Wednesday, 22 April 2020

In Which I Bear All

Once again I'm here with some more fantasy figures that I've finished over the past few days. As usual these are a fairly mixed bag with some of them being very, very new (I bought one just two days back) and one that has been waiting for a few years.

First the old: This hag figures is from the original Malifaux range and I've had it for ages. It has sat with a few coats of paint, getting dustier and dustier every day for the past 8, 9, 10, 12 years? (I don't know). Anyway, I picked it up, dusted it off and gave it a very basic paint job. It's not great but it looks okay.
These next few are from the  Frostgrave range from Northstar - First up a bear. I don't know much about bears except that they like to eat honey and salmon. A nice figure. Easy to paint so you can't go wrong.
A barbarian and a rogue. I think there's a bit of a  Fafhrd and The Grey Mouser thing happening here. These are a Frostgrave set. They're nice figures with plenty of character and they were nice to paint. They have enough detail to make them interesting but not so much that they're overwhelming. I don't have anything specific in mind for these two at this stage. Maybe I make them fight the Thieves Guild in Lankhmar.
And the last one is a Wizards of the Coast D&D figure. This is the one I bought two days ago. I got it as a new character figure for my Rangers of Shadow Deep games. For what it is, it's a reasonably decent figure but, just this morning, I discovered that I have a couple of better Reaper figures that I could have used. Oh well. This one will do for now. (It does have good hair).
And that's it for now.

Saturday, 18 April 2020

It's All in the Cards

Recently, apart from the other terrain I've been making, I've also been working on a bunch of card terrain - This time a medieval town. I've been doing pieces here and there for the past couple of months and now that I have a half decent collection, I thought I'd take some photos of it.

The majority of these pieces are by Dave Graffam models. Most of them are pretty straight forward to build and an average model takes about an hour to 90 minutes to build. Some of the more complex ones take considerably longer: for instance, the Gatehouse and the Ruined Church took about half a day each. That said, some of the simple ones can be built in maybe half an hour or less.

There are some other designs in the mix, but I can't remember who makes them. I think the bell tower is a Fat Dragon Games model.
This is a Gate House (North or South - I can't remember) 
 Grenadier Larry and Frank the Dragoon and are just there for scale (28mm)
This one is an inn/tavern I think.
 A collection of smaller buildings and bell tower.
 I have no idea what these building are.
 This one is (I think) a coach house. I'm pretty sure it is.
And here's the gate house with some walls. I added the optional "Dust Layer" to the walls prior to printing and they came out looking faded which I don't like very much.
These ruins are the newest ones I've made. I made them specifically for the next scenario of Rangers of Shadow Deep that I'll be playing. I needed a couple of decent sized ruined 28mm buildings. I don't own any such things so I needed to make some. What better way is there, to get some good looking pieces in two days than to make card terrain?

These two are pretty basic ruined buildings. 
The one on the left can also be modeled to resemble a 20th Century bombed out building.
This is the ruined church. It's pretty large (9'" by 7" footprints and about 12" high. It's a pretty advanced build so not recommended for beginners. The tower has more floors than I've modeled and it also has stairs which I didn't bother adding.
The back wall of the tower can be made so that you can open and close it to gain easy access, which is a nice little feature.
And finally a couple of temples. I can't remember who designed these. The one on the left is really nice. It has some really nice detail. The roof slides out for access and there is a big stone door (leaning on the side) that can be used to cover the entrance. The grey ruined temple is pretty simplistic. It has some nice detail but the very straightness of its lines make it look a little bit odd.

No matter, they'll both come in useful sometime in the future. I'm sure. I hope. We'll see...
One thing I should add. When I make these card buildings I like them to have some weight. So, in order to give them some ballast and a bit of heft I put about a cup of rice in them (a bit more for large ones and a little less for smaller ones). It really makes no difference but I do like to know that they have a bit more substance than meets the eye. Even the walls of the temples each have a little bit of ballast inside them.

Cheers, and thanks for visiting.



Monday, 13 April 2020

More Terrain for Frostgrave

For the past few days I've been putting my energy into building more ruined buildings for Frostgrave. I'm thinking that these can also be used for any other game that needs ruins so I've decided not to apply snow to them because it really limits their use. If I want to make them look frosty I'll give them a sprinkle of baking powder and if I want them to look like they're in the jungle, I'll add some vines.

Once again: I take no credit for the design of these pieces. I stole their design from fellow NWA Member Neil H, so he deserves any credit. I initially started making this terrain to further our Frostgrave campaign which, as you can expect, has been put on hiatus for the duration of the plague. As it is, I'll probably use it to play some solo Frosgrave during in upcoming weeks.
The pieces are pretty simple. They're made of a medium density foam cut to shape and scored with hot foam cutters (I have two different types). They are fitted to thick cardboard which is edged with masking tape for strength. The whole piece is then painted (by brush) with watered down dark grey caulk. Three coats of caulk give them a pretty good protective finish. They are then drybrushed with some light grey emulsion paint (I get small tester pots at the hardware store).
This is my mausoleum with some figures to give you a sense of scale. The roof comes off but it has no detail inside except for construction marks and a coat of caulk. Once again an idea 100% stolen  from Neil H.
And here's all of the stuff that I've done so far. The first lot I made has "snow" applied and I can't do anything about that now so I'll have to live with it. I think it looks okay. It's cheap and easy to make (although the caulk took a while to cure in this cold weather). I have enough to fill this 3'x4' bench top so that should be enough for the time being.
I also found this little alter and gave it some paint. Nothing difficult. It's made by Reaper (Bones) and is a cheap little thing that looks nice. I'm sure it will come in useful.
This one is a bit different. I got this figure (Reaper Bones again) a couple of months back when I first started getting back into fantasy games. It's a pretty plain figure and I found that I couldn't paint it. I tried a couple of different colour schemes but I just couldn't get it right. So I decided to turn him into a bronze statue. The plinth is just a little plastic paint pot turned upside down and glued to a plastic 30mm base. He looks okay now and I'm sure he'll come in useful.

Saturday, 11 April 2020

A Bunch of Stuff with Nothing in Common

With plenty of time on my hands I'm still painting figures, making terrain and playing Rangers of Shadow Deep (solo). I'm thinking of playing a short solo campaign of Dragon Rampant just for the sake of it.

When playing a game one of my main concerns is the figures I put on the table and how good the games looks. Good guys or evil doers... it doesn't really matter. I really care about how my own figures look on a nice games table. With that attitude I think I can play a DR as a solo game because I really have no preference for sides because all the figures will be my own. I might make up a short narrative campaign and see where it leads.

Anyway, what have I been painting?
This first one is a Frostgrave figure. A cultist I think. I'm not sure but he's a nice figure and he goes well with another figure below. I don't know where this figure fits in the scheme of things. but I like him.
A raggedy cleric. I don't know where this figure came from but I think I've had it for a long time. I found him while I was rummaging through a bits box and decided to give him some paint. He has a lot of character and I'm sure he'll come in useful somewhere along the way.
This a another of the Hawkmoon/Granbretanian figures I sculpted a few years ago for Eureka. I always liked this figure and finally got around to painting one. It has a very weird and disturbing look to it. An officer of The Order of The Pig.
When I sculpted him, I gave him a little piggy tail riveted onto his belt.
This one is a D&D figure (by WizKids I think). I found it in a local store just the other day and I really took a shine to it. As mentioned above regarding a solo DR campaign one thing I needed was a general/commander for my evil forces. When I saw this I was reminded of a part of the Silmarillion where Sauron, in the guise of a giant werewolf, leads the armies of Morgoth in battle. So I rubbed my chinny, chin, chin and thought... Hmmm... 
I think this figure will make a very nice general for my evil armies. I'll put it on the table as a single figure, reduced figure unit with a few other nasty powers to make it real mean. Why do I say "it", because I might make it a brood mother for the actual werewolf unit I already have. Who knows?
And if you're wondering if the figure will look intimidating enough as a single figure unit. Here is a comparison shot (thats a 60mm base & the axeman is a pretty large figure).
As I mentioned above, the axeman and the wolf make a pretty good looking duo. I don't know where I could use them as a team but you never know. 

And before I sign off, I've been making some more terrain for Frostgrave today. It will probably take a few days to get it all painted because of the weather. I give each piece a couple of coats of watered down, dark grey caulk which is taking longer than usual to cure because it's cold in my garage now.


Sunday, 5 April 2020

Oh no! There's Another Nasty Bug in the Air.

I've been back to painting figures again over the past few days. A combination of being housebound & playing Rangers of Shadow Deep has me looking at my lead pile and finishing things that have been waiting for a long, long time.

For instance: these bugs have been waiting for a couple of years. I did buy them to make a bug army for FireFight but lost interest. But I found them and thought that they'd be good for a near future game of RoSD. I think they came from Khurasan Miniatures and I think they're supposed to be 15mm beasts. I'll be using them as giant flies.
 And a couple of grounded cousin.
These are a kit-bash. I found a bunch of armless torsos of  of some of the Hawkmoon figures I sculpted for Eureka Miniatures a few years back. I added some arms from the Oathmark plastic goblin set and a little bit of green-stuff. They came up really nice. I have a few more of these torsos so I might make a few more.
I bought a bag full of ghostly GW figures from a friend. They are sort of weird flimsy things but they look okay. I need a creepy ghostly knight for the next RoSD scenario so I thought I give one of them a quick paint job. I think he came out nice. I did some reflective light source stuff on him. This isn't something I would normally do but, I have to admit, it really made a difference on the figure.

Yes, I know the base is very, very basic. I just wanted something fast and easy so I just settled on paint. I know it's dull but it will work well for the scenario he's going to appear in.

And that's it for the moment. I still have plenty of lead I hope to get as much painted as I can while. I'm also making a fair bit of terrain and my next post will probably be about some of the terrain I've recently done.

Cheers, and stay well.