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.