Frostgrave Archers

I've managed to get enough people interested in Frostgrave at my FLGS to run a campaign. We're now 3 scenarios in to the Thaw of the Liche Lord Campaign, and it's going well.

Since the game requires so very few figures, I have given myself the very humble goal of finishing off 10 minis for my warband as soon as possible. I have painted up plenty of wizards, but I'm lacking in completed soldiers.

I had previously panted one archer, among the first batch of minis for this game, but I never run with just one of these guys, the ranged support they provide really helps in this game where you don't really want to get too close to the other player, you want to get in as close as you need to to get the treasure, at least at low level games. So one archer is never enough. These two will therefore take their place in my warband as more archers. I do run a ranger too, so one of these will proxy as a ranger till I find a more suitable miniature for that (Bad Squiddo Games order already made).

These two are from the same WFB 3rd ed Bretonnian blisters as the previous one, so some real Oldhammer minis here. I think two of them are indeed Perry brothers sculpts. I'm not sure about the other one, as he has much bigger Oldhammer style feet/boots. not the dainty Perry feet.

I'm now at 7 members of the warband fully painted, and two (my captain and second Treasure Hunter) at a pretty advanced stage. I do however need to get better minis for my thief and ranger to complete the band I currently play. I've also ordered a Rangifer, which I intend to run too, as I have passed all the in game requirements. After all that, I'll have plenty of choice of soldiers for my 10-man-band.

I'm trying not to set such grand goals for this year, as I did last year, as can be clearly seen by the frequency of my updates, my painting time has been rather sparse so far this year, but to have 10 minis for Frostgrave is the bare minimum I expect of myself. I'm also planning a couple more, so I can run different soldier types. I'm also trying to get through one or two of the bad guys for the scenarios too, so expect to see a Liche and his allies here soon.

SO like I said, no hard goals as such, like the Khador Caster Challenge of 2015, but a softer more attainable goal to get me to the painting table over the summer months.

As always, the camera picks up a bunch of flaws in the paint jobs, so I'll be going back over the eyes of the first mini, amongst other things, now that I've seen them through the unforgiving lens.

Terror of the Lichmaster

In a recent trip to my FLGS, not particularly known for its second hand stock, I was very intrigued to see some old Citadel stuff sitting on a shelf. I had a rummage through, and came out with this beauty in my hands.

This is an unprecedented find here in Montreal, but when I talked to the owner of the store as to where it came from, I was less surprised to know that I knew who had been downsizing their collection, it's not that big a town after all.

This does not mean that I will be looking to buying up the miniatures for this campaign. Not at all. If I were based in the UK, maybe, but shipping to this continent, coupled with the comparative rarity of these miniatures on these shores puts this possibility well out of my budget.

If nothing else, this gives me something to look at when building Frostgrave campaigns and scenarios, as well as coupling nicely with the Lichmaster campaign I have for WFRP.

Colore ton Monde: March, the Green Lady

I'm on a roll thi month, three minis done and posted, and more to follow. Here's my mini for this month's Colore ton monde painting challenge, which was to paint something green, for spring.

This is a Reaper mini, and was bought to act as a sorceress for my fledgling Bretonnian army. It is a beautiful Werner Klocke mini, and deserves a better paint job than this one, but it will do for now. I'd like to go over the eyes again, as the close up of the photography as always makes them look scrappy.

 

Traditional Oldhammer Goblin Green for the base, but with some very modern flowers, in-keeping with the spring theme.

Warhammer Fantasy: Wood Elf Archers

The last of my painted minis from way back for the moment, and the last of the Wood Elves. This time, from the first boxed set of plastic minis from GW (maybe some of the first plastic minis? I'm sure someone will correct me there). Three of these have since been painted (see here for details), and I have started to add some inks to the others, to get some definition.

The elf on the far right of the front rank was one of my first conversions. From archer to standard bearer.

The flag is of course, freehand, and the pole is a spare plastic lance from a set of early Wood Elf cavalry, which are languishing unpainted in a box, but will be seeing the front of the paint queue shortly, as they are proper Oldhammer Ols Skool minis, pre 3rd ed. The pole has been fixed and pinned to the bearer now (something that was not in my tool kit of skills back in the day).

Warhammer Fantasy: Wood Elf Wardancers

Continuing this week's theme of showing off my early works, I stay with the Wood Elves again, but thsi time we have some Wardancers. The Wood Elf Wardancers were without a doubt my favourite unit for any Warhammer Army. Maybe of any army of any system, well at least back in the 90s they were. I was also a big fan of their incarnation in WFRP, and had a couple of Elven characters I wanted to advance to this career, but unfortunately that never transpired.
These particular Wardancers were painted to go more with a High Elf Army, as a Sea Elf allied contingent. The Wardancers in this case were the first over the side in a landing party or boarding action. The marines of the Warhammer world.

Three of these guys have shields, all done with freehand. Something which I rarely attempt these days, but I think I should start looking at again, as some of these are alright. I especially like the eye.

Compare these to my more recent attempt at painting a wardancer, and you can see how my painting has evolved over time.

There's at least one more post of Wood Elves to follow, at least of my painted minis from back in the 90s. There are a bunch more Oldhammer minis that I brought back, but none are painted. Some will be though, as these old minis are really working as an inspiration to me to get me going on them.

As to the old painted minis, I don't know yet if I want to repaint them, but they will certainly be rebased. Maybe I'll just go over them with the odd ink or two, just to help them pop a little more.

Warhammer Fantasy Battle: Wood Elf Beast Handler

Some more good old fashioned Warhammer Fantasy Battle minis, this time some wood Elves. I bought two blisters for animal handlers, one of the boar-handler and his boar, and another of the dog handler and his dogs. There were two others in the set, one with a bear, and I think another with three large cats. The only one to have been painted was the boar handler. I am still very proud of the way the boars came out, and of the tattoos on the elf. There are some touch ups needed to make up for the 20 odd years of neglect and handling, but that shouldn't take too much effort. The only think I want to change is the bases for the boar, as they're just too big. These guys wouldn't look too out of place on some simple 25mm bases, as these cavalry bases just swamp them.

Paint Table Saturday

I have never yet participated in this spot as yet, as Saturdays are not a day I get to do much painting. However, this afternoon was a family painting session, as the girls and I sat down together.

First off, we did some painting on paper, then, once I waited to see if everyone was actually in the mood to paint, and not to wander off and do other stuff, we each took one of these old WFB Wood Elf archers each and got stuck in.

Man, these things are old. The first plastic minis I bought, and I think some of the first plastics GW made. The detail on these is impressively minimal, but they were perfect for today's exercise.

The big'un was having trouble with the paint coming off the mini when she was holding it (we were using other craft paints as well as my acrylics, but they were doing the job), so I had to get each of them a cork to hold the mini with.

Here are the final results:

As you can see, only the lil'un finished hers off, what a speed painter! I loved the colour the big'un used for the cloak, so I copied her, no need for more green in my archer unit. She in turn liked the green hair her sister had painted and copied that.

I have more of these guys, some of which I painted about 20 years ago or so. Look out for them in the near future.

Back from Blighty Bearing Minis

I have just returned from a quick trip back to the UK. Due to the circumstances of my visit, I spent the whole week at my parents house, rather than touring around visiting everyone. This allowed me to spend some time on their loft, looking out and going through my old stuff. Much of which I brought back with me.

I am now in re-possession of the following minis:

GW

House Escher for Necromunda
Wood elves and Sea Elves for WFB.
A couple of Humans that could be either Empire or Bretonnian
Regiment of Renown: Avenging Knights of the Cleansing Flame (Nominally a human unit, but works as High Elf, or even Melnibonean, and seriously, what a name!)

Void

VASA troops for Void (any version)
Also a couple of Syntha, Junkers and Viridian troops in there too (but not enough for a big force)

Urban War (or any of its current incarnations)

Triads
Koralon
Viridians

Whilst I was out there, I also picked up Heroes Villains and Monsters for IHMN, and the Minis set for the Society of Thule, which of course I could order here online, but the Pound is strong against the Canadian dollar so it made sense to buy in pounds rather than in Dollars, and I didn't have to pay shipping.

I left behind a bunch of WFB minis, including High Elves and Empire a dragon and other monsters and a Bloodbowl team, as well as the larger robots and vehicles I have for Void and all my Flintloque/Alternative Armies stock. These can be picked up at a later date, or posted out.

So, all in that's me equipped (or in some cases better equipped) to play 5 new (or old) games that I didn't have the minis for before. I call that a win.

I also brought back my old GW case, which is great for skirmish games, and much easier to take back and forward to the club with my minis of choice in, rather than my larger Army Transport case (Which is great for larger minis, so will still see great use for Warmachine and Hordes). Here are a couple of pics of what it was full of.

Just as an aside, I carried this case through security as hand luggage. I expected to be stopped and have it opened at the x-ray machine, either at Glasgow or Heathrow, but I walked through both times without issue. I was surprised. Maybe the X-ray attendants were gamers.

I'll be posting more pics of some of these that have been painted in the following weeks. I was surprised by the quality of some of my older paint jobs. Despite the fact that my techniques have changed and improved, I think I spent much mire time per mini back then (I painted eyes, something I have since let go, and I didn't use inks or washes at all). Then it'll be on to re basing them, as my basing skills at the time for the most part included swamping the base with Goblin Green, and sprinkling on some green flock (I rarely even plugged the slot on the base).

Whilst there, I also picked up some magazines in W.H. Smiths. The Wargames Illustrated and Wargames Soldiers and Strategy I could have picked up here in time, but Battlegames Magazine is not one that I have seen this side of the Atlantic (maybe someone wants to do something about that). It has something different to offer ovber the other two in the type of articles it prints. Maybe I should post a review of it too.

Meanwhile, back to finishing off this month's Colore ton Monde challenge. Just as well I managed to do the bulk of that before I left, as painting time this last week has been an obvious no-no. 

2013: The Year In Review

It's that time again where we look back at the year past, and take stock, before making plans for the year ahead.

This year has most definitely been the year of Dystopian Legions for me. I have painted a little over half of the minis I have for the game, and all the rest have at least a basecoat on.

Models that I have completed include:

1 Lieutenant
1 Section of 6 Line Infantry, (+Sgt, Musician & Specialist)
1 Section of 6 KRRC (+Sgt & Musician)
1 Section of 6 91st Infantry
2 HMGs (1 and 2)
2 Basset Tankettes
1 Bertie
The crew for the Armstrong Gun

I have a bunch more to finish off, but they'll have to wait for next year now. I also have an APC I got as a pressie, and have ordered the Light Dragoons to round out my force.

What's more, I have played a whopping 6 games of DL this year. I take pictures of each one, with the intention of writing up battle reports, but that has just not happened. In summary though, my first couple of games were wash-outs. My Britannians are very soft and squishy in melee, and my Hussars take a little getting used to. Once the games started going up above 100 point (Starter Box size) they came more into their own, being able to use their superior firepower at range to lay down enough fire to do some damage before getting trapped in melee.

I'm doing alright against the Prussians, I really love my Terrier and my Field Gun. The Lethal Ability is just wonderful against models with multiple wounds. Against the Empire of the Blazing Sun (Japanese) I'm still struggling to find the best combination of forces.  There are a couple of local players who own FSA armies, but they have yet to throw down against my mighty Britannians.


Anyway, here are some shots of my last game against EotBS.

Facing off

Line Infantry, ready for the push forward

You can't hide...

In other goals, I have tried hard to keep up with the Colore Ton Monde challenges this tear, and have done okay. I dropped the ball in January and October, but managed to get the rest done in time. 

I have tried to update my Gallery, but I seem to have reached the limit if 20 pages. Who knew the interwebs had page limits? I'll have to find a way around that.

For 2014:

First off, I want to finish my Britannians that are more than half painted, as well as the APC (a New Years gift) and Dragoons. (ordered, but not yet arrived)  I was initially tempted to buy into the Antarticans when they come out, but I'm going to hold off on that. One army for a game I don't play regularly enough is more than enough for now.

Other games that I am interested in playing in the coming year include Saga, Muskets and Tomahawks, and The Hobbit. Yes, the Hobbit!. I have just watched the second film, and I am very keen to give the game a try. If only I can find a way to do so without giving GW full Price for their minis. Maybe I'll get some of the first wave of minis in some sales over xmas. I do have some Rohirrim for the LoTR battle game I can paint up (they also double as vikings for SAGA, so win win!).

This is, of course, alongside the games of Warmahordes and WFB (at 500 points) should be more than enough to be getting on with.

Happy New Year to you all, and Happy gaming!