Batman: GCC after-party

After the recent Kickstarter success of Batman: Gotham City Chronicles, Monolith held a "Thank You" party for those of us that helped spread the word, before and during the campaign.

​And I was one of those 80 bloggers, painters and demonstrators to go along.

It was held in a quiet farm house, out on the outskirts of Paris. A weekend event of eating, drink, babbling and playing with the team of Monolith. Headed by Frédéric Henry the designer and co-founded of the company. Hand shakes and kisses were the first order of the day, as tradition in France. Yes, I kissed men on the cheek! (No Con-Crud ensued)

Although I was only there a short time on the Saturday, I got a taste of the world behind Kickstarter. Also, this article will probably shorter then what it could have been if I stayed the whole weekend. I will try my best to fill in the spaces with photos and videos. =)

We were well catered for, in the form of delicacy of Brittany (the home of Monolith). These were in the form of organic pancakes, sweet and savory. 

I am quite partial to a cheese and ham pancake at home. But with an added egg, it was almost like an english breakfast in my hand. And their homemade lemon curd was a delight...until the third one.

​Inside the farm house was a small display of the prototype components. Large prints of the maps, on paper. Box art and comic books. Plus the miniatures...and a BIG Batmobile

A look at the artwork used in the game

​The miniature seemed like the final product. Although they weren't. They were stunning in detail and easily recognizable from the graphic novels, even if you hadn't read them. And that was the thing that struck me. In most games, when you get a ton of figures. You hone in on a few that you find appealing to the eye and get to know their names quickly. These become your favorites. The characters you use in every game. 

But here, I knew almost all of their names. Loved their posses and look. And will probably have a hard time choosing a favorite, go to character.

​Just look at them...

A table full of astonishing minis and a cool looking Batmobile

​But it was not all pancakes and pats on the back.

​A majority of my time there was spent talking to the other bloggers and playing games. I did forget a lot of names, even though everyone had a badge, so apologies if I don't mention you. You were all a pleasure to listen to. Anecdote and story's of things that had happened in life. All in French too. And "NO!", there was no conversations about boobs and bellybuttons!!! In fact, most of the topics were about normal things. Weather, holidays, where you come from and accents. And a little bit of board games mixed in.

I spent most of the day with my good friend Mr Petitjean and also caught up with Barbi, my fellow demonstrator at the UK Gaming Expo. He came down, all the way from somewhere around Huddersfield for the event. And there was even a couple that came from Scotland.  And I had a little chance to speak in my native tongue before enjoying the company of other in my now second tongue.

A table full of astonishing minis and a cool looking Batmobile

​In among the eating and talking that was going on around me, there was also some gaming. I sat down and played all three of Monoliths titles. Conan, Mythic Battles: Pantheon as well as Batman. Some of the group had brought their own copies of their games. Blinged out and painted with astonishing detail. 

There were of course many other games there being played. Great Western Trail, Lisboa,  Secret Hitler and other published titles that hit the tables as well as some prototypes. One in paticular was the next, up and coming game from Monolith...Claustrophobia 1643.

This will be a remake of the same game with the same name...
​Claustrophobia by Croc.

But with a few changes to the mechanisms and, as you can guest, a lot more miniatures.

​This new version, which is still headed by Croc, will be to the same scale as the original, but will be like a new base game. Monolith haven't official announce that they will be supporting the 2009 version of the game, but knowing that they like fan created content, I'm sure there will be mission for this on their Overlord site in the future.

New feature, that you can see in the video below, include; Creature player has new actions board. Less actions than before, but more profound.Human player can collect cards that can be played as special actions or to change the result of a dice roll. 

Prototype version of the new Claustrophobia 1643

This proto was in heavy use all the day, so I never got chance to play and compare how it plays against the original version (which I played once and admired it damage system). So I will have to probably wait until September, like you, to see how it works. Again, this will be another Kickstarter, so if your a fan...start saving your penny's. 

All in all, it was a delightful day, not only with a very sunny and hot, April sun. But also because of the company that was there. The charming Monolith team, the friendly fellow bloggers, amazing painters and Batman comic book fans. Thank you all.

Talking of Batman, if you missed out on the Kickstarter, you can still get a chance to grab a copy. As of the 3rd of May, you can go to the late pledge manager...
​AND GET EVERYTHING!!!! 

Batman Late Pledge