The role of Speedsters in Brave and the Bold- some thoughts

Hello all, today I have a piece on my opinions on how to use Speedsters in the Brave and the Bold.
Speedster rules
The Speedster rules in general are a slightly different system to normal, as they provide extra abilities on top of the standard. The Speedster rule gives +2 BMD to a model, which stacks with the Fast they all have to give an 8” basic move and allows them to use Speed Force powers. I personally find that the powers with no paradox, or a 6+, to be the only ones worth using in most cases, although they all have situational use. Many Brave and the Bold Speedsters also have Speed Force Master, allowing them to bank 2 of their Speed Force counters and spend them as normal counters during the turn. They are unable to be blocked unless they are attacking another Speedster, which may make them look like great beaters, however they have no bonuses to hit and are strength 4+ or less in Brave and the Bold, requiring the Muscle Growth power (1 SFC, no paradox) to get +1 strength.
Role of Speedsters
In general, Speedsters are very good at objective grabbing, due to high speed and defence, but they can hold their own in most cases. In terms of hitting, with Speed Force Master they can potentially throw out 10 unblockable attacks a turn (Fast Combo for 1SFC, 3AC and 2SFC as AC), most at 3+ strength with Muscle Growth. They are best suited to hitting weak henchmen , as they can easily hit in that case, and they shouldn't be used as dedicated attack pieces. Their basic role is to be annoying, tying up the opponent and swinging VP (by claiming yours or denying the opponents). They can shut down single guns very well through Rapid Disarm, and they can tank relatively well through some of their other powers. While they aren't as oppressive as Magic users, they can do a great job of being a piece that's hard to handle on the table, and one that shouldn't be ignored. One big thing to remember is their Too Tired! rule, where if they have no counters they are at -1 defence, and none of them have native Martial Artist so they are prone to outnumbering. With this in mind, one must avoid Enervating at all costs, and manage their counters to maximise Speedster effectiveness.
Barry Allen and Moral Compass
All versions of Barry Allen have Moral Compass as a big negative trait, meaning you cannot use the Coup de Grace rule when he is on the table and not KO. This in Brave and the Bold means you need to either maximise blood damage or arrests, preferably both at once. If you don't do this, you will likely find yourself not being able to keep models out of the game, and find the damage you do deal will be mostly average because any bigger target will just get up and keep going. It's an easy trait to play around, Gotham Policewoman being an autotake with any Flash and the Arkham Guards being great buys in general.

First up we have Kid Flash, the cheapest Speedster option available in the game at 74 rep. His statline is somewhat lower than many others (he’s the only one not defence 5). At willpower 6 he is fairly standard for his points cost, and can do a good amount standard, but it’s his traits that push it a bit better. Speed Force Master, as mentioned before, lets him spend Speed Force counters as normal AC, so he can find himself at effective willpower 8 in some situations. 

Offensively

Bart is nothing special in terms of offence, he can put out the same amount of dice as any other BatB Speedster but at a lower strength. Where he really shines in this regard, however, is as a control piece, with his unique Speed Force power. Vibration Wave can potentially knock down a large amount of models, especially in crews with low movement henchmen, setting your crew up for whatever purpose you want. Against low agility, high defence characters, this power is incredibly useful, especially if you have first activation, because you can knock them down and negate the high defence for at least an activation. However, this power is especially unreliable, as it has a 5+ paradox and requires the opponent to fail agility rolls. I would recommend only using it when the chance of gaining VP from it is greater than any potential downside for it, because it is a risky power to pull off.

Defensively

Despite being at a lower defence than any other Speedster in the game, Bart is very effective against guns through his unique traits. Concealment means he can entirely negate ranged attacks, and even if he doesn't he's still movement 4 with Dodge, so he can reliably prevent them. At 5 endurance he is fragile, and one has to be very careful to keep counters on him so he doesn't drop to defence 3, at which point he is a big liability and quite easy to kill. 

Overall

The best role for Bart is an objective sitter by far. He isn't very offensive, preferring to hit weaker henchmen if anything, and he has great tech to just sit and score. Use Change of Plans to put 2 3VP objectives together, run him in and pop Concealment, and defend.
Teen Titans
Bart also has some play into Titans, being on the team list and being a not too bad option for them. Speed Force Master lets him mitigate Inexperience, although other than being fast he doesn't do all too much otherwise (and Titans aren't lacking in fast models).

Next up is the cheapest of the Barry Allen Speedsters, TV Flash. Compared to the other Barry Allens we have, he loses out on endurance and movement, but at a significantly lower points cost. He is a sidekick, meaning he can give henchmen rerolls to Let's Go! (although he will rarely be near enough to use this) and it means he can be a Boss of a crew, meaning you don't need another character to take charge. TV Barry also has 1 lower Speed Force level when compared to the other two versions, meaning he can do less in any one turn, although this is somewhat minor.
Offensively
His attacking is as decidedly average as any other BatB Speedster, but the one thing he does bring is his quite good unique Speed Power. Acting as a short ranged attack that does 1 blood and 2 stun damage, it ignores almost all abilities that defend against ranged attacks (Ping! and Dodge), and at strength 3+ has a good chance of wounding. It is, however, expensive to do, costing 3 of his 5 Speed Force counters and with a 6+ Paradox by the FAQ. It is still very good despite this, just not as amazing as Ezra's ranged threat
Defensively
In terms of raw stats, he is in the middle between the other Flashes and Kid Flash. Having 1 higher defence than Kid Flash is a good probability swing, although the 1 less movement from the Flashes means he isn't dodging quite as easily. Looking at his endurance, at 6 he is right between the 5 of Kid Flash and the 7 of the others, and you're pretty much relying on not getting hit with him. The comparison with Kid Flash becomes unfavourable when you consider Concealment though, as Kid Flash can hide far easier, making TV Flash the more fragile option. Endurance 6 on a Boss is on the lower end as well for this cost, but he is still a good choice, if a little risky
Overall
All things considered, TV Flash is a good budget Barry, and the best option to have a Speedster led crew. With that said, if you are looking for a versatile Speedster who can harass at will, Ezra Miller is likely the better option in almost any case.

After the TV show Flash, now we have the one from the movie. 1 higher endurance and movement than the TV version, they otherwise share many of the same standard traits, with one major exception. This comes at an 18 point/$100 increase, although it is well worth it.
Offensively
This is where Ezra shines, but not hugely. He is still definitely best suited to attacking henchmen and other low defence models, but his attacks are slightly more effective due to his biggest ability- Mixed Combat Style. This allows him (with the right Speed Force powers) to shoot a target with his Kinetic Lightning, then move into combat with any model he can reach and hit them with 10 dice at strength 3+. In terms of raw potential, it is excellent, although no bonuses to hit and potential to dodge the Kinetic Lightning means he is a henchman bully, being able to act with near impunity on them. All his attacks have the Electric trait as well, meaning if he crits the opponent is stunned, leaving them completely shut down for that turn (and usually a safe ignore). His Kinetic Lightning is a Beam, so pings are only on a 6+ against it, but at 2+ strength blood stun the RoF2 is decent enough to harass a great deal of models, especially if Electric triggers.
Defensively
There isn't much to say here, a defence 5 movement 5 model with Dodge speaks for itself. He lacks any specific defensive abilities, but he has enough in raw stats to take a good investment to take out.
Overall
I definitely believe Ezra Flash is the best Speedster in the game, although like all the Flashes the list needs to facilitate him. He is still a great harassment piece, and I feel like everyone should have him as an option in their toolkit.

Last, and probably least, is the comic Flash. The first one released, he has the same statline as Ezra except for 1 higher willpower, and the same traits as both other versions of Barry. This comes at the steep cost of 125 rep, which is not all that incredible when the other Flashes are considered, and unfortunately almost never worth it when other options crew wide are factored in.
Offensively
There is really nothing to cry home about here, he is exactly the same as TV Flash and Ezra, but without any fancy ranged ability or Electric to spice things up.
Defensively
Again, he is the same as Ezra in every regard here, so nothing really special.
Overall
It is probably obvious by now, I am not a fan of this model. I used him pretty heavily when 2nd ed first released, having great success as a boss, but now that Ezra is out I rarely take him. In terms of a crew leader, he is more valuable than TV Flash because he is more survivable, but at the cost of another solid body on the table (one with Arrest to mitigate Moral Compass somewhat) it is a hard choice to make.

EDIT: New TV Flash

With the latest set of releases, we got a new version of TV Flash. All in all he hasn't changed much, but the changes that did get made are quite good. His stat line is identical, as is his unique power, but for the same cost he has now gained Arrest. This helps him a lot in getting around Moral Compass, so is a really great addition to the character.

The finer points of Robin Part 2- Teen Titans

Hi all! Here we have part 2 of my opinions on Robin, this time focusing on their role in Teen Titans. I will only be discussing their strengths and weaknesses in Teen Titans, for more in depth overviews check out part 1. Carrie Kelley does not feature on the Teen Titans roster, and as such she does not feature in this post.

Teen Titans must haves

To start, I should probably talk about what I look for in a model ideally in Teen Titans. Inexperience as a rule is a huge downside to the crew, and as such you want to minimise it as much as possible. To do this you want Leaders and Sidekicks, so automatically the Sidekick Robins come out on top, with the others needing big bonuses to be worthwhile (Raven for example brings Magic and Intimidation that aid the crew)

The Boy Wonder is allowed to operate in a Teen Titans crew due to his Teen Titans Founder trait. This lets him ignore The Sidekick, and gives him +1 to willpower and strength, and Reinforced Gloves. This makes him a versatile option in the crew, and he can potentially work very well. As a Sidekick he also removes one Inexperience Counter, which is of great use

AC Robin is again pretty awful, he can do ok as an offensive model when using Teamwork, but with no henchmen, there's no reason not to take AK Robin if you can. Follow Me! is useless in Titans, Detective is almost the same, and Searcher is just about his best trait. As a Free Agent he's opening up Inexperience, and as such isn't worth the trouble.

AK Robin is a better option to abuse Teamwork with (Nightwing is still better, but Tim is good). True Love is far more likely here, because Rebirth or Sidekick Batgirl are both good options to take, but he's still fairly unremarkable. At least as a Sidekick, he removes an Inexperience Counter, but for his cost I'd rather take someone else (Arsenal or Raven in the same bracket)

Damian is sadly not the best option in Teen Titans, but he can do well paired with a Nightwing as an offensive combo, same as in the Brave and the Bold. At the very least, he is a cheaper Free Agent, so you can still get 2-3 Sidekicks into a list (the least you want to play Titans effectively) and have enough rep spare for Damian. If there's a 30-40 point gap when you add him, however, I'd trade him up for someone more costly

First Post! The finer points of Robin Part 1- Brave and the Bold

Hi all, welcome to my blog! To start things off I'm going to be talking through my opinions on the Robins, specifically in the Brave and the Bold crew. Teen Titans will be up next, but there's some slightly different things to consider there so I'll be splitting them up. Also, in these posts I will be keeping it to those who are explicitly Robin as their alias for the sake of conciseness (so no Red Hood or Nightwing here).

First off, we're starting with the first of the boys, Dick Grayson. A great classic sculpt and an important part of the Batman mythos

Overview

This Robin is in a bit of an odd spot, because he's not a bad model per se, but he is inherently restricted in what crews you can play him in. He is unable to be taken unless you have Modern Age Batman as your leader (or in Teen Titans as their founder) but provides an interesting toolkit when he is taken. Modern Age Batman is in my opinion one of the more valuable Batman variants for his cost, and this only gets better when you factor in the Boy Wonder alongside him. 

Defensively

While Robin's stat line is not bad overall, his high movement and defence are the standouts when looking at the profile. These raw stats combined with Acrobat and Reflexes means he is not a model worth shooting in most cases, and when Small is factored in it makes most guns not worth the shot. He also brings the Boy Wonder trait, unique to him, which makes him immune to the Handy trait. It's situational, but comes in handy (or not-Handy?). He packs a few more defensive abilities in Combat Flip, letting him relocate on the fly, and Escape Artist, making him immune to grabs, but his biggest weakness in this case is his lack of Martial Artist. Even at high defence, many gangs pack ways to reduce it before outnumber, be it Stop!, Confusion or Distract, so they can quite readily get him down to defence 3, and that is a point he does not want to be in with his endurance of 4. 

Offensively

He's not much of an offensive model, his Batlings do decent damage but nothing amazing, but Disarray is where he comes into great use. He can use this trait to move around opponents counters, so in crews that lack Veteran or Trickster he can really hurt them by putting counters into useless places. It's a very versatile skill, but short ranged and risky to do with Robin. 

Other abilities

His Batman buffs, through The Sidekick, are also important to factor in when assessing the use of this model, and whether or not to use him in a crew. The Sidekick on Robin gives him +1 strength when Batman is in play, making his Batlings a more worthwhile choice, although he loses a willpower if Batman is killed. This again emphasises the Dynamic Duo as a risk/reward type of combination, although they are rewarding to play when used well. Batman himself has The Dynamic Duo, which allows him to immediately activate after Robin does, provided Robin is in 8", and Assistance, which increases his willpower to 8 if Robin is in play, but if he dies Batman gets +1 strength. Overall, their synergistic abilities make it so that they are a big package deal, and I personally would take them together more often than not

Upgrades

Being Dick Grayson, he unlocks 2 upgrades for the crew to purchase, on top of the ones opened by Modern Age Batman. Circus Training is quite expensive for what it does, and realistically isn't worth it at all, while Runner is cheap and decent funding filler, giving Tireless. If you have funding spare, I'd buy it, but otherwise give it a miss. In terms of upgrades to buy for Robin, there is one answer- Martial Arts Training. It's pretty cheap, and it fills a big weakness that he has.

Next up, I am going to cover the Arkham Robins together, as they are somewhat similar, and both are Tim Drake. 

Overview

To put it quite simply, Arkham City Tim is awful. AC is a cheaper Free Agent when compared to Arkham Knight being a Sidekick, but this means he has less utility in terms of crew wide buffs (although the cards themselves affect this). Arkham Knight Robin is faster, having not only an extra movement but also Undercover, both bring Detective and both have Batclaws, fitting with the character.

Defensively

Defensively they are quite similar, but Arkham Knight edges out on top for a few factors. He has 1 higher endurance, but as a Sidekick he benefits from Bodyguards, and his Shielded Bo has Protective, meaning he has an extra Ping! save in comparison to AC Robin. Otherwise, they are fairly average in terms of their cost. Unlike Dick or Carrie, they are very susceptible to ranged attacks outside the protective, with AC Robin having no defensive tech at all. If they get hit, they'll go down

Offensively

Again, both are fairly similar in terms of offence, both their melee weapons are effectively the same (single stun, reach and handy). Both have combo, AC Robin gaining it from the FAQ, although AK edges out here due to his higher attack. It may not seem like much from raw stat lines, but when Combo is factored in AK can potentially get 2 extra attacks because of it, meaning he has a higher damage output. Both are still somewhat mediocre, due to the Bo being a pretty terrible weapon overall outside of Reach, but they have their uses. In terms of ranged weapons though, there is a substantial difference. AK Robin brings the traditional Batlings (without light here as he doesn't have a resin model), not much to talk about there, but AC Robin brings the little seen Flash Grenade. It is a great way to shut down guns, and the -2 to hit and block rolls is a great debuff to melee models as well. Unfortunately, it's not enough to justify AC Robin in my eyes, especially now that we have the quite good Foxtrot bringing a Flash Grenade

Other

AC Robin does bring Searcher and Follow Me! to play, but there are now quite a few models in BatB with Searcher that are just better(the resin Nightwing and comic Red Hood both costing more but being much more worthwhile, Aaron Cash being cheaper and still better). Follow Me! is situational, but when it comes in handy it is very useful, so that is one bonus for him that I cannot deny. AK Robin has True Love: Barbara Gordon, reflecting the odd story decision of the Arkham Knight game, but in BMG terms it won't apply very often. The Batgirl models currently are far better overall than AK Robin, and with both in a crew Robin is largely dead weight (with the exception of Animated Batgirl, but then you're buying a model for it to die)

Upgrades

The Tims don't benefit all that much from the Batman unlocked upgrades, Martial Artist being the best option as is usually the case. They do have a unique upgrade, however, Inspiring Presence giving Tim the Leadership trait. It's ok, against things like Hatter and Ivy it's worth it's weight in gold, but otherwise it pretty much sucks. At $100 it'd be worth taking just in case, at $200 it's a tough choice, but at $250 it's not valuable at all

Carrie Kelley Robin, from the Dark Knight series by Frank Miller. In game terms she's only really useful to play a list themed around this series IMO, otherwise I think she's trash (even worse than the Tims, but at least she's cheaper?).

Overview

For her cost, she has an ok stat line. The movement and defence are good, but attack 3 and endurance 5 make me think of a 30-40 rep gun Henchman, not a Sidekick. She brings all the benefits of being a Sidekick, not that I'd ever even consider her as a Boss option. Willpower 6 is really good for her cost I guess? She just doesn't do anything exciting with it. After the recent update to Huntress, for 12 rep more she's an infinitely better option, unless you explicitly want a sidekick.

Offensively

Not much to write home about, she has a slingshot and Handyman. The slingshot can do 2 blood at short ranged, and rerolls to hit so she's not all that inaccurate. It's like a shitty, cheap carbine- if you hit you've succeeded, they're taking damage. Handyman means she can keep getting ammo for free as long as she's in contact, and that's probably her best use- concealment to hunker down and defend while she pings targets

Defensively

She's not hurting against guns, between movement 4 Acrobat and Concealment. However, nothing helps her from being chopped down with an axe, and if one can catch her, it will kill her. She's just as fragile as Dick, if not more, and needs to be just as close. If you do use her, be careful

Upgrades

Again, Martial Artist. With Handyman, Hidden Magazine is useless, and at ammo 3 she's not short of it either. 

Last but not most definitely not least, Damian Wayne. My personal favourite Robin, he is somewhat maligned by many, and I feel this is unwarranted

Overview

At a glance Damian appears to be a more combat oriented model, and this is certainly the case. Despite this, he is not a straight beater, and should never be used as such. Instead, he is a finesse piece, best used in tandem with another more effective model, as I will cover in more detail later. He has the traditional Batclaw, and in addition to his movement, he makes a decent Batsignal runner, and is probably the Robin best suited for it, if only because Carrie wants to sit on an ammo more.

Offensively

Putting it simply, this is where he's meant to be. Master Fighter means he can hit well, and attack 4 lets him throw out a respectable amount of attacks. Strength 4+ puts him at 50/50 to wound, but his best toy is Technique. Pair him with a Batman, have Damian paralyse a juicy model before Batman comes along and pummels it the rest of the way. Damo only needs one stun to go through to paralyse, and the odds on it are pretty good

Defensively

Damian's defensive abilities are mostly based around close combat, and as such guns are the way to take him. He still has Acrobat at movement 3, which is impressive, but higher rate of fire will grind him down (treat him like a LexCorp suit in a way, he can't dodge everything). Martial Artist helps him a lot in combat, and he's the only Robin to have it (and rightfully so, if anyone should have it it's Damian). Anything that reduces his defence hurts, but that's the same as any model with defence 4 or higher

Other

True Love is his only other major trait, and it is where he gets janky. True Love Talia requires you to take AC Talia through affinity, when it works it's funny (Batman/Damo/Talia is a list I quite enjoy and is very fun). True Love Batman, however, can get hilarious. Just notice, it isn't True Love Bruce Wayne like Talia's, it's True Love Batman. Jean Paul Valley? Sure, Damo loves him! Thomas Wayne? Love you too grandpa! Nothing to build a list around, but it's good for a laugh

Upgrades

Martial Artist is already covered, so nothing is really worth taking on him. Spend freely elsewhere!

Thank you for reading, and I will be writing more soon! Any feedback is welcome, and if you have differing opinions, feel free to let me know!