Tap's Workbench

[Spinal Tap]

My regular Frostgrave opponent asked if we could play through Frostgrave's Thaw of the Lich Lord with new wizards so we got the book and started looking at the scenario requirements.

Most of the stuff we already have but we did not haver any ships for scenario 2.

I was already planning a dockside setting for my slowly developing VSF/Gothic Horror setting so I volunteered to get this stuff done, quickly buying a small group of broken toys from Ebay for £14.

I started with the large ship, the major issue is that they are scaled for much bigger than 28mm so I removed anything superfluous, set about raising sections of the deck so 28mm figures could see over the sides and filling in the holes and recesses which cheap Chinese moulding had left including filling in the hollow masts with hot glue then finishing them off with some greenstuff. I also used 2 sections of card to fill some large holes in the side with a view to adding the ship's name later.

I did consider cutting off the bottom to give it more of a sat in the water appearance but it seemed like too much work!!!!

Once all conversion work was done I primed the whole thing black and use cheap craft paints, dry brushed for the most part, to add colour, with a quick wash of dark tone in some areas to cut down brightness, specifically the silver parts I'd painted bronze.

The sign was done in a Libre Office (cheap Microsoft Word alternative), printed onto paper and glued on, with a coat of strong tone to dull it down too.

I have 28mm scale ships wheels on their way from Eureka Miniatures to finish it off.

Onto the next ship now then a rowboat or two.


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[Spinal Tap]

Completed my boats for Thaw of the Lich Lord yesterday and today; about 8 hours work and a total spend of under £25 including paints.

Particularly pleased with the tiller on the yellow boat and the contents of the rowing boats; greenstuff, coffee stirrers and cocktail stick.

Onto the docksides once TT Combat deliver.

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[Sunjester]

Superb job, looking good!

[Grumpy Gnome]

Great work mate!

[Ragsta]

They look really good! Great effort!

[snitcythedog]

Nice work all around but, I do like how you did the sails. 

[Spinal Tap]

Thank you all.

Nice work all around but, I do like how you did the sails.

The sails were done exactly the same as rest of the pieces, prime black with an aerosol of black car primer then drybrush with cheap acrylic craft paints which is really quick; the yellow sail boat took less than 15 minutes to go from primed to finished.

Inside of the rowing boats and the brass on the large ship got a hit with Army Painter Strong Tone.

[Spinal Tap]

To complete the basic game board for VSF/Gothic Docks I opted for TTCombat's Streets of Venice MDF stuff - they will also suffice for both sides of the frozen river for scenario 2 of Frostgrave's Lich Lord book.

Took around 7 hours to build and prime and about an hour to paint.

Because of the uniformity of the pieces they didn't, to my eye, fit with the aesthetic once build so I chose to do a random dry brush of colours in a patchwork fashion to try break up the outlines a little.

Test pic shows the finished pieces with the large ship in the background and a Dave Graffam papercraft Inn - it all seems to match quite well.

Have actually got more than I need but better than not enough.

Also needed a magic orb for Wednesday's Frostgrave campaign game - cue a Christmas bauble my wife left out when taking down the tree, and a bottle cap.

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[Grumpy Gnome]

Good call on the dry brushing, looks great with that brick building.

[Sunjester]

It's all coming together really well, I can't wait to see some game pictures.

[Spinal Tap]

Month out with very little hobbying as I was just too busy with other stuff.

I've returned to my Gothic Horror/VSF thing and needed to get a large group of assassin cultists completed so I can get on with more fun stuff.

The pic shows some a little lighter in shade but to the naked eye they all fit nicely - Vampire familiars wishing to be turned and 4 acolytes rewarded with eternal life by their leader, Matthias the Twisted ( a miniature I painted some while ago).

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[Spinal Tap]

Been ill for months now and starting to get to a point where I can build, paint and game again.

Made a Bone wheel for Frostgrave Thaw of the Lich Lord campaign just as I became unwell from cheap Halloween skeletons, some GW skulls and a couple of old bits of TT Combat MDF.

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Whilst I was making this I started making some museum furniture shamelessly stolen from the stuff made by Snitcythedog.

They've sat uncompleted for 10 weeks on my desk and today I assembled and painted one as a prototype - card, coffee stirrers, clear plastic food containers, some polystyrene sheeting and things from the bits box.

Really pleased I've got this done as I'm heading on holiday tomorrow and have now got a kick start for when I get back.


Bits from unassembled cabinets:

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Today's effort:

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[Lost Egg]

Both are interesting, cool and atmospheric pieces...great job.

[Pattus Magnus]

Those all look excellent! The bone wheel turned out great and the cabinets are intriguing. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

[Grumpy Gnome]

Hopefully you are feeling better mate.

Excellent work! I need to come up with a bone wheel for that campaign at some point. Thanks for another inspirational idea!