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Miniatures Adventure => Fantasy Adventures => Frostgrave => Topic started by: MikeRC97 on July 09, 2019, 12:38:23 AM

Title: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 9 (7/23/21)
Post by: MikeRC97 on July 09, 2019, 12:38:23 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/ks5A2JH.png)

Episode IV
A NEW WARBAND

Hello All,

First post!  Which is hard for me to believe given that I have lurked here for years.  I finally registered because I wanted to post pictures of my Frostgrave figures, some of whom were inspired by a certain "epic space opera."

Here is my first warband, led by the seer (soothsayer) Old Ben and his young apprentice Luke.  The warband includes (from left to right) Ben, Luke, a thug, a thief, an archer, a crossbowman and two treasure hunters.  The color palette for some of the figures was inspired by the Frostgrave soldiers painted by Kevin Dallimore, whose work I have always admired.

(https://i.imgur.com/NyRKm0z.jpg)

Here we see Old Ben - he was once an important member of a powerful Order but has spent the last two decades living as a hermit in a desert wasteland.  He has journeyed to Felstad on a secret mission with his new apprentice Luke, a farm boy who always dreamed of adventure.  Luke was told to stay away from Ben by his uncle Owen who said "that Wizard's just a crazy old man."

(https://i.imgur.com/lW4kYjS.jpg)

Ben's spell's include Telekinesis, Push (useful when facing a horde of battle droids skeletons), Fleet Foot (useful for escaping stand-offs with droidikas armored skeletons) and of course Mind Control, which can have a strong influence on the weak minded (enemies with low Will scores).  Luke learns soothsayer spells such as Awareness and Reveal Secret by training while blindfolded.  Ben tells Luke "your eyes can deceive you, don't trust them!"

(https://i.imgur.com/Zvmpzvz.jpg)

The Ben figure is from the Frostgrave plastic wizard set.  I was surprised to see that this set was not made by Renedra like the other Frostgrave plastics and to my eye the plastic does appear to be a bit softer than the other sets, but the sculpting is superb and the wizard was a joy to paint.  The Luke figure's body and head come from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set with arms from the Frostgrave plastic wizard set.  My only complaint of these two sets is that some of the heads are much smaller than other heads on the same sprue (even more so when compared to the heads on the plastic Frostgrave Barbarian sprue or the plastic Ghost Archipelago crewmen sprue).
 
(https://i.imgur.com/pfMZ3C3.jpg)

Ben's color scheme is mostly classic ANH Obi-Wan but with some elements from other appearances such as the red leather boots he wore in Attack of the Clones and the white bracers from his Clone Wars armor.  I'm really happy with the way the crystal ball turned out, I applied glazes of light blue with some gloss medium added in to create a translucent effect (it doesn't really come across well in these pictures from my iPhone).

(https://i.imgur.com/txlEbrf.jpg)

Here we have some of the scum and villainy hired by Ben - a thug and a thief (or a soldier and a scoundrel in Wizards of the Coast Star Wars RPG terms).  The thug figure has the body and arms from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set and a head from the Fireforge Games plastic Foot Sergeants set.  The thief figure is a straight build from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set.  You can tell both sets are by the same sculptor as the faces are full of character without being overly cartoonish.  I love kit-bashing plastic figures so I have been really looking forward to putting together my Frostgrave warbands.  A quick note on mixing historical plastic figures by Fireforge Games or Gripping Beast with the Northstar fantasy plastic figures - the heads on the historical plastic figures are not sculpted with a neck (the neck is sculpted on the body).  On the Northstar fantasy plastic figures the neck is sculpted as part of the head as a ball (with a socket in the body).   I prefer the Northstar approach as it makes it easier to alter the position and angle of the head.  It does make mixing and matching heads and bodies from these sets tricky however, in the case of the thug I used Gorilla super glue which expands as it hardens and filled in for the lack of a neck.

(https://i.imgur.com/2j12grS.jpg)

The color scheme for the thug is based on one of the Dallimore figures - seeing his painted figures was the other thing that attracted me to this set in addition to the opportunity for some kit-bashing.

(https://i.imgur.com/beCjPmy.jpg)

Next up, an archer and a treasure hunter.  The archer's head and body are from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set with arms from the Northstar plastic Oathmark Human Infantry set.  The treasure hunter has head and arms from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set and a body from the plastic Oathmark Human Infantry set.  The Oathmark Human Infantry figures are more "heroic" 28mm than the Frostgrave plastic figures, the heads in particular - they are larger even than the heads on some Games Workshop Warhammer Fantasy figures.  Still, I really like how these figures turned out and size-wise I think they fit in just fine with the rest of the warband.

(https://i.imgur.com/KMgExlq.jpg)

For the soldiers I wanted a common color palette that would give them a unified appearance without making them look too uniform, most are wearing a grey tunic.  The grey is one of my favorite paints, the discontinued Citadel Foundation paint Adeptus Battlegrey.  Most of the other colors are P3 paints (my favorite line of paint) with some Vallejo and Foundry colors mixed in as well.

(https://i.imgur.com/vQMNPqb.jpg)

The last two members of the warband are Han the treasure hunter and his sidekick, Chewie the crossbowman.  Han is quite a mercenary, in his own words: "I expect to be well paid.  I'm in it for the money."  I wonder if he really cares about anything... or anybody.

(https://i.imgur.com/GxVeDvi.jpg)

The Han figure is a real mash-up, his head is from the plastic Frostgrave Barbarian set, his body is from the plastic Ghost Archipelago crewmen set, his arms and backpack are from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set and he carries a knife from the Frostgrave plastic wizard set.  I thought about using the body for the Luke figure because of the leg wrappings but in the end the vest and v-neck undershirt just screamed Han.  I really like the aggressive posture of this figure.  The Chewie figure has a body and arms from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set and a head from the Gripping Beast plastic Viking Hirdmen set.  The head worked perfectly with this body as it aligns his eyes with the crossbow so it looks like he's taking aim, this figure is my favorite kit-bash thus far.

(https://i.imgur.com/sqHziR4.jpg)

The color scheme for Han is all episode 4 while Chewie is painted in various shades of brown with some Adeptus Battlegrey mixed in to tie him to the rest of the warband.  All of the figures are based on Renedra plastic cobblestone bases (I removed the integrated bases with a razor saw).  It isn't too hard to freehand cobblestone bases but I wanted to try the Renedra bases and I'm pleased with the results.
 
(https://i.imgur.com/XVPGLfZ.jpg)

That's all for now, but not the end of this saga...

Any feedback or comments are appreciated, it's great to finally post here on LAF!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: Supercollider on July 09, 2019, 06:40:21 AM
Great first post!  Your figures are very well done, not so obvious that they look odd, but once you learn of their inspiration there's another dimension to them. Nice!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: Bloggard on July 09, 2019, 10:23:14 AM
great - ben's done particularly well.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: LiamFrostfang on July 09, 2019, 10:45:01 AM
 8) way cool...bravo!!!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: jp1885 on July 09, 2019, 11:28:26 AM
Nice work!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: Corporal Chaos on July 09, 2019, 11:10:02 PM
These miniatures are exceptional and the back story is wonderful! Keep it up. Your skills are great.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: MikeRC97 on July 21, 2019, 01:44:08 PM
Thanks to all for the kind words.

Apparently production has begun on the next installment in the series, here's a "leaked set photo"

(https://i.imgur.com/Vfd8hLb.jpg)
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: Codsticker on August 06, 2019, 05:07:12 AM
Wonderfully creative.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: jon_1066 on August 06, 2019, 10:49:11 AM
The force magic is strong in this one!

Do you have access to any samurai heads for a "not darth vader" figure?
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: MikeRC97 on August 07, 2019, 11:24:38 AM
Do you have access to any samurai heads for a "not darth vader" figure?

That would have been cool but I do like this head for Vader because of the mouth.  But there will be some medieval Japanese elements to the cultist I’m finishing up this week... ;)

Episode 5 in theaters on LAF this weekend...
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: MikeRC97 on August 09, 2019, 09:27:12 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/ks5A2JH.png)

Episode V
THE NECROMANCER STRIKES BACK

Hello All,

I’m back with my second Frostgrave warband, “the Cult of the Sith” led by the necromancer Sidious and his apprentice Vader.  The cult includes (from left to right) Sidious, Vader, a thug, a thief, a crossbowman, two infantrymen and an apothecary.

(https://i.imgur.com/EP0dkcs.jpg)

Sidious has come to Felstad in search of that which he craves most – power.  His apprentice Vader was once a pupil of the wizard Old Ben, but he betrayed his former master when Sidious promised that together they could discover the secret to stop death (it was a trick, the secret was the Necromancer spell Raise Zombie).  Sidious has also mastered the Elementalist spell Elemental Bolt.

The Sidious figure is a straight build from the Frostgrave plastic wizard set.  The Vader figure's body is from the Frostgrave plastic wizard set with arms and head from the Frostgrave plastic cultist set.  I played around with the positioning of the arms and head to create what I thought looked like a sinister comic book villain pose.

(https://i.imgur.com/y9ksvku.jpg)

Painting black can be very tricky – too much highlighting and you can end up with a mostly grey miniature, but without strong contrast the figure looks dull.  I used the Privateer Press recipe of adding P3 Coal Black to keep the highlights a cool shade.  I’m happy with the results, although it’s hard to see the highlights in these photos, the lighting I used washes them out.

(https://i.imgur.com/NOCf6ci.jpg)

Here are a couple of cultists - a thug and a thief.  The thug figure has arms from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set and a body and head from the Frostgrave plastic cultist set.  The thief figure is a straight build from the Frostgrave plastic cultist set but with the dagger converted to face down (it faces up on the sprue) as I thought it looked more menacing that way.

(https://i.imgur.com/46zw83M.jpg)

I really like the cultist set – the poses are more dynamic than the figures in the soldier set which feels appropriate for a group of fanatics.  I also love the look of the figures (the hooded heads in particular).  I don’t know if the miniatures were based on the artwork of Frostgrave illustrator Dmitry Burmak or if the artwork is based on the miniatures but whoever designed the cultist did a great job.

(https://i.imgur.com/AvcrmhF.jpg)

Here we have a pair of infantrymen with leather armor from the Frostgrave plastic cultist set with converted weapons.  The spear on the cultist sprue is nicely sculpted with a wicked looking spearhead.  However it doesn’t feel like a two handed weapon to me (with bonus damage points in game), it looks more like a one handed weapon meant to be wielded with a shield.  So I looked for an alternative and found just the thing from my favorite eBay bits seller, some Warhammer Skaven polearms which I used to convert the cultist spears to fantasy naginatas (medieval Japanese glaives).

(https://i.imgur.com/Kv8FiVM.jpg)

On most of the cultist figures the clothing has been sculpted with holes to reflect their rag-tag nature.  On one of the infantryman figures I used green stuff to fill in some of the holes so the two miniatures look less identical.  I think the cultist figures work great as Sith, I have already started building some additions to the warband and at some point I’d like to convert some sci-fi versions.

(https://i.imgur.com/bdhhVqP.jpg)

Next up is a crossbowman and an apothecary.  The crossbowman figure’s arms and body are from the Frostgrave plastic cultist set, his head is from a Games Workshop Warhammer set (not sure which one as I got a mixed bag of Warhammer heads off eBay at some point).  Most of the Warhammer heads look huge on Frostgrave bodies but this head fit perfectly – the eye patch and the scarred upper lip gives the figure a villainous aspect that I really like for a cultist.

The apothecary figure's body is from the Frostgrave plastic wizard set with arms and head from the Frostgrave plastic cultist set.  Both arms received a hand swap, the hand holding the staff is from the Fireforge games plastic foot sergeants set (I removed the spearhead to create a staff).  The hand holding the potion is from the Frostgrave plastic wizard set.

(https://i.imgur.com/IiIehTd.jpg)

There are some really nice bits on the cultist sprue – you can see some on the infantrymen above and on the apothecary below.  The cultist bits worked great with this body as the rope belt is sculpted lower on the figure’s left side so it looks like the skull and potion are weighing the belt down.

(https://i.imgur.com/MucEG0k.jpg)

Finally, here we see the two apprentices facing off – Vader just revealed a secret about Luke that no-one saw coming, HE IS LUKE'S FATHER (I can still remember having my seven-year-old mind blown in 1980)!!!

(https://i.imgur.com/4JLRPfI.jpg)

How will Luke handle this stunning revelation?  Will Sidious and Vader emerge victorious?  The adventure continues in Episode 6, coming soon (-ish, I’m a really slow painter) to a forum near you…

Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 5 (8/7/19)
Post by: John Tailby on August 11, 2019, 12:33:51 AM
Will Luke suffer the smashed arm injury and have to get it healed?

its a nice collection of models. Have you thought about making some of the followers of Sideous and Vader in white? if nothing else it will make the two key models stand out more. There is nothing more annoying than you opponent asking which is you apprentice every time they activate a model.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...
Post by: MikeRC97 on September 01, 2019, 06:01:24 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/ks5A2JH.png)

Episode VI
THE RETURN OF THE CAPTAIN

When last we saw our heroes things looked grim, but fear not!  Help has arrived in the form of a captain and a ranger.  This captain is no ordinary sellsword, he is none other than the legendary Captain Rex, a veteran commander who served with Old Ben in a great war years ago.

(https://i.imgur.com/ENYSeH2.jpg)

The thing I like about sellswords is their versatility; mine is a ranger-like build wielding a two-handed weapon and a bow.  The Rex figure has a nicely sculpted head from the plastic Ghost Archipelago crewmen set and arms and body from the plastic Oathmark Human Infantry set.  The sword has been modified, I removed the pommel that was just beneath the hand and replaced it with an axe handle from the Frostgrave Barbarian sprue to make it look like a bastard sword.

(https://i.imgur.com/Udap3wh.jpg)

The ranger figure’s body is also from the plastic Oathmark Human Infantry set, his arms are from the plastic Frostgrave Soldier set and once again I have used a head from a Games Workshop Warhammer set.   The hooded heads on the Oathmark Human Infantry sprue are actually larger than this head, and much more cartoonish, I prefer the severe countenance on this figure’s face.

(https://i.imgur.com/zmhIzZ0.jpg)

Old Ben is not the only wizard to summon reinforcements, joining the Cult of the Sith are a pair of soldiers from the far away land of Darthomir.  These two warriors from the “Nightbrothers” tribe are called Maul (counts as Monk) and Savage (counts as barbarian).

Maul’s return seems improbable - he was killed by Ben years ago.  You might assume that Sidious used necromancy to return Maul to life, but this isn’t the case.  A mysterious wizard named Lucas (and his apprentice Filoni) brought Maul back by using one of the most powerful relics in all of Felstad, the mythical Scroll of Retroactive Continuity!  Maul is now half-mad, obsessed with revenge and showing up in all kinds of spin-offs.

(https://i.imgur.com/uxc6OmI.jpg)

The Maul figure is a straight build from the plastic Frostgrave Cultist set but I converted the club to a double bladed naginata using bits from the Warhammer Skaven Clanrats sprue.

(https://i.imgur.com/swlkSC2.jpg)

The Savage figure has arms from the plastic Frostgrave Soldier set and a body and head from the plastic Frostgrave Cultist set.  In keeping with the medieval Japanese theme I converted the axe-like weapon on the Frostgrave Soldier sprue to a Nagamaki, an unusual medieval Japanese sword-type weapon with a long handle (the name means “long wrapping”).

(https://i.imgur.com/JeLK5Rl.jpg)

With these additions, this first trilogy has come to an end.  I have really enjoyed kit-bashing and painting these miniatures, but I’m going to take a break from fantasy and return to painting historical miniatures for now, but this saga is not over yet…

As always, any feedback or comments are appreciated.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: Corporal Chaos on September 02, 2019, 01:05:29 AM
Looking very good!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: DinoTitanedition on October 05, 2019, 09:41:34 PM
Man, I really like this! The warbands are quite characterful and I saw one or two part combinations I'll have to steal at the first gaze. Keep it up and if you ever come to Germany by coincidence, let me know - I'll always be available for a game!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: syr8766 on October 05, 2019, 10:01:42 PM
Great work! Love the mash-up of genres.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: Geoffrey21 on October 07, 2019, 05:25:01 AM
Your miniatures are spectacular.  Great work. I love the theme.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: Steam Flunky on March 10, 2020, 02:28:25 PM
Great idea, but where is the princess, the loveble rogue and his sidekick?
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: Johnno on March 10, 2020, 03:54:45 PM
Great idea, but where is the princess, the loveble rogue and his sidekick?

The loveable rogue and his sidekick are the two treasure hunters in the first group, albeit one is considerably less hairy than normal.  :D
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: joe5mc on March 16, 2020, 03:28:02 PM
This thread is just so much fun!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: Grumpy Gnome on March 16, 2020, 07:22:02 PM
Aye, this thread is great fun indeed. Some brilliant kit bashing ans I quite like your color palette for the first warband.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 6 (9/1/19)
Post by: MikeRC97 on March 17, 2020, 03:24:55 PM
Thanks to all for the kind words, much appreciated.

I haven't painted any Frostgrave figures since last summer as I shifted back to historical but after I finish what I have on my workbench I will go back to Frostgrave.

I have a box of the Frostgrave plastic barbarians that will be the basis for my next warband led by a Summoner and an apprentice that has a lot of family ties to other characters in the series (I'm skipping any "prequel" episodes for now).  I have also been looking at the Fireforge Games Forgotten World Northmen for a potential warband, not sure how well those figures will mix with the Northstar plastic sets as the Forgotten World Northmen figures look huge in comparison from the pics I have seen online.  The other figures I've been checking out are some of the new Victrix early medieval sets, the upcoming Norman figures look great (it seems like Victrix has really improved over the last few years).

This thread is just so much fun!

Thanks Joe!  I'm really looking forward to Frostgrave 2.0.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 7 (7/18/20)
Post by: MikeRC97 on July 18, 2020, 04:18:49 PM
(https://i.imgur.com/ks5A2JH.png)

Episode VII
THE FROST (RE)AWAKENS

Some years have passed since we last saw our heroes.  Old Ben is gone, struck down by his one-time apprentice Vader.  Vader then turned on his master Sidious, hurling the necromancer into a bottomless chasm.  However as Sidious fell he cast the spell Strike Dead and Vader failed his Will roll thus bringing an end to both master and apprentice.

Luke, now a full-fledged wizard, took on an apprentice – his nephew, a young man named Ren.  Not long after a new shadow emerged in Frostgrave, a mysterious wizard named Snoke brought together the scattered remnants of the Cult of the Sith under his leadership.  Even worse, he convinced Ren to betray his uncle and join the Cult, just as his grandfather Vader had done.

Here we see Luke’s former apprentice Ren, now a captain of the Cult warband.  The figure’s body is from the Frostgrave plastic Cultist set, the arms are from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set and the head is from the Oathmark plastic Human Infantry set.

(https://i.imgur.com/JXu2Wxi.jpg)

After being betrayed by his nephew, Luke fled from Felstad, leaving no trace of his whereabouts.  The enigmatic Snoke became obsessed with finding Luke – his "first order" to his new captain was for the young man to locate and destroy his uncle.

(https://i.imgur.com/SgBad73.jpg)

The only person left in Felstad with any knowledge of where Luke might be is a knight named Lor, who joined Luke’s warband after the death of Old Ben.

(https://i.imgur.com/p6Wlo2O.jpg)

The Lor figure has a body and sword scabbard from the Fireforge Games plastic foot knights set, arms and head from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set and a shield from the Fireforge Games plastic Scandinavian infantry set.  The build was inspired in part by one of the figures in Captain Blood’s Westeros thread.  Lor’s color scheme is based on the colors worn by the medieval military orders but also uses the color palette I used for the original warband.

(https://i.imgur.com/89yBVFX.jpg)

Here we see the opening scene of Episode VII, Ren and his men have descended on the village where Lor has been hiding, just after the knight secretly dispatched word of Luke’s location to the soldiers resisting the Cult of the Sith.  Who will find Luke first?  The Cult or the "resistance?”  We will find out in Episode 8, coming eventually to a Lead Adventure Fantasy forum near you.

(https://i.imgur.com/wDzxtf4.jpg)

With this pair of figures the two warbands each total eleven soldiers, the maximum allowed in a campaign with an inn as a base.  Each warband also has its own Captain now.  I’m sure at some point I’ll paint some alternate soldiers for the two warbands, I have so much fun kit-bashing and painting plastic fantasy figures.  But now I think it is time to start a new warband, so more to come.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 7 concludes (11/24/20)
Post by: MikeRC97 on November 24, 2020, 03:17:00 PM
Episode 8 is coming soon however the new edition of Frostgrave includes rules changes that affect the first two warbands I assembled.  When Frostgrave first came out a lot of the discussion in this forum was about certain soldiers being much better than others and I think the changes to the rules for soldiers address those imbalances very well.

Unfortunately, both of my warbands are a bit heavy on specialists, the first warband in particular.  I’ll need to put together more standard soldiers but in the meantime I decided to convert the Han miniature from a treasure hunter to a thug, as this just required a simple hand swap.

Here is the climactic scene of Episode 7 – Han confronts Ren, who is actually his son! Why is everyone in this epic saga related?  This family reunion will not end well for Han.

(https://i.imgur.com/YUVjezj.jpg)

Episode 8, coming this week to a Lead Adventure sub-forum near you...
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 7 concludes (11/24/20)
Post by: Mr.J on November 24, 2020, 04:31:33 PM
Love it!
Hoping Mando might make and appearance...
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 7 concludes (11/24/20)
Post by: BZ on November 24, 2020, 10:10:25 PM
Im missing two droids constructs!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 7 concludes (11/24/20)
Post by: MikeRC97 on November 25, 2020, 02:29:18 AM
Im missing two droids constructs!

I think Old Ben was supposed to deliver those two constructs to the far away city of Alderaan...I wonder what became of them?

Hey great blog btw.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 8 (11/24/20)
Post by: MikeRC97 on November 25, 2020, 02:53:06 AM
(https://i.imgur.com/ks5A2JH.png)

Episode VIII

THE LAST WARBAND

The Cult reigns in Felstad.  But there is a spark of hope - a mysterious young girl named Rey has found the long-lost wizard Luke hiding among the barbarians in the hills to the north of the frozen city.   Now Rey must convince Luke to join those resisting the Cult before it is too late.

Here is my third warband, featuring (from left to right) Luke, his apprentice Rey, a thug, a thief, two Men-at-Arms, an archer and a crossbowman.

(https://i.imgur.com/W5rqy8n.jpg)

Luke is now a battle-scarred adventurer, not the (blonde) youthful apprentice he once was.  Luke blames himself for the betrayal committed by his nephew Ren - the once heroic wizard has become disillusioned and is unwilling to fight any longer.  Speaking of illusions, Luke has been practicing the spell Illusionary Soldier from the aligned Illusionist school of magic, it might come in handy someday.

(https://i.imgur.com/CoVWarw.jpg)

Rey was a scavenger in Felstad, trading whatever artifacts she could find for meager portions of food.  Her background is a mystery, she was abandoned by her parents as a child, but she has a natural talent for magic.  The threat posed by the Cult compelled her to seek out the legendary wizard Luke, who has reluctantly taken the young girl as his apprentice.

(https://i.imgur.com/RL26Sjm.jpg)

The Luke figure has a body and head from the Frostgrave plastic barbarian set and arms from the Oathmark plastic human infantry set.  The pouch with a bone attached is a Warhammer bit (not sure from which set) that I liked on this figure as it fits in with the barbarian theme.  The barbarian set is my favorite of the three Frostgrave soldier sets, the poses are (for the most part) dynamic and the figures are wonderfully sculpted with just the right amount of detail without being a chore to paint.  The head on the Luke figure bears a passing resemblance to Mark Hamill in The Last Jedi but reminds me more of King Harald from the History Channel series Vikings.

The Rey figure is a straight build from the Frostgrave plastic (female) wizards II set.  This is another great set by Bobby Jackson, who also sculpted the first plastic (male) wizard set.  I can’t wait to see what he does for Stargrave.   The color schemes for the two figures comes from Episode 8 - Luke’s outfit from the scenes on Ahch-To and Rey’s outfit from the throne room fight scene.

(https://i.imgur.com/aqHTqJl.jpg)

Next up are a thug and a thief.  The thug figure’s head is from the Ghost Archipelago plastic crewmen set with arms and body from the Frostgrave plastic barbarian set.  The thief figure’s head and body are from the Frostgrave plastic soldier set and the arms are from the Frostgrave plastic barbarian set.

(https://i.imgur.com/hFzxGmb.jpg)

I carved off some of the pouches on the thief figure’s body and replaced them with bits from the Frostgrave plastic barbarian sprue.  For this warband I went with a mostly brown color scheme with some grey elements to tie the soldiers thematically to the Luke and Rey figures.

(https://i.imgur.com/AtVkomm.jpg)

Below is a pair of Men-at-Arms, which I included so that the warband would have four standard soldiers and because I like the Viking vibe these shields give the barbarian figures.  Both figures are straight builds from the Frostgrave plastic barbarian set.

(https://i.imgur.com/gULfc75.jpg)

I attempted to paint a wolf pelt on the figure on the right; I think it turned out ok.  For the most part I try to keep these Frostgrave paint schemes simple so I don’t burn out like I do when I paint Napoleonic figures (don’t even get me started).

(https://i.imgur.com/4SgwWSf.jpg)

Here is a close-up of one of the Vikings Men-at-Arms.  I’m really happy with how the face turned out, I don’t know who the sculptor was for this set but the heads are superb.  The other thing I like about these figures is that most of the bodies have the weight shifted to the front leg which makes them look like they are ready for action.

(https://i.imgur.com/5PfztEY.jpg)

The last two members of the warband are specialist soldiers, an archer and a crossbowman.   Once again both figures are straight builds from the Frostgrave plastic barbarian set.

(https://i.imgur.com/j6jdq06.jpg)

The crossbowman figure’s body is the only pose in this set that feels fairly static, which explains why I chose this head for the figure (the paint job reminds me Grandpa Simpson’s friend Jasper Beardsly).

(https://i.imgur.com/JJqVdaj.jpg)

Once again this thread includes a confrontation between Ren and another character as Rey and Ren face-off.  Ren has just turned on the supreme leader of the Cult of the Sith, cleaving the wizard Snoke in two (wow, he really turned out to be an unimportant character in this story, not at all what I was expecting after watching episode 7).

Ren offers Rey a choice:  become his apprentice or DIE!

(https://i.imgur.com/zRlsqRt.jpg)

Will Rey betray Luke?  Will Ren crush the resistance or will Luke return to defeat the Cult?  The adventure concludes in Episode 9, coming eventually (after I paint some Napoleonic artillery and possibly some WWII stuff) to a forum near you…

Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 8 (11/24/20)
Post by: Wirelizard on November 25, 2020, 04:10:44 AM
Frostgrave being something I've only started looking at during this plague year, I missed this thread when you started it sometime in 2019.

What a fantastic inspiration for FG bands! Nicely done, especially the Sith/Cult figures. The kitbashing across all the various plastic figure lines has worked nicely.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 7 concludes (11/24/20)
Post by: BZ on November 25, 2020, 07:24:54 AM
I think Old Ben was supposed to deliver those two constructs to the far away city of Alderaan...I wonder what became of them?

Hey great blog btw.
I think the Northstar constructs could do the job really well. Maybe some halflings as ewoks?
Thanks, btw! :)
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 8 (11/24/20)
Post by: Ultravanillasmurf on November 25, 2020, 08:32:26 AM
Wow! Just read through this thread (not sure how I missed it);

Very creative use of a much loved saga (YMMV) and the plastic box sets.

Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 8 Concludes (7/18/21)
Post by: MikeRC97 on July 18, 2021, 04:04:10 PM
When last we saw our heroes Rey was being forced to choose between joining Ren or resisting the Cult of the Sith.  Rey chose to flee (after casting fleet feet) but the Cult pursued the young apprentice.  As she attempted to lose her pursuers, Rey found a group of soldiers hiding from the cult in an abandoned base.  The soldiers were none other than the members of Luke’s old warband (with a few changes).

(https://i.imgur.com/T5ophMf.jpg)

With the updates from Frostgrave second edition my first warband was light on standard soldiers and heavy on specialists.  I previously changed the Han figure from a treasure hunter to a thug, below is another change - the figure that was originally an archer is now a thief.  I just took one of the arms from the Oathmark Human Infantry set and replaced the hand with a hand holding a dagger from the Ghost Archipelago Crewman set.

(https://i.imgur.com/1rTQVci.jpg)

Another change to the original warband is that I converted the other treasure hunter to an infantryman.  I also painted a new figure, a second infantryman.  Both infantrymen have bodies from the Oathmark Human Infantry set.  The ex-treasure hunter turned infantryman has a head and arms from the Frostgrave Soldier set, the new infantryman has a head and arms from the Fireforge Games Foot Sergeants set.  For their two-handed weapons I modeled both figures with glaives made from Warhammer Skaven polearms.

(https://i.imgur.com/TsPBH4l.jpg)

When I painted the other warbands I tried to tie each figure to a theme in terms of weapons and armor (medieval Japanese for the Cult, Viking for the Barbarians).  With this warband I eventually ended up with an early / high medieval theme, such as the helmets worn by the soldiers (spangenhelm, nasal helmet, flat-topped helm, kettle hat), the glaives wielded by the infantrymen, the chainmail hauberk worn by the knight, etc.

(https://i.imgur.com/FyJ1KNs.jpg)

Here is the final scene of Episode 8 – just as the Cult descends on the hiding place of Rey and the remaining members of the resistance, Luke appears before Ren, creating a distraction to allow Rey and her companions to escape.

(https://i.imgur.com/hxoYnNq.jpg)

In reality Luke is far to the north - he has deceived the Cult using the spell Illusionary Soldier!  Luke could not risk a spell failure, so he empowered the spell with all his remaining health points and has suffered “death by spellcasting” (as explained on page 64 of the rulebook).

(https://i.imgur.com/98GAruQ.jpg)

What will happen to our heroes now that Luke has fallen?  Does this mean the end of the resistance to the Cult?  All will be revealed in the dramatic conclusion to our saga coming soon to a Lead Adventure Forum near you!!!
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 9 (7/23/21)
Post by: MikeRC97 on July 23, 2021, 04:09:50 PM
Episode IX
THE RISE OF BARBARIANS

The dead return!  Sidious is back (he cast a homunculus spell before he died).  Here we see the necromancer and a new figure for when the spellcaster adds a zombie to the warband using the raise zombie spell.  The zombie figure is a straight build from the Frostgrave Cultist set as the zombie is meant to be a fallen member of the Cult reanimated by the necromancer.  This was my first attempt at painting zombie skin which I actually found quite challenging.

(https://i.imgur.com/AJVM3QG.jpg)

The cult warband was heavy on specialists because of the changes in Frostgrave second edition, so I painted a few new standard soldiers for a starting warband.

The first new cult member is a javelineer, a category of soldier that I have not modeled previously.

(https://i.imgur.com/Tp5Uzgn.jpg)

The figure is a straight build from the Frostgrave Cultist set except that the spear has been reduced in length to appear more like a javelin.

(https://i.imgur.com/ahsB4CM.jpg)

The other change to the cult warband is the addition of two new infantrymen to go along with the two I originally painted.  All four infantrymen figures share the same body however in the case of the two new figures I have added arms from the Perry Miniatures Agincourt French Infantry set.  The quilted armor on the arms from the Perry Miniatures set matches that of the Frostgrave Cultist figure’s body so the figures look like they are wearing long sleeve gambesons.

(https://i.imgur.com/vWBE9nx.jpg)

As I used the same body for all four cult infantrymen I decided to modify the figure on the right by removing the feet (modelled as if the figure is running) and replacing them with feet from one of the figures in the Ghost Archipelago Crewman set.  The baggy pants the cultist wear made it possible to model the figure as if he is standing in place.

(https://i.imgur.com/HhoCbps.jpg)

Here we see Ren confronting Sidious, the necromancer promises Ren unlimited power but in return demands that Ren hunt down and eliminate Rey.

(https://i.imgur.com/WdLm9p6.jpg)

Meanwhile Rey has been training in the northern hills when rumor reaches the remaining members of the resistance that Sidious has returned.  Rey returns to Feldstad in search of the truth when she is ambushed by Ren.  As a duel ensues, Ren reveals the shocking truth behind the necromancer’s obsession with the young apprentice, SHE IS THE GRANDDAUGHTER OF SIDIOUS!!!  (No, seriously, why is everyone in this saga related?).  After Rey defeats Ren, he leaves the Cult forever.

At this moment Rey discovers the necromancer’s true plan – he intends to cast Lichdom on himself thereby becoming immune to natural death.  With the full magnitude of the threat posed by Sidious revealed, Rey convinces the northern barbarian tribes to join her in one final assault on the Cult.

Below are some Barbarian reinforcements for the final battle, a thug, a thief, and a berserker.

(https://i.imgur.com/mS0w38I.jpg)

The thug is a straight build from the Frostgrave Barbarian set.

(https://i.imgur.com/yGMwj0K.jpg)

The thief has a head from the Gripping Beast Vikings Hirdmen set, arms from the Frostgrave Barbarian set and a body from the Frostgrave Soldier set.

(https://i.imgur.com/zMkWEXa.jpg)

The berserker is another straight build from the Frostgrave Barbarian set.

(https://i.imgur.com/CIxAAuV.jpg)

Below is the last stand against Sidious.  As the resistance soldiers and barbarian warriors storm the stronghold of the Cult, Rey is joined by Ren in a final showdown against the necromancer.  Thanks to the efforts of our heroes, Sidious fails the casting roll for the Lichdom spell by 21, resulting in the permanent loss of his soul!  The necromancer may not be restored to life by any means, and the Cult of the Sith is finally defeated.

(https://i.imgur.com/YrgjNfD.jpg)

Finally, here are pictures of the three warbands with all the changes from second edition.

The first warband led by the seer Old Ben and his young apprentice Luke.  Starting warband (from left to right):  Ben, Luke, two thugs, two thieves, two infantrymen, a crossbowman, and a ranger.  Warband upgrades: a knight and a captain (Captain Rex).

(https://i.imgur.com/7WtFbHR.jpg)

The cult warband led by the necromancer Sidious and his apprentice Vader.  Starting warband (from left to right):  Sidious, Vader, a thief, a thug, four infantrymen, a javelineer, and a crossbowman.  Warband upgrades: an apothecary, a barbarian (Savage), a monk (Maul), and a captain (Ren).

(https://i.imgur.com/vaSCysY.jpg)

The barbarian warband led by the seer Luke and his apprentice Rey.  Starting warband (from left to right):  Luke, Rey, two thugs, two thieves, two men-at-arms, an archer, and a crossbowman.  Warband upgrades: a barbarian.

(https://i.imgur.com/IwiqHuR.jpg)
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 9 (7/23/21)
Post by: jon_1066 on July 26, 2021, 08:12:09 AM
Some great additions there.  A really nice clean painting style. 
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 9 (7/23/21)
Post by: Chief Lackey Rich on July 26, 2021, 11:52:08 AM
Agreed.  Good choice of colors too, very restrained and it really makes the skin tones pop.

Sidious returned reminds me of an old D&D character of mine from the 80s who had a few...minor problems with the Clone spell wound up with several undead versions of himself tagging along as henchmen after the dust had settled from the spell duels between everyone.  IIRC Copy #3 technically won, and was twitchy about that number for the rest of the campaign.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 9 (7/23/21)
Post by: Little Odo on July 27, 2021, 06:55:00 AM
Great additions to the collection. Looking back, I realy like what you did with the Skaven glaives.
Title: Re: A long time ago, in a frozen city far, far away...Episode 9 (7/23/21)
Post by: Reed on July 27, 2021, 04:55:50 PM
I think I've might heard of this saga elsewhere...
Very clean paintjobs, my favourites without doubt are the barbarians.