Back to the Streets of Gotham! 

A hobo shanks a clown. A Gangster is frozen in a block of ice and a Bat descends into the night!  Hi! My name is Jacob, but most online call me “The Warp Forge” (or Warp for short) and I have been  very kindly given the opportunity by the Frontline Gaming team to tell you about the most awesome  game you have not yet played being The Batman Miniatures Game from Knight Models! 

Tonight, we are the law! 

So, a brief History of the Batman Miniatures Game (or as it is abbreviated by the community, BMG)  The game began in its infancy around 2012 and it started out as a tabletop skirmish game adaptation  to the Arkham City video game. 

At the time the sculpts were fresh and it was an exciting time as it was the first time, we ever saw a  Batman game beyond the odd board game you get as a kid at Christmas and an RPG. Here was an  idea that was truly unique for Batman and that was being able to not just play the caped crusader  but also you could play as the Villains and have gang war against your favourite Arkhamites, from  Joker taking on Bane to Poison Ivy taking on Penguin. Games you could make of the crossovers you  would not be able to read in a comic. This concept was what enticed me to BMG and it is a concept that I still adore to this day.  

Since it is inception, the game has expanded and grown exponentially since its days back in Arkham  City. It now plays with an entire Multiverse of characters from various forms of Bat-Media, from the  comics to films. From Video Games to TV shows. 

The game now holds over 80 years of Bat-History contained into a single game. Have you ever  wanted to see Peacemaker and Vigilante take on Robert Pattinson’s “The Batman,” well now you  can! Or how about challenging the Clown Prince of Crime against The Doom Patrol or The Watchmen  then this is the game for you! 

Stake your claim! 

The Balance of the game is by far the best I have seen in any game. With every game there are  always tiers of factions and an objective ranking of who are more powerful than others, and Batman  is no exception, but what makes Batman so different is that there is no definitive list or faction that  objectively wins tourneys or games based on what they bring.  

The Tournament scene is one of the healthiest in any community I have seen because not one list is  the same. You can have three Joker players with widely different choices and it won’t be the same  three faction on the top tables. One tournament could have Two-Face, Deacon Blackfire and his  Hobo Cultists and Freeze on the top tables but in another Tourney, it could be the Suicide Squad,  Batman, and Birds of Prey. It’s all down to how you play because no two games are the same. Quite  literally! 

Let them in on the Joke! 

So, you’re probably wondering how does the game play? Well imagine the mission construction  separated into two decks similar to Tempest of War, combined with your own faction deck that you  can customise to tailor to your needs in your faction’s flavourful way to score Victory Points with an objective placement like Scheme Markers with Malifaux in an alternating activation format (so you  activate a model, then your opponent and so on until all models are activated) and voila! Each game  of Batman will be truly unique with a near-endless combination of mission and objective variety! 

The Program!  

One of the most appealing factors of BMG are of course the models. These sculpts are gorgeous in  their thermoplastic material adding durability and flexibility to the current range. Knight Models  have such talented sculptors that they can make any faction look appealing, from the classic Arkham  Bunch to their most recent new Crew introduced into the game being Deacon Blackfire and his Hobo  Uprising, hallelujah! They even include a bunch of D-List characters you have never heard of before  and you’ll instantly fall in love with them from Kite Man and the Condiment king to the Calculator  and Gentleman Ghost! If you want to see an honest review of the product then I made an unboxing  and review of the Mr Freeze Crew on my channel: https://youtu.be/SSnlm-B5Gng

Following the clues

So how do you get into the game? Where do you start? In BMG they have released a starter box to  tie in with the recent film “The Batman”. In this box you will get the models and tokens but you’ll  need to get the decks separately either through buying the card boxset or by printing them off  through the BMG website. What makes the BMG starter boxset incredible value is that both Crews  out of the box make for a standard game and are completely viable to get your teeth stuck into a  tournament.  

This is something that many other games promise you but BMG delivers. If you want to buy more  boxes you can but you won’t be punished if you just want to stick to the core of what you bought. If  Robert Pattison doesn’t suit your glittery fantasies, then each main faction has their own starter box,  same points for a standard game and are completely viable for tournament gaming.

And if that’s not enough the game also gets monthly support! Each Month KM gives us wonderful  new toys to expand and play with. They are still bringing us new factions with their last faction they  gave us being Deacon Blackfire and the Hobo Cultists based on “The Cult” story line, complete with  their own brainwashed Batman as he’s controlled by drugs (a literal rule he has in his profile). 

So what are you waiting for? Get your crew find your hero or villain and carve your mark on the  history of Gotham City! This is Warp, signing out and I’ll be seeing you on the Streets of Gotham! Same Bat-Time, same Bat-Place!

by Jacob Holden