Militia- Crew Review

Another longer post, this is a discussion on everything Militia. I've already covered Deathstroke, but the rest of the Militia crew have a ton of fun toys to play around with and do a semi-elite bunch of mercenaries in a very different way to Bane on the table, choosing to focus around guns and control with far less melee focus.

The main Leader of the Militia, their founder the Arkham Knight, is a very strong model that is primarily based around his shooting expertise. He is a highly mobile sniper piece who will likely operate independent of his crew.
Offensive
As makes sense from his old name as Arkham Knight (Sniper), he is a shooting model mainly. His Combined Sniper Guns MKII are probably the best ranged attack on any Leader rank in the game, what with being Medium Range and Scope at triple blood, but they only have 2 ammo and Aim hinders his movement without another quite large investment in counters for Vanish. Rapid Fire is very good for him to use and should pretty much always be used, bumping him up to a better Assault Rifle in his 16" range, but at the same time he is relying on basic hit rolls with this gun and has nothing to boost it, so is still most reliable at nuking henchmen and other models with lower defence stats (or things near the Drone), because if he misses shots he's suffering a lot.
His EM Smoke Grenade is a great control option like most Smoke Grenades, but with the added benefit of having Light, single stun damage wounding on 3s (as opposed to none) and Electric for potential crit:Stuns. It also gives him the massively useful Vanish as a trait, which while costing him 2 counters it acts as an effective Mixed Combat Style, letting him shoot his EM Smoke with making an automatic hit, and if he is inside the template he can immediately be placed within 4". AK ignores the effects of the Smoke, and his place does not count as movement (thus not affecting Aim and letting him shoot afterwards) but does cost an ammo on the Smoke. Everything considered, it's a very useful trait to have that lets him cover himself with Smoke in awkward positions, but also to relocate and get into good shooting positions himself.
He does benefit from getting Reinforced Gloves care of Cybernetic Arms, but with no bonuses to his melee it is really just an option to have rather than a different playstyle.
Defensive
Arkham Knight is deceptively survivable, as Defence 4 Martial Artist isn't amazing but he stacks a lot of other things onto it to help out. Endurance 7 with Kevlar Vest means he's taking a lot of hits before he does go down, and ignoring damage on those hits, while being an Acrobat at movement 4 means he can pretty reliably dodge enemy shots. His EM Smoke is also useful in this regard as it still behaves like a normal smoke grenade, and can help block off lines of sight or Blind an enemy beater. Agile is a little bonus that helps if he ever takes fall damage (and for someone who likes rooftops so much, it's possible) making him take an agility test and if passed, all fall damage is cancelled. There is a 66% chance of success on this, making him pretty happy to sit on rooftops where he can shoot below.
Overall
Most of Arkham Knight's kit is based around his combat prowess, with little left to note otherwise. He does have Undercover, which on him is mainly used to get into a good spot to ideally get a shot off turn 1, or to quickly reposition into somewhere he can be shooting from turn 2.
Another trait he has that's worth mentioning is Elite Boss:Militia Brute, which is ok but ultimately doesn't mean much as I will cover below with the Brutes themselves.

The second Leader option, but also now a Sidekick, Scarecrow is a strong control piece with most of his kit coming from shutting down opponents.
Offensive
Scarecrow's offensive potential isn't in the form of pure damage. He is a control based leader, and this is what he does best by far. Inspire Fear gives him an action to choose a single model to make a willpower roll compared to the Inspire Fear chart as seen below, while he can use Discourage to penalise an opponent even more for this roll at the cost of all his SC (4 total). At a range of 4" it's something he needs to be careful with, although his equipment Secret Laboratory shores this up a little bit as I will discuss later. He also has a 1SC trait The Fear Master which lets him affect all non-vehicle models in 4" when he uses Inspire Fear, friend or foe (including himself) as well as giving it the Gas trait. This means any of the Militia henchmen who come stock with Gas Mask completely ignore this (as does Scarecrow, or anyone who buys a Gas Mask) but simply being able to hit everyone in a 4" bubble is huge, and can cripple a crew.

Important Note- The Inspire Fear chart in the rulebook is out of date, this is the current one

He also has his Syringe Fear Claw as a melee weapon, although this is pretty much a last resort for him. Having single blood damage is ok, and at strength 4+ is a 50% chance to wound, but it is Handy and Scared that make it good. Putting Scared on models is obviously something very easy for Scarecrow as seen above, but it is a good way of spreading it on models that might pass willpower rolls more likely (things like big Free Agents- higher willpower and lower defence)
Defensive
Outside of his defensive stats Scarecrow isn't all that impressive on the survivability front. Defence 4 and endurance 7 is pretty good for his points, but he has nothing that particularly boosts him up other than Psycho, which stops him losing willpower by any means.
Overall
Like all other Militia Boss options, Scarecrow has Undercover to both deploy further forward and reactively, being able to adjust to the opponent's crew (mostly). He also has Scientific, which adds 1 to his Special stat and makes him give away an extra VP on death (something quite nice on him though, and the old Secret Lab gave it anyway). Gas Mask keeps him safe from his own gases, but also many Ivy and Joker tricks, and Psychologist gives him a nice easy bonus on Riddles (auto 2VP, no roll) and a sub-trait to remove Mental Disorder traits temporarily. There aren't many models he has access to that have detrimental Mental Disorders though (Enchantress and Red Death are the only ones in Standard, although he can use it on enemies to remove beneficial ones).
Scheming:1 is ok, but really it won't mean all that much often because it is only a single model and you can just plan for it anyway.

The main melee model of the crew, the Militia Brute is a hard hitting and tanky model, albeit a slow one. He is a pretty cheap model for what he does, although there are some major drawbacks to balance him out.
Offensive
Having attack 4 is pretty great, especially when his weapons are added in. With Handy to reroll hits he is fairly consistent, and Reach giving him extra range on his attacks (somewhat making up for his slow movement) he also wounds on 3+ with double stun, making him a pretty great KO piece. With +1 to hit from the Drone he is a veritable monster.
His strength 4+ only really matters if he is doing Push or Charge special attacks, but he isn't bad at doing these. Charge especially is a nice way of getting extra damage when moving to attack, and an extra chance of knock down before attacking. It does cost 2 counters though, so cuts into what he can do in any given turn.
Defensive
At defence 2 with Large, the Brute is very easy to hit. He does make up for this with endurance 7, Light Armour for a little wound penalty, and Sturdy to stop him losing huge amounts of counters. Cybernetic is a good way to keep him going as well, but the block bonus isn't huge with his defence 2
Overall
Like a few others in Militia, he comes stock with a Gas Mask to protect him from Gas attacks and traits. He has the Elite:Militia Brute trait to go with Arkham Knight's Elite Boss, but the other option is Eternal and not that good so currently it doesn't mean too much. His speed is something worth noting as well, as he is very slow for a Large model (maximum 8" movement) and as such tends to need equipment to get him going properly (Camo Vest or Neurotoxic Drugs).

The basic henchman options of the crew, the Militia Soldiers are solid henchmen for fairly cheap, if their stats are a little mediocre. They've got some awesome options in the crew though, and every one of these is worth it. 

Offensive

Militia Soldier 1 has an always-good Carbine, but also packs Shooter on it. This means 8" of him is a KO zone for anything with armour, and he is in general a valuable piece. It also means when combined with Gustaf the crew can take 2 Carbines, which is a great thing. 

Militia Soldier 2 carries an Extendable Baton, which is a nice weapon with double stun and Reach that makes him wound on a 4+. He's basically a Militia version of Arkham Guard 1, who is also pretty great, so I would recommend him as a cheaper model that can put out some hurt

Militia Soldier 3 is the second gun piece, and while he has a single shot weapon it puts out a ton of hurt. The Rocket Launcher is something I generally think is situationally good, but on this model it is without a doubt a weapon to be feared. Aim is completely negated by having Good Aim on the Soldier, so not only can it be shot on the move it gains +1 to hit, and as an Anti-Tank Firearm with Explosive it will tear through a lot of the tankier models in the game (LexCorp Troopers, Tumblers, Goro, even The Merciless will be afraid). If opponents have groups of henchmen bunched together (Bodyguards or to benefit from Leader buffs) this will be a rude wake-up call, as they will potentially all be taking 3 blood from this single shot. It is best used on Large or Huge models, who will have less chance of making Ping! rolls, or in situations where the opponent won't be getting a Ping! through clear lanes of fire. 

Militia Medic isn't that great in a fight, but he can do a little bit of damage if necessary with his scalpel. Single blood and attack 2 strength 5+ is bad, that should be known, but he does have Handy and Sharp for rerolls to both hit and wound, which means in a pinch he can potentially hurt something. It's not somewhere he should be though really

The Lieutenant is a mid-field offensive model, having both close ranged shooting and combat weapons. His Grenade isn't any different to regular grenade profiles other than it having crit blood which is nice potential extra damage, and his Electric Baton is a similar profile to the Brute and Nightwing, which at his attack 4 lets him put out some good damage in close combat. 

Defensive

There's not much to say really. Outside of the Lieutenant, they are all pretty soft at defence 3 and endurance 4 so they're not hard to take out. On the Lieutenant though is endurance 6, which is a nice little bump in survivability that is very welcome given his higher cost. 

Militia Soldier 2 does have a Shield though, which will provide him with free Ping! rolls whenever he gets shot and +1 to his block rolls. This is a great bonus to have, and will keep him a lot safer than he really has any right to be with his profile and his cost. 

Overall

They all have Veteran and all that entails, being able to move around 2 counters when they activate. This is huge for them though as it is half their counters, giving them a lot of flexibility in what they do on any given turn and can be very useful. 

Militia Soldier 2 and the Medic both have Gas Masks, which will protect them from anything with the Gas trait. This is quite a significant amount of weapons in Standard though, as it prevents Ivy from doing any damage to them, a significant portion of Joker's crew (and the Joker Gas objectives) and opposition Scarecrows from having much of an effect. It also helps them if they're near models Scarecrow is Fear Bombing, as it means they don't get affected by it while the enemy does. 

The Militia Medic has what should be obvious in the Medic trait, which lets him fix up models in B2B for the cost of 2SC. This is a nice way of keeping the better damaging models alive, and through his counters can protect those who want to stay alive. 

Eternal options

The original version of the Arkham Knight, this one is a slightly cheaper Sidekick with the same statline, but worse in some important ways. Now that AK Scarecrow is a Sidekick, allowing Arkham Knight/Scarecrow combos that way, this model is almost completely redundant and the newer Sniper version is better in most regards, with this version having little to offer. 

Offensive

Somewhat similar to the newer Arkham Knight, but he has a few notable differences that affect how he works. Losing his EM Smoke and replacing it with an Automatic Pistol is a definite downgrade in terms of utility (as is the loss of Vanish that comes with it), and although his Combined Sniper Guns still benefit from Rapid Fire, they are only inherently RoF1 on this version so nowhere near as oppressive as the 3 shots AK Sniper can potentially reach. 

He still benefits from the various equipment options he has, especially Cybernetic Arms to get Reinforced Gloves, but overall isn't as great as AK Sniper for only a slight drop in points (and a $500 funding cost)

Defensive

The same statline and traits as the Sniper, he is still as survivable. 

Overall

A few nice traits that are different to AK Sniper, but then stacked on with Arrogant to stunt crew building. Strategist and Order are both very good to have, but when the crew are already mostly Veteran Order isn't a huge bonus anyway, and he still has Elite Boss. Arrogant, however, restricts his list to models 95 rep or less, so any of the Dark Knights or evil Speedsters are simply not an option, nor is even Deathstroke. A lot of desirable options for this crew are not allowed, and this fact hurts them for options more than AK adds himself. 

The 2 Militia Troopers that didn't get updated in the Batbox, these 2 are still not bad. The Commander especially is a model that is quite excellent and a great support piece, and would be a great return to the crew should he be added back into Standard
Offensive
Militia 2 has a Knife at attack 3 strength 5+, which means he is only putting out little bits of damage at a time and will rarely (if ever) kill something by himself in a game. Rerolls to wound is great to have, but it's a low damage weapon and won't do fantastic work. He is a cheap model though at 15 rep, so you can't expect any better.
Militia Commander 1 has 2 different weapons that serve different roles in the crew, while also being attack 4. His attack stat is largely useless though, as with no melee weapon he is only doing single stun, so he should just use his ammunition and ranged attacks when he can. He has a smoke grenade, which anyone who's read my League overviews will know I love, that can help both shut down enemy pieces and protect from ranged attacks against his crew, and for damage an Automatic Pistol. This gun is pretty good for its cheap cost, and at RoF3 blood/stun it's a little Firearm that can punch above its weight well, especially with Expert Marksman to reduce Ping! rolls against it.
Defensive
At defence 3 and endurance 4/5, they're fairly easy to take out.
Overall
Like all Militia Troopers, they both have Veteran to push counters around, which helps a lot with willpower 4 and 5. Militia 2 has a Gas Mask which is great to have when Scarecrow is around, while the Commander has Kill Them! which is a great way to boost up other henchmen, particularly the melee ones (anything with a Baton weapon)

The second Brute for the crew, the Gatling Brute is the opposite of his counterpart in that he is a ranged model. His gun is very expensive though, and he seriously cuts into the effectiveness of his crew while being not that reliable as a gun piece. 

Offensive

In melee (which is not where this Brute wants to be) you would think his size would make him decent, and attack 4 is good, but at strength 5+ with nothing else to mention he really isn't. At that strength he's not even a good Charge piece either with how unreliable it is. 

His namesake Gatling is a weapon that is halfway to amazing, but it is stacked with a couple penalties that make it a choice that isn't seen often. $850 is expensive, but for possible 12 blood with Anti-Tank can be justified, although Imprecise severely restricts it to shooting low defence targets. When the gun hits it is very good, but -1 to hit has to be played around or else it won't have the impact it is intended to. It has decent play with the Militia Drone to cancel this, and it definitely is a good answer to targets with Armour, but at it's cost I can't help but go with a combination of 2 models (Carbine+Rocket Launcher are both standard and only 5 rep more expensive for the pair)

Defensive

Exactly the same as the melee Brute, except for having a worse endurance. Not huge on a gun piece, but for his huge cost he is pretty soft. 

Overall

Again here he is the exact same as the melee Brute in his traits, but with Invaluable tacked on. This is a huge downside as he is easier to kill than the other Brute, and gives up extra VP when he dies. 

In general he is not worth 53 rep in this day and age, and although the funding may be ok he needs either a buff or a points drop to be worth taking. 

Equipment Options

Militia, like any crew, have a lot of equipment options to consider. Many are worth taking for various reasons, and they have a lot of equipment unlocked by their comic character options too

0-2 Magazine is very useful. Extra shots for almost any gun in the crew is worthwhile, but the Carbine and Rocket Launcher especially benefit. 

0-2 Antidote isn't very useful, and for $150 it won't see play often. Even though models like Ratcatcher and Cheshire are out now that play with Poison, it isn't worthwhile to spend funding on when compared to the other great options. 

0-1 Neurotoxic Drugs is a great option on the close combat Brute, as it makes him very quick as standard. Dodge isn't really worth considering in a crew of mostly movement 2, but the speed boost is good, especially with Secret Lab in a Scarecrow crew. 

0-2 Camo Vest is a nice way to protect the more valuable henchmen from shooting. $300 for it is expensive though like a lot of Militia options. 

0-3 Gas Mask is what you take in a Scarecrow crew to protect your own men. High Security with this is almost autotake in said crew, and for $150 it's worth chucking one in for what you use Secret Lab on to keep them safe from it. 

0-1 Grapple Gun is just like any other Grapple Gun equipment. Good for quick movement and rooftop security, but $300 is expensive so you need to have a plan with it. 

AK Scarecrow Options

0-1 Fear Gas Dispenser is a $250 upgrade that gives a henchman Inspire Fear. Playing into Scarecrow's toolkit, it's an extra source of Inspire Fear that can help shut down opponent models. 

0-1 Secret Laboratory is a $100, 2 rep upgrade for Scarecrow that is pretty much amazing. It gives him a big buff to his Inspire Fear in that he can choose 2 friendly models to do it from (thus keeping him safer) and any willpower test from Inspire Fear is at a -1 penalty. The penalty doesn't stack with Discourage, but that doesn't matter when it's just saving him counters anyway. If opponents are to lose counters from Terror, Scarecrow's controller also chooses which counters are lost, which is a great control ability. 

Arkham Knight Options

0-2 Radio $50 to give henchmen a reroll to Let's Go is good and very cheap. But if you're already taking a Sidekick in the crew (be that Scarecrow or Deathstroke) it's less valuable, only working to let the crew spread out more. 

0-1 Hidden Magazines is effectively the same as the Magazine upgrade, but is exclusive to Arkham Knight. Great for buying any of his ranged weapons extra ammo, it's a pretty common take for him. 

0-1 Cybernetic Arms for $50 is almost always going to be taken. Giving him Reinforced Gloves, there really is no reason not to take it for how cheap it is. 

0-1 Arkham Knight Secret Armoury is more of a support equipment option, allowing a model in the crew to give its weapons Acid for $100, which is cheap enough that it can be worthwhile. Putting it on the Carbine or Grenade is a great way to boost the value of the crew in spreading defence debuffs so everyone else can benefit. It has good synergy with the Drone objective too, putting anything at a +2 to hit the crew can easily punch out opponents. 

0-1 Hook Pistol is an additional weapon for Arkham Knight himself, while also giving him the Batclaw trait which is a great addition. The weapon is only a short ranged single shot at double stun, but with ammo 2, Mechanical, Electric and Devastating it's a great sidearm to use when someone else in the crew is in a bad situation. The extra potential to not only damage them but 2 chances to put the Stun effect on is very worthwhile, especially if there's a Brute or Lieutenant in attack range (or even Deathstroke)

Deathstroke Options

0-1 Martial Training gives Martial Artist and Master Fighter for $150, but there's nothing that really benefits from both in Militia that justify taking it. 

0-1 Contract affects Deathstroke himself, and changes his rank to Sidekick. It can't be affected by Broken Equipment, and is worth using if the Sidekick slot is free just for what buffs it can give henchmen. It's free after all. 

Objective- Militia Drone

The Militia objective is a bit funky in how it works, but is without a doubt an excellent take. Going anywhere on the table 12" away from an enemy, the Drone picks out enemies within 4" of it to be Target Painted, which gives friendly models +1 to hit when attacking them. This alone is a great bonus, but when these models are hit by successful rolls the owner gains 1VP (once per model per shot, so thankfully doesn't work with Explosive or Expansive) and the Drone can be moved during the game. A model must be elected as the Controller for the Drone at the start of the game, and in the Recount phase they can spend extra counters left over to move it an additional 1" on top of the 4" it moves as standard. This is a great way to not only get easy VP just by attacking things, it also is a great bonus to hit for many models in the crew, making higher defence enemies much easier to manage. It shores up a big weakness for many models in a Militia crew, that being no way to "hit fix" and does it in a way that not only removes that weakness but also gains good amounts of VP in the process. 

Strategy- City in Fear

At 2 points, this is a bit more of an expensive Strategy. Basically all it does is allow you to choose a single non-Boss, non-Vehicle model at the start of every Take the Lead phase and force it to take a willpower test, giving it Scared if it fails. This is a nice way to shut down Acrobats and stop them dodging the huge amount of guns in the crew, but most of said Acrobats will have a somewhat higher willpower so it isn't as reliable as on henchmen for example. A very interesting take into Central City Villains, because it will help kill apes a lot quicker, and should be considered in a lot of Dodge-heavy crews. The impact of Scared isn't great outside of shooting, but in such a shooting-heavy crew it should be a decent take when it's useful

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.