Hi all, just thought I'd jump in with a quick update on how this blog is going to work in the future. Knight Models had a huge shakeup last night alongside their new releases, the way the rules work for tournaments has now changed massively in not too positive of a way. All these changes can be found on the KM website here: http://www.knightmodels.com/en/
As of last night, standard format Batmatch events are now restricted to 2nd edition models only, with the new style cards, and older models are their own "Eternal format". While this is something that is undeniably for the health of the game, it is a bit of a bummer to read. There has been a lot of negative reaction to it on the various platforms for BMG discussion, but the general sentiment from TOs, myself included, is that the Eternal format will be the unofficial standard, because the standard as it currently is favours certain crews far too heavily to make a fair tournament setting. I would not complain at all about the change, because of the wider TO call, but also because if this month is anything to go by, the re-releasing of models is seriously amping up in volume and we're getting tons of stuff redone very quickly.
On top of this, and the main reason I decided to write this post, is that there was a new team PDF released last night. This updated the Suicide Squad, and added 3 new teams (Secret Society, Bat-Family and Team Arrow) but the Teen Titans, Birds of Prey and Secret Six have all disappeared entirely. Because of this, I will not be continuing with any further posts on the teams other than the overviews I have already begun (Birds of Prey, and I am currently working on Teen Titans). I had planned to detail out the whole rosters for these teams, but now that the book and the teams in it are ruled entirely invalid, I don't see as much point in doing so. Should there be a further update to these teams I will continue, but as it stands I will be moving focus to the new teams, and boy are they exciting!
Wednesday 19 September 2018
Monday 17 September 2018
Birds of Prey general thoughts- Canary, Katana, Catwoman and Huntress
Hi all, back with my first proper team overview, focusing on the Birds of Prey. In this post I'll be talking about general tactics to use when playing Birds of Prey, and then a few choice models to take (Huntress, comic Katana, comic Black Canary and Sirens Catwoman)
General Tactics/Team Overview
In a Birds of Prey crew there is a somewhat limited potential hiring pool, although in terms of options they are now firmly a competitive team in my opinion (Suicide Squad being the only other one of the 4). As a team, all members gain Stealth, with the drawback of also gaining Moral Compass. Despite being able to very easily KO models, not being able to use the Coup de Grace rule is nasty, although there are ways to get models off the table and score VP otherwise. Being a team they are prone to a lower model count, and so I would almost never split the team up, preferring at the very least 2 model teams (usually now Canary/Huntress while the rest move up). The Birds are somewhat more forgiving in terms of VP given away, as they give up 2VP for a KO, then 1 more for a casualty (so 3 all up), with the Boss counting as a Leader. The Boss of the team also gains Reinforced Gloves and +1 Willpower, which ranges from amazing to of little use depending on the Boss. In terms of objectives, Medical Supplies and Ammo are a must, because 3VP each objective is huge for a team, but then the third standard objective depends on crew build. If Catwoman is in the crew, Loot is a definite in my opinion, because easy access to Hidden and Undercover means you can reach it quickly to hand it off to Catwoman.
So as in my Rogues overview, starting with the model I think is the best fit as a Boss model. Black Canary brings so much to a Birds of Prey crew that she is almost always worth including in a list, the fact that she has to be Boss is also pretty negligible. The only case I think the Boss buffs are big enough to warrant taking another character is in the case of Batgirl, because her 59 point version is absolutely insane with the Birds buffs.
Offensively
Attack 4 with Reinforced Gloves and Martial Artist is awesome for her cost, but factor in that she is now Willpower 7 as well and she can be a great rewarding piece most of the time. Her other huge trait is Canary Cry, which is unique to her but can be offensive in both control and in damage. If she's against a horde of mooks, she can quite reliably shut them out of the game entirely or force them to split up away from buffs (Inspire, Leader and Sidekick Let's Go! changes). Leadership is the biggest thing to look for with her, because you want to absolutely knock it out as quickly as possible. Further adding to her aggressive shutdown playstyle is Technique, which means if there's a model that isn't Stunned from the Cry, she can beat it down a bit to paralyse it and shut it out for that turn. Don't rely on her to solo a crew, but she can pretty easily lock them down for everyone else, or at least to protect the advance.
Defensively
Stealth from Birds is awesome on everyone that doesn't already have it, so Canary loves that. She's also a Movement 3 Acrobat for when people do actually shoot, and Defence 4 Martial Artist, so takes an investment to take out in any regard. Keep in mind though, that she is only Endurance 6, gives up Leader VP, and losing her is punishing to the crew in general. You can realistically shut down a huge amount of models a turn with her, but be careful that it doesn't end up with her being left in a position to be easily damaged should things go wrong. Preparing for failure is very important with her.
Overall
Canary is a relatively quick model, and as previously mentioned oppressive in terms of shutting down models. With Hidden she can start doing her thing from turn 1, and now she has quite a good partner for it in Huntress. Between the two you can put pressure on early, and your crew can relax on the advance without much of a threat.
My personal favourite version of Catwoman, she plays well into the Birds purely because she can rack up VP for the crew somewhat easily, while being a royal pain to deal with.
Offensively
In terms of combat, Sirens Catwoman doesn't particularly do anything special. Modern Age Catwoman is the one you want to be fighting in any case, she is far more competent at it. Retractable Claws are a decent attack, but at Attack 3 and Strength 5+, even with rerolls, she is someone who should be at most supporting a combat or harassing an objective, not diving in herself.
Defensively
Simply put, this is where she shines. Acrobat at Movement 5, combined with Defence 5 and she's not easy to take out at all. Add in Stealth and guns are a non-starter without ways to stop her spending counters, meaning she's more of a target to melee models. Defence 5 is always solid, leaving a 33% chance to hit, but she is still prone to defence debuffs, and with no Martial Artist she can't be caught outnumbered. Endurance 5 makes her a bit of a liability, so I am personally prone to keep her out of harm's way as much as is humanly possible (with her movement tricks though, it's easily doable)
Overall
She works best as a simple VP battery. With the inherently lower model count in team lists, someone like Catwoman who can comfortably sit on 5VP a turn (8 with a lucky Change of Plans) is a huge boon to them. With Primary Target:Loot I would take it in most situations Catwoman is in the crew, purely because it lets her be mobile and keep doing her thing. Sneaking lets her always score the 2VP, as long as the contesting model doesn't have it as well, but at the small cost of 1MC still. Her easy scoring opens up the crew to deal with threats, and as long as you can defend them easily enough you will have an easy VP game. Like almost all members of teams, Catwoman works best when she has someone to back her up, in this case to clear off objectives and prevent the opponent from scoring.
Huntress is a character who was largely not worth taking in any crew until July, when she got an update to resin and a new card. The changes on this card compared to the old one are HUGE, and now she is definitely worth using whenever she fits, because she is awesome. +1 willpower and ammo and picking up Hidden are game changers, completely revitalising her.
Offensively
Huntress is an offensive piece first and foremost, being able to do solid damage herself and also enable the rest of the crew to fight better. Her ranged attack is RoF1 with Rapid Fire, so she can always move and shoot with no penalties, and at 2 blood per shot with Mechanical is consistent enough in laying down hurt. At Medium Range she has a great threat range, being able to damage most threats before they can even see her, and with Distract she has an effective means of reducing enemy defence so the rest of the Birds can hit easier, especially helpful against high defence targets. Her Hand Crossbow is also effective at getting around Moral Compass, letting her deal blood damage so there is less need to Coup de Grace enemy models.
Defensively
Nothing too out there for Birds, she's almost exactly the same as Canary defensively. Runaway is situationally very good, making her immune to Arrest, but won't factor in all the time.
Overall
She works best in conjunction with other pieces, mainly as a supporting firebase. As a secondary Hidden piece with Canary, you have a ton of potential threat in a pretty cheap package, right on the opponent's doorstep, and can put the hurt on right from turn 1 to threaten flanks and get early VP. As a Boss she isn't the most desirable, not getting much out of the buffs (Reinforced Gloves on attack 3 is meh, and she has no huge need for willpower 8) but she could potentially lead if needed.
The last piece for this post is comic Katana, who is the simple melee killer of the crew. While there are other models that can quite reliably damage, Katana is the one to take to remove models from the equation, because she completely ignores Moral Compass with her Soultaker.
Offensively
As is obvious from her name, Katana kills things. She is quick enough to get into combat, and her traits are geared around her being in the thick of it cutting things down ("like she's mowing the lawn"- Rick Flag 2016). Weapon wise she isn't too special, basically being the same as Lotus from the League of Assassins, with the exception of her Soultaker having Enervating/1 on it. She will be quite reliably hitting models with Handy and Precise Blow, so she is at least stripping counters off of what she lands hits on. Her Soultaker is nice damage, same as any other Katana wielding model, and the Shurikens are decent at hitting lampposts or little damage at models you can't quite reach. She has Feint, which is awesome on her as it shuts down blocks for 1SC, meaning she will be hitting easier, but the real star is Precise Blow. She should always be using this, because it tunes up her damage output quite significantly, giving +1 to hit and a reroll on the collateral dice. This means she easily hits models, as I have already said, with a +1 to hit and rerolls to hit, then rerolling damage and the collateral she is relatively consistent. Use the reroll to fish for Knock Down, that's what it's best used for with how much counter denial Birds can get going.
Defensively
Like Huntress and Canary, she is again a movement 3 Acrobat that gains Stealth, so she is already quite good against guns. She also has Martial Artist, so Outnumber is very hard to get in a standard Birds of Prey crew, and it suits her a lot with where she wants to be. Her biggest boon, however, is in Adaptable, which effectively means she will be Defence 5 most of the game.
Overall
Katana is the main attack piece of the crew, but I would still make sure she has some form of support as she can only do so much by herself. As a Boss, she doesn't benefit from the Reinforced Gloves at all, but +1 willpower can help a lot in using her as an attack piece, which can come in very handy.
General Tactics/Team Overview
In a Birds of Prey crew there is a somewhat limited potential hiring pool, although in terms of options they are now firmly a competitive team in my opinion (Suicide Squad being the only other one of the 4). As a team, all members gain Stealth, with the drawback of also gaining Moral Compass. Despite being able to very easily KO models, not being able to use the Coup de Grace rule is nasty, although there are ways to get models off the table and score VP otherwise. Being a team they are prone to a lower model count, and so I would almost never split the team up, preferring at the very least 2 model teams (usually now Canary/Huntress while the rest move up). The Birds are somewhat more forgiving in terms of VP given away, as they give up 2VP for a KO, then 1 more for a casualty (so 3 all up), with the Boss counting as a Leader. The Boss of the team also gains Reinforced Gloves and +1 Willpower, which ranges from amazing to of little use depending on the Boss. In terms of objectives, Medical Supplies and Ammo are a must, because 3VP each objective is huge for a team, but then the third standard objective depends on crew build. If Catwoman is in the crew, Loot is a definite in my opinion, because easy access to Hidden and Undercover means you can reach it quickly to hand it off to Catwoman.
Offensively
Attack 4 with Reinforced Gloves and Martial Artist is awesome for her cost, but factor in that she is now Willpower 7 as well and she can be a great rewarding piece most of the time. Her other huge trait is Canary Cry, which is unique to her but can be offensive in both control and in damage. If she's against a horde of mooks, she can quite reliably shut them out of the game entirely or force them to split up away from buffs (Inspire, Leader and Sidekick Let's Go! changes). Leadership is the biggest thing to look for with her, because you want to absolutely knock it out as quickly as possible. Further adding to her aggressive shutdown playstyle is Technique, which means if there's a model that isn't Stunned from the Cry, she can beat it down a bit to paralyse it and shut it out for that turn. Don't rely on her to solo a crew, but she can pretty easily lock them down for everyone else, or at least to protect the advance.
Defensively
Stealth from Birds is awesome on everyone that doesn't already have it, so Canary loves that. She's also a Movement 3 Acrobat for when people do actually shoot, and Defence 4 Martial Artist, so takes an investment to take out in any regard. Keep in mind though, that she is only Endurance 6, gives up Leader VP, and losing her is punishing to the crew in general. You can realistically shut down a huge amount of models a turn with her, but be careful that it doesn't end up with her being left in a position to be easily damaged should things go wrong. Preparing for failure is very important with her.
Overall
Canary is a relatively quick model, and as previously mentioned oppressive in terms of shutting down models. With Hidden she can start doing her thing from turn 1, and now she has quite a good partner for it in Huntress. Between the two you can put pressure on early, and your crew can relax on the advance without much of a threat.
Offensively
In terms of combat, Sirens Catwoman doesn't particularly do anything special. Modern Age Catwoman is the one you want to be fighting in any case, she is far more competent at it. Retractable Claws are a decent attack, but at Attack 3 and Strength 5+, even with rerolls, she is someone who should be at most supporting a combat or harassing an objective, not diving in herself.
Defensively
Simply put, this is where she shines. Acrobat at Movement 5, combined with Defence 5 and she's not easy to take out at all. Add in Stealth and guns are a non-starter without ways to stop her spending counters, meaning she's more of a target to melee models. Defence 5 is always solid, leaving a 33% chance to hit, but she is still prone to defence debuffs, and with no Martial Artist she can't be caught outnumbered. Endurance 5 makes her a bit of a liability, so I am personally prone to keep her out of harm's way as much as is humanly possible (with her movement tricks though, it's easily doable)
Overall
She works best as a simple VP battery. With the inherently lower model count in team lists, someone like Catwoman who can comfortably sit on 5VP a turn (8 with a lucky Change of Plans) is a huge boon to them. With Primary Target:Loot I would take it in most situations Catwoman is in the crew, purely because it lets her be mobile and keep doing her thing. Sneaking lets her always score the 2VP, as long as the contesting model doesn't have it as well, but at the small cost of 1MC still. Her easy scoring opens up the crew to deal with threats, and as long as you can defend them easily enough you will have an easy VP game. Like almost all members of teams, Catwoman works best when she has someone to back her up, in this case to clear off objectives and prevent the opponent from scoring.
Offensively
Huntress is an offensive piece first and foremost, being able to do solid damage herself and also enable the rest of the crew to fight better. Her ranged attack is RoF1 with Rapid Fire, so she can always move and shoot with no penalties, and at 2 blood per shot with Mechanical is consistent enough in laying down hurt. At Medium Range she has a great threat range, being able to damage most threats before they can even see her, and with Distract she has an effective means of reducing enemy defence so the rest of the Birds can hit easier, especially helpful against high defence targets. Her Hand Crossbow is also effective at getting around Moral Compass, letting her deal blood damage so there is less need to Coup de Grace enemy models.
Defensively
Nothing too out there for Birds, she's almost exactly the same as Canary defensively. Runaway is situationally very good, making her immune to Arrest, but won't factor in all the time.
Overall
She works best in conjunction with other pieces, mainly as a supporting firebase. As a secondary Hidden piece with Canary, you have a ton of potential threat in a pretty cheap package, right on the opponent's doorstep, and can put the hurt on right from turn 1 to threaten flanks and get early VP. As a Boss she isn't the most desirable, not getting much out of the buffs (Reinforced Gloves on attack 3 is meh, and she has no huge need for willpower 8) but she could potentially lead if needed.
Offensively
As is obvious from her name, Katana kills things. She is quick enough to get into combat, and her traits are geared around her being in the thick of it cutting things down ("like she's mowing the lawn"- Rick Flag 2016). Weapon wise she isn't too special, basically being the same as Lotus from the League of Assassins, with the exception of her Soultaker having Enervating/1 on it. She will be quite reliably hitting models with Handy and Precise Blow, so she is at least stripping counters off of what she lands hits on. Her Soultaker is nice damage, same as any other Katana wielding model, and the Shurikens are decent at hitting lampposts or little damage at models you can't quite reach. She has Feint, which is awesome on her as it shuts down blocks for 1SC, meaning she will be hitting easier, but the real star is Precise Blow. She should always be using this, because it tunes up her damage output quite significantly, giving +1 to hit and a reroll on the collateral dice. This means she easily hits models, as I have already said, with a +1 to hit and rerolls to hit, then rerolling damage and the collateral she is relatively consistent. Use the reroll to fish for Knock Down, that's what it's best used for with how much counter denial Birds can get going.
Defensively
Like Huntress and Canary, she is again a movement 3 Acrobat that gains Stealth, so she is already quite good against guns. She also has Martial Artist, so Outnumber is very hard to get in a standard Birds of Prey crew, and it suits her a lot with where she wants to be. Her biggest boon, however, is in Adaptable, which effectively means she will be Defence 5 most of the game.
Overall
Katana is the main attack piece of the crew, but I would still make sure she has some form of support as she can only do so much by herself. As a Boss, she doesn't benefit from the Reinforced Gloves at all, but +1 willpower can help a lot in using her as an attack piece, which can come in very handy.
Saturday 8 September 2018
The Rogues- thoughts
To follow up from my earlier post on the Flash family, I'm now covering their opposites in the Rogues. I will be discussing all versions of Captain Cold, Captain Boomerang, and Heatwave, before going in depth on the existing villain Speedsters as well down the line.
The obvious starting point of the Rogues, we have their traditional leader Captain Cold. Cold is a great support piece with his traits, and also provides great ranged threat with his Cold Gun. He can be a Free Agent to any villain crew bar Joker and League of Assassins, but also as a Sidekick in a Mr Freeze. This is how I personally use him most, leading a predominately Rogues themed crew, but he slots in excellently in many cases.
Offensively
Captain Cold excels in situations where he isn't in close range fighting himself, preferring to take a more backline approach with his ranged weapons. Ranged Master on his RoF2 double blood gun means he is hitting fairly reliably, and it being a Beam with Accurate and Cold means he is a tailor made Acrobat hunter, or anyone with Dodge. Medium Range allows him to shoot at models while he is still relatively safe early on, and Cold as a weapon trait plays quite well into Heatwave, as losing movement counters means a greater chance they can't remove Fire. This weapon mode has 3 ammo, meaning he can be shooting it for half the game, but his other alternate fire mode is also very good. The full power mode of his Cold Gun, it's main differences are Ice Template (punishing for low movement models) and Aim. Aim on this mode isn't all that bad, because at Short Range you likely won't use it until models are closing in anyway, using the Ice Template to stop an advance. It also sacrifices 1RoF for an extra stun damage, meaning you can clip a few models for more damage on this hit, but the main intention is for them to be taking agility rolls from the template, and hopefully being Knocked Down.
Defensively
In terms of defence, Cold doesn't have anything special really. Defence 4 endurance 7 is a solid stat block for his cost, but as a Free Agent one needs to play carefully. In a Mr Freeze crew he benefits from Prisoner 4, and the Bodyguard here I feel is pretty essential.
Overall
Cold's trait list is suited towards a midfield firebase, providing henchmen with some great potential support, and dealing out a good amount of damage himself. Leadership is great against Mind Control models, and Order helps get out of potential misplays with counters. Mastermind is always good to have, but his greatest trait for his cost is Strategist. The extra strategy point really just sets off his whole card
Best crews
Cold is obviously keyed into a Mr Freeze crew through being a Sidekick, although it is not the best choice to run both him and Freeze together. The Freeze crew already seriously struggles with funding, introducing the $400 Cold into it just adds to the problem. He provides an excellent kit for it, but it's expensive to do. As a boss, Cold is great, not costing any funding at all for all the toys he brings. He naturally also plays off of Heatwave in any crew, but the place Cold really shines is in Organised Crime. The tools he has play off any henchman mob well, but Joker that isn't an option, and Penguin in general has fallen to the wayside a bit. OC, on the other hand, he is maximising his potential skill set, while also being an offensive piece
To round off the TV Rogues, Heatwave is a very good all rounder, and provides a lot to any crew he is included in. He doesn't have any buffs for other models, but as a damage dealer he can do a lot of work to clear models, and he is decently tanky for his cost. Def 3 is on the lower end, but at endurance 8 for 65 points, he takes a kicking. He works for the same crews as his partner, Captain Cold, so no Joker or League here either!
Offensively
Heatwave is pretty obvious in his naming, he has a flamethrower and he burns things. The actual damage on it is in multiple bands, as it is a 1st edition card, but it is more than capable of dealing great damage on its own, especially so when you add in other models. He also has attack 4 with Reinforced Gloves, meaning that he can lay the fists on when he needs to, something which is a great addition in a worst case scenario.
Defensively
Heatwave lacks many "traditional" defensive abilities, but he has some more interesting corner case traits that can be useful in certain situations. He has Escape Artist, meaning he is immune to Grab, but at defence 3 with no Martial Artist grabs aren't all that useful anyway. He is relatively easy to hit, but at endurance 8 and Sturdy he has the potential to hang around for quite a while, and be a pain while he's still alive.
Overall
There's not much else to say about Heatwave, he's a very unsubtle model in what he does. Teamwork/2 Captain Cold is about his only tricky ability, and when Cold is willpower 6 himself it's something to use very carefully.
Best crews
Heatwave, like all models with Fire, work best when you can deny movement counters being spent. This often means Freeze, although any crew with Killer Frost can do it for a cost, and the synergy with Captain Cold also works well enough in most cases. He is a good general use model, and can find a spot in most of the crews he works for.
The first Captain Boomerang we're dealing with is the movie version, from Suicide Squad. Simply put, this model is one of the best Free Agents in the game point for point, bringing a ton of value for very low cost. 48 rep and $200 is not a major investment in any regard, and any gang that can use him will likely be able to get value from him
Offensively
This is really where Boomerang shines for his price point, being able to put out reliable ranged damage that ignores Ping!. His Monitoring Device should always be used if you're shooting, unless you are shooting a pingless shot, just because it negates the most prevalent ranged defence in the game. In terms of actual shooting, Master Marksman means he is rerolling misses (keeping him quite accurate). He has 3 ammo as standard, 2 for his Bladed Boomerang and 1 for his LE Boomerang. The Bladed Boomerang keeps him mobile, able to be thrown at full RoF on the move, and at strength 4+ with rerolls is semi-reliable damage. The LE Boomerang is more suited towards a stationary Digger, keeping him static on an ammo to keep arming himself and letting fly. It does slightly more damage, double blood vs blood stun, and is a Firearm so it is far more likely to wound. His best trait offensively though, and the one that is quite hilarious, is Ricochet. The potential to make another whole attack against a second target each turn is huge, and can potentially mean massive amounts of damage output from a quite cheap Free Agent. If you can catch a Bodyguard near their Leader, you can get both, or at the very least nuke a Bodyguard so the rest of the crew can gang up on the Leader. Should he get caught in a bad spot and put into melee, you can also attack with his Melee Boomerangs, which have the same function as his Bladed Boomerangs but lack any rerolls to hit. This is a strictly worse way of playing than simply moving out of B2B and shooting with a Bladed Boomerang, unless it's against a dump character like a Dollotron.
Defensively
Boomer is a bit fragile at defence 3 endurance 5, but that can be expected for his cost. He does bring Elusive, which allows him to spend MC to reroll Ping! rolls, but this is very situational. In general, play it safe with Boomerang. Behind the action is where he wants to be, just like the movie
Overall
This Boomerang is very good as a cheap offensive model, firing away from behind his allies, but he is not a great VP piece. He's only able to score off of Safe Boxes and Loot, so you have to plan around lower VP gain per turn if you actually want Boomerang to score himself, or not have him gaining objective VP at all. That said, as a force multiplier he works incredibly well for offensive crews, being able to shoot into combats without any chance of a Ping! being given away. However, a Riddler bot list can also find a very good spot for him as another shorter ranged piece, preferably to defend the bots and clues.
The comic Boomerang is fairly similar to SS Boomer, gaining +1 endurance, movement and defence and a ton of different tricks, but he costs 34 rep and $150 funding more. It is quite a significant increase in points, but also quite an upgrade overall.
Offensively
This Boomerang is lower in terms of raw shooting power, but he brings along some interesting trick boomerangs, adding up to a whopping 5 ammo, that can help out a crew in many ways. He has Master Marksman like SS Boomer, so he rerolls all missed ranged attacks, but replaces the Monitoring Device for Shooter. This means he is less counter intensive for max damage output, but without Total Vision and Remote Controlled he doesn't have the ability to shoot around corners. The first profile is his melee profile, which as a single blood with sharp is decent enough, but all of his ranged attacks are throwing with rerolls, so why stay in a combat with him? In terms of other weapon profiles, he has the same Blade Boomerang as SS Boomerang as a "standard" (the only one with more than one ammo), but his trick boomerangs are where he starts to look special. The Acid Boomerang is his best single damage attack, at 2 blood, but at only RoF1 it is somewhat restricted. Acid enables him as softening something for a further beatdown, acting as a defence reduction to make others hit easier (and Ricochet lets you get it on 2 models, efficiency!). The Electric Boomerang deals only stun, but has the potentially amazing Electric trait, meaning he can Stun models and stop them using counters on a crit (again, Ricochet for the control factor is great). At RoF2 it is a solid attack to KO models, but in the most common case where Electric is a factor (reroll damage vs Bots and Cybernetic) the Blade Boomerang already has Sharp, but with blood/stun. The Gravity Boomerang is his most potentially interesting, having lower damage than the rest (1 blood) but at RoF2 and with Push you can force a lot of models out of position. With Ricochet you can potentially push 4 models a turn, moving things how you want them and dictating the flow of the game in a huge way.
Defensively
As previously mentioned, this Boomerang has defence 4 and endurance 6, both higher than SS. This means he is natively harder to take out, combined with trading Elusive for Dodge, and at movement 3 no less, you get a model that can stick around a lot longer.
Overall
Some big changes between Boomerangs, this one loses Greed, so can score of any objective, and gains Follow Me! and Tracking. Follow Me! makes him a great secondary piece in slower crews like OC, as he can help with counter efficiency and increasing movement, and Tracking means he himself is able to be sped up when necessary (although at willpower 6 he is unlikely to have much left after a full turn of action). He is harder to slot into crews than SS Boomerang, but still fits very well into a great many builds. As a boss in Suicide Squad, he is also an interesting option. While not being as singularly effective as Deadshot or Deathstroke, he is able to manipulate the effective Let's Go! that Suicide Squad have, and enable the real heavy hitters to play with it.
Offensively
Captain Cold excels in situations where he isn't in close range fighting himself, preferring to take a more backline approach with his ranged weapons. Ranged Master on his RoF2 double blood gun means he is hitting fairly reliably, and it being a Beam with Accurate and Cold means he is a tailor made Acrobat hunter, or anyone with Dodge. Medium Range allows him to shoot at models while he is still relatively safe early on, and Cold as a weapon trait plays quite well into Heatwave, as losing movement counters means a greater chance they can't remove Fire. This weapon mode has 3 ammo, meaning he can be shooting it for half the game, but his other alternate fire mode is also very good. The full power mode of his Cold Gun, it's main differences are Ice Template (punishing for low movement models) and Aim. Aim on this mode isn't all that bad, because at Short Range you likely won't use it until models are closing in anyway, using the Ice Template to stop an advance. It also sacrifices 1RoF for an extra stun damage, meaning you can clip a few models for more damage on this hit, but the main intention is for them to be taking agility rolls from the template, and hopefully being Knocked Down.
Defensively
In terms of defence, Cold doesn't have anything special really. Defence 4 endurance 7 is a solid stat block for his cost, but as a Free Agent one needs to play carefully. In a Mr Freeze crew he benefits from Prisoner 4, and the Bodyguard here I feel is pretty essential.
Overall
Cold's trait list is suited towards a midfield firebase, providing henchmen with some great potential support, and dealing out a good amount of damage himself. Leadership is great against Mind Control models, and Order helps get out of potential misplays with counters. Mastermind is always good to have, but his greatest trait for his cost is Strategist. The extra strategy point really just sets off his whole card
Best crews
Cold is obviously keyed into a Mr Freeze crew through being a Sidekick, although it is not the best choice to run both him and Freeze together. The Freeze crew already seriously struggles with funding, introducing the $400 Cold into it just adds to the problem. He provides an excellent kit for it, but it's expensive to do. As a boss, Cold is great, not costing any funding at all for all the toys he brings. He naturally also plays off of Heatwave in any crew, but the place Cold really shines is in Organised Crime. The tools he has play off any henchman mob well, but Joker that isn't an option, and Penguin in general has fallen to the wayside a bit. OC, on the other hand, he is maximising his potential skill set, while also being an offensive piece
Offensively
Heatwave is pretty obvious in his naming, he has a flamethrower and he burns things. The actual damage on it is in multiple bands, as it is a 1st edition card, but it is more than capable of dealing great damage on its own, especially so when you add in other models. He also has attack 4 with Reinforced Gloves, meaning that he can lay the fists on when he needs to, something which is a great addition in a worst case scenario.
Defensively
Heatwave lacks many "traditional" defensive abilities, but he has some more interesting corner case traits that can be useful in certain situations. He has Escape Artist, meaning he is immune to Grab, but at defence 3 with no Martial Artist grabs aren't all that useful anyway. He is relatively easy to hit, but at endurance 8 and Sturdy he has the potential to hang around for quite a while, and be a pain while he's still alive.
Overall
There's not much else to say about Heatwave, he's a very unsubtle model in what he does. Teamwork/2 Captain Cold is about his only tricky ability, and when Cold is willpower 6 himself it's something to use very carefully.
Best crews
Heatwave, like all models with Fire, work best when you can deny movement counters being spent. This often means Freeze, although any crew with Killer Frost can do it for a cost, and the synergy with Captain Cold also works well enough in most cases. He is a good general use model, and can find a spot in most of the crews he works for.
Offensively
This is really where Boomerang shines for his price point, being able to put out reliable ranged damage that ignores Ping!. His Monitoring Device should always be used if you're shooting, unless you are shooting a pingless shot, just because it negates the most prevalent ranged defence in the game. In terms of actual shooting, Master Marksman means he is rerolling misses (keeping him quite accurate). He has 3 ammo as standard, 2 for his Bladed Boomerang and 1 for his LE Boomerang. The Bladed Boomerang keeps him mobile, able to be thrown at full RoF on the move, and at strength 4+ with rerolls is semi-reliable damage. The LE Boomerang is more suited towards a stationary Digger, keeping him static on an ammo to keep arming himself and letting fly. It does slightly more damage, double blood vs blood stun, and is a Firearm so it is far more likely to wound. His best trait offensively though, and the one that is quite hilarious, is Ricochet. The potential to make another whole attack against a second target each turn is huge, and can potentially mean massive amounts of damage output from a quite cheap Free Agent. If you can catch a Bodyguard near their Leader, you can get both, or at the very least nuke a Bodyguard so the rest of the crew can gang up on the Leader. Should he get caught in a bad spot and put into melee, you can also attack with his Melee Boomerangs, which have the same function as his Bladed Boomerangs but lack any rerolls to hit. This is a strictly worse way of playing than simply moving out of B2B and shooting with a Bladed Boomerang, unless it's against a dump character like a Dollotron.
Defensively
Boomer is a bit fragile at defence 3 endurance 5, but that can be expected for his cost. He does bring Elusive, which allows him to spend MC to reroll Ping! rolls, but this is very situational. In general, play it safe with Boomerang. Behind the action is where he wants to be, just like the movie
Overall
This Boomerang is very good as a cheap offensive model, firing away from behind his allies, but he is not a great VP piece. He's only able to score off of Safe Boxes and Loot, so you have to plan around lower VP gain per turn if you actually want Boomerang to score himself, or not have him gaining objective VP at all. That said, as a force multiplier he works incredibly well for offensive crews, being able to shoot into combats without any chance of a Ping! being given away. However, a Riddler bot list can also find a very good spot for him as another shorter ranged piece, preferably to defend the bots and clues.
Offensively
This Boomerang is lower in terms of raw shooting power, but he brings along some interesting trick boomerangs, adding up to a whopping 5 ammo, that can help out a crew in many ways. He has Master Marksman like SS Boomer, so he rerolls all missed ranged attacks, but replaces the Monitoring Device for Shooter. This means he is less counter intensive for max damage output, but without Total Vision and Remote Controlled he doesn't have the ability to shoot around corners. The first profile is his melee profile, which as a single blood with sharp is decent enough, but all of his ranged attacks are throwing with rerolls, so why stay in a combat with him? In terms of other weapon profiles, he has the same Blade Boomerang as SS Boomerang as a "standard" (the only one with more than one ammo), but his trick boomerangs are where he starts to look special. The Acid Boomerang is his best single damage attack, at 2 blood, but at only RoF1 it is somewhat restricted. Acid enables him as softening something for a further beatdown, acting as a defence reduction to make others hit easier (and Ricochet lets you get it on 2 models, efficiency!). The Electric Boomerang deals only stun, but has the potentially amazing Electric trait, meaning he can Stun models and stop them using counters on a crit (again, Ricochet for the control factor is great). At RoF2 it is a solid attack to KO models, but in the most common case where Electric is a factor (reroll damage vs Bots and Cybernetic) the Blade Boomerang already has Sharp, but with blood/stun. The Gravity Boomerang is his most potentially interesting, having lower damage than the rest (1 blood) but at RoF2 and with Push you can force a lot of models out of position. With Ricochet you can potentially push 4 models a turn, moving things how you want them and dictating the flow of the game in a huge way.
Defensively
As previously mentioned, this Boomerang has defence 4 and endurance 6, both higher than SS. This means he is natively harder to take out, combined with trading Elusive for Dodge, and at movement 3 no less, you get a model that can stick around a lot longer.
Overall
Some big changes between Boomerangs, this one loses Greed, so can score of any objective, and gains Follow Me! and Tracking. Follow Me! makes him a great secondary piece in slower crews like OC, as he can help with counter efficiency and increasing movement, and Tracking means he himself is able to be sped up when necessary (although at willpower 6 he is unlikely to have much left after a full turn of action). He is harder to slot into crews than SS Boomerang, but still fits very well into a great many builds. As a boss in Suicide Squad, he is also an interesting option. While not being as singularly effective as Deadshot or Deathstroke, he is able to manipulate the effective Let's Go! that Suicide Squad have, and enable the real heavy hitters to play with it.
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