Howdy folks,
As I said I was going to post a review about my experience in playing the Batman Miniature Game, now whilst I have only played 2 games so far I have managed to watch a few more being played as well so I can offer my analysis as both an observer and newbie in relation to how the game is played.
I will be doing my best to look at all aspects of the game ranging from models to accessibility as well as the rules themselves and what it is like to play, whether you agree with what I say or not I will do my best to cover all bases in my approach.
From the top of my head these are the categories I can think of in relation to a review:
-Overview of game
-Models
-Basic mechanics
-How the game plays
-Overall good points
-Overall bad points
-Final thought
So let's get to it!
Overview of game
So the Batman Miniature Game non-suprisingly is a small skirmish game based around the background and intellectual property of Batman (and Watchmen...strangely...) with the main visual themes based on the 'Arkham' video game franchise though there are a large number of comic and movie references too. Honestly I can't complain one bit about this, I love Batman, I think it is a fantastic idea to introduce this element and given the nature of Batman with its minimal use of "super powers" it is an ideal area to explore a comic book franchise in a tabletop setting that is massively different to the existing Heroclix game.
Models
Another big thumbs up from me with this one, the models that they have produced so far are mostly very detailed and successfully capture the visual theme of the characters. There are some instances of some sketchy models in my opinion (I am sad to say I am currently not that impressed by the Scarecrow model on the market at the moment) but the new releases are getting more detailed and most models I have found fit nicely together. I also enjoy the multiples of certain characters (mostly Batman and Joker but there are some others) that allow you to take your favourite incarnations of those characters and build a special gang around them (mine personally is Frank Miller related stuff). An added bonus to the game is that because it is small skirmish you only need a very small amount of models to play which helps massively with introducing people to the game. The objectives also have models to represent them and allow you to customise them however you wish so great elements for all you conversion fanatics out there.
Basic mechanics
I really like the idea of this game in its core principles, the idea of having the counters to pick who goes first (similar I believe to Bolt Action) is a nice touch allowing for dynamic gameplay that isn't monotonous in thinking of tactics. Models taking turns to go also makes planning for a turn a lot more complex as it is much more difficult to alpha strike key targets as they can put elements in the way to stop you which I love and is one of the big reasons for my love of Malifaux which adopts a similar system. This is only a personal thing for me, but I prefer inches to cm, I grew up playing Warhammer games and as such playing with cm always throws my measuring of distance, even though you can pre-measure in this game, I would have liked it to be in inches but I can see why most mainland European games tend to be in cm....damn metric... Speaking of Warhammer games, giving each of your models a set number of actions and having to order them at the start of their go really reminds me of Inquisitor, which can only be a good thing and this game really works the system well, especially with the added bonus of wounded models start losing their action tokens so it is vital for planning to think about damage and taking that into account.
How the game plays
The system lends itself to being a quick game, low model count and limited actions allow for faster turnover of games in comparison to other systems which is a good thing as it allows multiple games throughout the day even a whole campaign can be done with the right gang size. Small gaming boards also help with it not taking up much space so saves wielding massive cases full of an army with a huge gaming table that people might not have access to. First thing that comes to mind in regards to the game is tokens...oh good lord the tokens! I can't move for the damn tokens!!!! They're everywhere, from the tokens you need to plan out moves to tokens marking damage and stun. Many of the people I play with instead laminate their cards and use board markers to keep track of everything and I don't blame them. The game does involve a large amount of micro-managing space in addition to thinking of strategies in the game and this can become a hassle. The system overall is very good, however there are some translation issues do to it originally being Spanish and there are some rules that don't make a whole lot of sense (such as sewer entrances on gangways) and have areas that are grey enough for people to try and abuse (I won't rant about this topic as I am sure you all have experience seeing people like this). To me the game is much more about just killing/taking out your opponent's gang, in fact it seems like it
takes far more effort than it is worth to do so, particularly with gang leaders. They have such a high endurance usually that it is almost impossible to take them out unless you have a large amount of guns or attacks that generate blood counters. This combined with you getting a much steadier stream of VPs through capturing loot counters means most of my games become massive scrambles to run around and grab objectives rather than engaging my enemy (the last game being a particular example as I only took out one of his gang members, and only because it gave me a bonus VP since it was done by Zsasz). One particular element I am not a fan of which compounds this "avoid combat" situation is how people can just leave combat without penalty. Every other game system I have played has made it so you either have to pass a particular test or get punished for leaving combat with an enemy, whereas this game just allows you to do it, meaning a guy would just stand there looking gormless whilst his opponent casually saunters away from him.
Overall good points
Fast paced gaming
Low cost for entry
Solid system for gameplay
A game heavily focused on tactics and strategy
Overall bad points
Translation errors
Micro-managing space
"Non-combat" combat game
cm<inches
Final thought
Overall I like this game, and whilst these sorts of games are always down to personal tastes I still prefer Malifaux as a small skirmish game. With that being said it is a great theme that has become ridiculously popular in recent weeks with detailed models and a system that is very simple to pick up. I would recommend this game to anyone who has watched/read/played a Batman product so far and wants to get that feeling and vibe on the tabletop as well, as the game creates that level of suspense and drama spectacularly. I would also recommend it to those whose main focus for tabletop games is strategy and tactics as this will give you more of a challenge than 40k or Warmachine by far. Plus who doesn't want to do their best Christian Bale i
mpression for the over the top proclamation that they are Batman!
So that's it, hope you liked it. Next post will have painting in it again so watch out for that but until next time.
Take care everybody!
As I said I was going to post a review about my experience in playing the Batman Miniature Game, now whilst I have only played 2 games so far I have managed to watch a few more being played as well so I can offer my analysis as both an observer and newbie in relation to how the game is played.
I will be doing my best to look at all aspects of the game ranging from models to accessibility as well as the rules themselves and what it is like to play, whether you agree with what I say or not I will do my best to cover all bases in my approach.
From the top of my head these are the categories I can think of in relation to a review:
-Overview of game
-Models
-Basic mechanics
-How the game plays
-Overall good points
-Overall bad points
-Final thought
So let's get to it!
Overview of game
So the Batman Miniature Game non-suprisingly is a small skirmish game based around the background and intellectual property of Batman (and Watchmen...strangely...) with the main visual themes based on the 'Arkham' video game franchise though there are a large number of comic and movie references too. Honestly I can't complain one bit about this, I love Batman, I think it is a fantastic idea to introduce this element and given the nature of Batman with its minimal use of "super powers" it is an ideal area to explore a comic book franchise in a tabletop setting that is massively different to the existing Heroclix game.Models
Another big thumbs up from me with this one, the models that they have produced so far are mostly very detailed and successfully capture the visual theme of the characters. There are some instances of some sketchy models in my opinion (I am sad to say I am currently not that impressed by the Scarecrow model on the market at the moment) but the new releases are getting more detailed and most models I have found fit nicely together. I also enjoy the multiples of certain characters (mostly Batman and Joker but there are some others) that allow you to take your favourite incarnations of those characters and build a special gang around them (mine personally is Frank Miller related stuff). An added bonus to the game is that because it is small skirmish you only need a very small amount of models to play which helps massively with introducing people to the game. The objectives also have models to represent them and allow you to customise them however you wish so great elements for all you conversion fanatics out there.
Basic mechanics
I really like the idea of this game in its core principles, the idea of having the counters to pick who goes first (similar I believe to Bolt Action) is a nice touch allowing for dynamic gameplay that isn't monotonous in thinking of tactics. Models taking turns to go also makes planning for a turn a lot more complex as it is much more difficult to alpha strike key targets as they can put elements in the way to stop you which I love and is one of the big reasons for my love of Malifaux which adopts a similar system. This is only a personal thing for me, but I prefer inches to cm, I grew up playing Warhammer games and as such playing with cm always throws my measuring of distance, even though you can pre-measure in this game, I would have liked it to be in inches but I can see why most mainland European games tend to be in cm....damn metric... Speaking of Warhammer games, giving each of your models a set number of actions and having to order them at the start of their go really reminds me of Inquisitor, which can only be a good thing and this game really works the system well, especially with the added bonus of wounded models start losing their action tokens so it is vital for planning to think about damage and taking that into account.
Overall good points
Fast paced gaming
Low cost for entry
Solid system for gameplay
A game heavily focused on tactics and strategy
Overall bad points
Translation errors
Micro-managing space
"Non-combat" combat game
cm<inches
Final thought
mpression for the over the top proclamation that they are Batman!
So that's it, hope you liked it. Next post will have painting in it again so watch out for that but until next time.
Take care everybody!
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