Bat-Builder v2 Update!

The fantastic Bat-Builder, online band builder, for the Batman Minis Game has just been updated to V2.

The site includes all models available, a full FAQ, Player map, Setting up, Traits and more

Each character includes their full rules and a downloadable stat card. All you need to do to create your crew is click on the ones you want.
A nice new addition is the Print function so you can all the info there on a page to take wherever you play!

Head over and check out the Bat - Builder and lets us know what you think.

- Hendybadger

Batman Rulebook Ready to Ship!

Just a quick post today but it'd big news if you have ordered the new Batman Rulebook.
Knight Models have both versions of the Rulebook plus Red Hood and Alfred in hand!

From the announcement -
"Good morning all, I'm glad to announce we have already received the Rulebooks and we'll start to send them at the end of this week or beginning of next week. We hope we will be able to send them all by the end of the next week."

Yay!

- Hendybadger

Arkham Dozen Painting - Take 2

A while back I joined in with a Batman painting challenge on the Arkham City Limits Facebook group.
The plan is to paint up 12 Knight Models figures over the course of a few weeks. They called it the Arkham Dozen.
My first choice was a whole load of characters. But as I haven't painted in a while, I decided to swap out most of them and go for easy to paint Henchmen to get me started.
I have posted my new 'Dozen' below.
All models are mounted on Post Apoc toppers from Fenris Games

A couple of points to keep in mind though....
1- I am NOT an experienced painter. I have only painted a handful of models in all my time gaming and those were quite a while ago.
2-  I am learning to use a new camera my wife bought me so the pictures may not be all that great yet.

So that's the excuses out of the way, onto the models.

Models 1-5. League of Shadows Ninjas. Finished.
I though these would be nice and simple to get me going. I'm quite pleased with how they turned out. I may go back and add a little more to the bases though.

Models 6+7. Arkham Robin and Arkham Batman. Finished.
You can't play the game without the Dynamic Duo can you?
For a first attempt, I like them. I AM going to do second copies of each once I get some more painting experience under my belt though.

 Models 8-11. GCPD Police. Base coated.
These were chose for two reasons. 1- They seemed fairly easy to paint. 2- They will make a fully usable crew with Batman and Robin.

Model 12. Clayface. Base coated.
For the last one I wanted to do something a little bigger that can be used by most of the crews. Clayface seems to be a basic mix of browns so shouldn't be too difficult. He's also very impressive looking.

Extras.
If I get these finished soon, I'm also going to do Arkham Scarecrow and the GCPD SWAT. Mainly because I'm using those colours already. They will both be good crew additions as well.

Next up.
The next batch of 12, if we do it again, will be a couple of characters for the League, some Green Arrow good guys to use with the police and the start of my Joker and Harley crew.

What do you think so far?
Any and all comments are welcome.

- Hendybadger

Batman Feb Releases from Knight Models

Knight Models have announced their February releases from the Batman Miniature Game.
They look great!

It may not be as many releases as previous months, but the pre-order from the rulebook has now finished so they are working on getting that out of the door as well.

First up is the HUGE Titan Joker. To get a good idea of his size, he's shown here on a 40mm base.
Taken from the Arkham computer games, this new 130 Rep Leader for the Joker crew will give them a very different way of playing.
Willpower 8, Strength 2+, Attack 5 and Endurance 10 means this Joker will be a beast on the table.
While he loses Kaos Agent, his other Traits make up for it.

Next up is something people have been wanting for ages. Bane Henchmen! These Mercs aren't exclusive to Bane though, they also work with the League of Shadows.
Mohawk and Ted Hunter total 61 Rep and $250. Adding Ice Axes and a Shotgun to Banes arsenal means a lot more Blood damage being spread around.
Both have Veteran and Bulletproof Vests but Mohawk goes one better with Combo on his Ice Axes.

Another small Crew that people have wanted reinforcements for also gets some this month in the shape of Black Mask Thugs.
The Goon and Mule Goon total 42 Rep and both come with Stun damage close combat weapons and the Brutal Trait. The Mule also has Sturdy and Veteran.
The best thing about these though is the fact they are the first pack in the game to consist of only repeatable * Henchmen. This means you can take as many copies of these two as you like to really boost Black Mask's ranks.

The final release for Feb is a set of Take The Lead markers. These are used to see who gets the first activation each turn.
Yes, you could use dice or similar. But they won't look as cool as these!

What do you think of this months releases?

I have posted individual shots of the Henchmen below so you can get a better look at them.

- Hendybadger

Batman Model Reiew - CWs Arrow and Jason Todd Red Hood

For this review I'm going to be looking at two of the January releases for the Batman Miniatures game from Knight Models.
A pair of 'good' guys that are considered to be more lethal vigilantes that clean the towns up in their own special, deadly ways.
I was over the moon when I spotted these up for order as they are probably two of my favourite DC characters.
CWs Arrow, Oliver Queen and the New 52 Red Hood, Jason Todd.

The packaging is the usual KM standards. Clear blisters that have the part held in tightly with foam and a backing card showing a painted version of the model which also doubles up as the stat card.b

Inside the blisters you will find two 35mm scale, metal, highly detailed, multi-part models.
Each comes with a 30mm plastic base and fold out stat card.

The Arrow is a 125 Rep $0 Leader for the Green Arrow crew. He has medium to high stats across the board and three different types of arrow. All arrows are Mechanic and have Aim. The Standard comes in at 2 Blood, Serrated is 2 Blood and Sharp and the Concussion has 1 Blood, 1 Stun and Flash. All that Blood damage makes me think that this Arrow is from Season 1 and not afraid to kill a bad guy or two.
Arrows Special Trait Multifire lets him increase his ROF by 2 if he doesn't move for 1 SC.
Combine all of this with his other Traits of Acrobat, Counterattack, Good Aim, Hook Arrow, Multifire, Shooter, Stealth and Weapon Master makes him a very dangerous member of your crew.

EDIT: Due to a misprint, Weapon Master on Arrow has been replaced with Master Marksman. MUCH better!

Red Hood is an 84 Rep, $400 Sidekick for the Batman and new Organised Crime crews. With stats only a little lower than Arrow's, Red Hood comes into his own when you look at his weapons and Traits.
A pair of 1 Blood, 1 Stun, ROF 3, Ammo 3 Automatic guns combined with Gunman means he can throw out a lot of bullets per turn. Red Hoods Special Trait adds to this  by letting him shoot at enemies with full ROF while within 5cm of them.
His other Traits of Acrobat, Agile,Kevlar Vest, Martial Artist, Searcher and Shooter means the Red Hood can get where he needs to go, avoid damage and take down his targets easy enough.

A closer look at the models shows that fantastic detail.
Arrow comes in four parts. Body, quiver, bow and head. He also has an additional head so you can have him hood up or hood down.
Red Hood is a fairly simple model of only three parts. Main boy and two arms.
In my excitement to get these two built I 'may' have forgotten to take my usual mould lines picture.
To be honest, it wouldn't have shown much anyway. There was hardly anything on Arrow and Red Hood just had one up the side of his helmet that was easy enough to remove.

The builds for these two were really simple. The parts on each fitted together well with very small gaps on the joints that can be filled with a little liquid green stuff in minutes.
I chose the hooded head for Arrow because I'm terrible at faces.
Like the rest of my collection, I decided to cut off the tabs and mount them on Fenris Games Post Apoc base toppers.

"My name is Oliver Queen. For five years I was stranded on an island with only one goal: survive. Now I will fulfill my father's dying wish. To use the list of names he left me and bring down those who are poisoning my city. To do this, I must become someone else. I must become.. something else." - Arrow, Season 1

The Arrow model is stunning. I love it! The fact it has two head options lets people use the Arrow they want to as well. Or just buy two like I did.

Now the GA crew has an official Leader, I have put together a 300 Rep crew that will be tested out very soon.

Leader - Arrow - 125 Rep - $0

Sidekick - Speedy - 74 Rep - $200

Free Agent - Black Canary - 69 Rep - $0

Henchman - Baton Police - 16 Rep - $0

Henchman - Tonfa Police - 14 Rep - $0

At 298 Rep and $200, this leaves you some extra $$$ to give the police an extra piece of equipment each. Arrow and Speedy won't have any problem taking models out at range while Canary takes them on close up and the Police head for the objectives.

"I'm not talking about killing Penguin or Scarecrow or Dent. I'm talking about him. Just him. And doing it because... Because he took me away from you." - Jason Todd, Under the Red Hood

Red Hood is another stunning model. Some people don't like the pose but I see him as dropping down into the middle of a group of Henchmen and taking out as many as he can.
It is a shame he cant work with Speedy though as an Outlaws crew would have been great.
The Organised Crime crew doesn't have many options at the moment, but the addition of Jason Todd to the Batman crew means all the boys can now be taken together. Dick, Jason, Tim and Damien.

Sidekick - Red Hood - 84 Rep - $400
Sidekick - Nightwing - 85 Rep - $0
Free Agent - Robin (Drake) - 68 Rep - $200
Free Agent - Robin (Damien) - 50 Rep - $0
Henchman - Tonfa Police - 14 Rep - $0

At 301 and Rep $600 it's a little (1 Rep) over the limit but who cares right? With only 1 Henchman available the boys will have to do most of the work themselves. I doubt that will be a problem though. Can't wait to try this one out.

Overall, I'm a massive fan of both of these releases. The scores come to......

Red Hood - 9/10 Badger Points

Arrow - 10/10 Badger Points

What do you think of these?

Will you be picking up either of them?

- Hendybadger

Titan Joker Preview for the Batman Minis Game

"Happy Valentines Harls. Do you like my new look?"

Beasts of War  have a preview of a new Huge model for the Batman Minis Game from Knight Models.

The massive Joker on Titan is a stunning beast. One of the bosses from the Arkham console games, he's out the crush the Bat.
Can't wait to see this model in person. Looks like he is the size of the Hulk from the Marvel range.

What do you think of him?

- Hendybadger

2 Days Left for Batman Rulebook and Exclusive Mini Pre-Order

Just a quick reminder today.
The Batman Rulebook Pre-order offer has only two days left!
Want your own Alfred, Joker Red Hood or Joker Rulebook? Head over to Knight Models and place your order by Sunday!

Game and Crew Design with the Knight Models Team

Recently I had the chance to throw some questions at the game design team at Knight Models.
With the new Batman Rulebook about to hit, I thought it would be great to get a little insight into the creation and development of the game and crews.
The answers have been tweaked a little as I don't speak Spanish and English is thier second language.

Hendybadger - "What were your plans and aims while designing the game?"

KM Team - "The first part of the development for game game like the Batman Miniature Game is to learn about the characters. We have read tons of comics since we were children but there are so many characters to remember  and for some we only know a little about them. So we hit the comics and videogames hard.

The first idea for the game was to simulate the Arkham City video game, but later we expanded to the wider Batman background because its SO HUGE!!!!
75 Years of history from DC Comics.

To develop a crew, the first thing we have in mind is how to represent the character (their lore and abilities) the best we can in the game. People want to play the characters they know and want the character to do what they do in the comics.
We can't see Batman without a Batclaw or Bane without Titan. When we have the ideas clear we go and test to make the rules for each as playable as possible for a tactical skirmish game.

We hope people like the different ways to play each crew. We are very happy with the way things are now going. In the future you can see the Wonderland Gang which have the mechanics we are the most proud of so far."

Hendybadger - "What changes during the development process?"

KM Team - "We need to adapt some rules for the different crews. In game we love different forms of play. Specific rules for some characters and crews etc.
We have to keep this in mind as we need to combine it with the merchantability of the products.

This is the most difficult part to implement in the game, but we are very happy with the final result.
For example, we know Batman and Joker will be some of the best sellers as they are the most charismatic characters from Batman lore so the crews need to be the easiest to play.
This idea came to us because miniature gaming is a very specific hobby but with the Batman license it could bring new people into the hobby.
So Joker and Batman need to be easy to play in a very specialised game.
It's very difficult to create a simple miniature game. Even more so if you can do a lot of very cinematic things."

Hendybadger - "What types of crews did you end up with?"

KM Team - "Basically, looking at the personality of each character, the Henchmen are a continuation of the Leader. We create the Leader and work with ideas based on them
For example,
The Penguin is a very rich person who always uses other characters or Henchmen to help make his business plans.
The Joker is very unpredictable and you never know what he is going to do. I think the Kaos Agent trait represents this well.
Black Mask is a criminal who uses brutality towards people to get on the favourable side of the dirty business he has in Gotham"

Huge thanks to Knight Models for these answers.
I will see if I can get them to answer some more for us in the future.
Is there anything you would like to ask the designers of the Batman Miniature Game?

Head over to Knight Models to see what they has been working on.

Until next time,
- Hendybadger

Why Batman?

You 'may' have noticed that ToaTS has been mainly about the Batman Minis Game by Knight Models since it's return.
That's because I am completely hooked on it! Love it!
With that in mind, I thought I would take a little time to explain why.

To start with, we need to back a few years. About 20 or so.
When I was a kid, I had a ton of Batman toys. Loads of the Legends range and even a (wired) RC Batmobile from Batman Forever. No comics thought as the closest store was over an hour away.

At about 12 I found wargaming. 40K, Necromunda, Man 'o' War and such. I even took a badly painted Undead army to Warhammer World for a tournament. Came near the bottom but it was fun.
Then the teenage years happened and I found the wonders of girls and beer like we all do and that replaced wargaming. I still liked my Super Heroes though. The 90's Batman movies, Spiderman, X-Men, Hulk etc.

Jump forward to about 9 years ago.
My girlfriend (now wife) took me into a model store where I spotted some 40K models and told her about the fact I used to play. She talked me into getting some to see if I still liked it. You can see where that led!

After a few years of gaming through several systems, a friend introduced me to Pulp City. A SuperHero skirmish game. Ideal! My two interests in one.
If you look back on the blog you can see my projects with Pulp as well as my PC / Avengers painting.
At around the same time, smart phones became popular and I discovered the Marvel digital comic app and the world of comics opened up to me!!!!
 
I then started to look around for other Super minis.
I found the 75mm Marvel range from Knight Models and decided to email them asking if the Marvel minis would ever be made in 30mm. They would have been perfect stand ins for Pulp.
The reply came back as "Wait until you see what we have planned for next year"

A year later, the first Batman mini appeared. I liked it, but at the time I was much more of a Marvel fan so it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. I kept an eye on the releases and was continuously impressed by what was coming out but I didn't get around to picking any up and starting the game.
The constant new characters did get me looking into the DC universe a bit more though. Comics, movies, series, animation and more.
WOW! The more I read / watched the more I wondered why it took me so long to enter the world of DC.
I was impressed. Hush, Arrow, Suicide Squad, Red Hood, the XBox games, all of it was great and I had fallen in love with another Supers setting.

On to the start of 2014. The Marvel range appeared and I was instantly hooked. These were the minis I had wanted for YEARS!
As I began to pick up every Marvel release, I started to look further into Batman and the game. With a better knowledge of DC at this point, the whole thing became a LOT more appealing.

The models are stunning. The detail is beyond fantastic and the representations of the different characters is spot on.
The rules are easy to learn but hard to master. Just the sort of game that gets you hooked. Scenario based play makes for more interesting games than your usual 'kill everything' and the characters have some very thematic rules. The ones that stick out for me are Penguins Lord of Business where he has more $$$ to hire thugs and Two Face needing an actual coin flip to make in game decisions.

But, the thing that appeals to me the most is the background.
In other games I love to soak in as much info as possible. Games like 40K and Warmachine have a lot of background and story, the smaller and lesser known games don't usually have much more than what is in the rulebook and on the website.
Batman has more than all of those others put together!
75 years of comics, series, cartoons, films, games and much much more.
Want an idea for building a team? Grab one of the movies.
How about your own scenario? You could follow a game storyline.
Want to know more about the new model that's just been released? There are probably 100+ comics with them in.
More info than you could ever take in. I'm like a kid in a candy store!

My loves - Miniatures, skirmish games, Super Heroes. The Batman Miniature Game pulls that all together in one place!

Well, that's enough of my babble for a while. Catch you all again soon.

- Hendybadger
.

Marvel / DC Review - Intergalactic Bastiches - Thanos + Lobo

Two of the biggest, baddest, intergalactic Bastiches have been added to the 35mm ranges from Knight Models.

The Mad Titan Thanos for Marvel and the Main Man Lobo for DC / Batman.

Both come in the usual KM packaging. Clear blister, foam and backing card. Lobo is in a small blister while Thanos is in a large one.

Inside you will find two 35mm scale, highly detailed, metal multi-part models, one stat card, one 30mm base and one 40mm base.

Thanos doesn't come with a stat card as there isn't a Marvel game at the moment.

Lobo is a 136 Rep, $500 Free Agent. He Hates Batman, Green Arrow and Law so can only be used by the 'bad' crews. His 'Main Man' rule also stops he working with any female characters. Sorry Harley, Ivy and Catwoman.
Lobo's stat are impressive. High Willpower, Strength, Attack and Endurance. Low Movement though.
He his packing his trademark weapons. A Big hook that lands 1 Blood and 1 Stun with Sharp and Reach and a Big Gun which dishes out 2 Blood with a ROF of 4!
His Traits make him even more dangerous. Brutal, Immortal, Master Fighter, Power Strike, Dirty Fighter, Psycho and Regeneration. Lobo is a beast on the table!

Thanos comes in three parts. Main body, head and right arm.
Lobo is also in three parts. Body and two arms.

The close up shows how nice and clean these models are. There is a small mould line around Thanos but it was going with a very quick file. Lobo barely needed any cleaning at all.
Then it's glue.....

Both of these are very simple models to assemble. I have cut the base tabs off to place them on Fenris Games base toppers.

Thanos will need a little filler around his arm joint but it's something I always expect from large metal models. Lobo will also need a little on his arm joint due to the position of his gun. Again, it was expected and could be a lot worse.

No suggested list for Thanos as there isn't a game or rules for him at the moment. There is talk of a Marvel game in the works though so he may hit the table one day.
Thanos hasn't had many costume changes over the last few years apart from it getting a little more detailed at times so I guess you could call this his 'classic' look.
I think KM missed out on one big thing with this model though. The Infinity Gauntlet.
I would have preferred it to have been sculpted on or even had an optional arm choice. The Gauntlet is what Thanos is all about.

You can find this model for around £25. This is the same price as Hulk, Venom and Thing but Thanos isn't as big and bulky as those so I think he should have been a little cheaper. Maybe the £18-20 mark?
But hey, it;s the Mad Titan. I would buy him no matter what.

I thought about doing a list for Lobo but as a Free Agent there are just so many options. The only restrictions being no goodies and no ladies. 

What about putting him with Black Mask? He would have the resources to hire the Main Man. Or pairing him with Titan Bane for some serious hitting power?

The design is based on the pre-new 52 Lobo when he had dreadlocks. So glad about that. Really not a fan of the new skinny one. 

He does have the dreaded 'foot on rock' but he looks badass and manages to pull it off really well with an impressive looking pose. It would be easy enough to replace the rock with brickwork.

Lobo is around £12. The usually KM price for human sized characters. As a 35mm scale, highly detailed metal model, I'm more than happy to pay that. 

My overall scores are-

Thanos - 6/10 Badger Points

Lobo - 9/10 Badger Points

I have always been a bigger Marvel than DC fan and love Thanos, but Lobo takes this one for me.

Will you be picking up either of them? Or Both?

- Hendybadger