Creating Batman Objective Markers

So after Wednesday's post about painting the Dynamic Duo, today I have a quickie post about the Objective markers I used in our recent Batman tutorial game.

In the game you get to choose 3 out of 4 types of Objectives to deploy in the game – Joker gets an additional Laughing Gas Canister option. I chose Ammo Crate, Titan Dose and Riddles.

For all the bases I used the same toppers I'm using for all my Batman miniatures, and weighted the bases as per my earlier tutorial.

The ammo crate was something I found in my collection of unused bitz. I think it came from Ainsty many moons ago. Very non-descript and the best thing I could find at short notice (I created all these markers the night before our game).

To paint it I used Vallejo Burnt Umber and Army Painter Matt Black as a basecoat for the wood. I then added lines of increasingly lighter paint, adding more Burnt Umber, Ochre and/or White to the mix. Once complete I finished with GW washes of Brown and Sepia. The metal was done the same as Robin's armour.

The Titan containers came from a GW Blood Angel Baal Predator weapon sprue – they're the promethium canisters for the Heavy Flamer side sponsons. I clipped them both out and stuck them back to back before gluing them to their base. I chose a base topper that had a wall on it so that the canisters were protected a little from breaking off.

The painting here was Vallejo Basalt Grey with increasingly White highlights. I added Vallejo Oily Steel for damage and Vallejo Deep Green and Green Fluo for the 'leaks'.

My Riddles were something of a last minute panic. I wasn't sure how I was going to do these and was running out of time. They turned out to be remarkably easy.

I worked out the rough sizes I needed the Question Marks to be and printed a sheet of them at the right scale using Helvetica Bold as the font. I then roughly cut out one and taped it to a piece of 3mm plasticard.

Using my scalpel I stabbed dots through the paper template and into the plastic, following the outline of my printed Helvetica question marks. I then binned my paper template and used clippers to trim as closely as I could to my outline of stabbed marks. Using my scalpel and files I tidied up the shape until I was happy. I hasten to add that the dot at the base of the '?' was included as part of the main bit – it's all one piece.

I pinned the plastic to my base using the same method as my miniatures, then waited for everything to dry.

After a black spray undercoat I basecoated in Matt Black and Vallejo Deep Green. I added multiple highlight layers using the Deep Green then started to add White. Final pure white highlights at key points along the edges finished things off.

I gave the impression of the dot at the bottom of the ? by painting in a horizontal highlight at the right height, with shadow above it.


I still have a loot Objective to build at some point in the future, though not sure where to begin with that one.