Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters?

Following on from my Avengers Mansion, I thought that Arkham would also make a decent Xavier's School for Gifted Younsters.

 

Using the same parts of Arkham, I have set them out in a wider layout to give the impression of a large school instead of a single building.
The statues in the middle are just filler until I can find a decent fountain to place there and as it's the home of the X-Men, it will always get attacked. Hence the wrecked Sentinel parts outside.
Again, it needs something more. But I'm not sure what at the moment.

Thoughts?

- Hendybadger

Avengers Mansion board

Any long term readers of this blog will know that often I like to grab a load of terrain and see what new boards I can come up with.
As I have the KM Arkham Asylum but I am now in love with the new Marvel game (that I have wanted for years), I thought it would be good to try and combine them.

Using the board and the main 3 buildings of Arkham, I added some other bits including my WIP Avengers statue and a Quinjet to go for an Avengers Manison!

I think its going to need some more bits added for cover and throwing and will be best played from left to right so both teams get a bit of mansion.
So far though I think it's working.

What do you think?
Would you add or remove anything?

- Hendybadger

New Arkham Asylum Layout Idea

An idea came to me the other day to split up the Arkham Asylum kit from Knight Models and try to make it into a more playable board.

While the original layout looks great it does leave a big open space in the middle of the board and you can't really use the edges.

I grabbed one of my road boards and a selection of the other MDF bits from KM and started to play.

This is what I came up with!

I think it needs a little more scatter terrain for cover and Ping! rolls but it seems to be a fairly playable and balanced board.

What do you think? Would you play on in?

What would you do differently?

- Hendybadger

HUGE Knight Models Update. New Site, Batman Releases, HD Rules, Marvel News, Crew Builder and more!

WOW! It's a massive amount of Knight models news today.
A brand new website with HD rules cards, models listed by crew and more.

First up is the Arkham Knight Batmobile. The first resin model in the KM Legends range.

Next we have the huge and stunning Arkham Asylum. This MDF kit is an entire board on it's own.

How about some Joker and Harley goodies? The Killing Joke Joker is a new Leader and a very nice model while the Harley Gatling Brute brings some serious firepower to the crew.
You can even see a couple of yet unreleased Harley Thugs at the back of this picture. Next month maybe?

Two Face is getting a very nice boost this month. Spice and Thugs give the crew another Sidekick, Gas Masks, Rocket Launcher, Assault Carbine and more!

Are you more of a Scarecrow fan? He gets a set of very nice tokens as well as an Arkham Knight Militia booster of Medic and Rocket Launcher.

Do you miss the Bat-Builder? Well KM are here to help with the new Hero Builder Batman Crew Builder.

Last but not least, these are the first 4 factions for the 'coming soon' Marvel Game.

What catches your eye the most this week?

- Hendybadger

Marvel Rumors + Arkham Asylum Giveaway!

Two lots of new from the Super Gaming scene for you today.

First up is an interesting message I received this morning about the rumoured Marvel game from Knight Models.

It is said to be launching in November and will be based on the Batman Miniature Game rules.
I also hear talk of 4 factions to start with.

Thoughts?

Next up is a Long Halloween giveaway from Wayland Games.
All you need to do is order at least 1 Knight Models product over Halloween weekend and you could win a free Arkham Asylum kit!
Rules and such are HERE.

Don't forget about Devcon Exe on Halloween either. Exeter Uni Great Hall from 10am.
ToaTS will be there with Batman demos on the Arkham board all tons of BMG minis for sale a great intro prices.
Event details are HERE.

More news tomorrow? Probably!

- Hendybadger

Arkham Asylum + New KM Website

It's been a HUGE week for news from Knight Models and it doesn't look like its stopping any time soon.

So far we have had -
- The Sons of Batman demo team program
- Marvel Game rumours
- New Brand, Knight Models Legends
- Resin Arkham Knight Batmobile
- Alternate painting contest

Now, KM have announced a brand new website including additional player tools, and the first item available from the KM Legends line, the awesome MDF Arkham Asylum.

Here's the official post -
"Due to the questions, guesses and predictions from the community following the reveal of Knight Models Legends this week, we would like to explain a little more about our new brand and what the future will hold for it.

Knight Models Legends was created with the idea of bringing the magic of comic book universes to our original product range. Iconic Buildings, detailed vehicles and even alternate miniature lines will all become reality with this new brand. We will be using different materials such as resin for many future releases as we would like KM Legends to be known for its superior quality.

The entire Knight Models Legends range will only be available in our online store, so we thought this would be a great time to combine it with the release of an entire new website design. One of the first new products you will find on there after launch will be our already famous Arkham Asylum.

We hope you are as excited by this new project as we are and we promise that this will be a VERY special new year at Knight Models. All of this is thanks to you, the fans!"

What else are you hoping to see from KM Legends?

- Hendybadger

Working on Modern Game Boards

Hi all!
I made a mistake. A BIG mistake. In my excitement of building Arkham, I used the back of my city board and didn't realize until it was too late.

This did give me the perfect excuse to work on some new boards though.
Overall I'm planning 5 different boards to use with the Batman game, some with interchangeable scenery, some fixed.

I dug out and old file I had from Fat Dragon Games and got to work.

The first one needed some roads as it's going to be a city block. I wanted to keep and angles there to break up the usual cross board fire and charge lanes and force some interesting movement.
These buildings can be moved or replaced so it makes it a very flexible board that can be used for a lot of settings. Most buildings here are from Sarissa Precision but they could get replaced or stacked higher yet.

Next up, again using the Fat Dragon tile was an Industrial District.
I want for a single road this time going around one corners. I know that opens up cross board lanes but on this one they will be blocked with more scatter terrain.
The buildings are also interchangeable on this one so new bits can be added to swapped with the city block. The TTCombat Bank will probably head to the city while the Impudent Mortal bits need to stay on a higher board like this one.

Talking of swapping things around, there will be some new additions to these boards soon.
TTCombat have a new gothic warehouse and courthouse that would be a great fit. The Olympus building from Multiverse Gaming is also a good size and very well detailed. I hope we get to see some of the city buildings Knight Models had at a show a while back as well.
The industrial district will be getting some love from Wargame Model Mods. A Hydro plant with a moving generator and lights, a tech building with lights and some silos to go with the chem plant.

Board #3 will be a dockside board.
My friend Jack sent me a printable board (below) that fits the setting really well and it will be filled with Wolsung warehouses and walkways along with a big crane from Fenris Games and a water section for the Bat-Boat!
A couple of the above buildings might also fit as well as a Lincoln building from TTComabt and a great Warehouse from Multiverse Gaming (neither pictured)

Board 4 is something you have seen a lot of on here already. Arkham Asylum with a base created 'just' for that set.
Work continues on this and it should hopefully be finished soon.

Finally is board 5. The Batcave!
The picture below belongs to Ian Alcock but it's a good representation of the sort of thing I'm going for though.
There are things in the works for this one but I don't know how far off it will be at the moment.

What boards are you working on at the moment?
Do you think this will be enough for any setting I might need?
If not, what would you add / remove?

Until next time.....
Hendybadger

Arkham Asylum Update - A Little More Done and Playable

This may not be going too quickly, but it is getting there step by step.
Arkham Asylum now has a finished board with added grass and bushes, some roof tiles, stone statues and a bit of metal work!

Before I go any further, did you enter the Arkham Giveaway on the Arkham City Limits facebook group?
The winner will be announced this afternoon so keep an eye out.

It can't be an Arkham Asylum post without the Arkham Batmobile right in the middle!

A few full shots of the board. The base is now complete and apart from the metals and window frames, the base colours are down as well.
This set is is ideal from the Arkham Scenarios, but not really for normal games so........

Using Knight Models MDF scenery I have tried to turn it into a more playable board for standard games.
I have chosen the Arkham signs as they have the logos and such on matching the towers. The billboards didn't really fit the setting.
The GCPD van makes a nice central bit of cover and ties in with cops vs inmates.
All of the crates and containers etc are the Wayne Enterprises ones only and not the Queen Industries versions. I have kept with these as Wayne is tied closely to Arkham and Queen isn't.
The bins and barriers are just a little bit of decoration really.

After a chat on the Arkham City Limits FB group, I tried a couple of different washed on the stone walls. On the left is a brown to make it look dirty and on the right is a basic black for shading.
Which do you prefer>

I have also been testing a way to get the roof to more of a worn terracotta looks.
The right is before wash, the left is after. A mix of flesh and red seemed to do the job quite well.

B-Man, Birdboy, Mr J and Harls have discovered that's it's not just the inmates that are insane at Arkham. So is the weather.
SHARKNADOS!!!!

More on Arkham 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