Sunday 8 November 2015

Frostgrave: the Undead

Introduction

I'm continuing to hunt out old miniatures from my lead pile and paint them up for use in games of Frostgrave.  Last week, I showed my wizards, but I've also been working on monsters.  Indeed, I seem to have a lot more of these than I do humans - I'm quite short of ordinary soldiers.  Still, all things in good time.

Right, monsters.  I've painted up (or in a few cases, rebased existing models that seemed suitable) quite a few undead creatures.  They say that Frostgrave is a desolate, haunted place that is roamed by lost souls.  Let's see...

The Vampire

My vampire is an old Games Workshop miniature who has been "re-purposed" from my never-used Warhammer Vampire Counts army.  I think he's a Von Carstein or something like that.  This is one of the models that I had painted years ago, but the base is new and hopefully is more appropriate for a ruined, snowy city.

He wears classic vampire 18th/19th century costume - and is therefore several hundred years ahead of fashion in my medieval Frostgrave setting.  I could replace the model with something more contemporary in due course, but it's a very recognisable vampire look and so he might just stay.  I haven't fully decided yet.

The Spectre

If this guy looks somewhat familiar then it's because I painted up some models just like this to act as apparitions in a Scooby Doo game, not that long ago.  He's another model from the same Black Tree Design set, but painted up slightly differently - especially the base!

The Wights

These are my armoured skeletons, though if you prefer to call them "wights", "doom guard", "grave knights" or anything else then that's OK by me.  The red/black model in the middle is another Games Workshop figure that I painted long ago, though the basing is new.  However the other 2, recently-completed wights are from Black Tree Design.

Zombies

These zombies are a mixture of old Games Workshop and Black Tree Design/Harlequin models.  I'm not even sure that I can remember which is which, despite just painting then recently!

The guy on the left has a strange assortment of odd pieces of armour and a big, goofy grin; I'm not sure that I like this model very much.  However, the other 2 look very much like shambling, undead warriors to me; pretty much what I'd expect from medieval zombies!

The Skeletons

Finally, here are some Black Tree Design skeletons, though I don't think that the shields that I've fitted to them are the ones which were originally provided with the models.

As with the wights, these old BTD models are quite large; they'll tower over some of my humans.  Still, no-one ever said that skeleton warriors have to be average in size, right?

Conclusion

I've got a number of terrain pieces under construction or planned, as well as other monsters & creatures (demons, wolves, trolls and the like).  But I'm really short of suitable humans for the wizards' warbands.  That's probably where I should be spending my model-making effort, but I'm having too much fun painting up the wandering threats!  For now, at least...

23 comments:

  1. One of the joys of Frostgrave is that we all have old figures that are suitable to use.
    Great to see old figures getting a new lease of life.

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    1. Well, it's been a good excuse to paint up some of the older parts of the lead pile. I haven't actually used them for a game yet, mind!

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  2. Great to see more classic figures C6! The repurposing must be keeping the cost of the project down too..

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    1. Hmm, i don't know about the latter: I've been through a fair amount of green stuff recently :-) . Also I've ordered quite a few extra bits and pieces related to this project...

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  3. Very nice. Lovely classic GW Vampire as well I had one of them back in the day later he got changed to a one of the Von Carsteins the one with a magical ring if I remember though I Dis-remember what it did!

    Not been caught by the Frostgrave bug as yet though like yourself I have a few Fantasy figures that can be used for it. I think the Cultist plastic set that is due to come out soon will be a great addition for most peoples collections.

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    1. Yes, the cultists will be out very soon indeed. I'm not sure if I want to go down that route - at least, not yet (I passed on the recent "Nickstarter" where these guys were one of the main components). My plan - to the extent that I have one - is to build up enough to play a few basic games before diving into expansions...

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  4. I haven't played the game yet and with no club nearby and my reg players all interested in other things unlikely to :( this seems a shame as it sounds fun and I've got loads of models that would work well!

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    1. Well, I've got no club nearby either (or at least, not one that meets at any time I can make). Still, my younger son is showing considerable interest in this project.

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  5. A great selection of undead figures, Hugh. I like them all.

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    1. Thanks, Bryan. I thought you might like these :-) .

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  6. Replies
    1. The spectre (and the 3 similar apparitions that I painted up for Scooby Doo) is a really easy model to paint. I think it's very effective, though. Thanks, Ray.

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  7. Its always nice to have some old GW figs lying around!
    Great work C6

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    1. Thanks, HW. Most of these models are Black Tree Design rather than GW, but they're made for exactly the same purpose.

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  8. It's mazing what use can be made from our figure collections. As Frostgrave is currently "flavour of the month" my son is talking about gaming it and I realised I probably have the figures necesary just by using my D&D collection - if they can be found!

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    1. Well, you'll need a lot of terrain as well as figures - but maybe you've also got a dungeon or two in your collection, just waiting to be found :-) ?

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  9. Those look excellent.
    I wasn't particularly inspired by my initial reading of the rules.
    A good set of figures can really sell the game.

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    1. I think a lot of the strength of the game comes from the character development before and between games. The in-battle gameplay isn't particularly novel.

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  10. All the above looks great but the Spectre is something else. Now that one is superb. My favourite of the lot with the skeleton trio coming in a close second.

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    1. Thanks, FEM. Would you believe that the spectre was probably the easiest of all these models to paint :-) ?

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    2. The simplest ones are the ones that look the best. I am pro-minimalist after all ^_^

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