Playing around with Hero-Builder, I came up with what may be my first 350-point team for the Batman Miniature Game. It actually comes up to 352 points.
First Crew?
Deathstroke
That’s Interesting, and It Figures…
Cracking open the Suicide Squad Box and it’s scaled down rule book, the ‘normal’ crew reputation/point total is 350 instead of 300.
Which makes perfect sense, since the two crews that come with the game are 348 (Joker’s Crew) and 350 (the Squad) points each.
It’s also interesting because of the funding rule, which grants a crew $500 per part of 150 reputation points. At 300 points a crew would get $1000 total. That additional 50 points grants $500 toward funding.
Funding is used to pay for additional equipment (extra weapon magazines, special gear) and for certain characters who have a cost to add them (hire them) to your crew.
Duh
After reading all the rules (finally) from the Batman Miniatures Game, I began to sort out what additional markers and tokens I’d need in order to play. It looked like I’d still need objectives and possibly more sewer counters and lampposts.
I checked online for these items, which appear sold out at the usual online spots, so I found a place in the UK that made custom counters specifically for the game.
As I was adding items to my shopping cart, I remembered that the Suicide Squad Box Set was coming in today, and in addition to the 2 crews (miniatures), the box includes:
– 2 full-color die-cut card buildings.
– 4 die-cut Lamppost markers.
– 4 die-cut Sewer markers.
– 8 Take the Lead counters.
– 7 Objective markers.
– 4 six-sided dice.
So that takes care of all the extra stuff that I need. I had ordered the ‘Take the Lead’ counters before I ordered this box, so I’ll have more of those. And more dice is always good to have.
One day I may actually watch the movie.
DCUMG
DC Universe Miniature Game
I finally took a look at the free rules download for the DC Universe Miniature Game.
It’s made by Knight Models, the same company who produced the Batman Miniature Game.
Batman Miniatures is based on a D6 system.
DCU Miniatures is based on a D8 system.
WTH?
So the two systems are incompatible with each other, which explains a lot, to be honest, like why they just didn’t simply release an expansion for the rest of the DCU, like they did with the DCTV shows, namely Arrow and The Flash. The power levels necessary for the full DC Universe would probably break the Batman game, so a different system was created.
Super Speed/Speed Force was probably simple enough to incorporate into the current miniatures rule set.
They will sell ‘Multiverse’ figures which can be used in either game. The Catwoman figure that I had pre-ordered is one of those new figures, with a stat card for each game included. I hope they come out with Multiverse cards for existing models, so I can use my current Batman minis with the new game.
Feline Fatale
I held off on picking up a Catwoman figure for the Batman Miniatures Game because I wasn’t impressed with either of the available models.
And then I saw that a new one was available for pre-order. Behold:
And, to keep up with the premise of collecting the original Super Friends, I pre-ordered this guy:
Daily Batman Miniatures Game Post – 3.24.2017
As I go through the rule book and play with an online tool called hero-builder.net, I’m getting a good idea of how the game works and, more importantly, how a crew is formed.
The most significant thing that I’ve found that the Suicide Squad box was not just a good deal for the price, but all the members of the squad are classified as ‘Free Agents’, which allows them to be recruited into most crews.
For example, the Penguin crew point value is 143 points, but adding a character like Deadshot (96 points) brings the crew closer to 300, which is the ‘average’ point total for a game.
Or I can just give Penguin (75) a crew of Free Agents: Deadshot (96), Killer Croc (64), and Diablo (50) for a total of 285.
I’m looking at having the Riddler crew as my max 150 point crew, and the Penguin crew as my max 300 point crew, though the two crews that come with the SS box are both around 350 points.
Now, to find time to actually PLAY the game! Though collecting/painting the models is a big part of the appeal of this game, to me.
Edit: whoops, Free Agents can be recruited 1 per 150 points, though Penguin’s Charismatic trait allows 1 FA per 100 points, so I couldn’t use all three of those FAs in that crew, unless it was over 300 points total, perhaps adding a Henchman to the crew.
Over-Overload
After spending the morning lamenting about not getting a Affleck Batman figure, I went ahead and ordered that Suicide Squad Starter Box that I originally passed on a week ago. The difference is that this online edition comes with that Batfleck figure, the one at the store didn’t. Yay!
Besides the figures shown, this set comes with scenery, specifically a couple of buildings, which I’ve found to be pretty pricey on their own. There’s also other figures and tokens/markers/dice/etc. that would cost a lot more than this box, if purchased separately.
Quite a deal, even with all the other stuff that I’ve already picked up.
