Little Heroes for Little Heroes Charity Fundraiser

Between August and the end of October, ToaTS will be running a charity fundraiser for the Downs Syndrome Association.

The reason behind this is that out son was born just under two years ago with Downs Syndrome and several associated medical problems.
Over the last couple of years we have been amazed at the support and back up there is out there for children with DS. Between the Portage workers, hospital staff and therapists they cover every worry and need you may have.
Because of all this we want to give something back and ToaTS seems like the ideal platform to do that.

The idea behind Little Heroes for Little Heroes is that people donate painted Hero miniatures and they all get auctioned off with every penny going to the Downs Syndrome Association.
As an added incentive, we are hoping a few gaming companies will help us out with some goodies. These will be given away as prizes for things like best painted, most raised, highest donation and such. Some could even be auctioned off as well.
A couple of companies like Impudent Mortal and Multiverse Gaming have already stepped forward with goodies including terrain and paint racks.

If this sounds interesting to you please spread it around. The more gamers and companies that see this and take part, the more we raise for a fantastic cause!!!!!

More on this soon.
- Hendybadger

A Closer Look at Arkham Asylum

Hi all!
I did say I would give you a better look at the wonderful Arkham Asylum from Knight Models so here we are.
I have set up a little sample game so you can see how big it is compared to the minis from the Batman Minis Game. I will also state again that this is a 'prototype' and not the final kit so you will see a couple of areas where I have tweaked it a little. These have been reported back to KM and have been fixed already for production.

Guarding the front gate are a pair of angels. The base of the one on the right looks a little off as I wanted the wings on each to be central. It's an impressive entrance.

Inside the courtyard are a couple of watch towers. The Arkham guards are always armed a willing to stop an escapees. You may recognise these towers from the Arkham City game island.

Joker, Harley and a couple of goons walk out of the front door. I have added an extra step in front of the door to cover a small gap that was there.

The Green Arrow and his trusty Sidekick Speedy are perched on the roof ready for trouble.
Just to the right of Speedy you can see a small arch I have added to the parapet to cover another small gap.

Two Face and the Riddler climb out on to the balconies for a better look at the courtyard.
Beside the fence here there are a couple of panels i have added that could become electrical boxes. These cover a couple of holes the fences didn't quite line up to.

Another look at the front steps with Harley happily strolling towards the police.

The watchtowers are the perfect vantage point for Batman. He can zip up to them and even duck away in the guards hut if needed for extra cover.

The towers also have more than enough room to move around for a full view of the area.
I had to add the Arkham City Batmobile in the middle as that's where it spends most of the game parked.

Shortly after taking these photos, I got carried away with spray cans.
Lots more to do yet, but it's starting to take shape.

More soon,
Hendybadger

Court of Owls Review and Giveaway

Over on the Wayland Games Blog this week I have  Court of Owls review looking at the starter box and Gotham Butcher.
But, that's not all it is!
By commenting on the article you could also be chosen to win some very nice 'Owly' Batman Mini Game models!

Head over and take a look HERE

- Hendybagder

Wayland Games Cut Batman Mini Prices

Recently I have seen a few comments about Wayland Games costing more than other retailers for Batman Minis.
When I went onto the WG site on Wednesday to check prices for a review, I noticed ALL the Batman minis prices had been cut!
Single figures and two packs around £10.36 and crew boxes for £19.99. Large single figures range in price depending on size but are still as cheap as anywhere else.

Another complaint I have seen is people having to wait for Wayland Games to get stock of an 'available' model. The new site now has live stock levels on so you know if they have it there or have to order it in.

The next complaint was postage costs were too high. They now ship free for orders over £40 and it's about £6 for tracked / enhanced postage if you want it.

After spotting they had the new releases in stock, I wanted to test out what people had been saying and see if there was anything behind these complaints.

On Wednesday night at 9:30pm, I ordered a crew, henchmen and three single packs.
All at the new low prices and all said they had # in stock.
Thursday morning they had all been shipped.
They arrived at 11am Friday morning.

Test 1 results - I can't see what people are moaning about!

So, if you want to grab some new minis, why not check out Wayland Games,

Some of you may know I write for the Wayland blog and will have noticed the Wayland banners on the side of this page. So you don't think this is an ad for them, I wanted to explain what it's all about quickly.
I decided to put this post together after seeing several negative comments when sharing my Wayland articles. People complaining that haven't even dealt with Wayland in the last year or two but appear to be the vocal majority online. I was starting to get sick of them to be honest.
As for the banners, Wayland don't pay for them like a few have suggested. They are part of the Affiliate program that I chose to join and place on here. I do get commission from any sales they generate but this has only been about £45 in almost two years. Not really worth sucking up for.
I hope that clears things up and if you ever fancy helping this page out a little. feel free to click on the banners to shop on the Wayland site.

- Hendybadger

Marvel Mini Review - Green Goblin + Doctor Octopus

Hi all!
It's time to take a look at some of the recent Marvel offerings from Knight Models.
The last couple of months have seen releases of two of Spiderman's biggest foes. The Green Goblin and Doctor Octopus.

Both of these models come in the usual Knight Models packaging. A blister with all the parts shown on one side held in tightly with foam and the backing card showing a finished version of the model inside.
While these models don't have rules cards like the Batman ones do at the moment, there is talk of a Marvel minis game coming in the future.

Here you can see the parts included in each. I did forget to include the new plastic scenic bases that now come with all KM models.
These parts were VERY clean. Minimal mould lines and only a couple of bits of flash to remove.
The Green Goblins's body is in four parts withe a single part glider and a smoke trail.
Doc Ock is a single piece body with two separate arms and a pair of arms attached to the base tab.
I decided to cut the base tabs off of these to mount them on resin base toppers so ended up with four lose Doc Ock arms.

Glue time......

The Green Goblin was really simple to build. All of the parts fit together really well with barely any gaps, no more than any other metal model anyway.
Doc Ock took a little more work but only due to the fact I separated the base arms and mounted it on a higher base then usual. This meant that I need to do a extra bit of bending on the robotic arms to get him to stand the way I wanted him.
There are quite small connections on the body so make sure you have the arms in the position you want them and then glue them strongly one at a time.

On Wayland Games these will set you back £10.36 each. It might seem a bit much for a single mini but these are quite big, very detailed and licensed characters. Plus, its no more than a ship or character for some of the bigger games out there.

Overall, I am in LOVE with these minis. They are both really big imposing villains that fit the Spiderman setting really well. The sculpts and poses capture each character perfectly and I can honestly say that these are both now up there in my Top 5 Knight Models minis ever produced.
I really can't wait to see what Marvel goodies they come out with next.

Scores -

Green Goblin - 10/10 Badger Points

Doctor Octopus - 9/10 Badger Points

What do you think of them?
Will you be picking up any of the Marvel range?

- Hendybadger

Building the Asylum

As you may have seen the other day, the fantastic team over at Knight Models sent over this fantastic Arkham Asylum kit for me to test out.
Before I cover it in more detail, I thought I would post up a few WIP pics.

I do need to state though that this is a PROTOTYPE kit and has one or two things that need changing before the final release.
Luckily, anything I found was reported to KM and fixed the same day!

Above you can see the main body of the Asylum. I did mean to take pictures as I was building it, but to be honest I was just too damn excited!!!!

Next step of the main buildings. Adding the balconies to the front and back and the towers with gargoyles on top.

Another shot of the finished main building. This thing is HUGE!!!!! That board it's sitting on is 3 feet wide.

The next step was the Arkham Guard towers and front gate with pair of angels. The right angel make look like the base is off to the side a bit, but I wanted the wings central. The base will be covered with grass and such anyway.

Prepping the outer fences. That is a pair of GW clippers to give you a sense of scale.

Aaaaaaand built! This thing takes up an entire 3x3 board all on it's own. I have added a couple of little tweaks to cover the areas that needed fixing but I'll show them in more detail next time.
Now I just need to decide on paint and how I'm going to do the board.
Grass and paths like in the Rulebook?
All concrete courtyard like is shown in Gotham?
A mix of courtyard and grass like Assault on Arkham?

What do you think?

- Hendybadger

Wayland Blog and Batman Goodies Giveaway

As some of you may know already, I am writing about the Batman Minis Game on the Wayland Games Blog as well as on here.

With my latest post in an ongoing Batman series, Wayland have added a nice little giveaway!
To take part, all you need to do is head to this post HERE and comment with what you would like to see next in my Batman series.
Three random commenters will then be chosen to receive some very nice Knight Models minis. The image at the top here is s little clue at what they might be.

Good luck
Hendybadger

Multiverse Gaming Terrain Review by Steffen

Today we have a guest post from my friend Steffen. A look at some of the Multiverse Gaming terrain. Click on the images to view at full size.

Steffen, over to you ....... (Hendybadger)

I have recently fallen in love with Multiverse GamingTerrain and their amazing products. I started off with their CornerApartment Building and loved it, so I decided to get some more of their stuff. Ian aka Hendybadger graciously allowed me to post a review of some of this stuff, so today I'm showing you my Old Diner and Aircon Ducts.

Old Diner

The diner is an amazing kit at its low, low price of just €17.99. It consists of three sheets of 1.5mm thick HDF and a sheet of "matte board" which is like laser cut card.

The details are very crisp, and everything I've ever bought from Multiverse Gaming Terrain has been ridiculously well cut. The parts need next to no cutting in order to remove them from the sprues, which is a huge plus from me. There's nothing worse than an MDF kit that's almost impossible to remove from the sprues.

It took me a little less than an hour to assemble this gorgeous kit. The roof and doors are removable for practical reasons, as this allows your models to enter the diner (though it's unfurnished inside).

Something I really like is the choice you get with the corners. You get two lengths of matte board - a long one for making enclosed corners, and a short one for making windowed corners. Since I knew I wanted to put windows made from blister pack plastic in my diner, I decided to go with the enclosed corners.

Gorgeous, isn't it? Next up I painted it (well, it took me a few weeks...). I decided to go with silver and blue for the main colors, inspired by my local diner in Minneapolis - the Nicollet Diner. I went with grey tones for the walls and roof.

Front:

I love the rooftop sign. I'm going to write "The Nicollet" on the white area when I find a suitable pen to do it with. I will also add a red "open/closed" sign in the window on the door. Looking back, I may have gone overboard with the dirt on the windows, but at least you can't see that there's no detail inside, not that it matters in my games of Batman Miniature Game.

Back.

Here's a few action shots of Green Arrow, Mr. Zsasz, and a Bane henchman from the Batman Miniature Game duking it out.

Aircon Ducts

Unfortunately I somehow managed to not take any pictures of my aircon ducts before assembling them, but here's an unpainted picture.

As you can see they consist about 50/50 of HDF and matte board, which keeps cost and weight down. They feel highly durable.

In this €9.99 kit you get two long straights sections, two short ones, two T-junctions, and eight corner sections.

All of the corner sections have a side with four peg holes (so you can turn them any way you want). Four of them have two peg holes, and the other four have two pegs. This allows you to create endless configurations of aircon duct systems.

Here's an example setup where I've used almost all of the pieces.

Finally, here's an action shot on top of a building just to give you a sense of the scale.

In keeping with Hendybadger's tradition, I'm going to award both these kits a number of Badger points.

Diner - 10/10 Badger Points

Aircon Ducts - 9/10 Badger Points

Knight Models July Releases in Robin + Inmates

Knight Models have posted their July releases for the Batman Minis game.
This month sees the start of the Arkham Knight additions to the game with Batman, Robin and a Harley Quinn crew.
There is also a Killer Frost from Injustice: Gods Among Us and some Arkham Inmates from Arkham Origins: Blackgate.
All of their rules can be found HERE.

What do you think of this months goodies?
Will you be picking any of them up?

(click images to view full size)
- Hendybadger