Soldiers of Frostgrave (boxset)

[Dewbakuk]

As usual, some excellent looking figures Captain. I can answer a couple of points you raised in the review, there are two quivers on the sprue for the archers, you used one of them for the crossbowman (Yes, I think they are too short). The crossbowmen get belt sheaths for the quarrels, they were done closed so they could be used as normal pouches as well. This type of thing:

[Captain Blood]

Ah - okay, thanks Dean. Makes sense
I thought they were long crossbow bolts - not short arrows 

[Dewbakuk]

I'm going to have to take a look at the halberd when I get home though. I hadn't noticed it's arm wasn't matched up, but then I haven't used one yet either. I got given some of the test sprues to play with and report back on and they had more serious issues to worry about.

While Nick has given me some of the proper ones, I have to admit to doing very little with them (million other projects)... Aside from a dog handler conversion I'm playing with.

[Captain Blood]

I'm going to have to take a look at the halberd when I get home though. I hadn't noticed it's arm wasn't matched up, but then I haven't used one yet either. 

Well I couldn't make the allegedly matched arm fit, and I tried it against several bodies... The spare single crossbow arm is a perfect fit however... Maybe they went the wrong way round onto the frame.
I'll have to try that arm as a pair with the crossbow arm and see if that works...

[tyrionhalfman]

Nice to see such a wide possibility for variety thanks for sharing

[rufus sparkfire]

I had the same issue with the halberd arm. It took me ages to realise the arm next to the crossbow was the correct one.

That aside, I really enjoyed assembling my soldiers.

[nicknorthstar]

Mis-matched arms? Bugger. That could have gone wrong at Renedra, bless 'em, they did have 25 different arms to sort out. Way too expensive to sort out now, I just hope most people will come here and read about it.

I did read on an earlier post about our figures being built on Fireforge bodies. Most assuredly not. But if the designer had said 'I can use this body and save you a Grand' I'd have jumped at the chance. 

Fireforge own their master figures and they are in Italy. The similarity is purely because we used the same designer, Bob Naismith, and we sat in the initial design meeting with a sprue of Fireforge Foot Sergeants in front of us. With their blessing of course, Fireforge are great pals of mine, I've visited them in Naples and they've been gaming in Nottingham with me. The author playtested Frostgrave with Fireforge figures, and they were well aware of this project from early days. And they are big hobbyists, they'll be as delighted by Capt Bloods mash-ups as I am.

[Philhelm]

Admittedly, I was scratching my head for a minute trying to figure out the Halberd arm mystery, but the arm next across from the crossbow is the only valid choice.  In fact, the official images of the Frostgrave Soldiers shows the crossbow variant with an arm reached over, palm down, on top of the crossbow as though his is loading it.  I think it is only problematic if someone assembled the crossbow first.

[Darnok]

My take on the Frostgrave Soldiers is rather positive. I have a few issues with the kit, but overall, I consider it to be a good one.

My main grieve with the box is: it consists of four identical sprues, each building five models. That's just too much repetition for me, considering Frostgrave is about warbands of individuals. I wonder why the sprues were not designed to hold eight models (i.e. boxes of 16, or maybe 24); there could be more variety on each sprue, while reducing the "sameness".

What I also really don't like are the connected bodies. I accept that this was a deliberate design choice, and it has its upsides - i simply think split bodies/legs are better. The split parts result in so much more choices for poses, and especially with the "four identical sprues" you are left with... just five poses and different heads/arms. Meh.

Apart from that: great kit. There are still lots of options, and with the warbands size limited to only ten models (where a maximum of eight can be "regular dudes") the issue of repetition in parts and/or poses is not that drastic. The technical quality of the sprues is solid - the details could be sharper, but I have no major complaints here. You get  a cool kit to play around with, and lots of things for any historical or low-fantasy setting miniature game in 28mm.