Anyone made the Hand Ninja play like...

[tidge]

...Hand Ninjas?

The last 616 Marvel book I buy is Daredevil, and I'd like to field a team based on the current happenings in that book where Matt Murdock is now the leader of the Hand.

The problem is that I don't see a good method for making the Hand Ninja (new or old) very threatening in a 'typical' game of Heroclix. They need lots of actions to get into position (and swarming isn't easy without reaching for some flying 'martial artists'), and honestly they are too easy to avoid in the meta-game (lots of stealth-breaking, plenty of 4+ damage).

I've considered using Passenger on assorted Leap/Climbers, but then the force stops looking like Hand Ninja and looks more like potpouri. Rookie Daredevil from Sinister is an option, but the Taxi range is only 6, plus a click of damage!

Any ideas?

[Drunky]

You could add Northstar, who was brainwashed to serve the Hand during the Wolverine : Enemy of the state storyline. Gives you another taxi, and somewhat capable offensive abilities (with AP, that is).

Also Strucker, who has close ties with the Hand : his Leadership (possibly coupled with Tactics) would give you more actions to work with - though he only has one click of it.

Not so good (and definitely not fitting your original theme), but that's all I can think of.

[TopHatCat]

Well obviously if you want to keep the Themed team Themed, guess were looking at the Martial Artist keyword... Weeeeeeeell... Bah, only thing I can think is to take Black Knight (or E Hawkeye), Thunderbolt his TA to Green Lantern and fly all the Ninja's in, only problem is thaaaat's not even close to keeping it themed =/

Ronin could make an appearance, friend of Daredevil and has Leap/Climb on his starting click (that I prefer to push him off, the SS is usually much more effective in meta than toughness, since more than 2 damage and you get pushed further than you wanna get.
He's cheap and has some nice damage, plus would look great next to the Ninja's.
(p.s. Alittle Smoke Cloud/Leadership would work nicely for a steady approach).

It's a tough choice really, to keep it totally 100% in theme whilst trying to make it meta =/
Best of luck to you tho!
(p.s. If you could manage to play one, there are some great BFC that'd help, like Deep Shadows etc)

[Quebbster]

You could add Northstar, who was brainwashed to serve the Hand during the Wolverine : Enemy of the state storyline. Gives you another taxi, and somewhat capable offensive abilities (with AP, that is).
Heh. Did not know this. I have been considering playing a Hand theme team with V AW Psylocke to provide ranged cover fire - she was brainwashed by the Hand to serve them, after all. V Northstar looks like a good companion for her, with his X-men TA and Martial Artist keyword.

[Rurouni KJS]

Infiltrate is a perfect feat for the Ninjas.

I like EV XP Psylocke a bit better than the AW Vet for their Enhancement. Makes her fellow Hand that much more dangerous at range, and she shares the keyword, to boot.

Finally, try to make sure you've got Leadership for extra swarming action.

See how my Ninja Hedge (http://heroclixin.wordpress.com/2009/12/07/ninja-hedge/) worked out in a battle royale.

[Quebbster]

I like EV XP Psylocke a bit better than the AW Vet for their Enhancement. Makes her fellow Hand that much more dangerous at range, and she shares the keyword, to boot.
Enhancement definitely is useful. If going with the XP Psylocke you should probably use some old ranged Hand Ninjas from Xplosion to get some good ranged combat power - with some help from Psylocke and other ninjas you could end up with 10 AV, 3 damage and 8 range...

[WolvieFan9]

I would suggest two things not related to the actual figures themselves can help the team be a little more ninja-y: Battlefield Conditions and map choice.

Deep Shadows can obviously help the ninjas be sneaky. It won't help them be fast, but it can help them move faster by not jumping from hindering terrain to hindering terrain (and therefore cutting movement in half when they come out of hindering).

Infiltration can help your figures get deeper into the map at the start of the game. How often do ninjas all wait behind a starting line as a group and then pour into battle area like they are the Avengers? Nah, the guys are usually halfway in when the battle starts!

Get your opponent to play on a smaller map. The bigger the map, the more space the ninjas have to cover to get into place. Try playing on Batman Alpha maps, or the old Universe map (depending on how many points per game you're playing).

[normalview]

Elektra led the Hand for a while (in fact, when she was killed and revealed to be a Skrull that officially kicked off Secret Invasion). If you use SI048b, you can use Passenger to taxi a Ninja into place (plus avoid the pushing damage since she's :d-indomitable:) and that would be nice and thematic from a comic POV.

Or just use SI048a for the better keywords and (arguably) better mix of powers.

Either way, you can still use Passenger without any damage

[Jarimy123]

Yea I saw a bunch of them with Elektra and it was a good team. I think there was 8 of them with the Elektra from SI, I forget the point build, but they all had Infiltrate and it was probably the best feat for them and is only 2 points. He had all 8 of them with Infiltrate hahaha. don't forget they all have range and can boost each other's AV with their team ability.

[WolvieFan9]

He had all 8 of them with Infiltrate hahaha.

Gotta love Print N Play! :laugh:

[Rurouni KJS]

Yea I saw a bunch of them with Elektra and it was a good team. I think there was 8 of them with the Elektra from SI, I forget the point build, but they all had Infiltrate and it was probably the best feat for them and is only 2 points. He had all 8 of them with Infiltrate hahaha. don't forget they all have range and can boost each other's AV with their team ability.

I tried this in a pickup game just a couple days ago...had six 300-pointers and rolled a die to pick the Ninja team.

Too bad one of the other 3 players was using Ult. Thor and Ult. Hawkeye. :cry::cry: The good news is that the Ninjas were still the ones to finally KO the big bad hammer hippy. :devious::devious: