Amazons for Frostgrave and more

I like to theme my warbands for FGA. One of the Warbands I used for my Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago game is Amazons! Made by Crocodile Games during a Kickstarter, they are now available in their webstore.

I didn't get in on the Kickstarter but stumbled across some images of them on a forum somewhere. As soon as I saw them I wanted them. The game they are made for is a big battle game, so not really sold as Warband size, however I did email them and they would do a special order if I wanted for a small number of figures.

I didn't go that route cause I loved the figures so much I orderd the Starter set, and 2 or 3 more units. I want an army of these brilliant figures. They are still processing the Kickstarter so not all the figures are up on the website, I know they have cavalry models as well.

With the sales pitch out of the way(not cause I have a vested interest, just being a massive wargaming nerd) Here are the pics.

 My FGA warband. I only used 8 figures to keep the 10 player game simpler.

My Heritor.

 My Warden.

 Specialist Freebooter.

 Specialist Archer

 For standard crew I used 4 Swordswomen. After the convention Historicon, I painted up the rest of the figures to make a full 10 figure unit.

The figures are very detailed and are a joy to paint. If I wasn't trying to work on 37 projects at once I"d be painting more right now.

Cheers, Xin

My Cold Wars FGA game, that almost wasn't.

Another wargaming convention is in the books. Cold Wars 2018 is over, and it's back to reality. CW was a lot of fun and a lot of work. If you've never put on games at a convention, let me tell you, it can be a ton of work, but a lot of fun too. I ran 2 games of Frostgrave Ghost Archipelago, that I almost had to cancel.

I was mostly finished with my Mayan/Aztec/Lizardmen inspired jungle ruins. I needed to paint them, and add in vegetation. I also had to lay down flock on my terrain boards, and finish painting the volcano. I had the whole week off to finish the terrain. It would be tight  but doable.

Now I work in IT, and when stuff breaks it has to be fixed yesterday. I get called into work for an emergency IT issue. This pretty much destroys any chance of completing the FGA terrain in time. I hate to cancel games, but I don't see any other choice. I was about to send an email to convention staff about canceling the games when it hit me, to just use my regular Frostgrave terrain. So that's what we did, we played FGA in the frozen city of Felstad.

So on to the pics.

 In the mausoleum

 One warband gangs up on the Frostgiant, and kills it in 2 turns.

This last pic was Saturday nights game. One of the Wardens cast Earthen Wall over and over to block all the entrances to the castle. At least 4 players got into the castle. It turned into a Gladiatorial Arena with much bloodshed.

It was a good con and 2 great games of FGA. I think all the players had fun. Now I need to finish the Jungle terrain for Historicon.

Xin/Jeff

Making Jungle Huts, Part 1

I am gearing up for running a Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago game at Cold Wars 2018. This will be a big multi-player game. I do not have any Jungle Terrain, so starting from scratch.

First up is Jungle Huts. I am fortunate that I have a lot of cool tools, and now I get to showcase one. The Proxxon Foam cutter. If you can afford it, it is a great tool to add to the workshop. While this is an awesome tool it can be better, that's where ShiftingLands.Com comes in. They make a jig that sits on the Proxxon and makes near perfect Circle cuts. Gerard Boom is the guy running this site and he makes a few other Jigs, that make the Proxxon all that it can be.

Ok back to the huts. The Original goal was to come up with a way to make simple huts that I could make a bunch off all at once. I'm not sure I succeeded in the simple part, so here we go:

A quick and easy base for the hut.

 Trace out pattern on to foam. Measure it so you know where to get the circle jig.

 Hot Wire action!

First cut done, now adjust the jig to make a small circle cut inside the first one. This will give you the walls.

All wall cuts done. I slice off a thin piece out center to make a small insert that will attach to the roof
and hold the roof on when done. This way the huts will have playable interiors.

 Glue walls to base, with low heat Glue gun.

I used my Proxxon and the circle jig to cut the roofs. Proxxon also makes angle cuts. The piece I cut was not big enough to complete the cone to the top of the point. Not pictured,  I had to cut a paper cone to complete the point. I had to use actual math to figure the cone size and angle of the cut. 

With the math done already I could use the same calculations to cut out the "thatched roof". I'm using a cheap Walmart Towel. I got like 20 for $4. I had to give half to my wife for house hold duties. Using the template allows the edges to meet with no excess or bunching up of the towel. 

I glued one straight seem down, then the other seem that matched up against the first. Then I just fold back the towel, spread some glue and pull the towel down towards the edge. Doing small sections of the cone at a time

Last part, flip the roof over, and then trim off the extra towel, BUT leave a little overhang that can be glued around the lip of the roof. You don't want any pink foam showing thru on the roof.

AND BOOM, I have 7 huts with removable roofs. Wasn't that simple? Ok yeah that was a fail on the simple part. But they came out pretty good so far. Very happy with the results.

Next up, detailing, carve the door and paint.

Xin/Jeff

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

Frostgrave Table for Cold Wars 6

The convention is done, but for completeness sake, here's the last of the build pics.

 This will be the dock in the harbor. Basswood and Dowels mounted on foamcore.

Popsicle sticks for decking. I used a grinder to quickly "age" the wood.

 First ship rigging and dock complete. About 24 hours before departure.

About 4 hours later, 2nd ships rigging complete.

 One coat of brown paint on the ships at 12:20AM.

So this is at the convention, we are in the gaming area finishing my table. I'm using foamcore for simple ice flows. Alan and I are quickly carving them out with an x-acto knife and glue down with a hot glue gun. Lou is in the background painting the ships. We have to leave space for the hulls to sit on the water.

 Getting there. Need to finish drybrushing, and add tattered sails.

 With the ships done, we can fit them into the ice.

 I traced out the hull on foamcore to use as a base for the ships to slide into.

 Then Alan and I cut more foam to build up the "ice" around the ships. Also it's hard to see but one of the ships is pushed up and tilted as the ice crushes in.

I think they came out pretty good.


Finished board pics to come, Xin