Laughing all the way to your grave

Well I couldn't resist them. They are so shiny and nice and well .... joker'ish. I have ordered the Gas Canisters.

My understanding is that they do not cost any Rep or $'s. They can be taken as one of the Joker Crew Objective choices and, like Riddles, you can take 2 for a single choice. I'm sure we can fit it into the story line - the Joker planning to gas the city and these are the canisters that are being taken to the balloon - or something along those lines.

They give 1VP each to the player that controls them and will also increase the number of counters in play. (which is good for me)

But being Joker Crew they have a wicked side, in that all characters with 5cm take 1 Blood Damage unless they pass a Willpower test when the Canister is activated. The actual wording will be important to understand if there is choice when it comes to activating the canister but I believe all will be revealed when the blister pack arrives.

I am imagining a fleeing Clown being chased down by some of Batmans henchmen. When he gets the chance he activates the canister causing damage to everyone close by. Clearly in the upcoming game I am only facing Batman & Robin - no henchmen - but imagination is a great and powerful thing.

Anyway they will look cool on the board and add to the general atmosphere - provided they arrive on time ;-). I foresee mad painting late into Saturday night to get them ready.

Joker crew assembling

Harley Quinn had been tasked with gathering the crew. Clearly something was up and getting ready was the order of the day.

First off she figured that a shotgun was always handy to have in a brawl and so she went in search of Triston.

and sure enough, she found him with his 'game face' on, pockets bulging with cartridges and spoiling for a fight.

Next up she wanted someone that could handle themselves when it got up close and personal. She was a fan of the baseball bat and she knew just the person to call on - Contra Auguste.

Ah yes - the crew is a gathering.

They are starting to come together quite nicely. The themed bases are doing their job and the white faces really do stand out. I am looking forward to getting them stuck into a game and seeing how the perform on the battlefield.

Joker crew development

Its been a weekend of cutting and carving and pinning and green stuff. I thought that I would keep with the sewer base theme and made some purchases. I bought some resin bases and some metal inserts. There should be plenty to go around and it should give the crew a common theme. It does mean even more pinning but hey, ho.

To get me properly started I wanted to add the Joker to Harley Quinn, then Triston, August and Contra-Auguste.

I have been building up the paint layers and have yet to do the faces but it is coming along nicely. I had some fun painting the sewer slime. I started with a base of green and then dotted in lots of very small colourful dots. It gives it a vibrancy. In the main though I want the faces to be the main thing to draw the eye and I intend to spend some time on them to try and get them right. I have learned from Harley Quinn that white is very unforgiving. I love the skeleton hand clinging to the ladder on Triston's base, sweet little detail.

Next in line is Mr Hammer (yet to get him a base), Borgon and some of the clowns.

I have had a nightmare with Clown (tube). When pinning his feet I broke the model at his ankle. Then the arms didn't fit into the shoulders and when I tried to prize them apart, a little, the model broke at his hands. Currently I have a pin in each foot, a pin in each arm and another at his hands. He will need lots of green stuff but he will be properly 'bionic'.

Anyway - it is all coming along slowly and I have a third batch on models following along behind.

Mr Hammer is awesome and I am really looking forward to getting some paint on him.

Learning - The Circus Gang

I have done a little research by way of reading the rules (always a good idea) and it turns out that the Batman Miniature Game has a few layers of complexity to it that only come to light by reading up on some of the Special Traits. I introduce you to the Circus Gang.

One of the models that I have purchased is the Ringmaster. (This is not my painting - found it on the internet)

One of his Personal Traits is Elite (Circus Gang). A little reading shows me that I can only have one Elite per Crew unless I hire the the Elite Boss for that gang. The Elite Boss for the Circus Gang is none other than Mr Hammer.

Mr Hammer has Elite Boss (Circus Gang) listed as one of his Personal Traits. However Mr Hammer is also a Sidekick. Only one Sidekick is allowed per Crew so you have to choose between Mr Hammer and the wonderful Harley Quinn (either version). So this starts to become a bit of a sub-crew within a crew. Who else is in the Circus Gang I hear you ask? Good question. Well the Master of Ceremonies is the answer.

This does seem to make a little sense as the two Henchmen are dressed in a similar fashion wearing Catchers Gear.

So there is the option to play the Circus Gang within the Crew by bringing Mr Hammer, the Ringmaster and also the Master of Ceremonies. I will have to do a bit more research to fully understand the benefits but there appears to be be a deliberate move to group the three of these guys together in opposition to playing Harley Quinn.