Showing posts with label miniatures. Show all posts

Friday, 6 February 2015

Why Batman?

You 'may' have noticed that ToaTS has been mainly about the Batman Minis Game by Knight Models since it's return.
That's because I am completely hooked on it! Love it!
With that in mind, I thought I would take a little time to explain why.

To start with, we need to back a few years. About 20 or so.
When I was a kid, I had a ton of Batman toys. Loads of the Legends range and even a (wired) RC Batmobile from Batman Forever. No comics thought as the closest store was over an hour away.

At about 12 I found wargaming. 40K, Necromunda, Man 'o' War and such. I even took a badly painted Undead army to Warhammer World for a tournament. Came near the bottom but it was fun.
Then the teenage years happened and I found the wonders of girls and beer like we all do and that replaced wargaming. I still liked my Super Heroes though. The 90's Batman movies, Spiderman, X-Men, Hulk etc.

Jump forward to about 9 years ago.
My girlfriend (now wife) took me into a model store where I spotted some 40K models and told her about the fact I used to play. She talked me into getting some to see if I still liked it. You can see where that led!

After a few years of gaming through several systems, a friend introduced me to Pulp City. A SuperHero skirmish game. Ideal! My two interests in one.
If you look back on the blog you can see my projects with Pulp as well as my PC / Avengers painting.
At around the same time, smart phones became popular and I discovered the Marvel digital comic app and the world of comics opened up to me!!!!

I then started to look around for other Super minis.
I found the 75mm Marvel range from Knight Models and decided to email them asking if the Marvel minis would ever be made in 30mm. They would have been perfect stand ins for Pulp.
The reply came back as "Wait until you see what we have planned for next year"

A year later, the first Batman mini appeared. I liked it, but at the time I was much more of a Marvel fan so it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for. I kept an eye on the releases and was continuously impressed by what was coming out but I didn't get around to picking any up and starting the game.
The constant new characters did get me looking into the DC universe a bit more though. Comics, movies, series, animation and more.
WOW! The more I read / watched the more I wondered why it took me so long to enter the world of DC.
I was impressed. Hush, Arrow, Suicide Squad, Red Hood, the XBox games, all of it was great and I had fallen in love with another Supers setting.

On to the start of 2014. The Marvel range appeared and I was instantly hooked. These were the minis I had wanted for YEARS!
As I began to pick up every Marvel release, I started to look further into Batman and the game. With a better knowledge of DC at this point, the whole thing became a LOT more appealing.

The models are stunning. The detail is beyond fantastic and the representations of the different characters is spot on.
The rules are easy to learn but hard to master. Just the sort of game that gets you hooked. Scenario based play makes for more interesting games than your usual 'kill everything' and the characters have some very thematic rules. The ones that stick out for me are Penguins Lord of Business where he has more $$$ to hire thugs and Two Face needing an actual coin flip to make in game decisions.

But, the thing that appeals to me the most is the background.
In other games I love to soak in as much info as possible. Games like 40K and Warmachine have a lot of background and story, the smaller and lesser known games don't usually have much more than what is in the rulebook and on the website.
Batman has more than all of those others put together!
75 years of comics, series, cartoons, films, games and much much more.
Want an idea for building a team? Grab one of the movies.
How about your own scenario? You could follow a game storyline.
Want to know more about the new model that's just been released? There are probably 100+ comics with them in.
More info than you could ever take in. I'm like a kid in a candy store!

My loves - Miniatures, skirmish games, Super Heroes. The Batman Miniature Game pulls that all together in one place!

Well, that's enough of my babble for a while. Catch you all again soon.

- Hendybadger
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Sunday, 3 February 2013

Tabletop Gamers on Facebook. A Community for You.

Social networking is a huge thing these days. Millions of people use it for millions of different things.
One of which is to organise, check out and discuss tabletop games.
There are a lot of great Facebook gaming groups out there so I thought I would share my favourites with you.
You never know, some of you may even join and enjoy them!

Miniature Addicts Anonymous

Miniature Addicts Anonymous (link) is a group for any and all miniature games.
The members include several industry professionals from game owners to sculptors and artists. Plus tons of excitable gamers.
A fun and friendly group where you can ask anything you like (gaming or not) and post any work you have done or interesting things you have found.

Citizens of Pulp City

Citizens of Pulp City (link) is the main fan group for Pulp City from Pulp Monsters.
A great place to chat about Supremes, show off your work, ask any questions and even get some teasers and answers from the PC team themselves.
One of the friendliest groups I have ever found online and packed full of inspiration.
With the brand new Supreme Edition here and the new release schedule right around the corner, you don't want to miss out on the future of Pulp City!

The Stygian Depths

The Stygian Depths (link) is the place to go for fans of the awesome Deep Wars and ShadowSea by Antimatter Games.
Great people and some absolutely stunning work! You would be amazed what a different setting like underwater can bring out in the model world.
Even if Antimatter Games isn't your cuppa, head over and check it out. You wont be disappointed.

Dystopian Armadas

Dystopian Armadas (link) covers all of the ranges from Spartan Games.
Firestorm Armada, Uncharted Seas, Dystopian Was and the new Dystopian Legions.
The Victorian steampunk Dystopian setting seems to be the main draw to this group and with new stuff coming out for Wars and Legions all the time it is great to see what people are doing with it and throw your own in there as well.

Hope to see some of you in these groups soon.

Which are your favourite gaming groups on Facebook?

Hendybadger awaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

Monday, 12 December 2011

A New Supers Mini Range Needs Your Help - Crossover Miniatures

Crossover Miniatures (link) are planning a stunning range of new Super Hero, Villain and Henchman models with several different heads. You can create the Super you have always wanted to!
But they need your help to get going. Thier Kickstarter project page asks people to pleadge a small amount bu the deadline in the middle of Jan. If the target has been hit by then, the project will be fully funded and you will recieve an amount of minis that depends on the amount you pledged.
If the target isnt met, nobody gets charged a penny and the minis never happen.

We dont want that to be the case!!!!!!!!!!!!

I will go over to the complete listing of the project now from Rusti -

Super Heroes you can modify? Villains to suit your needs? Henchmen built to fit you unique villain? Let's make it happen!

What We are Going to Make for You

Our vision is to produce 8 Heroes/Villains with three head options apiece (for a total of 8 models and 24 different heads). The heads will be generally universal to bodies of the same general size. We also plan a unit of four henchman with three head options apiece, so that's three different types of henchmen from the same body.
A special treat for our kickstarter supporters will be the inclusion of all three heads for each model. After the kickstarter is over, models will be sold with only one head option.

Eh?

We'd love to bring a fantastic new range of Super Hero miniatures to the public. Many of those available today are the Intellectual Property of large companies. We'd like to change that by sculpting and producing high quality Super Hero Miniatures that you can bring to life yourself.
Ever spent time looking for the perfect Super Villain but couldn't find exactly what you were looking for? How about coming up with the perfect Super Hero but all you could find were different version of the big names in comic books? Now is your chance to make this happen.

Old School Hero

One body, many heads, endless possibilities.
We are envisioning a range of modifiable Super Heroes, Villains and Henchmen to fill the voids found all over the comic universe. When possible, our miniatures will have interchangeable heads so you can personalize them to your own tastes. Think that hero would look better with a full face mask? How about some wings on the side of his head? What would he look like with an old school eye mask?

Super Soldier with Different Head Options

Henchmen Too

Our Henchmen will fit the bill as well. First we'll create some universal bodies that will work will in many different situation, then we'll produce a number of different heads so you can create the perfect Henchmen for your Super Villains. Need hooded minions? How about hard hats? Masks and helmets? We are going to bring some flexible muscle to the table with these guys.
If we raise more money than our goal, expect more henchmen with the initial release and a slew of new heads.

Henchman with Good and Evil Head Options

Get Involved and Bring Your Desires to Life

To take this even further, our artist will collaborate with up to 9 lucky supporters to create a Hero or Villain from their imagination.

Benevolent Overlord - 3 supporters will work with us to create figures that will go into production. You give us the concept and a few uniform pointers and our sculptor will create his interpretation of your instructions and one head option. We'd like to make you as happy as possible, but we will retain some creative control on the final product. Want total control? Go for Intergalactic Megalomaniacal Overlord.
Intergalactic Megalomaniacal Overlord - 6 supporters will communicate with the artist and receive his best interpretation of the instructions you send him and receive a One-Of-a-Kind miniature! This could be a character you have envisioned years ago or any character you would like! Our only requirements are that it's a 28-30mm figure roughly man sized. Other than that, bring your imagination to life and get some fun stuff while you're doing it. If you'd like to share your creation with the world, and we like your concept, we can talk about putting him into production and then you will receive 10 miniatures of your creation to hoard or share with friends.

Villains

Our Appeal to You

To show what is possible, we have created these three super hero/villain bodies and one henchman body with three heads apiece. We need the help of the Kickstarter supporters to pay for the rest of the sculpting, producing molds, and the initial cost of the metal for the Kickstarter production run.

Hendybadger here again,
What about those minis you get for supporting the project? Well,

Pledge $15 or more

Low Level Thug - When you are not shaking down store owners, you're the guy who get's the coffee when the boss needs it. Supporters of this level will receive any two miniatures of their choice from the range shipped to your door. Please see shipping info for shipping outside USA.