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