Frostgrave - The Worms of Our Borough's

Today was our monthly gathering for our Frostgrave Campaign game. It was special as we finally had all 5 warbands  engaged on the field. Alas this is fleeting as Andy will be heading away to pursue some employment in another locale.

The next scenario entitled "The Worm Hunts" I modified so that when the first worm spawned. It would follow the normal rules of creatures, however if no opponent was within 10"or in sight, it would proceed towards the nearest treasure & devour it. If the worm was slain, netting the killers 100xp, another worm would spawn at one of the remaining treasure locations & continue.

The field of battle. I used my platforms to see how they held up. I think everyone enjoyed the multi-level battleground.

Ember enters the field.

Scott's warband got to enjoy the arrival of 2 Trolls, who caught up to his Wizard & engaged him in combat.

Meanwhile Cormak Bode placed a Furious Quill on my Thief.

He was able to shrug it off & made for the first platform, only to be slain by an archer. (& the first 20 of the game)

As the first treasure is picked up. A Giant Worm appears right beside Malcron's warhound.

Scott hurries all his warriors to assist his beleaguered Wizard. The caused the loss of his Treasure Hunter. (Dice represent remaining wounds on creatures)

One of Craig's Infantrymen gets ambushed & slain by 2 of Jonathan's warriors

An Ice Toad arrives. The had Ember scale the walls to the platform above.

I was able to return the favor of a natural 20 on one of Craig's archers.

The Ice Toad & one of my archers slew each other with identical rolls.

Scott's warband after having successfully killed the trolls, is now beset upon my a Minor Demon.

Meanwhile Andy had been gathering treasures & was making to leave the field. Cormak Bode Teleported across the table to attempt to prevent this. The intention was good, however he failed & was later slain by Scott using an Elemental Bolt.

Meanwhile the Giant Worm was making its way across the table. Oh & slaying Andy's warband as it did.

Jonathan's wizard summoned a Major Demon. But after a couple of turns, it left the field.

Another of my archers scores a natural 20, dropping one of Andy's crossbowmen.

This was then followed by my Strength induced War hound. Who netted another natural 20 on Andy's Treasure Hunter.

The worm engages my Templar. Behind is Andy's wizard pitted against my Captain.

The War hound rushes into the fray!

And slay's the Giant Worm!

With only 3 treasures remaining on the table...Scott was the lucky lad to have the Giant Worm spawn near his.
 

He was able to make good use of the Push spell, to allow his treasure laden lad to escape.

The results of the  scenario were as follows;

Jonathan - 320xp
Infantryman Died
3 treasures - 450gp, 3 Grimoires- Beauty, Power Word, Elemental Ball

Scott - 595xp
3 treasures - 210gp, 4 potions - Elixir of Speed x2, Invulnerability, Healing

Craig - doesn't matter
Wizard Died, Apprentice Died
I believe a new warband will be coming next month.

Andy - 290xp
Wizard Died, Crossbowman Died, Crossbowman Badly Wounded, Treasure Hunter Badly Wounded.
4 treasures - 590gp, Grimoires - Grenade, Possess

Me - 720xp
Thief Died, Archer Badly Wounded
3 treasures  - 280gp, Scrolls - Mud x2, Plague of Insects, Beauty, Control Animal, Grimoires - Heal.

As well I was able to finish painting  my Malifaux Wild Boars.

These plastic figures are from the Hog Wild Box set. I am quite impressed with the detail these miniatures have & how well they go together

 

Warhammer Quest - The Silver Tower

Last night Kevin brought out a much anticipated game. The new version of Games Workshops Warhammer Quest: The Silver Tower. I've been looking forward to this from the moment Kevin posed the question of playing it.

This I believe was the first game for all of us, so that added to the excitement. I opted to play the Warrior Priest, who comes with a Gryph Hound companion.

The party enters the Silver Tower.

The first chamber & our first adversary...a Herald of Tzeentch!

We managed to slay it quickly & Elliots warrior found a book...which he read hoping to achieve enlightenment....a small explosion later... 3 wounds.

We spent a round of respite & then continued, finding a room with 4 Grot Scuttlings. Another quick battle which saw them slain in good order.

Next chamber, next adversary group. This time it was Tzaangors! Just check out Kevin's painting on these guys!

We then encountered the Librarian (which was an improved Pink Horror!)

Coming to the end of the first path, we turned around & headed back to the other passage, only to be ambushed by something huge! & Enraged! & with 18 wounds. This was the end of the Gryph Hound.

We managed to fell the creature & this is where the adventure went sideways...our Barbarian having a die remaining did the big no-no...he Explored. And then...

Followed by...

Overwhelmed the Barbarian suffered a Grievous wound & was removed. We then managed to form a wall, with my healer in the rear casting heals every chance he had. However we were under diced, as the horrors kept blasting us with various flame spells which were hitting all of us.

It looked like we had it in hand, when another Unexpected event occured...dropping 3 Acolytes behind our warrior wall.

At this point it was getting late, so we decided that we were on our last legs.

Kevin's miniatures were fantastic! The game flowed quite well & there is a fair bit of random things that occur ( everyone who knows me, knows that I really love games with randomness!)

I now look forward to getting another opportunity to play this game!

Mutts

Working through more Frostgrave creatures from the list, I finished 3 more Wild Dogs.

Again these are some of the old RAFM metal wolves in 25mm scale. I am guessing by their size, they are true 25mm, which in the world of 28mm makes them a little too small.

Thus they will be wild dogs.

I will likely try to track down some real wild dog miniatures (with the standard thin tails) to mix them up.

So just a short post for today. Thanks for stopping by.
 

Platforms & Statues & Fountains...OH My!

It's been a couple of weeks since I posted due to the complexity of what I was working on, as well as real life (concerts, etc).

However I finally finished them up this afternoon, though the statues/fountains will be getting their water layers during the next week & a half to finish them. They require 24 hours drying time between layers.

First up, a large circular raised platform with stairs & ramps. Once again I patterned the sides & top using my Greenstuff World rollers. I used the cobblestone one for the top this time around.

This piece is quite large. I guess I should have used a figure for scale. It will be great for use of tower ruins, etc.

Next is another rectangular platform with stairs at the one end. Now I learned a lesson with this one, as I know sooner began to paint it, that one of the corners of the stairs was broken off (its quite slim) & I had to glue it back on... my solution will be seen next.

Part of the building of these left me quite a bit of leftover scraps. So I took some & made 2 stairways.

Which can now be added where ever I want them on the platforms. This will certainly make them more versatile!

As I alluded in my previous post, my next platform has 3 cellars carved into it. I will now be making some wood floors from stir sticks to place over these cellars.

I've also been busy with some more terrain pieces to use up my water effects. Figured now that I opened the bottle, I had better use it up before it dries out on me.

So I started with a large statue / water piece. The statue is a Minotaur from the Lion, the With & the Wardrobe toys which I got at a garage sale for 50 cents. The base its on is from a jar of coffee. The base is once again an old AOL CD with foam cut out & carved into blocks.

Surely what turned out to be the most difficult of the fountains, was this 4 spout version.
I had a lot of trouble getting the wire just right (one cut to short, another wouldn't glue well in the mouth, etc.

The fountain heads are from a Hirst Arts mold, the centre post is foam, carved to mount the heads onto. 

 The last fountain I decided to go with a ruined statue. Some time ago the Dollar store had these wizard type figures available, so I bought a couple. I then used my razor saw to cut him in half.

So now as I said above, I need to continue with layering the water effects to finish them off. So as I have a few more figures currently on the paint table, mostly for Frostgrave, my eye fell upon this 2 player starter set for Malifeaux. A system I have been itching to try for some time. 

I got this set last fall & it's been a distraction. The Boars I am working on for use in Frostgrave are also from Malifeaux & didn't help as I saw how well these plastic kits go together.  It should be a good start as there are only 8 figures to build & paint for it.

Thanks for stopping by!
 

There's Wall - DOH!

As I begin to prepare the table for our next Frostgrave game, still a few weeks off, I was laying out my buildings & thought, there just doesn't seem to be enough terrain to block archers from shooting across the board.

Then I began to think about alleys, a harbour, etc. So how do I create an effect of raised areas with cobblestones, & stone walls easily. 

Some time ago I had managed to save some pink foam from going to a landfill, asking the guys on the site if I may take some of their scraps. It's been stashed away for the most part.

Taking a larger piece, I decided on a size & keeping it simple for my test, just created a rectangular piece with a ramp to allow wagons to reach it.

Then I had the issue of how to make a pattern (which wouldn't take me all day)

I then remembered the cobblestone/flagstone rollers I got from Greenstuff World.

Ok, time for the leap of faith. I rolled the roller using a fair bit of weight across the foam & sure enough the pattern transferred!!!

I am guessing this would not work on the usual white foam packaging, it needs to be the good quality insulation.

Once the patterning was done, it was a coat of black gesso to seal the foam. Then coats of Charcoal Grey, Dove Grey, Yellow Ochre & finally Gravel, going lighter drybrushing as I went.

Below is the final product, thrown on the table & covered with some terrain 

It's my hope that with these raised platforms it will create some more channelled avenue's for the warbands, as well as blocking lines of sight from the dreaded long shots by archers. Yes I am notorious for this myself!

I plan on building some more once I dig the foam from the crawlspace. Perhaps with ramps close to the edge (for a harbour/dock setting) & maybe even some curved walls.  

I am even thinking of perhaps building some basements into 1 or 2 with fixed buildings ruins, with the added bonus of perhaps entrances to sewers & catacombs!

I am quite satisfied with the result. The roller applies a surface just deep enough to allow the weathering of the pattern to stand out & was quite a time saver!

I have a couple more fountains in the works, I think one will have a ruined statue once I figure how best to cut the figure. As well I just primed the 3 boars I purchased from Malifeaux, so expect to see them in the next couple weeks.

Thanks for stopping by!