and collectors looking to pick them up as well just for said one or two pieces.

Take The Mighty Thor for example. That set was fantastic, and had 3 really good dials (and one extremely good dial), along with a special piece of equipment, and the new rules/PAC. That meant that more veteran players probably got their hands on the starter set than new players, which is sort of a bad thing to have happens. Granted, everyone wanted that starter for the new rules and PAC, but WizKids could have easily supplemented that by sending stores free copies to give to players.

Anyway, we’ve had some pretty strong Fast Forces/Starters this year, so let’s take a look at this newest set and see if it’s worth picking up for you veterans out there. Typical review rules apply; reviews will be based on three categories of No Thanks, Seems Good, and Yes Please! Remember, these are my opinions and by no means something that you should use as a guideline to what will and won’t be meta or worth picking up.

001 Batgirl – We start things off with a bang with a pretty decent dial. Batgirl has some nice mobility, good defenses with Stealth and Super Senses sitting at 18, Indom, and some really fierce damage capabilities. If she’s next to Batman or Robin, she raises everyone’s attack by +1, meaning you’re looking at a minimum 10 attack through the dial and four 11’s. That’s cool, but easy enough for opponents to deal with as Knockback has made a resurgence as a game mechanic. While this dial is pretty decent (and would pair nicely with the Uncommon Robin for 40 points from the main set), it’s still a bit overcosted. 6 clicks of health, mediocre attack values without said Batman or Robin, and a glass jaw the entire dial are big shortcomings. Also, it really annoys me when Batman Ally pieces don’t ignore hindering, but at least her Sidestep helps in that regard. Score: Seems Good.

002 Robin – Same thing here with the 100 points, 6 clicks, Batman Ally Team Ability, and a ‘shared trait’ with Batman and Batgirl, only Robin increases their targets to two. That’s not that great as Batgirl has Ranged Combat Expert which requires one target, but does help Batman with Incap. Robin is a little better in terms of defense as he starts with Combat Reflexes, a natural with Stealth, and Super Senses against ranged attacks. Perplex up front is nice, and he does have a neat special damage power for most of his dial towards the back. Again though, this Robin has his downfalls; he can’t ignore hindering so it’s tough for him to Charge or Running Shot, he lacks indom for 100 points, and he has a 9 attack for half his dial. Score: No Thanks.

003 Batman – Third time’s the charm: 100 points, 6 clicks, Batman Ally Team Ability, and the Dynamic Duo trait. Bats uses his trait to increase defense values, which is just under Batgirls for usefulness. This dial is actually pretty nice with Stealth, Super Senses, and Shape Change that can potentially remove action tokens from him, making this a very annoying piece to deal with. Indom comes back which really helps with that 100 point price tag. However, Bats is the slowest of the three, and like Robin, he suffers from horrid attack values. I do like the back half of his dial though as he has a nice combo of Charge, Plasticity, Combat Reflexes, and either Outwit or Close Combat Expert. Still, that lack of ignoring hindering for movement means you’re not really going to want to plant Batman in Stealth, which is counter-intuitive to the character. Score: Seems Good.

004 The Joker – 6 clicks for 100 points seems to be a reoccurring theme here. This piece is a bit more of a finesse character as she has only Willpower and Shape Change up front to protect her, but that’s okay because this Joker wants to live on the back end of her dial. Outwit in the middle, and a nasty melee piece on her final two clicks. Attack values are pretty good, save for a single 9, and her traited Poison that lingers is pretty good. Like the Bat Buds, she has some weaknesses, but there’s more to do on this dial and she can stand on her own rather than requiring allies to group with her. Score: Seems Good.

005 Harley Quinn – Why is Harley the cheapest of the five in her own set? Who knows. Thankfully, this is actually a decent dial once you really analyze her. Harley has a nice close combat focused front dial that allows her to really pour out some damage with Close Combat Expert that can be triggered off of Charge making her a potentially brutal piece, but it does have a small stipulation. She has an interesting trait that gives her Stealth and Shape Change which is very welcoming, but only if she has no action tokens, so you’ll want to carry her into battle. Easy enough with the Underworld TA. It also prevents her from blocking line of fire which is fantastic. The last two clicks are decent with Running Shot, Energy Explosion, and Perplex, albeit with lower values, so she wants to stay on those top clicks. Not great, but not bad either. There’s room to make her work. Score: Seems Good.

006 Corrupt GCPD Cop – We don’t typically see Unique generics, so this is something new. This little immortal cop is actually kinda cool if you’re looking to pull off some ‘can’t die’ tech as she works a lot like Resurrection Man and Dead Man, as long as her boss is still alive. The problem that I have with this dial is that it really isn’t that great, even at 40 points. It’s a little better than a Thug because she actually gets some powers to maybe deal a click or two of damage before biting it, but she’s 4 times the cost. PD is a nice TA, but certainly not worth 40 points. It’s a really interesting mechanic to give a corrupt cop, but again, the dial just doesn’t really do anything except come back to life. Score: No Thanks.

100 The Harlequin – This is a really weird dial with powers that don’t really mix that well together. Charge and Energy Shields is odd as you really want that Combat Reflexes to make you harder to deal with once you’re in their face. Mastermind is neat at the end, but she wants to get close, so she probably won’t be able to use it. She has a single click of Charge up front, and then one more on click 4, which is really strange. She does have a neat Deathtrap ability, but chances are she’ll either use it once or not at all thanks to how easy she is to KO. Probably the best part of her dial is the vehicle she makes, but Overdrive is just so much better for 5 less points. The Harlequin is probably best reserves for teams that want Overdrive, but want to go the theme route of Gotham City Underworld. Score: No Thanks.

So how does this Fast Forces (and LE) stack up against others? It’s about par, meaning it’s middle of the road. There are no stand out figures in this Fast Forces set, which in my opinion is a good thing as it’s really geared towards new players. The characters aren’t overly complex (okay, maybe the cop is), all easy to build around, and there are some iconic characters that will entice new players. I do have some grievances though. Why are the good guys 300 points while the villains are only 200 points? If the goal is to have two decent teams in one pack, you can’t do that here. Why is Harley less than anyone else in her own set? Why are all the attack values so low for their points? There’s a difference between giving new players easier pieces to use, but they should have some redeeming qualities that will make them want to keep those pieces once they actually learn the game and go through the inevitable phase we all do of “oh crap, I have waaaay too much. I need to thin out the collection”.

So my overall judgment of this set is a hard pass. There’s nothing in here that veteran players really need. However, I recommend it as decent for new players. Hopefully the lack of any staple or meta pieces like Jean Grey from almost two years ago will keep this Fast Forces on shelves so that newer players will have something to get into the game with. For that goal, this set is a success, but we all know that’s not the business practice WizKids wants.

In my opinion, WizKids needs to start printing smaller ‘starter packs’ with one or two characters, a map, objects, the rules, and the PAC, and keep that in print as long as they can. This would alleviate the need to have this weird dichotomy of whether or not to gear the Fast Forces towards newer players or encourage veterans to buy them.

What are your thoughts on this Fast Forces set and the release LE? Do you think it stands up to the regular set or do you agree that it’s a pass? Sound off in the comments below!

Sorry I missed last week everyone. Things have been rough with the change at work and I’ve actually contemplated putting the blog on hiatus through the holidays to give myself an overall decompression and break from everything that I have going on. I have something planned for next week, and I’m eager to talk about some of the pieces from this newest set, so we’ll see how things go. I certainly don’t mean to be sporadic in my postings, so I’ll do my best to keep you all updated on whether or not articles will be coming.

Hope everyone is having a good week and those of you in America are ready for Thanksgiving! Gobble Gobble!