Scenery First

Well it's been a busy few weeks, just for a change, and since my last post I have received the Liche Lord goodies I bought on Nickstarter, even more into the idea of this game now. But I am determined to have a whole game ready before I invite a couple of guys round to play (keep watching for the invite Bil Curd). I love being on the Frostgrave group on Facebook, loads of great stuff there and some very keen players who all enjoy their hobby.

For me the hobby is as much about the aesthetics as the games and I have some definite ideas for what I want from Frostgrave: I want snow, I love the real stuff and we don't get much of it round here, I have never really modelled snow and ice so I am looking forward to that particular challenge. I also want CITY, lots of the games I have seen online look ok, but they are often full of random scatterings of terrain. I want my games to be more than that. Ever since I played the first Assassin's Creed game on the X-Box I have fancied creating some new city terrain, I want a close feel, with multiple levels and lanes and allies. I also want my city to not look like Mordheim, (I think I have said that before) Not sure how I will achieve this bit yet, but again I am up for the challenge.

So what first then? Simples - Plan. in the last few years I have enjoyed planning and sketching before building. My 40mm pirate buildings were great fun to make as I drew them first then turned those sketches into models. ( I really need to write an article on here about them) So for this project I have been planning. I haven't sketched buildings though I have been working on a layout/floorplan.

Ok so here's the plan. This is a 2 foot by 2 foot square. Split into four squares. This means my first scenery for this game is going to be pretty compact. Each foot by foot section will get built at a time. Making this easy to work on and store, unlike some of my recent projects.

The colour scheme for the plan is as follows. 

Blue - Ground level

Orange - 3 inches high

Red - 6 Inches high

Brown - 9 inches high

The plan represents the city before the blizzards and ruins. The model will be ruined (although I am tempted to make an undamaged version too) I am going to start with the top left section first. I shall of course put regular updates on here so you can track my progress. 

This is going to be cool, it might not work, but it's going to be interesting finding out.

Wish me luck:0)

Frostgrave

So I have been looking at Frostgrave for some time now, another fantasy skirmish game to tempt gamers to part with their monies. I am a lover of  skirmish games, and a veteran of GW’s Mordheim and LOTR. In more recent years I have played more historical based games but I have been intrigued by Frostgrave and thought although I don’t necessarily have anyone lined up to play with I thought I would give this ago.

So what is it that appealed to me? Well first of all Frostgrave is a skirmish campaign driven game - probably my favourite type of game. It relies heavily on the use of magic, I have never been into magic not even in fantasy games (My first love in Warhammer were Dwarfs) So having to use magic I thought might be an interesting feature then last of all it’s the snow, the ice the frosty stuff. I have always shied away from snowy scenery, it’s hard to pull off, so I quite fancied the challenge. There’s another important challenge for me - Don’t make this look like Mordheim. If it I use Mordheim figures and Mordheim scenery I may as well play Mordheim.

So what have I done so far? Well I  went on the Oldhammer Trading Company, sold some old stuff made a few quid so I have ordered a bunch of toys and some books. Northstar rushed me the rulebook, the collection of short stories and a bunch of figures.

Part of my starter bundle

First impressions then… Well I like the figures, the hard plastic soldiers are great, lots of possibilities there. The pewter wizards are nice too. Pretty sure I will be buying more of those. The rules look pretty straightforward and will lead to fast games. Nicely presented, in a full colour hardback. I do have some reservations however my biggest one being the almost complete lack of background, with the exception of the blurb on the back cover and the foreward we really get very little insight into what the frozen city of Felstad, now Frostgrave looks like. What Frostgrave is lacking is a world. Getting into Mordheim for most of its players was easy, the Warhammer World was rich and had its own history, we knew much of what was around and what things should look like. Likewise Lord Of The Rings, came with one of the most detailed worlds ever created and a few minor film projects which helped as source material. Frostgrave doesn’t have that, and I am not sure why. It might be that they wrote loads of stuff and they couldn’t fit it in and there’s loads to come (there is the Thaw of the Liche Lord supplement on the way in November); it might be that they have deliberately left Frostgrave lacking in background so players can create their own; or it might be just be laziness on the part of the writers. I reckon it’s probably a mix of 1 & 2. What ever is the case I am thoroughly looking forward to a foray into a completely new game for me. Next time the Frostgrave plan, until then some of my new figures ...

3 of the Frostgrave soldiers, with the odd addition. 

3 more Frostgrave plastics (on the left is my Apothecary)

2 Wizards and and their apprentices

2 more wizards and Apprentices

Wizards from Casting Room Miniatures

3 Adventurers from Casting Room and an Oldhammer Dwarf

Autumn 2015 Time to start again

Damn it's been exactly a year since my last post. Clearly it's been a busy year after all I haven't written anything since the end of last year. Several things have got in the way of me keeping this blog up to date, being busy doing what I do, changes to my job and sadly losing both my inlaws in the past two years has seen my focus elsewhere. 

Anyway I intend to try and pick up again, especially focusing on some gaming stuff, with new Zombicide and Frostgrave projects in the pipeline. But for now I am just going to post some cool pics of stuff I have done this year.

Victorian Gentleman for School Workshops

Stand & Deliver 

End of the Duel with Big Dick @ Pendennis

Dartmouth Castle Smugglers

Time Capsule Awesome Archaeology

Fighting Suffolks at the Battle of Bosworth

Polax Action - Bosworth Field

Family Eagling C1595 @ Pendennis Castle

My brilliant wife, Heidi, finally met her hero

The olde Enemies @ Pendennis Castle

Resident Evil Cos-play at London Film & Comic Con

Smuggling at Dartmouth

It's been a pretty cool year, done some great things and had a great laugh. Go find my Facebook Page for more photos. I might write about some of this stuff too. Right a Picture says a thousand words, so that has saved a thesis. Next get on with some gaming:0) 

See ya soon.
Tim