Happy Halloween

In honor of the holiday we have another spirit to haunt Frostgrave.

 This one isn't as dramatic as the earlier banshee miniature but he has a similar look painted up.  This is another of those translucent green figures.  Once again I let that color serve as my base coat as is.

 Then alternating layers of back wash in and yellow green dry brushing Black filled in the depth and yellow green works well as a highlight for the plastic.

 I was a little heavier with the wash and a bit lighter with the dry brushing this time around.  Hope you all have fun tonight, Ariana and I are going out with her God daughter, Ariana is dressed as a Penguin and I'm going as a Leprechaun.

Not my best costume but not my worst either :)

An Idea for the Frostgrave campaign

This grew out of a discussion on the Lead adventure forum and I wanted to share it here for your comments and suggestions.

Idea: Limit the Purchase of Magic Items

Rational: It seems odd that people go crawling around a ruined city risking life and limb when anything you can find there can be bought for cold hard cash.   The group will have to determine for it self exactly what is available to buy but here are my suggestions:

           Potion: all potion except for Elixir of Life should be available for purchase as all can be created by the spell Brew Potion presumably there are witches and other wizards who make their living brewing and selling them to their more adventurous brethren.

           Scrolls and Grimoires: All of these should be available by the same rational as that governing potions above.

           Weapons and Armor: any Weapon providing a +1 to fight should be available as should any armor or shield providing a +1 to armor should be available as they can be produce using spells from the Enchanter list.  Ring and Cloak of protection, and any weapon or armor with an enchantment of greater than +1 should not be available for purchase

             Magic Items:  None of these should be available for general purchase as there are no know spells to produce them clearly they are great artifacts left over from the old days.

If a player has an item he doesn't want Say a staff of casting for a spell he doesn't have or doesn't use he or she can sell it (as per the book) and it would then be available to other players for purchase (at the price indicated in the book).   One might think twice about selling an item if it might turn up in an opposing war-band...

Objections:  Someone will have to do the record keeping, good luck could give a player a special item that no one can match because they don't roll it up on the treasure table.

Frostgrave Campaign game 6: Witch Rematch

This time I found my self playing my first game opponent Dave's Dwarven Witch warband, as may remember this was a relatively bloodless battle as both Dave and I favored finesse and movement over brute force. I forgot to get a set up photo so we will dive right into the action.

 Thinneth, Drazenko and Aelric matk their way up the left side wary of a pair of skeletons to the left, Thinneth uses Telekinesis to snatch a treasure token and drop it at Aelric's feet.

 Lucian is taking the high ground while Ap Rossr and Bumby move up the center Dave has dropped fog keeping me from snagging a treasure token in the monument square.

 Rou takes down a skeleton with a well aimed shot

 Dave is moving in on the center of the board as is my war hound Miska.

 There is a wraith on the table but right now its just wandering around.

 Wolves rush in and start gnawing on one of Dave's men at arms while one of his men grabs a token.

 Drzenko dispatches the second skeleton.

 Dave's thief takes a treasure and Arnulf (one of my archers) hits Dave's second man at arms.

Bumby locks down the thief and its treasure (Dave will use leap to get him out of combat and then off the board on subsequent rounds)

 Dave's hound locks Ap Rosser in combat and he is in serious trouble with 2 hit points (Fred who was playing my apprentice to learn the game roll terribly all night).

 Thinneth who does not want a reputation for losing apprentices moves in and wacks the dwarve's war-hound hard.  Mean while my thief and war hound have secured another treasure token and dealt with an Ice Spider.

 Ap Rosser Break free and moves over using Telekinesis to drop the last treasure token in Samo Harfoot's lap.  The have to tangle with a lone thief from Dave's band but Drazenko is able to run interference for Samo (though he lost the fight and was down to 5 hp)

 Thineth dispatches the war- hound and the rest of the war-band retreats.

Dave is falling back as well as I have good postion and he has two badly wounded Men-at-Arms.  If Dave's Templar had been healthy he might have fought more aggressively.  I got 5 tokens and Dave got tow I have a nice pile of 420 Crowns and 3 new spells I can learn: Spell eater, Plane Walk, and Control Construct.  I also got Elemental shield which I already know so that can be sold.

We had two other games going and Mike set up a truly awesome table were Sandra and Dj's Mouslings did battle

 I need more vertical terrain int really adds to the game.

 Yes he is hangin out a window climbing the tower.

Statues for the Living Museam

Once again we have some stuff you guys have seen a little bit in WIP  Posting but here at long last are my six statues for the Living Museum scenario from the Frostgrave book.  When not acting as constructs they can serve nicely as terrain. 

 I did three in stone...

There in Bronze 

 First up is a Bones Figure by Reaper called Eric the Initiate Paladin, he could have made a commander type but I thought the pose suggested a statue

 There is a lot of good detail on the figure and I might get another to use as Knight or Templar at some point.  The base needs a another coat of paint but other wise he is ready to go.

 I promise to try and get some better pictures as this is a great figure.  Its one of Annie's new Berserker 'ladies." I got her along with the replacement arm for another shield maiden I ordered form Annie.

 I'm not a huge fan of duel-wielding a sword and ax, it would be difficult combination to manage but for striking an intimating pose it works great and a living statue isn't concerned with physics.

 Here once again is the Lady of Mercia removed from her monument square.  The magnet in the base lets me move her but it also creates a small gap... I don't know if its a problem but I'm not entirely stratified with the result.

 The first Bronze statue is the Female Paladin by reaper, I removed the broken stone head she was standing on.  I think she would look a little silly if painted as flesh and blood but...

 as a statue of some ancient war goddess she looks pretty darn cool.

 The second Bronze is another Reaper piece though I cannot find what they call the figure.  I really like this one and almost changed my plans an painted her as a living person.  I like here reasonable out fit and her pose that of a warrior taking a step back from the fight to grab a breather while assessing the odds and opportunities.

 I painted all the Bronze figures with Vallejo Bronze, then a dry brush of light yellow green followed buy a dry brush of bronze.  I am very pleased with the results, they look weathered but not overly so.

 The Final Bronze is from Heritage figures I picked it up as part of a set at the Huzzah Yard sale.  I think he is supposed to be a Norse soldier in service to Byzantium

I when with him to added an antique looking statue (compared to the others) with a different style of sculpting. His dynamic stance is a contrast to the others and liked that was well.  As always comments and thoughts are welcome.

Scatter Terrain and Work in Progress

Another Scratch built terrain project for Frostgrave, some scatter terrain for difficult going and to help break up lines of sight.

I tried to mix things up, aquarium stones, scraps of wood, cork board, and some Lemax plastic brick mat.

The Statue head is actually removed from the Female Paladin figure by Reaper, it didn't fit with what I wanted to do with the figure but was too cool not to use.

the second piece use many of the same pieces, that little strip needs some snow or something...

Snow and rocks make even this old road slow going for most of those making their way through Frostgrave.

I've started on a museum or old temple I'm making it in two halves like the one above I may I may do a roof or second level for it as well.

This is one of three hills with ruins give to me by Sleepy Hollow Mike  I've removed the greenery from them and will be adding some snow.

Monument Square

 So you have seen this teased a few times in the work in progress pictures.

 I went with a less is more approach this is supposed to be a town square in dedicated a great warrior queen.  I didn't want  a lot of rubble and I even considered not snow down but I decided it needed something more than the simple brick street.

 This is a Belt Fed miniature Aethelflaed she's done to represent weathered marble with a golden crown. I picked her up form Annie the Dice Bag Lady and she is the first figure from that order painted up.

She can be removed from the pilleth so she can be placed on a stand as a statue construct for the Living Museum scenario in Frostgrave.

Cuthwulf's Final battle?

 After a long break John and I returned to our Dux Britanniarum campaign Cuthwulf was laying siege to the town of Catherick in Northern Britton.  Antoninous has at last gathered troops for a last attempt to break the siege before snow flies.

 The Britton break from the trees on to the battle field.

 The pre Battle phase goes mostly my way Wulfric my champion defeats Uther and wounds him badly, My speech is good so I get an extra card and level of status, John's speech bombs lowering his status by one...

 We advance towards each other.

 The Brittons are moving cautiously forming shield walls were they can...  

 I see a chance and one of my elite units moves up to attack....

 I really didn't think these guys should be able to move up in support my feeling is the men in front of them would have gotten in the way. But as we couldn't find anything certian in the rules we diced for it and John got the call

 My ealites are in tourble and Wulfgeat and his two bands of warriors are also in some dificulty

 I consider trying to save my men... but John uses the step forth card destroying that unit.

 I fall back in stead.

 You may be wondering were Eaglmound and my two other bands of warriors are... they are working around the Briton flank

 Cuthwulf see the Britons have learned... they hold their formation shield to shield...

 My only chance is the Flank attack...

 But John can see that two an moves to counter..

 Still I break on unit of levies... Using the Goad card to counter the shield wall.

 More men work around the Briton Flank....

 Wulfgeat moves to support Eaglemund While Cuthwulf tries to keep the main Briton line fixed.

 Eagle mound falls back not willing to fight the shield wall with just one unit...

 John follows up, I do a good bit of damage but one of my units breaks and runs..

 Then the Britons break their shield wall and rush to take on Wulfgeat... the small unit on the left break first...

The Wulfgeat and his men are overwhelmed... My army moral break and Cuthwulf really didn;t even get into the fight.  With that my men desert  me, I am a king with out a kingdom I had a good run but tonight despite fairly good tactic my dice were petty cold and John's dice were pretty hot.  John also made excellent use of shield wall. That is the end of the Campaign but maybe Cuthwulf will ride again some day.  Congratulations John on a excellent game and an excellent campaign victory