It’s been more than half a year now that I have had and been playing games of Batman Miniatures Game Third Edition. Over that time I have played about a dozen games, assembled models, and honestly had a lot of fun playing games in Gotham city. I am going to point out that this is a huge shift in the game from previous editions though, so stay tuned as I provide my usual critical take on a game.
Are you intrigued about the dark streets of Gotham city? Do you want to take the helm of your favorite hero or villain and command a crew? If that sounds right, then this is the game for you!
Breaking Down the Game
In Batman Miniatures Game 3rd Edition (to be referred to as BMG from now on) players build a crew of miniatures led by one one of the classic villians or heroes from the Batman comics that represents a boss. They are joined by a number of characters, sidekicks such as Robin to join Batman or Harley Quinn to join Joker. You then add a number of henchmen models, general thugs, cops, and other assorted street goons to your crew. There is also an option to hire outside help in the form of free agents. These can bring powerful hitters such as Clayface or subtle manipulators like the Mad Hatter.
Let’s Talk About Gameplay
The game itself plays on a 3×3 foot table over the course of 4 rounds. Each round is separated into phases. During each phase you determine which player has initiative, then select up to 4 models who are going to be able to do extra actions, then execute the plan by taking it in turns activating models, and then finally wrapping up the round with several clean up tasks. What this translates to is that the first portion of the round is a planning portion where you have to commit which models you want to do multiple tasks with.
From that point, you move to the actual game play during the Execute the Plan phase. This is a pretty standard take it in turns activating one model and based on if they have an audacity token assigned from the previous round they may perform either 1 action or multiple actions.
What’s a crew need to do to win
This is the point where I should talk about objective cards. As part of list construction, you are actually building a deck of 20 objective cards from a pool of generic cards and faction specific cards. The objectives are all pretty thematic and add alot of flavor to the game. Joker may be placing fish that are laden with Joker gas around the city (poisoned fish) or the Batman crew may need to arrest enemy models as examples of some of the objectives. On top of this deck you can add additional cards that are character specific. During each phase of the game certain cards can be played as objectives, or you can play them as resource cards to gain certain in game advantages. This adds a ton of thematic feel to games and gives players a whole other direction to think in regards to list building. No longer is the game just about killing the opponents models and standing on objectives on the opposite side of the table. This is a huge plus for the game!
What Do I do Next?
Batman Miniatures Game 3rd edition has changed quite dramatically. At it’s core it’s still a game that’s about playing with your favorite heroes or villains over the streets of Gotham city. This skirmish style game is one of my favorites and I would strongly recommend anyone checks the game out.
Find out what you need to get started with these great guides to the game:
- All of the good stuff you’ll need to play the game
- Getting into the game. Starting points for popular crews
While you are here, why don’t you check out these other great articles from WiscoDice?