Frostgrave Project (23 May – The Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile p.7)

[Smith]

Having finally pulled my finger out, I've at last got round to starting my warband for the Frostgrave fantasy game currently being playtested (see the author's blog – http://therenaissancetroll.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/frostgrave.html – for more info).

Essentially, a warband requires one wizard, one apprentice and a number of henchmen, ranging from thieves and thugs to knights and crossbowmen.

I love working with plastics, and my first port of call was the old bitz box. I've tried a few conversions using GW Skaven Plague Monk bodies as a start point – they're robed, hunched and, when using non-GW figures alongside them, appropriately man-sized. So, needing a wizard and tending towards the slightly more morally dubious of the 10 schools of magic available to players, I put this little guy together:



He's simply a Plague Monk with the tail cut off and fined down, a masked Empire wizard head (minus a long, thin beard...thing), and two arms from (I think) another Skaven kit. The heads he's holding are a little larger than I'd have liked, but with a suitable paint job to make them look more like relics than freshly severed heads, I think I can live with them. Regardless, he'll work nicely as a necromancer, summoner or witch of some type.

Next up is the first 'proof-of-concept' henchman figure – a spearman. As the game takes place in a frozen, ruined city, I wanted to find some appropriately wrapped-up figures. I've had a box of Fireforge foot sergeants for... ages now, but whatever project I bought them for ran out of steam. They had pretty much all the weapon options I could hope for to build 80% of the henchman types (some of the more specialist ones are probably beyond the reach of that box set), but they didn't look quite right. I then saw the steppe warriors and wondered "would those fit together?". True enough, they seem pretty compatible. The bare Mongol heads don't really sit too well, but for the most part, it's a good combination of pieces. Here's a sergeant torso/legs with a Mongol head and arms. Oddly, the slightly awkward posing that is given by combining the two different kits makes for a more (I reckon, anyway) dynamic pose, better-suited to a skirmish game.



I reckon I'll press on in this vein – sergeant heads and arms on Mongol bodies, and vice-versa. I'm probably going to produce 3 or 4 of each henchman type, so I've got plenty of options when it comes time to run out a crew. I'm not sure what to do for the apprentice yet, though. Ideally, it'd be a youngish-looking character, but one with similar trappings to the wizard. If he was somewhat laden with books, scrolls etc., that would be a bonus... I may need to order some bitz...

Provided I don't get distracted by other stuff, more to come!

[LordOdo]

They're looking great! Hope you paint them soon!

[Smith]

Somewhat more productive than usual this evening... Another 2 spearmen built.



Time to move onto something a bit different, I think.

[Smith]

Having decided that I'd prefer to use the western-style shield for any figures that need them, rather than the smaller, round Mongol shields, I was wondering what I could use the dozens of round shields for. Thinking back to Big Trouble In Little China, I tried using one as a hat for a figure... turns out it works pretty well!

One swift spruing-and-gluing later, I ended up with this little chap:



All the components are from the Steppe Warriors box, except for the pouches and knife on his back – they're from the Plague Monks box again. I think he'll do nicely as an apprentice to my wizard. The pose, pouches and hat mark him out as suitably different from the rest of the gang, but he still looks more 'normal' than his mentor, which works for me. Speaking of the pose, it's a little bit 'Hadoken', and I might try some source lighting accordingly.

Annoyingly, I've noticed from the photo that I didn't clean up the knife on his back very well. Will have to remember to try and fix that before painting.

All told, and considering it's pretty much from a single sprue not intended for this purpose, I'm pretty chuffed with how this figure has come out. He'll also (no doubt) be pressed into service as some kind of wuxia hero (to be honest, 'villain' is more likely) for A Fistful of Kung Fu and as a character piece if I can ever persuade someone to run a D&D/Pathfinder campaign!

[YPU]

Very nice! Frostgrave might just re-kindle my old Mordheim group. I like your plastic antics. I have been eyeing those fireforge models for same reason, they are great components for other things.

[Comsquare]

Great conversions so far.
Are you using the "Infantryman" stats for the spearmen or the "Swordman"?

Keep 'em coming

[YPU]

Great conversions so far.
Are you using the "Infantryman" stats for the spearmen or the "Swordman"?

Keep 'em coming

Don't tell me you did get into the playtest?  Darn you.

[Comsquare]

Don't tell me you did get into the playtest?  Darn you.

Maybe

Realy great game, I think you would like it too 

[Smith]

Great conversions so far.
Are you using the "Infantryman" stats for the spearmen or the "Swordman"?

Keep 'em coming

I need to get the rules off the author again tomorrow (I may have lost the file), but I think the spearmen will count as the billman/halberdier class ('infantryman'?).

I also need to pick up some more Polyfilla for the bases – then, a break from building to actually do some painting.

That said, the weekend hasn't been unproductive. I put together 3 crossbowmen (though I'm not 100% happy with the one on the right – his mace looks more like a stick... perhaps painting can fix that), a special henchman type (again, I need to double-check the rules, but I think it's a ranger or tomb robber – the one with sword and bow, in any case), and added a Mongol hat to the wizard to help him fit better with the rest of the gang.

[Comsquare]

Nice work again 

The "Ranger" has Sword and Bow, the "Crossbowman" Dagger and Crossbow

Spears instead counts as handweapon, so the "Swordsman" stats could work (though he has a shield as well), or you could use them as Thugs, they also have a Handweapon.
The Infantryman field a 2handed weapon,so more something like heavy polearms, halberds, pikes etc.

[DeafNala]

Your kit bashing is inspired & inspiring. VERY WELL DONE!

[Smith]

Thanks all!

I now have another copy of the rules (let's see if I can avoid losing this one), and thus a gang list takes shape (based on what I have already made):

Wizard
Apprentice (200)
Ranger (100)
Thug x5 (100)
Crossbowman x2 (100)
Total: 500

The Ranger is probably not the most cost-effective purchase, but I like the model too much to leave it out! I'll need a couple more Thugs, but that'll give me a chance to incorporate some non-spear weaponry. It also means I can ditch the crossbowman I'm not really too happy with.

[Jevenkah]

Fantastic work! Love the use of the Mongol shields as headgear! 

The poses are dynamic, I really like the first spearman you converted.

I agree, gotta keep that Ranger. He looks like he means business.

Jevenkah

[Smith]

Fantastic work! Love the use of the Mongol shields as headgear!

I'm definitely going to use that option again... perhaps not for this project (though I do have a hankering to build a Tomb Robber...), but for something.

As a final post before getting onto painting, here are the three final Thugs (including a replacement for one of the spearmen I wasn't entirely happy with):



And, of course, a group shot:



Right! No more mucking around with plastics* - time for painting!





*unless I decide to make a Tomb Robber.

[YPU]

All these posts really make me regret missing the sign up for the playtest. I checked the blog for a few weeks, then forgot about it for a while and when I came back I found I missed the boat. 

I agree the shield for a hat really looks cool, but having more then one would make your aprentice stend out a lot less.