Mosstgrave ... a new direction

[Bloggard]

thanks for the comments chaps.

@Jack Hooligan:
truth be told the CD veg stands have 'gone', which means I at least don't have to worry about storing them (just poor old Mother Earth ... hmm). Don't know if you made it further into the thread, but I switched to a teddy bear fur 'throw', and putting spikes into the bottom of scenery elements, allowing them to be mounted directly on the foamboard landmasses ...
But I'm trying to refine the relatively small footprint concept a bit further - I really do want to be able to chuck a throw over a dining room table and go from there - no bloody great 6 x 4 pieces of foamboard etc.

So watch this space ... Let's just say velcro is making a comeback! 

@Scatterbrains - thanks very much.
Swings and roundabouts with contrast paints - for myself, you never know how they're going to 'take' to the sculpted 'topography' of a figure; sometimes they're pretty much perfect first time, sometimes a lot of 'proper painting' titivation is necessary (e.g. drawing pooled paint 'up' folds as it dries, adding extra strokes to creases and folds etc).
As mentioned I use a white undercoat, and didn't have any luck with all this 'zenithal highlighting' business either ... so ymmv as ever.

I'm very happy with the results I've been getting as shown above - but overall it's a mishmash of paints / techniques, with the Contrast paints (and other washes and inks) at its heart.

@Bearwoodman - thanks very much. I guess the brightness of the contrast paints / inks is a bit of a marmite thing, but it works for me. Certainly helps 'em pop!

[Terryb]

Just come across this thread. How did I miss it. Amazing work sir. An inspiration of the highest order. Have had the rules for a long time, as the setting was perfect for me, just never got to playing it.
This has definitely wetted my appetite again, thanks

[Bloggard]

cheers Terryb - great setting as you say; really pleased that my efforts have helped get your GA mojo going again too.

[Bloggard]

blimey, the dreaded 'red text' dormant thread warning ...

well, as this terrain may as well be used for frostgrave, or a snowily ensorcelled ghost archiplelago, think I'll keep in this thread... :

so, bit of a proof of concept, mini layout, trying to refine the textured 'throw' approach to a gaming surface / mat.

overall I still think fleecy / fake fur throws offer the best-looking and most practical compromise in terms of a low-footprint, flexible, and relatively cheap gaming mat - and as shown here, I even intend to use a white(ish) one for a snow board (!), but as with many boards / mats, a visual anomaly can be water features standing proud of ground level.

As I tend to use crushed velvet for 'water (although may be looking at aluminium foil, cruched up and then dyed), it's straight-forward enough to have that as un under-layer, and then cut and fold back the upper fleece layer as you desire...

obvious issue is the 'spoiling' of the fleece with the 'revealing' cuts (although I'm not actually removing any pieces, just folding back from slits), so it remains to be seen how practical / affordable the approach is in these terms.

If I ever do have a 'snowy' game, btw, there'll be a bit more set-dressing (I'd get some of the 'fake snow' and sprinkle it about for a start, which should help with the overall vibe, and would be adding other flock.)

[LiamFrostfang]

  looks cool!!!

[Bloggard]

looks cool!!!

ha ha LFF, that's deffo a compliment for the 'snowy' look

thanks as ever for the positive comment.

[Bloggard]

jeeez ... 3+ yrs ... oh, well.

having a pic of an almost finished paint-job, thought I'd keep on adding to this thread as a bit of a catch-all, rather than create a new one ...  - and after all any figures might get used in some sort of ghost-grave mash-up.
(of course - mod. let me know, or move if must be, but I'd rather keep my witterings in this thread if possible).


admitted defeat in getting back in to painting properly - so it'll be contrasts / speed-paints if anything.



this guy had some pre-shading done with the army-painter shade (stuff that comes in a tin) amongst other bodging-abouts ...


also trying to get more of an off-gloss finish , and this is a satin varnish, followed by a matt polyurethane job (both brush applied).
What I'd really like to achieve is a Dallimore-like matt finish that somehow still has a 'glow' (or whatever the right word might be) - but goodness knows how he does it (and I've got the 'foundry book where he describes 'how' - and am still none-the-wiser!).



but in general, think I've decided that I prefer speed-paints used with as bright a white undercoat as poss. with no pre-shade.
Pre-shades just look too messy in terms of what I've been able to achieve (i.e. I don't have a decent air-brush / technique with ... ) and undermine the brightness of using such paints on plain white (one of their key virtues to my eye).

[Bloggard]

these two had, I think, a light sea-green (!) base-coat, then a white dry-brush.
army painter speed-paint 1.0 for the colouring-in.

they look ok (for speedpaint) in good light, but just 'disappear' in your average uk natural light domestic environs.
Would have to have been a pure white base-coat to have any chance in these stakes I think.

real bugbear for me, this question of brightness.

(but the dwarf-y 'caster does look like he's wielding an extra large lollipop - which almost makes up for it ...)

[Bloggard]

Mosstgrave !

elaboration to follow.

[Bloggard]

So:

While lamenting the abandonment of 'Ghost Archipelago' and wondering how such a well-supported range of figures and books, with a Sinbad-y theme, could fail in the marketplace to the point of such formal rejection (and what, if anything, that might say about the world at large), I've kept a vague focus on the idea / product-range etc nonetheless and ... :

This is going to be my 'thing' going forward; a collection of figures based on a humanoid scale of 35-40mm.

I find 28 and even 32mm too small these days (gotta be a reason why the more advanced-in-years gentleperson gravitates towards 54mm etc, after all!), and somewhile ago bought one of the Artisan Guild bundles offered by the excellent WarriorPrints3D on etsy - specifically the undead bunch, coz anything riding a massive owl is def. my kind of thing.
The figures were printed at +10% (and are natively 32mm supposedly).

As I prepare for a sell-off of hobby stuff, I realised that the Privateer Press bits and bobs I have work well with this scale - at least the larger figures, and much of the 'Trollkin' range, so have added those to the mix: taking advantage of such as Wayland Games and others selling the no-longer current PP ranges at half-price to pick-up some new stuff as well.  (and they were terribly over-priced previously to be sure).

This, surprise, surprise, led to me combing other ranges to see what could work with the developing theme, and have consequently added a few other characterful things from the usual suspects...


And what of the theme ...? Well, given the PP core (as it's turned out), it's going to be a kind of steampunk / fantasy mash-up.
TBH, I don't really expect to get to a gaming-table with it, as, socially, things have declined to the point of that being an irrelevant consideration, but Frostgrave second edition, superficially at least, could suit the conception rather well:

There are some black-powder rules in Spellcaster 1, together with horseback like-wise.
And the 2nd edition expansions are pretty much on the money - with undead / constructs etc covered already.

and prob. some 'houserules' of one sort or another ...

Coining the name 'Mosstgrave' :
While I like the snowy setting of Frostgrave, my basing formula is decided upon and essentially green, so certainly tending more towards moss than frost ... also has the play-on-words of 'Most Grave' ... .

Couple of pics:

a group shot of what I've based and primed so far.
Quite possible I wont actually get to the stage of colouring-in, but I must confess that if I get no further than a collection of miniatures (many more to add yet) looking thus on shelves, I wont be disappointed really.
I find it such a curious and diverting bunch ...




this pic gives a clearer idea of scale - this is one of the 3D '35/40mm' humanoid figures which dictate the basic scale and 'look':



pictured next to a fireforge byzantine chappie in yer fairly standard 28mm.


So hope to chart this project here as it goes along ... and maybe in doing so, enough momentum will be created to lead to some actual gaming.

[Bloggard]

this is for the religious nutters group of adversaries - which is, due to figures available, going to be a sort of mecha-god type of deal.

Core will be from the PP protectorate of Menoth range, with some conversions, but this chap and his conveyance are from an expansion for the dark souls board game.
I never got far in the actual video game (what a pointlessly fookin' masochistic exercise that one is ... you think painting small figurines for a hobby is bad ... ! ), but those familiar with such may notice that the pontificatingly perverse prelate has sprouted a pair of (spindly) legs ...

a key feature of the collection's aesthetic is lipped bases, which have always been the coolest look for me ... problem has been the availability of a wide array of sizes- and 3D printing has sorted that.
This 160mm oval base is a custom job that Richard at Warriorprints3D has done for me. Worked out a treat.

[Bloggard]

The expanded zealots bunch - prob. not Mechanisticly orientated now, as I've got quite a number of other figures that fit that profile better.

so, as mentioned, almost all from the Privateer Press Protectorate of Menoth faction.

but - conversions to the Incinerators from that range - 3D heads added, and feet / ankles from GW Stormcast.
doing this made them fit the scale of the project better, and I like the morion and gas-mask vibe; appropriately unpleasant / unsettling.

[Bloggard]

these are 3 figures from Signum games - printed by Anima Games on Etsy in this case.
Fantastic sculpts (and prints). But ... quite a few breakages which necessitated the usual 'super-glue and activator' acrobatics ...
took the opportunity to swap in a pumpkin head on the figure in the middle, as I found it more interesting and less tediously grim-dark.

Not sure if these would be a playable 'band - or more of a quest encounter / wandering monsters kind of thing.

[Bloggard]

rather than 'undead' I think the theme for this 'team' / band etc will be dark Fae.
Amazing sculpt of the owl (and rider) (Artisans Guild).
Other 3 are PPress, from the old Hordes Everblight range, which go quite well with the Fae vibe to my eye.

[Bloggard]

well, for those keenly following progress here, I'm afraid this project is a goner ...
various reasons ... but ironically one of them is that, as the number of figures has grown (!), I'm finding the scale en masse too large ! 

Damn shame, as I'm prob. going to have to bin them, there being no resale value for figures scaled and prepared like this I imagine.

Looking at Moonstone now.
The figures are smaller than I'd like - but I like the gen. vibe and setting, and there is a solo mod available (although the game is clearly very much meant to be played socially , so ...