If you've kept up with my blogs, you've seen me mention that I've gotten into a couple of Kickstarters. The crowdfunding platform gives me very little rest between charging up my credit cards because there's so many good projects. And if it has miniatures, dice, and a somewhat-interesting concept, I'm in. We started with Mythic Battles: Pantheon, then got some terrain for DnD from Mantic, settled on some Time of Legends: Joan of Arc, and picked up some fantastic card terrain for Necromunda. I swore we were done getting into Kickstarters until we paid off some of the others first.
But then the same company that did Pantheon (and a great company they are) decided to touch another nerve of mine- comic books. If it's not Star Trek or 40k or Dungeons & Dragons, then it's comic books that build the foundation of my nerdiness. It doesn't take much to get me excited about the page-flipping awesomeness that is good artwork and better storyline. And if someone combines my love of miniatures gaming and comic books, well...
In this game, called Batman: Gothic City Chronicles, players take control of Batman and/or other superheroes and fight against super villains and their thugs controlled by their less well-meaning friends. The system is similar to the Conan game produced by the same company, which uses a finite number of 'activation cubes' to perform actions or buff others. The game is not simply a bash 'em game- there's actually scenarios and missions that require stuff like stopping bombs before they explode or finding secret stashes. This is important because, well, bash 'em games do get boring after some time. As with most Kickstarter campaigns, there are 'stretch goals' that entice more investors, and this game was no different. They included four expansions and tons of new models (including many alternate poses for some of our favorite heroes and villains). What got me really pumped was the expansion including the Batmobile. I mean, who doesn't want a Batmobile!?!? The next best treat for me was the T-Rex from the Batcave. I have a thing for dragons and dinosaurs (even having to quickly walk through the dinosaur isle at my local Hobby Lobby because...), and a giant T-Rex? How can I pass this up!?!?
Now, I do have to note that I can't just make these decisions on my own. I'm not the breadwinner in my house and I'm also not a dumb husband, so I have to pass everything by my wife. She controls the pocketbook and makes the bigger decisions (most of the time), so I have to convince her as well. That being said, she was the one that got me started on Kickstarters...
The campaign ended today at 2pm my time (U.S. Central). With less than ten minutes left and me still thinking about it, I logged in and found the last stretch goal- the alternate Harley Quinn. I immediately called my wife over with the plan to show her that and convince her (she's a fan of empowered women, especially when they're holding giant swords or mallets). As soon as my wife saw that, she fled to the office and snatched the credit card out. It wasn't even a fight. She looked at me and said, rather expectantly and in a resigned tone, "Go for it". I was happy. So was Harley Quinn!
Now anyone that knows me personally can also tell you that I'm not a huge fan of Batman. I am tired of the fanboys and society's habit of liking the brooding anti-hero rather than the true good guys. I also don't think that Batman is a terribly good hero as he never, and I mean never, solves any problems. He is much like our American congress- delaying everything over and over. But I'm not a Batman-hater, either. He had the best run during DC's New 52 arc (I especially loved the Court of Owls storyline early on) and his movies are undoubtedly the best (especially with Joker). But this game came with so many goodies and such that I couldn't resist. Plus, when this company decides to do a Justice League game in the future... (if I say it enough times, it'll come true!)
And regardless of whether I'm a super-fan or not of the cowled-crusader, I have to admit that he's just super-cool! So with that all in mind, and just in the nick of time, we did it again. We invested in yet another (highly successful) Kickstarter. I swear, we're done until June! I swear it! As long as nobody else comes out and trips another nerve of mine...
