BMG As a Multi-Player Game?

One of Bythtron’s friends joined us for a game Sunday past. I forgot to bring my new rule book with me, and Bythtron hasn’t yet received his, so we played with the free downloadable rules again. We opted to skip out on scenarios, objectives, extra equipment and strategies in order to help keep things simple. Our game was played at 200 rep.

Batman crew
- Arkham City Batman
- Arkham City Robin

Joker crew
- Arkham City Joker
- Arkham City Harley Quinn
- clown w/ knife
- clown w/ bat

Bane crew
- Arkham Origins Bane
- Smash
- McGregor
- Dallas
- Blackgate w/ Pipe

The first turn was essentially everyone moving toward the centre of the table. I don’t think at this point any of us had a firm strategy in mind. With three players there were a lot more sewers and lampposts on the table, making it challenging for my stealthy heroes to move unseen.

Joker had moved up into the light of a lamppost, making himself a prime target for Batman’s batarangs. The first attempt failed, but the second landed soundly. Bane’s forces started moving towards the conflict and the Joker’s crew began to pull back to protect their leader.

Bane had roared into combat with Harley and one of the clowns. Dallas had dropped into the sewers in hopes of popping up in a prime spot for some shooting. I struggled finding a time and place Robin could prove useful, but Batman scored a handy KO on the Joker, forcing him to spend a turn trying to stand up and shake off some stun damage.

When Dallas popped out of a sewer there were two separate groups in combat nearby amongst Bane’s crew and the Joker’s. It finally looked like the time for Robin to strike, as there was a set of cargo containers hemming the fighters in, and it proved to be with in range of Robin’s batclaw. I had allocated his counters in hopes of using his grenade and was rewarded with a very satisfying shot. The template was able to land on five henchmen and blind all but one of them for the round.

Batman swung in with hopes of taking down Bane, only to prove unable to hurt him. Harley and Joker were also ineffective against the brute. With only one more round to play we had to call the game as we were out of time.

Thoughts on the Game

I enjoyed the change of pace that came with playing the game multi-player, and was happy to see that it actually works that way. It could prove convoluted trying to use the scenarios in a multi-player game, but that’s not what they’re designed for. Adding in objectives would certainly work however, and there’s no reason that strategies wouldn’t prove usable as well.

As with learning any game, we really need to make sure we have enough time to play. Although we ran short again, it was still a lot of fun. I think we did sort of gang up on the Joker’s crew, but that’s always a challenge in a multi-player game. Near the end I could easily have had Batman take out a henchman for more victory points, but elected not to.

Learning How to Use My Models

This game also gave me some insight into how the dynamic duo could be used effectively together. Robin’s bo is really not that effective a weapon. The grenade was extremely useful however, and I can see a few ways to use it. The first would be to wait for a chance like in this game, and catch a group of opposing characters who are bunched up. Blinding even two characters for a turn causes a lot of disarray for that crew. The second would be using him as a pre-cursor to Batman striking. If you can get Robin into position for hitting someone with his grenade, Batman could drop down and do some serious damage to the blinded foe.

Having only two characters will certainly be a challenge in scenarios where objective control is important. I’ll have to chose my objective markers carefully; likely opting for Titan, Ammo and a Riddle. I’m looking forward to playing another game with the dynamic duo, multi-player or otherwise.