Showing posts with label Frostgrave. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Frostgrave. Show all posts
Monday, 18 July 2016
Warhammer Fantasy for Frostgrave: Part III
Next up in the queue is this bunch of blue-tinged adventurers. You can see here one of the Norse chaps, and one of the two Amethyst Imperial wizards. Both originally had scythes. Both soon lost them.
Saturday, 16 July 2016
Warhammer Fantasy for Frostgrave: Part II
I've managed to get some of the models done up for Frostgrave. Some of them need some plain round shields, which I have somewhere or other. The painting is a simple affair, as I want to get these chaps done quickly en masse, and so involves base-coating several in the same shade, doing a spot of detailing, and calling it done. They will all get a spot of dark brown varnish eventually, and some matte sprayed over that.
Monday, 11 July 2016
Warhammer Fantasy for Frostgrave
I'm having a get-together her at the end of August with some old friends from uni. One's promised to bring Frostgrave with him, and introduce us to it. So I've dug out some old Warhammer Fantasy models to whip into shape. There seem to be some wizards, High Elves (so I'm unsure how much use they'll be), Wood Elves (whose ears one cannot make out), Bretonnian archers, some Empire swordsmen, some Estalian swordsmen, and a few Norse (do GW do those any more?). The funniest little Norse chap with his ginormous axe and horned helmet still looks more realistic than the sorts of things one sees these days, and he just looks nuts!
Truthfully, two of the Norse look perfectly fine - to my inexperienced eye, admittedly - for historical use. As you can see, I'm nowhere close to finished with these chaps yet. These are just WIP shots. I'm aiming for a variety of colour across them all. Some groups will fit thematically better together than others, e.g. one could attach a couple of archers to any warband, but the Norse may look odd with others, and the distinct stylings of the Empire and Estalian troops strongly suggest they ought to stick together. Then again, the wizards of the College of Light and the Grand Theogonist Whatsisname don't really fit with the other chaps terribly well. Perhaps that's fine, though; a wealthy magician simply turns up and throws money at some hired muscle. Yes, that sounds about right.
Truthfully, two of the Norse look perfectly fine - to my inexperienced eye, admittedly - for historical use. As you can see, I'm nowhere close to finished with these chaps yet. These are just WIP shots. I'm aiming for a variety of colour across them all. Some groups will fit thematically better together than others, e.g. one could attach a couple of archers to any warband, but the Norse may look odd with others, and the distinct stylings of the Empire and Estalian troops strongly suggest they ought to stick together. Then again, the wizards of the College of Light and the Grand Theogonist Whatsisname don't really fit with the other chaps terribly well. Perhaps that's fine, though; a wealthy magician simply turns up and throws money at some hired muscle. Yes, that sounds about right.
Monday, 21 March 2016
March/April Plans
Note: I wrote this before my last post, so don't be confused if it seems retrograde.
I have a few projects on the go at the minute. I am almost at the end of building the village, I think. The "Mosque", a small building, and a couple of large ones will round it out nicely, bringing the total of buildings, including what I think of as the Hacienda to a lucky total of thirteen structures. A ruin or two, and perhaps a few other things, may follow in due course, but for a while, that will be it.
I have three areas I want to focus on now. First, the Baccus BEF Infantry division alluded to on Monday. I'm very happy with the colour scheme for the guns, and am feeling confident about the infantry colour scheme. I should have finished it tonight, but I am too tired for sleeping, having got up early to drive almost to Hull for a friend's little boy's christening. Lovely time, but I'm shattered.
Since I'm too tired to paint I am, of course, cutting things up with sharp knives. Wisdom is for the wakeful! This is work on the second thing I shall be working on: a modular castle. I have posted ere now a teaser for one of several towers I am building. That is nicely advanced, and will fit in with a collection of walls I am at work on. I mean to have a good 6' of straight bits, and then have a think about a gateway, angled bits of walls and so on. Again, sleepiness currently impedes thinking and detailed planning.
Finally, I long ago decided to build a set of three connecting trench boards for 40K. Now, I haven't played 40K in years, and have no intention of going back to it, but I wouldn't be averse to some Great War trench action. I'd need to cover up a few oddities, which I shall. So the first step has been undercoating the old boards so I can get a good idea of what work needs to be done to start bringing them up to code.
I have a few projects on the go at the minute. I am almost at the end of building the village, I think. The "Mosque", a small building, and a couple of large ones will round it out nicely, bringing the total of buildings, including what I think of as the Hacienda to a lucky total of thirteen structures. A ruin or two, and perhaps a few other things, may follow in due course, but for a while, that will be it.
I have three areas I want to focus on now. First, the Baccus BEF Infantry division alluded to on Monday. I'm very happy with the colour scheme for the guns, and am feeling confident about the infantry colour scheme. I should have finished it tonight, but I am too tired for sleeping, having got up early to drive almost to Hull for a friend's little boy's christening. Lovely time, but I'm shattered.
Since I'm too tired to paint I am, of course, cutting things up with sharp knives. Wisdom is for the wakeful! This is work on the second thing I shall be working on: a modular castle. I have posted ere now a teaser for one of several towers I am building. That is nicely advanced, and will fit in with a collection of walls I am at work on. I mean to have a good 6' of straight bits, and then have a think about a gateway, angled bits of walls and so on. Again, sleepiness currently impedes thinking and detailed planning.
Finally, I long ago decided to build a set of three connecting trench boards for 40K. Now, I haven't played 40K in years, and have no intention of going back to it, but I wouldn't be averse to some Great War trench action. I'd need to cover up a few oddities, which I shall. So the first step has been undercoating the old boards so I can get a good idea of what work needs to be done to start bringing them up to code.
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Terrain Tutorial: Mausoleum - Part 2
I'm having the week off work. Usually, this would allow me to get a lot done. However, I accurately predicted that the cold which has lain low friends and family (and perfect strangers) for weeks on end would get me. Luckily for you, I finished the Mausoleum several days ago.
In case you missed the first half, it's here. As before, the pictures here are labelled 1-2, so even if Blogger decides to hide or lose them, you should be able to follow the narrative. I seem to have forgotten to photograph the work on the doors, but they are easy to describe. I cut a rectangle of 1mm thick plasticard, and cut a rectangle out from it, leaving a lip of 5mm. Inside I placed some balsa, trimmed to size, and scribed it to make it seem like a double door. I inserted those brass pins you used to find securing collections of papers in aeons gone by. I ought to have paid closer attention, as I later realised they were not symmetrical. Oops.
Right, next I got to work on making a pediment for the tomb. To be on the safe side, I cut some paper templates first, and then, having decided they were the right size, duplicated them in plasticard. I used 2mm thick plasticard for the triangular structure. You can see the measurements (in millimeters) marked on the pieces in Pics. 1-3. I used small bits of Lego as internal supports to ensure sturdy right angles. The Lego was secured with superglue, the plasticard with polystyrene cement.
I'd decided the pillars needed a little something at the bottom, so I cut out small square bases for them from balsa, gluing the bases to the original balsa, then the columns to them and the face of the building, framing the doorway. I cut the handle off the reverse of a Lego shield, and added it in the middle of the pediment to break up the empty space. Pics. 4-5.
I applied dilute filler over most of the building (not the doors) to give some surface texture, then undercoated it all in blue. I would continue to use small bit of blue in the painting to suggest cold. This was mentioned in the original magazine article that inspired me to make this piece. Then I applied a layer of blue-grey. Pics. 6-8. When I came to detail the stonework, I discovered that my filling and painting had rendered nearly invisible the delineations between bricks and slabs, and so used some blue ink to reverse that. The doors got a reddish brown, and a couple of coats of washes, while the brass elements had brass, green washes and gold drybrushes. I painted the ground dark brown, and added a few patches of grass, as though plants were just starting to recolonise the lost city after the thaw. Pics. 9-12. A Great War Miniatures British officer is present for scale. I hope you found this tutorial useful.
In case you missed the first half, it's here. As before, the pictures here are labelled 1-2, so even if Blogger decides to hide or lose them, you should be able to follow the narrative. I seem to have forgotten to photograph the work on the doors, but they are easy to describe. I cut a rectangle of 1mm thick plasticard, and cut a rectangle out from it, leaving a lip of 5mm. Inside I placed some balsa, trimmed to size, and scribed it to make it seem like a double door. I inserted those brass pins you used to find securing collections of papers in aeons gone by. I ought to have paid closer attention, as I later realised they were not symmetrical. Oops.
Right, next I got to work on making a pediment for the tomb. To be on the safe side, I cut some paper templates first, and then, having decided they were the right size, duplicated them in plasticard. I used 2mm thick plasticard for the triangular structure. You can see the measurements (in millimeters) marked on the pieces in Pics. 1-3. I used small bits of Lego as internal supports to ensure sturdy right angles. The Lego was secured with superglue, the plasticard with polystyrene cement.
I'd decided the pillars needed a little something at the bottom, so I cut out small square bases for them from balsa, gluing the bases to the original balsa, then the columns to them and the face of the building, framing the doorway. I cut the handle off the reverse of a Lego shield, and added it in the middle of the pediment to break up the empty space. Pics. 4-5.
I applied dilute filler over most of the building (not the doors) to give some surface texture, then undercoated it all in blue. I would continue to use small bit of blue in the painting to suggest cold. This was mentioned in the original magazine article that inspired me to make this piece. Then I applied a layer of blue-grey. Pics. 6-8. When I came to detail the stonework, I discovered that my filling and painting had rendered nearly invisible the delineations between bricks and slabs, and so used some blue ink to reverse that. The doors got a reddish brown, and a couple of coats of washes, while the brass elements had brass, green washes and gold drybrushes. I painted the ground dark brown, and added a few patches of grass, as though plants were just starting to recolonise the lost city after the thaw. Pics. 9-12. A Great War Miniatures British officer is present for scale. I hope you found this tutorial useful.
Wednesday, 17 February 2016
Terrain Tutorial: Mausoleum - Part 1
Tools and Equipment:
Foamboard/foamcore/foamcard
Balsa wood
Something to use as a base - part of my bed needed replacing last year, so I have some wood left over from the damaged portion
Decorative bits and bobs
EVA foam (I ordered mine from Amazon, though have since found it in a store called Hobbycraft)
Cylinders suitable for use as columns (I used the plastic innards of the rolls of paper used in credit card machines)
Balsa wood
Assorted glues (PVA, superglue, EVO-stik)
Pencil
Stanley Knife or other sharp blade
Ruler(s) - preferably steel so you won't slice through it/them by mistake
Plasticard
Half a large Christmas bauble or hemisphere of some other kind
Cardboard
Decorative wood
Pins
A Lego shield
Paints
Sand
Clamps/vices
Introductory note: Blogger does a wonderful job of rearranging pictures and sometimes even removing them. For your convenience I have numbered the attached pictures 1-11, so even if they go astray or end up back to front, you can tell which one I mean.
First, lay out your base and make sure you have plenty of room for your building. I wanted to allow a large enough lip around mine for models to stand on. I also wanted to make it large enough to have a distinct presence on the tabletop. My base was about 10" (25cm) square, so I decided to make the building about 7" (17.8cm) on each side. That's an approximate measurement because I had some offcuts of decorative wooden stuff from B&Q (from about 15 years back, but which is still available as of my last visit there last week), which I fancied would look good on the sides.
Second, cut out your foamcard. I ran a little short during this phase, and ended up making some of the front of the building from balsa wood. Plan ahead so this doesn't happen to you! I made it 3" tall so it would loom over most models. Having made the essential box shape of the building, I started work on the one side without the wood, the front. I want ed some nice columns here, flanking the door, and a pediment for them to stand on. I measured carefully to ensure they would be symmetrical. Figs. 1-3.
Having done that I wanted to get a good visual notion in my head of the shape of the finished building, so upended a handy empty box of tissues, and popped the hemisphere atop it, balancing the "columns" in place on their pediments. Figs. 4-6. Pleased that the image confirmed my mental image, I continued, boxing the building in with balsa, and placing an EVA foam layer above that. Figs. 7-8. I had heard of EVA foam as a great thing to use for paving and so on, and so it proved. Though the paint did tend to fill in the scribed marks I made with a pencil to resemble flagstones and cracks. I dealt with that by applying a diluted wash, but we shall come to that later.
I wanted the option for figures to manoeuvre around the roof of the building, so ensured an inch (25mm) between the edge of the building and another walled section 1.5" (38mm) in height. Having run out of foamcard at this point, I created a box from balsa (not the best of materials for this, as it kept wanting to fall down as I glued the EVA to it later). Over the course of a few days (owing to the fragility of the balsa) I glued the EVA to the wood in stages, one flat side at a time. I used a vice to do this, and because it would have marked the foam, I folded up a sheet of A4 paper on either side of the vice, preventing it from doing so. Then I blocked in the roof with cardboard, and applied the dome to the top of the roof. Figs. 9-11.
Stay tuned for Part II next Wednesday!
Foamboard/foamcore/foamcard
Balsa wood
Something to use as a base - part of my bed needed replacing last year, so I have some wood left over from the damaged portion
Decorative bits and bobs
EVA foam (I ordered mine from Amazon, though have since found it in a store called Hobbycraft)
Cylinders suitable for use as columns (I used the plastic innards of the rolls of paper used in credit card machines)
Balsa wood
Assorted glues (PVA, superglue, EVO-stik)
Pencil
Stanley Knife or other sharp blade
Ruler(s) - preferably steel so you won't slice through it/them by mistake
Plasticard
Half a large Christmas bauble or hemisphere of some other kind
Cardboard
Decorative wood
Pins
A Lego shield
Paints
Sand
Clamps/vices
Introductory note: Blogger does a wonderful job of rearranging pictures and sometimes even removing them. For your convenience I have numbered the attached pictures 1-11, so even if they go astray or end up back to front, you can tell which one I mean.
First, lay out your base and make sure you have plenty of room for your building. I wanted to allow a large enough lip around mine for models to stand on. I also wanted to make it large enough to have a distinct presence on the tabletop. My base was about 10" (25cm) square, so I decided to make the building about 7" (17.8cm) on each side. That's an approximate measurement because I had some offcuts of decorative wooden stuff from B&Q (from about 15 years back, but which is still available as of my last visit there last week), which I fancied would look good on the sides.
Second, cut out your foamcard. I ran a little short during this phase, and ended up making some of the front of the building from balsa wood. Plan ahead so this doesn't happen to you! I made it 3" tall so it would loom over most models. Having made the essential box shape of the building, I started work on the one side without the wood, the front. I want ed some nice columns here, flanking the door, and a pediment for them to stand on. I measured carefully to ensure they would be symmetrical. Figs. 1-3.
Having done that I wanted to get a good visual notion in my head of the shape of the finished building, so upended a handy empty box of tissues, and popped the hemisphere atop it, balancing the "columns" in place on their pediments. Figs. 4-6. Pleased that the image confirmed my mental image, I continued, boxing the building in with balsa, and placing an EVA foam layer above that. Figs. 7-8. I had heard of EVA foam as a great thing to use for paving and so on, and so it proved. Though the paint did tend to fill in the scribed marks I made with a pencil to resemble flagstones and cracks. I dealt with that by applying a diluted wash, but we shall come to that later.
I wanted the option for figures to manoeuvre around the roof of the building, so ensured an inch (25mm) between the edge of the building and another walled section 1.5" (38mm) in height. Having run out of foamcard at this point, I created a box from balsa (not the best of materials for this, as it kept wanting to fall down as I glued the EVA to it later). Over the course of a few days (owing to the fragility of the balsa) I glued the EVA to the wood in stages, one flat side at a time. I used a vice to do this, and because it would have marked the foam, I folded up a sheet of A4 paper on either side of the vice, preventing it from doing so. Then I blocked in the roof with cardboard, and applied the dome to the top of the roof. Figs. 9-11.
Stay tuned for Part II next Wednesday!
Monday, 1 February 2016
Tower Teaser
To go with the mausoleum I am working on for Frostgrave, I thought I'd also build a tower for folk to shoot at enemies from. It may also end up being used for various other periods. It's a fair old height, as you can see by the WWI BEF officer standing atop it. Again, stand by for a tutorial in all good time.
Monday, 18 January 2016
Mausoleum Teaser
Inspired by Tony Harwood's great article on making a mausoleum
(pp. 47 ff.) in the October 2015 issue (#390) of Miniature Wargames with
Battlegames, I have been hard at work since about October working on
it. I'm nearing the final stages now, so enjoy this teaser, and expect a
tutorial in due course. I have in mind to use this for Frostgrave at
some point, presumably after getting round to acquiring the rules!
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