Frostgrave: Assorted Figures

 Introduction

It's been a strange year (and a bit).  We've not been able to go out much because of the various lock downs and so haven't really played any games.  However, this has left a lot of time for painting.

I've been powering through a number of projects and individual figures, but I just realised that many of my recent completions are models for Frostgrave.  It makes sense to document them all together, so here we go.

Last of the old GW Wizards

When I started looking for miniatures with which to play Frostgrave (back in 2015!), I remembered that I had a decade-old collection of Games Workshop plastic wizards.  I re-based and finished painting seven of them (here: http://colgar6.blogspot.com/2015/11/frostgrave-wizards.html), but at the time I couldn't find the 8th model in the set - the Dark Elf sorceress.

Well, she finally came to light and so I've re-based this model for the frozen city.  Considering how long ago I actually painted this figure, I think it's help up well.  Mind you, I can't help thinking that her choice of clothing is not optimal for an icy wasteland.  Maybe the cold never bothered her anyway?

The Old Wolf

This is another old (ancient!) Games Workshop model.  It's one of the figures I prepared for Frostgrave some 5 or 6 years ago, but the snow effect on its base had aged very badly.  Oddly, most of the models I have prepared at that time or since are just fine, but this and maybe one other were yellowing visibly.

I painted over the discoloured parts of the base with white, then used a mixture of white paint and glue to stick down some "realistic" model snow (instead of the bicarbonate of soda I had used previously).  Because of the over-coverage to hide all trace of the yellowing, this is now the snowiest base in my collection!

Medium Constructs

For some time, I have been searching for medium constructs for Frostgrave.  There are plenty of large models of mechanical men, golems and the like and I have a selection of these from various manufactures already (see here and here).  However, I wanted some man-sized items as well.

I was delighted when I came across this set of "Magical Automata" from Midlam Miniatures.  These figures are available individually and I don't really need four, but I just love them!

Painting the grain in the wood was not much fun, but I think it has worked better than I had hoped.  Mind you, the models have no texture on these "wooden" parts and so they could be painted differently (as iron, ceramic or anything else you can imagine).

Cultists

As part of a recent "NickStarter" campaign from North Star, I received a bonus sprue of official Frostgrave cultists.  It seemed appropriate to build them (note that I've only made 4 of the 5 models on the sprue), though there's nothing particularly different or unique to distinguish them from anybody else's cultists.

I've finished the cultists with a brown theme.  This helps to identify them as a coherent group and also separates them from my other Frostgrave figures, none of whom are predominantly brown.

The Wandering Mage

Here's another North Star "freebie", recently finished.  She's a somewhat generic wizard or apprentice, though I imagine that the figure could also be used as a thief, healer or pretty much anything else that isn't combat-oriented.

Mind you, now that I look at the model again I remember I had intended to paint the robe with classic wizard's stars and moons to identify her as a wizard - but I forgot.  Hmm, is the figure truly finished?  Should I go back and add the intended detail?  I'm not sure.

Gnolls

Another part of the recent "NickStarter" was a sprue of Gnolls (hyena men).  Again, these seemed useful for Frostgrave and so I've completed all five figures.  This time they're painted in a dark grey or black theme, though there are splashes of other colours from their mismatched assortment of clothing and equipment.  Gnolls should be very useful as wandering monsters, or even as hirelings for the less scrupulous wizards.

Conclusion

That's all for now!  I think this pretty much cleans out my stash of unpainted models for Frostgrave, though no doubt I'll find a few more if I look properly through my storage.  And there's always the possibility that I might buy further models in the future...

All My Zombies

 Introduction

"All My Zombies" - it sounds like the title of a not-so-good sitcom, doesn't it?  No, I haven't entered the business of television script writing.  Rather, there is a completely different reason for this post.

A few weeks ago, someone asked on TMP (The Miniatures Page) "How many zombie models does anyone have?"  Glibly, I answered that I hadn't counted but that my collection must be at least several hundred.  Well, I was feeling a bit guilty about this lack of accuracy and so I decided to conduct an inventory to find the correct answer.  It turns out that I don't have as many as I thought - but it depends!

What Counts as a Zombie Model?

It might sound like a silly question at first, but I need an accurate definition of what constitutes a zombie model.  In many cases it is very obvious, I think - but before you start laughing at the question please consider these cases:

• For a multi-base, do we count each individual figure or do we just score one for the entire piece?
• What about ambiguous figures which might be zombies - or which might be humans pretending to be zombies?  Or indeed zombies pretending to be humans?  Do they count as survivors or as zombies?
• Should we count figures which are lying down?  They might be truly dead - or they might  be zombies lying low and waiting to surprise some unwary survivor.
• OK, if we're talking about my entire collection then what about medieval zombies based for mass battle games such as Hordes of the Things, or for fantasy skirmish games such as Frostgrave?
• Do unpainted models count?  [I'd say a firm no to that!]

The Count

In this picture, I've arranged all my modern, zombie-apocalypse-style models in groups of ten, with a few "character" zombies and mini-dioramas at the front.  Here's how I count it:

• 16 blocks of 10 = 160 zombies
• 5 "left over" zombies (at the back) = 5 zombies
• 6 "character" zombies (near the front.  One of these might be a human in disguise and another might be a voodoo spirit, but they'll still count for now) = 6 zombies
• 1 diorama base of 6 dancing zombies (front, centre) = 6 zombies
• 1 diorama base of an "oil drum" zombie = 1 zombie
• 1 diorama base of a pile of corpses = 0 zombies (let's assume they really are dead)

If I've done my sums right, this gives a grand total of 178 zombies.  Note that this is not quite "several hundred", as I had initially claimed.  If I include my fantasy zombies as well then this must add another 20 or 30 at the very least (there I go again, making assumptions without actually checking!) - still not enough for "several hundred".

Conclusion

Well, the only possible conclusion is that I should check the facts before making vague claims.  This has caught me by surprise as I could have sworn that I had the numbers I had said.  Oh,well, I guess I was wrong.

So, let's sign off with another picture of the horde, this time from a different angle.  It may not include "hundreds" of figures but they still look scary to me!

Saga: the Saracens

Introduction

It's been a while since I posted anything.  The truth is, I just didn't feel like blogging - either authoring or viewing other people's offerings.  It was always something I thought I might return to, though - I never gave up all hope.

So let's see how I feel after this: a straightforward cataloguing of my (as yet unbloodied) Saracen warband for SAGA.

The Warlord

The boss of this outfit is Iftakhar.  He's a subtle, refined character with many talents.  Just because he enjoys poetry and hawking doesn't mean that he's not quite capable in a fight as well!

The mounted model is from Perry Miniatures, whilst the bodyguard with the parasol is (if I remember correctly) from Eureka.

Cavalry

One box of Gripping Beast's "Arab heavy cavalry" has been used to make the Saracen hearthguard.  I've modeled most of them with shield and lance (or sword or mace) and a few with bows in hand.  However, many of the former also have bow cases and could be used as either missile or melee troops.

If anything, Saracen nobility are even more gaudy than samurai!  These have all been depicted with expensive, patterned clothes and horse trappings.  Thank goodness I only had a dozen of them to paint!

In contrast, the light cavalry (mercenary Turcoman archers) are much more drab.  Again, these were built from a Gripping Beast plastic box - which suggests that I must have another 4 models somewhere since the kits come as a set of 12 figures.  Hmm - I wonder what I've done with them?

Infantry

I have a substantial core of basic spearmen for my Saracen warband.  Again, these come from a box of Gripping Beast's plastic Arab infantry - apart from one extra metal figure which I think might be an early casting from Gripping Beast.

A dozen archers (the rest of the figures from the box of Arab infantry above) provide some missile power.  Mind you, these are probably less-than-enthusiastic levies and so shouldn't be relied on too much...

Finally, I have some naffatun - foot soldiers with fire pots or primitive flamethrowers.  Such weapons are mentioned in early medieval texts, but I believe they are not described in any detail.  Consequently, the inclusion of these in any game is somewhat conjectural, if not completely fanciful!  Still, they're usually given rules which make them as dangerous to the thrower as to his enemies.  I'll include them in my force because they add a bit of local "colour".

From memory, my naffatun models are a mixture of Perry Miniatures and Gripping Beast.

Pure Fantasy

So, SAGA has this supplement entitled Age of Magic.  It seems to me that the easiest way to play this (starting from my existing collection) is to add a few fantasy elements to an otherwise "historical" force.  Consequently, I've modeled a sorcerer, a roc and a genie (jinn).  Any before anyone points it out, I haven't yet obtained a model for the very obvious man-on-a-flying-carpet!

I haven't stopped to work out what part each of these might play in a game of Age of Magic.  The wizard is obviously a magician and I suppose that the genie could also be a magician.  I don't know about the roc, though.

All three of these models come from Shieldwolf Miniatures and can be found in their Araves range.

Conclusion

On the whole, I'm quite pleased with this warband.  I have another hero (on foot) still to finish painting and I might yet want to add some more fantasy elements, baggage & other objective markers.  But what I have completed is mostly well done - certainly good enough for my liking.

More Painting...

Introduction

It's been a long time since I put up a post listing recently-painted models.  Here's some that I completed in the last month or so.

The Models

Who doesn't need a skull gateway in their terrain collection?  This one has been in my "undercoated and waiting for paint" pile for many years - but now it's done!  It's part of Scotia Grendel's "Boat of the River Styx" set

Another shot of the gateway.  I'm experimenting with a backdrop; here's the piece with a printout of a picture found by searching the internet for "gates of hell".

Next up: a monocycle from 1st Corps.  The kit comes with a Vickers K gun (light machine gun); I decided not to use that as I didn't want my monowheel to look like a military experiment.

Another view of the monowheel.  I'm sure I'll find a use for it in some 1920's pulp game...

This is the warlord for my SAGA Saracens.  As you can see, he's not especially militant, though I'm sure he'll fight just as well as any other warlord in the game when pressed!
The mounted figure is from Perry Miniatures, whilst the bodyguard/parasol holder/standard bearer is from Eureka Miniatures.

I'm mildly concerned about the weight of the parasol (it's a metal piece!) putting stress on the composition.  Still, I used a steel wire to hold it up - so everything ought to be fairly robust.

Last summer, I took a bunch of plastic sprues on holiday and assembled all of them.  These are the last of that batch to be painted: some Gripping Beast Arab heavy cavalry, intended for my SAGA Saracens.  I'm a bit annoyed that I positioned the shield arm so awkwardly on the front model.

I've had flushes of enthusiasm for SAGA: Age of Magic for some time now.  The simplest way (for me) to create an AoM warband is to add some extra elements to an existing, historical army.  Here's a magician who can be used with my Saracens... 

A back view; I've named this figure "Jafar".  It seemed appropriate...
.  The model is "Araves Sorcerer B" from Shieldwolf Miniatures, though the basing is entirely mine.

Here's something a bit bigger - that's a 50mm base and the model is perhaps 3 times the height of a 28mm man!  This is Talos, from Crooked Dice.  Although sold officially as the masterpiece creation of a (modern) mad scientist, I intend to use him/it for anything from ancient Greek myth through to Lost Civilisation pulp (and perhaps even for 1970s spy-fi as well?). 

Another shot of the big boy.  Is that a mainframe computer with lots of blinking lights in his abdomen?  Perhaps he can be "hacked" or switched off?  Or do you have to use the traditional method of defeating him - by unscrewing a plug in his ankle?

I'd originally intended to finish my witch ducking stool in time for last Halloween's game, but I didn't manage.  At least it will be ready for next Halloween, right?  Model is from Colonel Bills.

Here's a very simple objective marker: a couple of pizza boxes on a base.  The boxes are free printables for a 1/4 scale dollhouse.  They're slightly fiddly to build at this scale, but not too bad if you are used to card modelling.
So, who comes to mind first: turtles, or Shaggy & Scooby?

A while back, I mentioned that our regular group of Pulp Alley players were upgrading their experienced leagues with more skills and/or figures.  Here's a rifleman for Al Masudi's Snake Cult.

Finally, my local club (Helensburgh Alternative Hobby Association, HAHA) is running a SAGA escalation league over the first few months of this year.  I've decided to build a Skraeling force - it's something I've wanted to do for a long time and this is as good a time to get started as any.  Here's the Skraeling war chief from Footsore Miniatures...

I like to give names to my SAGA figures.  In this case it's virtually impossible to find authentic names for Thule culture "indians" (and I suspect that much modern knowledge of their clothing, equipment, warpaint and behaviour is inferred - or made up - as well).
I've chosen instead to give my models "Algonquin" native names.  These are mostly made up by modern Americans as well, but at least such names are widely available; they will suffice for my purposes.  I'm still wondering whether it's OK to call one of my figures "Hiawatha"...

Conclusion

This may seem like a lot of output but before you despair remember this: these models are from at least 1 month of painting (possibly 2 or more, my memory is hazy).  Also, that time period covered a long Christmas/New Year break and many long, dark winter nights when other activities weren't very appealing.  Besides, I've so much more to paint; I'd better crack on with it!

Zomtober 2019, Week 1

Introduction

It's Zomtober again!  This is quite a lot of work for me, but I do still enjoy the event all the same.

For any new readers, here's the deal: a loose group of hobbyists agree that each will produce at least one zombie-related model each week during October.  More information including the rules (such as they are) can be found >> here <<.  It's a way of encouraging each other to be more productive...

This is the 7th year that I've been part of Zomtober (wow, really?).  Rather than just produce one model each week, I decided right from the outset to paint both a survivor and a zombie and then pose them as a "duel".  This leads to the interesting question: "what happens next?".  Sometimes it's obvious, but on other occasions there is much discussion without commentators reaching any general agreement...

Previous Zomtobers

Just in case anyone is interested in old stuff, here's a catalogue of previous years (or at least, Week 1 from each year.  Weeks 2, 3, 4... can be reached by following the links from each year's start entry):

• Zomtober 2013
• Zomtober 2014
• Zomtober 2015
• Zomtober 2016
• Zomtober 2017
• Zomtober 2018

Ryan vs the Cheer Squad

 This year, my first Zomtober entry has not just 1 figure or even 2 figures, but 4 models in a "duel".

Ryan was a fairly average high school dropout.  He liked to dress all in black and would blame the rest of the world (especially kids of his age group) for his own inadequacies.  Never once in a million years did he think that one of the good-looking, popular girls would so much as notice him, at least not without an expression of disgust or mild amusement.

And yet, here were 3 of the cheer squad (the most athletic, well-groomed girls in school) approaching him!  Knowing his luck, this was probably not as good as it seemed.

Ryan may have rejected formal education, but he wasn't stupid.  He knew that the zombie plague was rampant and that society was falling apart.  That was why he had his home-made crossbow with him - just in case he met anyone hostile.  The weapon was small, lovingly built (machine shop was the only class in school that Ryan enjoyed) and probably deadly, though he had never actually shot anyone with it - yet.

There was just one problem.  Ryan had spent so much time and effort on the weapon itself that he hadn't made much ammunition.  He had just a single bolt - and there were 3 zombies approaching.  He hadn't even considered the need for a knife or other backup weapon.  Maybe he wasn't quite as smart as he had thought...

I thought that the cheerleader zombies came from Bombshell Miniatures, but I cannot see them on that site.  Maybe I'm remembering this incorrectly?

Whatever their provenance, I extended their costumes a bit with green stuff, as the models were showing too much lower boob for my taste.  It didn't look at all plausible to me (though arguably, anything with "zombie" in the title is somewhat implausible right away...).  They still have bare midriffs, which is quite enough and a bit more "realistic".

Ryan is one of the street kids from Offensive Miniatures.  The bases are all green-stuff press moulds generated from a Basius II pad.

Conclusion

So, what happens next?  Ryan has one shot only; even if he manages to fell a zombie with that then there will still be 2 cheerleaders left to attack him.

He could take to his heels and run - if so then let's hope that these are the slow-moving, groaning type of zombies.  Otherwise, it'll be a close run thing between 3 athletic ex-girls and one not-particularly-fit young man.

Perhaps the cheerleaders are still trying to perform a routine and can be distracted or avoided?  After all, their continued grip on their pompoms suggests that they haven't gone totally feral.

So, what you you think?

Follow this link for Week 2 ==>

Test of Honour: The Takeda

Introduction

In January this year, I showed off my Oda Clan samurai and their followers.  Since then, I've added a few figures to them, but that's not what I'm going to talk about here.  Instead, this will showcase my Takeda, my second "Clan" force for the Test of Honour game and (in my gaming world, at least) mortal enemies of the Oda.

All my Test of Honour forces have their own base colours, so that they can be more easily identified during a game.  The Oda are all done in black and white armour & insignia, though clothing and other items will vary.  My ninjas are in black (well, it's traditional), whilst my bandits & ronin are in drab browns and greens.  As you will see, the Takeda use red and yellow as their "signature" colours.

Samurai

I now have a few mounted troops; these are being slowly painted up as Oda, Takeda and bandit warriors.  This pair are the widow Naoko, the red lady of the Takeda and Shigetsuna, her faithful castellan.

I've just realised that both of this pair are armed with naginatas.  The next pair (still on the painting table) have a bow and a spear - so I haven't modelled any of the Takeda horsemen with just a sword.  I guess it doesn't really matter; Test of Honour doesn't make a huge distinction between different melee weapons.

I now have 4 foot samurai for the Takeda, 2 armed with katana, one with spear and one with naginata.  Since a game only requires 1 hero and (typically) up to 2 lieutenants, this does give me a choice of appearance and weaponry.

The first 3 models from the left are all Warlord Games plastics, whilst Okitomo (at the right hand end) is from Footsore.

Ashigaru

All my spearmen for this clan are plastic models from Warlord Games.  As others have documented repeatedly, these are a real pain to assemble and are somewhat fragile when built.  Indeed, I can see that one of the spear tips is broken already...

My Takeda archers are - guess what?  More Warlord plastics...

At least the bowmen are a bit more robust than the spearmen, though just as fiddly to construct.  Note that I've modelled one of these as an ammunition carrier; he's useful as the "3rd man" in a Test of Honour group.

Now for something slightly different.  I have a group of 3 musketmen for the Takeda and these models come from Perry Miniatures.  They're single-piece castings, relatively cheap and absolutely gorgeous sculpts.

Anyone who examines the Perry range will know that infantry like this usually come in packs of 6 models.  In this case, the other 3 musket ashigaru have joined my Oda clan and therefore have black & white liveries.

Finally, here are some "special" ashigaru models.  There are 2 sergeants, one conch-blower/musician and one standard bearer.

Unsurprisingly, these are all Warlord Games plastics.  At least the plastic is a benefit for the very tall standard, as a metal flag would probably make the figure very top-heavy and liable to topple over all the time.

Conclusion

If I were starting over for this period then I think I'd probably stick with Perry Miniatures for the clan forces.  Indeed, I also like their Ninjas and they have many figures usable as bandits as well.  The Footsore figures are fairly good, but I've had some slight issues fitting 2-part models together.  While the plastics are cheap & versatile, the Warlord models are just too fiddly and fragile for me.

However one thing's for certain: I will still be expanding my Test of Honour forces for quite some time to come!