Team Arrow- Overview and my favourite options

Welcome back all, to another team overview. I've previously covered Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey in team overviews, and this time I've decided to continue with Team Arrow. Many of these models I've already discussed, but I really enjoy playing this team and I think they definitely have what it takes to be considered a competitive crew.

Team Rules

Team Arrow have a few unique rules, both bonuses and downsides, which all play very nicely with what is in the crew.
Perfect Planning... is a slightly smaller benefit for the team, but it forces an opponent to deploy their entire crew before the Team Arrow crew, with the exception of Hidden and Undercover. This allows a Team Arrow player to deploy reactively and be able to determine what angles they are going to take earlier in the game, and is effectively giving them a free Ambush strategy (right down to an opponent's Ambush cancelling this). It also allows a single model per round to spend a pass counter in their activation to reallocate 3 counters, in effect giving them something in between Veteran and Trickster in its use. This is also very good, as it again plays into the reactive nature of Team Arrow and lets you make decisions based on the board state.
...Bad Choices is the downside to Perfect Planning, meaning Team Arrow cannot pass more than once consecutively. It isn't great, but it's minor enough with the options in the crew that it doesn't outweigh the positives at all.
Technological Support is the big one. This is the best special rule for a Team Arrow team, and gives the Multitask trait to a single model in the crew after deployment. Some models are restricted from taking the Fighter option (most importantly Speedsters because that would be busted, but mainly models with attack or defence 5, or that have Adaptable) but the other options on Multitask are still available to these. Fighter is as always the best option to take, and on a great deal of attack 4/ defence 4 models in the crew is a must have, but the others have their situational uses as well depending on your list.

Equipment

The 3 equipment options in a Team Arrow list will pretty much always see play, and are all well worth taking. They all play into the primarily ranged based team, and help with shooting more than anything else.
Magazine is pretty standard, extra ammunition to one weapon. Slightly more costly than normal at $250, but you'll usually have space for at least one anyway.
Red Dot is probably the best piece of equipment in this list, and if you're not taking it you have to have a very good reason. Giving rerolls to hit on some great ranged weapons adds a little bit extra consistency, and with the lower amount of models and shots in the crew anything helps. Giving it to Captain Cold, Harry or any other good damage gun piece is invaluable, even for $300
Tactical Gloves is an upgrade for Green Arrow only, and gives him Reinforced Gloves. Same as he gets in Brave and the Bold, it can be a great cheap way of giving him a little bit more punch when he needs it. Not always going to be useful, but for how cheap it is why wouldn't you take it if you had leftover funding?

Strategies

Team Arrow have 2 unique Strategies available to them on top of normal options, and both are very good.
Archer in the Dark only works on 2 models in the crew (Green Arrow and Malcolm Merlyn) but what it does for these models is very helpful. Being able to place 6" after shooting their ranged weapons lets them relocate very easily, and for only 1 strategy point has a lot of janky potential in its applications. You are able to move with them to get into a good shooting position, then shoot an opponent before placing back into a position of safety (or back to ammo for next turn). The strategy is only one use, but that one use is almost always guaranteed to be valuable and as such should be taken most of the time (unless of course you don't have Green Arrow or Merlyn in your list)
The Hunter's Hour is excellent. The extra 4 inches it gives on vision range helps with keeping your own stuff safe, and the amount of Beam weapons in the crew means you don't even really care about the high likelihood of pings at this distance. It also lets you shoot earlier in the game than normal, which combined with the ability to very easily deploy reactively lets you take control of the flow of the game from very early. Awesome combo with Green Arrow too, who can jump around from 16 inches away and pop very reliable shots onto whatever he needs to.

What kind of Team Arrow review would this be if I didn't talk about Green Arrow. The lynchpin of the crew thematically (although not 100% necessary in gameplay terms), Green Arrow is an excellent ranged attack piece and obviously plays right into every benefit this crew has. In this review I will be talking specifically about the 2 versions above (Miller and New 52 comic) but any Green Arrow can slot into this team and work well.
Offensive
Green Arrow is a shooting model through and through, something which is true of every version. They all have traits related to helping them shoot better, and all have a "regular" Arrow profile of Mechanic, Aim and 2 Blood. Each version also has their own trick arrow with its own extra bonuses to further differentiate them, and they are all quite good. It has to be said, whenever a trick arrow doesn't have One Use in the profile, it should always be bought a Magazine as equipment to give it a second one, because the utility is just too good.
Miller Arrow is actually the most different in terms of weaponry, as his regular Arrow profile does more damage per shot (3 blood vs 2 otherwise) and at ammo 3 he will be shooting for a while. This comes at the expense of not having Rapid Fire to shoot more than one a turn, but with having Good Aim and Ranged Master for +2 to hit (with an easy reroll on top from Red Dot) he is quite reliably hitting models when he wants to. Even defence 5 should fear this, and that's even before we talk about his trick arrow. While not having it's intended purpose just yet, the Kryptonite Arrow is good purely for being a single shot with 4 blood, letting him very easily damage weaker henchmen and possibly even outright kill in many circumstances. For 75 rep he is definitely a worthwhile option in terms of offensive capabilities.
New 52 Arrow is significantly more expensive at 117 rep, but his cost is well worth the investment. Rapid Fire, Good Aim and Master Marksman means he will be doing very reliable amounts of damage whenever he needs to, while having the usual 3 ammo on his regular Arrow so he can keep doing what he does best until he can get to an ammo (or keeping him less tied down by ammo). His trick arrow is the same as his regular one in terms of damage and traits, although with the always great Stun attached. With how easily he can hit, he is almost guaranteeing shutting down a model for that turn and likely protecting his crew from a big threat (or setting it up to get hit by Hawkman or Hawkgirl) and this is only better on his melee as well. With Technique he will likely be Paralysing models on damage, and although he has no benefits in this regard he can still use it where necessary, likely pairing it with Adaptable for attack 5
Defensive
Every version of Green Arrow is defence 4 and either endurance 7 or 8, which is good while not being especially amazing(that is to say, he needs an investment to kill but it won't take the whole game). They are also all Acrobats with just their movement stats differing from each other, ranging from 2 on Miller (so not likely to Dodge at all) to the quite impressive 4 on New 52 and TV Arrows (66% chance to pass Dodges).
Miller Arrow has the great benefit of Desensitised which means he won't lose counters from damage at all, but with the downside of having One-Armed, giving him a -1 to all block rolls. This is not huge on Arrow though, because he will usually be zipping around the edges of a fight early-mid game so won't be needing to block very often.
New 52 Arrow has a combination of an awesome statline with also having some great defensive traits to play with. Adaptable is usually going to be in defence, putting it at the excellent defence 5, but the option is there to put it into movement or attack as well. Movement is not great, as 5 counters in movement just means he's overextended and probably going to get hurt (it makes Dodges easier, but you need to be hit to Dodge and so defence 5 is still better in this regard) and attack 5 lets him punch things easier with his Reinforced Gloves upgrade. It is still almost always worth putting it into defence however, just to keep him alive. He also has Hardened, which turns a single blood into stun every turn and lets him shake more damage, and Stealth, making him harder to see to shoot at (combine this with Hunter's Hour for best results), but his biggest benefit is his Sidekick rank, which means he is giving up less VP in the event he does die in game.
Overall
Green Arrow doesn't have too much in the way of special abilities that don't help in a fight. Affinity Batman on Miller Arrow is nice, but irrelevant in Team Arrow, and otherwise there's nothing really to speak of in this regard. All but Animated have Batclaws and can move quickly, but that's about it.

So we've discussed Green Arrow, and now we've got someone who's traditionally been his begrudging ally and a definite frenemy when it comes to the methods of heroism, Hawkman. Despite the pair not being the greatest of friends (in fact Hawkman is only in here because of Legends of Tomorrow rather than an Arrow connection), Hawkman complements Green Arrow's playstyle perfectly, bringing a brutal melee character to pair with GA's primarily ranged presence. Hawkman is also one of the best models to take the Fighter option of Multitask on, as he becomes a flying beatstick with attack and defence 5 on top of his already impressive kit.
Offensive
Hawkman is a primarily melee based model, and somewhat straightforward, although he does have a sneaky little trick in Team Arrow. His Nth Metal Mace does blood/stun and is Handy, which at attack 4 and strength 3+ means he is doing great amounts of damage(but not one-shotting the biggest guys), although it does also have Magic, which is handy for the Invulnerable models in the game (and also demolishes Deadman). This is only made better by becoming attack 5 with the Fighter upgrade from Multitask, making him harder to block and just having more attacks. In looking at this it may seem like the Claws part of Fighter is wasted, but that's where you have to factor in Savage Fighter. +1 to hit on a Push attack is great, and while in 2nd Edition BMG you have to be unarmed to Push, Hawkman now having a way to get Claws means he can be a reliable way to deal with rooftop campers, or just to clear off objectives while keeping decent damage. In Brave and the Bold he is still a great Batsignal piece, but somewhat overshadowed by cheaper options, while in Team Arrow he is well worth the cost for the toolkit he brings as opposed to some others.
Defensive
Hawkman is relatively standard in terms of his points cost, but he has a few nice little tricks that can help out a lot. Endurance 9 is great, and with Hardened means even an Assault Rifle can't one shot him (it will still knock him out, but then he has the potential to get back up). Fire Immunity is helpful in certain situations as well, but the greatest thing he has for defence is Hover. For 1SC it means he is only hit on 6s in combat, and although it does have a downside vs ranged attacks you can quite easily decide when it's worth using Hover and when it isn't. In a Team Arrow crew use your ranged pieces to quickly take out guns, then Hover to your heart's content with Hawkman to have a very tough threat.
Overall
Fly and Flying High are both great at mitigating his lower movement speed, both to keep up with the fast members of Team Arrow (GA and Flash mainly) and to relocate wherever he is needed and put out damage. Teamwork 2 with Hawkgirl isn't hugely useful as they're both likely to be doing their own thing with their counters, but it is potentially also very good if they're both on the table and near each other.

The other half of the Hawk pair, Hawkgirl is a bit more of a finesse piece to Hawkman's blunt object. Like Hawkman, she is an excellent choice for the Fighter upgrade, and honestly arguably better with it than Hawkman is for 10 rep less. 

Offensive

Same melee weapon as Hawkman without any fancy damage abilities, but she has a lower attack stat as standard, which hurts a bit. However, she also has two big abilities to help her out in combat in the form of Unstoppable and Weapon Master, which means she has a +1 to hit on top of Handy and for a special counter can make an opponent need to block twice to prevent each strike, ensuring usually at least one hit will go through. When she gets given Fighter, however, she becomes attack 4, which means she is pretty reliably putting out a ton of hurt while she is very hard to block consistently. 

Defensive

Like Hawkman she has Hover and Fire Immunity, meaning she is potentially quite annoying to take out, but she does have 2 less endurance than Hawkman. Hawkgirl really shines though when she is given the Fighter upgrade from Multitask (just like Hawkman) and she becomes defence 5, making her very hard to hit (although still weaker than Hawkman)

Overall
Just like Hawkman, she has Fly, Flying High and Teamwork 2(although to Hawkman instead of Hawkgirl obviously). She does, however, have an extra movement, which means she is able to move around faster and get where she needs to be. Otherwise there isn't much to be said in this regard. 

Additional mentions

This team list also contains a lot of models I've already discussed, and pretty much all of these I like very much in Team Arrow as well.
The Flash is a great addition to the team, and like I have discussed before the DCEU or CW Flashes both bring a lot to play in any crew, something which stays true in Team Arrow.
Both Harry and Captain Cold bring reliable guns with extra strategy points, which plays right into the Hunter's Hour strategy (and both love Red Dot) while being relatively cheaper options to use, while Diggle and Heatwave are always good at their job (and can be even better with Multitask, especially Heatwave).
Katana gives some much needed melee in what is largely a shooting based team list, and has the great combination of speed and damage to be very useful exactly where she needs to be.
Huntress is a great opening piece as well, being able to put early pressure on an opponent while the rest of the crew advances into shooting range, and with Hunter's Hour she can protect herself relatively easily while she does this from a longer range 

Brave and the Bold henchmen review part 2- Sons of Batman, Alfred and the GCPD

Welcome back everyone, today we've got the second half of the Brave and the Bold henchmen up for discussion, with more of the Eternal picks. Some of these models are still very valuable if they can be found, while others I would personally just skip. But enough of that, lets just get right into it and move on to the model talk!

Sons of Batman

One set that is relatively unique in that it is 100% straight out of a comic, the Sons of Batman are made to go together with the rest of the Frank Miller range
Offensive
SoB 1, being the cheapest of the lot, has the lowest offensive potential, and he is based around using his Batlings for ranged attacks. It's not great, but it's something, and with Brutal he can fish for knockdowns to assist other things
SoB 2 is the gun piece of the 3, being higher funding but also having a decent amount of ammo to keep himself shooting. Having a template shotgun (read- the better kind) with 1 ammo he can help to punish bunched up hordes, and his other gun is ok but not great. If he can stay on an ammo and shoot the shotgun its better, but he is also not that likely to get more than 1 shot with it anyway.
SoB 3 is an expensive combat piece, with Reinforced Gloves and Counterattack for pure punching, while also being a decent strength of 4+ which lets him damage easier. His one major downside is that he is attack 3, and as such very easy to block, and at 39 rep that is not great at all.
Defensive
All 3 Sons have some nice defensive traits, although they aren't hugely defensible. Hardened helps them from being outright killed in many situations (Carbines for example) but at defence 2 and endurance 5 on SoB 1 and 2 they aren't really that likely to not just be knocked out instead if not just killed anyway (although they are cheap enough that this doesn't really matter). SoB 3 however, is defence 4 and endurance 6, which means he is easily the most survivable of the lot (still having Hardened) and is twice as difficult to hit. This is a big difference, and a big reason for his higher defence is the previously mentioned Counterattack, and if he can protect objectives loaded up for a counterattack he can do work, but at the same time its also very unreliable and for his cost quite expensive (as he needs to first be hit, then block hits, then gets to make normal attacks). SoB 2 also has Street Guy as standard, but this isn't great at all because it basically just means he is defence 3 when crouching for free, when most other henchmen in faction are defence 3 standard and either have Street Guy or can purchase it for quite cheap, so he doesn't bring anything fantastic in that regard.
Overall
SoB 1 and 2 have nothing special here, being cheap and having traits that are useful for attacking or defending. SoB 3 however has a few different traits in Follow Me! and Bluff that give him an optional toolkit to help out a crew. Follow Me! is great because it speeds up the crew a bit more and can help them get up the board quicker, while Bluff is of little use because it simply makes opponents easier to block. Although this is helpful, he is still only willpower 5, and can't realistically do everything he is built to in any given turn, honestly being not that great at any job for his very high price point. All 3 of the Sons of Batman are alright, but none of them bring anything fantastic to the table that you can't get elsewhere, and outside of Frank Miller Batman and Green Arrow the cops bring far more of a unified theme to the crew. 

GCPD

A few models that have long been considered mainstays of the BatB roster, the beat cops are somewhat overshadowed nowadays by newer options, but there are still a couple of real gems in there. 

Offensive

There's not much to be said here. 

Policewoman, Policeman and Agent Ron all have weapons that are handy and single stun, which are potentially ok if a little unreliable. Policeman and Ron both have heavy to compensate for weaker strength, and as cheap henchmen this can't be considered bad, but the platforms it's on aren't great, and you're better off taking something with an extendable baton for melee. 

Agent O'Connell has a taser, which I have given much praise of in my other BatB henchman review, and will still value here. He's a great little offensive piece and can put some damage into henchmen

Agent Ron and the Detective carry guns with them, although they are slightly different. Both are short ranged, blood/stun firearms with light, but Agent Ron has an extra shot each turn over the Detective, giving him a slight leg up in that regard (but the Detective wins in almost every other way)

Defensive

Most of these cops are somewhat fragile, but they all have the huge benefit of being defence 3 over 2. Endurance 4 on Policeman/woman and Ron means they go down when they get hit, but the Policewoman has one huge thing that makes her punch above her weight much more than she has any right to- Defensive. Rerolling block dice means she is for her points one of the best objective sitters in the entire game, and it lets her hang around contesting/arresting/scoring against henchmen for a great amount. She'll still drop to any actual beater, but her survivability is great for her 14 rep cost.

Agent O'Connell is pretty great defensively as well as offensively, as he has endurance 6 over the lower levels of the other cops. This puts him at 1 higher than most other BatB henchman options, especially in the sub-40 rep options, although in the grand scheme of things the bump from 5 to 6 endurance isn't overly huge due to a prevalence of double damage models. Still great, just not gigantic.

Agent Ron also has Street Guy to help him against guns, which is in theory nice, but really isn't a massive ability in his case, and it's available as the cheapest option for BatB equipment so anyone can take it pretty easily. In comparison to QRT2, who also has Street Guy but also has other gun protection traits (and so he should for the point difference), Agent Ron really isn't that great vs guns, because he still goes down to a couple of good shots very easily. 

Overall

As they should, all of these cops have Arrest, which is value in itself. 

Gotham Policeman has Lantern, but that trait is so situational it doesn't justify taking him in any list over the much better Policewoman, who for 2 rep less brings so much more to the table, or over Arkham Guard 1 for a little bit more, who again is so much better. He kind of always sat in that spot of "not great, but there's not much else in that price bracket" so he got slotted in after the Policewoman, but now that there are somewhat comparable options he is pushed to the bench.

Policewoman has nothing special in this regard, but she is just such insane value that in Eternal formats she is highly likely to always be seen in a BatB crew. 

Agent Ron has nothing else to note, and like the Policeman (who he is really just a more expensive version of) he is largely irrelevant nowadays unfortunately.

Agent O'Connell has Veteran, which is great on him because it allows him to react on the fly to what is happening in any given turn. He has seemingly been replaced in standard by Sierra the SWAT, although in Eternal it is still a very serious choice between the 2, as Sierra has a Bulletproof Vest over O'Connell but lacks the ever needed Arrest, which makes for a big question. 

The Detective is the biggest star in this section, as he has a couple of traits that allow him to do a lot of work in a BatB crew from very early on. First of these is Detective, which is somewhat of a thematic trait across the whole BatB crew and helps prevent passes, but Hidden is the real clincher, as it lets him get right on objectives very early in the game (Bat-Signal is a long standing tradition) and attempt to get an early lead for the crew (or at the very least force the opponent to dedicate resources to him)

Alfred

Ending my henchman talk for now with the trusty butler of the Bat, none other than Alfred Pennyworth. A now quite old limited edition model, Alfred is somewhat harder to find, even for an Eternal model, but unlike some other limited models (the Batmen in particular) Alfred isn't an especially powerful model. True to his character, he is an understated (and often overlooked) support piece who can still provide a lot to the crew

Offensive

Alfred isn't a model you want in combat. He's attack 2 with nothing else special. Keep him away

Defensive

Defence 3 and endurance 5 isn't much to write home about, but it is enough to keep him respectable. He will die to an effort, but you should not have him in a position where that's easy to do. He needs to be protected, but can help out a lot.

Overall

As already mentioned, Alfred is a support piece. Right from the start, he has Business Agent so your crew has $350 funding extra to play around with, which should usually go into having a better ranged presence alongside 2 Whistles to get the most out of it, but can really be used in a lot of ways. Informer helps out the often low model count BatB by giving them an extra pass, letting them play with activation order a bit more, and Medic is pretty self explanatory. Alfred helps keep key pieces alive longer than they should be, which in turn helps the crew immensely. All in all not the most oppressively good piece, but he is useful for his cost.