Koyote in Frostheim -SORRY- ALL PHOTOS PRIOR TO P.14 ARE INACCESSIBLE

[Koyote]

Part of this game's genius is that the world of Frostgrave and its history are deliberately vague. This frees gamers to play Frostgrave in whatever setting they prefer.

Mordheim has long been one of my favorite GW games and settings, so my plan is to relocate the ruined city of Felstad to the Old World and rename it Mordheim (or Frostheim if you prefer). Frostgrave's blizzards are now Storms of Chaos. Instead of uncovering strongboxes filled with gold crowns, expeditions into the ruined city retrieve shards of wyrdstone which they later exchange for gold crowns.  Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.  You get it.

For starters I need a Wizard, so my first Frostheim warband will be led by the Mordheim Warlock model that I painted several years ago for a Mordheim campaign.  Likewise, many of my Soldiers will also be drawn from my Mordheim collection.  Below are photos of some Averlander mercenaries and hired swords that I may press into service.  Each model is identified by its Mordheim and Frostgrave title.


Warlock (Wizard)






Captain (Man-at-arms) (I need to equip him with a shield)








Sergeant (infantryman)






Mountain Guard (Infantrymen)














Bergjaegers (Archers)










Elf Ranger (Ranger)






Tilean Marksman (Crossbowman or Marksman)








More later...

[Koyote]

The first model that I assembled for Frostheim is an apprentice. The model's body and arms come from the GW plastic Empire Archer kit, which worked out great because I was able to position one of the 'arrow release' arms so that it looks like the model has its arm bent back, preparing an incantation.

After wasting a lot of time digging through my bits box and experimenting with different staff toppers, I realized that the model doesn't need one. He's a lowly apprentice. A fancy staff has to be earned.

I didn't have a proper staff but on hand so I made a GS staff. I started by cutting a short length of brass rod to the appropriate length and then, to give the GS something to grip onto, I used a coarse file to score the rod's surface.

The first staff I sculpted turned out okay, but because its cross section had a uniform diameter it looked more like bo staff than a wizard staff. The uniform thickness would be fine if I had a staff topper, but I didn't have a topper so I removed the GS from the top half of the rod and started over.




I sculpted the new section of staff so that it was thick at the top and gradually tapered down to the thickness of the staff's lower half. The new staff was an improvement, but without a topper it looked to me like a really long baseball bat. Grrrr!

Admitting defeat I removed the top of the staff so I could add a staff topper.




Typically, when I finish with a batch of mixed GS, I roll the leftover GS I into a sphere or a cylinder and place it into a tin. Later, when I need a piece of material for modeling I have a ready supply of spheres and cylinders of varying sizes. It was from this tin that I found a sphere to serve as a staff topper.

The apprentice is an explorer and an adventurer so I added a backpack and lots of pouches to carry supplies and treasure. For flavor I added a book made by Spellcrow Miniatures and the fun turnip and rat bit from the Bretonnian men-at-arms kit.











More later...

[Koyote]

Repurposing some of my Malifaux terrain gives me I a pretty good start on my Frostheim table.




I found the following photo during an image search for Frostgrave terrain. The crystals come from GF9's Battlefield in a Box Crystal kit. As you can see, when combined with plain stone ruins, the giant, otherworldly ice crystals give the table a cold, Frostgrave feel. And while I want to play Frostgrave in the city of Mordheim, I may want to add a frosty feel to my table as a nod to the game's original setting.



Sadly, like all of GF9's best terrain kits, the Battlefield in a Box Crystal kit is no longer in production. However, while making a fruitless search for the GF9 Crystal kit, I found what looks like a pretty good substitute. These giant blue plastic crystals are sold by Gadzooks Games.



I bought all of their current stock, but Gadzooks will probably make more. Probably...


More later...

[Koyote]

Twelve Wyrdstone counters give me enough Treasure Tokens to play a four player game, assuming of course that none of the four players successfully cast a Reveal Secrets or Fools Gold spell.

Hmmm, I may need a few more.




More later...

[horridperson]

great stuff Koyote!  Your apprentice and the staff sculpt look ace!  That Empire huntsman kit is a treasure trove for conversion parts.  That's a good looking board and I regret never being interested enough in terrain previously that I didn't get my hands on some of those crystals.  I know where I could get some purple GF9 ones but they are purple, labelled energon and it just wouldn't be the same .

[tyrionhalfman]

Great looking minis and really well painted. That apprentice looks spot on for an adventurer. Thanks for sharing

[wrinklestiltskin]

This is some awesome looking stuff. The terrain looks like a joy to play on. Love the GS on the apprentice.

[Gunbird]

Impressive. Looking forward to seeing some reports using these

[monkeylite]

Looks  great. Amazing green stuff staff.

[Xintao]

Really great work. I love your painting style. What figure is the Ranger?

Xin

[Koyote]

Thanks to everyone for the kind words.

@Xintao: I assembled the Elf Ranger from parts found in GW's plastic Glade Guard kit.


In addition to putting together my first warband, my preparations for Frostheim include gathering all of the terrain and models that I will need for the scenarios and the Random Encounter table.

I repurposed models and terrain from my Mordheim, Malifaux, and Hell Dorado collections. I have almost everything I need for the 10 Scenarios in the Frostgrave rulebook. One of the pieces that I don't have us a 6" x 6" building for The Mausoleum scenario, so I got to work.

Below is my WIP mausoleum.  A 6" x 6" is a pretty small space to cram in all those skeletons, even if they are only 28mm tall.  So, my mausoleum represents the ruined foyer to a much larger underground crypt. The crypt is accessed by a trapdoor that opens to reveal a flight of stone steps.

To add a bit flavor to this terrain piece, I've decided that a necromancer is using the foyer as workshop.  And can you blame him?  The location provides him both privacy and easy access to plenty of raw material for his experiments. The Necromancer's workshop also explains why the skeletons come marching out of the mausoleum during the scenario. 

During this scenario the Necromancer is absent. By mere happenstance the arrival of the warbands coincides with the Necromancer's monthly trip to the zombie bordello for some much needed, albeit disgusting, R&R.  This leaves the Necromancer's treasure the adventurers' the taking, assuming of course that the adventurers can overcome the Necromancer's skeleton guards. Bwah ha ha ha!








And here are more WIP photos of the mausoleum after I've textured the base and added a few more fun details.

[Philhelm]

Very bright and crisp; my favorite painting style.  Outstanding!

[Corporal Chaos]

Wonderful stuff here. Quite the feast for the eyes and very creative. Waiting for more.

[tyrionhalfman]

Wow what a great dioramic terrain piece, full of flavour and a neat little backstory to add to the scenario. Thanks for sharing

[Nooblord]

Great bits of detail on the WIP 'mausoleum'. Looking forward to seeing this one finished.