There and Back Again: A Flames of War Buildings Tale

I took a little break from painting BMG for a bit.  The fourth edition of Flames of War came out recently.  FoW has to be the the game I have bought and painted the most stuff for but have played it the least.  Something I plan on rectifying this year.  And the people at Battlefront miniatures are making it easy.  You can trade in your last edition rule book at your local shop for a free copy of the 4th edition.  I like a company that rewards their veteran players (plus if someone does not have to spend the money on new rules, they can buy more toys!).

While I am working my way through the rule book I decided to finish up a piece of terrain I built a long time ago.  The very first post I wrote on this blog was about building some Flames of War buildings.  Many of my early entries followed the progress of those buildings.  About two years ago I started on a new piece.  I wanted to improve on those initial buildings by adding more detail to them.  I used a brick pattern plastic card  for the walls.  To save the time of cutting out the shingles I used some pre-textured card as well for the roof.

Then, for various reasons, it sat on the shelf, primed but unpainted.  Until this weekend that is.  Over all I am happy with the result.  By using the A-frame technique that I used on the Lucky Duck booth, I think I can improve even more on future buildings.  

Kevin

The Arrow

"You have failed this city".  I finished up the leader for my Green Arrow crew, The Arrow (TV Version).  Like painting the Flash, there is something nice about painting a model that is 90% one colour.  Arrow will be interesting to use as a leader.  As you could imagine, he is very range oriented.  He has several abilities to make him more effective with his bow; including ignoring a piece of terrain for a "Ping!" test, spend a special counter to shoot on the move, re roll missed ranged attacks and increase his rate of fire by 2 is he is stationary.

With"Acrobat", "Hook Arrow (Batclaw)" and "Stealth", he should also prove to be very maneuverable on the table.  Unlike playing with Batman as a leader, it will be nice to have someone that can cause blood damage to the enemy.  You cant really "walk off" and arrow through the chest.

I had some left over greenstuff from filling the gaps on my other BMG minis so I made a loot counter.  I used the putty to make some poorly sculpted bags.  Of course you have to have to $ symbol on the side of it.

Next week I am going to take a little break from BMG and work on a few pieces for Flames of War/Tanks!

Kevin

The Flash

My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive"...except that there have been like 4 other speedsters in the show that have been faster.  I guess it is just situational.

I finished up the sidekick for my Team Arrow crew, TV version of The Flash.  It is kinda fun to paint a model that is 90% one colour.  When I finished the red, I was basically done.  This version of The Flash is a little slim (especially when compared to the comic version).  I added a dust trail behind the Flash to make him appear a little more substantial (also I don't know how I would even paint speed lines).

The Flash will make an interesting addition to the game.  I don't really know how to use him yet.  The speed force powers are new to me, it is going to take some trial and error to figure them out.  I could use the Flash to grab objectives quickly, or to set up an ambush.  TV Flash also has "Speed Force Master", which allows him to use two powers a turn.  So I could make him more potent in combat by increasing both the amount of attacks and increasing his strength.  The Flash could also disarm a gun toting Henchmen for a round. If things go bad, he can also heal both blood and stun damage.

The one power that is unique to the tv version is the "Speed Force Bolts".  Which will allow the Flash to make a range attack on an unlucky foe that hits automatically, wounds on a 3+, and causes one blood and two stun damage.

However each time a speedster uses a power they run the risk of creating a speed force paradox.  Some powers are easy and can't trigger a paradox while others will cause one 50% of the time.  The paradox can be anything from taking some stun damage to calling the Black Flash to hunt you down.  Knowing my luck, I will be creating paradoxes all the time.  Which means I better get Black Flash painted up soon.

Up next is another model that is 90% one colour.  I will give you a hint, "(insert name here), you have failed this city!"

Kevin

The Proud Men and Women of the GCPD

I finished up another two GCPD members for my Batman/Arrow crews.  The low level cops are a definite must for any Batman/Arrow crew.  Batman or Sidekick turns on the Batsignal ASAP while the cops go after the ground level objectives.  Also the low rep cops have "Arrest" (1MC + 1SC = remove KO'd model in base contact as a casualty).  This has a double benefit in the game.  First off, it  removes KO'd models from the game; so they don't get back up and cause problems later.  Secondly, it gets you a few extra victory points from removing those KO'd models as casualties.

I also repainted one more of my cars.  The GCPD have a cruiser to bring in the ruffians of Gotham city.  I actually painted this model twice.  Turns out I cannot free hand paint lettering worth a damn.  I ended up using some scrapbook lettering stickers.  They are not the greatest, but they got the job done.  I think on the next one I might try cutting out a stencil from heavy card.   Or maybe I will repaint it for a third time.

I always thought that it would have been cool to see a TV series all about the cops in Gotham (This was before the Gotham TV sow came out).  Basically a CSI: Gotham, where you never actually see Batman.  You may see something move quick out of the corner of the screen when the cops arrive at a crime scene, but you never actually see the bat.  Or the cops can hear Gordon talking to someone in his office, but when they go in he is alone and the window is open.  Little did I know that there was already a whole comic series about that entitled "Gotham Central".  It ran 40 issues from 2002 until 2006.  It was definitely worth the read.  

What's up next on the painting table?  I will give you a hint, "My name is Barry Allen and I am the fastest man alive".

Kevin

Stop...Hammer Time!

I finished up the second Sidekick for my Joker crew, Mr Hammer.  This model will bring some durability and power to the crew.  He will be a more straightforward sidekick to use than Harley, move forward and hit stuff with big hammer.  His "Bodyguard" ability will also help protect Joker or Harley from incoming fire.

"Brutal" (re roll the collateral damage dice) is great combined with his one blood, one stun, Handy/Reach Hammer.  Gives him an extra chance to knock someone to the ground or put on an extra stun maker.  Also If you can activate him early in a round and use his "Lethal Blow" (if you do damage the enemy model gains "Stunned" effect (can't spend action counters until end of the round))  he could really throw a wrench (or large hammer) into your opponent's plan.

Mr Hammer was a great mini boss in the Arkham City game.  There was a whole extra depth to his story that I did not pick up on until very late in the game.  Originally I thought he was just a cool looking one-armed thug.  I did not realize the connection to Penguin's own one armed thug.  I figured that he was just a Penguin version of the same enemy (like the titan thugs).  It wasn't until later that I noticed that they were missing the opposite arms.

It did not all come together for me until I had to solve one of the Riddler's riddles in the steel mill.  Once you have beaten both of Mr. Hammer and Sickle (Penguin's guy) in the main story, you can find them sitting together in the steel mill.  They are the answer to the riddle " Once assembled, do these two become one again?".

Hammer and Sickle were conjoined twins that used to work in a Russian circus.  Joker recruited them and had Thomas Eliot (Hush) separate them.  Joker then decided only to keep Mr Hammer because he wanted a "right hand man".

Kevin