Taskmaster as a centerpiece.

[Sate]

Taskmaster is my favorite comic book character and I want to be able to use him effectively as a centerpiece figure. My question is, how do I do that?
I have the REVU Taskmaster figures to choose from and I would like some advice on how to make a team centered on Taskmaster.

[Slayer_Xtreme]

A team centered around Taskmaster? Well I guess maybe the best way to do that is in a lower point event where the V Taskmaster can be the center because frankly the U Taskmaster we recently got is just horrible so putting a team together around him wouldn't be a good idea. V Task is your best option I feel for a center figure. You can add Brilliant Tact so he can raise up his own defense while helping his followers with whatever they need. Also remember Task has a wildcard TA and should be used to your advantage. I suggest taking V Task and putting him in a martial artist theme team so you can get some prob control rolls with some good TAs to copy and Brilliant Tact. To best help Task survive your going to have to do something about that 16D. Granted yeah its with ESD but considering he's stealthy your not going to find too much use for the ESD unless your going against an Ultimates/Superman ally team so either a good high defense figure with defend like Power Man and Iron Fist or R Clobbering Time Invisible Girl if you have her and don't care about theme teams or more perplex to rule of 3 that defense is his best chance for survival. Other good ideas for helping him survive would be to have some Skrulls or Danger Girl to copy as well as Alias to make it harder to even be able to attack him. Protected I guess would help too but my issue with that feat is its situational and your most likely going to be pushing to use it and considering V Task only has 2 clicks of BCF and only 1 damage after that you need to be concerned about avoiding every click possible so stick with Alias and have a good helper with Skrull or Danger Girl. I guess really it'd be easier to help further too if you gave us a point value you want to build this team in.

[adamkomar]

Good god, Slayer. Break that up a bit. :p

If you want to go with a Martial Artist theme team at 300 points, I'd go with:

Universe/Xplosion Veteran Taskmaster, 75 pts.
-Ambush, 5 pts.
-Lucky Break, 5 pts.
-Running Start, 5 pts.
Clobberin Time Unique Nightcrawler, 83 pts.
-Nanobots, 10 pts.
Ultimates Veteran Black Widow, 59 pts.
Indy Limited Edition Boon, 58 pts.
300 pts.

Two PC uses from the theme team. Wildcard abuse with X-Men from Nightcrawler for healing, Ultimates from Black Widow for anti-Stealth and Crossgen from Boon for some backlash damage. Nanobots is on Nightcrawler because he's the most mobile. If Taskmaster takes a hit, Nightcrawler can use X-Men to heal him then run over to some objects to heal himself back up, if necessary. Lucky Break to account for that ever fateful critical miss. Running Start so you can get Taskmaster where he needs to be safely and quickly.

But I'd forgo the theme team and something like this:

Universe/Xplosion Veteran Taskmaster, 75 pts.
-Vendetta, 6 pts.
Indy Veteran Johnny Alpha, 64 pts.
Fantastic Forces Veteran Scarlet Witch, 62 pts.
Crisis Rookie Klarion, 76 pts.
Sinister Rookie Multiple Man, 17 pts.

You've still got everything you can get from a theme team, but you'll have more reliable Probability Control. The bonus of 2000 A.D. and Vendetta along with the Perplex from Taskmaster and Klarion should give you the high values to make Taskmaster a high-damage beast. Keep Multiple Man adjacent to Taskmaster so healing is always ready. Johnny can TK or attack as needed.

[lancelot]

E Taskmaster is the way to go. Mastermind keeps him alive FAR longer than either the R and V. Contingency Plan replaces Perplex in a pinch.

[PsychoHippie]

If only you'd asked this a few months ago. I'd have told you to surround E Tasky with SinSyn or Bat Enemies to pass around that sick 11 AV.

Yes, I am still bitter about the WC nerfs. Thanks for asking.

[Battletank900]

E Taskmaster is the way to go. Mastermind keeps him alive FAR longer than either the R and V. Contingency Plan replaces Perplex in a pinch.

This makes a lot of sense. Great suggestion.

[DocDoom187]

V Taskmaster is a favorite of mine for Brilliant Tactition to go along with Doom's BT in higher point Wildcard abuse teams. As a center piece though that may be difficult. He has a great attack with blades so getting him mobility could be key. I like to pair him with Ghost Widow for the TA, plus she can base people with Tasky and force them to make a decision. Go for the higher defense but try to get rid of poison, or deal with Tasky.

[themonkey]

Use E Taskmaster in a LAMB(lades) team.

Only 106 points.

Then feel really, really bad.

[Arsenalroy2k]

Back in a tourney some time after Mutations & Monsters but before Secret Invasion, one of my friends ran a 800 point team based off the early issues of the Initiative. V Taskmaster from Universe/Xplosion was a major asset to the team and helped him out big time. I don't think he was a 'centerpiece' though. That honor probably went to the three SR Spider-Men from Avengers he was using.

[adamkomar]

three SR Spider-Men from Avengers he was using.

That's just redumbculous.

[SLVRSR4]

Back in a tourney some time after Mutations & Monsters but before Secret Invasion, one of my friends ran a 800 point team based off the early issues of the Initiative. V Taskmaster from Universe/Xplosion was a major asset to the team and helped him out big time. I don't think he was a 'centerpiece' though. That honor probably went to the three SR Spider-Men from Avengers he was using.

I just recently played a similar team last week after acquiring my 2nd and 3rd Iron spiders from WWC. It was:

3 Iron Spiders w/stunning blow
Rookie Marvel Boy
Skrull Yellowjacket
Thor Girl

It was crazy effective beating characters like Sinestro Batman, JL Amazo, two Ultimate Thors, and Dr. Donald Blake all at the SAME TIME.

[Slayer_Xtreme]

Good god, Slayer. Break that up a bit. :p

But if I break it up they'll miss each other. Why would you want such a terrible thing to happen? Your a mean person. What are you going to do after you read this, kick some puppies? :p

[lancelot]

I just recently played a similar team last week after acquiring my 2nd and 3rd Iron spiders from WWC. It was:

3 Iron Spiders w/stunning blow
Rookie Marvel Boy
Skrull Yellowjacket
Thor Girl

It was crazy effective beating characters like Sinestro Batman, JL Amazo, two Ultimate Thors, and Dr. Donald Blake all at the SAME TIME.

I think I recall there was an actual story with multiple Iron Spiders, I just cannot remember why.

[adamkomar]

But if I break it up they'll miss each other. Why would you want such a terrible thing to happen? Your a mean person. What are you going to do after you read this, kick some puppies? :p

No, I kicked the puppies before I read it. Now, I'm gonna go steal some candy from some babies.

[Arsenalroy2k]

I think I recall there was an actual story with multiple Iron Spiders, I just cannot remember why.

Yeah, an Intitiative Trainee was killed in action, but since he was such an amazing physical specimen, they cloned him (a bunch of times) and gave them the Iron Spider armor (since Pete wasn't going to be using it anymore). They were then dubbed The Scarlet Spiders.

That's just redumbculous.

Oh, they were good. Three guys just Leap/Climbing around and countering stuff left and right. I was playing an 800 point Illuminati (which was possible back then) and only reason I won was because Xavier mind-controlled his Vet Yellowjacket into charging Taskmaster with a heavy and KO'd him while Namor managed to clobber one of his Scarlet Spiders with another heavy, knocking him out also.

It was:
3 Iron Spiders w/stunning blow
Rookie Marvel Boy
Skrull Yellowjacket
Thor Girl

Hmm. The new Yellowjacket would be a heck of a lot better than the old Vet. Thor Girl wouldn't be too bad either. IIRC, his lineup was:

3x Iron Spiders
R Marvel Boy
E War Machine
V Yellowjacket
V Taskmaster
Stature

I'm trying to remember what feats he had. I think he had Protecteds on all three of the Scarlet Spiders, but I'm not sure. I know he had Shake-off on Stature, but I don't know if he had Armor Piercing on her too.

[spider_ham]

E Taskmaster (XPlosion/Universe)
E Spider-Man (Sinister) + Alias
E Beetle (Sinister)
V Gargoyle (Avengers) + Auto-Regen
R Nighthawk (Sinister)

TOTAL: 300

Nighthawk lends the Sinister Syndicate TA, which Spider-Man can take advantage of when using the Move and Attack ability; Gargoyle keeps DVs up to 17; and Beetle's Master of Evil allows Taskmaster and Spidey to push when necessary.

[Arsenalroy2k]

I just remembered there was an incarnation of the Frightful Four with Taskmaster, Deadpool, Constrictor and the Wizard. So... good luck making that team work.

[Rurouni KJS]

E Taskmaster (XPlosion/Universe)
E Spider-Man (Sinister) + Alias
E Beetle (Sinister)
V Gargoyle (Avengers) + Auto-Regen
R Nighthawk (Sinister)

TOTAL: 300

Nighthawk lends the Sinister Syndicate TA, which Spider-Man can take advantage of when using the Move and Attack ability

That doesn't work, for a couple of reasons. 1) The "replace, then modify" order of effects occurs during the Move and Attack ability. When the actual attack is made, the replacement happens first, then it gets modified down by the -2 penalty. 2) Due to the rewording of the Sinister Syndicate TA (and others like it), wildcards can only borrow the values of actual Sinister Syndicate members; they cannot ever lend their own, not even to other wildcards. Therefore, the very best attack value Spidey (or Taskmaster) can copy is R Nighthawk's 9. Pointless.