Thinking Outside the Box

On April 7th, 2018 I hosted my second tournament of the year at  Eastridge Sports Cards & Games  in Calgary, Alberta . We had 8 players registered to play, but weather conditions brought our numbers down to 6. We still had a great day of games, food and fun with the  Batman Miniatures Game  2nd Edition rules . Tournament Results & Crew Lists 6th Place:  Birds of Prey (346/$100), Mike D Black Canary - Boss, Batgirl, Catwoman (Modern Age), Huntress, Poison Ivy (Classic) 5th Place:  Joker (346/$1350), Brian Joker (Leto), Harley Quinn (SS), Pandaman w/ magazine), Deadshot (SS) 4th Place:  The Brave & the Bold (James) Batman (Rebirth), Robin (Damian), Swamp Thing 3rd Place:  Organized Crime (348/$1950), Mike H. Lex Luthor, Heavy Trooper w/ jet pack, Lexcorp Trooper 1 w/ Bribe, Lexcorp Trooper 2 w/ jet pack, Lexcorp Trooper 3 w/ grapple, Anatoly, Hugo, Troy 2nd Place:  Bane (350/$1500),...

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 Pois...

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, Run...

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.

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 co...

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 ...

Nightwing was a spur of the moment paint job a few days ago. While waiting for some washes to dry on another batch of figures I ended up alternating work on him. Although initially not very excited by the pose I'm really quite pleased with how he turned out. He took also took a minimal amount of time to do, clocking in at under 45 minutes start to finish including dry time. After priming him grey I applied two thin coats of black to get nice even coverage on the suit and mask. I followed that with a wash of GW Asurmen Blue, and once dry applied a light dry brush coat on all the black of AP Uniform Grey. It has a slight touch of blue in it and brought out the models details perfectly. The hair was done the same way, followed with two ink washes of black. On the blue detailing I painted a solid coat of P3 Platinum which I followed with two even coats of Tamiya Clear Blue. The face was done with a base coat of GW Flesh and then some highlight of Elf Flesh. In terms of gam...

It's a good time to be a fan of tabletop, comic-themed gaming. There are a lot of options out there now; Marvel Universe and Batman Miniature Games both from Knight Models , Pulp City by Pulp Monsters , and even a few build-your-own character games like SuperSystem and Power Legion . Batgirl was the earliest free agent model that I purchased, as well as the first one that I started applying paint on. However, I found the level of detail off-putting and didn't get very far at first. When I built the model she required a bit of putty work, and I ended up adding some pouches on her hips to cover up some unsightly join lines. I confess that I like her pose but I dislike the single point of contact with the base as it has a lot of metal to support. I've already dropped her once and every time I pick her up I'm afraid she's just going to fall apart. When painting her I had originally opted to go with the straight black and yellow colour scheme from the ...

Ok I'll confess right up front that I know next to nothing about the character of Swamp Thing, and am unclear as to why he would align himself with Poison Ivy or Batman at all. However, when I saw the miniature I was really impressed, and when I painted it earlier this month I was truly in love. This figure is superbly sculpted and very well cast. As with any model this size and number of pieces there was some gap filling required, but it was super easy to blend in and I dare anyone to point it out on my painted figure. This figure almost painted itself. I think total it took me less than 3 hours and was a lot of fun experimenting with different shades of greens, browns and yellows.

With round 2 of our local BMG escalation league fast approaching, I decided I'd better paint up some henchmen for Poison Ivy to take with her. Round 1 was played at 150 rep, and I played several games with AC Catwoman and Classic Poison Ivy. I ended up winning 1, losing 1 and tying 3, so pretty middle of the road all said. I tried one game with Swamp Thing and it was a tough go having only one character on the board. I had already constructed both sets of Blackgate Prisoners and my Killer Croc figure. I decided to batch paint them as I was planning on having them all wearing the same clothes. As a bit of an experiment I tried painting the prisoners' jumpsuits with my under-used airbrush, using Badger  "Minitaire" Charred Stone for the main colour and going over it with a light touch of Badger Fur. Croc got the same treatment, but I also painted his skin starting with Pestilence Flesh, then Rotten Wood on his underbelly and finally some Gremlin Green on his back to b...

It's been a pretty crazy spring for me personally, so having some regular things like hobby and gaming time actually take shape has proven very helpful. Today the second round of the Batman Miniature Game league started. It's been fun running that; answering questions, helping people source models, build their crews, understand synergies and best of all play some games! Today's game was a 200 rep match playing the plunder scenario against Sebastien's League of Shadows crew. He had Nyssa, all three female ninja, plus Seeker and Shadow if memory serves. I had Classic Ivy along with some of my newly painted Blackgate prisoners Turk, Little Spark and High Security Henchman. It was back and forth all through the game. Turk neglected to defend himself against the katana-wielding ninja and paid for it with his life. Little Spark ran in from an end and zapped the male archer into unconsciousness before killing the kama-ninja. High Security Henchman killed the other female ...

March was a rough month, with all of my hobby progress happening in the first week. The rest of it was spent on real life stuff, as the poor economy here has resulted in my renewed quest for employment. Lots of other folks are in the same boat as I, but I'm looking at it as a chance for something new and interesting. While I have some more free time I'm also looking forward to a short break and some gaming, while I prepare for the next career step. When I looked at what I did accomplish in March though, it wasn't too shabby for a seven day span: - Built Killing Joke Joker, Mr. Hammer, Joker's Daughter, Master of Ceremonies, and Frank Miller Batman - Built two custom Joker clowns for BMG: August for Harley Crew, and a version of "Six" - Gap filled a ton of KM models and Grimms for Pulp City, 44 in total! - Based all remaining models (16) Today we started our first round for the Batman escalation league here. Scheduling conflicts kept our attendance dow...

Lots of "Real Life" stuff going on the past few weeks. I did run a demo day for the  Batman Miniatures Game  a little over a week ago at Imaginary Wars . Lots of people showed up to check out models, ask questions about building their crew, learn the game and sign up for the upcoming escalation league I'll be running. It was great to see so many folks come out and express their interest in the game! There is still time to register, so if you're interested please click here for all the details about the league . Our first league night will be Monday April 4th! Other than that I haven't done much in the way of hobby or gaming. I picked up a copy of Sentinels of the Multiverse: Villains of the Multiverse , and backed their campaign for the final expansion "Oblivaeon" on Kickstarter. Today the pledge manager showed up for IDW's campaign for their Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles board game, so I'll be filling that out shortly. The semi-finals gam...

...but that doesn't mean I haven't been busy. Since I posted last I've actually done some pretty entertaining hobby stuff. Last week I provided demos for the Batman Miniature Game on two different evenings.  Both demo evenings were good fun, and I think interest in the game is really starting to reach a peak. I think the escalation league that I've started laying out plans for could prove quite successful. Even if only half of the folks who have expressed interest end up playing, we should have a solid half-dozen players. Due to time limitations on the demo nights, games were restricted to 150 rep and small amounts of characters and objectives. Some stuff like placement was fudged a bit too (as you can see below), but the point was providing a good intro to the game mechanics. Otherwise there has been a bunch of hobby prep going down. I've been able to complete building and basing all the remaining BMG models I had, as well as plenty of stuff for Pulp City...