Christmas Minis

A belated Merry Christmas to you all! I hope Santa was good to you!

This year, I was 'given' these three minis. All three inspired by the ladies in my life. Indeed, three of their favourite characters (one each). Can you tell which films my wife and kids are into from these 28mm lead figurines? It's not too hard!

The first two are not too difficult really, as they've been everywhere in the last couple of years, so, for those that have been living under a rock, I present you with Elsa and Anna, my two latest acquisitions for Frostgrave.  These two will be a real test of my freehand abilities, especially Anna. These two are sold as North Star miniatures Fire Elementalist and apprentice. I don't think I'll be painting them in fire colours. These were the first of this range of minis I've had to do with. The sculpts are pretty clean, but I had quite a bit of flash to deal with on the Elsa fig, some of which was really badly placed on her hand, and that was not fun to clean up. Her hand isn't going to be in any close-ups, that's for sure. However, mould lines were not an issue.

The only other thing I would add, is that the North Star minis are not on slotta bases, so it's a real pain to cut away and then file flat their feet to place on these scenic bases. Worth it though.

 

The second is not from a Disney franchise. Miss Lovely Day is from Crooked Dice. This is also the first of this range manufacturer I've seen up close, and I was impressed. Little to no flash, and mould lines are all but non-existent. I don't really have a game in mind for this fig, so she'll just be painted up fort he fun of it.

All purchases were through the Dice Bag Lady at Bad Squiddo Games. Fast service, and reasonable postage, even across the Atlantic. Would buy again.

Frostgrave Warband

I've gotten in three games of this now, and there's quite a buzz in the local meta over it too, so we look like we're heading towards a campaign.

With that in mind, I finished off a few of my minis. One of the things I love about this game is that it is the perfect use for my Oldhammer and Reaper minis, that never see the daylight often enough. These go well with the Wizards I have already painted.

Treasure Hunter
The sole recent purchase for this game. This is a Reaper mini, and by that token, a touch taller than the others, with the others being classic Citadel minis, and therefore much nearer to actual 25mm. He is also not on a slotta base, so that too adds a bit of height.
In game, I do like these guys as they are fast, but can also handle themselves in melee.

Knight
This is another old skool Warhammer mini, from a pack of knights. I'm not sure if they were originally labelled as Bretonnians, or something else, as I bought them a good 20 years ago, if not more. I've had a look for him on the various Citadel collectors sites, but I can't find him, so if anyone has any more info, I'd be happy to hear it!

This guy is the tank of the group. With a shield spell on him, he really can take a beating, although he takes his time to get where he needs to go.

Archer
This one is a Bretonnian. As a Perry brothers sculpt, it would of course work for Medieval armies too. Perfect for Frostgrave and WFB too of course! I may have to go over the face again, as the white of the right eye seems to be smudged. Bloody cameras! As you can see, he is from teh same retinue as the Knight above, although I do not really intend for the whole warband to have one colour scheme, it does help if I want to field them in other games later.

I have two of these guys in my warband for now, and they have a magic bow each now, so they'll be sticking around for the forseeable.

A couple more games of IHMN

British Gun-Line

In an effort to clean out my draft folder on the blog, I'm finally getting round to writing up and posting about my last couple of In Her Majesty's Name games. Mostly because the local gaming scene is now in the Grip of Frostgrave Fever, and I want to get on to posting about that.

Run for the Steamship

I had two more games of IHMN, and I finally think I'm getting a handle on it. The first of the two games was with the same force as I had previously used, that is my British Army redcoat army, Mike, my opponent played the Society of Thule. We played the 'Death at your Heels' scenario, running across the board to get to the boat and away from the In this game we messed up a lot of the rules, (to both our benefits). I lost on scenario, but it was a lot of fun, and a fast game, as befits the scenario.

Zulu Rifleman takes aim

The second I decided I was bored of the gun line type of Company I had been playing, and I wanted to try out the Mystic rules, which are a very big part of the Pulp side of the game. To this end, I put together a Company that was mostly Ankhenaten and crew from the main book, with a few Zulu warriors from the Heroes Villains and Fiends Companion, mostly because I had the figures for them. My opponent put together a Mongol Horde army, with lots of Cavalry to come right across the table at into the thick of it.

In the end, I won, but mostly because Mike forgot a bunch of rules on his Leader model, who should not have gone down anywhere near as fast as he did. The Mystic rules really make it a different game in a lot of way, but still within the same genre and feel as it is if you play without.  I must admit, Ankhenaten with two mummy priests, all who have mystical powers was rather a strong combination.

Ankhenaten and Crew

Lots of fun, but I'm not sure when I'll get the next game in, as we're all a bit too busy with Frostgrave, but more on that soon.