15 - "Speak Not a Whispered Word of Them"

I finished painting one of the last two members for my Court of Owls crew that I am planning on bringing to Adepticon, Strix.   It was a fun model to paint.  Nice sculpt with well defined musculature.  I was very worried about braking it while I was working on her, although she is not as dainty as Damian.  I went with a simple colour scheme to match the rest of my owls, brown body suit, dark brown gloves and boots, with red sword wraps for a splash of colour.  

The online meta for BMG says that Strix is one of (if not) the best henchman in the game.  She has great stats; both Willpower and Endurance 6, Attack and Defense 4, Movement 3 and a 4+ strength.  She is an expensive henchman, coming it at 60 reputation and $100 funding, but well worth it. 

Most of her traits make her more maneuverable.  She is an Acrobat (+1 move, can jump without spending movement counters and can Dodge ranged attacks).  She also has Climbing Claws (climbing is not impaired movement and can stop part way up a wall).  Stealth means she can only be seen within 8".  I don't envision Strix relying on her Throwing Knives, but when she does the Rapid Fire (1 Special Counter to increase Rate of Fire by 1) makes it more effective.  She also has the Reanimated Owls and Weakness to Cold that all Court of Owl henchmen have.  

Her weapons are where she really stands out.  She is equipped with 2 Throwing Daggers.  They have a range of 8" with a rate of fire of 2 (3 with rapid fire), dealing a single blood damage.  They are also Sharp (re-roll to wound).  Dealing only a single blood and short range, the Throwing Daggers are very situational.  

I think I will see her stabbing people up close with her Paired Katanas more often.  These weapons are similar to every other Katana in the game; they deal double blood damage, Handy (re-rolls to Hit) and Sharp (re-rolls to wound).  However her Katanas are also Overwhelming (opponents are -1 to Block rolls).  So an opponent would need to roll a 5 or a 6 to block a hit from the Paired Katana!

I am looking forward to equipping her with a Bat-claw and have her jump around with Damian as a two man kill squad!

I have started to working on the last member of the crew now, Lincoln March.  After him I have the Owl objective markers to paint, 2 display bases and a carrying case to finish by the end of the month.  Time to buckle down!

Kevin

14 - "They Watch You In Your Bed"

I went from painting the larger Knight Models Batman figures of Clayface and King Shark, to painting one of the smallest, Damian Wayne.  I love this Damian model and had a lot of fun painting it.  I started by blocking out all the colours.  The highlights and shading followed rather quickly.  I used a lot of layering and glazing.

I was very torn between which head to give Damian.  The box comes with two, one with the hood down wearing the traditional domino mask and one with the hood up wearing a Court of Owls mask.  In the end I decided to go with the owl mask, since I was planning on taking Damian to Adepticon in my Court of Owls crew.

Damian Wayne is a beast (if not a bit of a glass cannon) in the game.  He has some good mid-level stats (mostly fours).  The Willpower and Endurance of 5 is not the greatest.  However he is only 60 rep and counts as a henchman.  He is also a tri-affiliate, he can be used in Brave and the Bold, League of Shadows and Court of Owls.

He has alot of the rules most of the Robins before him had; Acrobat, Batclaw, Detective, Martial Artist.  This Robin also has Small (bonus to pings) and True Love: Talia al Ghul.  The Invaluable rule (this model is worth an additional VP is made a casualty) seems bad at first, but then I remember Damian is only a henchman so he is not worth much VP to begin with.  

He also has a new rule, Mentoring.  This limits Damian Wayne to only a single piece of equipment.  It turns all the blood damage that he inflicts into stun if he is used in a Brave and the Bold Crew.  However he then gains Boy Wonder (enemies cant re-roll hits against him) and True Love Bruce Wayne.  If there is a Bruce Wayne in the crew then he also gains True Love Damian.

He wields arguably the best close combat weapon in the game, the Katana.  This is then combined with Combo: Katana (bonus attack dice for every 2 attack counter spent).  So a basic maxed out Damian can use 4 Attack Counters but makes 6 attacks, dealing a potential 12 blood damage!  This can be made even worse in a League of Shadows crew.  If Damian is near the leader for an Inspire (bonus Counter) and Goro for his Kill Them (bonus Attack Counter), Damian could then make 9 attacks, dealing 18 blood damage...

Five more models left for my Adepticon crew; Styx, Lincoln and 3 owls!  

Kevin