Batman Miniatures Game Tournament Recap - Sept 2, 2017

On Saturday Sept 2nd, 2017 we held the largest Batman Miniatures Game tournament to-date in Western Canada at Eastridge Sports Cards and Games in Calgary, Alberta. The turn-out was great with eight players registered, and each of them playing a different crew or team.

Games got underway at 11am, with a brief break for a pizza lunch. The tournament was played over three rounds. At the end of the third round players submitted their crew sheets so that I could tally up the Batmatch points to determine a winner. While I was doing that, the players submitted their votes for a fellowship prize. Additionally the players and shop staff submitted their selections for the best painted crew at the event.

Tournament Results and Crew Lists

8th Place: Black Mask - 342/$1500 (Rick)
Black Mask
Lt. Brandon
Anatoly w/ Backpack
Mule Goon x2
Mesh w/ Silencer
Goon 2 x2
GCPD Detective
Gotham Policeman
Gotham Policewoman

7th Place: Birds of Prey - 337/$100 (Mike D)
Black Canary
Poison Ivy (Classic)
Huntress
Catwoman (Modern Age)
Katana (Suicide Squad)

6th Place: Teen Titans - 349/$500 (Shawn)
Cyborg
Robin
Speedy
Kid Flash

5th Place: Joker - 348/$1800 (Marcel)
Joker (Jared Leto)
Lobo
Stan the Eyeball Man w/ Ammo
Panda Man
Chencho w/ Antidote

4th Place: Riddler - 349/$1450 (Elton)
Riddler
Quelle
Quiz 1 w/ Ammo
Quiz 2
Bot MKI w/ Defense
Bot MKII w/ Fighter, Shock and Grapple
Parademon
Hush

3rd Place: Batman - 350/$1700 (James)
Batman (Dark Knight Returns)
Alfred
Bravo w/ Whistle, Ammo, Medpack and Handcuffs
Red Hood (Arkham Knight)
Nightwing

2nd Place: Green Arrow - 350/$1450 (Brad)
Oliver Queen w/ Command Centre Support
Kid Flash
Black Canary
Bravo w/ Grapple & Ammo
Agent O'Connell
Gotham Policeman
Spartan w/ Riot Gear

1st Place: Court of Owls - 344/$1450 (Mike H)
Benjamin Orchard
Strix w/ Tireless
Cobb w/ Stealth & Grapple Gun
Xiao w/ Ancient Weapon
1880 Talon w/ Claws and Tireless
Newhouse w/ Claws andTireless

Fellowship Voted: James
Best Painted Crew: Elton

We had a really great day of gaming in Gotham, and I'm extremely happy to have such a great community of players and friends to game with. I can't wait to host the DC Universe tournament coming up in January!

TMNT Profiles for the Batman Miniature Game

Well over a year ago I spent a little time trying to figure out the point formula for the Batman Miniatures Game. I had come up with a pretty close approximation and tried my hand at a few custom character profiles. I've only ever play-tested one of those, but in the three games we used it, the profile seemed pretty balanced. So I took what I learned and a few months later I came up with my Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles crew list!

I built this crew to be as versatile as possible, but unless I went the route of the Watchmen, I still had to stick within the established rank format. The profiles are just text; I never bothered to create proper card graphics to use. With the just-released 2nd Edition rules for the game, I might try my hand at creating some new format character cards for them.

If anyone does give them a try I'd love to hear your experience, thoughts and feedback.

April O’Neil (TMNT)
Henchman
WP 4, STR 5+, MV 3, ATK 2, DEF 3, END 4, SPL 3
Informer, Runaway, Searcher
Rep = 15

Casey Jones (TMNT)
Henchman
WP 5, STR 4+, MV 3, ATK 4, DEF 3, END 5, SPL 3
Cricket Bat (**,Heavy), Hockey Stick (*,Handy)
Adaptable, Goad, Hockey Gear, Obsessive, True Love: April O’Neil
Rep = 27

Splinter (TMNT)
Henchman
WP 5, STR 5+, MV 2, ATK 2, DEF 3, END 4, SPL 3
Walking Stick (*,Reach)
Invaluable, Retractable Claws, Veteran
Together My Sons (3SC): Any Turtle within 30cm of Splinter and line of sight gains the Teamwork special trait. For each Turtle, Teamwork can be used with any other Turtle until the end of the round.
Rep = 41

Leonardo (TMNT)
Leader
WP 7, STR 4+, MV 3, ATK 4, DEF 5, END 7, SPL 3
Katana (BB,Handy/Sharp)
Shuriken (**,2,2,Throw/Short)
Deadly Strike w/ Katana, Martial Artist, Stealth, Tough Skin
Rep = 91/$100

Raphael (TMNT)
Sidekick
WP 7, STR 3+, MV 2, ATK 4, DEF 4, END 8, SPL 3
Sai (BB,Handy)
Martial Artist, Tough Skin, Sneak Attack, Undercover, Unpredictable
Rep = 76

Michaelangelo (TMNT)
Free Agent
WP 6, STR 4+, MV 4, ATK 4, DEF 4, END 6, SPL 3
Nunchaku (**,Handy/Crit:Stun)
Acrobat, Distract, Combo w/ Nunchaku, Martial Artist, Tough Skin
Rep = 65

Donatello (TMNT)
Free Agent
WP 6, STR 4+, MV 2, ATK 4, DEF 3, END 6, SPL 3
Bo (*,Protecting/Reach)
Shuriken (**,2,2,Throw/Short)
360 Strike w/ Bo, Martial Artist, Hacking, Lord of the Sewers, Tough Skin
Rep = 62 / $100

Miyamoto Usagi (TMNT)
Free Agent
WP 6, STR 4+, MV 4, ATK 3, DEF 5, END 5, SPL 3
Katana (BB,Handy/Sharp)
Acrobat, Bodyguard, Combo w/ Katana, Fast, Feint
Rep = 59

TMNT Equipment List: Any character with the TMNT affiliation may take up to 2 different pieces of equipment from the crew’s equipment list, regardless of rank.

0-2 $150 Mutagen (Titan Dose)
0-2 $100 Flashlight (Lantern)
0-2 $300 Grappling Hook (Batclaw)
0-2 $100 Extra Ammo
0-2 $150 Climbing Claws

Strange Aeons Goes 'Supernatural'

It's been a long time since I painted any figures for Uncle Mike's skirmish game Strange Aeons. I've had most of the models from their second edition Kickstarter sitting in a drawer, based and primed, awaiting paint jobs.

Flipping through Netflix the other day I realized I was several years behind on the tv series Supernatural, which I believe is going into its thirteenth season! That same week I found a 1:43 scale Impala to use, so I simply had to dig out the 'Remington' brothers and slap some paint on them while I was watching the show.

Sadly one of the mirrors fell off the car right after this photo was taken.

The last few games I played were using the solo deck with my ever-evolving Threshold list, but I quickly stat-ed up a new list for the boys and we got in a game for them against my very unlucky Lurkers (a cult leader, some cultists and a witch who fooled everyone into thinking she was hot and innocent). Although a little odd, I decided to make Castiel the boss, taking Fearless as his free skill. Sam got Reads Languages and Dean took Duck.

Despite the heroes seizing victory in the game Sam ended up with a case of agoraphobia, while Castiel and Dean garnered advances; Tough and Heroic respectively.

BMG Game & Demo Day, Aug 6, 2017

I had an excellent turnout for the game & demo day for the Batman Miniature Game at Eastridge Sports Cards & Games today. The demo table was busy showcasing the game at 200 reputation, with AC Batman and Robin up against Killing Joke Joker, Classic Harley Quinn and Turk. The Bat-crew took narrow victories in each game.

200 Rep demo table

On the large table an awesome 4-player battle royale took place. Several of my local players pit some fantastic looking crews against one another, fighting for supremacy over my new Gotham Carnival board layout. Two Joker crews (one led by AK Harley, another by SS Joker) faced off against LexCorp and the Bat-Family. At the end of the day the heroes took the win with a meagre 8VP.

Check out the photos below to get in on some of the action.

Don't forget that I'll be running our upcoming fall tournament on September 2nd, 2017. Click here for event details and to register.

The Marvel Universe Collection Grows

A few more figures for the Marvel Universe Miniature Game got completed a while back.

I'd had the Punisher model since before the game was released and had no idea he'd eventually be usable with a downloadable card from Knight Models. I'm happy that he's usable in both Universe and the Batman Miniature Game. Ironically this paint job took more work than I expected, largely because while I was highlighting the skin I nearly messed it up entirely and had to spend quite a bit of time cleaning it up. I very nearly started over, and almost wish I had.

Daredevil was an easy enough job to paint. I decided I didn't want to do the all red or the yellow and brown outfits, so I went with a red-tinted black costume with red accessories. The picture shows me that I didn't do a great job on the DD on his chest. So I might have to go back and fix that up later.

Spider-Man is a great sculpt and pose. It's very evocative of the character. He was a bit more difficult to paint due to the fine lines on the spider. I'm sure I could have done a better job, but since I painted all three of these over the course of two evenings I'm perfectly happy with the result.

These three together with Wolverine make for a really fun 30-level "Marvel Knights" themed team. You could certainly add Black Widow and Black Panther to step them up to 40 while keeping to the same theme.

TV Heroes for BMG

It's been months since I posted anything here...but I haven't been entirely idle in terms of hobby time. Here's some stuff I painted in Dec 2016 and throughout the first third of 2017

TV Arrow came with two different heads. I opted for the version with his hood down for two reasons. The first was that I wanted to use the hooded head for Arsenal / Speedy. I really dislike the baseball cap on him, so he got Arrow's hooded head. The second was that this version of Green Arrow was going to be almost entirely one colour, so having the hood down and some blonde hair on the top would help focus attention on his face amidst all that green.

Next up was Spartan / John Diggle. Although I haven't read much in the way of Green Arrow comics, I'm fairly sure Diggle was created specifically for the TV series. This model also comes with two heads; one with a helmet and one without. I couldn't help thinking that his mask looks a lot like the one Magneto wears in the comics, so I opted for the other one. He's a little boring in terms of colour palette, but I was going for something like what he wears on TV.

Black Canary isn't amongst my favourite DC characters, and the pose on this figure is dynamic yet uninspired I think. However, I enjoy using her in-game and wanted Green Arrow to have his wife along for the ride from time to time. I found that the fishnet detail on my cast was hit and miss which made it difficult to pick out in some areas. She's not my best painted figure, but is acceptable for gaming with.

Of course we can't leave out Barry Allen. My other half loves the Flash TV and I confess that I'm right there along with her. I don't feel like the model captures the character from the show nearly as well as Arrow or Spartan, although I don't know why exactly I feel so. The details on this figure were quite shallow, and the symbol in particular was very difficult to paint.

My copy of the expansion book came with the exclusive Black Flash figure as well. I didn't like the zombie look he had so I tried covering over the mouth to look more like Zoom from the Flash TV series. When I was painting him I felt that the all black colour scheme just didn't read well in miniature form so I added some silver to the costume and tried painting the inside of the symbol white. It works well enough and looks good, but due to the way the Speed Force rules work I despair that this figure might never actually see time on the table top.

Finally I'll leave you with a few group shots on my less-than-ideally-lit boring white backdrop!