Friday 25 September 2015

Bandwagons Ho!

It was bound to happen sooner or later.


 Alright, I know it's another distraction, but it just looks so damned shiny...

Yes, I have just jumped on the latest bandwagon to roll over the gaming horizon, the fantasy skirmish juggernaut which has taken the hobby blogosphere by storm, Joseph McCullough's Frostgrave, published by Osprey Games with an official line of figures by North Star (and pretty darned nice they are too!).

It's a game of duelling wizards and their retinues of assorted thugs, thieves, soldiers and specialists questing for treasure in a ruined city which has been overtaken by a magical catastrophe. Sort of a Mordheim on Ice, if you will.

Frostgrave takes place in the city of Felstad, buried beneath glacial ice for centuries. Now the thaw has arrived, and wizards are assembling warbands to venture into the ruins in search of treasures both mundane and magical. 

Well, when C&G got wind of it, there was the usual dancing around the topic of this new arrival on the fantasy scene; "Hmm, this Frostgrave thingy is getting some good reviews..." "Not a bad price for a rulebook..." "Should we go halves in a box of soldiers?" And finally, "I'm putting together an order with North Star. You guys want anything?"

And so it begins. There are the first hints of some cyclopean walls in progress;

I make all my terrain out of Wensleydale. It's just so damned tasty!

Some promising finds in my collection of textured craft papers - nice bit of pavement there. 

Soon to be a load of old cobbles.
A box of soldiers, already in progress;

Some great faces for radio there...

And since I found out that the first supplement was to be called Thaw of the Lich Lord, naturally I decided that I should think ahead and get everyone's favourite undead (Vampires? Pfft. Too sparkly) ready for the fray. I got myself a Reaper Bones Lich for a fraction of the price of a metal fig, and got to work.

Here he is in the early stages, based with marble chips and pumice paste (incidentally, that stuff is a revelation; basing just got a whole lot quicker and easier).

"Five minutes, Mr Vecna."
And here he is as of this evening;

"Do you want eternal life? Sure, we all do!"

Of course, to fit in with Frostgrave, he's going to need a little more work, notably in the snow department, so he's going to look slightly festive by the time I've finished with him, especially with that red suit (dammit, I should have painted candy stripes on the staff, or at least hung a couple of bells off of it...).

So not only have I got myself a new hobby horse, my efforts are even less focused than usual! Result!

I'd better step back and work on some wizards next. At least then I'll have a colour palette to theme the warbands around.

Hope to get some more work in over the weekend - stay tuned!

Evan

32 comments :

  1. He looks great. It's good to be on a band wagon. Where did you get the textured paper?

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Martin!

      The paper came from an art supplies shop in Sydney several years ago. I was told that it was made in India. In retrospect, I should have bought more than two sheets of the stuff - it looks brilliant!

      We don't do much wallpaper in this country, so we don't have nearly as much access to textured papers appropriate for mimicking cobblestones, alas.

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  2. Superb work on the Lich Lord :)

    I've bought the book, but was thinking of taking it in a different direction - a lost Mesoamerican city, with Aztecs, Maya and maybe Conquistadores. Just to be a rebel you understand.

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    Replies
    1. Now that is a brilliant idea, Tamsin!

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    2. Tamsin, thank you!

      I look forward to seeing ChichenItzaGrave in action!
      ; )

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    3. Looks like I finally have a reason to paint some of my pile of Conquistador minis!

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  3. I have so far managed to resist this one, but...

    Nice Lich!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Paul, he's pretty good for a soft plastic casting, and he's turning out better than I expected. But how to do snow...? Anyone who plays Frostgrave needs to be able to nail that!

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  4. Replies
    1. Come over to the Dark Side, we have cookies...
      ; )

      I've not seen a launch like this in years - it's already spawning homegrown variants and it's only been out two months!

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  5. Going to be interesting to see how it unfolds on C & C.
    cheers

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  6. There's nothing better than some distraction...
    Welcome to the hypetrain! :-)

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    Replies
    1. Thanks, Thomas, it's certainly got a fair bit of momentum up by now!

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  7. just played my first game last night. very fun and simple to play.

    That Liche looks excellent

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Neil, I notice that your own warband is coming along very nicely, and I will be following with interest!

      I like the plastic Frostgrave soldiers a lot - they have an old school D&D vibe that piqued my sense of nostalgia, but the game lends itself to adaptation with all manner of figs being used across the blogosphere.

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  8. I have a copy in the post... That wagon is starting to get overloaded!

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    Replies
    1. Overloaded? Hell, they've already had to replace the suspension twice!
      ; )

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  9. Replies
    1. *makes steepled finger pyramid of evil*

      "Good, goooood...."

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  10. Hi Evs, there's a bunch of guys in the UK playing Frostgrave in the Pavis Rubble. You know it makes sense...

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    Replies
    1. Ah yes, I've seen the Pavisgrave figs - very nice work by Roy Duffy (the undisputed king of Gloranthan conversions!).

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  11. This book is tempting...as well as eternal life! Great looking Lich!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Phil, maybe we can do a deal...? After all, it's not like you're actually *using* your immortal soul now, is it...?
      ; )

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  12. You're in good company, Ev; I'm still holding out for Dragon Rampant. That said, the figures certainly look very nice.

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    Replies
    1. Dragon Rampant does look interesting, but you know how easy it is to distract me - the old ADD has been kicking in big time lately!

      As for Frostgrave figs, I've been mucking about with some conversion ideas already, and the preliminary results look very promising...

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  13. Another one succumbs! There is no getting away from it, it does look like seriously good fun!

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    Replies
    1. Well, I figure if I'm to join a cult, I should get in early so that I can rise through the ranks before the rest of the population decides to follow. I should be able to make Vice-Under-Assistant Sub-Hierarch by Christmas!
      ; )

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  14. Had a few games and it is fun, pretty old skool feel but good. Easy to apply to any setting as the back story isn't tied in with the rules so anything goes. Enjoy.

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    Replies
    1. These days, I look for the following things in a game;

      1) Is it easy to learn, i.e., will the rules still make sense after a couple of beers?
      2) Can it be played in an evening?
      3) Is bookkeeping kept to a minimum?

      If the answer to all of the above is 'yes', then it's probably the game for me. If it gets me interested enough to start building terrain again, that usually means I'm hooked!

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  15. Aah, the curse or blessing of shineybloodyitis. Enjoy

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