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

Red Ones Go Fasta

A while ago I picked up some toy cars that were roughly the right size for the Batman Miniatures Game from a second hand store.  I was really focusing at the time on the buildings I was making for an event so I never got around to repainting the vehicles.  I took a little break from my Joker Crew to paint one up.

I have never painted a car before.  I did not just want to use my regular paint, because I did not want a mate finish.  I wanted to try and paint a candy red colour on my SUV toy.  I started by removing a few screws and breaking the car down into pieces.  I then primed black and then covered the outside of the model in silver.  I had no idea what I was doing but figured I would give it a shot (if I screwed up the model, it cost me about a buck and a half).  I then sprayed 2 coats of Testors Spray Enamel: Custom Red (Leaving about 3 hours between coats).

I spray worked great.  You can still see some brush strokes from the sloppy silver base brush (next time I will probably use a spray silver).  I am very happy with it for the amount of time it took, and it looks so much better then it did.  Also I think the enamel spray is going to be very resilient to wear and tear.  

It might be a little bit to big, but close enough I say.

Kevin

The Clown King of Crime

I finally finished up the leader to my Joker Crew for BMG, Arkham City Joker.  Who does not like a strutting Joker figure?  The Joker is my all time favorite villain. He is such a great contrast to Batman.  The hero wearing all black while his arch-nemesis dresses in bright vibrant colours is a great image.  The portrayal of the two in the Arkham games is great.  Batman is his usual brooding self while the Joker always appears to be enjoying his life (or unlife...spoiler alert?).

There have been many different takes on the Joker character.  However, I have always loved Mark Hamill's voice work for him in the original animated series.  The gravelly voice that can go from hysterically funny in one sentence to bone chilling creepy in the next.  I loved it when they got both Kevin Conroy and Mark Hamill to voice Batman and Joker respectively in the Arkham series (except Origins).  It was amazing to hear the voices I grew up watching with a much more darker adult tone  (it's almost like they grew up with me).
 
In the BMG,  Joker is an amazing leader.  Hands down his greatest ability is Kaos Agent.  This rule has two parts.  First, you take one of your opponents turn counters out of the "Take the Lead" pool.  This lowers the amount of turns in the game by one and increases the odds of Jokers crew taking the lead.  The really incredible part of the Kaos Agent rule though, is that is gives all Henchmen with the Joker affiliate gain the "Trickster" ability.  This allows a model to rearrange his action counters at the start of his activation.  The Joker crew lead by the Clown King of Crime to be highly versatile and able to react more easily to their opponents activation.

The most fun rule Joker has in my opinion is the combination of "Total Vision" (can see anywhere on the board) and his remote controlled Exploding Teeth weapon.  You can play it like Arkham City Batman and his Baterangs, but with an explosion template!

A potentially more deadly combination is his "Luck" ability (1 special counter to re-roll one dice) and his "One Shot Gun" (one use only firearm that auto hits and inflicts 3 blood damage and Crit: Casualty).  Use the "Luck" ability to re-roll the collateral damage dice to increase the chances of a critical hit (which in this case would remove the enemy model from play immediately as a casualty).

Kevin

Can I Axe You a Question?

I was saying that line the whole time while painting this henchman.  I really like painting Joker henchman.  They are clean models with a good amount of details and a lot of character.

The Axe-man was the last of my Joker henchman that I currently have.  I don't know exactly how much I will use him.  He is compatible reputation to Joey Bats (Contra-Auguste).  The bat and the axe are both heavy and handy (re roll to hit and +1 str to wound).  However the axe does two blood to the bats single stun.

Joey Bats does have a slightly better stat line though, with one additional endurance point.  Out of all of their special rules I do like axemans "Tireless" the most (although Joey Bats Hardened (convert first blood counter received each round into a stun counter) is great too).  This allows the model to run by spending only a single special counter (instead of a special and movement counter).  Could be very useful in getting him into position to axe my opponent some questions or grab objectives.

Kevin

Dice Tray, now in 3D!...and Magnetic!

I worked on some none "model" hobby stuff recently.  I made a few new dice/card bags for Batman and the DCU miniature games.  I also made a little dice tray for BMG.

Around Christmas we had picked up some small little stocking suffers for our nephews.  As with all the best Christmas gifts, I forgot were I put them and then forgot about them entirely.  One item was a Batman magnetic dart board.  Once rediscovered, I decided to turn it into a dice roiling tray to save my miniatures from wayward rolled dice.  

Plus, in keeping with hobby trends, it is still magnetic.  What benefit this provides, I do not know.  

Now back to some Joker crew.

The Unlucky Duck

I finished up a piece of terrain yesterday night.  I picked up a bunch of the circus plastic card terrain a while ago.  I decided to add some game booths to fill out the board.

I tried building this one a bit differently. I got the idea for the technique from an old copy of the Malifaux Chronicals.  I built a block frame for my miter box.  I used that to make a set of identical length timbers out of balsa wood.  Those timbers were assembled to make an A-frame.  I then attached the frames together and glued on more planks to make the walls.

I had a lot of fun with this one.  I think I will probably make another 3 soon.

Kevin