Tuesday 22 March 2016

Arrow - Episode One

THE BURGEONING TEAM ARROW HITS THE STREETS

Finally, I have put some paint onto Team Arrow and begun painting the heroes of Starling City. Inspired by an upcoming League in my local gaming club, I finished off some big projects for Dystopian Wars and Dropzone Commander and got to work painting the team - starting with Oliver Queen himself and then moving on to his "bodyguard" John Diggle. The rest of the team should follow shortly - Arsenal, Black Canary, Detective Lance and Laurel Lance to follow soon! 
Oliver Queen - The Arrow
Painting the green for Oliver's outfit was a nightmare. I wanted to be closer to the green on the television show, but kept highlighting it in the wrong direction. Ultimately I was using a crazy combination of flesh tones and yellows! Once I realised how many different materials and shades of green are involved in the Arrow's costume, it actually became easier to paint
John Diggle
Diggle was easier to paint, just leathers and dark clothing. I tried to make each piece look distinct, from the bullet-proof vest to the leather jacket to the quasi-military fatigue trousers. I went quite light for the skin to match with David Ramsay, even though the model is a far cry from his actual look! 
Team Arrow out in force - and ready for others to join their crusade
All who have failed Starling City best beware!
My first game of Batman occurred mere minutes after finishing these models - a small 150 Rep battle with two Objectives each. Against me was Dom, the local "Son of Batman" and aficionado for the game. He ran a gang of corrupt cops - perfect for the fledgling Arrow to deal with! Lt. Brandan, a Cop with Baton, Cop with Taser, lone Detective and a SWAT team member with Shotgun hunted the pair through the streets. 

The Arrow quickly took to the rooftops, laying down a hail of arrows to injure the Detective as the cops moved up. Diggle sprang his attack, wounding the Cop with the Taser before falling back as Lt. Brandan opened fire. He drew them into the light of a lamp post, allowing Queen to target Brandan and badly wound him with a pair of arrows. 

Finishing the Detective, Queen moved to support his friend as Brandan and the two Cops surrounded Diggle and began to beat him down. Diggle was adept in his defence, staying up and using his flashlight to allow the Arrow to kill Brandan and wound the Cop with the Taser. Almost enough; the last Cop with Baton put Diggle down. 

Diggle was down, unconscious, but the corrupt cops had lost their leader and the Detective. Securing the ammunition, the Arrow had secured a win by the skin of his teeth. 

The game ended after six turns with the Arrow holding an Ammunition Objective while the Cops had (eventually) managed to hold both of their Objectives. Nonetheless, they had lost their leader and a Detective, and only managed to secure their own Objectives late in the game, leaving the final score 17 - 12 to the Arrow. A good result and a great game! 

Batman plays quite simply, and once I got the hang of the allocation of tokens and the various skills each character possessed, it got a lot easier and quicker. I loved shooting down the corrupt cops, but perhaps I should have looked a bit closer at the Objectives, or made a bigger team to secure them quicker. Ultimately it was just an intro-game and I am sure Dom was going easy to get me hooked, but so far so good! 

Next up... well, it looks like Knight Models are releasing an expansion for their game with a theme of Arrow and The Flash - great news! 

At least they let me paint my conversions before announcing this... 
...except I just converted and have started painting my own Team Arrow... EURGHHH! 

Ah well, I could do with a John Diggle with a slightly smaller head. 

Thanks for reading, 

George

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