Koyote

My earlier foray into Malifaux means that I have 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. Unfortunately, like most of GF9's best terrain kits, the Battlefield in a Box Crystal kit is no longer in production. Boooo! This afternoon, while making a fruitless search for the GF9 crystal kit, I found what looks like a pretty good substitute. It's sold by Gadzooks Games. I bought all of their current stock, but Gadzooks will probably make more. Probably... More later...

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 f*****g 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. Crap! 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 adeed 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...

For those of you who are unfamiliar with Frostgrave, it's essentially Mordheim in the snow with a focus on wizards and magic. "Amidst the frozen ruins of an ancient city, wizards battle in the hopes of discovering the treasures of a fallen empire. In this fantasy skirmish wargame, each player takes on the role of a wizard from one of ten schools of magic, and builds his band of followers. The wizard's apprentice will usually accompany his master, and more than a dozen other henchman types are available for hire, from lowly thugs to heavily armoured knights and stealthy thieves. Wizards can expand their magical knowledge by unlocking ancient secrets and may learn up to 80 different spells. ... While individual games of Frostgrave are quick and can easily be played in an hour or two, it is by connecting these games into an ongoing campaign, that players will find the most enjoyment." One of Frostgrave's strengths is that its world and background are deliberately vague, freeing gamers to play in whatever fantasy setting they please. Below in a excerpt from a interview with Frostgrave's creator. I would also like to point out that while Frostgrave's setting is an ancient city, half buried in snow and ice, there is really nothing in the rules that reflects the city's freezing weather. Consequently, Frostgrave could just as easily be set in a lost desert city, half covered in sand. Although, most of North Star's Frostgrave minis would look out of place under a blazing desert sun, so you'd probably want to find more suitable minis for "Desertgrave". As for myself, Mordheim has long been one of my favorite GW games and settings, so I plan relocate the ruined city of Felstad to the Old World and take advantage of the minis that I collected and painted for Mordheim. For starters, my warband will be led by my Mordheim Warlock, Nikodemus (not to confused with the grossly oversized Mordheim wizard model, Nicodemus). Nikodemus The bulk of my Soldiers will be drawn from the ranks of my Mordheim Averlander Mercenary warband and the Hired Swords that I painted to support the Averlanders. Below are close ups of some of the models along with both their Mordheim and Frostgrave titles. Captain (Man-at-arms) Sergeant (infantryman) Mountain Guard (Infantrymen) [ Bergjaegers (Archers) Elf Ranger (Ranger) Tilean Marksman (Crossbowman or Marksman) More later...

I was hoping for at least some new sculpts. Oh well. I may submit an entry for this contest. Designing a SAGA scenario sounds like fun.

Fantastic work, Jim. That hill is exactly what I've been looking for, a rocky, realistic hill with a model friendly slope. This hill is perfect for a SAGA hill with the uneven ground rule. Edit: I just went to your web store. No hill. Me wants hill! Me wants hill!

Thanks for hosting, Fluger. It was great to see everyone. Sorry about leaving early, but I was so tired. I fell asleep on my sofa around 8:30.

It looks like even Dave Taylor has been swept up in Mad Max diecast car craze. He has sculpted a weapons and armor kit for Matchbox cars. This kit can be purchased from Brigade Games.

Not a problem. Both Fluger and I will have our SAGA warbands with us.

...Oh, and don't forget to bring your SAGA warbands!

Sweet! Count me in. I will bring Zombie Crowz and Angry Neighbors!

Amazing! The pool is what sold me. I will be buying this kit.

Brilliant work!

If you want a forest, similar to the Citadel Woods but less expensive and more versatile, I recommend the modular terrain system made by Worldsmith Industries. It is owned and operated by the world famous Jim Grahm. If you want to see how I painted my Worldsmith terrain, check out my SAGA Irish & Terrain thread in this very same forum. If you'd like to spend less $, you can make some nice DIY forests from styrene sheets, premade trees, 40 mm bases, and basing materials. Below are some forests that I made several years ago for my Malifaux tables. I used 0.04" thick sheet of styrene to make the main forest bases. To make the movable trees I glued premade model trees to Warmachine style 40 mm round bases, and then filled the remaining recesses with lightweight spackle. When the spackle had dried, I textured, primered, painted, and flocked the forest and individual tree bases. Easy peasy.

Home Depot stocks Simple Green products. Simple Green Pro HD Heavy Duty Cleaner does a pretty good job stripping models, plus it's purple.

I've added a few more manufacturers to the list located on Post #3. I've also added a link to a manufacturer who makes some cool SAGA measuring sticks. Oh yah, and there is also this: LINKY

I've added to Post #2 an excerpt from a Studio Tomahawk article to the WHICH FACTION TO PLAY?.

Thanks again for another terrific Fluger Games Day. After the ransom is paid and our Warlord has been returned to us, the Irish will have their revenge! And poor, poor, unlucky Ned. I'd like to say he died well, but the dice would attest otherwise.

What is our final count? What time do the festivities begin?

Just so long as we have enough people to play Zombicide.

So what's the head count for the 28th? Any SAGA players in the bunch?

Ha ha. You are correct. The zombies won every game. However, we now have access to additional characters, new weapons (e.g. a flamethrower), and new equipment. Plus, Survivors can now build barricades and there are rules for using 7+ Survivors. Of course, we now have to deal with toxic zombies, but thankfully they aren't as common as their non-toxic cousins.

I will be there with my SAGA Irish, terrain, and Zombicide. Last FGD we got in five games of Zombicide. Good times! I finally picked up the Zombicide Toxic City Mall expansion, so this time be prepared for toxic zombies!