Heroes and Villains

I've finally got some more painting done, and given my recent positive experience with the Batman Miniatures Game, I've been inspired to add to my roster of heroes and villains.

First up is Batman's sidekick (who somewhat ironically, isn't a 'sidekick' in BMG) Robin, the Boy Wonder. This model is 'The Kid' from Crossover Miniatures, a small company I feel the need to support despite the noticeable difference in scale from the miniatures I'm using (Robin, being a teen of indeterminate age, neatly avoids this issue). Although not an officially licensed product, the miniature bears a striking resemblance to the 1990's incarnation of Robin, Tim Drake, and is significantly different from (and in my view more dynamic than) the official Knight Models' Robin, which is based on the Arkham City Robin, as welll as being significantly cheaper.

As with my previous experience with Crossover Miniatures, this model was a pleasure to paint with little to no flash to clean - although the chunky base did need chopping off. I've still got to work up the courage to a add the 'R' badge to the front, and I'm unsure as to what to do with the base at the moment. Overall, I'm really happy with him and I'll continue to scrutinise the Crossover Range for models I can use as part of my project.

Next up, Agent Ron, the second of my Gotham Cops from Knight Models. I really like this sculpt and he marks my first ever use of liquid greenstuff on the arms; an experiment which I'm very happy with (you can still see the join on the arm if you look closely enough, but it's not enough to worry me). This guy is a Henchman like the officer with the baton, although unlike him, Agent Ron is unique and so cannot be used more than once in a 'gang', which seems an odd marketing decision, because by making only one of the models in a pack reusable, they have potentially discouraged people from buying more than one pack of Cops.

I'm happy with how I've managed to match the previous Policeman's paint scheme and I've kept the base simple with some road markings (which I have no idea whether they are accurate for the States). Like the last Policeman, I'm still wimping out of adding 'GPD' to the back of their jackets as I don't want to stuff them up.

The last new model for now is Mr. Freeze, a.k.a. Victor Friess (seriously...) from Knight Models. I've kept the paint job simple on this as I found that this sculpt lack some of the definition that I'm used to (especially in the face) and which provide a crutch for my method of painting. The gun is also incredibly flimsy and I'm concerned that it will break unless I'm incredibly careful when using him. This follows on from my experience of breaking the baton on the first Policeman I painted and seems to indicate that the thinner parts of Knight Models sculpts will all be fragile.

I'm generally happy with Mr. Freeze, although I feel that the head lacks any real character and the close up photo badly exposes this. However, I don't know what to do about this. I am very happy with the snow globe though, and if you look closely you might be able to make out the flakes of snow effect I went for. I deliberated a long time about his base and eventually went for a snow drift effect. At the moment this is uneven sand painted flat white. I avoided using snow basing effects as I've never really liked how they end up looking (a bit like cake icing) and although I'm okay with the base, I'll happily take suggestions on potential improvements.

At this point in proceedings I thought I'd add some group shots to show the progress I've made so far.

This is my Batman gang, featuring the big guy himself, Nightwing, Robin, Agent Ron, Generic Cop, and the Detective who theoretically could easily use the same stats as Generic Cop. This is a fully functioning and game legal gang of 330 Reputation (or 340 if I use Arkham City Batman instead of Dark Knight Rises). They are due to be reinforced by Commisioner Gordon, a Heroclix sculpt currently sitting on on the painting table.

To counter them are the villains: Joker, Harley Quinn, Mr. Freeze, Firefly and Turk. Unlike the Batman Gang, Joker's mob are short on numbers, especially as without game stats, I can't use Firefly at the moment and so can only muster 251 Reputation. These guys are due for reinforcement in the form of three Free Agents: Killer Croc, the Riddler and Scarecrow. Although I wouldn't be able to use all of them at the same time, flexibility should allow for some variation and interest in games. However, it is clear that Mr. J, needs some proper henchmen and so some clowns are likely to be the next purchase from Knight Models.

All in all, I'm now in a position to be able to play BMG with decent sized gangs. I still have my reservations about the scenarios, however, my bigger concern is my own terrain (most of what you saw in the battle report was Matt's) so I need to get cracking on that. After that, I will be turning my attentions to some additional villain gangs: specifically the Penguin and the League of Shadows...