Showcase: Gargoyles

Introduction

This won't be a long posting.  I was due to write an article yesterday, but it has been too hot to do much.  For about 2 weeks (from memory), we've had bright, sunny weather, culminating today in a temperature of 31 degrees in the office all afternoon and 32 degrees in the car on the way home.  I'm exhausted and limp.

Now I know that some of my readers might not think that such temperatures are anything particularly unusual, but remember that I live in Scotland.  We're just not prepared for such heat, either mentally or physically (and I'm referring as much to our buildings, cars and so on as much as I am to my physique).  20-25 degrees is OK, but today went somewhat beyond that and has drained me.  No new painting or anything much else in the evenings...

Right, here are some models that I prepared earlier.  Several years ago, that is.

Flying Bugs

I don't normally buy Games Workshop models (not new, at any rate.  I have collected quite a few cheap pieces over the years from eBay and the like).  In this case, I made an exception.

I remember spending quite a while looking for second-hand GW Tyranid gargoyles to go with the rest of my bugs before I came to the conclusion that only the simple "troop" types were at all common on second-hand sites.  Additionally, I wanted to arm these with spare claws from another kit rather than with the "bio guns" which are supplied, therefore I really didn't want models that had already been glued together.  So, it had to be a from-new kit.

Note that I am not planning to use these in any GW games, so the "non-standard" weapons doesn't matter.  To me, these are just dumb animals rather than biotech-wielding, space-faring aliens.  Perhaps the hive has bred the flying critters as specialist scouts or long-range scavengers, as opposed to the larger numbers of walking/scuttling, earth-bound bugs.

I've altered the bases a bit, mostly to angle the "flying posts".  If built out-of-the-box then these gargoyles would be very much rearing up, but I wanted my bugs to be flying forwards.  I think it saves them from looking as if they're about to stall, though I do recognise that such aerodynamic niceties wouldn't matter to many gamers!

The colour used is the usual two-tone black and tan scheme that I apply to all my Tyranid models.  I decided very early on that if I was going to paint large numbers of bugs then complex camouflage or display markings were out!

Finally, I gave some thought to the storage of these models.  It's often hard to find adequate ways to protect models with many bits that stick out.  Flying models such as these are especially bad in that respect; they have wings, tails, basing posts and claws protruding all over the place!

Being plastic, my completed gargoyles are very light models.  I attached a disk of magnetic sheet to the underside of each base and searched for an old biscuit tin (cookie tin, if you're in the USA) in which to house them.  This has worked extremely well; my bugs won't even come off if I turn the tin upside down and shake it, yet they're not stuck on so firmly as to make it impossible to remove them by hand.  It wouldn't do for heavier, metal models, but this is just fine for these tyranids.

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...

Frostgrave? Wizards!

Introduction

A month or so ago, I ordered the Frostgrave rulebook.  This was almost an accident, as it was only purchased to increase the value of my order to the point where free postage would kick in.  However, when the book arrived I did read it through, just to see what all the fuss is about.

Since then I've been rooting out many of my old fantasy figures and rebasing them (if already painted) or painting them (if not).  I've been using my Basius II Dungeon pad to make both treasure markers and also bases suitable for a ruined city until my fingers are sore from mixing green stuff.  I've dug out some long-ignored terrain kits and more pieces are on order, so I think I've got that covered too.  My younger son is off designing wizards and their entourages on paper, so soon we'll be all prepared to actually play a game.  That'll be good!

The Wizards

Please accept my apologies for the poor quality of the pictures.  I'm out at work long enough that I don't see daylight at home at this time of year, and the lights in the house just aren't very good for taking photographs...

So, many years ago, Games Workshop released a box of 8 plastic wizards.  As well as the 7 I'm showing here, there was also a female (Dark Elf?) sorceress.  I know that I've got her around somewhere but I'm unable to locate that model for now.

I managed to get one of these boxes quite some time after they were released; they were fairly scare by then.  My intention was to use some of the wizards for my Warhammer Dogs of War mercenary army (which is pretty large, but has never been used.  At least, some of its models have occasionally made it into other games, but the bulk of this force is still virgin).

When I first got these models, I undercoated all, started to paint most and finished a few of them.  Then they were ignored for a decade or more...

In the last couple of weeks, I've finished off all these wizards and rebased them in more interesting ways (previously they were on square slotta-bases with plain, green flock).


The sculpts for these figures are showing their age, for certain.  They tend to suffer from huge feet and very big heads.  Additionally, they are somewhat 2-dimensional and a bit stilted (there are only so many ways that a sword, staff or sickle can be waved sideways, I suppose).  Finally, because of the technology of the time, the mouldings lose a lot of detail around the edges.

Despite not being the most modern of figures, I'm quite pleased with these.  Firstly, it's a considerable satisfaction to have completed these models after all the years they've been waiting.  Secondly, they give me a considerable choice of characters for Frostgrave, or indeed for any other game where a wizard is required.  And finally, they're a reminder that one doesn't need brand new figures all the time; sometimes it's better to look at the resources one already has!

So, what do you think?  Love, hate or indifferent?  Any particular favourites or dislikes?