Swamp Thing- Model Review

Hello again all! For what will be the last of my 2nd edition reviews (now that 3rd edition is confirmed) I'm back to discuss another Magic user for Brave and the Bold, but also for Gotham City Sirens. This was planned to be alongside Jason Blood and Etrigan, with Black Orchid and Deadman to follow, but only Swamp Thing was finished so I decided to just put this out as is.

A big brute of a model available to both Brave and the Bold as well as Gotham City Sirens, Swamp Thing is a very expensive Free Agent that also brings Magic to the table.
Offensive
Strength 3+ and attack 4 aren't strictly amazing, but they do the job when factoring in his other offensive abilities. Large gives him access to Charge, which is excellent, and with Supernatural to give all his attacks the Magic effect stripping Tough Skin, Invulnerable and Incorporeal off of enemy models that have it (suck it Ghost).
His Spikes are basically the same as a Batling and as such they're ok but not amazing. I think that's all that's worth mentioning here, double stun short range is decent when he can't attack in melee but otherwise you want to be hitting up close.
He also has a Metamorphic Branch as his melee weapon, dealing double stun with Reach and Crushing. Crushing compensates for his attack 4 and means he isn't especially easy to block (halving the effectiveness of successful blocks), while Reach gives him the option of keeping himself safe (or on an objective) and still hitting opponents from 2" away.
Outside of the standard Magic Bolt 2 blood, Green Magic gives him access to a couple of spells that buff him up. One of those is offensively based in giving him +1 strength and Claws for some blood damage in melee (and a very good strength 2+). The Claws are an interesting option, but losing both Reach and Crushing to do blood damage isn't fantastic in my opinion, with them offering far too much versatility to trade off (especially in Brave and the Bold crews where Arrest is easy to find). The spell is well worth using though just for the +1 strength, because not only does it cost only 1MP (of his 5) it is also auto-passed in most cases (unless he is hit with a willpower reduction he passes on double 1s)
Defensive
Swamp Thing, despite being only defence 3, is a very good tank. Endurance 12 with Tough Skin means he is tough to stack damage on (and auto-passing endurance rolls) and with Regeneration and Elemental Magic he can take the damage right off again, as well as Green Magic giving him a once per game 2 stun heal for the cost of a single Magic Point. Even when he is killed, Immortal denies the VP for the kill and only awards 3VP for KOing him as a Free Agent, which factors in very well with his unique spell. Insert unique spell here Natural Immunities is the last thing to note here, making him immune to Poison, Steal and Blind which is something that really helps him stay useful at his steep points cost.
He does however have Vulnerability to Fire, which means if he gets hit with those weapons he will be taking good amounts of damage quickly. He has to be very careful to avoid them and take them out because of this.
Overall
There isn't much left on his card to make note of, but what is there is important. Pollution Hate means he can never enter sewers under any circumstance, slowing him considerably, although he does make up for it with being movement 3 and Large for possible 12" movement even before factoring in Green Wings as a spell and Chlorokinesis. Chlorokinesis requires Plants to be taken, so won't work in a BatB crew, but enables the Plants to move him around a bit more effectively in their own activation area. Green Wings is 3MP but incredibly easy to cast (he needs anything but double 1s to pass) and gives him Flying High and Hover. Flying High is a huge speed buff, although once per game, and Hover is very useful for him against melee heavy crews (see Owls) because of his lower defence.
He has Elite Boss:Plants for when he is in a Gotham City Sirens crew without Ivy (read:very uncommon and only possible with Sirens Harley) which lets him take more than 1 Plant in the crew.
All in all, Swamp Thing is tough to build lists for given his steep points cost and the fact he can no longer lead his own crew (Eternal Swamp Thing was a Sidekick which helped immensely), forcing him to be locked into a leader in 2 crews where they aren't exactly cheap (GCS and BatB with a few exceptions). I personally think the best place for him is alongside Constantine as they both provide solid lynchpins for the crew and the combination is cheap enough to justify taking henchmen afterwards. In Gotham City Sirens I don't feel like he has much of a place, if any, because the playstyle of that crew overall doesn't support the addition of such an expensive piece after paying for the better options in that crew, and with Possession Ivy won't have a huge need of a Large beatstick with access to Borgon, Goro or Quiz 4 for a third of the cost.

John Constantine- Model Review

Hi all! After almost 2 months off writing I've returned to finish off some older posts before I get into some of the newer toys. Starting off with this quick one I had half-finished, but this is a guy who has been the topic of a lot of conversation since his release almost 2 years ago.

The meta boogeyman himself, John Constantine. As is fitting for his character, this model is a right bastard and can be the bane of anyone inexperienced against Magic. Whilst not as obscene of a damage dealer as others, namely Zatanna, he more than makes up for it in sheer reliability and his toolkit being excellent
Offensive
With only attack 3 John isn't stellar in combat, but his damage potential isn't bad by any means through the use of Magic. As I mentioned with Enchantress, Black Pain is a great spell to put hurt on enemies outside of the classic Magic Bolt, while he also has a couple more esoteric spells to help out in other situations. His unique spell is a quite simple 10" range, double blood and Fire to do some good damage, and at 9+target's defence isn't especially hard to get off. Should you face an opponent with Incorporeal, Ghost, Demon, Vampire, Undead or Entity (read- not often, and what even is Entity? It's not in any book) he has another spell from Exorcism (and this is Exorcise Soul, so the main point of the discipline) at 8+defence instead that deals 2 blood, and they must pass an endurance roll or lose 2 counters. Possible loss of 3 counters is massive and it's good damage for 2 Magic Counters as well, so although it won't come into play often it should absolutely be used when it does.
His regular attacks are ok and have their uses, but aren't excellent. Blessed Knuckles doing double stun damage at strength 4+ is nice, and Magic helps when it's relevant, but he still won't be much of a beater with attack 3 making him so easy to block. The Amulet Lighter is less damage at only a single stun, but it does have the benefit of Fire to add potential stacks of blood damage onto models should he hit. All in all not amazing, but good enough to do the job should a situation call for it
Defensive
John's Defence 4, endurance 8 is respectable, but only gets better with his trait list. Charm helps him from being hit in melee, forcing willpower rolls to be able to attack him, and Survivor kicks in with a little extra chance to protect him once he actually dies. He can also leech off a bit of damage with Necromancy if he needs to, although being once per game and only a single blood it isn't a massive game changer.
Arcane Protection from the Exorcism Magic discipline is a great useful spell as well. Simply gaining +1 defence is good, but also being able to be immune to spells until the end of the round is well worth using should there be an opposing Magic user on the table. Not quite as amazing as Zatanna's Hover against melee, but it does combo well with Charm and is strictly better against guns.
Overall
The big one here is Luck. John will always have 3SC allocated to reroll what he wants, and because of this he can very easily perform when he needs to (spells and punching). Divination is yet another source of rerolls both through spells in the discipline (Guided Hands- it's underrated and amazing) and the trait itself The Devil You Know also plays into this with him being able to palm off potential downsides from failing spells (not that he will often). The usual Magic abilities apply through Elemental, with effect clearing and healing being the big 2, and he also brings along Necromancy and Exorcism for some darker Magic. The spells here have been mentioned previously (above and with Enchantress) and he can do great work with these spells when needed (I've even seen him Resurrect DKR Batman, however unlikely it is). Exorcism also provides him a possible 1 Magic Counter for +1 to Magic tests once per game, which is useful potentially but ultimately not that worth doing instead of another spell.
Detective is nice for reasons I have discussed very often, but BatB don't often tend to make huge use of it as they trend towards a lower model count.
Willpower 8 is excellent for 100 rep, and Constantine tops it off by having the dual rank of Free Agent and Sidekick. This means he can lead a crew or give out Sidekick buffs alongside a Leader, but also has the option of tagging along with another Leader/Sidekick combo (Modern Age Batman and Robin for example) and has a little bit more list versatility as a result.

Zatanna- Model Review

The second Brave and the Bold Magic user I've covered (first one being Raven in my Teen Titans review) and this one is hands down my favourite to use. Zatanna is just a blast to play (and that really is her playstyle- blasting) and although she may be a tough model in terms of damage output, the meta has largely caught up to Magic users in general and I feel like Zatanna is now fairly balanced in the greater scheme of things.

Artwork from the great BTAS poster series by George Caltsoudas. Some great art in there and a few will work well scaled down on terrain or on bases

https://imgur.com/gallery/1HArE 

Offensive
Zatanna is an offensive blaster, and her kit is based mostly around dealing a stack of damage to enemy models. Between the regular Elemental Bolt and Eldritch Bolt she can choose to put out 6 blood damage onto an enemy with her magic (for 6MP and 2 tests, both now allowing Ping and Dodge which is a pretty fair tradeoff). The low range of these spells is somewhat offset by Distort Magic giving an extra range extension to it (which you can use to make it ignore Ping if placed right) and helps to extend her threat range more.
As a ranged attack Pyrokinesis Bolts are firmly ok, but they do have a lot of potential in their damage spread (5 blood max on one model or 3 each on 2). Like the rest of her tricks it's short ranged, and needing 5s to wound is rough (but manageable) but they just help maximise her offensive potential and spread out tons of damage. They're also Light so she can use them as a pseudo-melee attack if someone closes in, and Throwing so she can move and shoot with no penalties.
Her Eldritch trait not only lets her use the excellent Eldritch spells, it also gives her a once per game +1 to her attack value for the round. This is pretty much useless however as she has no other bonuses to her melee and has everything she needs to just blast away from range.
Defensive
There's not much to say here, she has a fairly average defence 4 endurance 7, just with Hover to keep her very safe against melee attacks. If guns are locked down, she can very easily rely on Hover plus a few blocks to keep her safe. Safe Hands also leaves her immune to Steal which is nice, but ultimately not all that common to come into play anyway.
Eldritch Magic gives her the Force Field spell which while useful, is probably better spent on just attacking things or healing as it still won't save her from being KO (it does make her immune to Coup de Grace, but the next turn she will still likely die anyway).
Overall
Being a Magic user (and at Magical Power:6 a quite impressive one) she has all the healing and effect clearing that is standard. With Divination she can choose once per game to reroll a single die and can choose either result which is great to make her more consistent and reliable in game, while Homo Magi gives her a +1 willpower when she takes Magical tests putting her at effectively willpower 9 for them.
Divination gives her a couple of very good buff spells as well in Precognition and Guided Hands, giving a single reroll and a +1 to hit respectively (great combo with Assault Rifles for example). Both are immensely useful in using Zatanna as a buff piece to add to her offence (casting one of them doesn't prevent her from also doing a Bolt spell as well) so is a great piece in her toolkit.
Unique Spell- Tropelet
Her unique spell is a teleport (the spell name is teleport backwards, reflecting her magic style) that is once per game and costs 4 Magic Points. It lets Zatanna place up to 16" away from her position (which with Distort Magic can be an effective 20", 2" more than if she just spent the MC to move). It's a great way in BatB to easily reach the Batsignal or just any objective, or to get her into the fray alongside other fast models (Nightwing, Green Arrow, Flash for example). It won't be used all the time, but it will still be useful when it needs to be.

Teen Titans- Team Discussion

Welcome everyone, for another Team Discussion! A couple months back we were gifted the Teen Titans again, with not only an update to the team rules but also a full Batbox. I'll be talking about those options here today, except for Donna Troy who I have already covered, and the team rules in general. A quite thematic list, Titans are hampered in what they do by having significant penalties, but they do have quite good options to make up for it

Team Rules

Cooperative Fight Plan and Everything to Prove both support their survivability, boosting the somewhat fragile crew, and also plays into their supportive nature. Cooperative Fight Plan gives them the Resilient rule while they're within 4" of two+ friendly models (and in a team, they're wanting to stay together so as to not get picked apart) although rerolls to Endurance rolls isn't huge when they're mostly endurance 5-6 and on average failing even with a reroll. Everything to Prove however gives them Survivor, which can potentially keep them on the table for longer than they have any right to, and with good rolls will mess up an opponent's plans a lot. A great thing on the more glass cannon pieces, although it's not reliable and will only come into play every so often.
Pack is a nice way to get extra models in the list, and quite simply lets them take an extra 30 rep per 2 models in the crew. The second model counts for their own reduction too (so second, fourth and sixth) and is a great way to get 6 model lists in a team where it wouldn't otherwise be possible.
Youngsters is their big drawback, although it can be played around. It gives the opponent 4 Inexperience Counters they spend at the end of the Raise the Plan phase, and lets them deny a single counter being allocated from a Titans model for each. A model can only be affected once, but at mostly willpower 6 it's still a big loss, and severely restricts what they can do. However, for each Leader or Sidekick present an Inexperience Counter is denied, so a regular Teen Titans list will have 2-3 of these at least in order to deny it, as well as higher willpower models where possible. It has to be considered though that your biggest threat will almost always have one less counter than you would like, and you have to play to this in game. 

Equipment

Moment of Glory is absolutely autotake for how amazing it is. $350 to give a single model the Living Legend trait for a turn, it massively boosts up the value of that model. 2 activations on something like Donna Troy or Nightwing will define the game, and for that reason it has to always be in consideration. The only downside is that it can be removed by Broken Equipment. 

Handcuffs are slightly more expensive here than in Batfam ($400 vs $300) but are still just as mandatory. The relatively little amount of blood damage in Titans means they need the ways to take models out of play, and Handcuffs is it. 

Magazine is pretty standard apart from being 0-1, it's $300 for an extra ammo. Not bad on the ranged models (particularly Starfire) but cuts into the other, vastly better, equipment

Strategies

Fast Response is a 2 cost Strategy, that moves 2 Titans d6+2 inches before the game starts. They both move the same distance (ie one roll is made for both) and it's a great way to sling models up the table early, letting them get into position quicker and score VP early. It's almost flat out better than taking Patrol twice, and unless you want the whole crew up further, is a better take than Fast Advance as well because of the average distance moved (d6+2 is on average 5-6", which is obviously better than 4)

Impulsive Team helps offset Inexperience a little bit for a nice 1 cost Strategy, in that it can give 2 models in the team a free attack counter once per game. However, it doesn't go above the normal AC limit, and this means they will really only be having their regular willpower on the biggest hitter, with another possibly having an extra counter to do something else. It's good in that it spreads out counters, and that it affects 2 models (especially good with how easily they can get to only 1 Inexperience Counter) so is probably worth the take more often than not. 

Objective- Trigon Portal

The Trigon Portal is a very strange objective, as it is not deployed by the player who selects it but rather their opponent (unlike any other objective in the game) and they place it up to 12" away from your deployment zone, 6" away from board edges. It can be controlled by Titans within 4" of it instead of the regular base contact, but can only be contested in base contact, and gives 2VP when controlled by the Titans. However, they get bonus VP when they have more than one model controlling to a total of 2 extra (so 2 extra models within 4" for 1 extra VP each). This means they can theoretically get large amounts of VP from this and other objectives, but with the opponent placing it you won't often have the opportunity to do this as they will just place it further away in a bad position. It also has an added downside in that if Titans aren't controlling it,  the opponent gets to give 2 models 1 additional action counter in the next Raise the Plan phase above their normal limit in any stat, which is a huge boost and means Titans need to get to it quickly and hold it. 

Beast Boy himself is a weird model in that he as a standalone card isn't great, and it's in his various Animal Forms that he truly shines.
Offensive
Attack 3 with nothing else to mention, even at 4+ strength isn't great. It does become significantly better with his upgrades though, so he can do well in a fight (just has to be an animal to do it). All his upgrades are Large as well, meaning they can charge (which is great at their mostly increased strength of 3+)
Defensive
Movement 3 Acrobat is always very useful, but at defence 3 endurance 4 if he loses his upgrades he's going to cop it. Not especially that tanky outside of Shapeshifting, but with it he can effectively just swap and change every Raise the Plan to keep himself healing, and with the amount of extra endurance on those cards (and defence bump on the Gorilla)
Overall
Beast Boy as a character is inherently locked into Shapeshifting as his one saving grace. As a free ability that happens every Raise the Plan he isn't KO, he should always be chopping and changing between forms to keep himself going, and making the most of the free effective healing that it offers. He makes for an ok tank in Titans, and works excellently as an objective grabber/harassment piece alongside a bigger hitter like Nightwing or Donna Troy.

Upgrades- Animal Forms

The Gorilla Form is kind of similar to a Grodd henchman in that it has Large, Acrobat and Reinforced Gloves at strength 3+. It does have 4 endurance to keep it alive, which is great for healing reasons, and becomes defence 4, so is the hardest of all to remove of his forms. Overall this is the best of the forms, and any turn he's swapping from something that isn't this, it should probably go into the gorilla.

The Hawk Form is pure movement based, and is mainly just a way to very quickly reach objectives. It does have Claws for damage, but the best part is Fly, Large and Movement 5 for huge movement potential, being able to cross large sections of the board easily. The downside to this speed is that it only has 2 endurance, and will probably be hit off without much effort.

Tiger Form is the middle ground between fighting and mobility, having good attack and movement stats (strength 3+ Claws, attack 4 and movement 4) while getting Large like the others, and Sneaking for more movement tricks. The upgrade is also 3 endurance, so in between the Gorilla and Hawk in terms of resilience. 

The "cheap beater" of the crew, Hawk is an option that enables a bit more front line combat in the crew while still keeping a higher model count (unlike Nightwing or Donna Troy, who are more awkward to fit in like this)

Offensive

Attack 4, Reinforced Gloves and strength 3+, he's a punching model. No bonuses to hit so is prone to whiffing, but he has Tension to bump himself up to attack 5 if he has damage on him, so it's not all that mediocre with Hawk, just a little unreliable. 

Defensive

For 72 rep and as the intended beater of the crew, I find Hawk somewhat lacking in this regard. Endurance 7 with Hardened and movement 3 Acrobat are both very nice, as is Tension once he takes damage, but at defence 3 he isn't all that hard to land a big chunk of damage on in one go before he gets the defence bump. Sturdy is another bonus that is nice, but at willpower 6 in Titans it really is necessary for someone who is supposed to take damage to become better, as otherwise he will just be flopping around uselessly with no counters mid-game. He also has Agile to help him from taking fall damage, and at movement 3 he will be successfully doing this 50% of the time which is a nice bonus (although again- not huge)

Overall

Hawk has 2 abilities that are pretty great, but highly dependent on exact positioning. Teamwork:1 (Dove) lets him take a counter off of her and use it for himself, which is nice in this example because Dove won't be needing as many of her counters at any given time and can mean Hawk does more in a turn. Agent of Chaos though gives an effective Trickster to all friendly models in 4", which is a hugely reliable way to make sure the team is able to react to opponents' actions and play to the game flow. 

The second half of the Hawk and Dove pair, Dove is a healing and support model to go with Hawk's damage dealer, and she is a very useful piece in Titans crews.
Offensive
At only attack 3 and with nothing to boost her close combat attacks she definitely shouldn't be punching, but she does have a useful ranged attack in her Light Projection. A Medium Range Beam weapon, it does 2 stun and a blood at RoF1 and has 3 ammo, meaning she can reliably move and shoot with it. Despite this it is still only a single shot and is prone to whiffing, which means it is best suited to being shot at lower defence enemies to guarantee the damage (and with Beam, Ping is unlikely)
Defensive
Defence 4 Endurance 6 is fairly average given her cost and can't be discounted, but she does have a few traits that make her a bit more defensive. Agile helps prevent her from taking fall damage, and with Fly even if she fails this roll she will be reducing fall damage by a step which is a nice thing if she happens to be on rooftops. Native Resilient is good, but only in BatB where she won't have it from the team rules, as she really wants to be as close as possible to friendly models for her various buffs to go off. She also has Safe Hands to make her immune to the Steal effect which is very situational but not bad, and Agent of Order prevents both her and every other friendly model in 4" from having their counters reallocated by opponents, completely denying that kind of crew control.
Overall
Her Teamwork:2 with Hawk is less useful than Hawk's Teamwork with her but it is there so it can be nice. Fly means she is very quick when combined with movement 3, and as such she is a great model to put Handcuffs on to use as a finisher piece.
Her main gimmick however is in her healing potential, and boy is it good. She has the standard Medic, but with her Light Radiance can pay an extra SC to affect every character within 2" when she uses Medic (which actually includes herself given how the trait works) which allows her to very quickly get the crew back into shape, something that is invaluable in a team with such low endurance as standard.

The magic model in the team, Raven is a pure debuff piece that will be an absolute terror to an enemy crew, and is invaluable in how she can shut down opposing henchmen.
Offensive
Not the greatest in direct damage, but Raven makes up for it in sheer control potential. She can very reliably shut down enemy models and stop them from doing a lot, which is very helpful in Titans as it means they're getting hit less.
Her only attack outside of doing single stun damage, her Dark Blasts are a decent Short Range attack, only doing 1 blood but having RoF2, 3 ammo, Throwing, Magic and Terror:2. It means when the fighting is most tense she will be spreading around her shots to maximise Terror, stripping willpower from models (henchmen are crippled by this). The Terror effect is a -2 to willpower until the next Raise the Plan, so those models hit are losing 2 counters next turn (possibly more given her other traits) and thus the Teen Titans crew can gain an advantage far easier. It also removes counters when they're hit, so again restricts what the opponent can do.
Raven has 2 abilities that require special counters that both play into her control/debuff role, and both are crippling to almost anything. Discourage is a pretty easy -2 to willpower, meaning 2 less counters for the opponent next turn, and Intimidation stops them from rerolling willpower rolls and from making close combat attacks altogether.
Her magic also allows her to play offensively, with the standard spell Magic Bolt for damage, but her spells are far more suited to denial and debuffing. Curse is a great way to shut down other Magic or any Hypnotise ability which can be nightmares for Teen Titans, but also a great debuff to set up attacks from the rest of the crew while they are easier to take out.
Defensive
Raven is deceptively tanky, boasting a bunch of healing potential but also just sheer defence. Natural Immunities protects her from Blind, Poison and Steal, while the Demon trait means she is at -1 to be wounded always (nothing cancels Demon like it does Tough Skin or Armour) and has a permanent Desensitised-esque ability to never lose counters (which is especially amazing in Titans given Inexperience). With Occultism as well she can choose to give herself a +1 defence for that turn when she activates, putting her at defence 5 (possibly 6 through Painful Empathy) and thus very hard to combat.
Black Shadows as a spell can be used to put her into awkward positions, but most importantly prevent enemies from attacking her at range. This combined with Intimidation means she can theoretically be all but impossible to target, which is great but all around unlikely (and if she does, just attack the rest of the crew)
Overall
Raven has the highest willpower of any model in the team list at a whopping 8, making her a great caddy for Handcuffs (as does special 4, so she can still do her control stuff at the same time). She also has a lot of ways to heal the crew and herself, through Elemental Magic, Painful Empathy (pull up to 2 blood damage off friendlies and onto herself, gaining +1 attack and defence if she does) and Regeneration. She can pretty reliably put 3-4 counters in special and have uses for them with what she does, and she is definitely a versatile piece in the crew.
Raven's Magic is strong, but she is still only Magic User:3 and will only be able to cast a single spell a turn other than her unique, meaning she isn't as much of a powerhouse as some others in this regard. Her unique spell is also quite excellent, costing only 1MP and needing a 5 or more to go off on 2d6 (quite easy). The penalty is -1 defence until the end of the round if she fails, but with 2 ways to easily increase it on top of the ease in casting the downside is virtually meaningless. It gives her 2 rerolls during her next activation, which is a very effective way to increase her reliability as it works on anything (except blocks, because that's not in her activation).

The main leader of the crew, this Robin is a more offensive and synergistic version of Dick Grayson as compared to Boy Wonder Robin, and he has a ton of very useful traits in this crew.
Offensive
Getting it out of the way early, he has Batlings as a ranged attack. They're ok, but not great, and he won't get too much out of it, but he does have a higher than normal 3 ammo for it which is nice.
His Bo is his primary weapon though, doing a single blood with Reach, Handy and Devastating. It's not bad by itself, but when you add in Cooperative Fighting he becomes blood/stun on it which is great. Cooperative Fighting says that when Robin is fighting an opponent already engaged by a friendly, he adds an extra stun to every dice that deals damage (which means he doesn't actually have to be touching them with his Reach). Rerolls to hit on Dick is pretty standard, while Devastating lets him fish for knockdowns and hope for extra damage, and with his attack 4 strength 4+ he's not bad at doing damage himself. He is definitely a lot worse than Nightwing in combat, but he's still no slouch.
One other nice trait Robin has in this regard is Always on the Move, which means he can interrupt his movement with attacks at any point. This allows him to very easily trigger Cooperative Fighting (especially with Stay in Formation which I will get into later) and can mean he can move to objectives while still threatening models on the way and not sacrificing his own movement.
Defensive
He's a Nightwing with 1 less endurance stat-wise, and defence 4 movement 4 Acrobat is decently tough even at endurance 6 considering his rep cost. He does lack Martial Artist (although in Batfam or BatB this can be purchased) and that should be carefully considered, but overall he is ok enough for his points. A bit of a fragile Boss, but that has to be played around in Titans.
Overall
His dual rank is irrelevant in Titans, because you'll always be choosing him as a Sidekick to cancel Inexperience. The rank is overall not that useful in Brave and the Bold or Bat-Family either, as it changes nothing in Batfam except order of when VP is awarded (which goes in favour of Sidekick still), while in BatB he only loses access to a piece of equipment he wouldn't buy anyway (Hidden Magazine) unless you take another model as a Sidekick (Harvey Dent or Batwoman for example). Most of the time, he will be seen as a Sidekick for these reasons and more, and he's better off as that anyway.
This version of Robin is intended to be highly synergistic with his crew, and this shows in his trait list. Leadership is a nice way to give the crew better chances at passing willpower rolls, Charismatic allows him to bring an extra Free Agent (meaningless in Titans and Batfam but good in BatB) and Detective helps cancel any passes an opponent may have (unlikely unless they also bring a team, but possible with Informer and the like). His big draw in every list though is Stay in Formation, which lets him pull a model with him once per game. It has an 8" range, and the model moves 6", the only downside being that the model moves directly towards him and this can be blocked by obstacles (although this can be played around too as he can trigger it mid-movement for a line of least resistance). Overall a very good ability, especially in Batfam where it will speed up the slower Batmen immensely, although in general it's a great way to trigger Cooperative Fighting.
True Love: Starfire is a nice thematic ability that will probably trigger in games, and bumps him up to a pretty great attack 5 and willpower 7. That's about all that can be said about it, I wouldn't hire Starfire with the sole intention of triggering it (or vice versa) but it is useful when it comes into play.

One of the heavier hitters in the crew, Starfire does a lot of damage but is pretty fragile. She's a great mobile threat though, and can do good work in the crew.
Offensive
Starfire has 2 ways of damaging opponents, both very good.
Her ranged attack is a RoF2 Beam, that does 2 blood at Medium Range which is quite good. The fact she has 2 ammo and a -2 to Ping with this damage is insane for $0, and Crit Fire is a nice effect when it happens (although that won't be often)
In melee she is attack 4 strength 2+ which already smacks of punching, but then you add Steel Hands. Triple stun damage and built in Push on her hits she will pretty easily stack damage on things, but with no bonuses to hit she isn't super reliable in what she does outside of nuking lower defence models.
Defensive
She is similar to Damian Wayne in her glass cannon statline, but she replaces Acrobat with Invulnerability:1. Being immune to Casualty effects is good, but the 1 damage each turn she prevents doesn't offset the loss of Dodge in terms of staying alive, and she takes 3 double blood hits and she will be dead straight through Invulnerability anyway.
Overall
Starfire is quick, at movement 3 with Fly she can get where she needs to be. True Love: Dick Grayson is something that is actually relevant with Dick being an excellent choice in the team, and if he does die (something not unlikely) Starfire becomes a willpower 7 attack 5 monster. Safe Hands is ok on her, but largely not that relevant because of the general lack of steal in the game. Willpower 6 is fairly standard in Titans, and she is a worthy target for Inexperience, but she has good enough uses for her counters that it's not a huge loss when she does get hit with it (and there are certainly stronger options you want to take counters off)
Starfire is also special 4 for whatever reason. She will never use more than 2 in any given turn (Fly and Arrest, because she has Push built in and Grab is useless on her) so having an extra one is really not useful, but it's there.

Other options
Titans have a lot of other things to play around with, namely the Robins (many of whom I have already covered specifically in Titans or just elsewhere) who are very good options. Boy Wonder Robin is largely overshadowed by the newer Grayson Robin, but is still much better control, while Nightwing is always excellent and Damian, despite severely suffering from Inexperience in this list, is still a good cheap damage dealer same as in Batfam. The 2 Batgirls in Standard (Rebirth and New 52) are both also good options in the team, but Rebirth suffers a lot by being a Free Agent and thus New 52 Batgirl is the better option being a Sidekick (and both cheap and survivable on top of that). Like in Batfam, Batgirl makes a great Arrest piece with her stats.

Brave and the Bold- Equipment and Strategies

In this post I have decided to cover something I have missed over a bit when it comes to my older crew talk, that being Equipment and Strategy options. My newer Militia and LexCorp crew reviews, like my team reviews, have covered Equipment options, and have now also been updated to have a brief comment on crew-specific Strategies to match the plan going forward. This post will go over Brave and the Bold Equipment and Strategies to make sure they are covered, and will be followed up with the same for League of Assassins.

Strategies

Brave and the Bold are lucky in that they have a few Strategies to choose from, doing a lot of different things to help the crew out. This is likely to compensate for the fact they can't take  Vandalism, and one of their options is even a pretty good counter to that. 

Rapid Response Training

1 point, it lets you choose 2 henchmen in the crew to get +2" on their BMD for their first activation. It can only be chosen once, but the value on those 2 models moving faster can be very significant for the later game. It's less value than giving a single model Patrol for the same Strategy cost, but spreading it out can be worthwhile in many cases. 

Public Resource Upgrade

The gunline option, for 1 point this lets you choose 3 lamps on the table (after Vandalism, so it can't be countered that way) and increase their light from 4" to 6". This means a much greater part of the table is lit up, so you can shoot with your guns a lot easier right from the start. In a Gordon crew for example, it is a good way to spread out the potential shooting, and can force an opponent into dangerous bottlenecks where they will suffer. 

I Am The Night

Batman's exclusive Strategy, this is yet another cost 1. It allows him to once per game, at the beginning of the Take the Lead phase, be placed up to 6" away from where he currently is. This is a bit unreliable because it is before counters are drawn for that turn, but can be used both offensively and defensively, putting Batman into positions where he is hard to deal with for an opponent and can threaten them. 

Police Training

This one should almost always get taken. For 1 Strategy Point, halving the counters needed to Arrest is huge in a BatB crew. The fact it spends 1SC frees up movement for actually moving, and lets any given model move further to have a greater reach for arresting. 

Equipment

Brave and the Bold have a very large equipment list, with many options being good, and many more being restricted to specific characters. 

Magazine is the usual 0-2, $200 for an extra ammo. In such a gun-heavy crew, very useful

Flashlight is 0-2 (for some reason) and $100 to give a model Lantern. In Standard there are no models with Lantern, but in my opinion this trait is more than likely going to make the user a target of shooting themselves, while BatB have lots of easier ways of lighting up a table. 

Handcuffs is a 0-2 Equipment piece for $200, giving Arrest. In a crew that does lots of stun, this is pretty nice to have, and I can't really fault taking it. 

Whistle another 0-2 $200 piece of Equipment, this one is what BatB are known for. Giving a model the Stop! trait, it is a great debuff and control piece, and at least one should be in pretty much any Brave and the Bold crew. Excellent synergy with guns, it counters Acrobats and Magic, and can slow down big threats, what more do you want?

Street Patrol 0-1 but for $50, giving a model Street Guy is always worth it. Seriously, if you have $50 left why aren't you taking it?

Intensive Training is 0-1 and $100 funding, giving a model Teamwork:1 (All). Teamwork is useful, and very common in BatB, but at the same time isn't useful on every model that can take it, so you have to be careful who it goes on and have a reason for it otherwise it's a waste. 

Radio 0-2 $100 to get rerolls to Let's Go rolls, it's ok (and pretty awesome with Harry Wells halving the cost) but with the amount of good Sidekicks in BatB to give out the rerolls themselves it's not as huge. 

Antidote 0-1 to make a henchman immune to Poison, it's ok but very situational. Costing $100, it really only has a good frequent use against Cheshire (a subset of League who won't always be seen), Ivy (but not all the time as only one version has Poison) and Ratcatcher (the most likely to be seen, but still not all the time). Because of how infrequently it will be used, I would not recommend taking this in a list, just because it will more often than not be useless. 

Grapple-Gun another 0-1 option, this is a $300 funding way to get henchmen with grapple guns. Great way to speed up the crew. 

Helmet has no number listed (so assume 0-1) and gives a model Hardened for $300. Not really that great, because it's once per turn on henchman (who are usually easier to kill anyway) so I would give this a skip personally

Patrol Training is 0-1, $100 to give a model Undercover. A really good way to set up your Medium Range guns (hello Lerida) so they can shoot sooner. 

Gas Mask a 0-1 piece of equipment to give a model Gas Mask for $100, like Antidote it has great use but against very limited things. Unlike in Militia where you will be gassing your own models semi-frequently, BatB have none of their own ways to get Gas in a crew, and will be relying on matchups where they will be facing it. 

Riot Gear is a 0-2 $150 equipment option that gives Football Gear. With how common Heavy and Sharp weapons are in the game, this is actually a pretty good take if you want to keep a henchman alive longer on the front lines. 

Medic is a great piece of equipment with 0-1 and costing $150. The possibility of 3 Medic models in a BatB crew (Alfred, Dove and whoever this goes on) means you can keep in the fight a lot more than they have any right to, but also costs a lot of counters to do it with henchmen which needs to be considered. 

SWAT Special Training is an option for Elite:SWAT models only, and can do one of 2 things for $100. It's 0-2, so 2 models can take it, and it gives the model a choice of either Precise Aim (for the guns- mainly Lerida) or Tracking (anything else, giving a nice little extra bit of movement at the end of the turn). Precise Aim on a gun is very good for consistency, and I would recommend taking this whenever it fits. 

Bruce Wayne Options

These options have a lot of overlap with Bat-Family that I will not discuss here, but there are a few others that deserve a mention.
Batman Inc is a very expensive piece of equipment at $400 and 3 rep, and although it is useful it isn't anything special to spring for over other equipment. Giving Bat-Armour MkII (so a 6+ save and +1" to their BMD) to a Sidekick or Free Agent is good, but when there are better uses for funding it isn't essential. This is best taken in super low model count "team-esque" lists where Batman will be accompanied by relatively little else costing funding.
Martial Arts Training, Upgraded Batsuit and Mentor are identical to their Bat-Family incarnations, and their usefulness is pretty much the same. 

Kevlar Cowl is a $250 upgrade to Batman that makes him immune to crits. Simple, but efficient. It's at the expense of other equipment though at its cost, so has to be carefully considered. 

EMP is pretty simple, $100 to give a model the EMP rule. EMP isn't that useful, and as far as Equipment goes it's not something you're scrambling to take, with other options being miles better. 

Hidden Magazine is the way for BatB to put extra ammunition on their Sidekicks and Leaders, and for $300 can have some good uses. However, Batman himself won't have much use of this, and most of the best ranged non-henchman BatB models are Free Agents so can't benefit from it. It's good on Rick Flag, but would be so much better on Red Hood or Booster Gold. 

AK Batmobile Synchronizer is $0, but functionally useless. With the old 1st edition Vehicle rules being defunct, the Batmobile it works with doesn't have a use in the game. 

Morality is $50 to give Batman Demotivate and Moral Compass. Ok, but Moral Compass is a big drawback and Demotivate is a big counter cost on a model that will be wanting to be in combat with all that entails. 

Gordon Options

Heliport I have already discussed with Gordon himself, and is basically just a really good way of increasing his attack potential. 

Sergeant Training lets a BatB crew be a bit more versatile, giving Order for $50. While it is ok, and very cheap, it's not a huge thing, and will really not come into play as Gordon wants to be accompanied by a few strong guns and giving them equipment, rather than buff models other ways. 

Note- Every option after this is 0-1, so I will not list this below

Oliver Queen Options

Tactical Gloves is shared with Team Arrow, and it's just as good here as it is there. Giving Green Arrow Reinforced Gloves for $50, it's great value. 

Command Centre Support is a $250 piece of Equipment to give a model Scheming:2. My thoughts on this trait have been well documented on this blog, and I think it's mostly not great, so I would naturally not support spending funding on buying it for a model with no other benefit. I would always skip this one

Dick Grayson Options

Circus Training is a $300 and 5 rep upgrade, so very pricey, but it gives the model Acrobat. It's a big bonus, and can be hilarious on certain models (Lerida or Diggle for example) but ultimately is locked into a 90 rep model minimum and is itself expensive, meaning most of the time you'll just choose other better options. 

Runner is a nice cheap way to speed up a model (probably one with Arrest) as for $100 it gives them Tireless. Low cost and reliable, it's something that will see play on the cheaper Arrest pieces. 

Roy Harper Options

With Roy currently being Eternal-only, his equipment will obviously only see play in that format. Hi-Tech Ammo is expensive for what it does at 2 rep and $150 funding, giving a model Bleed:2 on one of its ranged weapons. It's a less useful version of Ancient Weapon (with most models that goes on having crit bonuses) and although it goes on ranged weapons, this means it's seeing less potential use unless they can get to an ammo. Overall the regular equipment options are better (Magazine, Whistle, SWAT Training)

Kathy Kane Options

The Equipment for Batwoman, Officer Training is a really great option in supporting the crew. For $100 and 2 rep it's cheap enough, while it gives the model Follow Me! to boost up a crew's movement capabilities and speed them up. It's a great thing to have, so if you're taking Batwoman I would recommend buying a henchman this. 

Tim Drake Options

Like Roy, Tim is Eternal. Tim has an upgrade for himself called Inspiring Presence that gives him the Leadership trait, which is not great given Tim himself isn't very good in his current forms, and BatB also have better models with Leadership in Rick Flag and Harry Wells

Barbara Gordon Options

Oracle is a great upgrade for Batgirl that gives her Exhaustive Planner for $200. It's very good pre-game control, and if Batgirl is in the crew it should be taken. Just a shame it can't go in Bat-Family or Teen Titans

Red Hood (Arkham Knight) Options

Deadly Weapons is basically just an upgrade to this version of Red Hood. It's nice because it is still Standard-legal, given AK Red Hood is still standard, and for $150 and 2 rep it gives him Silencer on his guns. It's very expensive as a package, but if you're already taking Red Hood you want it just for the extra reliability it gives him anyway in my opinion. 

Selina Kyle Options

Feline Stalk gives a single model Tracking for $200. Not great though, because it is costing 2SC in a crew that not only likes to spend SC in a turn (Arrest or Whistle primarily) but also on henchmen which will likely only be willpower 4 or 5. 

Loeb Options

Being the corrupt Commissioner, Loeb unlocks Bribe for $150. This gives a model Informer, which can be a great bonus in BatB and removes the need for Alfred. That said, Loeb is Eternal so will naturally see less play than others here, and as such this Equipment piece will be rarely seen

Commissioner Gordon- Model Review

Continuing my overviews into the Brave and the Bold with one of the few Leaders I haven't covered, today is a look into Commissioner Gordon. Someone who is quite a strong Leader, while being a far cheaper model than the rest in BatB, Gordon facilitates a very different playstyle to the costumed heroes.

Offensive
Gordon's attack 3 and strength of 5+ may not make him look like a great attacking model, but he has 3 different ways of shooting enemies that are all decent options. As standard on his card is his Automatic Gun, which is a short ranged option that he will only really use if he gets into a bad situation but with blood/stun damage, RoF3 and Light can put out the hurt fairly well, and Hidden Sniper, which is one of his primary abilities. This lets him make a RoF2 double blood shot, treated as a Firearm, at anyone he can see, provided you can also draw a line to a table edge and they are within 12" of said edge. The shot also ignores Ping! which means as long as he hits he is doing reliable damage, and can potentially do 6 blood to something in a turn when used with Heliport. Hidden Sniper can't be used turn 1, giving the opponent time to evade it, but it will always be a very good tool in Gordon's kit.
Air Support is the other of his main gimmicks, and it lets him support the rest of his crew's ranged weapons (because let's be real, you will have guns in BatB). It lets him choose a spot on the table to be lit up by an explosive template, meaning anything in your crew can draw line of sight to any model in it. With his $150 funding equipment Heliport which may as well be stapled on, he can also make a single RoF double blood shot at a model under the template, ignoring Ping! which is a nice way to get a little bit of extra damage out from him each turn. Some great synergies with Hidden Sniper, but also board and scenario dependent because larger buildings will block off sight for this to happen.
Defensive
Defence 3 and endurance 6 means he is soft, and if someone gets to him he will die. This only affirms his role as a backfield leader, and he benefits greatly from Bodyguard models (those being Diggle and SS Katana). He has a Bulletproof Vest to help against shooting, but that's about all he will benefit from in this regard, and any half decent melee beater will quite reliably take him out.
Overall
Detective is fairly standard for BatB Leaders, and Affinity:Batman gives him some nice options to play around with for list building. Take Cover! is an ok ability to give henchmen extra defence counters, but when Heliport costs 2SC and he can Inspire instead, it won't really ever see play. Cop gives him a nice little bonus against models with Criminal (awesome when he pings things from far away) and Arrest helps BatB crews out a lot. Commissioner plays into this as well, making it only cost 1MC when he does it so it is very cheap (although not quite as great as the 1SC Arrest henchmen can get). Veteran is a very good way of keeping him versatile, allowing him to move counters when he activates, and Elite Boss: SWAT opens up a ton of list options for any crew Gordon is in

Amazons of Themyscira- Crew review, example lists

With this month's releases, we were given a great "new" team in the Teen Titans, but in this release came someone I am very happy to see in BMG. The Amazons are a part of the DC world that are often largely forgotten about, although they are one of my personal favourite groups, and in BMG they provide a very close experience to a team list.

In general they are Acrobats, with all that comes with that trait, and all benefit from the Amazon trait, giving them +1 to both hit and block, and a -1 to wound for opponents attacking them. This is a very good all-rounder trait that plays to their strengths as a combat based crew, and cannot be dismissed (or forgotten, that would ruin the crew). They are very elite, but their bonuses and killing ability compensates for this.

The 3 henchmen (henchwomen?) for the crew are the Amazon Warriors, all with very similar statlines.
Offensive
Amazon Warrior 1 has a sword to fight with, which is pretty impressive in her hands. With +1 to hit from Amazon, she also rerolls to wound at strength 3+ and doing double blood damage. This, combined with attack 4, means she is pretty reliable at killing most henchmen outright, and even many free agents and sidekicks which is where she really pulls her weight
Amazon Warrior 2 has the same statline as Warrior 1, but replaces her sword with a spear. Still with the +1 to hit, she instead does blood/stun without rerolls, but gets Bleed:2 and Reach to compensate, letting her pick her battles easier and attack from defensive positions.
Amazon Warrior 3 is the ranged option for the crew, and with her bow she plays somewhat like a much cheaper Green Arrow equivalent. Having both Good Aim and Rapid Fire she can move and shoot 2 shots very accurately (+2 to hit between Good Aim and Amazon) doing a potential 4 blood. She has 4 ammo meaning she'll be shooting most of the game (probably until she dies because she can easily reach ammo objectives) and her funding cost is irrelevant as Amazons have no equipment or other options that cost funding.
Defensive
For henchmen, they have impressive statlines in this regard. Endurance 6 can kind of be expected for their price point, but defence 4 on the 2 front line Amazons is really great and helps keep them in the fight for as long as possible.
Outside of Amazon and Acrobat, which are both very useful, there is little to note trait-wise. Amazon Warrior 1 is a Martial Artist, and at defence 4 this is a great thing to have on henchmen, while Amazon Warrior 2 has Combat Flip. This is interesting for a few reasons, as it gives her some sneaky movement opportunities, but is primarily useful in getting her into spots where she can fight with her spear and force opponents to move into her to attack.
Overall
Being the henchmen in an offensive crew, they really are geared to fighting. They've got nothing special outside of combat abilities, but they really don't need it.
The one thing they are somewhat hampered by is their willpower of 5, meaning they won't have enough counters in any turn to do everything they want. This must be played around very carefully as if they get caught out after putting everything into attack, they will probably cop a beating from what's left.

Sidekick/Leader Amazon Traits
Before we go into detail with the models themselves, there are some traits the Amazon Boss options share that can be covered separately.
Amazon Lineage prevents them from taking any non-Amazon model while they are the Boss. This is a simple little fix to stop them taking villain free agents, and to restrict list options if Wonder Woman or Wonder Girl lead a Brave and the Bold crew. This is in effect locking them into taking another leader while they are here, giving them huge native buy-ins before you can start building the rest of your crew
Regeneration is a nice little defensive bonus, helping them heal damage they've taken. 1SC a turn to heal 1 damage is nice, and if they have blood damage on them this is usually not a massively bad thing to do, although it is using counters they could use to keep fighting.
Weapon Master is a nice extra hit bonus on all 3 of the models below, giving them +2 to hit on any target. Hitting anything in the game on a 3+ at worst is huge, and it means they are very dangerous in combat.
Superjump is yet another movement trait for them (you would think being high movement Acrobat is enough) and is really just a nice extra bit of counter efficiency. For 2MC and 1SC it allows you to place 8" in any direction, and really using 3 counters to move 8" instead of 4 counters, that's another counter to spend elsewhere. It lets them get up and around buildings far easier as well, which is invaluable with how populated boards are likely to be.
Bracelets of Submission is a trait shared by Wonder Woman and Wonder Girl, giving them some extra ranged protection. In effect a single free Dodge roll every turn, it lets them take an agility roll against a ranged attack when they get hit the first time each turn. If passed (which is a 66% chance, so likely) the hit is cancelled (but only one hit) and then it goes to proper Dodge/Ping/Bodyguard etc. It's great for counter efficiency, and stacked with Shield for a free Ping! the Wonder pair are very bullet resistant.

The newest Amazon care of the Teen Titans box, Donna Troy brings a lot of interesting things to play and is easily one of the most exciting of the new releases. 

Offensive

Donna hits hard. It's that simple. +2 to hit on her sword, strength 3 with rerolls and attack 4 means she doesn't really hit much harder than Amazon Warrior 1, but the extra +1 is very helpful. Reinforced Gloves is ok but quite frankly useless unless both her weapons are stolen (the shield does the same but rolls 2 crit die) and her shield is alright but not as good as the sword. 

Her one big thing of note is the Lasso of Persuasion, a unique trait for her. For 2AC she can choose an enemy in 2" to suffer the Hypnotise effect, which can be a great way to not only remove a threat to your crew, but add a bit of extra power to yours. Mind control in either an Amazon or Teen Titans crew is very good, and in Titans can be paired with Raven to reduce the chance of them passing. 

Defensive

Like I mentioned above, Donna is hard to shoot. Layered defences of the Bracelets, Dodge and Ping means she isn't likely to be shot outside of expensive combos, while she is also a Martial Artist at defence 4. Wherever she is, she will take a bit of work to take down and at endurance 8 with Regeneration it's pretty reliable she can hang around. 

In Teen Titans she combos especially well with Raven and Dove, who can both heal her very quickly when she has taken damage, while also not being especially easy to wound themselves. 

Overall

There's nothing really left to mention now. Like the other Amazons, Donna is all about combat and doesn't have anything outside of that. 

Teen Titans

Consider everything I mentioned above, but with one less token. As long as Donna is alive she is preventing an Inexperience counter from being in play, but as long as any exist she is going to be the first one losing a counter. Her points cost also makes it all but impossible to do anything higher than a 5 model list, so locked into only getting 60 free rep from the team rules. 

It is important to note that she does have access to Living Legend in that team though. This should always go on her if she's in the list, because she is just amazing with it that one Moment of Glory. 

Brave and the Bold

Donna picks up the Legend rank in BatB, making her worth a whopping 10VP when killed (6 on KO is also huge). Combined with this is the fact she can't any other model if she leads Brave and the Bold crews, and you have a model that has a lot stacked against her as a balancing mechanism. She's still good, but at the same time substantially worse than in the other 2 lists she can be in. 

Queen Hippolyta is the only Leader option available to Amazons, and is an expensive powerhouse.
Offensive
About the same as Donna, except she has attack 5 and strength 2+. This means she's hard to block and wounds very easily. Reinforced Gloves is there, but like Donna isn't really relevant because the sword is flat out better.
Defensive
While she lacks the amazing ranged protection of Donna or Diana, Hippolyta has some interesting other tricks that keep her in the game. Sturdy means she only loses counters for every 3 damage she takes, and with endurance 11 she will be taking a beating before she goes down and can continue fighting easily. Martial Artist is pretty standard to the crew, but is also good to note.
Overall
The only Amazon to have crew buffs, Hippolyta is a great support piece for the rest of the crew. With Grand Strategist you can dictate your terms before the game starts, choosing strategies to benefit your crew, and Leadership helps against anything that forces willpower rolls, which is a godsend in a crew that is majority willpower 5.
Her willpower of 9 is also something that is very useful for her, as it means she is both versatile in game and all but immune to mind control effects. While she has a fairly standard spread of stats otherwise, her willpower is what makes them really shine in general.

The last piece I'll add, Wonder Woman is currently an Eternal model but is also the only one, so she's here for completeness' sake. A very, very strong model offset by her super high cost, Wonder Woman is really just a (significantly) stronger version of Donna Troy in her rules.
Offensive
Her sword is majority of the time almost exactly the same as Queen Hippolyta, changing when her opponents are specific kinds of models. When a model has an armour trait Diana always wounds 1 better because of strength 1+, and for things with Ghost or Invulnerable Diana straight up removes and ignores those with any of her attacks care of Godkiller.
The magic shield weapon is the same as Donna Troy's shield (read- better than using Reinforced Gloves) just with a different name.
Her Lasso of Hestia is very worthwhile in setting up a second activation attack with Living Legend, as although it has low damage at only 1 stun, Stun as an effect can set her up for a second round of complete carnage against her opponent. It forces the opponent to make block rolls against it, as if they don't they can't spend counters period, and at attack 5 she isn't easy to block either, meaning she is fairly often doing this. The only downside to it is that it is single use, meaning you have to guarantee the target is worth using it on (so basically, more expensive models that will return a lot of VP)
Defensive
Defensively she is almost exactly the same as Donna Troy, save for having endurance 10 instead of 8. It means most of the time she needs an extra dice to take out, and most things attack 4 and below can't get a lucky one shot on her (and neither can assault rifles, not that they'll reliably hit)
Sturdy is the same deal as Hippolyta, less counters lost with damage means she is better off in the long run and can keep on trucking.
Overall
Same deal as Hippolyta, she is willpower 9 with all that brings with it. The biggest thing to mention that's left though is Living Legend. A second activation each turn, with 2 free counters, helps her massively in her attacking ability, and can be a really great way to pinball her around the table being super hard to lock down. With clever sewer placement she can use her second activation of turn 1 (after using a sewer in her first) to barrel into the biggest threat in the opponent's list and at the very least severely wound it, and then continue to use sewers every turn to speed around the table and kill anything nearby. The 2 activations can also be useful to take out multiple models a turn, against horde crews where she can quickly mop up enemies and reduce activation count.
Warhorse
The Warhorse is an interesting piece, as it is an upgrade card that has no cost. Despite this, I wouldn't say it should be "bolted on" to her card, as there are alternate ways to play her in 2nd edition that the horse is not necessary. It adds +1 to her movement and is 4 endurance to give her Animal, Huge and Swift (making her insanely fast, 9 inch basic movement and potential 25 inch movement in an activation), at the expense of not being able to use her Lasso or any of her defensive traits. Amazon Princess lets her use Charge for only 1SC, meaning a 25 inch charge is possible, and she is only blocked on 6s during this Charge. It depends entirely on what you want to do with it, although as an assassin model she is better off on foot for a sewer alpha strike.

List Discussion
With their low model count and high cost models, Amazons have very few list options and don't often fit well into 350 rep.
The regular list (Amazon Starter)- The starter set is probably the most well-rounded of all the Amazon list options, and is the highest model count list that doesn't leave a chunk of rep leftover.
Donna+3 Amazons- This would be a super solid list if only another Amazon henchman existed. As is, it's the starter set with 55 rep left over, so would be a nice list in 300 rep games but in 350 rep there's way too much of a gap to justify taking it.
Wonder Woman+2 Amazons- This Eternal list is by far the hardest hitting of all the Amazon list options by sheer virtue of having Wonder Woman present, but at 3 models it can very easily be controlled and picked apart if the henchmen separate. Best to drop the spear Amazon from this list to keep shooting in it and maximum combat damage (virtually no stun)
Hippolyta+Donna- Super low model count but it hits very hard, and can potentially be a very fun list to play. High endurance and is moderately tanky, but it folds once even a single model gets affected by control or high damage.

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.