picking a faction for the Marvel game

This release made it easier by adding a big data point.

I'm moving to a new house in the next couple of weeks, a large endeavor that has kept me from miniatures a lot this summer. So naturally on my daily commute my mind wanders to gaming topics. Aaron has been tempting me (I'm an easy sell) to try out the new Marvel minis game by Knight Models, as I am a fan of the Batman game. Nonetheless, it took me a while to get into the Batman game, just because there wasn't a lot of variety in the initial releases, which has also been a factor here with the mighty Marvel game.

With only three-ish factions, picking one to focus on first would make getting things table-ready more realistic. (Since there's crossover between the good and bad sides with the neutrals.) And really, as the game is so new, I think we can safely speculate as to what's coming out... eventually. Having Knight Models spoil us so early with surprises like the Dark Avengers and the Thing gives us some strong material with which to guess.

Hells to the yeah.

The COSMIC side of things currently has the least number of figs, mostly the Guardians. And really, no bad guys. Adding the Thing and giving Doctor Doom the Cosmic icon leads me to believe they will also have the Fantastic Four and their longtime foes. Armed with that knowledge, I would speculate Cosmic would also get Ronan the Accuser and the Kree, the Silver Surfer, and the Skrulls. And frankly, the possibility of getting to play the Super-Skrull is tempting in and of itself. But who else? Other space types, sure, but even given recent comic book events, that's the smaller group of the three factions we have to pick from. On a farther limb, I would guess the royal court of the Inhumans would fit here as well (with bonus Lockjaw!), and hey, even more obscure Fantastic baddies like the Red Ghost and his Super-Apes. So, some choices, but I don't see a lot of increase right around this corner.

When Juggernaut comes out, this crew will be very tempting.

The next faction being the MUTANTS gives us an even more self-contained world, almost entirely the X-men and their various splinter groups facing off against their foes. There's easily a number of less-popular heroes I could work into a team (Havok, Polaris) considering the depth of their rosters over the decades. And so many of their foes have become their friends at one point or another, so I bet there will be many neutral picks as well. But the Brotherhood has an equally lengthy tenure, and adding in the Marauders, many fun options. Plus Juggernaut! And, dare I hope, Arcade! (OK, maybe that's just me.) I seem to have an affinity for playing the bad guys, to boot.

Finally, the SUPERHUMANS have the widest scope for growth, IMHO. Right off the bat, Black Widow implies to me that anyone SHIELD-related would fit in, which also gives us their enemies over in Hydra. Spider-man is neither a Mutant nor Cosmic, so we get his friends and his foes, including the long-awaited Sinister Six (ooh, yesss.) This also implies, to me, that Superhumans will also get the Marvel Knights affiliates like the Punisher, Moon Knight, and Luke Cage and Iron Fist. The surprise introduction of the Dark Avengers also makes it an easy leap to include the Thunderbolts here. And on top of all that, there's also decades-worth of Avenger friends and foes to bring in, from Quicksilver and Scarlet Witch to Taskmaster (another personal fave) and the Wrecking Crew. My dream pick would be the Squadron Supreme here, and with the Dark Avengers going here, this'd be where they go too.

Personally, I think the Cosmic side will have less attractive choices for me. I could see Dr. Strange getting in there too, but it won't expand that faction much more. The Mutants are perfectly self-contained, and have the most crossover potential (so, so many of their foes end up joining them at one point or another.) They'll always just come back to the X-Men and their enemies, in the end. Which isn't bad! I would love to run some Brotherhood with some classic Marauders backup. But leading the pack, Superhuman has the largest capacity for growth. It's a wide net to cast over anyone that isn't Cosmic or Mutant, and it covers a pretty wide swath of the Marvel-verse. 

Why I keep losing, and why I am OK with this

First couple games of 2016 have been us finally trying out the Batman Miniatures Game. So far the game seems decent (and there's a lot of support online) but it's definitely been an uphill struggle getting anything going for me. Like, scoring any victory points. But that's OK!

Game one with some creative lamp posts. Deadshot draws a bead on a Black Mask goon.

Right away, to try it out I went with figs I already had assembled (see top pic.) Which I chose by starting with the coolest. Now, from reading up online, I knew this was something of a sub-optimal build. I was using the most expensive model in the game, plus an expensive but fragile support figure to boot. And both had a passel of special rules to learn.

Game two with the store's mishmash terrain. Not a lot of batclaw-worthy terrain, but we also didn't bring any batclaws, so...

But really, it was more a matter of finally getting figs down on the turf and getting some dice rolling. As always, the first couple games are about me figuring out how the rules work. I can read a set of rules forwards and backwards, but until I play a few games, I won't really *get* them.

So even hammering through a few terrible losses does teach me how things are supposed to work, and what I should avoid going forward. As is, being snowed in here near Washington DC, I have spent some time assembling and basing more mercenaries and prisoners to bulk up the numbers of my gang. You can do an elite force of high-cost figs in the game, but I don't know the system well enough to run that out of the gate, But I will get there.

The year is off to a Batman-ish start then. I will likely get in another game of Guild Ball before too long. Next up on the agenda is likely trying out Otherworld, or giving Frostgrave another go. Thereafter, maybe Wolsung or back to Bushido after a long absence? We shall see.

--- Trying something new for 2016. On other social media, I am always posting articles from the news other other things that have caught my interest. So let's do that here too.

Interesting links:
* A good read on the demise of Alien Dungeon and All Quiet on the Martian Front. I've seen just enough behind the scenes of the gaming industry to see what a Shakespearean mess it is, and this article pulls back the curtain a bit there too.
* As we've been all Batman here, I've been listening to the Blood Damage podcast for some interesting overviews of the various factions and other game-related talk. The one on the scenarios is especially nice.
* I haven't really played RPGs in many a year, but the Dungeonomics column is always fascinating.
* And I am always a slut for zombies, so I will be eyeing Mantic's Walking Dead kickstarter when it drops.

Dumpster diving* and catching up

Not the hero we deserved but the hero we needed. 

Be warned: this is a bit rambling. Feel free to scroll down to the pictures of dumpsters, if that's what brought you to the door.

At some point in the past couple months I have started feeling bad about writing up yet another battle report with unpainted figures. Yes, I know it's not a big deal, but I'm just envisioning reading my blog with all these black-and-white pics and how that'd only point out the other flaws in my work, like how I have become real shoddy about taking good notes about how games go.

But! This will past. I am painting up new Pulp City, and am one breakthrough away from getting a good color scheme down for my Wrath of Kings Hadross. Wrath of Kings has been the game of the spring so far (in fact the gents from my group are about to head to Origins to the big dance there.) While I will sing the praises of the assembly side of the Wrath of Kings figs, I confess they're a bit intimidating for a mediocre painter like myself to get done swiftly. But anyways.

(Somewhere on the backburner there's a post brewing about learning Hadross tactics. They're rock hard, but surprisingly tricky to get rolling.)

Enough about my shortcomings. I've also been busy this spring getting lots and lots of Kickstarter pledges arriving. It's beautiful. Many Zombicide figs waiting in the queue, many Wolsung figs getting assembled, and just this week, my pledge for urban terrain from Impudent Mortal arrived on the doorstep.

One of the pieces I picked up to enhance Pulp City and Batman games are the dumpsters. And being a gamer for... a long while now, I have picked up many odds and ends over the years for uses both theoretical and practical. It's only in the past couple years that I took stock of the various terrain bits I had picked up hither and yon, and formulating plans for actual terrain layouts (we typically play at the local store, or someone else's house. I don't have a dedicated gaming room here.)

So I realized I had a bunch of these things from various manufacturers over the years, and decided to toss up a couple comparison shots for scale, so people know what they're looking for.

(The models were chosen because they were [mostly] painted, and representative of their lines. I had other painted Batman figs, but I figured most players would own the Arkham henchmen, due to their usefulness.)

Checkmate Agent (Crossover), Heroclix Dumpster, Arkham escapee (Knight Models)

A blast from the past, the tried and true Heroclix had a lot of useful pieces over the years, and my only regret with the ancient terrain packs was that I did not pick up more. It's the smallest of my lot, but also the only one that came fully painted. Looks to me like something outside a restaurant, more of a trashcan with dreams of grandeur.

Reaper Bones zombie, large Armorcast bin, Supreme Zed (Pulp City)

Mr. Hyde (Heroclix Hulk), smaller Armorcast bin, Reaper Bones zombie

These two are, I believe, out-of-production Armorcast bins. Searching online tells me they might be out-of-production Ainsty, but there's some confusion. Regardless. They are solid chunks of resin, and look great. perfect for near the construction site.

Checkmate Agent, Reaper Bones Dumpster, Supreme Zed

I nabbed one of the Bones dumpsters on a whim, and was not disappointed. Unlike the rubbery material of the other figs, this is hard smooth plastic. Which is BRIGHT WHITE and a pain to photograph. The lid opens up (shown farther down) and while maybe a little big, not really noticeably so, and IMHO would definitely work with the Knight Model figs. 

Checkmate Agent, small Impudent Mortal dumpster, Zombicide zombie

When I signed on for the Impudent Mortal kickstarter, I was looking forward to their stuff, but I have to admit, it's more impressive in person. Please note none of the dumpsters from them are fully assembled. They were put together right out of the bag, no instructions, no trimming. A breeze.

The small dumpster above even has a couple details I didn't put on yet, like the door for the side hatch. 

Arkham escapee, Impudent Mortal bin rear view

A little less in scale for the Knight Models figs, but really, not a big deal.

Supreme Zed, large Impudent Mortal dumpster, Checkmate Agent

And here's the large Impudent Mortal bin. The doors in front can be put open or closed. Hefty! It's the extra bits like the vertical supports that really make them shine. Also notice the slats on the bottom.

And the ridiculous group shot. The Checkmate Agent just barely doesn't fit inside the small Impudent Mortal bin, whereas the larger one fits even 30mm bases comfortably. The Bones product is rather roomy as well.

So, hope that was useful-ish. Any tips for later comparison shot entries?

Drax, not Drax, Drax

And finally, an in-joke for a handful of people.


* Full credit to Maurice for coming up with the 'dumpster diving' title, which I really should have thought of first.

Straight outta Arkham...

"I am Gotham's reckoning. Here to end the borrowed time you've all been living on."

Heading out to Fall-In tomorrow, but wanted to drop this here first. Today is my birthday (I am old) and Mr. Conte, who has fallen off the minis gaming bandwagon, came out of retirement, picked up the paintbrush, and bought and painted the Arkham Bane for me as a birthday present. 150 points of Bat-smashing power! He left the basing for me, so it'll match the rest of my figs, and coincidentally my Dragon Forge bases showed up just the other day.

(The Batman miniatures game certainly seems to be having a moment right now, and that's a great excuse to pick up some of these fantastic figs. Definitely more to come from this later.)