Gotham Invitational - game one, Joker v Batman
- johnjsalango1
- Aug 9
- 12 min read
Updated: Aug 31
The first in hopefully a series of blog posts which will be turned into videos features a classic match up Joker -at home- versus Batman GCPD. However first a bit of context. I have been a fan of Batman miniatures game for a while and had put some effort into creating both terrain and crews for a blog/video collection. I was just about ready to begin when Knight collapsed and the app went tits up. This made me want to chuck the whole idea. However here we are and I have decided to plow on regardless, ignoring the pointlessness of it all. I didnt get where I am today by making sensible decisions!
To the point, there are 8 crews in two 4 crew divisions in the Gotham Invitational (GI) and each will play each other home and away. Crews are fixed for the first half of the season and are absolutely NOT optimal. The home team gains +1 to initiative rolls but no other advantage other than having a passing familiarity with the terrain. After league games are complete the top team in league A will play the second place team in league B and vice versa to reach the Final championship game. Crews finishing bottom in each league are relegated and replaced by hopeful newcomers that I own but have not made the painting table yet.
For purists ( should there be any ) not every model is Knight models, when I have not been able to or when I have been unwilling to get hold of a KM mini I have reached into my Gotham City Chronicles collection
The teams in League A are the classics, Batman, Joker, Penguin and Riddler.
The teams in League B are the less classics, Court of Owls, Organised Crime, Batman who Laughs and Mr Freeze*. Mr Freeze is asterisked as he is neither built nor painted yet and should any parts be missing they will be relegated and replaced by Doom Patrol who are painted!
Finally, part of the point in ploughing on regardless here is that I want to learn the game to a better standard than currently and clearly mistakes will be made. I will be asking questions on rules (and have done already) on the Batman miniatures game FB page but where I make mistakes in the rules feel free to let me know via my FB page or website. Where I make tactical mistakes in gameplay dont bother as these will be legion. If it seems that there are a lot of errors I can say that I am also surprised! It makes me wonder how many we make in our normal games without knowing and without the lens of the camera and the record in the notebook to point them out!
Game One.
Game one has Batman and the GCPD entering Joker's playground and obviously Joker is the Home team. His Crew is as in the photo with Joker, Harley, (both the back to Gotham versions), Borgon, Dynamite, Pandaman with extra ammo and three jesters who I call Katanas, Fireworks and Gas lady.
The Batman crew has Batman (Pattison) Catwoman (Kravitz), Chief Mackenzie, Horse guy, Stop lady, Truncheon man, Martinez and Lieutenant Gordon( the Batman)
As mentioned the battlefield is Joker's playground as seen from above. Batman and the Gcpd are arrayed at the top with Joker and his goons at the bottom. The streetlights are shaded in pale yellow and the addition of the fifth light due to Chief Mckenzie has really illuminated Joker's area but as the GCPD are not doing shooting that much it was not so important.
Below, looking along the Joker crew deployment with Bumper Car canopy removed. Dynamite at bottom up to Harley top centre.
Panda man and Katanas on the canopy
Stop Cop at top of Batman deployment
The centre of the line with Horse Guy, BatmanTruncheon (behind booth), Gordon, Martinez and Chief MacKenzie. Mackenzie or Chief as I will call him is the Boss as Batman cannot be due to an attribute on his card and Gordon also must defer if Chief is included.
Appropriately Catwoman is out on her own at the bottom end of the playing area
Starting hands were average. Joker was stuck with Ace chemicals barrel which was unuseable this turn but had a 'Stinky fish' and an always handy 'Expendable'. 'Lets Dance' was put into play just to get it out of hand.
A good hand for Batman for turn 2 probably with all of them scoreable with some shenanigans
At this point I should mention that for the purposes of the Gotham invitational crews are using decks comprising of their own objective cards (plus character cards) as far as possible for no better reason than it is less messing around sorting decks each game if I dont have to keep retrieving generic cards and popping them in a different crew deck after each game. In this case Joker does have a Valuable commodities in hand to make his deck up to the correct number. Decks like crews will remain unchanged.
Turn 1 Lets Dance in play but not ace chemicals for no good reason
Joker won initiative and Dynamite took first action dashing through the sewers coming out next to Martinez against who he swung his axe and thanks to Martinez rolling all 5's and 6's completely missed but was set up to hopefully occupy and distract the GCPD. With luck he might explode and do some damage and score 'Expendable'
In respnse Martinez slipped into the sewere and completed an epic move. Using the chiefs inspire he ran through the sewer and emerged to shoot Gas lady. Turning all hits into 'Non Lethal Ammo' he Knocked her out then moved to within 2" of the edge and using his extra audacity manipulate from MacKenzie dropped a marker to prep for 'Secure the perimeter'. I did wonder if he could shoot with all his dice after moving through the sewer but the rule specifically calls out 'move actions' as reducing dice rather than manipulates but I may be wrong.
Joker was not entirely unhappy with the demise of the unfortunately named Gas lady as he was able to play the cheeky 'expendable' and followed up with a move / suspect drop by Fireworks.
This was to be an unhappy move as we shall see...still he's smiling!
Stop Cop left her hidey hole and moved to the base of the Joker Big Wheel, all she could do out of inspire range but with plans...
Katanas then just moved a bit on the canopy and dropped a suspect which became 'Loot' - this was to possibly draw Catwoman into range but if not he should be safe enough on the canopy.
GCPD then did a clever-ish move with Gordon running forward and now able to see Stop Cop ordered her to drop a suspect enabling 'perimeter' as it seemed unlikely any Joker guys could stop it. He then popped a random 1 dice shot at Fireworks which was a poor call really and a waste of ammo. Except it hit and Fireworks rolled a 6 on Boom and exploded...he's still smiling though so there's that!
Pandaman moved and popped down a stinky fish on the canopy, more bait for Catwoman who would be caught between Katanas and Pandaman. Officer Truncheon wandered forward and dropped a marker, for no real reason other than he had an inspire.
Joker wanted to draw out Batman to where Harley and Borgon might be able to hit him later in the turn so moved towards the hoardings to the west of centre (north is top of pictures) dropped a suspect and turned it into 'let them do their thing' which headed off and exploded over Officer Truncheon and Gordon. He then tried to demotivate the Chief but failed.
The Chief then made a catalogue of errors, first shooting Dynamite then moving and dropping another suspect. This was a poor move for two reasons, firstly Dynamite exploded causing damage and allowing Joker a second 'expendable' but secondly he put himself out of Catwoman's inspirable range and made it impossible for her to move and drop. Finally he did not have the extra inspire manipulate needed to drop the suspect as he is the inspirer not an inspiree...
Batman was not taking the Joker shaped bait so Borgon ambled up into the centre effectively wasting his activation as he had no target to batter. Equally wastefully Catwoman now just moved up behind a stall positioning herself for a grapple attack on the canopy guys. Probably should have said earlier but she has Grapple gun and handcuffs.
Having lost Gas Lady's activations early doors Joker was now forced to put Harley up for sacrifice duty to tempt Batman but in the event she scored nicely dropping a suspect near enough to Officer Truncheon to score 'In on the Joke' then turning it into a 'Do their own thing' and getting it on Batman for more points and stun damage. This turned out to be a vital move.
But now Vengeance swept in and attacked Harley with both the Vengeance rule and Serum to give a metric ton of attacks. Harley efforted twice and already carrying 2 stun Batman declined to make extra efforts beyond the Serum. In retrospect this might have been an error as he whiffed bad and Harley took just 2 stun leaving her well within her Willpower and Batman isolated out in the centre.
The Chief's move now became more obviously mistaken as he left Horse guy also out of Inspire range and he could just walk up back into range for the final activation of the turn.
So at the end of the turn Gas Lady failed to wake up and little did she know it but her game was over! 'Commodities' remained in play and 'Lets dance' scored as did 'Stinky fish' and for Batman 'Perimeter'. Overall despite going 3 men down Joker scored really well and was leading 12 to 4 but was now very much down on activations and needed a good turn 2.
Turn 2 Ace Chemicals remembered and put in play
Ace Chemicals barrel was put in play using the suspect next to Joker. For Joker's team, Harley, Borgon and Katanas as well as Joker had Audacity while Batman, Martinez, Horse guy and Catwoman had it for the Batcrew. Joker had initiative and pass tokens which he forgot to use...
Harley got the turn moving by moving up to chief, dropping a marker using Joker's inspire and turning it into 'So long it's been a gas' and then hitting the Chief. Ineffectually as it turned out leaving him just short of being KO. The enervating penalty on 'So long...' was placed on Gas Lady for whom it would make no difference. I did check the rules to see if this was illegal but could not find any reason not to.
Not one to take a comedy hammer to to the face lying down Chief activated and shot her. Badly. Causing very little damage.
Joker then acted shooting Gordon for 3 blood then manipulated the Ace Chemicals barrel to score and moved more centrally as seen above. Batman should have activated now and got out of dodge or hit something but instead Batman's crew activated Martinez who had another great turn, moving then arresting Gas Lady to score 'Get them off the streets'! and dropping a suspect to score 'Detective work'. Absolute MVP at the minute! However this could have waited and now Batman was in peril as Borgon activated and in two attacks against Batman as a mindless monster rolled six 6's on 8 dice and knocked Batman into the middle of next week!
All avoidable had the Batman crew intelligently activated their pieces.
In terms of retaliation Batman's crew was underwhelming moving Stop Cop to a sewer. Hmmm. Underwhelmed!
Katana then jumped down off the canopy and attacked the prone Batman but weirdly to no effect. To no effect also described the'Bite the dust' he put in play.
Catwoman full of audacity this turn then grapple gunned up next to Pandaman and rendered him unconscious in short order then placed a 'Snitch' essentially too high for any Joker to cancel. Not a bad turn.but once again carried away in the moment she did not have the additional inspire needed to this. This will happen several times and I wont mention it again as it sort of evens out and being too picky will ruin the narrative.
Having forgotten the passes Jokers crew were now all done leaving the board free to the GCPD. Truncheon cop took advantage of the Chief's inspire to move and reveal a suspect for a 'Comb through everything'. Gordon then did the same on a different suspect and finally Horse guy attempted to knock out Harley but failed in his ride by drubbing but had sufficent move to get to the edge and drop a suspect.
So ended turn 2 with strangely Batman remaining unconscious but Pandaman waking up! Catwoman's 'Snitch'scored and the scores were evened up at Joker 16 : 17 Batman GCPD
End of Turn 2 situation
Turn 3
Ace Chemicals (again) and Psychopaths in play
Audacity with Catwoman, Horse guy, Chief and Martinez for Batman,. For joker's crew, Joker, Borgon, Katanas and surprisingly Pandaman!
Joker again won initiative using his unused pass tokens and would again go ahead and forget to use this turns' tokens! Pandaman having regained consciousness and with Catwoman in base contact essentially fell off the canopy and ran to the advertising boards before taking a cheeky shot at Gordon with reduced dice for moving and just killed him dead! He then burned a card which allowed him to redraw the whole hand as it was not promising. In retrospect I realised this was actually not a legal move as Pandaman has a rule about standing up in a ridiculous costume which would have made his movement a lot less but given the pass token screw up I think it balanced out. as a piece de resistance he also put 'Explosive teeth' into play but these failed to score.
Horse guy turned his faithful steed and attempted a second 'ride by drubbing' of Harley Quinn and decided to forgo the possibility of a follow up arrest by using Savage fighter. He and Harley efforted twice which was her maximum now and he just managed to squeeze one hit through to KO Harley before riding past.
Sad times for Joker but even sadder for Batman as Katanas with Audacity first chopped Batman into Batcubes with 8 damage! Then moved next to the Ace Chemicals barrel and manipulated it into contact with Martinez scoring another 2 points for Joker.
Martinez with Audacity took a shot at Katanas doing minimal damage then moved to the edge of the table and put a Snitch fairly safely in play and in position to secure another 'Perimeter' in phase 4 after Horse guy had popped the first one down last turn.
In a pretty lacklustre activation Joker shot Chief but rolled straight 1s - obviously a joke gun! I see a little flag popping out the end with the word Bang written on it! However he did manage to score a cheeky 'Let them in on the joke'. He then ran off to the nearest sewer !
Chief McKenzie then arrested Harley but scored no points for this, took an ill advised and largely pointless shot at Borgon and then ran off leaving Truncheon as the nearest enemy to Borgon.
Very leadership. As Lord Farquaad said "It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make"
And so it came to pass that Borgon mindlessly moved and double attacked poor Truncheon who to nobody's surprise was KO'd.
Catwoman understandably miffed at Katanas murderising Batman moved across and despite his efforting Katanas was KO'd and arrested using 'Handcuffs' but again getting no points just some retribution, especially as 'Valuable commodities' was now lost. Effectively this was the last action of the turn as Stop Cop did something irrelevant and not worth recording.
At the end of the turn things could not be tighter with scores at 23 each but with Batman/GCPD having the edge in manpower and thus scoring power. This was enhanced when Truncheon remarkably regained consciousness!
In play cards, 'Psychopaths', 'Perimeter' and 'snitch' all scored.
Turn 4
'Showtime' in play and certain to score as 5 suspects were drawn to Joker and only Catwoman was in position to remove any at all so a good start for Joker. All the remaining Joker crew had Audacity whilst everybody except Truncheon and Stop Cop had it for Batman/GCPD
For the first time in the game Batman/GCPD won initiative as Joker rolled a 1 and his pass tokens and home advantage did not beat the 6 rolled by the opposition.. This was bad news as Horse guy with initiative galloped past Pandaman and it was Pandaman KO'd for the second time in the game and this time he was also arrested. Horse guy scored for 'Get them off the streets' and it crucially denied Joker a scoring opportunity from the cards in hand.
With Borgon unable to drop suspects and Pandaman out for the count only Joker could score and he dropped a 'Stinky fish'. He knew that Catwoman might choose to remove it but would become poisoned allowing a different card to score off the poison effect (name escapes me!)
However Catwoman instead played a 'Comb through everything' on a different suspect and ignored the poisoned bait, happy just to cancel out the 'Stinky fish'
Just for the hell of it Borgon then battered Truncheon again!
This left Martinez able to score 'Detective work' in the Joker's deployment zone with the last available suspect marker and now Borgon was done and dusted Brave Brave Chief McKenzie wandered back to the centre and played 'finding a suspect' for the last action of the game. In hindsight I cannot be sure if this was a suspect that should have been removed earlier and wont count it if it is decisive.
End of Turn 4
Both Stinky fish' and 'Showtime' scored for joker giving his crew 27 points total whilst Batman/GCPD had scored 8 (or 6) during the turn giving them either 31 or 29. Either way it is within 5 points which I am calling a draw for League purposes.
Conclusions
Both sides had decent cards overall although Katanas move to discard the entire hand using the 'Bite the dust' resource was critical for Joker who was stymied card wise at that point. Had Joker actually remembered he had pass tokens the game might have been different in the sense that Batman/GCPD might have scored less rather than Joker scoring more but I think it would still have been a draw.
MVPs were Martinez and Katanas, especially Martinez who scored cards every round pulling in 11 points on his own and half a 'perimeter'. The loss of three active units in turn one was a massive disadvantage for Joker though this was somewhat balanced out by the loss of Batman at the start of turn two for the GCPD having achieved nothing.
Game 2 will be Penguin v Riddler
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