I'm Batman!

Gotham city in the Battleshed. I’m Batman! I may have overcooked impersonating the iconic line a wee bit too much during a weekend encounter with the Batman Miniature Game. I even started to get the raspy voice. I’m Batman!

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A weekend visit from my brother-in-law, Ironman John, who was ostensibly in our neck of the woods to run the Edinburgh marathon, but he also hauled down from Dundee his gaming system of choice, Batman Miniature Game – or BMG. He’s into the whole DC thing. Or is it Marvel? They’re both the same to me…

Alright, alright – joking! Jings! It's as bad as that whole Star Wars v Star Trek thing. I take a much more conciliatory, sanguine approach. Star Wars is best. Ha! Anyway, back to the spandex...

I’ve only played a handful of BMG and every time John suggests a game I’m taken aback by how much scenery and miniatures he’s added to his collection since the last time we played. I mean, it’s a serious investment. What I can only describe as large plastic 'crates' were being manhandled into the Battleshed! 

I’ve posted a BMG overview previously, so I won’t go into the specifics here.

John had helpfully pre-prepared a couple of gangs and provided all the reference materials so, even though I hadn’t played in a while, we were soon Raising The Plan and our fabled characters were off trying to solve riddles and capture objectives on the mean streets of Gotham City – as soon as John had finished building it.

I'm Batman!

And I got to play Batman’s team. I’m Batman! Bruce Wayne leading his henchmen against The Joker! I soon had our hero using his Batclaw to scale the nearest tall building in the hope of getting the drop on the Joker’s criminal associates. 

Lets all split up!

I even got to buy additional equipment to outfit some of the team – extra magazines, an upgraded Batsuit (+1 Endurance) – that sort of thing. All useful stuff as BMG is very much about managing each character’s Action resources to Move, Shoot, Fight, do Special Actions etc. And ammo isn’t infinite either. In fact, our heroes and villains seem to carry very little. Luckily, there are a few ammo dumps scattered around Gotham’s streets like common newspaper stands. See, it's one tough city!

Typical Gotham City inconsiderate parking

We played through a straight meeting engagement type scenario which meant after the 8 turns – a blind draw of initiative chits in a bag – points for each objective marker controlled, riddle solved or enemy character put of action/ knocked out are calculated.

I’m afraid Batman, swooping down from his vantage point on a high-rise to aid his team who were all soon involved in a firefights or fisticuffs In the main street, ended up getting himself put out of action. Although the home team did the same to Stan ‘the eyeball’ Man! In the end, it was 10-4 to the Joker’s gang. Boo!

Batman to the rescue! Maybe.

 
Another entertaining game of BMG which really does capture the Gotham City milieu. It’ll be interesting what expansion John has acquired the next time we play! I'm Batman!