Rust Monster in Frostgrave

A while ago I painted (post here) up the little plastic toy that was the inspiration for the iconic D&D monster, The Rust Monster. I loved how it came out so I decided to add it to my Frostgrave games.

I recently ran 3 huge games at Historicon down in Fredricksburg VA. I thought I'd share the rules I used for him.

Feel free to use these rules in your games.

Here is a pic of my Rust Monster in Action against some unsuspecting Thug.

I changed the base on him from the original base. I felt he needed the bigger base.

Xin

Building Aspern-Essling Battlefield, Part 6

I'm sitting in the lobby of our Hotel at Historicon. Monday and Tuesday were too busy to put up the last post.

We had planned out to pour the river on Saturday as the last thing we would do that night. The river would then have Saturday night and most of Sunday day to dry as I was working. Then Sunday night we would be back at it, but I fucked up.

I did not mix the 2 part resin enough. The effect was the river which should be hard, was soft and tacky. Not at all playable. It was a disaster. After reaching out online to the Hirst Arts facebook, the advice I got was another pour on top of the first pour.

So Sunday night we did another pour. I mixed the Envirotex Lite like crazy. We had used most of it on the first build so this was a very shallow pour. If we were an airplane we would have landed on fumes. We lost a lot of time on Sunday fixing the mistake.

Monday morning I picked up the trailer to haul both Aspern-Essling and Frostgrave boards.
Once back home it was work on the board the rest of the day. From 12 noon to 12 midnight. Bob and Lou were basing troops and painted buildings. Alan and I were putting the finishing touches on the board.

Tuesday was loading early and we were off. The loading was a story unto itself, lets just say it was difficult getting the 4x6 boards in the 5x8 trailer, and in such a way, nothing would fall on it and it would not shift around.

Anyway we are here, so lets look at some pics. These are just random shots as we worked thru the day.

 

Packed up and ready to go.


See you at Historicon

Xin/Jeff

Building Aspern-Essling Battlefield, Part 5

There is light at the end of the tunnel. Which is good cause we are running out of track. We leave Tuesday for Historicon. We like to go a day early and hit battlefields or points of interest, on the way down from New Jersey. I have a few odds and ends to get ready for my Frostgrave board and just finish off the Aspern-Essling board. Easy peasy, right?

On to the update.

Flocking the islands and rough area's

Lots of glue and forest floor flock.

More of same.

Outer wall of Vienna. This came out way better than I hoped. Just made it up on the fly as I kept trying one thing or another that I hated till I came up with this.

Alan is laying down hedgerows that I made.

Starting to come together.

Getting the table cleaned up for the river pour.

Different angle.

We make dam's for the river using foam and packing tape. Then we pin them in place.

We seal the gaps with a 5 minute epoxy, that drys clear.

We level the boards before the pour.

 Using Dwarven Forge tiles for levelers.

Here is the entire piece just after the pour. We are using Envirotex Lite. It's a 2 part epoxy resin. it drys water clear in about 8 hours.

 The other side.

Here's a high shot from the basement steps. Now we just have to not touch the table for the next 8 hours. We timed it so the pour was the last thing we did Saturday night. That way we aren't losing time waiting for it to dry. It drys overnight. Full cure in 48 hours.

Here's over 1000 figures Lou painted in that last 4 weeks or so. These still need to be based. Bob, did almost a 1000 as well. While Alan and I worked on the table. It truly was a collaborative effort from all 4 of us.

We are finishing up tonight and Monday. Things left to do.
-Paint 200+ buildings
-Finishing touches on fields.
-Finish Vienna
-Once buildings done, put together the the villages.
-Build and paint pontoon bridges. Intact and destroyed versions.
-Base a 1000 figures.
-And a bunch of stuff I can't remember.

If you make it to Historicon, stop by and say hi.

Xin/Jeff

Building Aspern-Essling Battlefield, Part 4

We got a lot of work done yesterday. On top of dealing with emergency Dental work for my wife. Bob and Lou are painting almost 1800 figures, while Alan and I continue to work on the table.

 The fields starting to take shape

 Working on a small part of Vienna. Played no part in the battle, but fun to model.

 Bob came over to help with the buildings.

 Another angle of the fields getting flocked.

 Our enormous ball of yarn. We use it to make hedgerows.

Yarm spread with glue.

 The sticky yarm dropped in flock.

Completed hedgerows. These will be augmented with larger brush and small trees, when put on the table. Very mind numbing work.

We are pushing hard because we need to do the River pour by Saturday, to give it time to cure.

This is the time I start to wonder why we do this. We are deep in the middle of the build. Once we get closer to the end it will be worth it.

Xin

Building Aspern-Essling Battlefield, Part 3

Just a quick update as we work feverishly to get the table done. Right to the pics.

We forgot to put in a small dike between Asper and Essling.

 Cleaned up the board. A lot of edge work. Along the roads, rivers and towns. It looks better but really doesn't look like I did much, yet this consumed several hours of work. Also repainted town foot print. Didn't like the previous color.

 Just another angle.

 On one corner of the board we have a small chunk of Vienna that is mostly off map. I drew outer fortifications on Overhead projector sheets.


Surrounding Vienna is the Linienwall. The Linienwall was an outer line of fortifications for the city of Vienna, Austria, which lay between the city's suburbs and outlying villages. The construction of the Linienwall was begun by order of Emperor Leopold I in 1704 to protect against attacks by the Turks and the Kuruc (a group of anti-Habsburg rebels). Constructed in 1704, it was razed in 1894 to make way for the Vienna Beltway.

 I then place the sheets on to our foam insulation. Using a needle, I punch thru the sheets making small holes in the foam. Then I can use a sharpie to draw out the wall.

 I cut out around the wall and test the fit.

 Testing fit and look.

 Using my Proxxon foam cutter that can make angled cuts, I slowly cut the wall.

 One section done.

We glued plaster walls to the slopes of the Linienwall. Originally the wall was an earthwork, but was latter faced with bricks.

We should be putting on flock today, and casting more buildings and, and, and....lots to do

More to come, Xin