Bane Crew Review part 2- Eternal

Welcome back to part 2 of my Bane crew review. This time I will be discussing the Eternal models in the crew, with a lot more models that can also be used in League of Assassins when DKR Bane is taken. Like their Standard counterparts, these models are beefy and offensive, focused around dealing damage to the opponent quickly.

The old "Big Bane" before Rebirth came along, Arkham City Bane is also the original Bane in BMG. Because of this, he has been largely overtaken in terms of newer options, and is really a thematic play above all else
Offensive
Same as Rebirth Bane, except he replaces Rebirth's Venom use with Titan. Increasing himself to attack 7 is not really that big of a deal considering he is no harder to block, but regardless he puts out a world of hurt when he hits his opponents, and with Master Fighter he gets +1 to hit. He is the equal worst Bane in terms of consistency in his attacks (and the other one is almost 60 rep less) and it has to be noted that he isn't that reliable of a hitter when compared to almost anything else in his price range.
Defensive
He's exactly the same as Rebirth Bane in this regard, except replaces Venom Enrage with Titan Berserk. This is better, because not only does Titan increase his defence and endurance it also gives him Invulnerability:3 instead of 2, meaning he has a swing of 2 extra damage for those turns. It's also more versatile because he can pick up extra mid-game and keep himself juiced up.
Overall
It is here that the comparison to Rebirth becomes unfavourable. Scheming:1 absolutely does not compare to Mastermind, I Will Break You and Cool Under Fire (nor should it for 11 rep less) but Primary Target:Titan is a nice bonus, especially with the Bane strategy. It's a good extra bit of VP that can help out sometimes, but isn't game breaking. Rebirth Bane also has one higher willpower baked in, which is very important to note for certain interactions and means he will usually have an extra counter to make use of.
Affinity:Batman is a funny little possibility, although with the quality stable of Free Agents natively in Brave and the Bold it's not huge, and he will almost always be replaced with another option

The cheapest version of Bane, Arkham Origins Bane still has a place in the game but is overshadowed by DKR Bane. While still a good option, he isn't necessarily great at this point in the game's evolution

Offensive

Attack 5 with Reinforced Gloves, Master Fighter and strength 3+ makes him a decent beater for his cost, and on Venom he will definitely punch above his weight. 

This Bane is also the only one to have a choice of special attacks he can do, with Large giving him access to the great Charge attack but also having Lethal Blow. With how easy it is for him to damage models, the ability to slap Stunned on something is very worthwhile, and can be useful in shutting down larger threats he can't KO outright and lock them out of the game for a time. 

Defensive

Same defence 3 as Rebirth and Arkham City Bane, but with a lower endurance of 8. He still has Venom Enrage to protect himself when on Venom, but with less doses and less endurance than Rebirth he is significantly more fragile (and so he should be for the huge price drop). No Desensitised like the other Banes, but he does have Sturdy so he will only ever be losing 2 counters in a game

Overall

Origins Bane has Scheming:2, which can be ok but isn't really all that useful, and that's about all that's worth mentioning here. He is pretty fast like all Banes are, but at willpower 7 he has the lowest willpower of them all, which given he is the cheapest makes sense. 

As far as Bane henchmen go, TNT has always been the worst. Even as an Assault Rifle henchman he is the worst option for Bane, and his expensive cost isn't really offset by having anything of huge use compared to the others. I would always go for Elite Op over him now.
Offensive
His Assault Rifle is great damage, as always, but it isn't enough to justify his use when there are 3 others in the Bane crew all offering more useful kit otherwise (Dallas, Barsad and Elite Op).
Defensive
TNT has 2 traits that help him out defensively, and he has 1 higher endurance than normal for Bane henchmen. Flak Armour protects him against almost all of Mr Freeze's crew which is great, and makes him immune to Expansive and Explosive in general, but it's not as commonly valuable as Bulletproof Vest or even the Light Armour on the newer models, and for being more expensive than most of the other Assault Rifles it isn't really that great. He also has Hardened to reduce a little bit of damage each turn, but it isn't hugely worthwhile given how much of a priority target he will be and not being any better than the other gun options
Overall
Like the rest, he's got Veteran. He does also have Order to change around his allies' counters, but in a crew where they're all Veteran anyway it isn't hugely valuable.

A "mini-Bane" for the crew, Venom Soldier is a secondary bruiser that is functionally just a punching model/bodyguard.
Offensive
Attack 3 on a combat model hurts, but he does have Reinforced Gloves and 2 Titan Doses to amp up his output. With attack 4 and strength 3+ all of a sudden he hits like a cheaper beater, and with Brutal can fish for collateral results he wants (usually knock down). All in all he's a nice piece but not massive for his cost, and there are better melee henchmen in Bane.
Defensive
Having the same defensive stats as usual, but with endurance 7 and Large (so Ping penalties, rerolls to recovery) to compensate for not having Bulletproof Vest. He also has Hardened to reduce a bit of damage he takes, which is ok but not huge on him given he doesn't have much else.
Overall
The only henchman in Bane to not have Veteran, but he does make up for this by having 1 higher willpower of 6 and Bodyguard to keep Bane or Bird safer while they're on the front lines. He's no faster than the rest, losing a movement but gaining the extra 2" to his BMD from Large, but he can easily keep up with the crew anyway.

Mercenary- all of the remaining henchmen have the Mercenary trait, and thus can go in League of Assassins lists if DKR Bane is present. They can also take the Tumbler because of this trait. 

A model that has pretty much been replaced by the newer Barsad, Dallas was once the terror of Gotham in 1st edition. Still a solid piece, but Barsad is a standard version of the same thing.
Offensive
He's an Assault Rifle. Long ranged triple blood and RoF3, he can nuke whatever he hits, but lacks the hit bonuses Barsad can get.
Defensive
With regular Bane stats and a Bulletproof Vest, Dallas is pretty ordinary in this regard
Overall
Like almost all Bane henchmen, he has Veteran to move his counters around a bit when he activates.

The 3 regular melee models in the Bane crew, they are all fairly similar. Identical statlines, they only differ in their weapons and traits.
Offensive
All 3 of them are attack 3 (so somewhat easy to block) and strength 5+ (so somewhat hard to wound). All 3 have Heavy though, bumping them up to wounding on 4s which is not bad in any regard.
McGregor has a single blood Machete as his weapon, which has Heavy and Sharp. Unlike the others, he rerolls wounds instead of hits, making him the most reliable at damaging (but also the least gain from Venom) while he has Weapon Master for a +1 to hit instead.
Mohawk has 2 single blood Ice Axes, which have crit blood, Handy and Heavy to make him a decently reliable model in combat. He also has Combo with these weapons, boosting his efficiency only slightly (or significantly under DKR Bane) but extra damage is always nice.
Smash is the only one with no traits to boost his offence, but he has the best weapon to make up for it. He has a standard Knife in case of steals (which are very rare) and his Maul is a very good weapon in a Bane crew, because it has Handy and Heavy. Like an axe but with blood/stun, he is boosted seriously by using Venom Doses because of this.
Defensive
All 3 have Bane stats and Bulletproof Vests, that's about it. Decently survivable, but also not too tanky.
Overall
Veteran helps them move counters around, but that's about it. Movement 3 means they're quick enough as well, they can get good work done for their 30 rep or less cost.

A sort of midfield model, Ted Hunter has both shooting and melee but isn't amazing at either. A decent objective piece, but there are a few options in Bane now that are just better for the cost.
Offensive
Ted has 2 weapons, a Shotgun and a Knife. For his cost the Knife isn't great (single blood Sharp at 5+ and attack 3) but it's there if he needs it, while the Shotgun is a weapon that is up for a lot of debate. Personally I don't rate it, as even though it can move and shoot with no penalty, that is because it's a single shot and without high damage to offset that, it's quite literally hit or miss for his usefulness. 2 blood and a stun at Medium Range isn't bad, especially with Firearm, but if you miss that's him wasted, and Sharpshooter or even Schoolboy do significantly more for only slightly more funding.
Defensive
He has Bane stats and Bulletproof Vest, that's about it.
Overall
Veteran, that's it. He's a run of the mill Bane henchman with all that entails.

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. 

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

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

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

Offensive

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

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

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

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

Defensive

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

Overall

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Demon's Heir Batbox- Review and discussion

Hello again everyone, a few days ago we were given two new releases from Knight and one of those fits perfectly into what I have been writing about recently- League of Assassins. Finally getting their Batbox, we didn't get what I would've expected (AK Nyssa or a repacked Ra's starter) and instead we got an all new Batbox! 100% new contents, a few great sculpts for much needed comic characters, and some more exploration of the Arab side of the League. Without further talk, lets jump in!

Starting with the leader of the box, and we have a new Talia with what is one of my favourite sculpts ever (even with the stupid special volume) and her rules are solid. As a leader/sidekick she has all the bonuses of leading a crew if she chooses to, but she can still work with Ra's or even under Merlyn in a list if you so choose and still operate very effectively.
Offensive
Her Twin Scimitars are a great weapon, and with Weapon Master she is hitting somewhat more reliably than otherwise. With Overwhelming, Sharp and Bleed:1 it is a weapon that will do damage when it wounds, but at 5+ strength she is relying on the rerolls to ensure things happen, and the Bleed:1 here is nowhere near as useful as on the Hassassins for obvious reasons. If you're looking for a leader to kill things in League this is not the place to do it, take Ra's or Merlyn instead, but Talia is still more than capable in combat while bringing more support capabilities to the crew as well. The other things Talia have going for her in this regard is her speed, as she has a 6" BMD between Special Volume (as much as I hate it on principle) and Acrobat, and she has True Love: Damian Wayne. Compared to True Love: Bruce Wayne on the other versions of Talia, this one will see far more use, as Damian is a great henchmen available to League, but is also very fragile so it's not unlikely he will die and trigger the trait on Talia.
Defensive
Talia doesn't bring much in the way of defence, only really relying on Martial Artist and Acrobat to keep her safe. At defence 4 and movement 3 she's not going to be an easy kill, but with her bigger base size she is still somewhat easier to reach than her other variants, and even though she doesn't suffer a defence penalty for outnumber it is easier to simply mob her. Overall, she's not bad defensively by any means, but she's not amazing either.
Overall
It's in Talia's support capabilities that she really comes into her own. Scheming and Business Agent are both kind of useful, but not the greatest boons, and Strategist is almost a given on League leaders now (Merlyn is the only one without it in standard), but it is through her own unique traits that she shines (like most of this box). Manipulative lets her move part of her crew to fully react to opponent's deployment (like for example if a sniper is deployed in prime shooting position, you can redeploy to counter it), and it lets her choose a model every turn to activate last. This is kind of like a reverse Persuasive in many regards, and it lets you choose a model that is likely to have a big turn of damage and mitigate it until the end of the turn, hopefully when you've already killed it mid-late game. Early on not as useful, and with a willpower roll harder to do than Persuasive on bigger targets, but it can work in her favour. What is likely her biggest bonus though is Mind Control Substance, which doesn't let her Hypnotise enemies as it may suggest, but instead prevents her own models from losing counters due to damage accumulation, and cannot have their willpower reduced ever. This is a great way at mitigating things like Discourage, especially as it is often used as a first step before an Inspire Fear is used, and protects against the prolonged effects of Terror to also help in this regard, so Talia is an obvious counter to Scarecrow or even to an extent Raven on the other side of the table. It is a great way to mitigate the weaknesses of willpower 4 on League henchmen as well, as they will rarely be losing counters and thus will be operating at full effectiveness, so they can stay in the game at their peak lethality for as long as possible, and have to be killed to be stopped as a threat.

 A somewhat minor character in the grand scheme of things, The Heretic is nonetheless a great addition to League as a crew, and a personal favourite of mine for a few reasons. As a character he has some interesting things about him in my opinion, and in game he is definitely a good take. Playing like a cross between Bane and The Merciless, The Heretic is quite simple- he kills things good and is a tank.
Offensive
Killing things is his job, and he does it well. Attack 4 seems a little low for this job, but with Unstoppable he shouldn't be blocked often, and he has a whole suite of special attack bonuses he can choose from depending on the job at hand. Devastating Blow is less useful here than in most cases, as at strength 2+ and Sharp he doesn't need any help with wounding, and at movement 3 with Large and Reach he has an effective 14" threat range, which is the highest in League, and an 8" threat range without any movement counters at all. Charge is worthwhile on him, as it's a little bit of extra damage with possible Knock Downs, and when hit bonuses are needed he can potentially just punch things with his +1 to hit, but this isn't that great because in League you're going to be doing the blood damage anyway, and you can usually just skip the stun. His one big thing that is unique to him is Juggernaut, which for it's cost is very very good. 1MC and 1SC to guaranteed push all models in contact 2" and then on top of that gain +1 to hit is a really good thing, especially if you can get enemies to hit terrain with it and also get an extra hit on them beforehand. With Reach too, he can hit whatever he pushes while they have to move to get back into contact. Excellent as a means of protecting or contesting objectives, as you can just force opponents off them without any potential to fail.
Without having played him I would guess once in combat, his best loadout is 2 special, 1 movement and 4 attack. That allows him to use Unstoppable, Juggernaut and 4 attacks, so you're as reliably wounding as is possible for him to do, and with his defensive abilities he can usually get away with not putting anything in defence.
Defensive
Not much to be said here, he's Desensitised and has Light Armour. At endurance 9 he can take quite a beating, and with Large gets to reroll all recovery rolls, so he won't go down all that quickly.
Overall
The Heretic isn't the "support" kind of sidekick. He's the "I kill things very effectively" kind of sidekick, just like most in League. He's a combat model through and through.

Likely to be a favourite of Young Justice fans, Cheshire finally makes her way into BMG through this box, and she brings a lot of quite interesting tricks. I'll note here that for a variety of reasons (armour and Cool Under Fire being the main ones) Cheshire is not good into Bane, but she is great in pretty much every single other situation.
Offensive
Her sword is great, as is the poisoned Sai, and neither are really a must pick choice. The Sai is lower damage, but a lot more potential to put on Poison, and with Combo she can still spray a lot of attacks at targets, and she gets rerolls to hit and block with them which is very good, but the sword still has Poison, and rerolls damage as opposed to hit and block, which at strength 5+ is very useful. Factoring in Poison and Toxicologist, she caps out at 10 blood on a single target per turn using the sword, and if someone does survive this, they're probably dead next turn.
If she can get into base contact with 2 separate henchmen, she should just use the Sai to guarantee hits on them (and thus Poison) and hope to get as much damage as possible, and then wait for them to fold from her Poison.
Defensive
Cheshire is hard to deal with in any way. Rerolls to block and dodge, defence 4, movement 4 Acrobat, you have to put in a big investment to take her out. The one big noticeable factor is that she doesn't have Martial Artist (which is really out of place in League) but it doesn't mean she still won't take a concentrated effort to do it. High potential to ignore fall damage is another thing that is quite good, but not really that useful in most situations.
Overall
Cheshire brings most as a support piece, as her kit is mostly based around Poison. She unlocks an equipment piece to buy a henchman Poison Master, but you only really want that on Hassassin 1 out of all the League cause he's the only other model with base Poison, but she herself plays around with Poison as well with Toxicologist.

The henchmen of the box, the Hassassins are quite solid and definitely cheap in League. All of them are solid models for sure, and their killing capability is almost unparalleled for their cost, but they are incredibly straightforward and don't have any tricks outside of murder.
Offensive
The Scimitar that 3 of the 4 have is quite a good weapon, and Martial Expert turns them into decently reliable damage dealers. At attack 3 they're somewhat easy to block, and
Hassassin 1 has Poison on his Scimitar, which is great for another little bit of sneaky damage (which can become a death sentence on lower endurance models), and synergises especially well with Cheshire for the bonuses to poison (and even for Poison Master on him)
Hassassin 2 doesn't have much in the way of special weapon bonuses, but he does have Tension which can bring him up to attack and defence 4 the moment he takes any damage. It's a careful line, because as soon as he takes 2 damage the benefit of being able to have 4 attacks is gone (unless Rebirth Talia is in the list), but he still keeps the option of being harder to both hit and block which is excellent
Hassassin 3 has Throwing Knives. Nothing to special, and he's the one I would personally drop first, because the extra ranged weapon is often not useful and it cuts into the funding of the crew (which admittedly Talia adds to). I would just rather take pieces of equipment (Hidden, Magazines for other weapons, Loyalty Tattoo, Ancient Weapon as I discuss below) or better ranged weapons, like Smoke Grenades (Ichi) or the Bows
Hassassin 4 has a different weapon set to the rest of his kind, in that he brings a Bhuj and a Hidden Blade (Hassassin's Creed?). The Bhuj has Reach, Heavy and Sharp, so he is the most reliable damage dealer of the 3, but he lacks any special crit to make the most use of Martial Expert. This is where the League equipment list comes to play, as Ancient Weapon has found it's home on this guy. Where it is normally not worth taking due to the unreliability of the crit, when you can get it on a 50/50 chance here (with Reach added) it is definitely worth using. The Hidden Blade is less so unless you really need to reroll hits, but it's there as an option anyway. He does also have Scout, the last of the brand new traits, which allows him to make a single basic move before the first Take the Lead phase of the game. This allows him to have in effect a Patrol on him (or use Patrol to make him even further up the table) which is good because he's further up the table, but has the downside of not being likely to be affected by crew buffs turn 1. Overall he's a faster option than the rest and a great damage piece for it, but pays for it by being more fragile.
Defensive
Compared to the ninjas, they lose out on a defence, Stealth and Martial Artist, meaning that despite their higher endurance (or equal in the case of Hassassin 4) they will statistically be killed much quicker than any comparable model in the crew. They are naturally 16% more likely to be hit than a ninja, from 4" further away, and with how prevalent double damage is on most models in the game, endurance 5-6 is without a doubt one of the weakest upgrades in the game when it comes to statistics. This is only compounded by the fact they have willpower 4, and so are severely hampered when it comes to defending themselves (or if they do it's at the expense of movement and attack). It's not a huge issue with these guys being as cheap as they are, but it's definitely something that factors in during games.
Overall
In general I'm very happy to see these models on the table despite their shortcomings (story of a League player I guess) and I'm very much looking forward to seeing their offensive potential. What makes me most happy about them is they're more Arab inspired and thus will fit well with Rebirth Ra's as well as his daughter, and as he is who I will be running most (at least until I can run a standard Talia/Nyssa list)

Objective- the Lazarus Pit
Thanks to Steffen over at the Iceberg Lounge, we have the exact wording and use of the League unique objective (and all others) before the box is out! The Lazarus Pit is quite a good objective in my opinion, but it has the potential to backfire greatly should the opponent play well around it. Being a 40mm based objective and obeying normal objective rules, it is harder to place than any other objective and much easier to contest, although the bonuses for it are great. 3VP means it is as good of a gain as Medical Supplies or Ammo, and brings League up to a potential 9VP max per turn from objectives, but it has another effect as well. A model can manipulate the Pit to make a willpower roll, and if they pass they recover 2 damage (blood or stun), but if they fail they must first allocate maximum into attack, then movement the turn after. This downside for League isn't huge, because they're a fighty crew anyway, but the potential healing just for sitting on an objective is awesome. Pair it with anything that has rerolls to willpower rolls (or just high willpower) and you've got a great combo.

Comic review- Damian Wayne

Here we have what will probably be the final part of my League of Assassins focus for the time being (excepting battle reports), as the title reads it is a comic review focusing on Damian Wayne. This relatively new character has had a big impact since his creation, and some of the stories surrounding him have been among the best DC Comics have produced in the last decade and a half. I will today be briefly going through all the "main comics" Damian has appeared in, and giving my opinions on each independently.

Batman and Son
Where else to start but the beginning? Obviously this is the best introduction to Damian, but it also has a lot of Bruce/Talia conflict in it and a lot of great League content. It's not only the first place Damian appears, but it also has the first appearance of the League Man-Bat Commandos, an amazingly well-written text story involving the Joker, and the leadup to the Zur-en-Arrh arc in Batman RIP. While the "Batman and Son" story only really lasts the first half of the TPB, it still crops up briefly throughout the rest of the story, and by the time of Batman and Robin we can see Damian as a well rounded character, albeit an absolute brat who is pretty damn unlikeable.

Batman and Robin by Grant Morrison
While not strictly a Damian Wayne focused story, its the beginning of the brotherly relationship between Dick Grayson and Damian, something which never really dies down, and the formation of Damian into a true hero. It is here that Morrison begins to shape Damian into someone other than the snotty brat he is traditionally seen as being, and Damian begins to learn more from the "Bat" side of the world as opposed to his League upbringing. The traditional Batman and Robin relationship is completely flipped on its head here as well, which is a large part of the pure charm this comic has, and anyone expecting the norm will get a major shock. In this, Robin is the straight and serious part of the duo, while Batman is the quick-witted one with the smart mouth, which as said is incredibly entertaining and great to read. This series is not only great for anyone wanting to read Damian, its also a great character piece on Dick Grayson, as it shows him trying to live up to Bruce and fill his shoes as Batman all while he wants to forge his own path, and him attempting to reconcile the 2. Batman and Robin is great, and I would recommend it to anyone.

Batman Incorporated
Like Batman and Robin, not exactly a Damian story, but this is the last step in Morrison's Damian story. The continuation of the war Talia declares on Bruce, it also brings in the Heretic, a bastard clone of Damian that is used purely as an enforcer by Talia, and comes into conflict with Damian as a result. The impetuousness of Damian is on full display in this shorter story (only 12 issues total) and it ends up having bad results. This arc defines Damian going forward into late New 52/Rebirth, and is a must read for fans of Damian and Talia alike.

Robin- Son of Batman
This limited series after Damian's own "rebirth" (but before Rebirth) is a short little story going into his efforts to shed his League past and come into his own outside of both the Al Ghul heritage and Batman. This is the first appearance of Goliath, and its here you come to enjoy him as the big pet of Damian, but it also has far more of a focus on Damian "righting his wrongs". The story is about him attempting to undo many of the things he did as a League agent wherever possible, and facing the consequences when he can't. Leads into Titans and Super Sons, and is an important part of his character development, but it often gets ignored so is of less importance to read.

Teen Titans Rebirth
Every Robin has to have a turn leading a team, and Damian is no exception. While there are some great interactions early on in this run, especially during it's formation, there is still much to be desired when it comes to Teen Titans. The plot often just seems bland, and it is in the crossover issues where the series really comes into its own, which is in itself usually due to the other characters involved (The Lazarus Contract has some great moments with Damian). All in all, I wouldn't recommend it unless you want to read absolutely everything about Damian, and even then its pretty mediocre.

Super Sons/Adventures of the Super Sons
Hands down, this is my favourite Damian comic. The dynamic between him and Jon is perfect, and Tomasi does an excellent job at playing the two off each other, often with hilarious results. It reflects the relationship between their parents on the surface level, but also has a level of childish imitation, as each are trying to live up to their larger-than-life fathers, and their upbringings clash many times. Super Sons is a far less serious story than any of the others Damian is in, and the content can almost seem silly at times, but that only adds to the child-like glee it brings when you read it. Super Sons is not only my favourite comic with Damian, it's among my favourite comics of all time, and I really seriously recommend it all the time. Seriously, it's a great read for pure dumb entertainment.

League of Assassins part 2- henchmen in depth

Hello again all, for the second post of 2019 I'm following up my original post with something that was requested by a few people- a more in depth look at the League of Assassins henchmen! To keep my first post more concise I purposely left out quite a few henchmen, but in this post I will be discussing everything, organised by which set it comes in. I'll note here that every henchman in faction (ie League only, not from Bane) has Martial Artist, which is excellent when it comes to countering hordes, and at mostly defence 4 you can hope to need more of an investment to kill even the henchmen.
Bane's henchmen will be appearing later, in a dedicated Bane overview, and Damian has already been discussed, so they will not be in this article, nor will Goliath.

Lady Shiva set- League Agents 1-3

These 3 were the ones I was asked the most about in terms of being left out of my last post. 

Pros

The price. As the cheapest in-theme options for League, that's already of value, and they each bring some interesting tricks to the table. 

League Agent 1 has Sustained Defence on a Defensive weapon, which is really quite great in terms of sitting on objectives to either score or contest. 

League Agent 2 has Undercover which is ok, but there are better options of deploying up the table in League (Ki, Shadow, just buying someone else Hidden, Undercover equipment with Talia). 

League Agent 3 has the quite good combination of Fast and a Katana, making her by far the best offensive Agent, but she still has the double dip of issues from the Agents and League as a whole (low defence/endurance/willpower)

Cons

They're not awful, and they're certainly great cheap henchmen, but I have a couple of reasons why I dislike them. Defence 3 means they're the easiest models to hit in the crew, and without Stealth are far easier to just shoot off the board. This is only added to by their endurance of 4, which means a couple of well placed shots will take them out of the game, and its pretty safe to say this will be for good.

All in all, League Agent 1 and 3 have their places, with definite uses in both cases, but I think it is a far better investment to just hire other ninjas

Neeson Ra's set- Lotus, Yang and Ying

These 3 are ok, but they are of varying use. After the Shiva box, I would skip this one next, although the ninjas are still valuable henchmen, and I still see myself sneaking at least one of these 3 into all of my lists.

Pros

Yang is the best of the 3, because he brings consistency to the crew in damage. Combo on the katana, combined with Kill Them and Inspire, lets him put out 7 dice in attack, which is huge amounts of damage to anything.

Ying replaces combo with Hardened and Climbing Shoes as compared to Yang. Climbing Shoes is ok, when its useful its worth it, but that won't be often. Hardened, however, is always useful, as it means they are taking less lethal damage and have more potential to shake off big hits. 

Lotus has some great traits, and in terms of going against shooting he is the best option defensively because of Dodge and Reflexes. In terms of damage, he isn't doing anything special when compared to the other katanas, but he does have Rapid Fire shurikens, which lets him put a little extra stun damage on before the crew makes combat. This is ok, but I wouldn't value it over the other ranged attacks in the crew (smoke grenades and the bows).

Cons

Lotus is very expensive, and doesn't bring too much to play for that cost compared to stuff that's almost 20 rep cheaper. Sure, he can dodge guns, but with Stealth on everything else how much value is it? 

Apart from willpower on Ying and Yang? Not much. These 2 have very good traits, but in terms of usefulness Yang shoots himself out front with Combo. He is one of my favourite League henchmen period for his output, almost like a little Damian. 

2-man booster- Shadow and Seeker

I really like this 2 man set, and my love of Seeker has been well documented on the first post. Shadow, however, is in a strange spot when I look at League, as he is good in many ways, but lacking in some others compared to his fellow ninjas.
Shadow Pros
Smoke Grenade and Undercover are 2 things that are great on him, and will likely be the reasons someone takes Shadow. Sneak Attack is ok, but at willpower 4 it doesn't let him do it very often (as compared to Ichi, it has the extra caveat of him having to begin his activation further away, which means less counters to attack).
Shadow Cons
Shadow is only defence 3 (and the only ninja with this) and his Bo weapon is notoriously disliked. The staff that is much hated on Tim Drake is not that bad in Shadow's case, being a cheaper henchmen as opposed to an expensive Free Agent/Sidekick, but it still doesn't gel with the crew. He's the only one that doesn't do blood damage, and it reflects quite badly on him.
All in all, he plays like a worse Ichi without the katana, but this box is still definitely value for anyone playing Eternal League, as Seeker is one of their best henchmen period.

Rebirth Ra's- Goro, Ichi and Ki

These guys are the gold standard for League. As with all resin releases, they're great models that patch up weaknesses in the crew, and can do a lot to tune up the crew as a whole. I've already gone through Goro and Ki in detail in my first League post, but Ichi has a few tricks that I didn't mention. I went through the weapons he has, but Ichi has 2 big things that make him far more valuable than other comparable models in the crew- Feint and willpower 5. Those 2 combined mean he is not facing the big 2 issues in League, and when buffed he is even scarier. Being able to straight up negate blocks lets him murder things that are contesting or scoring, even if something is just blocking a zone he can cut through them with ease. Having 1 extra counter is often not relevant in Ichi's situation, but that is only because he is usually using Feint as a buff to himself, which is still better off than the other willpower 4 in the crew.

League of Assassins on the table and in comics

Hello again all, this time I've decided to put together a bit of a crew review of sorts, talking about League of Assassins in general. This is mostly because I have recently started a League crew, and I've found a lot of things with the crew I find quite interesting, but they're also one of the less popular crews in the game. I will be following this up with some of my personal favourite League related comics, as these were what ultimately made me decide to take the plunge into League.

Ra's Al Ghul

League have exceptional leaders, there's no denying it. Ra's in all his forms has always been efficient and deadly, while giving a lot of pre-game support to the crew, but I think as the game has progressed into 2nd edition the latest version, Rebirth Ra's, is by far the best. All of them have a statline based around being on the front lines, with defence 5 across the board, but they do it in different ways. Both of the Eternal Ra's variants have things to differentiate them both in statline and in traits, but Rebirth is mostly an amalgamation of the 2, taking what's best and leaving behind anything else.
Offensive
The cards say it all, Ra's is made to kill things. Bonuses to hit on 2/3, rerolls to wound across the board, and a special attack to add crit casualty? It's excellent. Arkham City Ra's instead brings Precise Blow to play, which allows him to land reliable damage on pretty much anything in the game(+2 to hit after Weapon Master, and 2+ strength), and Enervating on his sword helps to strip counters from the tougher/Desensitised targets. Neeson has nothing too special here, but Rebirth has something that is quite nice in Reach on his sword. It means he has a 2" extra threat range as compared to the others, which means he is in combat quicker, and that's what he wants to do the most. It's simple, but it works.
Defensive
Defence 5 alone is great, but add in high endurance, Martial Artist and Immortal and you have a leader that will take a beating. Neeson has Sustained Defence, which makes him incredibly obnoxious against anything with an attack 4 or below. There's really not much else to say about them, they're fairly straightforward in the defensive area.
Overall
Having played him, the pre-game that Rebirth has is slightly more versatile than what the others bring as cancelling an opponent's strategy is far more useful than a second extra strategy point (as Rebirth still gets an extra one). Once the game starts, Neeson is better at supporting a crew with his Order and Persuasive, but in general Rebirth brings more to the table through his pure efficiency for cost. The only case I can see someone not using Rebirth is in Nolan movie themed lists or if someone wants to bring along an expensive free agent, in which case Society is almost always the better choice with Rebirth anyway.

Sidekicks

League have a great deal of Sidekicks, and all of them have their own niche. They are all representative of some interpretation of the character and are good in that regard, although some cases it does in fact hurt the character's viability in this crew. They are all decent options, although as  with the leaders the newer options are almost always better as they are far more efficient for their points. 

Shiva

Shiva does as she should, she's a Martial Artist who punches things a lot. She has the unique characteristic of being the only model in the entire League crew who doesn't have some kind of weapon, but don't mistake her for a slouch in combat, as she can still punch pretty damn well. Her low base statline isn't great, but Adaptable can make up for it and she is still somewhat versatile in what she can do on any given turn. Her biggest issue is being a stun based model in a crew that don't otherwise deal out stun damage much, so you may find things simply waking up to be an unnecessary annoyance that can be easily skipped. 

Merlyn

Merlyn has the big benefit of being able to be a leader or a sidekick, so in the event he is leading a list he will be able to Inspire and give free Let's Go, which is a great thing to have. Otherwise, he is somewhat simple in how he operates, playing like a Green Arrow equivalent with a sword. He does, however, have built in Good Aim for free, meaning he can move and shoot with not just no penalty, but with +1 to hit, and Mixed Combat Style. Now anyone who has read my opinions on Ezra Miller Flash know what I think about MCS, and it's no different here. Merlyn can zip around as a killing machine at both ranged and up close, although it's counter intensive to do so, and is a great asset to League as they tend to bunch up more to back each other up. Merlyn is more of a self sufficient piece than any other in League, and tends not to provide much support to the crew as much as just murder. In saying this, he does have some very interesting traits to support both himself and others in Trickster and Outlaw Field Commander, which let him completely reallocate to decide his activation, and give out even more counters to the crew. As a leader option, this means he can give 2 counters out a turn to one model, which is pretty nice to have (although not as great as a Follow Me or Inspire is for obvious reasons)

Nyssa

The only Nyssa we have at the moment is the eternal variant, which is based off of the Arrow TV series more so than the comic (that she works with Ra's and uses a bow is enough of an indicator there). Nyssa is a really great model overall, with one huge issue. At only a single shot each turn, her damage output is incredibly low for her cost, and although she does a great job sitting on objectives and defending, she could really do with the simple addition of just getting Rapid Fire. It'd make a world of difference.

Talia

Talia has 3 different options, one of which is an old tournament Gold Card, but I won't mention that here as it isn't that great. Otherwise, you have the standard option with gun or the eternal katana option. As a Brave and the Bold primary, I have been using the katana Talia for quite some time there and I quite enjoy using her. Both models have affinities to various people (comic has Lex because of Hush, AC has Batman because of that game). Both have True Love: Bruce Wayne, which can now be triggered by the Dark Knights if one was to choose them as a Free Agent. AC Talia is a great model to have in the middle of a combat, and in general is just a tooled up ninja, while comic Talia fills a different role. She brings a double blood RoF2 gun and pays for herself in funding, while being able to hand out bonus counters to models with her Get Em. This doesn't go over a model's cap, but it allows you to allocate elsewhere and still maintain full combat effectiveness. Good use with Inspires and Kill Them, but it's heavily dependent on activation order and a good opponent will have time to mitigate the output of your crew. All in all, Talia is a good model to make use of, and she can put out a lot of hurt both through her own actions and through henchmen. 

Bane

Bane kind of just exists in the crew IMO. He does the same job as Lady Shiva, but thematically doesn't fit that well unless you take a lot of his merc henchmen with him, in which case he runs better in his own crew. His old spot of a Kill Them piece has been entirely replaced by Goro IMO, and doubling it up has diminishing returns as it means less actual henchmen on the table. 

Free Agents

Unlike many other villain crews, League have crew specific Free Agents. Shadowstorm is a better ninja but has the worse rank, and at his cost you probably just want to buy 2 other ninjas, but the other option is actually very good. The Scarecrow of the Nolan movies is a more fragile piece unique to the crew but can be an annoyance from turn 1, and brings some great support to the crew with his traits. Follow Me is yet another thing League have to give out extra counters to henchmen in the crew, and Death or Exile is an excellent long range Arrest-type trait that can remove KO models. Pair this with Shiva or Bane and it's really great, but otherwise it's not that useful as the crew have very little in the way of stun damage. This Scarecrow does have Hidden, so like Ki he can threaten objectives or bully models early in the game, but his one other redeeming quality is his weapon. At first glance it is low damage, and some may immediately write it off because of this, but it has the one big benefit of having Poison and Enervating/1. Hit a bunch of henchmen with it and they are very quickly operating at lower effectiveness, which helps your own crew operate better, and also traps them in what is likely a downward spiral of damage until they die.

Henchmen
League henchmen have some very very good traits and wicked statlines, but they suffer from having a low willpower most of the time. Damian I have already discussed elsewhere, and he doesn't change here, but the other henchmen are of varying usefulness. Most bring something to the crew, and while there are redundant options many henchmen like to play off of each other to benefit from support. Almost all of them (all the ninjas) have Stealth, defence 4 and Martial Artist, which on henchmen is remarkable and forces the opponent to play on their terms. With all of this said, there are some things you always want to have in a League crew in my opinion, and they are as follows:

• Bows

The first piece any League player should add to any of their lists is at least one of the 2 henchman bow options for a few reasons. League's low willpower is compounded by low attack, and a lucky round of blocks can spell disaster for the crew in general. This problem is completely solved by Seeker and his paralysing arrow, as you just have to hit to stop someone spending counters for the turn, and they're also at -2 defence to do so. All of a sudden you hit things on 3s at absolute worst, and with no counter spend it can help greatly against a lot of things. Control models or just simple offensive pieces can get shut down for one turn with this bow, and with other henchmen near it just allows you to remove the threats entirely. Ki is the standard bow, and he is far more static without Good Aim, but he has his own way of reliably debuffing the enemy crew so the rest of your henchmen are in a better spot. His Caustic explosion is a great way to do a small amount of damage to a bunched up group of models, and with Acid can help the crew hit models easier. With Handy on most models in League its a small bonus, but +1 to hit is always good and is even better with rerolls, so Ki is still valuable. Ki also has Hidden, which means he can be a threat from rooftops early in the game, getting into a favourable position from deployment, or can threaten objectives early to maximise VP gain.

• Goro

Goro is probably one of the most needed pieces in a League crew, because he is tanky, good at dealing damage and provides extra counters to the crew. Kill Them is his main thing, reducing the issue of lower willpower by pumping models full of attack counters, while he himself has a double blood sword at strength 3+, and can easily get rerolls to hit. With Light Armour, he is harder to damage, although he is Large and lower defence than the rest of the crew while lacking Stealth so is an easier target for shooting All this does mean he has an issue with finding his own niche, trying to be everything at once, but personally I like using him as a bodyguard for Ra's and a support piece.

• Smoke Grenades

Smoke Grenades are here mostly for the protection they give to the crew as opposed to any control they can have. The biggest threat League have at range are things with Night Vision or Scope, so by throwing down Smoke you can completely stop them from drawing line of sight to you, which can prove crucial for later game as you have a safer advance. Ichi is the best choice for this as he is a higher willpower model with a katana, but Shadow is also decent at doing it as well.

• Katanas

In terms of damage output, this is what you want. Lower strength isn't great, but double blood with rerolls to both hit and damage is amazing. Some of the platforms they come on aren't the greatest, being too expensive or having traits that are incredibly corner case, but most of the Katanas are decent enough in the crew. The best one in my opinion is obviously Damian, but Yang and Ichi also bring great value to the table with their damage capabilities.

• Bane Mercenaries

Bane's Mercenary henchmen are thematically quite disparate from the rest of the League crew, but they do provide some well needed niches in terms of henchmen. Dallas brings his Assault Rifle, albeit no longer with Night Vision, and a few of the other models available bring higher strength reliable damage on tankier platforms, with a higher native willpower than the ninjas. This does come at a price though, as they are expensive on their own even after you take Bane to unlock them, and all of the quite excellent Soldiers of Fortune are locked out of the League crew entirely.


Comic Review/Recommended Reading
Many of these comics are quite old, and as such may not be entirely canon this long after release (or in fact may not be canon at all) but they are all excellent reads for the organisation of the League, and give good insights to the main characters. These are some of my favourite League stories, and are great sources of inspiration for BMG.
Death and the Maidens
The introduction of Nyssa Al Ghul, this limited series by Greg Rucka is one of many stories written in the mid-2000s that represents what I see as the pinnacle of DC Comics writing. Like many League stories, it depicts a shadow war between the League and its enemies, although unlike any other this enemy comes from within. As well as giving Nyssa a sympathetic and heart wrenching origin story, it puts Batman and Talia in the middle of a decades long war between two immortals, and it is at its core a very personal story. This is my favourite of all League stories, and one of my favourite comic books of all time, so I would definitely recommend it to everyone.
The Demon Trilogy- Son of the Demon, Bride of the Demon and Birth of the Demon
These 3 stories have a lot in them that has remained the definitive character traits for Talia and Ra's (including the entire origin for Ra's). Although it is no longer considered canon, this older trilogy of one shots still stands the test of time, and is an excellent way of portraying the complicated relationship between the Al Ghul family and Batman as they team up against mutual threats but ultimately come to blows over their philosophical differences. The Son of the Demon story gives what is seen by many as the conception of Damian Wayne, although not confirmed it is heavily teased in Damian's early stories, and Birth of the Demon is almost entirely an origin story for Ra's Al Ghul, which is set as a period piece throughout history and is quite an intriguing read throughout. All 3 of these stories are collected as Birth of the Demon, and I would recommend them to anyone. 
For further League reading, I will be working on a pure comic based post on Damian Wayne in the near future, which has a lot of overlap with more recent League stories for obvious reasons.