Having finally gotten all the Escenorama order primed, it was time to figure out just how these were to go together. I didn't see any instructions available, so pulling out the bits, it suddenly became clear!
I finally understood what those little bits were for. They are used to level out & allow for the support beams to be mounted. (this is just set together at this point).
The second level & floor are then able to be added.
So with that being said, this first building is now drying from the superglue. But I wanted to get started on one of these buildings...so I grabbed the multi-story one that came with the set & off to work at the paint table.
Starting off primed white, I painted the entire building in a mid-grey colour, followed by Burnt Umber, Yellow Ochre & Sand in sequence. The wooden beams are Burnt Umber & hi-lighted with Nubby Linen.
The main structure is now painted & apart from needing the Army Painter dip, & a final touch up of hi-light colour is ready to go. One of the things noticed were the frame askew on the wall. I think I will be doing some internet searching to find some images to fit into these. Yes they are on the several of the buildings, so a range of images will be required.
So the first of the ruined village set is usable for the next game of Frostgrave or Mordheim.
I am trying to match this ruined bridge piece I have as I really like the colouring of it. Here they are side by side. Not too far off, so I think once I get the dip on it & matte sprayed it should be almost bang on.
Still have a couple figures for use in Frostgrave on the bench as well as the Myth consignment I am working on.
Cheers & thanks for reading.
As we continue with above normal temps +5C today, it provided an opportunity to get the Wreath on the garage & to get a bunch more items primed for winter projects, as mother nature will always get her due.
With that being said I didn't get much painting done today, tis the season & all. However I did get to complete Geeb the Grotty with club & leather armour. Perfect for another Thug.
He is another of the Citadel Scoundrels, Rogues & Thieves series. I may have to find the others of this series I have & make a point to paint them up so I can have a completed project for once hehe.
As alluded to previously, its a Prime time to Prime! So here is the first bunch of the Escenorama order I received a couple weeks ago. I picked up the ruined village set.
Now to figure out how to get the upper floors on, there aren't any how-to's that I could find, so if someone has found them, let me know! There is still a pile of the smaller bits, floors & roof pieces that are still in the garage awaiting the spray.
As well I am working through the Myth figures for Brent, so they will be gracing my blog in the next couple of weeks.
Oh & how could I forget! I received my first Frostgrave Thaw of the Lich Lord Nickstarter. However as I somehow managed to order 2, I am expecting the second sometime this week & hope to find this one a new owner.
Last night I joined Kevin for a game of Frostgrave at our club night. I believe this was Kevin's first game & he did some research opting for a very fast, nimble force of a Soothsayer, 4 thieves, a ranger & I believe a tracker.
I once again took the field with Fizzle & Spark, my Elementalist warband.
Kevin had brought out his recent Reaper Tower Ruin kit that he had posted on his blog. Excellent work on it. So of course I had to place a treasure right at the top of the ruin.
Kevin summoned a Zombie.
As well a Minor Demon wandered into the area & of course it chose my side of the table to enter on. It engaged one of my bowmen & my Man-at-Arms joined the fray.
Which may not have been the wisest move. However it did allow for my Archer to disengage.
Meanwhile as 4 of Kevin's soldiers left the field with treasures, I managed to bag his Apprentice.
Spark had a good round, after slaying the Zombie, he cast a successful Scattershot.
Dropping the wounded Demon & I believe his Ranger who had also been wounded prior.
Then his Wizard fell to a well placed arrow.
This left him with 1 last thief who attempted to battle my Wizard, but was intercepted by the archer..who won the fight!. Thus the game ended with Kevin spiriting away 4 treasures & I received the last 3.
All of Kevin's warband survived with no ill effects except for the Ranger missing next game. I lost my Man-at-Arms who succumbed to he wounds inflicted by the Demon.
This game went quite well. With both of us having warbands ready, we played the game out with post game rolls in about 1 hour, 45 minutes. From the sounds of it Kevin really liked the game system. Though I think I will need to find a way to hobble his speedy thieves, perhaps a hammer to their kneecaps?
As mentioned yesterday I had a couple miniatures drying from the dip. So today, here they are
The figure on the left is I believe a Grenadier model of a half orc thief. I just painted him up more as a human one. The one on the right is another early 80's Citadel model, which according to the catalog is Tom Tom Piperson. He will make a fine Thug.
Both of these figures are kitted out with packs & bags, making them perfect for the foray into the frozen city.
I then started digging around looking for items to take care of the Wall & Fog spell. I started mucking around with styrofoam & as I dabbled was realizing this was going to take more time than I wanted to spend...so then I remembered all the Lego I had bought at garage sales. Perfect! I opened a box & found these rougher hewn pieces, which with the addition of a couple rows of standard lego, made the 6" long x 3" high required of the spell. I will likely glue the pieces together & then putty or remove the nubs on the top. Stay tuned down the road for the completed product.
Then it was on to the Fog. I used a couple pieces of foamcore as the base & interior. I then glued polyester filling to both sides. This is a work in progress as I will add more to hide the sharp edges of the foam core. The glue is still drying from the first layers of it.
As I am playing a game of Frostgrave at the club Tuesday, I wanted to have these items available for the game....just in case
With my getting into Frostgrave recently, it has also had me digging around in all my old 80's D&D Miniatures for those I can use.
This fella is an early Citadel model circa 1982 from the Fantasy Adventurers line. I dug out my old RAFM catalogs to find an image as there was more than 1 Barbarian produced. It seems I do have the other one as well. This is one of those times the Internet worked well, as the catalog didn't show the image of this particular figure.
So I believe this figure makes a wonderful Barbarian. He isn't one I would purchase in an initial foray, but as the warband began making funds, he would certainly be a choice option
Of course I am not getting the urge to go find some of the other figures from that catalog that are likely boxed away someplace in the basement. I do have a couple other of those Citadel Scoundrels, Rogues & Thieves coming up, which will be good options for Thugs, etc. Two more figures are now drying from the dip & am thinking perhaps one of them is an old Grenadier model.
I have also started painting up some of the Myth characters for a buddy.
Tuesday is club night & I believe we are playing Frostgrave to give Kevin an opportunity to give this game a try.
As mentioned earlier today, Chris came out to give Frostgrave a go. I had the table set up & built his warband. I gave him a Summoner & went with my Elementalist Fizzle & Spark again.
I just set it up as a treasure grab. 6 treasures randomly placed & off we went.
Chris's Man-at-Arms approaches a treasure cache.
Chris had managed to possess 2 of his members, including this dog. Though archery made short work of it.
The possessed thief, made for a hasty leap by Fizzle onto the bridge.
Chris's apprentice had a lot of rotten luck & actually became wounded from all the miscast spells. One of my Men-at-Arms ran up to him...
BAM!
Meanwhile the possessed thief, swung about & ran at my thug. Luckily for the thug, the thief was wounded. Dead thief.
As Fizzle kept getting Bone Darts shot at him, he cast Fog ( really need to make one of these better, as piled cotton balls just don't cut it.)
Chris then had his Knight & wounded thug engage my Thug...BAM! Natural 20 by my Thug...
made short work of the Knight!
Meanwhile a Minor Demon had been summoned & laid the smackdown on my Man-at-Arms.
As Spark was making his getaway with a treasure, the Minor Demon received a Leap & landed in front of him.
2 Failed attempts at leaping away & BAM! Down went Spark.
The rest of the battle saw Chris take out my mage with a 24 roll on a bone dart. The minor demon was filled with arrows. Chris's summoner also fell to arrows. This left my 2 archers vs Chris's single wounded archer...you know how that ended.
It was good to see Chris play a game again...its been a long while.One observation made is that games seem to take a long time to play, so I guess the next question is How long should a game take? As we are still learning rules, etc, this does cause a slowing of momentum, so we shall see.
Just a quick post before observing the Remembrance Day ceremony. As we were getting ready for the Frostgrave event at my place on Saturday, one of the last minute items was to ensure we had all of the possible creature spawns covered. On Friday it was realized that no-one had a Giant Worm.
So on the way home I stopped, ran into the Games store & found a metal Reaper Giant Worm figure.
This of course meant I had to get it painted!
As it turned out, we didn't have one spawn, however you just know Murphy's Law would have if we didn't have one.
As the figure comes with a smaller piece with a stinger, I can only assume this was meant to be a purple worm. Well it's not a Purple worm now, though there are some boils, which are on it.
My buddy Chris, who originally got me into Mordheim, will be coming by later this afternoon to give Frostgrave a try. Will post a report later this eve.
As stated earlier, today is Remembrance Day here in Canada, aka Veterans Day in the US, etc. Lest we Forget, take the time to Remember them.
Today was the big day I've been working towards since returning home from Fall Con. The table was set (see previous post) the food/munchies bought, & a last minute run to the game store to pick up a Giant Worm figure & then getting it painted up...just in case.
Four of the fella's came out for today's fun. From left to right - Jonathan, Steve, Bruce & Scott.
After spending some time getting our warbands sorted, we launched. For our first scenario we just played a treasure grab.
On the first turn Scott Cursed my Elementalist. I then launched a couple of Elemental Ball's in return & my apprentice 'Spark' took down his Necromancer.
This of course led to more bloodshed between Scott & my groups. Below my Magic casters are hunkering down behind some cover as Scott took potshots at me with his Crossbowman
Eventually Jonathan's warband started to encroach & our forces were spread out.
My force dwindling fast, I managed to snag 1 treasure urn.
My Elementalist 'Fizzle' was taken out by a Zombie that had spawned ( can't do much about a natural 20) & yes we were playing with the critical rules. Then a Medium Construct appeared & proceeded to move towards my now 3 person party.
A short-lived act of defiance by the Templar. Now it was just my Apprentice that remained & lugging a treasure. He managed to break the LOS of the construct & it proceeded to wander off.
My warband lost the Templar, an Archer & the War Dog in the followup phase. My 1 treasure netted me 50gp & 2 scrolls (which I sold to replace my fallen soldiers). Jonathan, Bruce & I think Steve were the big winners, walking off with 4 treasures each.
The game took more time than anticipated ( usually all games take longer the first time thru as everyone grapples with the rules). At this point both Bruce & Steve had to head out. So the remaining 3 of us prepared for the next foray.
This time we did the Well of Sorrow scenario. Jonathans warband snagged some early treasure.
My Elementalist Fizzle & the Templar move towards the well.
Scott set his Necromancer up to cast spells at anyone approaching the well. His one archer got plugged though, hence the base sticking into the air.
Fizzle made it to the well & took a drink (earning 100xp)
There were a lot of failed spells for all of the players. In fact I had only 2 successful spells cast the entire battle. One of Scotts Men at Arms had worked his way around & was closing on my wounded Apprentice & an Archer. This fella did manage to take down the archer & my apprentice escaped with a single wound point remaining.
Jonathan did manage to summon an Imp which was heading towards my Elementalist.
The battle ended with Scott having everyone taken out of action. In fact Jonathans Wizard earned 150xp for a Wizard kill.
My Templar & Elementalist were taken out of the battle, though both survived the after game procedure. It was now closing in on 8pm & we decided to forgo playing any further games.
So what were my thoughts on the game?
1) Fair bit of prep to get the warband ready. This was mainly due to reading through the various spells & trying to decide which would work best. This isn't something that goes quick. As Scott found out, apart from Curse & Life Steal, he really didn't have any spells that were damage causing. I guess the prep is on par with creating a Mordheim Warband.
2) The battles are quick & deadly. Usually players had their soldiers removed after a single well placed hit. Don't get too attached to a soldier. Usually once a player rolled a 17 or higher you could pretty much write your soldier as either wounded (1 action) or dead.
3) Casting spells successfully. As your spell casters earn xp for successfully casting spells, be sure to choose 1 or 2 that have low casting scores. Use them to reap xp. Its easy to forget that the Wizard is the primary character for you to make xp with...he needs to get the kill shots as often as possible. Your soldiers are just pawns to aid him in this endeavor.
4) Some interesting mechanics..ie: the roll in the fight also attributing to the damage vs armour totals. The spell casting numbers & effects of trying to cast those not of your school.
So I know I had fun & hope those who attended also enjoyed our introduction to this game system. Hopefully they will chime in with their thoughts as well.
I think we will be running this at our next club night as Kevin wanted to give this a go.
