Bat-Family and Batman review part 2- Most of the remaining standard options

Finishing off Bat-Family, this is the follow-up piece to my first Batfam discussion and simply covering most of the other Batmen that I didn't cover before. The only one missing from Standard will be Zur-en-Arrh Batman, purely because I don't have a copy of the card to upload.

One of the cheapest versions of Batman, Modern Age brings a great statline for his rep but feels very locked into taking Boy Wonder Robin to fully capitalise on his card. 

Offensive

Attack 5 with Reinforced Gloves, no other frills. He's got Batlings and Sneak Attack (which pairs excellently with Stealth) but nothing too major to help him out. It's good, especially considering his cost, but nothing great, so don't go expecting him to demolish everything he hits. 

Defensive

Despite being the second cheapest Batman, he is one of the best in terms of survivability. Defence 5 endurance 8 is already good, but he has Martial Artist, Stealth and Acrobat (the only Batman to have this) to combine and ensure he is not very likely to ever be shot and won't be outnumbered. Although he lacks Batarmour for a guaranteed extra save, he has some great tools to keep him in the game that one might not expect at first glance. 

Overall

The only things that beg mention now are his two unique traits, both relating to Boy Wonder Robin. Assistance gives him a bump to willpower 8 while Robin is alive and on the table, but the moment he dies Batman loses this willpower boost to go to strength 2+ instead, meaning he hits very hard. Dynamic Duo allows Bruce to activate immediately after Robin does, provided they are within 8" of each other, allowing him to utilise Robin's debuffs without a chance of reaction from the opponent. 

One of the most expensive Batmen at 150 rep, AK Batman has an extensive toolkit but he will rarely find himself in a position where everything together will be useful. It is for this reason above all else that I find he isn't really worth taking, especially compared to the other Batman options in his cost range.
Offensive
Attack 5, Reinforced Gloves is something I've mentioned a lot in terms of Batman, and AK Batman is pretty middle of the pack in terms of his output. Master Fighter gives him a much needed +1 to hit, and Sneak Attack can help prevent blocks (although at attack 5 it's not likely anyway) while he has Martial Expert to increase his crit chance from just over 12% to a huge 50%. This is a trait shared with the Hassassins in League, who while they have crit blood have a far lower chance to wound, and with Batman's strength 3+ he will pretty reliably crit models for a little extra damage and hopefully knock downs if he doesn't just straight up take them out. His Batarmour, unique to him, gives him a nice little bonus in giving him a sort of pseudo-Reach on his unarmed attacks if he moves, extending his threat range a bit (although at movement 2 he's still slow).
His Batarangs are the longer ranged version (that is, not Batlings) and for what they do are a nice opener before he gets stuck into combat. Night Vision helps him out here, letting him attack anything he can draw a line to, but not quite as hilarious as some other Batmen (mostly now eternal, but AA Batman has it) having the ability to shoot around walls with Total Vision.
Defensive
Def 5 and usual Batman endurance of 8, plus the Batsuit means he can be pretty tough, and his 5+ Batarmour helps a lot. However, he doesn't have Martial Artist to prevent outnumber, and for 150 rep doesn't have anything particularly fantastic to keep him alive (as opposed to Rebirth and Anniversary having almost total ranged shutdown)
Overall
Detective, Cape and Claw as can be expected, and Teamwork:2 lets him have a bit more counter reliability in both Brave and the Bold (where it is less useful from less availability of the trait) to Batfam (where everyone has it, Batman's is just more efficient). He also has 2 other traits that help him out very situationally in Disruptor and Explosive Gel, representing his kit from the games. Disruptor is the better of the two, and lets him shut down guns that would otherwise be very damaging to the crew, but it can be gotten pretty easily on any model just by taking a Waynetech objective, which in itself isn't all that bad to take (especially for Batfamily getting early VP). Explosive Gel is again very situational, allowing you to remove sewer markers off the table for a relatively low counter cost. If you're facing Croc, Ratcatcher or King Shark, who will all be making heavy use of sewers, it could be ok, but really isn't going to be super useful the majority of the time, and as such should really be seen as just driving his cost up more.
In almost every aspect, AK Batman doesn't quite pull his weight for his cost, and although many very expensive models have one or two gimmicks that they are amazing at, this Batman is just mediocre at everything, and when he takes up over a third of your list that isn't something to be a fan of. Despite being one of my favourite KM sculpts ever, I think AK Batman is destined to remain on the shelf.

A different kind of Batman to most of the others, Flashpoint Batman is a piece with great pre-game abilities, in-game support and some extreme offence.
Offensive
Attack 5 and Reinforced Gloves means he can punch pretty effectively when he needs to, and he will probably do this at some point, but he also carries dual handguns which greatly affect his offensive potential. With Instinctive Shooting he will always be moving and shooting at full rate of fire, and although they are short ranged the fact he has an easy 4 shots for at least half the game is great, even though Light is of very little use to him. He lacks any ways to improve his chances of hitting, but he will be doing a decent job regardless, and synergises very well with Brave and the Bold debuffs.
Defensive
Defence 4, no Martial Artist and only a 6+ Batarmour means he will be somewhat easy for an opponent to hit, although at endurance 10 he doesn't go down easily. He is unable to purchase the extra endurance, being Thomas Wayne and not Bruce, but he is still more than a formidable foe.
Overall
The only real pre-game model in Brave and the Bold, Flashpoint adds both Grand Strategist and Mastermind to the crew, which can be hugely useful. A crew that is usually only stuck with 3 strategy points having access to 5 is a vast difference, and opens up a lot of options in how they play. Mastermind gives him a little bit more potential to dominate activation order, Detective is pretty average for Batmen, and Medic is a great little way to keep the rest of your crew around. The last thing to note is his Batarmour MkII giving him an extra inch on his BMD, so he will be moving 5" minimum with the usual Batcape and Batclaw. All in all, Flashpoint Batman is a very valuable model and a blast to play.

The cheapest Batman in standard, which is value in itself, Gaslight has some great tricks to play that reflect his Elseworld character, and perfectly differentiate him from other Batman options.
Offensive
As a cheaper Batman, his attack 4 with Reinforced Gloves is understandable and when added to his other traits becomes pretty great for the cost. Master Fighter gives him the always great +1 to hit, while Bonebreaker gives him an activated CRT of double blood. Not really the greatest ability, but at the very least with Brutal you can hope to get it out more often (or usually try and at least get knockdowns). Instead of Batlings or Batarangs he has throwing knives to reflect his more brutal nature, and these single blood throwing weapons are pretty reliable at wounding with Sharp. Despite all this, it is only maximum 2 blood (with a possible extra stun on crit), and he still will more often than not just want to punch.
Defensive
Defence 4 and endurance 8, plus he has Stealth. Safer against guns, but otherwise able to be ganged up on and will suffer. Batsuit upgrade is well worth it on him, but he is still only 92 rep for the card he has, which is more than worth it.
Overall
Gaslight, like Flashpoint, has some pre-game and ways to manipulate gameplay outside of the regular combat and control flow, and with Strategist can aid the crew in great ways. Scheming is of debatable value, as if you have a definite plan it won't help too much, but his real boon is through his unique trait Truth Seeker. To represent his dogged hunt for Jack the Ripper, this trait triggers on KO and Casualtied models (friend or foe, anywhere on the board), and allows a single Truth marker to be placed in base contact with the victim every time this happens. These markers can then be spent to add 1VP of friendly models scoring within 4", or a Batman within 4" can use it to move himself 4" in his activation. They are great little boosts to the crew that will usually be taken through normal gameplay, and although they are all removed upon giving their bonus a good deal of them should be put around over a regular game.

The Batman likely to be seen most often by newer players, this is the one included in the Arkham Guards starter set. While he is solid in many ways, he is mostly a jack of all trades but a master of none, and as such I am of the opinion most players will move on from him to other Batmen to fit their favoured role. 

Offensive

Pretty regular Bat-stats, he has no bonuses to hit though so can be very prone to the Bat-whiff which will prove to be very annoying whenever it comes in. Sneak Attack is nice to have, but in his case isn't as hugely useful as on Rebirth or Bale Batman, while his Batarangs are again very standard in what they do. Where he comes into his own, however, is in his smoke pellets and Mixed Combat Style giving him a lot more versatility in what he does. He has the option to use either his Batarangs or smoke pellet when he does this, and it means he can keep himself or his crew a lot safer while keeping his normal offensive abilities and be able to still punch. 

Defensive

Defence 5 is always impressive, but as he lacks Martial Artist his only defensive ability is Bat-Armour Mk1, and because of this he is prone to being outnumbered and bogged down. He does have Counter-Attack to add some punch to his defensive abilities, but the fact it requires first someone to hit him, then for Batman to block means it isn't reliable in the slightest and he is probably better off using that special counter for almost anything else. 

Overall

He is a fairly standard Batman model as previously mentioned, but with the important addition of Detective Mode. This is made to combo with his smoke, and helps protect him, but it's only going to be used for a fraction of the game and as such shouldn't be relied upon for any specific strategy

The other version of Batgirl to top off this post, Rebirth is by far the more combat-based option and as such has a clear distinction and role when compared to New 52 Batgirl.
Offensive
She has the same offensive stats as New 52 Batgirl (Combo and attack 4) but with the important addition of Reinforced Gloves. This means she has a damage output that is very good to have in Batfam lists, but will also nicely slot into most Brave and the Bold lists.
Defensive
Defence 4 and endurance 6 means she isn't the most hardy character, and will be fairly easily killed if something can catch her. However, she has Stealth for a layer of protection against guns, and being a free agent has access to the Martial Artist equipment upgrade which goes a long way to keeping her alive.
Overall
Batcape and Batclaw combined with movement 3 means she is decently mobile (and as such a great handcuff caddy) but her real value comes in the form of some other traits. Informer adding a pass is of great value in Brave and the Bold, and situationally useful in Batfam, while Tracking gives her a little bit of extra mobility in between activations.

Goliath- model review and example lists

Welcome back everyone, to something I've alluded to for quite a while now. The only henchman I've not covered for Brave and the Bold and one of the very few I haven't discussed for Bat-Family and League, Goliath is a great sculpt that is a little bit underwhelming in rules terms. In this post I will be covering his rules in my normal fashion, but also introducing a new format for single models in discussing a few different list options with how I would run him in his different crews.

Offensive
With attack 4, Claws and strength 2+, Goliath is a decent combat threat in any list he goes into. He lacks bonuses to hit though, so is best suited bullying low defence models, or using a 9" Charge to put out stun damage onto anything and hope for knockdowns.
Defensive
Defence 2 and Huge means he is getting hit very often, and is super open to being shot, but at endurance 10 and Tough Skin he is at the very least requiring a dedicated effort to remove. Just have to be very careful of assault rifles and snipers, because they will run a train on him.
Overall
Huge and Animal combined mean his movement of 1 is largely offset with his 9" BMD, although 3 of his most flavourful traits cost movement counters and as such mean he is starving for them every single turn. Fly and Charge are both hugely useful to him, but it's one or the other unless he's inspired, and at willpower 5 either of them leave him lacking in other areas. Overall I would use him as a big block to sit around objectives, fighting what he needs to but using his huge base to block zones or score off multiple markers.
Carry is the first of his unique traits, and allows him to ferry models around the table with him as he moves. He may pick up models within 2" of him when he moves and drop them in base contact with himself at the end of the movement, but only move models on 30mm bases to restrict it slightly. If he does so to a model that isn't Damian, they must forfeit their entire next turn, while Damian reduces his BMD to 0 and can't use his Batclaw in that turn. For 3 of his 5 counters (1MC+2SC) it is really not worth it, and will very rarely see play just because of how big of a penalty it gives to most things.
Meet Goliath! is a simple trait that means he can only be hired when Damian is also present, and as such deserves a mention here.

List Discussions

Brave and the Bold

Reputation: 348/350

Funding: 1500$/1500$

[Boss][L] Batman (Ben Affleck) [125/0$]

-Upgraded Batsuit [0/100$]

[H] Arkham Guard 3 [22/100$]

[H] Agent 2 [15/0$]

-Whistle [0/200$]

[H] Lerida [36/450$]

-Whistle [0/200$]

-Swat Special Training [0/100$]

-Street Patrol [0/50$]

-Patrol Training [0/150$]

[H] Robin [60/0$]

[H] Goliath [70/0$]

[H] Arkham Guard 1 [21/0$]

-Medic [0/150$]

This list represents a lot of what I like about playing Brave and the Bold, having good amounts of stun damage backed up with Arrest and Lerida to sit behind and act as a great gun piece. Batman, Robin and Goliath are the 3 combat models here, so as long as they're being backed up by the 3 Arrests in the list they can quite easily take models out of action and keep the game moving in your favour. On top of this, every model other than Batman is a henchman, and as such will benefit from Inspire. 

Goliath's role in this list is primarily to be a third melee piece, helping Damian and Batman in combat by fishing for knockdowns and extra stun on Charge. With this he basically pinballs around the table hitting enemies as much as possible. 

League of Assassins

The biggest issue with Goliath is hands down his hunger for counters, and how badly he loses them when he takes damage, so naturally he would run best with Rebirth Talia. Not losing counters is a huge boon for him as it means he will stay in a fight far longer, and will be far more relevant when he does so.

Reputation: 346/350

Funding: 1750$/1850$

[Boss][L] Talia (Rebirth) [100/0$]

[H] Goro [50/0$]

-Loyalty Tattoo [0/200$]

-Combat Braces [0/150$]

-Grapple-gun [0/400$]

-Rare Nth Medallion [0/150$]

[H] Robin [60/0$]

-Venom Dose [0/100$]

[H] Goliath [70/0$]

[H] Hasssasin 1 [20/0$]

-Shadow Training [0/200$]

[H] Hasssasin 2 [24/0$]

[H] Hasssasin 4 [22/0$]

-Trained in the Shadows [0/300$]

-Combat Braces [0/150$]

-Climbing Claws [0/100$]

This list is mainly based around overlapping buffs to make the most out of the lower willpower henchmen, and to get them hitting up as much as possible to hurt the opponent. It is almost fully melee based, as most League is, but with Kill Them from Goro and Inspire from Talia, plus the fact they never lose counters from enemies or damage, means that the crew can barrel ahead and get stuck in before swinging, and even if they do take a little bit of damage they're dishing out as much as possible anyway. 

With Goliath being the only model in the crew to do stun damage, his value might seem lower, but in reality he is quite effective when buffed up in this way. Benefiting from every bonus there is to play with in the crew, with these he can pull off a quite impressive flying Charge before also putting 3 attacks into a model, or simply deliver Damian far further up the table than would normally happen. Goliath is a bit of a clutch piece in here, not being the super damage dealer Damian is or the lynchpin of Goro, but he has a place and is great at plugging gaps where needed in the crew's lines. 

Bonus- Batman Family

While there is some debate over whether Goliath is actually allowed in Batfam (mainly based around the ambiguities of Meet Goliath) I am still providing a list here to talk about, mainly because it is simply a fun option. While not doing anything huge for Batfam competitively, he is a nice thematic option should someone wish to do so, and this is the list I would play him in:

Models: 4
Reputation: 334/350
Funding: 1000$/1500$
[Boss][L] Batman (Ben Affleck) [125/0$]
-Upgraded Batsuit [0/100$]
-Reconnaissance [0/300$]
-Handcuffs [0/300$]
[S] Nightwing [90/0$]
-Handcuffs [0/300$]
[H] Robin [60/0$]
[H] Goliath [70/0$]

As can be seen in the list, and as mentioned in my Batfam discussion, this is a pretty standard roster for the team outside of Goliath. Batman, Damian and Nightwing all ready to hit hard and KO, with as much equipment as possible to benefit that. Someone can also take a Magazine, but it's practically irrelevant for the most part so I left it off when writing the list (although not taking it would be stupid, there's no reason not to).
Goliath in here is basically just a big guy that can utilise Charge to spread out extra stun damage, as well as his own melee damage, but also serves a great purpose in grabbing objectives. Batfam as a crew need to be careful about scoring objective VP as well as brawling, but with Goliath possibly scoring 2 (or even 3) objectives by himself the rest of the team is better off. Still not really a competitive option, but it's interesting to play in fun friendly games and as such has a definite place in the game. 

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 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)

The Robins Part 3- Nightwing, Red Hood and new Damian!

Hi everyone, back with another model review here, including one of the latest wave of releases! I want to round off my set on the Robins with the "graduates", meaning Red Hood and Nightwing, but when I started reading this we got a new Damian model too, so what better place to put that than here! I'll be sticking to the usual format breakdown for these, except for adding a little bit at the end of Damian's piece to talk more "crew-specific" as in, how he benefits from the different crews.

Nightwing in all 3 incarnations is pretty similar, only with slight changes between them (although they do affect the playstyle significantly). All 3 have almost the same statline, with the exception of the original (now Eternal) model having 1 less willpower and movement. For these reasons alone, I feel like this Nightwing is pretty much obsolete, despite being the cheapest and still pretty capable. The others just do more on top, for little more in cost. All 3 are Sidekick rank, although AK Nightwing has Heir to the Cowl, allowing him to become a Leader when Batman isn't present, which can make for some nice list options in itself at the cost of higher VP gain.
Offensive
Offensively they're all pretty much the same, with Combo on their weapons regardless of name, and all being double stun, Mechanical and Handy. It makes Nightwing a very reliable hitter, and getting knockouts with him is pretty much a breeze. The newer resin Nightwing also has Electric for some potential stunning on a crit, and giving him rerolls to wound against Bot and Cybernetic which can come in handy against LexCorp or Riddler. He does lose Electric Storm for this compared to the others, but as a special attack Electric Storm is pretty bad in general, only being great against a group of nearly KO models. Teamed with a Rapid Firing Arsenal for a bit of a fluffy combo, it can get decent results however. The original one does have Sneak Attack as well, which can be great, but it costs him more counters that can also be spent protecting himself or moving.
Defensive
This is where the differences begin to show in the Nightwing gallery, as they have different little bonuses to keep themselves safe in slight ways. All are def 4 Acrobat, with OG Nightwing having a lower movement and thus harder dodges, but he is also cheaper. OG also has nothing else special in in this regard, being the budget option and the original. Resin Nightwing has Jump Up to protect from knockdown if he will face a group of chain activations (or has already activated), Combat Flip to move away from potential threats, and my favourite Street Guy to crouch for free. Guaranteed def 5 when he is behind an obstacle is great, and keeps him pretty much safe from guns for no effort at all. AK Nightwing is the king of dodging, and as such is absolutely terrified of models that can deny that, but in most cases he will have a ridiculously high chance of dodging, and when you pack it with Ping! he isn't getting shot easily. Rerolls to agility tests helps him dodge very well, but also lets him jump from tall buildings without damage thanks to Agile.
Overall
All versions of Nightwing have Charismatic, which lets you take more Free Agents to run fluffy team up lists with his Titans or Batfam allies and is situationally useful in list building. Resin Nightwing comes with Searcher to negate an enemy strategy point, which is a nice little bonus, AK has the ever present Teamwork that all Arkham Knight Batfam have, which is good if you have other models with it, and OG Nightwing has Explosive Gel, which can be great in the days of modern sewers but is often forgotten.
In Teams
Nightwing is a must have in any team that can take him, because he really is that good. Teen Titans he is their best option hands down (which likely won't change should they get a 2nd edition update) and in Bat-Family he is an excellent second hitter alongside Batman. My personal choice goes to the resin Nightwing, purely because he is slightly cheaper than AK while keeping some great tricks, although AK Nightwing is a very close second place.

Both Red Hood models are as you can expect, they shoot things and put them down. They operate in slightly different ways, despite their identical statline, but in general they're both aiming to shoot things as much as possible. The other key difference, other than affiliation, is the ranks of the 2. AK Red Hood is a free agent, while Disco Hood is a sidekick in rank. 

Offensively

Both versions have similar stats on their guns, with blood/stun firearms at short range, but they have slight differences. Disco Hood doesn't have Light, and 1 lower native RoF, but has 1 extra ammo. However, Disco Hood has both Gunman and Instinctive Shooting, so he can move and shoot with no penalty and with both weapons at a time, so he will go through his ammo quicker. AK Hood has Takedown instead, which lets him remove models he knocks out as casualties instead, for only 1 special. This is insanely efficient, and with his RoF4 he can clean up henchmen very quickly. Neither have bonuses or rerolls to hit with their weapons, but with their volume of fire they can go pretty well against lower defence models. I wouldn't attack high defence models (4/5) with them though unless they have no other option, just because it isn't all too reliable. 

Defensively

Movement 4 Acrobat is always great, and both have slightly different vests to help them in different ways. AK Hood has a Bulletproof Vest, making him harder to wound with the guns that do hit, while Disco Hood has Kevlar Vest, letting him drop damage off every hit he takes, ranged or melee. AK Hood also have Safe Hands, but Steal is borderline useless so it will rarely see play. 

Overall

Neither model has too much in the way of other traits, but both do different things related to the game flow. Disco Red Hood has Searcher, so he negates a strategy point right from the get go, and AK Red Hood has Scheming:1, which is situational but potentially useful.

Bat-Family

Both Red Hoods guns become double stun, but with easily bought Arrest this isn't that big a deal. Disco Hood is pretty similar to always, but AK Red Hood is great because he has Takedown for a bit more efficiency in removing models from play.

Thanks to Little Gotham for the new traits here, everyone should give their podcast a listen! 

The new version of Damian is quite an excellent model, in his new role he is one of the most points efficient options in the crews he can go into. A few big changes to him, first off he is a henchman as opposed to the old free agent, and 10 rep more, but he can also now go into League of Assassins and Court of Owls as well as Brave and the Bold. His statline is the same, as are most of his traits, with him losing True Love:Batman, Master Fighter and Technique and gaining Combo:Katana and Invaluable instead. Invaluable seems bad initially, but once you factor in that it's still less VP on death than the metal Damian gave up, isn't all that bad. 

Offensive

Damian's output massively increased in this version, because he not only gained a katana but he also got Combo with it. At attack 4 that means he can reliably do 6 attacks with rerolls on both hit and damage rolls, at strength 4+. In Court and League, he is doing 2 blood each attack, so he can kill very quickly (more efficiently than any other in their respective crews), while in BatB (and Batfam) his blood becomes stun because of Mentoring. What this means though is he is only a little bit weaker offensively than Nightwing in the same role, but a great deal cheaper. The two of them together (especially in Batfam)? Right on the money, KOs a plenty!

Defensive

He didn't gain anything extra from the old model in the way of defence, except for in Brave and the Bold. Mentoring here gives him Boy Wonder, so he ignores Handy, which can help him in many cases but ultimately can be dealt with. In League and Court, he's left to himself as a somewhat fragile model, but he is still decently survivable.

Overall

Damian is a very good model in general, and should be able to find space in most crews. Inspire and Let's Go! are both great additions to his skill set, and his damage output keeps him in the game a lot. Detective is always great, and the crews he works for helps their natively low model counts in a good way. On the occasion he dies in a BatB crew, he gives Bruce Wayne True Love to him upon being hired, so he can give Batman an extra attack and willpower, which is pretty crazy in most cases.

Brave and the Bold/Bat-Family

Not much to say that hasn't already been said, I don't find the equipment options in BatB all that great on Damian. Football Gear can be very nice in certain matchups, but I prefer my Whistles on guns where the counters are more efficient. 

Court of Owls

Court I think Damian is one of their best offensive pieces, on the same level as Strix or the 1880s Talon. Unfortunately Damian can only take 1 piece of equipment total, because of Mentoring, so no Stealth/Fast combo, but either one is very good in any case. 

League of Assassins

Damo with his maternal family tend to bring out the worse side in his character, same as Court, but the use of him is slightly different in League. Things like Goro can tune him up into even more of a monster, especially when combined with an Inspire for 9 attacks on his katana (the most damage on any single model in the game!). Equipment wise, Combat Bracers or Trained in Shadow stick out the most, just because they make him more efficient (Damian and HSH team-up? I sure would)

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

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

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

Overview

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

Defensively

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

Offensively

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

Other abilities

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

Upgrades

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

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

Overview

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

Defensively

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

Offensively

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

Other

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

Upgrades

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

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

Overview

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

Offensively

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

Defensively

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

Upgrades

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

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

Overview

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

Offensively

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

Defensively

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

Other

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

Upgrades

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

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