Some Classic Characters Painted for BMG Demos

When preparing for my demo earlier this month I planned out a little 2x2 table to force the player's characters into combat more quickly. I had originally planned to do some kind of bank heist scenario using loot and the safe boxes, but it seemed too far from the actual way the game is played. It wouldn't help if I made things more complicated just for the sake of a custom scenario. In the end I decided I'd do 200 reputation crews: Arkham City Batman and Robin vs Classic Harley, Joker (Killing Joke) with Turk along for the ride. Since I only had Turk painted I had some work ahead of me and only a few days to do it!

Having a deadline is often helpful for me, even if it's a self imposed one. I was able to paint all four characters over a few sessions on Friday and Saturday. Harley's face detailing was just too small, so I wasn't even able to do some white in for her eyes, and may go back now that I'm no longer under pressure. The rest turned out very nicely and I'm happy with them. Robin is my favorite paint job of the four.

This version of Joker does better with a bunch of henchmen around him, but I love the sculpt and the poison flower. It just captures what I think most people want when having a Joker model on the table. For Classic Harley...I just love the acrobat trait. The ease of getting around the board is great, not to mention that Harley can dodge bullets as she also gains Dodge. Her 360 attack didn't serve much use in the demos, but the players loved the flavor of "True Love: Joker" as well as the mallet!

In one of the demo games the Joker crew caught Batman up on some containers. Harley hit him and pushed him with her mallet. Luckily Batman had a special counter in reserve and was able to use his cape to avoid falling damage. The Joker crew won by a slim margin in VP.

In another demo game, Batman and Robin went on the offensive, picking apart The Joker crew from the bottom up. Turk got hammered by a batarang then several bat-fists to the face. Harley picked up some loot but misread the dynamic duo's plan and paid for it with getting knocked out twice! The Joker made a last gasp effort to collect some victory points on his ammo objective, but Robin dropped a smoke grenade on him, blinding him. Batman rushed into the smoke and took the Joker down hard.

In terms of the models and the rules, I think the Arkham City version of Batman and Robin make a great team. On initial release Robin lacked a little in the damage department, but was given "Combo w/ Bo" later which helps a lot. His smoke grenade is a potent weapon against groups of henchmen and more expensive characters, hindering their ability to move and spend counters. Batman is pricey, but can do it all. Ranged attacks without direct line of sight, good mobility with Batclaw. His damage isn't to be underestimated either, as he has "Reinforced Gloves" which can't be stolen.

All the players had a great time and I really enjoyed running the demos. I've got a demo game of Batman Miniature Game and the Marvel Universe Miniature Game scheduled for Saturday October 1st at Fallcon. Check their schedule page to sign up!

The Berserker Island Beasts

With play underway for the  Calgary Dreadball League's third season I had a finished season 2 human team, or a season 4 martian team that I could have used, but I didn't really want to play either of those teams in league play. This is the final of my four original season 1 teams to be painted.

If you've stopped by and read any of my posts about other teams, you've have seen that many of them are based on characters from Masters of the Universe. The "Berserker Island Beasts" are based Beastman, who is also serving as their offensive coach.

Despite looking through lots of reference images, I struggled to find a colour I liked for the fur and ended up using the bright P3 Ember Orange. Selecting uniform colours for the team was also a challenge as Beastman doesn't have much in the way of accessories or colours other than orange, and those he does have vary widely depending on the depiction. The Beastman figure I'll be using is an old Grenadier miniature from the 80s, but he's not painted yet.

The Veer-myn team has no jacks, just plenty of strikers, a couple guards, a keeper and also the MVP "Reek Rolat" who will only play for Veer-myn teams. Might as well paint him up the same as the rest.

I modified a few of the striker figures to try getting some more variation in the poses. The end result is serviceable, however the models for this team are not my favorites from the line. Despite that I've enjoyed playing the team in a few games so far.

Here's a quick paint recipe:

- fur: P3 Ember Orange & other browns
- wraps and teeth: GW Bleached Bone
- armour: GW Hawk Turqoise, GW Goblin Green, white
- metals: P3 cold steel
- straps: P3 Greatcoat Grey
- tails: P3 flesh

I coached this team to an undefeated 5-0 record to win the 2016 CDBL Championship. I didn't miss the fact that the don't have jacks. The low skill of the strikers is well mitigated by their speed, and adding an extra guard made a huge difference to how well they were able to survive against other teams.