Frostgrave; Another Temptation

Its not like I don't have enough to do, but a friend brought this to my attention, Frostgrave by Joseph McCullough.

It's a skirmish game set in a ruined and recently thawed city and the players run wizards and their hirelings exploring for the lost magical treasures and secrets of the city.

They are running a 'sort of Kickstarter', with free shipping if orders placed before 15th.
I'm not sure which set of wizards appeals to me the most, but I definitely get a Mordheim vibe form this.

An extra plus is that my Fat Dragon Ravenfell terrain should do nicely, it even has the option to add snow layers.

Two Wargames Shows this Weekend

Something for the Weekend?

Just a brief mention of two great events for the UK wargamer this weekend.

Saturday is the Mantic (spring) Open Day at their offices in Nottingham.  Tickets are available on their webstore, but everyone who buys one gets more than the value back in Mantic product, and this time you get to choose.
The day should be full of fun, lots of new stuff being played and shown off, and the now famous Ronnie's Q&A where the boss himself traditionally reveals many of his plans for the future.

The Sheffield Triples are on Saturday and Sunday.  This has always been my big local show and I  look forward to having a good browse around the stands, seeing what is new, and finding that one mini or piece of terrain that I didn't know I needed, but I just have to have.

This year I am trying to do both!  Wish me luck

3D Fat Dragon Papercraft Terrain for Dungeons and Dragons; The Lost Library

The Secret Revealed

The secret project mentioned last post is a build for my D&D group.

The Lost Library is a 'Petra' like complex in the desert.  I have used Fat Dragon terrain for the build, it is currently my favourite for 3D terrain.

Looking in through the entrance

One of the side galleries

The far section of the main chamber, complete with pool and statue

High gallery in the far section

The heroes of Winterhaven enter the library, unaware that something lurks within (Reconstruction)

The build provides multiple levels for interesting play, along with lots of doors to investigate.  In play the party were chased in by feathered fiends, only to find more fiends within.  They have to explore whilst avoiding the fiends, or find some way to clear them all out....

Interlude

Hobby time is currently mostly given over to a secret project.  As this is for my roleplayers, and they 'love' a surprise, you will all have to wait until after the unveiling in a couple of weeks.

Meanwhile I will post pictures of my goblin fleabag riders undercoated, and explain why cats and spears don't mix (don't worry, no cats were harmed in the assembly f the goblin cavalry).

Kings of War Goblin Spitters Finished and Based

The goblins are finished!!
Actually on the table top they probably would be, but I rather like the little critters.  I put one of the bases I made previously to use with some of Mantic's plastic goblin spitters (archers). They rather remind me of some of Brian Froud's work.

Unit basing means I can get away with only having 15 goblins on here to represent a regiment of 20.  Kings of War doesn't have casualty removal; damage points are recorded, but the regiment fights at full strength until wavered or routed.

I'll put details of my painting method up next time I do some goblins.  In the meantime I am building a regiment of Fleabag Riders.  These are made form Mantic's infamous Restic, an unholy hybrid of resin and plastic.  

Its not really that bad, but the pieces are fiddly; not helped by my desire to alter some of them to make command figures.  As with most things in life, there is a technique to be learned, then they don't seem too bad at all, and when built they are lovely minis.

Bases Update

I have now finished a couple of the bases, enough so I can start basing up an already painted regiment of 'Spitters' (goblin archers) and the Fleabag Riders (cavalry) I am currently working on.

Since the previous post they have had a coat of Vallejo Game Color Earth, then a drybrush of Vallejo Model Color Sand.  The trees were painted black, then drybrushed VGC Charred Brown then Cold Grey.  A final touch of VGC Bone White over everything brought out the highlights.  The areas of cut or broken wood were VMC Sand, washed with sepia wash.

A few patches of static grass and clump foliage completes the job, though if I can find some of those 'leaves' that come from birch seed pods I will scatter them around.

The Spitters fit nicely on their base, the leader stands on the tree stump directing his forces, and no doubt hoping to be ignored by the enemy.  The Fleabag base is less successful.  If I had angled the logs the other way then they would have made a great perch for some of the riders.  Unfortunately the fleabag's legs don't fit on as I have modeled it.  Oh well, they will just have to be placed on either side of the logs.  I will be doing more regiments of cavalry, so next time I will get it right.  I'm sure there is a version of 'measure twice, cut once' in play here.

Making Unit Bases for Kings of War

Back To Bases

Well its been a while....  sometimes real life gets in the way, but back on track, if a slightly different track.

As I have mentioned before, my favourite fantasy wargames rules at the moment are Kings of War, by Mantic Games.  I already have a good sized orc army (though of course it isn't finished) and I could put together a Kingdoms of Men force from my old Warhammer Empire stuff.  But since there is a new set of rules on the way I fancied a new army.

Over the past year or so I have amassed quite a few goblins.  Its time to put some paint on them.
First I wanted to come up with some sort of theme.  My orcs are based up as if marching through the ruins of some once proud city.  Given that one of my regular opponents (Merlin) has elves, I decided woodland would be a nice touch, but woodlands with the trees chopped down, uprooted or burnt.

In Kings of War its the footprint of the unit that matters, not the number of miniatures.  This encourages scenic bases, so I set to work on some for my first few units of goblins.

All bases are 4mm MDF.  The trees are bits of a creeper trimmed from a garden (with the owner's permission) and fixed with hot glue.  I used the hot glue to make roots for the tree stumps too.

My normal texture is just sand glued in place, but I liked the effect of filler (or spackle) as used on my Barsoom board, so I tried a similar effect with Milliput.  The effect was less impressive than I would have liked, though it did give a pleasing unevenness to the bases, so I have glued some patches of sand on anyway.  

Here are the bases with undercoat and awaiting drybrushing and various forms of foliage.

125mmx10mm base for a regiment of cavalry

100mmx80mm base for a regiment of infantry

100mmx80mm base for another regiment of infantry

These will work fine for the goblins, and I hope Merlin's elves forgives me for what the goblins have done to their woods.

*EDIT* you can see the completed bases in the next post