Knight Models DC / Batman Review - Poison Ivy and Plants Crew

After finally getting in to the Batman Miniatures game by Knight Models, I have decided to review the releases from now on.
First up is the-

Poison Ivy and Plants Crew

Poison Ivy a.k.a Pamela Isley is one of Batman most well known villains. From the Gotham City Sirens comics to the animated series or even the classic Batman + Robin movie, everyone knows about this irresistible, killer plant controlling Femme Fatale.

The start with, lets have a look at the packaging. Ivy and her plants come in a large blister, tightly packed with foam and the smaller parts are in sealed bags. The display card shows a lovely painted example of the models inside. When opened you find....

4 highly detailed 35mm scale minis (Ivy, Plant, Spore and Creeper), 4 30mm round edged bases, 6 acrylic seed tokens and 4 stat cards.

If you have bought any Batman minis in the past you will notice that the Ivy box comes with a new style stat card. Above shows 2 plant cards on the right next to an older card on the left. I haven't had a chance to try a game with these yet but I already think I prefer the look of the new cards.
I wont go in to the exact rules on them for now as I plan to post about the crews rules at a later date. The set totals 129 Reputation / points, no quite enough for a standard small game of 150 Rep so will need another model added to be playable. Maybe Harley or Catwoman?
I do like the fact that the Seed tokens are included as they are needed as a way to deploy the plants.
Time to take a look at the models.

Above we have Ivy herself and the basic Plant. Ivy is a single piece mini that looks stunning. There is a tiny hole in the metal in the middle of her back but that can be easily covered with glue, greenstuff, paint etc. Apart from that she is all but perfect.
The Plant comes in 3 parts and just screams "Feed Me!". The leaves go into holes on each side of the main body but make sure you check the box image to see which to glue on first as they overlap a little. (Its right when looking at it)

As you can see, the mould lines on Ivy are almost invisible. She took almost no work the clean up. The Plant had small lines running around the leaves and up the from of the stem but they were gone with a quick file. One did run through the hole the leaves go in but a small clip off of the plug and it fit fine.

The other two plants are the Spore (left) and they Creeper (right). Both come in two parts. Stem and head. The head parts fit on to the stem without any problem and only a tiny gap that you would expect from any metal model. Mould lines ran around the out edges so were really easy to remove.

Some gluing later.........

The build was simple. Only 4 parts to glue on in the set. A couple of little gaps, but again no different to any other metal model I have ever built (that's 100s). I decided to clip off the base tabs and file the bottoms down to give them some Post Apoc base toppers from Fenris Games. To that I added a couple of different sizes of cork pieces to make it look like the plants were breaking out of the pavement.

As I love the Gotham Sirens, I actually picked up two of these packs for the extra plants. I know Knight Models will probably release more in the future but I couldn't wait. Adding Catwoman and Classic Harley Quinn to this gave me just over 300 Rep for a standard size game.

In most places you can find the Ivy and Plants set for around £25. I know that sounds expensive for 4 models but there are a couple of things to consider.
Adding just one more mini gives you a playable force. It's the same price as units for Warhammer / Warmachine, but you only need the one. The models are a very high detail 35mm scale, larger than most other ranges on that market. All cards and counters are included and finally, this is an official licensed product. That means it will cost a little more anyway.
Taking all of that in to account, I think £25 is pretty good.

Overall, I love this set. Ivy is one of the most stunning models I have ever seen and the plants are packed full of character. My only down side is that fact it isn't quite a playable force on its own. But who wouldn't want the other two Sirens as well?

Final score is ............

8 out of 10 Badger Points

Check out the Knight Models Page for the full range of DC and Marvel minis.

Next up is Dr Doom and the Punisher!

- Hendybadger