Suicide Squad Part 2- Team Discussion

Continuing on from part 1, here is another part to my Suicide Squad review with a few things that I think are worth mentioning in the team. These are options that facilitate different playstyles to what I have previously mentioned, and will open up new angles of play.

The other standard version of Deadshot, this one trades off the mobility and potential spread of Willshot for pure single target deletion.
Offensive
As an assassin piece, Deadshot's best role is understandably his damage. His Barret is similar to Sharpshooter from the Bane Batbox but with slightly changed critical effects and without Reload. It is still the amazing 4 blood Scope gun it is on Sharpshooter, but with Bleed:2 and Devastating it can put out an extra 4 blood on crits (something boosted by Holds Breath) and he can do this for a few turns with 3 ammo and lacking Reload.
The Barret alone lets him be a model that is great for simply locking down areas of the board with his sheer threat, but he also has some bonuses to it that make him truly great. Ranged Master gives him a +1 to hit (+2 with Holds Breath), Obsessive gives him a +1 to wound if he targets the same model with all his attacks (which he will always be doing) and although this doesn't help much on the Barret (only against Amazons and Demons really) it is still a good way for him to work against armour or Tough Skin while using his 9mm Twin Cannons.
He also has 9mm Twin Cannons for a ranged attack, and it's a nice piece to give out some little extra damage if he doesn't have Barret ammo (or wants to move that turn).
Defensive
Defence 3 isn't great on someone of his cost, but he does have endurance 7 and a 50/50 Dodge to make up for it. As someone who will likely be popping between sniping positions anyway, he is decently survivable.
Overall
As well as being a great shooting threat, he is also decent at supporting other models. Outlaw Field Commander means he should always have a counter in Special, because it acts as a pseudo-Inspire on one model, and if no one else is around he can use it on himself to put it somewhere useful.

The cheapest option available to Suicide Squad, which is a virtue in it's own right, Electrocutioner is somewhat ok as a filler option.
Offensive
With his Shock Gloves, he does double stun at strength 4+ at a pretty good attack 4, and with crit:Stunned he can set up some nice vectors for attack (or just stop a beater from hitting him back). He has Electric Storm just like Little Spark and Nightwing, but it still isn't great and especially when he is only willpower 5. EMP is handy to have given the increasing numbers of Cybernetic, Bot and Vehicle models in the game as well, letting him reroll to wound against them. Taunt is a nice little control element, moving counters into attack which can be a nice way to shut things down. It is best used when something has already activated and is sitting on dodges or blocks, or if they are a control based model that needs SC and isn't great in attack (AK Scarecrow, Mad Hatter to an extent)
Defensive
Just like the Arkham Origins version this is based on, Electrocutioner has a glass jaw. Defence 3 endurance 5 is ok for his cost, although it isn't especially tanky.
Overall
Criminal is not bad given his stun output, and will reliably trigger if he decides to hit weaker models (which really, he should do anyway). He also has Expendable so he is worth only 1VP when he dies, with nothing being awarded for KO (which is amazing in a team like Squad where every VP matters). Charismatic is ok in some lists but useless in Squad, as you have no Free Agent limit in a team anyway.

The magic user of the Squad, Enchantress is an absolute powerhouse of a model and a huge boost to the crew despite her very steep cost.
Offensive
In terms of straight up attacking she has a quite simple Magic Strike that does double stun and has the Magic effect. At attack 4 and strength 3+ she's not a bad beater, but it isn't her best role.
In terms of control capabilities Enchantress is right up there for the best options (and rightfully so for her cost). With Mind Control she can straight up take threatening enemies, and possibly even lock them into a permanent loop by choosing another model with Persuasive (which is excellent otherwise just to counter opponents plans).
Her Magic is the last great thing about her offence, and it plays into her role as a board control piece more than anything else. Magic Power 5 lets her put out a couple of great spells a turn, and with her Magic disciplines she has some really good spells. Curse from Occultism is another great debuff to the opponent, stopping them from spending SC (counters both Magic and opposing SC abilities) and Necromancy has the excellent Black Pain, which is fairly easy to cast makes 2 models take a willpower test or suffer 3 stun and -1 willpower until the next Raise the Plan. This obviously makes her own Mind Control easier to do, but is also good in just making it harder for an opponent to do what they want as they will effectively be down 2 counters next turn.
Defensive
Another surprisingly tanky Magic user, Enchantress is pretty tough to get damage on unless you manage to play your turn order carefully. Safe Hands is just a basic immunity to Steal shared with most Magic users, but Magic Tatoos also makes her immune to this plus Fire (which is very strange that she would have both). Her real defensive strength comes in just how hard she is to kill, between defence 4 endurance 7, being a movement 3 Acrobat and Invulnerability:2 to top it off. She will take a very big effort to remove, and is definitely a formidable tank, but she also has Occultism to give her a +1 defence when she needs it once per game, on top of all the healing she can do with Magic.
Like Raven she can use Black Shadows as a means of defending herself from ranged attacks (although with Acrobat this is less necessary) as well as moving her around the table,
Overall
Outside of the healing from normal Elemental Magic, she can also heal herself once per game through Necromancy, by spending 2MP and dealing a blood damage to another model in contact which heals her 1 damage. Best used as a finisher to take out enemies, but it is useful nonetheless as a means of healing. As a Necromancer she has the Revival spell, which lets her put models back into the game that had died earlier. This spell is excellent, if difficult to get off on the larger models (difficulty increases based on endurance) and can be a great way to turn a game back around with Squad as it can stop them snowballing into a major loss. The only other thing to mention is her Bipolar, which isn't as huge as it may seem. The 50/50 chance to lose or gain a counter isn't major because she is already willpower 8 and a Magic user, so she isn't suffering for counters as much as a pure beater would, and it doesn't affect her actual willpower stat either so she is unaffected for casting. It's a negative for sure, but just not something that will ruin her in a game.

Teen Titans- Team Discussion

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

Team Rules

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

Equipment

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

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

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

Strategies

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

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

Objective- Trigon Portal

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

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

Upgrades- Animal Forms

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

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

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

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

Offensive

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

Defensive

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

Overall

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

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

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

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

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

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

Batman Family- Team discussion and Batman reviews

Hello everyone, for my last team discussion for a while. I've previously covered Team Arrow and Suicide Squad for standard options, and Society is a bit too meaty in terms of options to cover honestly so I've decided not to cover it at all (or at least only for specific lists). This team is pretty heavy on options but it's very top-heavy (read- almost half the options are Bruce Wayne) so this will double as a Brave and the Bold feature through covering some of my favourites out of the various Batmen.

Team Rules

There are 4 special rules that define the Bat-Family, and all are very much in theme with what they are as a team of heroes. 

The Bat Code- Quite simple to explain, they only ever do stun damage. All blood becomes stun, but with easy access to Arrest (or Red Hood with Takedown for some cheeky executions) they can get around it pretty well. 

Bat-Training gives every model Boy Wonder as a trait, meaning that Handy as a rule simply doesn't function against Batfam. This is huge defensively, especially when there is no model below defence 4 in the crew. 

Enhanced Gadgets is a one use mobility bonus, which allows a single model to use their Batclaw even if they used it in the previous turn, letting them make some serious relocation and helping with the lower model count Batfam are guaranteed to have. 

Synchronicity gives every model in the team Teamwork/1 to every other model in the team, allowing some nice counter stealing to enable the biggest hitters to work better, and also lets you choose who takes the lead once per game which can let you activate first when it's really necessary

Equipment

Batfam have a few different options when it comes to equipment, but they are of differing usefulness. The standard ones are all mostly useful:

Magazine is the outlier here, only being truly great on Nightmare Batman, Knightfall Batman or Red Hood, but at $300 it competes with the other options in the list. After those options are taken and there is spare rep? Sure, chuck it on someone who won't be up close fighting (Batgirl is 100% my choice for this) and it might see use, better to take it than not. 

Handcuffs is without a doubt the single best piece of equipment in the Bat-Family list and should always be maxed out. When you're only doing stun damage a way to remove models from play is essential, and taking 2 Arrests in what is normally a 4 model crew is massive at any funding cost. This team will basically always play at $900 because $600 is put into double Handcuffs. 

Reconnaissance gives a single model Undercover, and in that is a good way to speed up some of the slower Batmen (as most of the crew are movement 3+ Acrobats and don't need it). $300 seems hefty, but when you consider the upsides of holding back a model it is well worth it

Then there are a few only unlocked by Bruce Wayne which again, are of differing usefulness

Upgraded Batsuit- Just like in BatB, $100 to give Bruce +1 endurance. Easily worth it, take every time

Martial Arts Training- Less important here than in BatB because of a high amount of native Martial Artists, but if you're taking models that will be on the front lines and don't have Martial Artist, buy it for them. Very cheap and is a huge benefit, it's not something to just skip. 

Mentor- I'll be honest, Mentor is shit. Hidden Boss in Batfam is nothing but a VP liability that has no other benefit, for a cost of $200 and 3 rep. Never worth taking at all.

Strategies

There are 3 strategies to choose from, but Batfam will usually spend all 3 of their points on the same 2 as they are far and away better. Also note that these are on top of Batman getting access to I Am The Night which he gets by being the boss of this crew automatically. 

Secret Warehouse is a 1 point strategy that lets you place a 30mm marker anywhere on the table 6" away from a board edge that is basically a 0VP ammo that only friendly models can use. For 1 point it could be ok in lists that plan to maximise Nightmare Batman or Knightfall's flamethrower, but it just isn't that great when you'll likely already have funding spare to just buy a magazine

The Hour of the Bat is the 2 cost strategy for the team, and should almost always be taken because of how good it is. It's single use, but it allows you to choose a model you're currently activating and declare it is only able to be hit on rolls of a 6 for that entire turn. Combined with the guaranteed first activation from Synchronicity, this lets you all but ensure a character is going to survive a turn of damage and in turn maximise offensive output to hit as hard as is possible. 

Strike from the Shadows is a small offensive boost that also helps on defence in its own small way, allowing an extended reach of sorts for one a model once per game, and for only 1 strategy point. It's a great way to hit something you wouldn't normally have the range to hit, but also to sit in safer positions and reach models in the open while not putting yourself in the line of fire. Definitely recommend taking this in almost all circumstances. 

Batman Discussion

Standard Traits/Stats

Most variants of Batman have a series of traits that define the character, and these I'll discuss here instead of going over them ad nauseam below. All of them are strength 3+ with Reinforced Gloves, they all have a stat of 5 in attack or defence, commonly both, and they are all mostly willpower 8. They all come with Batcape and Batclaw (unless I mention it below- there's one exception) for increasing movement, especially around buildings, and helps prevent falling damage should they face it. Many have Bat-Armour MkI for a 5+ save against any hits on them, which is a great bonus that has to be mentioned, and all of them also have Detective to cancel a pass should the opponent have one (which they shouldn't against Bat-Family, but against Brave and the Bold is more likely).

Weapon-wise, they all either have Batarangs or Batlings to make ranged attacks with, although they're not overly great. Double stun, throwing and light in both cases and RoF2 ammo 2, Batarangs are medium ranged and remote control over Batlings just having short ranged. They're ok if you have the shot, but up close you're almost always better off just moving to punch, especially with Strike from the Shadows as a strategy. 

The most expensive option when it comes to Batman, the Anniversary model is a fully tooled up Batman that is truly terrifying to face. It does come across an issue in Batfam though as its point cost is awkward and high, making lists with him difficult (although they have a big impact)
Offensive
Attack 5 doing double stun with rerolls to hit is already amazing, but he also has some sneaky little ways to boost his offensive power should he need it. I'm Batman gives him a one use reroll to damage rolls, which comes in handy when there's something that absolutely has to be damaged, and he is very often only blocked on 6s care of Cloak of Bats (Scared effect after failing willpower). Making those models also not able to Dodge or Crouch is nice, but a bit niche in Batfam because of a general lack of shooting. He will usually get a few knock downs when he initially deploys as well as long as he can fit, forcing opponents to take an endurance check if they don't. This means if Batman can get first activation he can pummel someone without any ability for them to spend counters, being a potentially great way to get around Bodyguard or Protect Me.
Defensive
With defence 5, Batarmour MkI and Martial Artist he is a tough nut to crack, but Cloak of Bats makes him very very hard to take out. The Scared effect, on top of the block penalty above, puts things at -1 to hit, meaning he is only hit on 6s (and also boosts the rest of the Family) and Cloak of Bats by itself says that he can only be seen when in base contact with him, ignoring any other ways of boosting vision (Total Vision, Scopes, Night Vision) and even works when he's in light, which means he doesn't care about lampposts at all. The last thing to note is his base endurance of 9, and that it means he will easily be endurance 10 with the Upgraded Batsuit, which packed in with everything else means he is insanely survivable and takes a serious investment to kill.
Overall
There's not much else to say, he has nothing super special during the game, but I'm Batman gives him a great alternate deployment ability. Basically acting as a super-Hidden, he can deploy anywhere on the table after all other models and means he will immediately get stuck in where needed, deploying near enemies or on objectives where he will start the game strong. It basically just means he is an alpha striker, but he does it so well that he can do it.

These 2 are somewhat similar in their cards, and that reason being they're from the same version of Batman. Batfleck and Nightmare are both more offensively-geared Batmen, although in slightly different ways
Offensive
Both of these Batmen are incredibly good in close combat, having rerolls to hit and attack 5. Batfleck has his Batlings as well, but it's when you look at Nightmare Batman that you see the obscenity of his damage output. While Batfleck is just no frills, Nightmare packs 2 guns and Mixed Combat Style, meaning he will be shooting downfield while advancing and can even throw punches in the same turn as he does so. In Batfam he is always doing double stun with his weapons so up close the differences in the two guns aren't that significant, but in Brave and the Bold he is a very reliable killer from fairly early in the game. His Custom MG being medium ranged and Assault 2 means he can move and shoot by turn 2, and this gun is quite good in BatB simply because it is double blood, letting him pump damage downfield before his advance and keep going later on. His Automatic Gun isn't as great, but when he runs out of ammo or if he gets engaged, the gun is a godsend and lets him still shoot in b2b with enemies or simply just at short ranged later in the game. In Batfam he can quite reliably KO almost anything by himself (or multiple low endurance models) in a turn, but doesn't have the counter availability to Arrest by himself, needing someone else to do it for him, while Batfleck has the flexibility to carry the handcuffs himself.
Defensive
Both are defence 4 endurance 8 and Martial Artist with Batarmour MkI, so decently survivable just on that, but Batfleck gets a little bit extra in his role as a brawler. Sustained Defence lets him load 4 into attack and 4 into defence where he can sit comfortably in a position near the opponent and sit on 6 block dice and Batarmour, making him a stocky opponent face-to-face.
Overall
Neither of these have any frills in terms of special abilities outside combat, and are somewhat slow at movement 2. Despite this, the amounts of damage they do for their costs (and their reliability) offsets this, making them both valuable choices in both a Brave and the Bold or a Bat-Family crew.

The second of the "expensive" Batman I'll be discussing in this review, Rebirth Batman represents the cream of the crop in terms of activation manipulation and is a great stealthy threat. Again though, the higher cost is somewhat prohibitive for list building and must be considered even with all of his benefits.

Offensive

Attack 5 with usual Batman punches, he's just prone to a little bit of failing rolls. Sneak Attack is the name of the game with him thanks to Master of Stealth, meaning not only can he not be blocked but he also gets a +1 to hit which greatly helps him in hitting models. 

Defensive

Defence 5 with Martial Artist and Bat-Armour MkI means he is a pretty excellent combatant, but that isn't all that Rebirth has on the card. Master of Stealth was until recently unique to Rebirth, and gives him the previously mentioned +1 to hit, but more importantly gives him a boosted version of Stealth that means even short ranged guns will potentially have to move to get into line of sight of him. He also has Self Discipline, which I guess is ok helping him against Mind Control but seriously, he's willpower 9 with a reroll, failing willpower is a statistical anomaly.

Overall

The biggest thing to mention is his high willpower of 9 which is the highest of any Batman, giving him great variety in what he will do on any given turn. He has Sneaking for some extra movement at the end of every turn (useful to help play around with Master of Stealth, especially with Strike from the Shadows), but his biggest thing is how much he affects the activation phase. Detective and Informer can be a 2 way activation swing in some situations (removing an opponent's pass and adding your own, although not super useful in a team like Batfam) and he has the potential to use World's Greatest Detective to control the flow of the game even more. With this trait he can elect any model belonging to the opponent at the start of each turn and force it to take a willpower roll, which if failed means the opponent must activate that model before any other. This, combined with Synchronicity, allows a Batfam team to completely dominate the first activations of almost any turn in the game with relative ease, which is a huge bonus in flexibility that can't be ignored. 

The only non-Bruce Batman option in the game, Knightfall Batman isn't a leader option in Batfam but is still available on the list, or can be an alternate leader in Brave and the Bold. He works more as a very unsubtle version of Batman, relying purely on brutality and damage to get his job done.
Offensive
Knightfall Batman is primarily based around up-close combat, with most of his kit based around this. Claws mean he is normally one of the few Batmen to do blood damage, and although in Batfam this becomes stun he is still 2+ strength for the most reliably wounding close combat model in the crew. Attack 4 means he is somewhat easy to block, but Unstoppable changes that to a far smaller chance of being blocked (as each attack needs to be blocked twice, it caps out at 2 blocks on most things, and that's assuming they have 4 successful block dice), while OCD gives him a useful but restricted +1 to hit in combat. Although he has to focus his attacks on one target to get this bonus, factoring in all his other kit he is very often better off doing this anyway.
At ranged he has a hand flamethrower to put out some lighter damage (in Batfam, it won't matter if you fail to wound cause the damage is done) and a fire counter. Fire is currently the only way to get blood damage into a Batfam crew (as it isn't a model dealing the damage, it's the fire) but is far more lethal in a Brave and the Bold crew where they have access to whistles for guaranteed burning which has gotten me a lot of success.
Defensive
Defence 4 endurance 7 is not bad, but it's Sturdy and Medium Armour that really help him out. He's difficult to wound via henchmen outside of guns and only ever loses 2 counters maximum from accumulated damage, so when he is damaged he is still hitting pretty hard. He is very scared of Anti-Tank weapons though, especially snipers like Deadshot as they will just nuke him easily, and it's important to note that against any other guns he is still a 50/50 chance to wound.
Overall
There's not much else to say about Knightfall that hasn't already been said. He is definitely someone geared more towards Brave and the Bold rather than Bat-Family through not being a boss option, but he has his uses as a secondary hitter alongside a cheaper Batman. The one thing to consider is how Fast plays into his playability, as he is only movement 2 but with the higher BMD he can still reach targets much easier than most other models.

The only non-Batman model I'm covering in this post, the sidekick version of Batgirl has a whole lot of great reasons to be taken in a Batfam crew. She adds so much for so little cost that she is invaluable.
Offensive
With attack 4 and Combo combined with Sneak Attack, you'd think that she was a big combat model made to go in and put the punches on enemies, but because she only does single stun damage she's usually best off getting one of the 2 Arrests in the crew and being a supporting piece. With that it allows the others to be more counter efficient in attack/defence, leaving the model removal role to someone who is using their own counters less. That said, she does have 3 ammo on her Batlings so if she really needs to she can throw them around and put out little extra bits of damage where needed.
Defensive
Defence 5 with Stealth and Martial Artist means although she is only endurance 6, she takes some thinking to take out, and won't die easily. This makes her a good objective piece as well as her Arrest role, but at the same time she should try and stay out of combat where possible and let the others cover it.
Overall
Informer is really all that's really left to note outside of Batcape and Batclaw, and adding extra passes is always nice. Teamwork from the Batfam team rules means she has a use in simply funnelling extra counters to the big guys in the crew (Batman and Nightwing) but at willpower 6 she will also have uses for her own counters.

Other notable options
Like Team Arrow, I've already talked about much of this team through other posts.
I haven't personally covered Batwoman, but over on the Paradox Effect blog there is an excellent overview on how she works from my mate Solitaire, which I don't disagree with in any regard.
Huntress and Catwoman are both great options in Batfam because of their ability to quickly score VP and threaten objectives, but Catwoman's biggest use here is in her ability to be a reactive Handcuff piece. Fast moving Arrest to wherever she needs to be is always worthwhile, and at the points costs of either Catwoman you can slot them in easily. The choice is between Modern Age to help out in the fight or GCS to help score more VP, but both are worth taking for their tricks. Huntress brings debuffs and a little bit of ranged threat, and she is another great one to have with Handcuffs moving around and being a backup piece.
Nightwing, Red Hood and Damian are all excellent damage pieces for the team, being the ones who get into the fight apart from Batman.
Grayson Robin and eternal Damian are both decent options, but restricted in their uses by other factors. Damian is heavily overshadowed by his 60 point standard version, but is one of the few 50 rep options in the team which can help in filling awkward points gaps, while Boy Wonder Robin is still locked into Modern Age Batman who is good, but somewhat less valuable in Batfam, and Robin himself also locks out Nightwing as an option, which is a huge downside to the crew as a whole. He's also not the most thematic option, because the team is largely made up of his successors that came about after he became Nightwing, so it's odd to justify it (although possible to make a themed list with it, its not quite possible to do 350 rep with this theme)

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 

Suicide Squad- Team discussion and my favourite choices

Hello again all! Going forward, I have decided to write up a few smaller posts regarding some of the various teams we were given in the revamped PDF. Team Arrow will no doubt follow this soon, as I am currently working on a few different things for them, but to kick things off I've decided to start with the "new" team, Suicide Squad. Largely unchanged from their original appearance in the 1st edition Flash and Arrow book, the Suicide Squad are a high risk, high reward crew, and are largely based around overwhelming damage and maximising VP gain.

Team Rules

The team rules are interesting in Suicide Mission is an active liability in terms of gameplay, and if they're not played to bad things will happen. Fortunately, simply playing the game will help stop this, as your own models won't explode should you gain a quite trivial amount of VP across the game. Simply by managing to score kills you should be able to keep up with the count, but a couple good turns of objective scoring will completely negate Suicide Mission. It is also important to make sure if a model that is important to your crew can be the boss in your list, it absolutely should be, if only to protect it from this rule, and the Volunteer rule also protects against this, despite it being very rare.
They do, however, have another special rule unique to the team in the form of We're Partners, For Now... which lets them make a once per round Let's Go type ability for the same cost, although they don't have to roll for it and this chain activating happens immediately. This is huge because it lets you set up big hits that can't be resisted, and like most of Squad you want to use these risk/reward rules to guarantee your VP gain and attempt to reduce counterplay. Anyone who can reliably KO followed up by Slipknot is very useful, as is simply doing 2 strong guns one after the other to kill as much as possible. The "downside" to this is that it's only usable by Free Agents, but the vast majority of the team are Free Agents so it's negligible.

Equipment

Squad only have 3 equipment pieces to choose from, and all are good in their niches. With the Squad getting more funding than normal (and most of the great gun pieces being able to lead) they'll almost always be able to take 1-2 of these, and in many situations all 3.
Aerial Locator System 0-1 $200
I've found the Aerial Locator to be more of a psychological choice than an actually useful one myself, but when it does work it goes off excellently. Lighting up a single model makes it very clear at the start of the turn who the main target is, and letting the opponent know this gives them another thing to think about, and forcing these levels of planning are important. When you so choose, it lets your guns shoot at a higher range as well, which is of obvious use. It's the first equipment I'll drop, as the other 2 I find far more useful, but it still has a very definite place in all my lists. It also has the benefit of being the cheapest Squad equipment, which is in itself something that can be very helpful in just finishing off lists.
Magazine- 0-1 $300
This is the one you'll probably always take. Keeps you shooting for longer and thus killing for longer, great on any Deadshot or Rick Flag for obvious reasons.
Airborne Deployment 0-2 $300
I always take this on big hitters without question. For $300 the ability to put a model on the board closer to where they need to operate is always useful, and putting it on someone like SS Deadshot who can come on and immediately Bullet Time is a huge boon to the crew. I play this as high risk/reward, and most of the time it pays off well. Use it for VP gain above all else, as you should be doing with most of Squad.

Strategies

Squad strategies range from very good to completely useless, they go the full spectrum. 

Suicidal Tendencies Value 1, Phase E

I'll start with this one, which makes them immune to the Run Away rule, because you should literally never take this strategy ever. It can be seen as "planning for failure" but I see it as "wasting strategy points in the event you're nearly tabled," and by the point it comes into play you've pretty much guaranteed lost the game. 

Direct Assault Value 2, Phase C

This one is good, if you're planning to take Fast Advance I'd consider this instead if only because it's a further distance forward, but it lets you move some guns into more favourable positions to control the board better. Depending on the crew, very valuable

ARGUS Telecommunications Relay Value 3, Phase ?

Squad's best strategy, but expensive (and rightly so). This strategy has the effect of Exhaustive Planner and Mastermind, but can optionally instead cancel the use of Exhaustive Planner (so you get an extra counter in the bag for 3 strategy points). I wouldn't take this if the opponent has Exhaustive Planner, just cause it's not worth keeping after that, but in a lot of cases it is a huge bonus to the crew. 

Objective- Beacon

The new objective given to them in their Batbox, it's the ultimate risk/reward objective. Only Squad can choose it, but anyone can control it and at 4VP it's already a big potential gain for an opponent if they just camp it. Then you add in the ability for controlling it, and you have an objective you absolutely need to reach ASAP. The ability to not only reallocate counters after allocating (in effect Scheming after Scheming comes into play) but also gain +1 counter on 2 models is a really great ability, although something you don't want your opponents to take. Luckily for Squad, you have the option of Airborne Deployment or Croc to take it by pure aggression early in the game, and you'll probably be dealing big hits at the same time to make it worth doing. This is definitely an objective worth using, as the potential gain from it is too good, but it plays into Squad's high risk/reward nature. 

 Overall, Suicide Squad Deadshot is one of the best options in this team. He's a Boss option, brings great shooting, Leadership for a little bit of crew support, he has it all. At willpower 8 he has a lot of counters to throw around (except for the golden turn of Bullet Time) and packs a lot of versatility.
Offensive
Bullet Time. Deadshot can put out a ridiculous amount of high damage shots once per game, most likely ignoring pings and being able to move as well. Put Airborne Deployment on him and turn 2 shove him into the opponent's crew to take out a couple of models (or 1 big hitter) and you'll be instantly at an advantage, even before the rest of your crew is factored in. If Deadshot can be somewhere he gets pings or extra ammo for his Custom MG, put him there with Bullet Time, because it increases his use exponentially. Outside of that one turn, he is still one of, if not the, best gun pieces in the game with Ranged Master and Shooter, and all his guns are either double blood or high rate of fire so he can easily at least KO most models in a single round.
Defensive
Kevlar Vest is about it, but defence 4 and endurance 7 are both very good. The loss of an endurance becoming standard was more than justified, as at 8 endurance he was obscenely good for his cost.
Overall
Deadshot is mostly just a gun piece, although Leadership helps a lot against Hypnotise or Charm abilities. Not much else to say, the reason you take him is for his huge output and just to kill things.

Offensive
Like most models in Squad, Croc's primary role is as a beatstick, working mostly as a large piece that rolls around and hits things. High strength, Claws, attack 5, all Croc is missing is a bonus to hit to make him a dominating combat monster, but what he does have is Power Strike and Charge. Power Strike is good to set up another big hitter, but with Croc's damage isn't the greatest, while Charge (coming from Huge) lets you get a few free automatic hits in on models for extra damage, and hopefully knock down some things for you to then claw into. Once per game the "golden turn" with Croc is starting his activation in base contact with a sewer, using it for 1MC and then useing Lord of the Sewers to charge out of it his basic movement, following up with 4 attacks. Ideally you will be doing a big hit with this activation, hopefully thinning out the enemy crew and getting Croc to a spot he's scoring or contesting.
Defensive
At Defence 3 and Huge Croc isn't hard to hit, and makes a big bullet magnet, but he has 13 Endurance and Tough Skin. He's taking a beating, with Sturdy not losing too many counters, and he can keep on rolling around relatively well until he's close to death. He has the advantage of auto passing any endurance roll (including to wake up from KO) and has rerolls on regular recovery rolls courtesy of Huge, can rarely be pushed or knocked down, and in general makes a great beefy threat. He'll die to a sustained effort, but in Squad you should be able to have your crew in general take out big threats where needed. However, he also has Runaway and Superior Sense of Smell, so he's immune to a good amount of abilities that would normally take him out of play (at least temporarily), and Runaway in particular makes him particularly tough to take out. Brave and the Bold hate it, as they can't rely on Arrest and instead have to make sure they do enough blood damage to kill him, all the while he can wake up without question and eat someone to regain some health through Cannibal. Superior Sense of Smell isn't the most useful, as he doesn't have anything that really makes him need line of sight, but it can potentially have its uses (against Sneak Attack for example)
Overall
Croc doesn't have much in the way of abilities that don't help him in combat, but he does bring a little bit to the crew. Lord of the Sewers lets you use sewers more than you normally would while adding another one to the table, and Coward's Reward can be a decent way of locking models into specific areas of the table. All in all not amazing bonuses, but when used right are great additions to his already great toolkit. One other thing to note here is Huge, as in Squad I've already mentioned you want to maximise VP gain, and Croc can be just the one to do that as he can come out of a sewer and already be claiming 2 objectives. If these are the Beacon and a 3VP objective, you've got a big potential scoring threat from turn 1, and even if he isn't attacking things he can still win games just by this high scoring.

Operating in a similar role to Deadshot above, Rick Flag is my regular Boss option, which may seem strange. Having Volunteer, you wouldn't want him as your boss, but being a Sidekick he has to be most of the time. I also find that to maximise the chain activating you wouldn't want him anywhere else, letting your Free Agents work better while he sits back as a static firebase.
Offensive
Rick Flag works not as a mobile piece like many others in Squad, he is instead used for immobile fire support, although for his cost he is good at it. With Multifire he can put out 5 shots a turn at double blood (or blood/stun into base contact with Light if someone chooses to attack him) and although he doesn't ignore pings or have any hit bonuses, by sheer rate of attack he can reliably munch through lower defence models with ease. He struggles somewhat against higher defence, or layered defences, but that's where the rest of the crew comes into play with debuffs to help each other out (Harley or Killer Frost are great here)
Defensive
Similar to Deadshot, defence 4 means he's not getting hit all the time, but Bulletproof Vest is a bit of a downgrade compared to Kevlar (which is reflected in his cost). He's usually more survivable against guns, but Deadshot is the more durable option overall. This isn't to say Flag is bad, just that he needs to be played a bit more cagey compared to the "balls out" Deadshot.
Overall
You guessed it, he's close to Deadshot in his abilities here too. Leadership is identical, but it's in the rest of it where the military feel of Flag comes into it and he really shines as a solo piece. Veteran lets him have some degree of versatility in any given turn (and can all but guarantee Multifire most of the time) while Order gives the rest of the crew a little bit of flexibility which is nice.

General- Other models

You may have already noticed, 2 of the 3 models I've discussed above are boss options. I do think having at least one in every list is invaluable, and I often take both for the reasons I've listed, but there are a great many other models worth taking in Squad depending on the type of list. SS Boomerang is another model almost always worth taking, as I've said in the past, as is King Shark for a similar job to Croc for a bit cheaper. Some more situational picks(but still very often great) are the Harleys, Killer Frost or Reverse Flash for a bit of a faster objective grabber and a bit of control, or Grodd or Ivy for a mix of damage, mind control and durability. Many of these models lose the Let's Go! ability though, so you have to plan carefully for them in your lists.