John Constantine- Model Review

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

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

Is AO Deathstroke behind the curve?- My thoughts

Topping off a few of the teams I've previously discussed, Deathstroke is the absolute upper tier Free Agent in terms of cost and statline. As one of the best fighters in the DC Universe, he can reliably take on opponents in combat, although he is very pricey and he is difficult to compare to other generic Free Agents because of just how much he brings.

Offensive
With 3 different ways to attack and 2 weapon profiles, Deathstroke is a pretty good toolkit when it comes to killing.
His Reinforced Bo is a pretty great weapon with rerolls to hit and Reach doing double stun, but with his attack 5 Combo on top he can very easily knock out most things, and can even take multiple henchmen out of the game in a single activation. The consistency in hitting is needed against higher defence models, and it is for that reason I would always use the Bo against them
His other weapon is a simple Sword, doing double blood with Sharp. Not getting Combo here isn't great, but the damage is still very good and should be the weapon of choice against low defence models because it will quite likely outright kill them.
Hidden Sniper is his way of attacking at range, and it is a pretty good one. As previously mentioned with Commissioner Gordon, it is a way of getting unlimited range pingless shooting that is pretty good damage, letting him cover targets he normally wouldn't be able to reach, and as it is a trait he can use his regular attacks against a different target anyway, spreading out his potential damage a very long way.
The last piece of offensive tech Deathstroke has is his Counter Attack, letting him use successful block rolls to hit his opponent back and do some extra damage. It is most often best to use the sword for this as it is blood damage, but it depends on the target. Counter Attack in general isn't something I see as hugely valuable although it is good, as it relies on first hitting defence 5 then you rolling successful blocks before you can make your attacks (that is, it's a lot of hoops to jump through and not that great outside of Bronze Tiger) but if he is defending a position that's important, it can be very useful.
Defensive
Martial Artist and Defence 5 are always amazing, but adding it to the rest of the tricks he has makes Deathstroke a very tough model to remove from the table. Stealth is a little extra protection against guns and synergises very well with his Acrobat, which at movement 3 means he is not likely to be getting shot very often, and when he does he will be dangerously close.
His Soul Armour is a once per game ability that lets him heal 2 damage counters off himself, although at the cost of 3SC to do so it's a hefty investment and must be assessed if it's worth doing. It can be very good, but oftentimes it's just better to hit an opponent that is threatening him or to block.
Overall
Acrobat helps speed him up with +1 to his BMD and some placement tricks, but the more important trait in this regard is Undercover. Being able to not only deploy further up the table, but to drop after most other models, gives him a great degree of flexibility and reactive play to where he goes, letting him choose his game plan a lot better than most FA beaters.

Comparison to other villain FAs- Is Deathstroke overcosted? 
Deathstroke's 145 rep cost may seem to make him an unfavourable choice in comparison to some of the cheaper villain FA options (primarily King Shark, Batman Who Laughs and the Merciless, who I will talk about below) but he does bring a ton of tricks to play that can make this argument a lot more positive in his favour.
King Shark
While King Shark looks very similar in his offence to Deathstroke, both having attack 5 with combo and strength 3+, Deathstroke comes out on top for a variety of reasons that cannot be discounted. Against shooting, Shark is defence 3 with Huge, meaning he will realistically be getting shot a lot more than Deathstroke, and Bulletproof Vest and Regeneration are helpful but ultimately stacking damage on him isn't all that hard. They share the same endurance, but Deathstroke's defence 5, Martial Artist, Stealth and Acrobat giving him a 50% chance of dodging means he is significantly harder to take out in all regards, something which is a huge factor in his 50 rep increase in points.
Movement wise, Shark is 2" faster at his full output, and Amphibious makes sewers a lot cheaper.  But Deathstroke's Undercover and Reach compensate for this, making them overall roughly similar in threat range although Deathstroke's smaller base and Acrobat can help a lot in positioning him on the table.
Talking their weapon profiles they are fairly comparable when you look at the Bo, as Shark trades Reach and Handy for getting blood damage and rolling 2 crit die, which synergises greatly with Brutal to let him fish for what he wants. Shark's Bloodthirsty offsets his first counter loss from damage, and he is tuned up when he is attacking models that have taken damage through Blood Scent getting +1 to hit and wound and crit blood. This puts his potential output higher than Deathstroke, but it needs to be set up and thus isn't as efficient as Deathstroke (and probably needs an investment that is almost as high as Slade anyway). Either one of them will destroy whatever they touch, but Deathstroke is slightly more efficient in doing it, and can do it on the defence as well with Counter Attack if needed.
Batman Who Laughs
This is probably the worst comparison for Deathstroke, but BWL is only 5 rep cheaper and costs more funding. They share an identical statline apart from 1 higher willpower and endurance on BWL, both have ways to heal (Cannibal vs Soul Armour, BWL wins here) and both have great defensive traits (Martial Artist on both, Counter Attack on Deathstroke). Trickster gives BWL insane versatility, and while Deathstroke has Undercover for an increased deployment (and later drop) BWL has Large to increase his movement slightly more over Deathstroke (6" vs 5", Deathstroke will still make combat sooner due to Undercover).
It is where they have ranged protection that they first begin to tip slightly towards Deathstroke, as Protective on BWL is only a 33% chance of passing, while Deathstroke's Dodge (if he has the counters) is a 50% chance of success, making him that little bit more likely to make combat. It is less counter efficient, but Deathstroke having Combo offsets that anyway once he gets to where he wants to be fighting.
Offensively BWL seems slightly better through having Blood/Stun as compared to Deathstroke's Bo and having Luck to possibly reroll wound rolls, but Combo on the Bo means Deathstroke is usually fighting with even more dice thus guaranteeing damage vs lower defence targets and hitting higher potential damage at the same time, making him better against low defence/high endurance models in general. BWL's gun is also strictly inferior to Hidden Sniper most of the time, having worse damage, far less range, allowing Ping! and less native shots. Deathstroke can't use his gun turn 1, but realistically neither can BWL outside of silly play from an opponent and neither of them will likely be attacking until turn 2 anyway
BWL also provides pre-game bonuses and little bits of control through Strategist, Detective and Persuasive, while Deathstroke doubles down on his combat through the not wholly reliable Counter Attack. This is probably more in favour of BWL.
BWL is more versatile in his counters between his higher willpower and Trickster, but Deathstroke is very efficient with what he has, and they are overall fairly comparable in their costs, although Deathstroke should probably be a little lower in relation.
The Merciless
When you're looking at Merciless, it is apparent he is seriously undercosted. His statline is excellent for his role as a beater, and he is very reliably killing most models. Deathstroke is worse here in terms of sheer killing ability sure, but Merciless has a few things that make him a bit more manageable than Deathstroke and that play into Slade's favour. This is absolutely not a favourable comparison for Deathstroke by any means, but in my opinion this is because Merciless needs to be increased in cost if anything, because he is a bad comparison to anything in his cost bracket.
Attack wise Merciless is almost just better. Higher strength and attack, and his sword is better than Deathstroke's by virtue of having +1 to hit and Anti-Tank, and Unstoppable potentially shuts down blocks, but Deathstroke is more counter efficient with Combo and with Reach is able to easier reach models. Hidden Sniper gives a ranged option to Deathstroke, while Merciless has none, making him better in this regard.
Defensively it's a tough competition, as Deathstroke is harder to hit and has Dodge against ranged weapons, while Merciless has a lower defence and Large making him somewhat prone to shooting, although he compensates with Medium Armour. Both have Martial Artist making it a moot point, that's as good as each other, but Merciless does have 1 extra endurance which matters. Soul Armour is clutch, and can keep Deathstroke alive longer, but isn't going to always see play.
Speed wise it's the same as BWL, Large is offset by Undercover.
Deathstroke has the win of being able to claim objectives and score VP though, while Merciless cannot. This is a big point in comparison, as it stunts Merciless in his role while Deathstroke can do a variety of things while he moves around.
Veteran is another in favour of Merciless, as he can move around some counters while Deathstroke just can't.
Overall
For the reasons discussed above, Deathstroke is still largely justifiable for his premium cost, and will do a lot of work in game despite being very expensive. There are absolutely cheaper options that will do one of his roles better, and this allows extra models to fill out the crew, but in the end none of them majorly compare to Deathstroke in the role that he fills, and they will do different jobs that aren't 100% comparable.

Team Arrow- Overview and my favourite options

Welcome back all, to another team overview. I've previously covered Suicide Squad and Birds of Prey in team overviews, and this time I've decided to continue with Team Arrow. Many of these models I've already discussed, but I really enjoy playing this team and I think they definitely have what it takes to be considered a competitive crew.

Team Rules

Team Arrow have a few unique rules, both bonuses and downsides, which all play very nicely with what is in the crew.
Perfect Planning... is a slightly smaller benefit for the team, but it forces an opponent to deploy their entire crew before the Team Arrow crew, with the exception of Hidden and Undercover. This allows a Team Arrow player to deploy reactively and be able to determine what angles they are going to take earlier in the game, and is effectively giving them a free Ambush strategy (right down to an opponent's Ambush cancelling this). It also allows a single model per round to spend a pass counter in their activation to reallocate 3 counters, in effect giving them something in between Veteran and Trickster in its use. This is also very good, as it again plays into the reactive nature of Team Arrow and lets you make decisions based on the board state.
...Bad Choices is the downside to Perfect Planning, meaning Team Arrow cannot pass more than once consecutively. It isn't great, but it's minor enough with the options in the crew that it doesn't outweigh the positives at all.
Technological Support is the big one. This is the best special rule for a Team Arrow team, and gives the Multitask trait to a single model in the crew after deployment. Some models are restricted from taking the Fighter option (most importantly Speedsters because that would be busted, but mainly models with attack or defence 5, or that have Adaptable) but the other options on Multitask are still available to these. Fighter is as always the best option to take, and on a great deal of attack 4/ defence 4 models in the crew is a must have, but the others have their situational uses as well depending on your list.

Equipment

The 3 equipment options in a Team Arrow list will pretty much always see play, and are all well worth taking. They all play into the primarily ranged based team, and help with shooting more than anything else.
Magazine is pretty standard, extra ammunition to one weapon. Slightly more costly than normal at $250, but you'll usually have space for at least one anyway.
Red Dot is probably the best piece of equipment in this list, and if you're not taking it you have to have a very good reason. Giving rerolls to hit on some great ranged weapons adds a little bit extra consistency, and with the lower amount of models and shots in the crew anything helps. Giving it to Captain Cold, Harry or any other good damage gun piece is invaluable, even for $300
Tactical Gloves is an upgrade for Green Arrow only, and gives him Reinforced Gloves. Same as he gets in Brave and the Bold, it can be a great cheap way of giving him a little bit more punch when he needs it. Not always going to be useful, but for how cheap it is why wouldn't you take it if you had leftover funding?

Strategies

Team Arrow have 2 unique Strategies available to them on top of normal options, and both are very good.
Archer in the Dark only works on 2 models in the crew (Green Arrow and Malcolm Merlyn) but what it does for these models is very helpful. Being able to place 6" after shooting their ranged weapons lets them relocate very easily, and for only 1 strategy point has a lot of janky potential in its applications. You are able to move with them to get into a good shooting position, then shoot an opponent before placing back into a position of safety (or back to ammo for next turn). The strategy is only one use, but that one use is almost always guaranteed to be valuable and as such should be taken most of the time (unless of course you don't have Green Arrow or Merlyn in your list)
The Hunter's Hour is excellent. The extra 4 inches it gives on vision range helps with keeping your own stuff safe, and the amount of Beam weapons in the crew means you don't even really care about the high likelihood of pings at this distance. It also lets you shoot earlier in the game than normal, which combined with the ability to very easily deploy reactively lets you take control of the flow of the game from very early. Awesome combo with Green Arrow too, who can jump around from 16 inches away and pop very reliable shots onto whatever he needs to.

What kind of Team Arrow review would this be if I didn't talk about Green Arrow. The lynchpin of the crew thematically (although not 100% necessary in gameplay terms), Green Arrow is an excellent ranged attack piece and obviously plays right into every benefit this crew has. In this review I will be talking specifically about the 2 versions above (Miller and New 52 comic) but any Green Arrow can slot into this team and work well.
Offensive
Green Arrow is a shooting model through and through, something which is true of every version. They all have traits related to helping them shoot better, and all have a "regular" Arrow profile of Mechanic, Aim and 2 Blood. Each version also has their own trick arrow with its own extra bonuses to further differentiate them, and they are all quite good. It has to be said, whenever a trick arrow doesn't have One Use in the profile, it should always be bought a Magazine as equipment to give it a second one, because the utility is just too good.
Miller Arrow is actually the most different in terms of weaponry, as his regular Arrow profile does more damage per shot (3 blood vs 2 otherwise) and at ammo 3 he will be shooting for a while. This comes at the expense of not having Rapid Fire to shoot more than one a turn, but with having Good Aim and Ranged Master for +2 to hit (with an easy reroll on top from Red Dot) he is quite reliably hitting models when he wants to. Even defence 5 should fear this, and that's even before we talk about his trick arrow. While not having it's intended purpose just yet, the Kryptonite Arrow is good purely for being a single shot with 4 blood, letting him very easily damage weaker henchmen and possibly even outright kill in many circumstances. For 75 rep he is definitely a worthwhile option in terms of offensive capabilities.
New 52 Arrow is significantly more expensive at 117 rep, but his cost is well worth the investment. Rapid Fire, Good Aim and Master Marksman means he will be doing very reliable amounts of damage whenever he needs to, while having the usual 3 ammo on his regular Arrow so he can keep doing what he does best until he can get to an ammo (or keeping him less tied down by ammo). His trick arrow is the same as his regular one in terms of damage and traits, although with the always great Stun attached. With how easily he can hit, he is almost guaranteeing shutting down a model for that turn and likely protecting his crew from a big threat (or setting it up to get hit by Hawkman or Hawkgirl) and this is only better on his melee as well. With Technique he will likely be Paralysing models on damage, and although he has no benefits in this regard he can still use it where necessary, likely pairing it with Adaptable for attack 5
Defensive
Every version of Green Arrow is defence 4 and either endurance 7 or 8, which is good while not being especially amazing(that is to say, he needs an investment to kill but it won't take the whole game). They are also all Acrobats with just their movement stats differing from each other, ranging from 2 on Miller (so not likely to Dodge at all) to the quite impressive 4 on New 52 and TV Arrows (66% chance to pass Dodges).
Miller Arrow has the great benefit of Desensitised which means he won't lose counters from damage at all, but with the downside of having One-Armed, giving him a -1 to all block rolls. This is not huge on Arrow though, because he will usually be zipping around the edges of a fight early-mid game so won't be needing to block very often.
New 52 Arrow has a combination of an awesome statline with also having some great defensive traits to play with. Adaptable is usually going to be in defence, putting it at the excellent defence 5, but the option is there to put it into movement or attack as well. Movement is not great, as 5 counters in movement just means he's overextended and probably going to get hurt (it makes Dodges easier, but you need to be hit to Dodge and so defence 5 is still better in this regard) and attack 5 lets him punch things easier with his Reinforced Gloves upgrade. It is still almost always worth putting it into defence however, just to keep him alive. He also has Hardened, which turns a single blood into stun every turn and lets him shake more damage, and Stealth, making him harder to see to shoot at (combine this with Hunter's Hour for best results), but his biggest benefit is his Sidekick rank, which means he is giving up less VP in the event he does die in game.
Overall
Green Arrow doesn't have too much in the way of special abilities that don't help in a fight. Affinity Batman on Miller Arrow is nice, but irrelevant in Team Arrow, and otherwise there's nothing really to speak of in this regard. All but Animated have Batclaws and can move quickly, but that's about it.

So we've discussed Green Arrow, and now we've got someone who's traditionally been his begrudging ally and a definite frenemy when it comes to the methods of heroism, Hawkman. Despite the pair not being the greatest of friends (in fact Hawkman is only in here because of Legends of Tomorrow rather than an Arrow connection), Hawkman complements Green Arrow's playstyle perfectly, bringing a brutal melee character to pair with GA's primarily ranged presence. Hawkman is also one of the best models to take the Fighter option of Multitask on, as he becomes a flying beatstick with attack and defence 5 on top of his already impressive kit.
Offensive
Hawkman is a primarily melee based model, and somewhat straightforward, although he does have a sneaky little trick in Team Arrow. His Nth Metal Mace does blood/stun and is Handy, which at attack 4 and strength 3+ means he is doing great amounts of damage(but not one-shotting the biggest guys), although it does also have Magic, which is handy for the Invulnerable models in the game (and also demolishes Deadman). This is only made better by becoming attack 5 with the Fighter upgrade from Multitask, making him harder to block and just having more attacks. In looking at this it may seem like the Claws part of Fighter is wasted, but that's where you have to factor in Savage Fighter. +1 to hit on a Push attack is great, and while in 2nd Edition BMG you have to be unarmed to Push, Hawkman now having a way to get Claws means he can be a reliable way to deal with rooftop campers, or just to clear off objectives while keeping decent damage. In Brave and the Bold he is still a great Batsignal piece, but somewhat overshadowed by cheaper options, while in Team Arrow he is well worth the cost for the toolkit he brings as opposed to some others.
Defensive
Hawkman is relatively standard in terms of his points cost, but he has a few nice little tricks that can help out a lot. Endurance 9 is great, and with Hardened means even an Assault Rifle can't one shot him (it will still knock him out, but then he has the potential to get back up). Fire Immunity is helpful in certain situations as well, but the greatest thing he has for defence is Hover. For 1SC it means he is only hit on 6s in combat, and although it does have a downside vs ranged attacks you can quite easily decide when it's worth using Hover and when it isn't. In a Team Arrow crew use your ranged pieces to quickly take out guns, then Hover to your heart's content with Hawkman to have a very tough threat.
Overall
Fly and Flying High are both great at mitigating his lower movement speed, both to keep up with the fast members of Team Arrow (GA and Flash mainly) and to relocate wherever he is needed and put out damage. Teamwork 2 with Hawkgirl isn't hugely useful as they're both likely to be doing their own thing with their counters, but it is potentially also very good if they're both on the table and near each other.

The other half of the Hawk pair, Hawkgirl is a bit more of a finesse piece to Hawkman's blunt object. Like Hawkman, she is an excellent choice for the Fighter upgrade, and honestly arguably better with it than Hawkman is for 10 rep less. 

Offensive

Same melee weapon as Hawkman without any fancy damage abilities, but she has a lower attack stat as standard, which hurts a bit. However, she also has two big abilities to help her out in combat in the form of Unstoppable and Weapon Master, which means she has a +1 to hit on top of Handy and for a special counter can make an opponent need to block twice to prevent each strike, ensuring usually at least one hit will go through. When she gets given Fighter, however, she becomes attack 4, which means she is pretty reliably putting out a ton of hurt while she is very hard to block consistently. 

Defensive

Like Hawkman she has Hover and Fire Immunity, meaning she is potentially quite annoying to take out, but she does have 2 less endurance than Hawkman. Hawkgirl really shines though when she is given the Fighter upgrade from Multitask (just like Hawkman) and she becomes defence 5, making her very hard to hit (although still weaker than Hawkman)

Overall
Just like Hawkman, she has Fly, Flying High and Teamwork 2(although to Hawkman instead of Hawkgirl obviously). She does, however, have an extra movement, which means she is able to move around faster and get where she needs to be. Otherwise there isn't much to be said in this regard. 

Additional mentions

This team list also contains a lot of models I've already discussed, and pretty much all of these I like very much in Team Arrow as well.
The Flash is a great addition to the team, and like I have discussed before the DCEU or CW Flashes both bring a lot to play in any crew, something which stays true in Team Arrow.
Both Harry and Captain Cold bring reliable guns with extra strategy points, which plays right into the Hunter's Hour strategy (and both love Red Dot) while being relatively cheaper options to use, while Diggle and Heatwave are always good at their job (and can be even better with Multitask, especially Heatwave).
Katana gives some much needed melee in what is largely a shooting based team list, and has the great combination of speed and damage to be very useful exactly where she needs to be.
Huntress is a great opening piece as well, being able to put early pressure on an opponent while the rest of the crew advances into shooting range, and with Hunter's Hour she can protect herself relatively easily while she does this from a longer range