Batman vs The Penguin

Batman pulled up on a deserted street, littered with barricades, boxes and traffic lights(?). There was something decidedly fishy going on here and it wasn't the Gotham Zoo.

He worked his way down the street, taking out lamp posts as he went (in order to keep things dark), ably supported by Gotham's finest albeit hanging back quite a bit.

He spotted a henchman trying to move a rather large, heavy safe across the street. Time to step in – out came the Batarang, clocking the henchman on the head. But there was a sniper on the roof that also needed dealing with.

The Gotham Police found themselves in trouble when Mr Scythe made an appearance – Agent Ron taking the worst of it.

Meanwhile Batman went after the sniper (who hadn't actually managed to hit anything) but his fighting skills were left wanting and the henchman was given a reprieve.

Meanwhile the Penguin's crew were racking up victory points with the 'safe' loot counter that was slowly making its way across the table.

Batman stepped in to put an end to that but time had run out. Despite Bravo taking out the sniper, the Penguin had accumulated enough VPs to sneak a win.

Mr Cobblepot claimed it was a hollow victory but there was a definite smile on his face ;)

Great game, albeit slow and full of mistakes. We had a lot of fun (re)learning the rules and things ebbed and flowed throughout. The final turn was on an absolute knife edge.

There might be something to this game after all…

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.

Painting The Dynamic Duo

With our Batman tutorial game last weekend now complete, I thought I'd explain how I painted up the Dynamic Duo.

I've made no secret about the fact that I've struggled to do justice to these fantastic models. Batman has been sitting around in a box for over two years and something as straightforward as painting capes (pretty fundamental for superheroes) became a nightmare.

Eventually, after spending some time practicing, everything started to fall into place and I managed to get the Dynamic Duo to a point I was happy with. The style of painting was something of a departure for me. I've always preferred painting dark colours, and my collection shows it, but this took things even further down that route.

As is usual for me (and especially so here) I gave everything a black undercoat. I started (again) with his cloak and cowl, as this had been the most problematic part. I had bought a blue colour specifically for the project as there wasn't a suitable pot in my collection. A 50:50 mix of Army Painter Matt Black and Vallejo Imperial Blue was the base colour and I gradually added more blue to the mix. Long before I reached 100% blue I started to add white instead, until I decided it was light enough. Once I was happy with the highlights I went back into the shadows with (very) watered down Matt Black to make the recesses deeper.

For Batman's bodysuit I followed exactly the same process but used Vallejo Basalt Grey instead of the blue. I probably went a bit lighter with the highlights in this case.

As regards 'where' to paint on the model, I followed a simple rule – the light is shining down directly above Batman's head, straight down. It became easy to figure out where I needed to add highlights by looking down onto the model from where this hypothetical light was coming from – if I couldn't see a particular part of the model, it didn't get a highlight.

Batman's base was custom build a couple of years ago, made from plasticard. I used a Matt Black / Basalt Grey recipe but added a touch of Burnt Umber in there so it was a warm grey, to contrast with Batman's 'cool' outfit. I coated it liberally with both Brown and Black washes (GW) and went back in with some highlights, adding a touch of white to my mix.

Robin turned out to be even more tricky. It was the yellow underside of his cape that caused the issues and in the end I decided to stop messing around with it and move on. He doesn't quite follow the rigid lighting rule as Batman, except in spirit.

To get the yellow to this point I started with a basecoat of GW Skrag Brown (I think), then kept adding GW Yriel Yellow until I had 100% yellow highlight. I then added a little white to take things a step further.

For his body armour I went with GW Mephiston Red and AP Matt Black. The final highlight had a tiny bit of white in it. His gloves were Vallejo Deep Green and AP Matt Black with white added again for the final highlight. Vallejo Oily Steel and Black for his leg/arm armour and all the black parts had a bit of the Basalt Grey added for subtle highlights.

I've just realised that I didn't paint his belt. This should be the same subdued yellow/ochre as Batman's – we don't want it to jump out like his yellow cloak does.

As difficult as these models were to paint for me, I realise that it was my own perfectionism and lack of practice that caused the problems. In the end the experience was really enjoyable and has set the tone for any future Batman models that I paint up.

Any questions please ask!

Batman Tutorial Game

Yesterday saw Bull and I go head to head with our respective BMG crews for a couple of tutorial games to see how the thing played, using his wonderful Fairground terrain. There has been much research, reading and theorising over the past few weeks, but we would finally see it all happen for real on the tabletop.

I sat up till the early hours the night before to make sure I had everything that I needed, all painted and packed up so I wouldn't forget anything. More on the painting in a later blog post.

For the first time (ever, I think) I went into a game pretty clueless of what was going on, so it was Bull who took the lead and explained what we had to do. I had already decided that I had little chance of winning by camping objectives for Victory Points so just went out to test a few theories, try out different actions and have a bit of fun.

First turn Batman blew up a sewer and Lamp Post with his Explosive gel, plunging the area into darkness.

Tick Explosive Gel.

It didn't matter as Joker (who can see in the dark) got to use his "One Shot Gun" anyway but somehow managed to miss.

With that opening salvo resolved the dynamic duo took to the skies, using their Batclaws to scoot up to the top of the Balloon Tower, ready to pounce on the Clowns below as they shuffled towards their objectives.

Robin picked up a couple of VPs by 'solving' Riddles – about the only positive contribution he had all day as it turned out.

Batman executed the plan I had in place all week, dropping in on 'Tristan' clown and knocking the stuffing out of him – who's laughing now?

The game continued with Bull racking up tonnes of VPs by camping the objectives whilst I tried to beat some sense into the clowns, with little success – the dice stayed cold all morning. In the final turn I decided to try and batter the Joker to get some VP, only to be foiled completely… unable to inflict any damage at all. In return Robin was almost killed by an axe.

Bull ran out the big winner, something like 19-2 VP

Game 2 started with this complete nonsense (above image).

In BMG, you deploy your objectives after you deploy your crews, so Bull placed his gas canisters right next to the dynamic duo. This forced me to take Willpower rolls when I activated, or take damage – a couple of dice rolls later my boys had taken blood damage and were on the back foot before I'd moved an inch. Awful rule, but well manipulated by Bull… and so very Joker-like.

Batman managed his second KO of the day with a random Batarang throw, Knife Clown going down like a tonne weight with no idea where the shot came from. In return, Joker managed a hit with his "One Shot Gun" and Batman was on half health, now missing a couple of actions – seriously compromised!

Again, the clowns raced through to claim their objectives while the dynamic duo tried to secure their own objectives (to what end I'm not sure) but decided to kick clown ass instead.

For the second time in one session, Tristan got battered and the duo were back onto Joker, but with similarly ineffective results. Game two ended with a familiar VP scoreline of twenty-something to 3.

So Mr J ran out massive winner on the day, although poor Tristan might not agree. Aside from collecting Objective VPs the henchmen didn't do a lot (something about not hitting barn doors from a foot away?) and even Batman (who was hitting on 3+ and wounding on 3+ most times) struggled.

Afterthoughts…

I have to say that the jury is definitely out at the moment, more games are needed. Not a great start to our BMG careers. Unlike first games of Malifaux and Warmachine/Hordes there was little in the way of excitement and the whole experience felt a little flat. There was no real drama, no bone-crunching action – it felt like there was a 'safety mode' engaged. Did we miss something?

On the plus side, the miniatures are so awesome you can't help but want to play this game. The rich background of the characters (and boyhood memories) gets the imagination fired up and there's an overwhelming excitement going into your first game. The rules all make sense on paper with a lot of scope for adventures.

However, the objective based scenarios are, well… boring to be blunt and not conducive to great adventures at all. It also means that my two characters had no chance to win either game as bodies definitely count. Even if I had camped my objectives, the clowns would have outscored me 7-5 per turn. In addition, neither of my characters can inflict blood damage, meaning I can never 'kill' an enemy (unless I push them off a building). This in turn means less VPs at the end of the game and never being able to tip things in my favour during it – Bull would always have 6 models on the table. I appreciate that this was down to poor crew choice on my part, but I went down a very characterful crew route and was punished for it, badly.

During the game itself there is a lot of housekeeping with all the tokens and action counters. There's almost too much choice for actions at times. Having to decide what your actions will be at the beginning of the turn is a neat idea, but many a time (due to inexperience I guess) I had made poor choices and had counters in the wrong slots, unable to take advantage and in effect wasting turns. The Joker crew's ability to change their minds with counters when activated made life a lot easier for Bull. He could react to situations as individual turns progressed. Not that he really needed to if I'm honest – Bats didn't really trouble him.

The idea of rolling 'to hit' against an opponent's defence stat (without taking into account your own character's skill) seems rather odd now that I've played it. Similarly, rolling to match your own strength stat 'to wound' seems odd as well. It all contributed to a feeling of disconnection.

It didn't help that both Bull and I rolled terribly poor dice all day and this had a massive effect on the games. Both Batman and Robin were terribly ineffective in close combat and even the Joker managed to miss with his gun and poisoned knife. To be fair, upon reflection, Robin was a complete waste of space, not able to inflict much damage on a good day, and with no obvious strengths. I thought together, my two characters would be almost unstoppable in melee as a team, but the reality was far from.

Maybe it was the dice again, but leader vs leader fights don't seem to be a good use of your characters. In games like Malifaux, having your two biggest guns go up against each other invariably leads to drama and lots of excited shouting – do or die – not so here. Being wounded and losing actions was terribly debilitating for my leader in game 2, but normally the leaders have so many tricky traits up their sleeves it's a waste of time to try and take them down, or so it would seem now.

The Batclaws were awesome. They worked just as I thought they would and created a great (theoretical) tactic for both games. They also provided (for me) the one real bit of movie inspiring action: Batman swooping down on an unsuspecting foe, then swooping away the following turn with the henchman face down in the dirt. The batarang was also great, but I didn't like the idea of Batman sitting up high being a sniper – it's just not Batman – he needs to be in the thick of it mashing faces, then disappear into the darkness!

Struggling to see the point of sewers. Sounds great in theory as a movement mechanism, but having a model not contributing for a minimum of 3 turns in a 6 turn game is madness. The lamp posts were ok, but we kept forgetting about it being dark!

Yet, the characters and models are so superb that we have to give it a second try. I will go back to the drawing board and try adding more bodies in the hope that things will become more balanced… and fun. Alas, until Knight Models bring out more creative scenarios (or we make up our own) the Dynamic Duo will have to be retired – they're just not up to the job!

Maybe the Gotham PD will prevail next time?!

To be continued…

Batman: Objective Thoughts

With less than 48 hours to go to our opening game I've finally decided to read a thing or two in the rulebook. Most notably, Objectives. The cornerstone of every win it seems, getting my head around Objectives would seem to be an essential task if I'm going to stand a chance against the Joker.

There are four types of Objective counter available to Batman and I get to choose three to place at the beginning of the game, though no more than one of a single type. Additionally, unlike other games, objectives are placed AFTER the crews are deployed rather than before. This throws an interesting spin onto a familiar gaming procedure. Players collect VPs at the end of each turn for every objective that has a character in base contact and no enemies in contact.

AMMO

The ammo objective can only generate VPs for the player who owns it, although anyone can take advantage of its perk. Any character carrying a weapon with an ammo stat can interact with the objective to recoup 1x ammo of their chosen weapon. These objective markers cannot be moved and count as small obstructions (so provide cover and can be climbed on). Joker has henchmen with shotguns who can take advantage of these, but Batman and Robin can also take advantage of topped up ammo for their Batarangs and Flash Grenades respectively.

TITAN

Titan is a chemical solution that transforms individuals into hulking wrecking machines. Much like the Ammo, the Titan Objectives will only give VPs to owning players and anyone can grab a dose of Titan once per game. Glugging back a pint of the green stuff increases all stats by 1 for a turn, including Willpower. This has the potential to be incredibly powerful if timed correctly. Again, Titan is a static small obstruction so positioning it will be an important decision – I don't want to hand Joker the chance to create an entire crew of melee monsters, even for a single turn!

LOOT

Unlike the previous two examples, Loot Objectives are mobile and generate VPs at the end of the turn for anyone, owner or not,  carrying it. It does cost MCs to move it though so plans need to be made accordingly. It can't be carried into sewers and KO'd carriers will drop it immediately.

RIDDLE

These Objectives are completely different to the previous three. To begin with you get 'two for the price of one'. In addition they don't generate VPs in the traditional way – instead characters can attempt to 'solve' an individual riddle once in base contact by rolling on a table. The roll outcome could give you 3, 1 or no VPs… or even -1 VP! Once an attempt has been made to solve the riddle the objective disappears, regardless of the roll outcome. One thing to take into account is that you get a -1 roll modifier when rolling on an enemy's riddle.



THOUGHTS…

I like the fact that Ammo and Titan cannot generate VPs for the enemy, though having Joker's henchmen claiming perks could be a pain – especially if they decide to camp on the objective. Both are typically placed in the enemy's deployment zone, according to the rulebook, so this will have additional implications – i.e. the enemy can sit on them from turn one.

I'm not liking the idea of loot – not without Catwoman on board, who is a Loot magnet – and I don't want to be chasing Joker henchmen around the board to stop them generating Loot VPs. However, carrying loot could be a hinderance to said Henchman due to the MC movement cost – either they're staying still to get full use of their actions or they're having to sacrifice tokens in order to move.

Riddles appeal for the simple reason that both Batman and Robin have the Detective trait, which allows them a re-roll on the Riddle result table. In addition, Riddle objectives can be placed outside the enemy's deployment zone so I can get to them quicker.

Given that I'm not able to 'kill' enemy models (unless I can push them off a very tall building) the bulk of my VPs will come from Objectives. Taking into account that I will be outnumbered 3-1 I need to choose my Objectives, and their placement, very carefully.

We will see…

Watching The Clock…

The countdown is now truly in effect as we approach the last few days of preparation before Batman and Joker square up in our tutorial game of BMG.

Bull has been studying his options in some depth and tweaked his list to perfection (we will see). I, on the other hand, chose my list based on theme rather than strategy – in fact I haven't spent a lot of time reading the rules so am oblivious to the details. I am also discovering that, by not taking any henchmen, I am hamstringing myself before I've even started – negating several buffs passed on by my leader and being outnumbered by more than 3-1. This last point in particular could be fatal, where holding objectives seems to be the key to winning.

In addition I don't get to use any of the cash available for upgrades or gear as only Henchmen can use it. This is a terrible waste of resources, on paper at least.

However, this is to be a tutorial day, hence I am sticking to my guns and learning the limited palette of collective abilities my characters have, rather than trying to remember a host of rules I'm bound to forget at some point during the game. If I can get Batman's rules/skills/tactics clear in my head it gives me something to build on when things get more competitive. Whether I play for the win or just run around trying things out is up for debate at the moment, I'm just looking forward to playing a game… the first time since November!!

I am very pleased to announce that I will be fielding fully painted miniatures on the day – something I don't think has ever happened, except at tournaments. Granted I only had two models to paint in a month, but you will be amazed how tricky it has been. Not only has time been an issue, but also my painting mojo seemed to have deserted me. Needless to say, perseverance has won and I have to say I'm very pleased with the results so far. I won't be showing any photos of the finished models before our game… I want to build up the mystery and drama for the day!

To be continued…

Joker's Box Of Tricks

Last time out I had a look at the gear and skills that my 200 rep Batman crew will be taking with them for our tutorial game in a couple of weeks. Now I want to have a brief look at what I will be up against.

Joker

The big thing that J-man has in his back pocket are the traits Trickster and Kaos Agent. The first allows him to change the position of his tokens when he activates. Wow – this is a big deal and basically means he doesn't have to do any forward thinking at the start of each turn. The latter trait allows him to remove an opponent's token from the bag at the beginning of the game (meaning the game will end a turn sooner) but worse (better?) than that is he confers the Trickster trait onto all his Henchmen! Now we have an entire crew (possibly) who can react to things as they activate, rather than planning their actions at the beginning of each turn. That is a huge deal and considered borderline 'broken' by many as the advantage it gives is immense.

Inspire gives Henchmen close by an extra Action counter to use as they see fit. This will mean that Joker's bodyguards will be able to do more, making things a little tricky. Talking of which, Luck allows the Joker to re-roll a single dice roll that affects him directly – including an attack against him. This could potentially pull him out of the fire if timed correctly.

Regarding weapons, he has a Poisoned Knife that will inflict a single blood damage – it has a nasty critical hit effect though, poisoning the target for more damage or removing their action counters. He also has Explosive Teeth – remote controlled, which when combined with his Total Vision will mean he can shoot around corners.

The ace up his sleeve has to be his One Shot Gun. Given that Joker's Total Vision allows him to see almost anywhere on the board, this weapon could be deadly. An automatic his inflicting 3 blood damage is bad enough, but a crit will remove the target as a casualty – the end. That is nasty!

Henchmen

Most of the henchmen that Bull is likely to include in his list have the Let's Go trait. This gives Bull the chance to be able to immediately activate another henchman after one has finished his go. This chain activation could be utilised well at key moments in the game.

Each individual henchman has a couple of additional traits that will prove a nightmare for Bull to remember, haha. They're all pretty functional without being outstanding, adding extra individual flavour. I'm not going to try and remember them myself.

The Joker's henchmen do have a decent collection of weapons though… and all of them do blood damage. Axes are getting re-rolls and inflicting 2 blood; the Shotgun inflicts 2 blood and a stun. I need to stay clear of these if I'm going to survive the game.



Conclusions

The henchmen, on paper at least, are easy prey. I'll be hitting them on 2 or 3+ and they'll be hitting Batman on a 5+. They only have 4 Endurance on average so not a lot of staying power. If I can get the drop on them, I could incapacitate them before they can react. Things are never that easy though and the various traits will come into play to get them working as a team or gumming up the works in some form or other.

As I have mentioned elsewhere, my 200 rep crew can't inflict any blood damage so the Joker's crew will always be a recovery roll or two away from full strength. I won't be able to claim any VPs for casualties, only KO's, so I already feel on the back foot. In contrast, Bull's Joker crew have plenty of ways to inflict blood damage on the dynamic duo and potentially remove them from the game. I'm kinda realising why I prefer to play as the bad guys!

Batman Closes In On Joker

We've been watching the Joker put together his crew online for a while, now it's time to go toe to toe. Batman is going to hunt down the Joker and put him out of his misery.

We're starting with a straightforward(!) 200 rep starter game in a couple of weeks while we get some experience under our collective belt. Hopefully this should enlighten us to the basics of the game. I've already decided on my crew make up, but I'm going to have a look at exactly what abilities and gear I'll be taking into battle with me and see if I can work out a plan.

Batman (Arkham City)

First thing of note, the big man's Inspire trait will be wasted as I'm not taking any Henchmen for these initial games, but that's ok – one less thing to worry about.

My main focus is on a combination of the Batclaw, Sneak Attack and Total Vision. The claw allows me to get up high on terrain – out of reach and sight of the enemy. I can then move around on rooftops or bide my time and use the claw again to drop on an unsuspecting victim, thanks to my total vision. They wouldn't be able to defend themselves with a block as they couldn't see me when I launched the attack. Ideally I need to incapacitate the model I attack before they get chance to retaliate.

One way to chip away from distance is the Batarang. I have three of these for the game and because they are remote controlled I get to ignore any Blink rolls for intervening terrain – awesome! When combined with my Night Vision it would appear that I can literally shoot around corners – OMG!

Defensively, Bat Armour gives me an effective armour save of 5+, whilst Counterattack allows me to hit back should I block an attack. A big issue is the lack of Martial Artist which would negate consequences of being outnumbered, something that will happen with Batman. I need to be aware of this – Batman is good but will be dragged down if facing multiple foes at the same time.

Should anyone get to Batman while he's up high, his Batcape will prevent any damage should he be knocked off or bodge a Jump move between buildings.

The one thing that does bother me is that a lot of these abilities / gear require a Special Token, of which you can only have a max of 3 per turn. I foresee resource management being a big issue and careful choices having to be made at the beginning of each turn.

Robin (Tim Drake)

Boy Wonder also has a trait that won't come into play this weekend. Follow Me gives nearby henchmen an extra move token. Again, this will come in handy in later games with cops but for now it's one less thing to forget to do.

The Batclaw is a part of Robin's kit too, so I can see these guys swinging around the place like Tarzan. An instant move of 30cm to any elevation in range will come in handy for rapid escapes as well as dropping in on goons. Tim also has a couple of Flash Grenades which Blind and disorientate enemy models – these will be a perfect precursor to a melee attack and a great way to break up groups. Robin's Bo, with its Handy (rerolls!) and Reach effects, sounds like it's going to be a great weapon. Looking forward to hitting a few clowns with that!

Both Batman and Robin have the Detective trait. This will mean that I can cancel an opponent's Pass at the beginning of each round. Unfortunately, seeing as I will be heavily outnumbered, Joker won't be able to Pass, so another trait I don't have to worry about. Robin also has the Searcher ability. This allows me to reduce the Joker's strategy points by 1 before the game starts. If we do go for the optional Strategies (unlikely in a training game) it will prevent Joker from accessing the 3 point strategies which is good.



Conclusions

I usually get a vibe for a game before an opening battle, but I confess I have no idea how this one is going to play out.

The main thing I've noticed is that I don't have any weapons that inflict blood damage, though there's a lot of stun damage to go around. I think these means that I'm not able to inflict any casualties, only KO enemy models – this is a massive negative if true, as I won't be able to remove any of Joker's crew from the table.

In addition, the fact that I could be outnumbered 3-1 is something I need to keep in the forefront of my mind. I can't go charging in and expect to come out the other side – I will have to employ guerrilla tactics until I can reduce the number of enemy models, making best use of Sneak Attack and Total Vision.

I could have gone for a boat load of cops to accompany Batman, and the fact I didn't means that I'm missing out on the benefits of several traits. But it would have meant unpainted models on the day no doubt and I love the idea of taking Batman & Robin. I may regret this decision if I'm meant to be babysitting objectives to get VPs.

At the same time I need to remember that this is a tutorial game day so, while there will be banter abound, I have to learn as much as I can. No point sneaking about for 6 turns, only for the game to end and come away none the wiser about how it all works.

Anyone else any thoughts?

Next I'm going to look at the Joker and see what I need to watch out for…

Painting Mojo

You guys have seen how much I've struggled getting back into painting, due to lack of practice and lack of time. My own perfectionist tendencies have also got in the way, ensuring I've not been happy with anything other than my best results.

Yesterday we had Bull and his lovely wife over for lunch and managed to get a bit of hobby chat in. It was enough to get me motivated to spend some time in the evening painting, on this occasion I took my time more and enjoyed it by not putting any pressure on myself.

I still managed to faff around with Batman's cloak and cowl without great results, but the work done on his body suit is getting things back to where they should be. Still need to blend some layers but things are looking up.

Better than that, my motivation is back after a short hiatus. Just in time too, as there is a new player in town – not only will Batman have to contend with Bull's Joker crew, he now has to deal with the emergence of Michael's Penguin.

Shades Of The Batman…

When it came to painting up my Batman miniature I needed some inspiration. The beauty is, there is no shortage of inspiration out there so the only difficulty is making a decision.

There are so many incarnations of Batman throughout his media-based life so far but today I'm looking at the more mainstream visuals – my painting style leans towards the dark side so my research focussed on a somewhat limited palette.

A more colourful image of Batman (like the one above) was the obvious place to start. This colour palette would be perfect for painting miniatures and creating impact on the tabletop. To me, however, it was a little bit too 'Ultramarines' and as such wasn't a contender for long.

This next image neutralises a lot of the bright colour of the first, whilst maintaining a good level of contrast between the blues and greys. I do like the blue tones but the grey is a little on the light side for me.

Here we have an almost monotone outfit – the blues replaced by black. As much as I like the idea of having more black, it just seems to have lost something. I do prefer this version of the yellow belt, not so bright with a richer yellow than the others.

The Dark Knight himself is the epitome of dark. With an all-black outfit he is definitely the coolest (looking not un-Vader-like) but this causes it own problems on the miniature table. It would make for a rather dull model I feel and black can be difficult to highlight/shade.

Given that the model I chose to paint it's not surprising that I went for Batman's Arkham colour scheme. The cape and cowl are more off an off-black shade of blue, supported by mid-grey for the bodysuit and touches of black here and there. The yellow belt is toned down too, ensuring it doesn't zing out at you against the desaturated colours around it.

The only question remaining is can I match this in my painting?