Carstock Terrain

The Batman Miniature Game (henceforth referred to as BMG), requires a good bit of modern urban terrain. Many gaming stores have access to a variety of terrain, but most terrain pieces are rural environments (hills, trees, ponds, etc), or battlefield accessories (bunkers, trenches). And usually the buildings that are around are fantasy buildings (straw huts, castles) or 40K ruins. The later will work somewhat in a pinch, as Gotham does have a similar architecture style, but it's just not the same. So BMG needs it's own. But, as most tabletop gamers know, terrain can be very expensive (money we'd rather use on minis) and time consuming (which we rather use to paint said minis). The solution: cardstock terrain.

There are quite a few of free plans for use, which some that I found did not turn out too badly. But the best ones you're going have to pay a few bucks for. The best site I have found for BMG terrain is World Work Games (http://www.worldworksgames.com/). Their line of Mayham City terrain works perfectly. The plans range from about $5-$12, but they all come with "smoosh" insurance. If your building gets smooshed, just print up another one! I have purchased three plans from them for use with BMG, which is what I'm going to write about today.

* Mayham Bank
* Mayham Corporate
* Mayham Streets of Legend

For anyone who wants to get started on cardstock terrain, there are some basics you need to know first. Mad Brew Labs has a page which links numerous sites for terrain stores and tutorials. World Works Games also has some decent tutorial videos on their site as well.

*I apologize for the unpainted minis. One of these days I'll get caught up and get some color on these things.


Mayham Bank

Though this was not my first attempt at cardstock terrain, it was my first attempt at something of this magnitude. I figured "What better terrain to have than a freaking bank?!" These plans are part of World Works legacy plans they refer to as "The Vault". This just means that these plans are a bit older (2002) and don't make use of their inter-connective designs.

 The Lobby area

 The Back Office

 The Vault Interior

The plans give you numerous options of how to build your model. I went with the taller walls, but in hind sight, I should have used the shorter ones since I wasn't going two-story. All in all, for my first attempt, I don't think it came out too bad, especially the interior. I think I made the vault and office areas too small, and the roof was also a real pain. Yes, it has a printout for the roof, but the size was off and I had stretch it out some with partial cuts and it didn't come out even. All things considered, it didn't come out terrible. Plus, as a bonus, the plans come with a few vehicle cutouts, including an armored car, taxi, and 2 sedans.

Mayham Corporate

This model comes from WWG's Quick Terrain line, and it lives up to its name. Where the bank took me week to build (during my staycation at that!), this one I completed within a couple of hours. There is no interior, which is a huge time saver. The plans include a design pattern to be able to collapse the building flat, but I went with a permanent build instead in order to give it a solid base. In fact, I purchased a stock of 3/16" foam core board for use with this and the streets (see below). This tower is actually 3 tower pieces, which can be separated and combined with other pieces. There are also plans for balconies (not shown) and bridges to connect multiple towers, which I plan to make use of at some point in the future. The plans even have a cutouts for an internal support, so the the tower is actually pretty sturdy. Overall, I'm pleased with the ease of build with this one. I do plan on making a second tower in the future.

Mayham Streets

These I have only begun to toy with, but show tremendous promise. While some plans only mention foam core as an option, this one is required. Otherwise, you would have no support underneath, and the foam core is used in the connectors. The streets are assembled using 6" x 6" modular pieces which connect together using small (@ 2"x 1") cutouts of foam core. The plans include cutouts for the connector pieces, so no guess work involved. It's recommended to use printable adhesive paper (ie. label paper) for the connector cutouts so you don't have to mess with glue. The plans also come with clean streets, dirty streets (shown above), and post-apocalypses. Each sections takes about an hour to completely cutout and complete. You can print a full sheet of connectors (@24-30 pieces), and are fairly quick to cutout, especially with label paper. This promises to be very rewarding once complete. Not longer playing on bare tables.

Final Thoughts

Although this ended being more costly that I originally thought, with having to buy a new printer (mine died anyway), buying carstock paper, foam core, label paper, etc, it still turns out cheaper than buying pre-molded terrain, and gives you a lot more options. There just doesn't seem to be a lot of modern terrain (as opposed to fantasy or sci-fi), so this seems to be the best course of action for now. That is, until the Arkham Asylum releases in the US :)

First Battle

After about 6 months of reading the rules, collecting minis, and making terrain, I FINALLY got a chance to play the game. It was an impromptu game between a friend and I. We were at our LGS for miniature night, and we weren't really feeling up another match or Warmachine/Hordes. I just happened to have my Batman minis and rule book with me, so we decided to give a whirl.

Since I didn't have enough objective tokens for a true scenario, nor did I bring my terrain, we just grabbed some Warhammer 40K terrain off of the shelves at the store and just went for a scrap on the streets. Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures, so I'm just going to go over my initial thoughts on the game mechanics itself. I am also certain we did things wrong, but we'll figure it out as we go.

We played Batman vs Joker (because, yeah!. And that's all I have at the moment). The crews were probably not even reputation wise, but we were just trying to get a feel for the mechanics.

Pros:

Game Speed
Even though we were constantly looking up rules, the game went pretty fast all things considered. It probably ran about 2 hours and change, which is really good considering some of our games in other systems run easily that long. This is a huge win in my book. I had figured the longest portion would be the Raising the Plan phase (i.e. assigning action tokens), but it actually went pretty quick. Model activations were simple to execute, and the fact that models can only see 30cm (since the game always takes place at night), really help limit ranged attacks and reduce the need to always be behind cover.

Variety
Both bands played completely different. Batman swung around buildings with the Batclaw (i.e. grappling hook), then drops down and pummels his opponents while the two cops tried to move up to engage the thugs. But the Joker has some nasty tricks too. His One Shot gun has a chance to take anyone out with a single shot, and almost killed Batman in round 2. Also, the Trickster ability, which allows the Joker to reallocate his action counters when he activates, is incredible. The fact that he grants that ability to his henchmen is just icing. Once we add in scenario objectives , it should really mix things up. I can't wait to see other crews on the board.

Balance
In our game, there was only 1 casualty (the poor meter maid got got knocked out, then stabbed in the gut!), though Batman had Joker down to one health. Most attacks in our crew just did stun damage, which can be recovered at the end of the turn. Lethal damage, such as wounds from a firearm or a knife, don't recover so easily. This really balanced out the mobility of Batman and his Batclaw. Even the Joker was almost knocked out, because Batman didn't want to get swarmed by a bunch of thugs, he had to beat cheeks and couldn't finish him off. By the end of the game, the Joker was almost back to full health.

Cons:
Lots of Special Abilities, no descriptions on the cards
Each model has some special descriptors on it. However, the details of those descriptors are not on the cards, so that means looking up the definitions constantly. This puts a bit of a learning curve on the game, especially when you look at Batman's or the Joker's cards. Once I get to the point to run demos, I'm going to have a print up of all the abilities relevant to each crew for easy reference.

Metric System
All measurements are done in cm. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but for someone so used to inches for nearly all mini games, judging distances is vastly different. 17cm seems far. But when you realize that it's not even 7 inches, it really changes your perceptions. Fortunately, you can pre-measure in this game (I think). Without that, us Americans would be really thrown off.

Loose Tokens
Action and damage counter sit on top of the cards. The risk of this is that they are easily jostled. I nearly knocked all my tokens off the cards from the wind stirred up by closing the rule book. Also, the official damage tokens are overly expensive. for about $10, you get 8 stun markers and 8 wound markers. They are well made, but I'll be looking for alternatives. If I can find a way to use magnetic tokens, then have a metal tray or clipboard to fasten the cards too, this would be perfect.

Last Thoughts
Overall, I think this a really fun game and can't wait to play again. My friend mentioned the idea of doing a Mordheim-style campaign where your henchmen and heroes can gain new abilities. Perhaps an idea for the future, Knight Models?

Welcome to The Watchtower

In the DC Comics Universe, the Watchtower is where the Justice League maintains their vigil over Earth and it's safety. Here, it's about keeping an eye on the Batman Minitures Game by Knight Models. Contributers can post battle reports, painting/terrain projects, or any thing else related to Batman Miniature Game, DC comics, or miniature gaming in general.

Like Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, two great things brought together make an extraordinary combination. In this case, miniature games (my favorite hobby), and Batman (my favorite DC superhero).

"I'm the god da$% Batman!"
 - Batman