With an obsessive need for attention and a genius-level intellect, Edward Nigma was determined to be the most outlandish of Gotham City's criminals, and concocted an elaborate series of clues and riddles around his crimes.
He is obsessed with riddles, puzzles, and word games, so the Riddler crew could be called "the control crew". If you like a style of play that is all about domination and playing ahead of the other player's decisions, this is the crew for you.
The main rule of the crew is that the leaders have the unique trait A Challenge For You, with which whenever you place a Suspect, you will place a Numeric Counter on it, with the value you want. This will help us score most of our cards.
The other important rule is that certain cards are played face down. When a Suspect is revealed, they are flipped over to see if the condition has been completed, so you can play with your opponent's mind as to what you intend to play. That is one of the main advantages of the crew, playing knowing what the other player is trying to score, while going crazy thinking what your next move will be.
“Can you defeat a mind such as mine?” The Riddler
The Deck
Two cards that are completely opposite. Riddle me That will ask that the opponent has Revealed one of your Suspects with a Numeric Counter 1, 2 or 3. Riddle me This will ask you with 4, 5 or 6. Try to play alternating these cards, since, if you don’t do this, the rival will know for sure which are the ones you have left to play. As a trick, try to have the same number of Suspects in both with the same range of values, since it will be much more difficult for the rival to guess which one you are playing if there is not a clear predominance.
As a Resource, they have pretty much the same rules again, except that Riddle me That's resource allows you to move a friendly marker 4”, and Riddle me This will move an enemy marker. Important: only specify markers, so it does not only refer to Suspects, you will be able to move any marker that belongs to any player.
“No challenge is too great for me” The Riddler
The Easy Riddle card will give you an objective that is also placed face down, and that, if the rival knows your deck, forces him to, or play what you want, revealing Suspects for example, or you will score this card at will. It's the card you need to activate the gamble, play with it and don't hesitate to give your opponent the information that your deck contains that card!
The Resource of this card, however, will ensure that you score other of your cards that depend on you having X Suspects with a given value, since if one is revealed to you with a value of 5 for example, you can immediately place another with the same value, of course in contact with a enemy Suspect, be careful that there is no other enemy model nearby that can reveal it (unless that was your evil plan from the beginning!).
Now, we are going to talk about two cards, which do not have the mechanics of being placed face down, but if they are well played they can force the opponent to enter your game, or at least let you score freely.
Riddles of the Storm will be in play from the Take the Lead phase, and it forces the opponent to try to reveal more Suspects than you this turn, something your crew does very well, but the opponent might not have that ability. Playing Riddle of Nowhere, only during one of your activations, you force the opponent to go for one of your Suspects that only has a certain number on it, since if you have one of each, you will score the card, with this action you can force them to score a previously played card, such as Riddle me That.
Riddles on the Storm's Resource is expensive, but is very necessary for the crew as it allows you to mitigate damage. This is essential because normally the defensive stats of your defensive characters are not amazing. Riddle of Nowhere has a resource that, like Easy Riddle, gives you security against a Reveal enemy action, which can disrupt your plans, just change the number of a Suspect to match what you need so you can score the card you were thinking of.
“Riddle me this!” The Riddler
Finishing the review of the cards, we have two cards that we are going to talk about because of their Resource, although first we will talk about their Objective.
The Riddle of the Night and Riddle me Softly are, again, two asymmetric cards. Both are played the same, but are scored for the opposite reason, one of them for having at least 3 Suspects with even values, and the other for having 3 Suspects with odd values.
Keeping this in mind, you will be changing the numbers that you are placing/revealing to you, in order to score these cards at the end of the round. As a trick, remember to use the resources we have already talked about to help you.
Both cards have the same resource. Both allow you to place Riddle Markers. When an opponent performs a manipulate action within 8" of one of these markers, and that action would not reveal one of your Suspects, then the opponent must choose one of your Suspects within 8" of the marker. That model is then considered to have revealed that Suspect. As you can see, this marker is a double-edged sword, as used incorrectly it can cause you to lose Suspects that you don't want to lose. Therefore, placing these markers well will be essential to take advantage of them, since they can be very useful. For example, the opponent may only be interested in placing Suspects. Taking advantage of this opportunity will make sure that, if you need Suspects revealed to you, this action will ensure that the Suspects are revealed. Also, if the markers are placed in the range of a single friendly Suspect, obviously that Suspect will be removed. Use them wisely and they will grant you the victory of the game.
“Are you up to the challenge?” The Riddler
The Models
To lead this crew, you'll always have to start with The Riddler. This option will make you not have to depend so much on protecting him, thanks to his Intel Support trait, so you can focus on placing Suspects, (you will place two each time you manipulate by his Puzzle Master trait) where you need them most, and the rival only may respond to this action by revealing Suspects.
In addition, it will give you control over your deck, and over the opponent's deck, with the Quiz Master trait, every time you score one of your cards, you will be able to search the deck for another of its copies and add it to your hand. Additionally, when you place a Suspect within 8" of an opposing model and they see The Riddler and the Suspect, you will be able to look at the top two cards of that opponent's deck, and discard one of them directly. Hacking on the other hand, will allow you to move nearby markers at will. Considering how much it helps to have a lot of Suspects in play, and having them placed where you need them, it's one of the most influential leaders when it comes to scoring your cards.
Quelle is an atypical Sidekick, because she will never be able to lead the crew, but we will choose her because she has other very important virtues. Her weapon is incredibly precise, and in this crew that can be decisive. You will have an advanced deployment with Undercover.
Trickster will allow you to skip putting an Audacity marker on it, and take it during the round from another model that is a lower priority to you, if that's what you need. And Wizard of Quiz, just like with The Riddler, you'll be able to play with your opponent's deck to avoid being played by his most powerful cards. She also has two traits such as Demotivate and Disarray, perfect for making the rival crew have to play with their depleted models or directly have to use their Audacity markers where they may be less powerful.
“There’s no shame in cheating, if you admit you cannot solve my challenges” The Riddler
It's always good to play Query and Echo together for their Competitive trait, with which they will have upgraded values whenever the other model is in play. Both will allow you to Reveal once per turn at no cost per Riddles Addict, and both are Acrobat so their mobility will be superior to the rest of your crew.
Apart from this trait they are completely different. Query gives you 1 more Resource point (if there are more Resources in play, it will be better for you) and a Persuasive to force the opponent to activate what interests you. You can force him to reveal your Suspects and score your cards, it also has a powerful LMG, with which to splash damage on groups of enemies if the opponent decides to join them.
Echo, on the other hand, is focused on melee combat, and it is very difficult to remove it from the game thanks to the fact that for every 2 blocks it makes, it will cancel 3 successes, and, in addition, it cannot be affected by the Outnumbered rule penalty. But what helps you score is that with its It's Mine trait the opponent won't be able to Reveal Suspects that are within 2” of her. It's incredibly useful if you need to keep Suspects at the distance they are.
“Can we just agree am I clever than you?” The Riddler
You'll need to activate the sooner the better with Quiz 7 and his trait The Crew, you'll give the rest of the crew a marker that will allow them to move an extra 2”, which could be crucial in getting the Suspects as far apart as possible.
We will have two models that have the Drop a Riddle trait as standard, with Quiz 5 and 8. A Special Trait that allows us to place a Suspect or a Riddle Marker if we have already played at least two cards as Resources. This gives us many options to make the deck faster. We can place additional Suspects, and we can place the precious Riddle Marker without a Resource cost.
Also, Quiz 5 comes with a free Reveal action and Quiz 8 is an incredibly tough guy with mobility and strength above the rest of the crew.
Finally, we will explain that Quiz 2 and Quiz 3 are two cheap guys. This is perfect to have more models to resist the opponent’s attack and meanwhile continue playing to place the Suspects. They also have some weapons that can surprise the opponent, and a couple of tricks in the form of Special traits.
That’s all. Now is your turn. Play with this crew and defeat your opponents with your intelligence and cunning. In future articles we will show other options for The Riddler crew and how to play them. Don’t miss them!