Lead Adventure Forum
Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Frostgrave => Topic started by: Daeothar on 15 December 2023, 09:21:36 AM
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This idea has been about 8 years in the making. I always really liked Frostgrave, but it just never caught on in my vicinity.
However, I did start some bad guys back in those days; I wanted the whole menagerie of monsters from the book. In duplicate (you never know when you roll for a vampire twice after all ;) ), but things never moved on from there.
I did have the idea though, to create a warband specifically for my daughter, who was about 3 years old at the time. Disney's Frozen DVD was just about on continuous loop, and I wanted to create a warband existing out of characters from the film, especially since she really loved sitting next to me to paint back then.
I sourced a not-Elsa and not-Anna from someplace and even tried my hand on sculpting Olaf, but that was so bad an attempt I binned it completely. But since then, my daughter has lost interest in in my miniature hobby and Frostgrave was not being played anyway, so I just shelved the entire idea.
Until about this time last year.
I bought some oldhammer WHFB mini from this guy in a village nearby and we got to chatting when I collected the miniature (a metal Black Coach) and one thing lead to another. Turns out he was selling off his minis because he had nobody to game with and I mentioned Frostgrave.
He was hugely interested and we agreed to play a test game a week later. And he was hooked. In fact; he enticed several of his buddies to participate in a campaign. He churned out a complete table's worth of terrain in no time and before I knew it, I was in an entire Frostgrave league!
Pacing is very slow though, but there will be some games between christmas and new year's eve, and before that time, I want to finally finish painting my warband.
Because after our first test game, I decided to pick up the beginnings of that Frozen warband and make it a reality.
I still had some sprues that were freebies at conventions of some napoleonic troops, and those were the basis for the Arendelle Guards and Weselton's henchmen. (Yes; I'm getting technical here; I saw that movie maybe a hundred times over the years, so I know them by heart; just bear with me. Or go and watch the film lol ) Some greenstuff work and swapping weapons with some WotR mercenary arming swords and Frostgrave Soldier crossbows and they were ready.
I kitbashed Kristoff from a Frostgrave Barbarian torso, a metal head from the bitsbox and Frsotgrave Soldier arms and kit. Plus a bit of greenstuff for the trim of his essentialy Sami outfit and hat.
Prince Hans was the most challenging to source, but with the help from the lads over at the Big Battallions subforum, I found just the right mini. I just had to cut off his right hand (holding a top hat) and replace it with another arming sword hand from the WotR mercs and some greenstuff for his (gala) uniform's embellishments.
Olaf, Sven and Marshmallow were simply sourced as STL-files, since I now have a resin printer available. Marshmallow was printed using transparent blue resin, to represent the icy parts of his body, which worked out pretty well. There were some printing lines on his body which I've had to carefully sand away. Safely, as this is resin after all. Sven started his career as a regular stag, but I cut down his antlers, added more and longer fur to his chest and hooves and sculpted the harness as well. Both snowmen are exactly as they came though.
So far I've managed to paint Olaf and Sven the reindeer, and I've made a start on Marshmallow. And with those, the non-humans will be done and I can move onto the soldiers. These I can do in pairs, as both duo's are dressed identically. And finally, it'll be Hans, Kristoff, Anna and Elsa. Hopefully I can manage painting them before my scheduled games (2) on the 30th. It'll be tight, but if I push myself, I'm confident I can make it on time :)
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Here's all humans in the warband in their WIP state...
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And here's all non-humans in the warband in their WIP state...
(Marshmallow has been masked off prior to his first coat of white primer)
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I love what you've done here. I tried to do something similar a few years back, so it's good to see someone attempting and making more progress than me.
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Very cool concept and so far the execution is spot on. Themed warbands are always fun, even if they do come with a song. lol
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Let it go, man... ;D
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Oh, those really are fabulous, both the ones you've sourced and the conversions. Nice painting on the reindeer too.
Luckily for me my kids are a bit older so I wasn't subjected to this on a regular basis so I don't really remember many of these people, except Elsa and Anna, the woodsman chap and that really irritating snowman, but they all look fab!
You may not need this but here's a link to the Arendelle/Frozen page at Fictional Flags -
https://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/fic(froz.html
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Thanks :)
And one never knows when a flag is called for! Filed for future reference :D
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Very cool!
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This is awesome, I am looking forward to seeing more.
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Genius mate! Loving it! ⛄️
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+1 Genious - well done. would never have been able to come up with these goods!
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Love it
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Brilliant!
Fortune smiled upon me, my daughter was never taken by Frozen.
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Outstanding work! I love everything about this: that you were building it for your daughter, and that you are building it for yourself now :D
You're also kind of lucky in the original choice of movie. An Encanto warband would be more of a challenge (the only thing that has managed to unseat Frozen round our house).
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Thanks :)
And one never knows when a flag is called for! Filed for future reference :D
The whole fictional flags site is amazing, I've filed loads of it for reference - flagged a good chunk of the world in fact (the flag of Arendelle applies for my imaginations version of Norway, naturally).
Since I saw this thread earlier, I have been wondering if I should do a warband based on the Disney Aladdin movie, which is what my kids did watch about 8,000 times.
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Go for it! The theme would be perfect for an illusionist warband I think :)
Elsa is an elementalist, obviously. What with all the ice spells and all...
In the meantime, here's Marshmallow all finished up. He was dead easy; just a solid white basecoat and then shading in light blue. Oh and he's a summoned construct (if/when Elsa and/or Anna pull it off). Olaf is a thief and Sven functions as a warhound.
The two Arendelle Guards, which will function as thugs, already have their green basecoats on, so things are moving along nicely :)
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A short update, as I've finished the two Arendelle Royal Guards. They have some really intricate embroidery on their uniforms, which my lacking painting skills have only been able to recreate in a very rudimentary and hamfisted way, but I'm nonetheless happy with the way they turned out; a few more finished miniatures to chalk up this very meagre year :)
I've included a screenshot from the film to show what I attempted to recreate. As a result of the not 100% matching sculpts and my painting, they're not perfect copies. But as far as I know nobody has made an attempt to recreate them to the level I was aiming for, and they should be more than adequate.
Kristoff has landed on my painting desk; he's next...
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Nice work.
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What delightful looking figures!! Well done on the conversions!! Your brushwork really makes them come alive.
Regards,
Hitman
😎
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Great work on the conversions and the paintjobs.
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I was at the pub quiz tonight - it was all Christmas/winter themed questions - and because of this thread I remembered that the big ice-troll-dude in Frozen is called Marshmallow! So thanks for that!
We still came 6th or something so didn't win a prize but even so, this thread has minorly increased my knowledge of some things that really don't matter! Merry Christmas everyone!
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lol That's awesome!
The things you know...
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Genius, love this! :-*
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keep meaning to ask,
Now you've done this what does she think of it?
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She likes it a lot, but as she's heavily into drawing kawaii and chibbi animals these days, it doesn't exite her as much as it would have a couple of years ago ;)
Still; she regularly drops in for updates, but I'm not expecting her to be interested in playing a game with the old man all of a sudden.
In the meantime, even though things were hecka busy in the weeks leading up to Christmas, and the holidays themselves were off limits obviously because of social reasons, I've managed to finish Kristoff yesterday and I'm about to tackle Elsa herself today.
I had been planning to do the non-humans and 'common folk' before taking on the nobility, but I just feel like doing her majesty first, so here we are :D
Still a couple of (free) days before the game(s), so even though I might not make it through the warband completely, I will have done most of them by then... :)
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Absolutely brilliant! ❄️
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yep, lovely work.
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Doing awesome work with these!
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Thanks guys :)
I'm having a lot of fun with them. So much fun in fact that I've just finished Elsa herself as well! Just one afternoon of work; she just flew underneath the brush.
I'm particular happy with the colours; closely matching the exact blue tones of the original. Which nuances subsequently do not show up in the pictures of course ::) I also like the snowflake patterns on her cape. They're a bit rough around the edges, but they're there so I'm happy :D
Next up will be Anna. She's the most colourful of the bunch, so I think I'll enjoy that one :)
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It's looking great, but I'm concerned you're starting on a slippery slope.
It all starts innocently enough, just the main characters, but, before you know it, adding some folk from the sequel could be fun, and then there's always the holiday special.
Sure, just now you want to build a snowman, but, when the project is finished, will you be able to let it go ???
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An excellent job on Elsa!
The very epitome of
"The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation
And it looks like I'm the queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried!"
:)
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Cheers :)
Yes; the sculptor really managed to capture her essence, and I've been able to largely convey it in pigment...
I've really been on a roll today; I've actually also finished Anna just now! It's been well over a year since I've been able to have such a marathon painting session and it's nice being back in the saddle again :D
So yeah; Anna! Don't mind the duckface; she was sculpted that way, and I couldn't paint her any other way (I tried!) without it looking even weirder lol
Hans will be up next, tomorrow...
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Lovely job on that cape!
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Those are pretty much perfect! Most impressive. Alas, you are now going to have to churn out endless Frozen backpacks, lunchboxes, dinnerware, etc, etc etc. :)
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Great project with an interesting background!
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Thanks guys :)
Carlos; luckily we're already well past that phase lol
I remember her on vacation years ago, running around a castle in her little Elsa dress, shooting imaginary magic bolts everywhere though...
Today's result is prince Hans of the Southern Isles. I won't be able to finish the two Weasleton Crossbowmen before the game due to sudden social obligations, but I will try and do them up before the end of the year, so this project will be finished in 2023 :)
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Well done all around. Can't wait to see the crossbowmen.
I remember her on vacation years ago, running around a castle in her little Elsa dress, shooting imaginary magic bolts everywhere though...
Mine use to play with her care bears on the game table before I hosted games. They would hide behind terrain and jump out to randomly fire off care bear stares everywhere too. lol
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Talk about hazardous terrain! lol
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This is so cool in more than only one way…
Great idea and execution! I love it! :-*
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Well done on the whole project.
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It's looking great, but I'm concerned you're starting on a slippery slope.
It all starts innocently enough, just the main characters, but, before you know it, adding some folk from the sequel could be fun, and then there's always the holiday special.
Sure, just now you want to build a snowman, but, when the project is finished, will you be able to let it go ???
This could really grow exponentially, like something rolling downhill getting bigger and bigger, until it becomes dangerously big.
There should be a word for that.
And really Daeothar, lots of lovely work here! It really is very impressive.
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More really fab work. Well done.
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Really well done, especially Kristoff.
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And really Daeothar, lots of lovely work here! It really is very impressive.
yep, great to see.
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Many thanks guys :)
Well, the crossbowmen did not get painted in time for the game, but also not in 2023; they're (back) on the painting desk, but will be painted at the earliest opportunity.
And to be honest; I have been thinking about making some themed terrain for this warband in the form of those elemental dolmir stones in Frozen 2. You know; just a small side project... ::) lol
Anyway; the warband has performed admirably in their second league game!
I was up against another elementalist with his appretice, two thieves, a knight, a bowman a summoned bear and some other units I can't quite remember, but none of them were Thug fillers!
We rolled for the scenario and it became Haunted Houses. We set up the board according to the scenario, deployed and off we were.
My plan was to get the treaure on my side with Anna and Hans in the center, so they could support Elsa and Marshmallow who went for the central treasure. Olaf was on his own on the cover filled right flank, to go for the treaure on the right centerline and Kristoff and Sven were to run along the open left board edge towards the leftmost treasure. A lone thug was to support either them or Anna, and the two crossbowmen were to take up elevated positions on the left and right of the board to support the others.
And this went down smoothly and without a single hickup! 8)
He sent his wizard and some support down his right flank, his apprentice down his left, also with some support. His bowman took up position in the tower on his right and some soldiers went for the treaure on his side of the board.
This did not go very smoothly.
Hans managed to nab the first treasure in turn two, rolled for encounters and nothing came up, so he made a run for it (true to character as well ;) ). Elsa eventually cast wall between the central and rightmost house, essentially blocking off the entrances to my opponent.
And of course later on, Anna managed to do the same on the left, which pretty much sealed the deal. Marshmallow got to the central treasure without an encounter, and Kristoff and Sven, while under fire from his bowman and wizard managed to get into their house, but did trigger a ghoul, which held them up for way too long. I actually had to send in my lone thug to help them out with the foul creature.
Meanwhile, his soldiers in the center managed to enter the house still accessible to him, but triggered a wraith! This proved to be quite a challenge, so he had to throw his entire battle line into disarray, as he had to send in troops with enchanted weapons from the flanks to deal with the threat!
Eventually the combined efforts of his wizard and thief with magical weapon managed to finish it off, but in the process, his soldiers had not yet collected the treasure, which cost even more time. But he did eventually manage to get it off the table towards the end.
The most interesting stuff however, went down on my right flank. I had blocked off direct access to the door there with an (ice)wall, but in a cunning and succesful move, his appretice cast Crumble on the back wall of the house, giving him easy access after all!
His knight stepped in, but encountered yet another ghoul. This one too, proved quite resilient, and he eventually sent in two more members of his warband to assist.
In the meantime though, Olaf ran in through the door and grabbed the treasure, while his men were busy beating up the ghoul. They killed it at the same time Olaf nabbed the loot, but the next turn Elsa used Leap to pull Olaf out of there, out of reach of my opponent's frustrated soldiers.
This pretty much concluded the game; Hans, Marshmallow, Kristoff and Olaf ran off the board as quickly as possible with their treasures, helped along by Anna and Elsa casting Leap and Fleet Feet on the slowest members of the gang.
Sven and the Arendelle guard finished off their ghoul and fell back to victory as well. My opponent's archer managed to kill the poor guard/thug though. Pure spite and revenge, that act!
My crossbowmen were quite the underachievers, because apart from projecting a potential killzone on either side of the board, they managed to do pretty much nothing apart from spearing an ice toad that had appeared on my board edge during the game.
There were more random encounters though; on two occasions a snow leopard entered the board on my right, but both got stuck in with his forces!
So this was a resounding win for Elsa and her gang; 4 treasures recovered, at the cost of one Arendelle guard; he will be missed. And also replaced; this was just a thug after all :D
And maybe the poor performance of my crossbowmen was due to them being the only unpainted miniatures in the warband. Perhaps that made them too self-consious and insecure? Especially after their really good performace in the previous bout. As good a reason to finish painting them as anything, right? :)
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Brilliant! ☃️
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Looks like a good time was had by all and I do like that Frozen warband.
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A good game and an excellent AAR!
Clearly the crossbowmen were feeling underdressed for the occasion :)
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lovely stuff.