Batman Family- Team discussion and Batman reviews

Hello everyone, for my last team discussion for a while. I've previously covered Team Arrow and Suicide Squad for standard options, and Society is a bit too meaty in terms of options to cover honestly so I've decided not to cover it at all (or at least only for specific lists). This team is pretty heavy on options but it's very top-heavy (read- almost half the options are Bruce Wayne) so this will double as a Brave and the Bold feature through covering some of my favourites out of the various Batmen.

Team Rules

There are 4 special rules that define the Bat-Family, and all are very much in theme with what they are as a team of heroes. 

The Bat Code- Quite simple to explain, they only ever do stun damage. All blood becomes stun, but with easy access to Arrest (or Red Hood with Takedown for some cheeky executions) they can get around it pretty well. 

Bat-Training gives every model Boy Wonder as a trait, meaning that Handy as a rule simply doesn't function against Batfam. This is huge defensively, especially when there is no model below defence 4 in the crew. 

Enhanced Gadgets is a one use mobility bonus, which allows a single model to use their Batclaw even if they used it in the previous turn, letting them make some serious relocation and helping with the lower model count Batfam are guaranteed to have. 

Synchronicity gives every model in the team Teamwork/1 to every other model in the team, allowing some nice counter stealing to enable the biggest hitters to work better, and also lets you choose who takes the lead once per game which can let you activate first when it's really necessary

Equipment

Batfam have a few different options when it comes to equipment, but they are of differing usefulness. The standard ones are all mostly useful:

Magazine is the outlier here, only being truly great on Nightmare Batman, Knightfall Batman or Red Hood, but at $300 it competes with the other options in the list. After those options are taken and there is spare rep? Sure, chuck it on someone who won't be up close fighting (Batgirl is 100% my choice for this) and it might see use, better to take it than not. 

Handcuffs is without a doubt the single best piece of equipment in the Bat-Family list and should always be maxed out. When you're only doing stun damage a way to remove models from play is essential, and taking 2 Arrests in what is normally a 4 model crew is massive at any funding cost. This team will basically always play at $900 because $600 is put into double Handcuffs. 

Reconnaissance gives a single model Undercover, and in that is a good way to speed up some of the slower Batmen (as most of the crew are movement 3+ Acrobats and don't need it). $300 seems hefty, but when you consider the upsides of holding back a model it is well worth it

Then there are a few only unlocked by Bruce Wayne which again, are of differing usefulness

Upgraded Batsuit- Just like in BatB, $100 to give Bruce +1 endurance. Easily worth it, take every time

Martial Arts Training- Less important here than in BatB because of a high amount of native Martial Artists, but if you're taking models that will be on the front lines and don't have Martial Artist, buy it for them. Very cheap and is a huge benefit, it's not something to just skip. 

Mentor- I'll be honest, Mentor is shit. Hidden Boss in Batfam is nothing but a VP liability that has no other benefit, for a cost of $200 and 3 rep. Never worth taking at all.

Strategies

There are 3 strategies to choose from, but Batfam will usually spend all 3 of their points on the same 2 as they are far and away better. Also note that these are on top of Batman getting access to I Am The Night which he gets by being the boss of this crew automatically. 

Secret Warehouse is a 1 point strategy that lets you place a 30mm marker anywhere on the table 6" away from a board edge that is basically a 0VP ammo that only friendly models can use. For 1 point it could be ok in lists that plan to maximise Nightmare Batman or Knightfall's flamethrower, but it just isn't that great when you'll likely already have funding spare to just buy a magazine

The Hour of the Bat is the 2 cost strategy for the team, and should almost always be taken because of how good it is. It's single use, but it allows you to choose a model you're currently activating and declare it is only able to be hit on rolls of a 6 for that entire turn. Combined with the guaranteed first activation from Synchronicity, this lets you all but ensure a character is going to survive a turn of damage and in turn maximise offensive output to hit as hard as is possible. 

Strike from the Shadows is a small offensive boost that also helps on defence in its own small way, allowing an extended reach of sorts for one a model once per game, and for only 1 strategy point. It's a great way to hit something you wouldn't normally have the range to hit, but also to sit in safer positions and reach models in the open while not putting yourself in the line of fire. Definitely recommend taking this in almost all circumstances. 

Batman Discussion

Standard Traits/Stats

Most variants of Batman have a series of traits that define the character, and these I'll discuss here instead of going over them ad nauseam below. All of them are strength 3+ with Reinforced Gloves, they all have a stat of 5 in attack or defence, commonly both, and they are all mostly willpower 8. They all come with Batcape and Batclaw (unless I mention it below- there's one exception) for increasing movement, especially around buildings, and helps prevent falling damage should they face it. Many have Bat-Armour MkI for a 5+ save against any hits on them, which is a great bonus that has to be mentioned, and all of them also have Detective to cancel a pass should the opponent have one (which they shouldn't against Bat-Family, but against Brave and the Bold is more likely).

Weapon-wise, they all either have Batarangs or Batlings to make ranged attacks with, although they're not overly great. Double stun, throwing and light in both cases and RoF2 ammo 2, Batarangs are medium ranged and remote control over Batlings just having short ranged. They're ok if you have the shot, but up close you're almost always better off just moving to punch, especially with Strike from the Shadows as a strategy. 

The most expensive option when it comes to Batman, the Anniversary model is a fully tooled up Batman that is truly terrifying to face. It does come across an issue in Batfam though as its point cost is awkward and high, making lists with him difficult (although they have a big impact)
Offensive
Attack 5 doing double stun with rerolls to hit is already amazing, but he also has some sneaky little ways to boost his offensive power should he need it. I'm Batman gives him a one use reroll to damage rolls, which comes in handy when there's something that absolutely has to be damaged, and he is very often only blocked on 6s care of Cloak of Bats (Scared effect after failing willpower). Making those models also not able to Dodge or Crouch is nice, but a bit niche in Batfam because of a general lack of shooting. He will usually get a few knock downs when he initially deploys as well as long as he can fit, forcing opponents to take an endurance check if they don't. This means if Batman can get first activation he can pummel someone without any ability for them to spend counters, being a potentially great way to get around Bodyguard or Protect Me.
Defensive
With defence 5, Batarmour MkI and Martial Artist he is a tough nut to crack, but Cloak of Bats makes him very very hard to take out. The Scared effect, on top of the block penalty above, puts things at -1 to hit, meaning he is only hit on 6s (and also boosts the rest of the Family) and Cloak of Bats by itself says that he can only be seen when in base contact with him, ignoring any other ways of boosting vision (Total Vision, Scopes, Night Vision) and even works when he's in light, which means he doesn't care about lampposts at all. The last thing to note is his base endurance of 9, and that it means he will easily be endurance 10 with the Upgraded Batsuit, which packed in with everything else means he is insanely survivable and takes a serious investment to kill.
Overall
There's not much else to say, he has nothing super special during the game, but I'm Batman gives him a great alternate deployment ability. Basically acting as a super-Hidden, he can deploy anywhere on the table after all other models and means he will immediately get stuck in where needed, deploying near enemies or on objectives where he will start the game strong. It basically just means he is an alpha striker, but he does it so well that he can do it.

These 2 are somewhat similar in their cards, and that reason being they're from the same version of Batman. Batfleck and Nightmare are both more offensively-geared Batmen, although in slightly different ways
Offensive
Both of these Batmen are incredibly good in close combat, having rerolls to hit and attack 5. Batfleck has his Batlings as well, but it's when you look at Nightmare Batman that you see the obscenity of his damage output. While Batfleck is just no frills, Nightmare packs 2 guns and Mixed Combat Style, meaning he will be shooting downfield while advancing and can even throw punches in the same turn as he does so. In Batfam he is always doing double stun with his weapons so up close the differences in the two guns aren't that significant, but in Brave and the Bold he is a very reliable killer from fairly early in the game. His Custom MG being medium ranged and Assault 2 means he can move and shoot by turn 2, and this gun is quite good in BatB simply because it is double blood, letting him pump damage downfield before his advance and keep going later on. His Automatic Gun isn't as great, but when he runs out of ammo or if he gets engaged, the gun is a godsend and lets him still shoot in b2b with enemies or simply just at short ranged later in the game. In Batfam he can quite reliably KO almost anything by himself (or multiple low endurance models) in a turn, but doesn't have the counter availability to Arrest by himself, needing someone else to do it for him, while Batfleck has the flexibility to carry the handcuffs himself.
Defensive
Both are defence 4 endurance 8 and Martial Artist with Batarmour MkI, so decently survivable just on that, but Batfleck gets a little bit extra in his role as a brawler. Sustained Defence lets him load 4 into attack and 4 into defence where he can sit comfortably in a position near the opponent and sit on 6 block dice and Batarmour, making him a stocky opponent face-to-face.
Overall
Neither of these have any frills in terms of special abilities outside combat, and are somewhat slow at movement 2. Despite this, the amounts of damage they do for their costs (and their reliability) offsets this, making them both valuable choices in both a Brave and the Bold or a Bat-Family crew.

The second of the "expensive" Batman I'll be discussing in this review, Rebirth Batman represents the cream of the crop in terms of activation manipulation and is a great stealthy threat. Again though, the higher cost is somewhat prohibitive for list building and must be considered even with all of his benefits.

Offensive

Attack 5 with usual Batman punches, he's just prone to a little bit of failing rolls. Sneak Attack is the name of the game with him thanks to Master of Stealth, meaning not only can he not be blocked but he also gets a +1 to hit which greatly helps him in hitting models. 

Defensive

Defence 5 with Martial Artist and Bat-Armour MkI means he is a pretty excellent combatant, but that isn't all that Rebirth has on the card. Master of Stealth was until recently unique to Rebirth, and gives him the previously mentioned +1 to hit, but more importantly gives him a boosted version of Stealth that means even short ranged guns will potentially have to move to get into line of sight of him. He also has Self Discipline, which I guess is ok helping him against Mind Control but seriously, he's willpower 9 with a reroll, failing willpower is a statistical anomaly.

Overall

The biggest thing to mention is his high willpower of 9 which is the highest of any Batman, giving him great variety in what he will do on any given turn. He has Sneaking for some extra movement at the end of every turn (useful to help play around with Master of Stealth, especially with Strike from the Shadows), but his biggest thing is how much he affects the activation phase. Detective and Informer can be a 2 way activation swing in some situations (removing an opponent's pass and adding your own, although not super useful in a team like Batfam) and he has the potential to use World's Greatest Detective to control the flow of the game even more. With this trait he can elect any model belonging to the opponent at the start of each turn and force it to take a willpower roll, which if failed means the opponent must activate that model before any other. This, combined with Synchronicity, allows a Batfam team to completely dominate the first activations of almost any turn in the game with relative ease, which is a huge bonus in flexibility that can't be ignored. 

The only non-Bruce Batman option in the game, Knightfall Batman isn't a leader option in Batfam but is still available on the list, or can be an alternate leader in Brave and the Bold. He works more as a very unsubtle version of Batman, relying purely on brutality and damage to get his job done.
Offensive
Knightfall Batman is primarily based around up-close combat, with most of his kit based around this. Claws mean he is normally one of the few Batmen to do blood damage, and although in Batfam this becomes stun he is still 2+ strength for the most reliably wounding close combat model in the crew. Attack 4 means he is somewhat easy to block, but Unstoppable changes that to a far smaller chance of being blocked (as each attack needs to be blocked twice, it caps out at 2 blocks on most things, and that's assuming they have 4 successful block dice), while OCD gives him a useful but restricted +1 to hit in combat. Although he has to focus his attacks on one target to get this bonus, factoring in all his other kit he is very often better off doing this anyway.
At ranged he has a hand flamethrower to put out some lighter damage (in Batfam, it won't matter if you fail to wound cause the damage is done) and a fire counter. Fire is currently the only way to get blood damage into a Batfam crew (as it isn't a model dealing the damage, it's the fire) but is far more lethal in a Brave and the Bold crew where they have access to whistles for guaranteed burning which has gotten me a lot of success.
Defensive
Defence 4 endurance 7 is not bad, but it's Sturdy and Medium Armour that really help him out. He's difficult to wound via henchmen outside of guns and only ever loses 2 counters maximum from accumulated damage, so when he is damaged he is still hitting pretty hard. He is very scared of Anti-Tank weapons though, especially snipers like Deadshot as they will just nuke him easily, and it's important to note that against any other guns he is still a 50/50 chance to wound.
Overall
There's not much else to say about Knightfall that hasn't already been said. He is definitely someone geared more towards Brave and the Bold rather than Bat-Family through not being a boss option, but he has his uses as a secondary hitter alongside a cheaper Batman. The one thing to consider is how Fast plays into his playability, as he is only movement 2 but with the higher BMD he can still reach targets much easier than most other models.

The only non-Batman model I'm covering in this post, the sidekick version of Batgirl has a whole lot of great reasons to be taken in a Batfam crew. She adds so much for so little cost that she is invaluable.
Offensive
With attack 4 and Combo combined with Sneak Attack, you'd think that she was a big combat model made to go in and put the punches on enemies, but because she only does single stun damage she's usually best off getting one of the 2 Arrests in the crew and being a supporting piece. With that it allows the others to be more counter efficient in attack/defence, leaving the model removal role to someone who is using their own counters less. That said, she does have 3 ammo on her Batlings so if she really needs to she can throw them around and put out little extra bits of damage where needed.
Defensive
Defence 5 with Stealth and Martial Artist means although she is only endurance 6, she takes some thinking to take out, and won't die easily. This makes her a good objective piece as well as her Arrest role, but at the same time she should try and stay out of combat where possible and let the others cover it.
Overall
Informer is really all that's really left to note outside of Batcape and Batclaw, and adding extra passes is always nice. Teamwork from the Batfam team rules means she has a use in simply funnelling extra counters to the big guys in the crew (Batman and Nightwing) but at willpower 6 she will also have uses for her own counters.

Other notable options
Like Team Arrow, I've already talked about much of this team through other posts.
I haven't personally covered Batwoman, but over on the Paradox Effect blog there is an excellent overview on how she works from my mate Solitaire, which I don't disagree with in any regard.
Huntress and Catwoman are both great options in Batfam because of their ability to quickly score VP and threaten objectives, but Catwoman's biggest use here is in her ability to be a reactive Handcuff piece. Fast moving Arrest to wherever she needs to be is always worthwhile, and at the points costs of either Catwoman you can slot them in easily. The choice is between Modern Age to help out in the fight or GCS to help score more VP, but both are worth taking for their tricks. Huntress brings debuffs and a little bit of ranged threat, and she is another great one to have with Handcuffs moving around and being a backup piece.
Nightwing, Red Hood and Damian are all excellent damage pieces for the team, being the ones who get into the fight apart from Batman.
Grayson Robin and eternal Damian are both decent options, but restricted in their uses by other factors. Damian is heavily overshadowed by his 60 point standard version, but is one of the few 50 rep options in the team which can help in filling awkward points gaps, while Boy Wonder Robin is still locked into Modern Age Batman who is good, but somewhat less valuable in Batfam, and Robin himself also locks out Nightwing as an option, which is a huge downside to the crew as a whole. He's also not the most thematic option, because the team is largely made up of his successors that came about after he became Nightwing, so it's odd to justify it (although possible to make a themed list with it, its not quite possible to do 350 rep with this theme)

Dark Knight Rises 2 player set part 2- Bane and League of Shadows

Welcome back everyone to part 2 of my overview of the Dark Knight Rises 2 player set. As we've already covered Brave and the Bold in the last post, this will be finishing up the set with the Bane half, also usable in League of Shadows (or in Talia's case, only usable in League). I have some very mixed opinions about these models depending on which crew they're in, but without further ado let's get into it!

The Bane henchmen from the set, these guys are in general really good. They bring some slightly different options to Bane crews, some of which are very welcome, and have a lot to like. 

Offensive

Each Mercenary brings its own different kind of weapon, and each has great uses in how it operates. 

Barsad and his Assault Rifle should be somewhat self explanatory, it's a big gun with big damage, and with Precise Aim and possible Night Vision in Bane crews he can be an early threat to anything on the table. 

Mercenary 1 is the first Bane model to have an Axe, something mostly seen in Joker crews, but here it is a weapon to be greatly feared and respected. With Venom, something he can take in Bane or League, he gets rerolls to both hit and wound for a turn at 3+ strength, all but guaranteeing he will cut down most things he hits. He is only attack 3, and thus easy to block, but he is a very reliable melee killer that will easily slot into any Bane crew. 

Mercenary 2 is of debatable use, being the second model to come with an automatic pistol in Bane (and both being standard). For 2 rep over Clover (and $50 less- important with Venom Lab) he gains +1 strength and replaces Rapid Fire with Reinforced Gloves and Mercenary, so he occupies a similar but subtly different role in the crew. While Clover puts out more shots he is scrambling for ammo crates once he runs out, while Mercenary 2 can just start swinging his fists and having decent chances at KOing models. He's not a bad choice to put Venom on, but not that good either, although he does do wonders with Handcuffs instead of a piece like Cuchillo, and it facilitates a more aggressive Arrest piece . 

Defensive

They have Bane stats. Defence 3 endurance 5 with a Bulletproof Vest, just like almost every other henchmen in the crew, and that's about all to say. 

Overall

Like most Bane models, these guys are very straightforward. Veteran for a little bit of counter reallocation is great, but otherwise they don't have much in the way of special tricks to play around with. 

They work very well in Bane for reasons I have already discussed, but their biggest weakness in a League crew is how inflexible they are from being locked into a specific leader option in Bane. While they are great with him, they can't truly capitalise on some of the other tricks in League crews by sheer virtue of Bane being the leader now, and access to some of those other options comes at a hefty investment. Rebirth Talia and Cheshire for example, are both pushing the rep costs of the crew much higher, and Ra's is just not allowed at all (although it makes sense for theme reasons)

As an alternate option to taking the Batman Tumbler, the one in the box can also be used as an upgrade card for any of the models with the Mercenary trait inside (so all the henchmen). It has the same strength, movement and defence changes as the Batman one, but gains 2 extra endurance to compensate for not being able to swap it with the Batpod. Defensively this means it is immune to being one-shotted by a lucky Carbine unlike the Batman one, but is still very scared of any Sniper Rifles on the table as they can straight up delete it with lucky crits. In comparison to the BatB version it also loses the jump ability while being more expensive in both rep and funding, although it's guns get a huge bonus in doing blood damage instead of purely stun still with unlimited ammo. The machine guns become obscene when attacking henchmen (and at a higher RoF4, something I missed in my last post on the BatB Tumbler) and the rocket launchers can clear out chaff very easily, while it doesn't lose the ability to charge if it needs to get through a combat situation. 

Unfortunately though, the Tumbler isn't really a great pick competitively for a few reasons, the largest being it doesn't have a great model to pilot it and it's super expensive. Mercenary 2 is ok as a driver but he is still not using his pistol to do so, while the only standard Mercenary without a funding cost is far, far better off getting stuck into combat with his axe, something he can't do without tossing the upgrade. As a means of getting to combat and getting some early shots off it might be ok, but that is still very costly when they could be buying almost 3 extra models for that price (and higher endurance total, thus more likely to even make combat)

Someone who had a previous eternal card that still saw a lot of play in that format, DKR Bane pushes out that old card with being almost a complete upgrade in every way. Compared to the old version, he gains Close Combat Master, an extra point of willpower and Born in the Darkness while losing Brutal and only costing 1 point more, which is a huge benefit to Bane crews, but in League he is no longer a sidekick, instead being leader only. This isn't a bad thing, however, as it compensates his massive improvement with a higher VP gain for an opponent when he is KO or casualty. 

Offensive
What's not to be said, the guy is a combat monster. Rerolls to hit, attack 5 with combo, double stun at 3+ strength, he can quite easily punch out most threats himself. What he also does, however, is facilitate combat henchmen and turn them into their own massive threats, having the double-tap of Kill Them and Inspire to give models 2 free counters every turn until he dies, which is a great threat to make an opponent deal with on top of his already impressive melee.
Bane's True Love is important to note, as it can put him at attack 6 and willpower 9 which is a huge gain, but it only applies in a League crew and not Bane, while also requiring an expensive (or garbage as we'll see below) Talia to have already died. Currently as written it also doesn't actually work as there is no model in the game listed as just "Talia", rather there is only "Talia al Ghul". It's an easy house rule and should always be accepted, but it needs a fix from KM because it's their mistake, and a mistake that's carried over from the original DKR Bane.
Defensive
Defence 4 is decent, especially at endurance 8, and he has a few traits that help him out defensively. Desensitised means he is always at his maximum amount of counters, Runaway makes him immune to Arrest and his unique trait Born in the Darkness gives him a few nice bonuses. Immunity to Sneak Attack is situational but always nice, meaning he can block anything but Speedsters provided he has the counters, and also gains a +1 to block when he isn't illuminated which is a nice little 12% increase in his likelihood to block all but attack 2.
Just for the sake of completeness, these combined means he is the hardest piece of all to deal with in straight 2 player box games, as the BatB side has little to no blood damage, he is immune to Arrest and can't be Sneak Attacked by Batman, while blocking everything on the opponent's side on a 3+ or better. New players may possibly find him a little bit too powerful for regular starter games (as he is also very newb friendly in general) and this should be considered for demo game purposes as well as simply introducing new people to the box set.
Overall
He packs Strategist which is helpful for the obvious extra strategy point, but otherwise he again has no real special tricks. He's a key piece in combat, but that's his only place.

Quite easily the worst model in the box rules-wise, Talia is unfortunately just not that great in any role, and massively held back by being League of Assassins only.
Offensive
There really isn't much to speak of, attack 4 and strength 4+ is good, but she only ever does a single blood in a crew where double damage is on every single other model available in standard. Sneak Attack helps her out a little bit in not being able to block her attacks, but she will only ever do great work when teamed up with another model.
Defensive
For her rep she is actually pretty great defensively at defence 4 and endurance 6, and Charm makes her a real pain to deal with using henchmen. A couple of good guns will down her very quickly, as will a dedicated melee leader (and there's a good chance most regular beater FA/sidekicks will too), but she's too expensive to just be put down to objective duty. Archie proved that a pure annoyance sidekick can work, but in Talia's case she is too much jack of all trades, master of none to be worth much thought.
Overall
Willpower 7 is quite good for her cost and lets her do a decent amount (although none of it is especially great) and she has a couple of other ways of assisting her crew in Millionaire and Scheming. Scheming isn't very relevant if you have a good plan of what you're doing and can get a good idea of your opponent's moves, and Millionaire would be far more useful in a Bane crew than it is in League, simply because they don't have all that many equipment options that are great takes, often meaning you'll be spending leftover funding just for the sake of it. She enables a merc focused list in League better, but at the same time she would have far more of a place if she was League/Bane like the rest of the box, competing with Bird for the sidekick slot.

Dark Knight Rises 2 player set part 1- my thoughts on Brave and the Bold

Hi all, this month we have a very exciting set of releases all based around the Nolan Dark Knight trilogy, and a lot of things to consider. To start I will be discussing the main release of the month, the Dark Knight Rises 2 player set featuring Batman vs a Bane focused League crew, splitting the box into its 2 halves for separate posts. The box has some really nice minis in it that have some great roles in their respective crews, but also a couple of duds unfortunately, and it is important because it's bringing into the game the return of proper vehicles in the form of the Tumbler and Batpod.

Brave and the Bold

The 3 cops in this pack are great in that they're generic police officers, but they are of vastly differing value to a Brave and the Bold player. Agent 1 and 2 are valuable for a variety of reasons, but Agent 3 is not very good when considering other options.
Offensive
Being cheap henchmen, they don't have too much in the way of offence, but for their costs they're not bad either. Automatic Pistol is an ok weapon for what it does at its price point, Extendable Batons are great, and Agent 2 has a new type of weapon that is really great in the form of Pepper Spray. A short ranged Beam weapon (so no picking up ammo, and only 6+ ping) with Reload, it does no damage but has the Blind effect. It means you're able to potentially shut down some big hitters, and for $0 funding the fact it has diminishing returns on higher defence characters isn't even a bad thing.
Defensive
There isn't much to be said for any of them defensively, and they're all fairly standard defence 3/endurance 5 cops. Agent 2 is a lower endurance 4, but at his cost that is more than tolerable, while Agent 3 has a Bulletproof Vest to protect against guns.
Overall
All 3 have Arrest, which is of great benefit to any Brave and the Bold crew, and they're relatively low cost
Agent 1 is pretty much a replacement for Agent Ron from 1st edition, albeit better with Street Guy replaced with Undercover to deploy further up the table and an extra endurance for only 1 rep more. She's not as useful as some other henchmen in Brave and the Bold, but she definitely has a place.
Agent 2 is the standard version of stripper cop, and damn he is a good replacement. Losing the jank with defensive on the baton, he instead has his pepper spray to support the rest of the crew in a couple of different ways. Very valuable model and arguably the best in this box period in terms of points/value comparison.
Agent 3 is slightly different to the already standard Arkham Guard 1, and for the points increase I'm not entirely sure he's a great take over AG1. Replacing Hockey Gear for Bulletproof Vest is largely match-up dependent (although Bulletproof Vest is more useful in general) and the extra willpower is always good, but if it comes at the expense of other better models in the crew it isn't worth taking. This is the one with the toughest competition in standard for that reason.

It's hard to do a box titled Dark Knight without the Dark Knight himself, so here he is! A new Standard version of Christian Bale Batman, he hasn't had too many major changes from the old version but what has changed is quite useful. 

Offensive

An Attack 4 Batman isn't something one would normally even consider at 120 rep, but in looking at his traits he is actually something of a great beater. Combo means he is counter efficient while having more attacks than the average Batman, and although it is a 50/50 chance to block he can easily make himself impossible to block through use of Sneak Attack, which itself gives him a +1 to hit and helps his hit and run style of attacking. He isn't the brawler you see in Anniversary Batman or Batfleck, but he can definitely run around and pick off models where he needs to which is very helpful. Also of great importance to him is Arrest, which makes him ridiculously self-sufficient when it comes to taking out the models he hits. This in Bat-Family is also something really great, as it means he enables a very easy triple Arrest list with his good cost and native Arrest so others can buy it. 

Defensive

At Defence 5 he is already hard to hit, but with Master of Stealth he is very hard to get into a position to shoot at until he is threatening you, while Bat-Armour MkII can potentially block hits and is still nice to have, even at a 6+. 

Overall

This is quite a good Batman model, although it misses out on some of the upper-tier abilities I find best in general (mainly being rerolls). With a 5" BMD and movement 4 he is already very fast, plus Batclaw and Batcape as standard he can get where he needs to be very easily when he needs to be. For the same rep as the old version he replaces regular Stealth with the superior Master of Stealth (bringing with it a +1 to hit on Sneak Attack), which is enough of a reason he should at least be considered as a competitive option, especially factoring in his upgrade cards. Both in Brave and the Bold and Bat-Family, he performs well in roles that aren't greatly filled in his points slot while facilitating other options in the crew. 

Another very important part of the box, there are 2 upgrade cards given for Batman to play with representing the Batpod and Tumbler he uses in the Dark Knight movies.
Batpod
Working in a very similar way to the old Batpod model (albeit for 5 rep and $100 more), this operates as mostly just a more streamlined version (and with an actual listed base size!). The strange thing about it is that it lacks the Batpod trait from the Compendium, but has the Mechanical Mount and Fast rules to make it work effectively the same way. It has the same movement abilities as the Joker Bikers, but also comes with a +1 movement to put Batman at a whopping movement 5 and adds 4 endurance to him. Coming with a disruptor is a nice addition, and between that, defence 5, Batarmour Mk2, Master of Stealth and ECM he is pretty safe against guns even without Acrobat.
Offensively it has a great 4 ammo (which is likely to not all get used with its endurance) across 2 guns, both of which are medium ranged and firearm doing double stun. The fact the machine guns have Anti-Tank and not the rocket launchers is odd, but the weapons basically operate as better riot guns when in range, and combined with Batman's Arrest and movement potential can be a death sentence.
Tumbler
The new vehicle in the box, the Tumbler operates pretty much as it looks- like a tank. Even though it lowers Batman's defence (to 4, still good) and only gets Ping on 6s, it compensates by having 5 extra endurance and Heavy Armour for a -3 to wound (all but guaranteeing 6s to wound on most things) and an extra +1 to movement like the Batpod. The Tumbler has the same guns as the Batpod with unlimited ammo, and when it's destroyed is immediately replaced by the Batpod which is a major factor in the cost of the Tumbler. As far as movement goes, it can charge (but no other attacks other than the guns thanks to Sealed Cabin) and gets a 7" BMD, with the downside of not being able to jump or climb. However, to get around this it ignores terrain 2" high or less when moving, and has a once per game use of Boosted Jump to make an 8" place for 1MC and 1SC (effectively a one use Super Jump). Transport is likely to not see too much use, but it lets a model on a 30mm base be carried around alongside the Tumbler without being able to use its own attacks while inside.

The first (and likely only) Catwoman from a live-action movie to make it into BMG, DKR Catwoman is a nice profile but not all that adventurous in terms of a Catwoman profile. The same statline as Modern Age Catwoman, she is a close-mid range character that is somewhat geared towards combat, but is probably still better off as an objective piece. 

Offensive

She has 2 weapon profiles, and her Heels are effectively just the Retractable Claws every other Catwoman has and as such aren't much to speak of. Attack 4 gives her decent chances of failed blocks, and a good amount of attacks to work with, but she will still only really KO henchmen somewhat reliably. She does have a automatic gun though, which she can use if something is close enough (if they move into base contact Light is awesome) and in most cases she's more reliably damaging by shooting things instead of hitting them up close. Pickpocket means she can take weapons from KO models, and as such can take some great weapons from other models, but I would only recommend doing it if she's not putting herself at risk in the process. 

Defensive

By pure virtue of being a defence 5 and movement 4 Acrobat she is very survivable, although she lacks Martial Artist to truly capitalise on it. Night Vision on her is mostly a defensive ability as well as she has no ranged abilities over 8", but it does make her less open to sneak attack if the occasion arises. 

Overall

Climbing Claws is pretty standard fare for Catwoman, and as always isn't that useful with her movement potential, while Undercover can come in handy often and helps protect her early game. She lacks any of the special movement or VP shenanigans the other Catwomen have, but she is also cheaper to make up for it and has somewhat of a different role. She could be interesting as a Batfam addition, but I'm unsure of just how useful she is to the team without testing her on the table. 

As is seen in The Dark Knight Rises, Catwoman also has an option to take her Batpod. For the same cost as Batman with a steep increase in funding ($400 extra) she gets almost the same statline with the loss of ECM and Disruptor. Her guns, however, don't just do double stun like Batman's do, with the machine guns being double blood for great potential damage, while the rocket launcher is blood/stun explosions. The damage output more than makes up for the lack of other special traits and explains her extra funding cost, but at the same time it is an $800 investment to do that, and is only really good in Brave and the Bold (the funding difference is way, way too expensive to take it in Bat-Family where it does only stun damage, especially at the expense of great equipment)

Watchmen - team review and how to fix them for 2nd Ed

Hello everyone, Bucko here for my first contribution to Rygnan's blog on BMG! Today I'm going to discuss the Watchmen - an amazing comic, an even better movie (IMHO), and a team of KM minis that have sadly been OOP for a number of years now. As such, they've also been victims of the inevitable power creep in the game and aren't competitive anymore. I'll therefore also discuss the custom Team rules I've developed to rebalance the team for 2nd Edition - if you're lucky enough to own a set of these minis, hopefully you will find the changes thematic, fair, and fun to play with and against.

Team Rules

Watchmen is the trait that all members of the team have. In short, it allowed them to be assembled as a team of free agents before there were rules for Teams in the game. As a small bonus, it makes the team immune to Run Away.

Equipment

The Watchmen have no equipment options, and KM didn't bother to cost The Comedian's funding accordingly because there was nothing else to spend funding on. Therefore, keep in mind that my balance changes aim to make the characters equivalent to a modern team like Bat Family with further equipment upgrades already incorporated.

Characters

The Watchmen have only the 5 characters, which add to 350 rep ready for a standard game.

Ozymandias

Offence - Ozy is only average on offence, with no bonuses to hit or rerolls meaning he will not put out much damage against higher-tier characters. His Attack 4 will get blocked half the time, but he may still get enough hits through to worry henchmen with his very reasonable Strength 3+ and Reinforced Gloves.

Defence - This is where Ozy shines. Defence 5 with Martial Artist is superb, whilst having Movement 4, Acrobat, and Reflexes almost guarantees that every MC spent will result in a successful dodge.

Overall - Ozy adds some pre-game with Grand Strategist and Mastermind, and on the board is your tank in the team. Very thematically, you can put him in the path of the opposition crew and watch him shrug off plenty of attacks - so he's great at contesting their objectives while the rest of your team gets to fighting or scoring off your own objectives - provided that you devote a lot of your counters to Movement and Defence. Unfortunately, 100 rep is a lot to spend on someone who just blocks and dodges, and that sub-par offence is what leaves him slightly lacking compared to other models of similar rep (eg Modern Age Batman).

Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - add Sustained Defense. Ozy isn't as badly underpowered as the other members of the team, and although this looks like a further defensive bonus he doesn't need, in practice it should actually free up an extra counter or two to be assigned to attacks each turn and increase his damage output without making him overpowered.

The Comedian

Offence - The Comedian is a ranged character who only does work when opponents come into point blank range. He has an unreliable Riot Gun for M Range shots with no bonuses. At 8" he can use his .50 Cal pistols and gets Shooter, at 4" he can add Distract and in base contact he gets Dirty Fighter. The possible +2 to hit is fantastic, but doing max 4 blood damage (2 if you have to move first to get your shot) is very sub-par. His Attack 4 and Strength 4+ is a reasonable backup if you run out of ammo.

Defence - Endurance 9 and Hardened is nice for soaking up damage, but he needs it to stay alive for long at only Defence 3. In a team of only 5 models, he'll still go down quickly when getting swarmed - or coming up against a single Damian Wayne/Borgon the Cursed style model (both much cheaper but far more dangerous).

Overall - Because he is so poor at moving then shooting, The Comedian's threat range is very low. It's easy for your opponent to avoid finishing their movement too close to him before he's activated, thereby forcing The Comedian to move, use RoF 1 and reduce his already minimal damage output. Compare him to the 66 rep Huntress - her better mobility with Acrobat, Hidden and Movement 3, her better Defence 4 with Martial Artist, Stealth and the ability to dodge, and her comparable offence with Rapid Fire and Distract - and you'll see just how underpowered he is as your team's primary shooter.

Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - Lose Hardened, gain Kevlar Vest and Instinctive Shooting, change the .50 Cal Gun's damage to 3x Blood and change the Riot Gun's damage to 2x Stun, RoF to 2 and traits to Blunt: 2/Mechanical (which are the standard Riot Gun traits on newer and 2nd Ed models - see QRT 1 and Arkham Guard 3). Kevlar Vest lets him live longer and is in line with other similar models (eg Gordon), and the rest significantly increases his flexibility, threat range and damage output. He becomes what he should be, which is a cheaper, Two Face-lite style shooter.

Rorschach

Offence - He is by far the best and only reasonable damage dealer in the vanilla Team. Attack 4 with rerolls to hit, rerolls his Crit die with a Bleed: 1 effect, and a double damage blood & stun weapon. Hidden and Batclaw give him some nice mobility to position for attacks, and Bloodthirsty keeps him attacking longer as he takes damage.

Defence - Defence 4 and Endurance 7 are quite reasonable, with no other traits to mention here.

Overall - Rorschach is a good combat model but can't carry the heavy lifting of the entire team. Due to his weapon damage, he is likely to only make a model KO on his first round of attacks, requiring either a second round of hitting the same model or Nite Owl following him around just to use Arrest - either of which are expensive options. Damian Wayne, who is much cheaper, is less sturdy (reduced Willpower and Endurance) but hits much harder (Combo, Sharp, ranged weapon option) and has better defensive traits (Acrobat, Small and Martial Artist). You really need that damage output and ability to take models out of the game when you only have 5 models yourself.

Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - gain Takedown and Intimidate. Both are very thematic improvements that are balanced by costing counters to activate. Takedown helps fix the removing-enemy-models problem, and Intimidate is a limited control tool - the only control trait available in the entire team, and one sorely needed to combat magic and/or mind control users.

Silk Spectre II

Offence - Silk Spectre is designed to be a frontline combat model. She has nearly all of the tricks to make her a good one - Attack 4, a reasonable Strength 4+, Combo and rerolls to hit - but she is then massively let down by only doing single stun damage. She can waste an entire round and most of her counters on attacking someone like Troy Sins (16 rep, Def 2, End 4), and even if he has no Defence counters assigned, based on probability she will still not even knock him out. At that rate, she will not come close to making up her 50pts over the course of a game.

Defence - Silk Spectre has nice tools to survive some fighting with Defence 5, Martial Artist, Acrobat and Movement 3. Counter Attack is a nice touch, although you won't benefit from Combo for any strikes you get using it. Her low Endurance 5 helps justify her low rep cost.

Overall - Unlike the 59 rep Batgirl, who has comparable offensive capabilities, Silk Spectre does not have any other roles she excels at. Batgirl's mobility, stealth and ranged weapon option make her a fantastic objective runner, and she can purchase handcuffs for another tool in her kit. Silk Spectre will likely spend her game bogged down fighting cheap enemies that she can't take care of and who will have a hard time hitting her back.

Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - a simple fix: gain Reinforced Gloves. She still needs help from Rorschach or Nite Owl to remove models, but now pulls her weight.

Nite Owl

Offence - Nite Owl is the weakest link in the vanilla Team. He is a combat model with only Attack 3 (easily blocked) and single stun, with no rerolls to hit or damage. Brutal and Bonebreaker is a nice pair of traits, but costs you an extra counter to activate and still results in a less than 1-in-3 chance of success. He is actually much better off using his Shurikens than punching while he has ammo remaining.

Defence - Nite Owl has a respectable Defence 4 and Endurance 6. His Total Vision means you can't use Sneak Attack on him (but otherwise doesn't provide any benefits).

Overall - Vanilla Nite Owl's best use is following Rorschach and Silk Spectre around and mopping up after them with Arrest, and if he can dish out a couple of cheeky stun damage counters here and there that's a massive bonus. In effect, he's a lady cop that costs 50 rep instead of 14. Even 16 rep fat cop hits harder in close combat than Nite Owl. Archie is a neat deployment trick which potentially provides Rorschach (Hidden) with some early support up the board, or just keeps your opponent guessing.

Bucko's 2nd Ed Tweaks - gain Attack 4, Bat-Armor MK II and Reinforced Gloves, and add Light to the Shurikens (another update to match the weapon's standard rules in 2nd Ed). Attack 4 and Reinforced Gloves now means he has a reason to punch, whilst still being a much weaker fighter than Silk Spectre. Bat-Armor MK II gives him a small defensive bonus and an extra 1" movement, which should help him get in position for those arrests.

Team Sheet

As a result of the fantastic BatBoxes, each Team and Crew is getting their own unique and powerful objectives to go with some pretty good unique strategies they each have from the Rulebook or the Teams PDF. I've developed the following team sheet which applies KM's 2nd Ed Team rules to the Watchmen, gives them an objective and two strategies of their own and incorporates the balance changes I've mentioned above.

The Watchmen are a fun team of interesting characters, just in need of a boost to remain relevant. I hope my analysis above explains and justifies everything on the team sheet, and that it enables you to have a fun experience playing them in your friendly Eternal games!

Booster Gold and Blue Beetle- model review

Hello again all, decided that for this post I'd do a nice quick one to break up the big in depth looks I've been doing more of lately. A single pack release from last year, Blue Beetle and Booster Gold are 2 great sculpts with some of the best rules we've seen out of Knight Models, being both flavourful and balanced while also very good. 

Blue Beetle is the budget model of the pair, but for his cost he is incredibly versatile. With a solid statline and some great toys, he is one of the better Free Agent choices in Brave and the Bold in general, and has a lot to consider.
Offensive
A model that has 3 different ways of only doing stun damage may not seem that great for his cost, but when you factor in what it all does (and BatB having plenty of Arrest) he is definitely a useful model to have in your crew. He has Reinforced Gloves for double stun punching, but his guns are the more useful in most cases (unless you want to punch out a higher endurance model). With 5 ammo he will be shooting almost every turn (even with his short range, Archie lets him get stuck in early) and with each gun doing double stun it's not a bad option damage wise. Both guns are Beams, meaning they wound on 2s and ignore Bulletproof Vests and Pings (although as an Expansive weapon, the Compressed Air BB Gun already does), while the regular BB Gun has Light for potentially shooting while engaged (although this is only useful for the Flash debuff and being easier to wound). It is in their special effects that they truly come into their own (and Beetle shows his true value) as
Defensive
Beetle has pretty standard Free Agent stats defensively, being pretty good for his cost but with nothing overly amazing. Defence 4, Endurance 7 and Martial Artist means he'll be sticking around for a while, but a dedicated effort in removing him will be able to take him out without a huge investment.
Overall
There's not much else to be said about Blue Beetle, but he still has a couple little tricks. Batclaw is a fairly standard BatB movement ability on Free Agents, and with Bug (a renamed Archie) he can place almost anywhere on the table from turn 1, which combined with Batclaw lets him work wherever he needs to be whenever he needs to be there, which is always useful. Teamwork/1 lets him take a counter from Booster if they're nearby, but they both really want their own counters most of the time and thus it isn't hugely valuable (much like the Hawks)

As the greatest hero the world has never known, Booster brings some great tricks to the table, and is a very reliable toolkit. With a great statline and some awesome traits, he is well worth the higher cost to bring him in a list, because he will almost always pull his weight.
Offensive
Booster is a really great combat piece, both at ranged and in melee. With attack 5, Master Fighter and Reinforced Gloves at strength 2+ he is more than a formidable threat in close combat, being able to threaten most targets with a KO, while at range he has his Blasters, which are quite simply amazing. Medium Range blood/stun Beam weapons is already great, but at RoF2 and Throwing combined with Total Vision it means he can move to pretty much anywhere on the table and shoot things without much in the way of a Ping, which is a huge boon to have. He also has Hacking for a bit more of a clutch play, where he can reallocate counters on things with Bot or Cybernetic (Lex Luthor and his troopers being the big Standard ones) to put them into more useless spots, like moving attack/defence into movement when something is sitting on an objective. Not as generally useful as his raw attack power, but still food for thought.
Defensive
With only a +1 endurance on Beetle's statline and the loss of Martial Artist in comparison, you would think he isn't that great from a defensive point of view, but he has some other tricks that are quite good. Energy Field acts as a ranged-only Batarmour equivalent, meaning between that and Pings he isn't that great of a target to shoot, while with Power Armour MKII he has the potential to reduce damage and be immune to crits (great for Sniper protection).
Overall
Booster has a little bit more than Beetle in this regard which are quite useful. Timely Arrival works similarly to Bug, with the restriction it has to drop turn 2, but Booster also has Fly, which combined with movement 3 means he is even more manoeuvrable than Beetle is. Total Vision doesn't help him much apart from the aforementioned shooting, but protects him from Sneak Attacks, and Teamwork helps him if he's near Beetle (as I mention below)

On taking both
Given some of their more synergistic rules, namely Teamwork, you would expect the intention to be that these two would be quite good together. They are. but at the same time it is quite a significant investment to take both (almost 200 rep and $600 funding) and they are both Free Agents, therefore requiring the presence of a Leader to make it a legal crew. Because of this one needs to plan very carefully to use the two of them in the same list if they want to have success with it, although it will definitely be something that is a blast to play.