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.

Amazons of Themyscira- Crew review, example lists

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

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

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

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

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

Offensive

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

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

Defensive

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

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

Overall

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

Teen Titans

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

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

Brave and the Bold

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

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

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

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

Comic review- Damian Wayne

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Robins Part 3- Nightwing, Red Hood and new Damian!

Hi everyone, back with another model review here, including one of the latest wave of releases! I want to round off my set on the Robins with the "graduates", meaning Red Hood and Nightwing, but when I started reading this we got a new Damian model too, so what better place to put that than here! I'll be sticking to the usual format breakdown for these, except for adding a little bit at the end of Damian's piece to talk more "crew-specific" as in, how he benefits from the different crews.

Nightwing in all 3 incarnations is pretty similar, only with slight changes between them (although they do affect the playstyle significantly). All 3 have almost the same statline, with the exception of the original (now Eternal) model having 1 less willpower and movement. For these reasons alone, I feel like this Nightwing is pretty much obsolete, despite being the cheapest and still pretty capable. The others just do more on top, for little more in cost. All 3 are Sidekick rank, although AK Nightwing has Heir to the Cowl, allowing him to become a Leader when Batman isn't present, which can make for some nice list options in itself at the cost of higher VP gain.
Offensive
Offensively they're all pretty much the same, with Combo on their weapons regardless of name, and all being double stun, Mechanical and Handy. It makes Nightwing a very reliable hitter, and getting knockouts with him is pretty much a breeze. The newer resin Nightwing also has Electric for some potential stunning on a crit, and giving him rerolls to wound against Bot and Cybernetic which can come in handy against LexCorp or Riddler. He does lose Electric Storm for this compared to the others, but as a special attack Electric Storm is pretty bad in general, only being great against a group of nearly KO models. Teamed with a Rapid Firing Arsenal for a bit of a fluffy combo, it can get decent results however. The original one does have Sneak Attack as well, which can be great, but it costs him more counters that can also be spent protecting himself or moving.
Defensive
This is where the differences begin to show in the Nightwing gallery, as they have different little bonuses to keep themselves safe in slight ways. All are def 4 Acrobat, with OG Nightwing having a lower movement and thus harder dodges, but he is also cheaper. OG also has nothing else special in in this regard, being the budget option and the original. Resin Nightwing has Jump Up to protect from knockdown if he will face a group of chain activations (or has already activated), Combat Flip to move away from potential threats, and my favourite Street Guy to crouch for free. Guaranteed def 5 when he is behind an obstacle is great, and keeps him pretty much safe from guns for no effort at all. AK Nightwing is the king of dodging, and as such is absolutely terrified of models that can deny that, but in most cases he will have a ridiculously high chance of dodging, and when you pack it with Ping! he isn't getting shot easily. Rerolls to agility tests helps him dodge very well, but also lets him jump from tall buildings without damage thanks to Agile.
Overall
All versions of Nightwing have Charismatic, which lets you take more Free Agents to run fluffy team up lists with his Titans or Batfam allies and is situationally useful in list building. Resin Nightwing comes with Searcher to negate an enemy strategy point, which is a nice little bonus, AK has the ever present Teamwork that all Arkham Knight Batfam have, which is good if you have other models with it, and OG Nightwing has Explosive Gel, which can be great in the days of modern sewers but is often forgotten.
In Teams
Nightwing is a must have in any team that can take him, because he really is that good. Teen Titans he is their best option hands down (which likely won't change should they get a 2nd edition update) and in Bat-Family he is an excellent second hitter alongside Batman. My personal choice goes to the resin Nightwing, purely because he is slightly cheaper than AK while keeping some great tricks, although AK Nightwing is a very close second place.

Both Red Hood models are as you can expect, they shoot things and put them down. They operate in slightly different ways, despite their identical statline, but in general they're both aiming to shoot things as much as possible. The other key difference, other than affiliation, is the ranks of the 2. AK Red Hood is a free agent, while Disco Hood is a sidekick in rank. 

Offensively

Both versions have similar stats on their guns, with blood/stun firearms at short range, but they have slight differences. Disco Hood doesn't have Light, and 1 lower native RoF, but has 1 extra ammo. However, Disco Hood has both Gunman and Instinctive Shooting, so he can move and shoot with no penalty and with both weapons at a time, so he will go through his ammo quicker. AK Hood has Takedown instead, which lets him remove models he knocks out as casualties instead, for only 1 special. This is insanely efficient, and with his RoF4 he can clean up henchmen very quickly. Neither have bonuses or rerolls to hit with their weapons, but with their volume of fire they can go pretty well against lower defence models. I wouldn't attack high defence models (4/5) with them though unless they have no other option, just because it isn't all too reliable. 

Defensively

Movement 4 Acrobat is always great, and both have slightly different vests to help them in different ways. AK Hood has a Bulletproof Vest, making him harder to wound with the guns that do hit, while Disco Hood has Kevlar Vest, letting him drop damage off every hit he takes, ranged or melee. AK Hood also have Safe Hands, but Steal is borderline useless so it will rarely see play. 

Overall

Neither model has too much in the way of other traits, but both do different things related to the game flow. Disco Red Hood has Searcher, so he negates a strategy point right from the get go, and AK Red Hood has Scheming:1, which is situational but potentially useful.

Bat-Family

Both Red Hoods guns become double stun, but with easily bought Arrest this isn't that big a deal. Disco Hood is pretty similar to always, but AK Red Hood is great because he has Takedown for a bit more efficiency in removing models from play.

Thanks to Little Gotham for the new traits here, everyone should give their podcast a listen! 

The new version of Damian is quite an excellent model, in his new role he is one of the most points efficient options in the crews he can go into. A few big changes to him, first off he is a henchman as opposed to the old free agent, and 10 rep more, but he can also now go into League of Assassins and Court of Owls as well as Brave and the Bold. His statline is the same, as are most of his traits, with him losing True Love:Batman, Master Fighter and Technique and gaining Combo:Katana and Invaluable instead. Invaluable seems bad initially, but once you factor in that it's still less VP on death than the metal Damian gave up, isn't all that bad. 

Offensive

Damian's output massively increased in this version, because he not only gained a katana but he also got Combo with it. At attack 4 that means he can reliably do 6 attacks with rerolls on both hit and damage rolls, at strength 4+. In Court and League, he is doing 2 blood each attack, so he can kill very quickly (more efficiently than any other in their respective crews), while in BatB (and Batfam) his blood becomes stun because of Mentoring. What this means though is he is only a little bit weaker offensively than Nightwing in the same role, but a great deal cheaper. The two of them together (especially in Batfam)? Right on the money, KOs a plenty!

Defensive

He didn't gain anything extra from the old model in the way of defence, except for in Brave and the Bold. Mentoring here gives him Boy Wonder, so he ignores Handy, which can help him in many cases but ultimately can be dealt with. In League and Court, he's left to himself as a somewhat fragile model, but he is still decently survivable.

Overall

Damian is a very good model in general, and should be able to find space in most crews. Inspire and Let's Go! are both great additions to his skill set, and his damage output keeps him in the game a lot. Detective is always great, and the crews he works for helps their natively low model counts in a good way. On the occasion he dies in a BatB crew, he gives Bruce Wayne True Love to him upon being hired, so he can give Batman an extra attack and willpower, which is pretty crazy in most cases.

Brave and the Bold/Bat-Family

Not much to say that hasn't already been said, I don't find the equipment options in BatB all that great on Damian. Football Gear can be very nice in certain matchups, but I prefer my Whistles on guns where the counters are more efficient. 

Court of Owls

Court I think Damian is one of their best offensive pieces, on the same level as Strix or the 1880s Talon. Unfortunately Damian can only take 1 piece of equipment total, because of Mentoring, so no Stealth/Fast combo, but either one is very good in any case. 

League of Assassins

Damo with his maternal family tend to bring out the worse side in his character, same as Court, but the use of him is slightly different in League. Things like Goro can tune him up into even more of a monster, especially when combined with an Inspire for 9 attacks on his katana (the most damage on any single model in the game!). Equipment wise, Combat Bracers or Trained in Shadow stick out the most, just because they make him more efficient (Damian and HSH team-up? I sure would)

The finer points of Robin Part 2- Teen Titans

Hi all! Here we have part 2 of my opinions on Robin, this time focusing on their role in Teen Titans. I will only be discussing their strengths and weaknesses in Teen Titans, for more in depth overviews check out part 1. Carrie Kelley does not feature on the Teen Titans roster, and as such she does not feature in this post.

Teen Titans must haves

To start, I should probably talk about what I look for in a model ideally in Teen Titans. Inexperience as a rule is a huge downside to the crew, and as such you want to minimise it as much as possible. To do this you want Leaders and Sidekicks, so automatically the Sidekick Robins come out on top, with the others needing big bonuses to be worthwhile (Raven for example brings Magic and Intimidation that aid the crew)

The Boy Wonder is allowed to operate in a Teen Titans crew due to his Teen Titans Founder trait. This lets him ignore The Sidekick, and gives him +1 to willpower and strength, and Reinforced Gloves. This makes him a versatile option in the crew, and he can potentially work very well. As a Sidekick he also removes one Inexperience Counter, which is of great use

AC Robin is again pretty awful, he can do ok as an offensive model when using Teamwork, but with no henchmen, there's no reason not to take AK Robin if you can. Follow Me! is useless in Titans, Detective is almost the same, and Searcher is just about his best trait. As a Free Agent he's opening up Inexperience, and as such isn't worth the trouble.

AK Robin is a better option to abuse Teamwork with (Nightwing is still better, but Tim is good). True Love is far more likely here, because Rebirth or Sidekick Batgirl are both good options to take, but he's still fairly unremarkable. At least as a Sidekick, he removes an Inexperience Counter, but for his cost I'd rather take someone else (Arsenal or Raven in the same bracket)

Damian is sadly not the best option in Teen Titans, but he can do well paired with a Nightwing as an offensive combo, same as in the Brave and the Bold. At the very least, he is a cheaper Free Agent, so you can still get 2-3 Sidekicks into a list (the least you want to play Titans effectively) and have enough rep spare for Damian. If there's a 30-40 point gap when you add him, however, I'd trade him up for someone more costly