FG Malcor’s Advisory Council…and cobwebs…

02/10/2019

From the Maze of Malcor range for the frost grave supplement, some quick easy to paint figures.

Wispy and insubstantial… I painted them as per the illustration in the book, Foundry Deep Brown Leather, Citadel Skullcrusher brass highlight, with a Devlan Mud wash to tone them down a bit.

One cat (BlackJack, who else ?) had obviously been poking around in the barns and turned up covered in cobwebs, he was not insubstantial though and demanded feeding after I’d brushed him clean.

Nearly 100 photos to edit for 3 games sessions. And another session on Friday.

Filed under Cats, Frost Grave, Mordheim

A clutch of figures

28/12/2017

Delayed by photobucket being down yesterday. Here’s a cloth of figures I’ve done ahead of FrostFayre 2017 tomorrow.

Some more skeletons, with 7 players and ~20 treasures, they’re bound to be used.

Armoured skeletons (ditto).

Giant lizard and snapping turtle for Ghost Archipelago. They were knocking around and so I thought I’d paint them before they end up at the bottom of a box somewhere, lost.

Finally, a clutch of eggs, with two hatching.

IIRC, they originally came with the Terror Bird that Copplestone did, guess I will have to paint my mummy and daddy next.

Finally:-

BlackJack, showing how not to hide.

Filed under Cats, Frostgrave, Frostgrave, Mordheim

Some boards are more equal than other boards

18/12/2017

Typically, I only have two 2×4′ boards with me, so now I have 7 players for the 29th FrostFayre gaming session, I had to get extra boards.

After the car was fixed from the garage, B&Q beckoned, and I got two more 2×4′ boards.

Given the sunny weather and no sign of rain, I painted them.

I have managed to keep my special paint pots out of storage, so the paint I use for my scenery pieces, is the same as the stuff I have to paint the boards, (LHS) which was intentional.

In the strong sunlight the emulsion paint dried quickly.

Just as well, because within an hour all three cats had used these exciting new especially installed cat ramps to come up from the lawn on to the patio. :-/

So once dry I hauled them inside to lean them up against my two existing boards…to find that:
(a) they were longer, and
(b) they were wider.

Seems like there has been a change in supplier of change in measurement units used (Imperial > SI) so they are ever so slightly different sizes. Must be my fault, I bought the original two at the back, sometime in 2000/2001…

I am NOT going to buy yet another two boards, when I have other boards the same size in storage !

Just goes to show how even mundane items change and you can’t rely on suppliers to be consistent.

Filed under Cats, Frostgrave, Frostgrave, Mordheim, Scenery

GA: Thoughts

25/10/2017

Right well I had the first game and then followed it up with the after game rolls.

Reading through the potential outcomes was very interesting. If you lose your specialists, your Warden or Heritor, a trip to the Mainland is required to replace them. If you want to sell stuff, ditto.

But that’ll cost you 200GC straight off. So you are going to be saving up for that trip, and you’ll have to have even more money/items for when you get there.

Players of frost grave will think so what ? I mean the last couple of FG games I got nearly 200GC easily (one was even 800GC)…which brings me on to the treasures in GA…

There’s only five treasure counters in the standard GA game. One less than FG. One has to be placed centrally, which overcomes one complaint I have heard about FG and players being a bit too beardy.

But what you get is a step down from FG. So my Heritor Vicky, got a grand total of 60GC from her 3 treasures, and the opponent 105GC.

This means that going to the Mainland is going to be some time – probably every 5 games or so.

During that time accidents happen !

Sio you’re going to have to be very careful about using your crew as “meat shields” as the specialists won’t be easily replaceable. Ditto kitting out your crew as you won’t be able to get the fun stuff often.

Similarly, as the ship can only be upgraded back at the Mainland !

Another series of challenges that are very different and makes GA a very different beast to FG.

Filed under Cats, Frostgrave, Ghost Archipelago, Mordheim

GA: First Game

25/10/2017

As commented in my previous post, playing a game is much better than reading the book.

So I sat down and did the second war band randomly rolling the Heritor’s abilities. By happenstance, the abilities meshed well (Fling; Crushing Blow; Steelheart; and Deathstrike) and it was obvious he was a combat specialist and I chose a model accordingly.

L-R: Heritor; Warden; Archer; Crossbowman; Freebooter; Tombrobber; and 2 Crewmen.

Warning, here follows more pictures of lots of naked land and plastic models on a poorly presented table, warmers of a nervous disposition should sit down and or avert their eyes.

So with two war bands written up, I went for a simple head to head.

I’ll keep this brief as it was a solo effort, and the models/scenery aren’t all that good, but it’ll give the reader an idea of what went on.

With only 8 models in the war band, set up becomes a bit more tactical. If you want the central treasure which gives the most XP, you have to be careful. If you want sheer numbers of treasure, that’s a different tactic.

NB: As per previous updated post, you can have another couple of crew ! See 20.

Ghost Archipelago also is the haunt of Pinja Numas ! (Similar to Ninja Pumas, only smaller, and more furry)

Now I know why the GA Accessory Pack includes that dice.
I used my Heritor’s “Spell Shield” ability in turn one.

Earth wave, used by my “opponent” to shift a treasure closer to their forces, similar to telekinesis but not as good. As others have comment, whilst the casting value of spells is lower in GA, so are the effects.

Brambles – similar to Wall or Fog.
As cast by my Vine Warden.

Random encounters on 12+…oops here’s a Stalker Saurian…

Top of the world Ma !
The opposing Heritor gets to the top and claims the treasure, at the same time as my Savage does on the other pile of rocks.

And is joined by “my” Heritor, Vicky, who trashes the enemy Mercenary.

End of the game – I had 3 treasures including the central treasure, and the opponent had two.

One model down and needing to roll on the recovery chart.

Lets start rolling on the after game XP and treasure charts as well…

What did I learn ?

To be cont’d…

Filed under Cats, Frostgave, Ghost Archipelago, Mordheim

Too much paint, too much bunny

24/05/2017

Having embarked on my project to paint more figures especially the C)4 Thieves, I found, or rather didn’t find the paints I wanted.

Having hurriedly packed them, they were all over the place, and I got fed up of trying to find the right colour only to find I had three pots of the same shade, but not the base or highlight.

This is about 1/2 of the paints I have, and I’m sorting through. They’re the Foundry paint system which is excellent.

More paints on MDF shelving unit. As well as Foundry I use some various GW/Citadel paints to bulk out the system, mostly for foundation paints, washes and metallics as they have a larger range. Plus with stuff like Agrax Earthshade I can pick up a load in one go for scenery projects.

So I’m now doing an audit, ditching the dried (or nearly dried) out pots of paint and working out what ones to store for later use, ones to pass on to mates, or which ones I need to buy. Looks like flesh tones are the order I’ll need to put in.

Still not able to find a range that does metallic colours (blue, green, purple etc), I had been pointed at Coat’d’arms but they no longer do them, so it looks like the Blanitsu style of the tomb palette on an ad-hoc basis.

Talking of too much…

<y parents' had visitors and went out for the day, leaving me in charge, so Humphrey their cat decided to use this opportunity to bring home his second rabbit in a year, and let it loose in the kitchen.

I helped him recapture the live rabbit, and expelled them from the house, where he promptly hid under the trees in the garden and devoured the bunny.

He turned up at 10pm, stretched out a VERY LARGE BUNNY TUMMY, and refused to move, or eat any food until this afternoon.

Filed under Cats

FLICC, cats and rabbits

17/05/2017

That’s the important bit done with.

six weeks in to their sojourn here, and BlackJack has brought back his first Rabbit.

The rabbits that my parents didn’t know they had in their fields as none of their cats have ever brought one back…

Filed under Cats, climate change

Arcane Ruins

25/04/2017

All that Agrax Earthshade is going somewhere, and its mostly scenery. One of the items I brought with me was a pile of assembled and undercoated Arcane Ruins by GW.

The kit is actually quite versatile and you get ruined versions of the uprights.

There’s three telethons, a single pylons and the base.

I painted them all in Foundry Slate Grey, with various brasses by GW for the details.

I’ve got another set on order so I’ll photo that at the w/e, with all the pieces.

I’ve kept the pieces separate to allow access to the inside.

One was unimpressed, viewing it from one’s latest throne !

Filed under Cats, Frost Grave, Mordheim, Scenery, Warhammer, WFB, WHFB

WHFB: The Last Hurrah ! (Part One)

05/04/2017 1 Comment

So, with my move date now firming up, I organised a Last Hurrah battle of WHFB, as I planned for my WHFB boards and figures to go into store as I would not have room for them in my new abode.

Byakhees Gav and Rich were eager to play, the rest of the herd were busy elsewhere with inconsequential rubbish like rehearsing for plays etc.

Nav came round and broke his army out of their comfy boxes the evening before to save time on the day – it took nearly and hour and a half as his is a horde army of Orcs & Goblins.

We had originally hoped to have a two day session, but schedules were tight and I needed time for packing.

Gav didn’t get all his figures out so I didn’t know the full extent of what was going on, and he turned up with his laptop with the full army list, so BlackJack tried to get a sneak peak of it – he is after all a NINJA PUMA.

The armies set up. Rich and I were in fragile Alliance of Dark Elves and Tzeentch.

BlackJack remained by the laptop just in case !

Lots of green skins !

And it wouldn’t be a Last Hurrah without Mengil’s would it ? They took up position in the chaos temple.

First turn initiative was won by Nav, Animosity – and what have we here: The Impetuous Spider Riders. WE decided that that would be the name of a good Punk band and spent the rest of the day imagining novel song titles.

Catimosity ! Richard fails his check, and rolls a 6, and has to stroke BlackJack.

We also had a “Portal of Kittens” at the other end of the table, a running gag for the group, as the magical portal 9/10 does something fairly benign, and then on the 10th time blasts an entire unit into ashes or gives them super powers. The gobbos got a minor buff spell.

Having wiped out the Impetuous Spider Riders, Mengil’s set ready to take on the Savage Orcs.

Crunch, I’d wiped out nearly but not quite half of the Savage Orcs, only to find that Nav ha plonked a Big Boss and Shaman in amongst them !

Which resulted in Mengil’s being destroyed and the Savage Orcs over-running towards my defensive line !! We resolved from hereon to ignore Jim’s pathetic whines about Mengil’s being unbeatable, because if a bunch of semi-naked Orcs could beat them, anyone could. 😛

Meanwhile Nav advanced his whole army towards our very fragile looking line of RXBs and Flamers of Tzeentch.

Luckily the winds of magic were not with Gav !

(To be cont’d)

Filed under Cats, Warhammer

New Home, new challenges, new litter trays

03/04/2017

Moved in last week, on the Wednesday, got asked if I had a specific piece of scenery JP had seen, so within 24 hours I did the first modelling.

Yes, a cart full of bones and skulls that I’d got from a mate some 20 years ago, and who had in turn bought it some10+ years earlier, so no idea of provenance.

One of the sides had come off, and as we were planning on a games session on the Friday (yes I was intent on returning to gaming sanity that quickly), I repaired post haste after finding it.

It was for the Thaw of the Liche Lord scenario “Loot the Cart”, the third scenario.

WE knew we only had time for one scenario, and we were close to the bone (haha) for that for a number of reasons. Here’s JP’s write up of the event, mine will follow shortly.

More important than that…

The two delinquents have to be settled in. So I took the “throne” that only Black Jack used, and put it in a good vantage point on a chair in the dining room that I have annexed in my parents’ house.

Only for Spades to resolutely use it.

And tonight I cleaned out and refreshed the litter tray. Following the move I damaged my leg and I am now on antibiotics so they needed cleaning.

Of course within less than 5 minutes BlackJack was on the case…or litter tray.

Ok…

And then Spades moved in.

In this more confined space, I’ll be having to clean the trays a bit more often. Joy of Joys.

To follow, the first of three Frostgrave games.

Filed under Cats, Frost Grave

← Older posts