Court of Owls Tournament Crew

For my fourth BMG tournament I decided to take the Court in the configuration shown here, with a few changes from the previous post when at the time I did not anticipate getting all the options painted.

The Changes

• High Council Member instead of Benjamin Orchard - for 2 reasons: firstly, the High Council has a ranged attack, so offers a little more threat (I really do not want Orchard getting into a fight); secondly, the High Council has Endurance 7 which represents a tipping point against attacks doing either 2 damage or 3 damage (Blood or Stun) - he becomes less susceptible to being one-shotted.
• James and Nathan O'Malley instead of the Butcher - the O'Malleys offer an extra model for contesting /  controlling / threatening / attacking, vital in trying to minimise enemy VP and maximise my own; in addition, the 6 Attacks the O'Malleys offer are simply more efficient than the Butcher's Claws; finally, the O'Malley's do their respective tasks well (James as as back-line defender and as Bodyguard to the Leader, freeing up the Leader to get more involved; Nathaniel to de-buff enemies) while the Butcher does not really do anything very well in my experience, which is a real problem as he is the crew's most expensive character in game terms.

The Tournament

It was an enjoyable day as always, seeing familiar faces such as Kieron of Cheaphammer, and going along with Brummie/Simon to his first tournament.

I had two draws and a win with a crew I am still getting used to. I came sixth out of 12, which I was happy with all things considered. On the day I fought against two League of Shadows crews (one with Catwoman to rack up VP - the Court have nothing that comes close to that), and a Scarecrow crew lead by Deathstroke and including Zsasz.

On the day, I don't think I made too many mistakes and I was always on the back foot in line-up given that I was giving up 21 Reputation, which is the equivalent of a Henchmen in most crews, but the right decision on balance I feel (a couple of new 45-50 Reputation Talons would be most welcome to give the Court real options). 

Once the Court engages the enemy they put the hurt on to a very respectable level, and I think are almost peerless in that regard; all of that is down to the plethora of Handy, Sharp and Blood damage. The thing for the future is maximising that advantage and learning to take some more risks with them to make them feel really competitive.

Both in the tournament and out of it I have fielded the Court against Penguin, Bane, League of Shadows (twice) and Scarecrow crews, and in all of those games Stealth had little or no impact, which is the biggest hurdle I feel with the Court - being able to close with the enemy without being gunned down.

The List (329 Reputation / $1200 Funding)

• High Council Member
• William Cobb (Camo Vest; Climbing Claws)
• Strix (Ammo; Antidote)
• Xiao Loong
• Brandon O'Malley
• James O'Malley
• Nathaniel O'Malley (Camo Vest; C4)