New Years Eve and the challenge continues

Happy New Year 

So we have another entry for the Painting challenge this time some Frostgrave soldiers

Its been a heck of a year for the blog with greater readership than ever.  I think being one of the first people to jump on the Frosgrave bandwagon might have played a roll in the spike in August

We dropped off a little after that but we are finishing the year strong.  A record number of posts probably had something to do with it as well. The coming year will be busy as Ariana and I prepare for our wedding in June.  There might be a slight drop off in paiting and gaming posts as that event takes up more and more of my time.

The painting challenge is going well.

I'm still showing in the top 10, not sure if I can stay there this year as I did last year. We still have lots of people to hear from in the challenge as only 34 of 88 participants are on the board so far.

How I do Snow Bases for Frostgrave

I've gotten a lot of question about how I am doing winter bases so here it is. You can also see this tutorial and the completed figures over on the Winter Challenge page  so if you would rather head over there now.

 First I paint the base (I use a 1" stainless steel washer) with a mix of white glue (Modge Podge) and a brown paint.

 Then I cover them with sand (any gritty material should work) and let them dry, at least 30 minutes

 after its dry enough to work with put on another layer of glue and paint (no specific ratio just "enough")

Then I add the snow flock, I use Army Painters snow flock.

 Then let them dry 30 minutes to an hour and shake the excess back into the tub...

 I then use plain white glue to add an additional layer of snow flock if needed...

 I add tufts of grass at the same time so they look like they are poking out of the snow and not sitting on top of it.

Challenge Day 8 and happy Blog day

Six Years Ago to day this Blog got started chronicling an epic campaign inspired by the War of Austrian Succession.  I invite you to read the Battle of Vienna the climatic battle of the Prussian half of that campaign and see how far the blog has come.

Currently I have a post waiting on publication over that the challenge an am about to start some painting while Ariana is out with the brides maids looking for the their dresses

Challenge day 7 and another Standing Stone

Seven days into the challenge and all is well I have three posts in total and you should check out the most recent Wraith and Golem

I've also gotten a good bit of painting done with two more sets of figures nearing completion

 and many others either started or primed for when space is available.

 Just before the Challenge I got another standing stone completed

This one is a bit more traditional in its look and will make a great additional piece for Frostgrave or Dark age gaming

oups, Thank You! and Merry Chirstmas to all!

So my Secret Santa package arrived the day before my Nicksarter and it was not labeled Secret Santa, I thought it was the Nicksarter so I opened it. Sorry!!!! I had intended to wait for Christmas but...

At Cathy's request I waited for Christmas to post this.

 The Undead Encounters set for Frostgrave, this should take care of my undead needs.

Santa also got me all three Rendra Limited terrain sets.

 I've already assembled and Painted some of the Undead as part of the Winter Painting Challenge.

Merry Christmas to all and my thoughts and prays go out to all who are working or separated form those they love during this season

Watchful Studios Quin Dynasty Unboxing

As I mentioned previously I  took part in the Watchful Studios Chinese Warring States/ Qin Dynasty Miniatures Kick starter.  They finaly arrived Monday and I got them oppened last night

On the left we have the Drunken Kung-Fu master and the right the General 

The Drunken master, I am thinking he'll make a nice "Barbarian" for frostgrave

While the general will make a nice Oriental wizard. 

Here we have my box of missle troops 

and there combination of bows and hand weapons. 

A female General another good wizard or or Aprentitce figure 

Finaly a we have the Sword Master who would also make a good Oriental flavor wizard or soldier. 

All painted images are from the Watchful Studios kickstarter and they retain the rightst to them. 

Challenge Day 3

Yesterday saw my first two posts of the challenge.  This year rather than repeat my entries from the Challenge here I will simply post links and a couple of pictures.

First up is the Necromancer and His Crew Some baddies for a Thaw of the Lich Lord campaign

I also posted a single soldier entry a Marksman I have named Hagman

I also got some new figures yesturday as my Stuff form the Watchful Studios Kickstarter of ancient Chinese figures and I got some items from Reaper that are for a special project.  I am alos working on more Frostgrave and some figues I plan to use for the new  En Garde! - Swashbuckling Skirmish Wargames Rules from Osprey.  Also my Nostagia entry is in the works as well.

Challenge Day 2

The same photo as yesterday because I don't want show pictures from this morning because the finished miniatures should appear on the challenge blog first.   Ariana is feeling better(though not 100%) and was tolerant enough to let me get in a couple hours of painting before bed.  I finished basing first thing this morning before work.  I should get pictures for my first entry to post tonight so keep your eye out for my first entry of this years challenge. 

Litchlord Treasure Tokens and Callenge WIP

 These are the three special treasure tokens from the Litchlord Nickstarter.  These a pretty cool, on the left the bones with crown one is great as it seems very evocative.

The center one is a block with a hand is interesting especially as the hand is on fire! I decided to make the hand silver in part because of an old Celtic Myth that suggested a similar item. 

 The one on the right looks a lot like a conopic jar  of course a real conopic jar has mummified guts not silver coins in it but that's not treasure from most people's perspective, so the coins are more appropriate.

Finally I spent much of Sunday painting for the Analog Hobbies Winter Painting Challenge and I might have an entry by Tuesday or Wednesday.

Battletech at the Relentless Dragon

 Traffic and a couple of holiday and wedding related errands got me to the Dragon a little late to find Austin walking people through the the first turn (a rare night of starting on time).

 I was quickly brought into the game with this fierce looking Mech

 the Hatchetman I'm not sure if an Axe is a proper weapon for a giant robot but...

My Job is to protect Frank and his missile launching Mech from...

Dave and his big gun Mech... Dave moves up the hill to take aim at Frank...

I was able to jump around behind Dave and let go with all three of my ranged weapons and blasted Dave through his back.

Even so Dave and Jay's team has two more Mechs and we are still in a fight.

The far mech by Dave has been sniping at Austin and done some damage.

Jay gets several good hits on me but I put an Auto canno and a lazer through his head and down goes the second enemy mech.

Frank launches multiple volleys of missiles and Austin uses his guns... they hit Dave's mech hard knocking him unconscious...

and down he falls giving us a clean sweep.  I played Battletech many years ago and this was a good reintroduction.  Its a fun and easy game for a Thursday night where we don't have a good Frostfrave crowed.

The Painting Challenge

So I have been busy clearing the deck in preperation for the Analogue Hobbies Painting Challenge

I'll be posting on Mondays which means you'll generally see a duplicate post on Wednesday or Thursday as per Curts rules.   Durring the First two weeks things will be a bit less predictable as things are done on a fire at Will basis.

I'm prepping a lot Frostgrave stuff but you'll also see some pieces for the new En Garde! game, some new Flames of War items pieces from a special project related to my up coming wedding (That may or may not called out as such when posted). I alos have my Curt Geld piece but you won't see it for a while though I will give you a hint... he played an imporant role in the early posts from this blog.