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

Building a Batcave!

As you may have guessed by now, I'm getting hooked on making boards for the Batman Minis game.
So far there are 2 cities, an industrial district and a dockyard and asylum to come.
Then Ian Alcock posted this up in the Arkham City Limits Facebook group...........

A Batcave! Yes!
After seeing Ian's picture my mind started to wander off thinking about what I would add to a Batcave board and how I would make it work.
Using Ian's idea as a base, I'll start off with the same materials. Polystyrene, expanding foam, a 3x3 board and some MDF.
I want to end up with a multi level board with walkways, pillars, platforms and a ground floor. Batclaws and flight will be great but I also wan't to make sure all model can get to all areas.

There are a few features I really want to include -
A tall pillar with landing pad for the Batwing.
An armoured door at the side of the board for the panic room.
Some water coming in a few inches from one edge for a couple of Bat Boats.
A large and low level rockpile with large platform on for multiple Batmobiles.
A road leading from the Batmobile parking to a cave at the board edge.
Stairs to Wayne Manor in one corner.
A trophy platform with some of the classics on like a giant T-Rex, playing card and penny.
A Batcomputer platform with Robin's costume in a glass case and maybe another Batsuit as well.
If I can fit it in, I would also love to add an area on the ground floor for the Bat Tank.

The usual street lights and sewers aren't really going to work in this setting.
Instead of street lights, I'm going for some dome shaped lights mounted in the floors.
Instead of sewers, access hatches in the walkways and platforms should do the same job.

I'm going to need to gather together a few things for this though.

 Eaglemoss Batmobiles and Batwing from the Automobilia range.

Heroclix Bat utility belt with case (or two) and a Robin Costume,

 The new Super Computer screens and chair from Multiverse Gaming

WargamesTournaments Necromunda scenery set.
Plus a T-Rex, playing card and giant penny.

After all that I hope Knight Models come out with some more Court of Owls Talons and Batman's Thrasher armour.

So, that's the plan at the moment. What do you think?
Is there anything you would add or remove?

I'm off to convince my wife I have somewhere to store it!
- Hendybadger

Board #2 - The Industrial District

You may have noticed recently that this blog and my posts on Wayland have been a bit quiet.
This is due to that 'real life' thing happening and not having much free hobby time over the past few weeks. Everything should be back on track by next week hopefully though.

But, last week I received my goodies from the Impudent Mortal Kickstarter and a lovely building from Multiverse Gaming. (reviews coming son)
When I had a little spare time, I sat down with a knife, some PVA and a HUGE box of laser cut MDF and ended up with this!
Board number 2, the Industrial District.

It's going to take a while to get this all painted but what do you think of it all so far?
(sorry for the dodgy pics. They were all taken on a mobile)

Joker and Batsy meet once again at Smiley's (Ace) Chemicals

Speedy takes up position on the new Multiverse building.

Bane and Clayface fight it out at Star Tech (Labs)

Team Arrow appear from underneath the Factory Club (Verdant)

Wayne Enterprises ship into this area often.

Harley and Mr J join Scarecrow and Clayface.

Robin arrives in the Batwing

Joker's clowns cover the walkways, skylights and water towers.

Batman and his team take up base in Verdant.

- 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

City Gaming Board WIP Update - Dec 15th

As you may know already, I am buliding a modular City gaming board for the Batman Minis Game from Knight Models.
I have now added a few more items, laid down at least a base coat on everything and created two different areas of Gotham City. All that really needs doing now are a few washes, some dry brushing and a bit of detailing. Then it will all be ready to go.

First up is Gotham Downtown.
Several buildings. 2/3/4 levels to each and things tightly packed together.
Click any pictures to view larger.

Miniatures are from Knight Models
Shipping containers, street lights, sewers, boxes, bins, skips and pallet are from Knight Models
L-shaped Pub is from Timeline Miniatures
All other buildings are from Sarissa Precision
Batmobile and Batwing are from Eaglemoss
Base toppers and street level scenery are from Fenris Games
Rooftop scenery is from Ainsty Castings and Armorcast

For the second layout I am going for the outskirts of Arkham.
Fewer buildings and floors. Larger consruction areas. More floor level space.

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

- Hendybadger

City Board WIP Update

I have been playing around a little more with my city gaming board. Adding all sort of bits.
It's going to take a fair bit of work to finish off and may change quite a bit yet but I thought it was about time for an update.

Models, crates, containers, sewers and lights from Knight Models
Bases and some scatter scenery  from Fenris Games
Batmobile and Batwing from Eaglemoss
L shaped corner Pub from Timeline Miniatures
Other buildings from Sarissa Precision
Small terrain bits from Armorcast (light resin) and Ainsty Castings (dark resin)
Brown plastic scatter terrain from Mantic Games Mars Attacks

Gangs clash in the industrial district of Gotham City

Wayne Enterprises goods being shipped in.

Queen Industires goods coming in from another shipment.

Batman and Batgirl leap from the Batmobile while Robin brings in the Batwing.

The Joker, Harley and some thugs face off against the Bat Family.

The Green Arrow and Huntress take the high ground.

Bane and Deathstoke have spotted the arrow wielding team on the roof tops.

- Hendybadger