Geeky Birthday Haul. Pure Awesomeness!!!!!

While the Arrow's villains have always "FAILED THIS CITY", my family have far from failed this geek!
Yesterday I turned 20-11 (31) and you would think people knew me quite well with the geeky haul I was given. Massive thanks to all of them.
About are four 4' canvases. These are huge and look stunning.

My Funko Pop collection got a nice boost with Adam West in his Batmobile, Bruce Wayne and the mighty Locutus of Borg!
On top of that the geek fest continued with a scale Bat-Signal, which is the perfect size for the batman game and actually lights up, some Mario Pez, old school Back to the Future on Blu-ray and some very nice WN S7 brushes. A hint I should paint more maybe?

There was still more artwork to come. A 2' Justice League canvas and a lovely commissioned piece of Deadpool and Harley by local artist Marc Ducrow. A colour copy is coming soon as well.

Some of my family and friends gave me some cash to spend on anything I liked. They knew it would be toys!
The Blackagates are on the way to get painted as additional Two Face crew members and Speedy is getting a head swap from Arrow to become a CW Arsenal.

The girls also got some help in the form of Classic Harley and Catwoman to join my Ivy crew and form the Gotham City Sirens.
The last bit was spent on some dark green Army Painter, I was given a Nerf bow and arrow at christmas and thought it would look great in dark green instead of the white and purple it is at the moment.

But why would I want a green bow?
THIS IS WHY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(Ignore the kids beanbags and toys)
My awesome wife had an Arrow costume made to fit me! Cant wait to get out to the comicons and Batman game demos now!

I would like to say a HUGE THANK YOU to everyone for my awesome gifts.

Until next time,
Hendybadger

Batman Themed Crews: 200 Rep Starters

After my Crew Building and Themed Crews posts, I thought it would be a good idea to set up some starter forces for each.
These then give me a place to start the painting for each crew and a selection of models to learn how each crew works and the differences between them.
150 Reputation is the smallest game, but it has been suggested to me that 200 Rep is a good place to start, so that's what I will go for. Well, with a couple of points either way. It also allows me to get some rule and weapon variety in each.
Below are the lists I'm going to start with. All the models can be found on the Knight Models site HERE

To start with it's going to be two sets of good guys. Then a set of villains for each movie, series or comic I'm working from.

Batman

Leader: Batman (Arkham) - 130 Rep - $0 - Batarang and all the Bat toys

Free Agent: Robin (Arkham Drake) - 68 Rep - $200 - Bo, Flash Grenade, Batclaw

Green Arrow

Leader / Sidekick: Green Arrow - 117 Rep - $300 - Arrow, Special Arrow, Hook Arrow
Free Agent: Huntress - 66 Rep - $100 - Hand Crossbow, Bo
Henchman: Policeman - 16 Rep - $0 - Baton

Batman Movie / Arkham Games

Leader: Joker (Arkham) - 90 Rep - $0 - Explosive Teeth, Poisoned Knife, One Shot Gun
Sidekick: Harley Quinn (Arkham) - 61 Rep - $0 - Reinforced Bat
Henchman: August - 25 Rep - $0 - Axe
Henchman: Sniggering - 25 Rep - $600 - Assault Rifle

Batman Returns

Leader: Penguin - 75 Rep - $0 - Umbrella Cannon, Umbrella Blade, Lord of Business
Free Agent: Catwoman - 66 Rep - $0 - Whip, Retractable Claws
Henchman: Royal Penguin - 24 Rep - $600 - Assault Rifle
Henchman: Blue Penguin - 15 Rep - $300 - Automatic Gun
Henchman: Blue Penguin - 17 Rep - $0 - Axe

Batman Forever

Leader: Two Face - 101 Rep - $0 - Thompson, Reinforced Gloves
Free Agent: Riddler - 69 Rep - $0 - ? Baton
Henchman: Twoowt - 15 Rep - $0 - Mallet
Henchman: Twoowt - 12 Rep - $0 - Knife

Batman + Robin

Leader: Bane (Arkham) - 150 Rep - $0 - Reinforced Gloves, Titan Doses
Henchman: Turk (Backgate) - 25 Rep - $400 - 2 Handguns
Henchman: Blackgate Prisoner 1 - 17 Rep - $0 - Bigstikka
Henchman: Blackgate Prisoner 2 -10 Rep - $0 - Tube

Arrow

Leader: Ra's Al Ghul - 120 Rep - $0 - Sword

Henchman: Yang - 30 Rep - $0 - Katana

Henchman: Seeker - 27 Rep - $200 - Bow, Poison Arrow

Henchman: Shadow - 26 Rep - $100 - Bo, Smoke Bomb

Gotham City Sirens

Leader: Poison Ivy (Comic) - 83 Rep - $0 - Toxic Nails

Free Agent / Sidekick; Harley Quinn (Comic) - 75 Rep - $0 - Mallet

Henchman: Spore Plant - 20 Rep - $150 - Spore Sheath

Henchman: Creeper Plant - 16 Rep - $0 - Creeper

Henchman: Plant - 10 Rep - $0 - Root

What do you think of these lists?

Is there anything you would add, remove or change?

Check out all the models at the Knight Models Page

- Hendybadger

Themed Crews for Batman

When I started to plan my crews for the Batman Minis Game by Knight Models, I decided to theme them a little bit. It would give a good starting point to work from for each.

In the past I hadn't really read many big DC comics. My Batman and DC experience had been the original 4 movies, a little bit of the Arkham games and more recently the Arrow series and some of the lesser known comics. So, that became the plan!

Instead of building each crew based on one of the movies or such, I have chosen to start with the inspiration and build 2 crews from each. Some models will be repeated and some will cross over, but they are going to turn in to some fantastic games.
For the characters with different versions, I have added which one I will use. The amount of Henchmen will be used to balance the sides.

First up is -

Batman the Movie / Arkham Games
As the Joker is the main villain in both of these, I decided to combine the two. Wanting to use Harley helped with that decision.

GOOD
Leader: Batman (Arkham)
Henchmen: GCPD Police

BAD
Leader: Joker (Arkham)
Sidekick: Harley Quinn (Arkham)
Henchmen: Basic Joker Thugs + Arkham / Blackgate Prisoners

BATMAN RETURNS

GOOD
Leader: Batman (Arkham)
Henchmen: GCPD Police

BAD
Leader: Penguin
Free Agent: Catwoman
Henchmen: Penguin thugs (Joker Clown models for the Circus look)

BATMAN FOREVER

GOOD
Leader: Batman (Arkham)
Free Agent: Robin (Arkham)
Henchmen: GCPD Police

BAD
Leader: Two Face
Free Agent: Riddler
Henchmen: Two Face thugs

BATMAN AND ROBIN
This one takes a few model swaps and tweaking to work.

GOOD
Leader: Batman (Arkham)
Sidekick: Batgirl
Free Agent: Robin (Arkham rules. Using the Nightwing model as the costume matches the movie)
Henchmen: GCPD Police

BAD
Leader: Bane (Arkham)
Free Agent: Mr. Freeze
Free Agent: Poison Ivy (Arkham rules with Bane Affinity, Comic model)
Henchmen: Generic Blackgate and Bane thugs (Using Penguin Thug models for the Freeze look)

ARROW

GOOD
Leader / Sidekick: Green Arrow
Sidekick: Speedy
Free Agent: Black Canary
Free Agent: Huntress
Henchmen: Starling City Police (GCPD models) Officer Ron as Detective Lance, Police with Baton or SWAT member as Diggle.

BAD
Leader: Ra's Al Ghul (Arkham)
Sidekick: Nyssa al Ghul
Free Agent: Deathstroke (Origins)
Free Agent: Deadshot
Henchmen: League of Shadows/Assasins Ninjas. Archer as Merlyn.

GOTHAM CITY SIRENS vs BIRDS OF PREY

GOTHAM SIRENS
Leader: Poison Ivy (Comic)
Free Agent: Harley Quinn (Comic with Affinity Ivy)
Free Agent: Catwoman
Henchmen: Ivy's Plants

BIRDS OF PREY
Sidekick: Batgirl
Free Agent: Black Canary
Free Agent: Huntress
Henchmen: GCPD

SUICIDE SQUAD vs RED HOOD and the OUTLAWS
Thers two lists are mainly wishlisting as most of the choices dont have models yet but I hope to see them fill out soon.

SUICIDE SQUAD (Old and new mix)
Sidekick: Harley Quinn (Arkham)
Free Agent: Deathstroke (Comic)
Free Agent: Deadshot
Free Agents: Killer Frost, King Shark, Capt Boomerang (no models yet)
Henchmen: Generic prisoners (Blackgates)

RED HOOD + OUTLAWS
Sidekick: Speedy / Arsenal
Free Agent: Red Hood (no model)
Free Agent: Starfire (no model)
Henchmen: GCPD


You can see all the models HERE and I will update the blog with my progress as I go. Also thinking bout looking at the rules closer on here theme by theme soon.

What do you think of these themes?
Would you change anything?
What other themes would you go for?

- Hendybadger

Knight Models DC / Batman Review - Poison Ivy and Plants Crew

After finally getting in to the Batman Miniatures game by Knight Models, I have decided to review the releases from now on.
First up is the-

Poison Ivy and Plants Crew

Poison Ivy a.k.a Pamela Isley is one of Batman most well known villains. From the Gotham City Sirens comics to the animated series or even the classic Batman + Robin movie, everyone knows about this irresistible, killer plant controlling Femme Fatale.

The start with, lets have a look at the packaging. Ivy and her plants come in a large blister, tightly packed with foam and the smaller parts are in sealed bags. The display card shows a lovely painted example of the models inside. When opened you find....

4 highly detailed 35mm scale minis (Ivy, Plant, Spore and Creeper), 4 30mm round edged bases, 6 acrylic seed tokens and 4 stat cards.

If you have bought any Batman minis in the past you will notice that the Ivy box comes with a new style stat card. Above shows 2 plant cards on the right next to an older card on the left. I haven't had a chance to try a game with these yet but I already think I prefer the look of the new cards.
I wont go in to the exact rules on them for now as I plan to post about the crews rules at a later date. The set totals 129 Reputation / points, no quite enough for a standard small game of 150 Rep so will need another model added to be playable. Maybe Harley or Catwoman?
I do like the fact that the Seed tokens are included as they are needed as a way to deploy the plants.
Time to take a look at the models.

Above we have Ivy herself and the basic Plant. Ivy is a single piece mini that looks stunning. There is a tiny hole in the metal in the middle of her back but that can be easily covered with glue, greenstuff, paint etc. Apart from that she is all but perfect.
The Plant comes in 3 parts and just screams "Feed Me!". The leaves go into holes on each side of the main body but make sure you check the box image to see which to glue on first as they overlap a little. (Its right when looking at it)

As you can see, the mould lines on Ivy are almost invisible. She took almost no work the clean up. The Plant had small lines running around the leaves and up the from of the stem but they were gone with a quick file. One did run through the hole the leaves go in but a small clip off of the plug and it fit fine.

The other two plants are the Spore (left) and they Creeper (right). Both come in two parts. Stem and head. The head parts fit on to the stem without any problem and only a tiny gap that you would expect from any metal model. Mould lines ran around the out edges so were really easy to remove.

Some gluing later.........

The build was simple. Only 4 parts to glue on in the set. A couple of little gaps, but again no different to any other metal model I have ever built (that's 100s). I decided to clip off the base tabs and file the bottoms down to give them some Post Apoc base toppers from Fenris Games. To that I added a couple of different sizes of cork pieces to make it look like the plants were breaking out of the pavement.

As I love the Gotham Sirens, I actually picked up two of these packs for the extra plants. I know Knight Models will probably release more in the future but I couldn't wait. Adding Catwoman and Classic Harley Quinn to this gave me just over 300 Rep for a standard size game.

In most places you can find the Ivy and Plants set for around £25. I know that sounds expensive for 4 models but there are a couple of things to consider.
Adding just one more mini gives you a playable force. It's the same price as units for Warhammer / Warmachine, but you only need the one. The models are a very high detail 35mm scale, larger than most other ranges on that market. All cards and counters are included and finally, this is an official licensed product. That means it will cost a little more anyway.
Taking all of that in to account, I think £25 is pretty good.

Overall, I love this set. Ivy is one of the most stunning models I have ever seen and the plants are packed full of character. My only down side is that fact it isn't quite a playable force on its own. But who wouldn't want the other two Sirens as well?

Final score is ............

8 out of 10 Badger Points

Check out the Knight Models Page for the full range of DC and Marvel minis.

Next up is Dr Doom and the Punisher!

- Hendybadger