Second Wizard for Frostgrave

I had this miniature for a while.  It was partially painted.   I needed another fire-themed wizard to go with the first one.   This is a Reaper Warlords metal miniature - Ian, Ivy Crown Mage.

I realized after I took the photos that there are some areas where the paint needs touch up and the face needs detailed.

Ruined Tower progress

Worked on my ruined tower small bits at a time.   The snow is a mix of PVA glue, white paint, baking soda and a small amount of glitter.   The glitter didn't come through much to give the effect of ice crystals.  I'll try another layer of just glitter and PVA glue to see if it reflects the light better.

I've got one ladder built and painted.  I still need to get a second ladder built and painted.  I'm also working on a rubble pile to represent the section of the ruined tower that is on the ground.

Ruined Tower Terrain

I've been wanting to get a ruined tower completed for some time for use with Frostgrave, Advanced Song of Blades and Heroes, Warrior Heroes Legends or any other miniature games.   Where I work we have a lot of cardboard cores that come in with some of our raw materials as spacers.   Perfect for a tower, or at least the start of one.

I cut is apart and stacked on piece on top of the other.  I also found some 1/4" thick pink insulation board and cut a circular base that I then scribed a stone pattern on it.   On the outside I cut a few pieces of thin cardboard to simulate a stone pattern.  Glue to an old CD, prime with grey paint and I had a good start.























The fun part of a ruined tower on a table is the elevation it can provide for missile armed troops and fire-ball throwing mages.   So I added to levels of partially ruined wood floors.   The first floor started with a piece of cardboard cut to the inner diameter.   I then glued pieces of wooden stir sticks left over from a special event where I work.   Then painted with a wash of thinned down brown paint.  I then dry brushed with lighter browns to give a weathered look.

The second wood floor would be much smaller.  I glued a square balsa wood piece for the second floor base.  Then I superglued more wood stir sticks that were painted the same way.   Note the white in the back of the first floor is still wet white glue.   As this will be a tower used for Frostgrave I still need to add snow and ice to some of the flat surfaces.  I also need to put snow along the back where the glue is still wet.  I'll also make some rubble to represent the part of the tower that has crumbled.


Thanks for looking!

Frostgrave Wizard

A while back I purchased a bunch of Heroclix miniatures from Miniature Market.  The idea was to find some inexpensive plastic miniatures for conversion.   I also recently purchased the Frostgrave game.   I needed to find some Wizard miniatures for the game.    One of the miniatures I had purchased was Clea.    Nice starting point.  However Frostgrave is supposed to be about a city that has been frozen for a thousand years.   Clea isn't dressed appropriately for the Frozen City.   Time to try my hand at a conversion.

I removed the miniature from the clix base.   Clea is on a nice looking cobblestone base.  I glued her to a 1" fender washer and built up the base to match the cobblestone base.





I also wanted to try to add a cloak and some sort of skirt/robes to make her look more 'wizardly' and less 'superhero in tights'.   A while back I bought a tube of green stuff to use on filling in around gaps and joints.  So I squirted a glob out and found it was a bit soft and made it hard to mold.   Once it started to set up it was easier to mold.   Here is Clea with a cloak and skirt added.

The green stuff split slightly on the cloak.  I was a bit ticked, but then left it as it has a slightly torn look.  Clea is an up and coming wizard.  Her journey into Frostgrave has left her a bit road weary.   Sorry for the poor photos.  Working with the camera phone.

Frostgrave has different types of wizards.   Clea is an elementalist, one who wields the power of fire, water, air, and earth.     I also decided to keep the colors of Clea close to her original paint scheme.

So here is Clea as she heads into the city of Frostgrave.





 So is Clea a Wizard or an Apprentice?  Not sure yet as I continue to look at my Heroclix miniatures.   Perhaps Dr. Strange will also visit Frostgrave!

Another Year

Another year down without being able to game much.   Did some reading online though at The Miniatures Page and Lead Adventures Forum.  Picked up Pulp Alley after seeing a lot of reviews.   I've been working on a lot of different terrain and miniatures. Hopefully in 2016 I will be able to get some more games in.

Merry Christmas!

Here is the map for the 1st dungeon.  Created using the generator found here http://zak965.it/2HW/DungeonCrawl/DungeonGenerator.html.  Great tool to randomly generate the dungeon for you.   A PDF of the map with descriptions is also generated.    The PDF has a key to each room/corridor.  The numbering system on the map does not correspond to what is on the PDF.  However it gives you the description of the entry point (E) and then the number key on the PDF tells you what room/corridor is next.  Once I figured it out it is pretty neat as it reminds me of the old "create your own adventure" books where if you did "Action A" go to page XXX or if you did "Action B" you go to page YYY.

The Ruined Watchtower - A Two Hour Dungeon Crawl Adventure Pt 1

"Lucien" Flavius Fireweaver said,"it's getting dark and this cold rain is getting to me.  We need to find someplace to take shelter for the night."
"I heartily agree" chimed in Leod as the dwarf shook water from his beard. "The rain will make my armor smell."
"Even more than it does now?" piped in Kassie from inside her rain darkened cloak.
"Careful there lassie.  Remember who patched you up when you got that last wee scratch."
"Sire, I know there is a ruined watchtower just a ways up the road on that rocky outcropping there." said Kalten, the large man in chainmail. "At one time it commanded quite a view over the valley."
"Then lead us there, my faithful squire." Replied Sir Lucien. "We will need to rest so we can continue our journey to the Brethren Chapter House near the Altengard border. If the weather holds we should be there the day after tomorrow."

The party soon reached the ruined watchtower and entered through the broken door.  Scattered about on the floor were bits of gnawed bone, rusty pieces of armor and a few broken weapons.  Water ran down the inner walls where the tower's roof was missing.

"Hey Kalten, what a wonderful place you picked. No nice road side inn for us.  Next time I get to pick the arrangements." quipped Kassie as she poked through the debris in the tower. In a quieter voice she continued "Hey guys, I don't think we're alone.  There's stairs leading down back here and I see faint light coming from there. And a stench greater than Leod's coming from down there."

"Let's go check it out" said Lucien. "Kassie your with me up front, just in case there are any traps.  Kalten and Flavius behind us. Flavius give us some light.  Leod, you have rear guard.  Steady now." 

Slowly and quietly the party descends the stairs....

Holiday Greetings and Gaming!

A few months back I purchased Two Hour Dungeon Crawl from Two Hour Wargames.  A unique system for solo-play "Old School" dungeon delving!  After reading through the game I had great ideas for different groups.  Unfortunately I have not had time to actually do some gaming.  Now with the holiday season here I might find some time to get some solo gaming in.

The Paladin Lucien

My first group to try:

(Star) Sir Lucian - Rep 5 Human Paladin, AC 6 armed with a sword and shield.   Attributes: Martyr and Resolute.

(Grunt) Flavius Fireweaver - Rep 5 Human Caster, AC 2 armed with a sword.  Attributes: Cast Spells and Resolute.

(Grunt) Squire Kalten - Rep 4 Human Soldier/Shooter(Rep3), AC 4, armed sword and bow.  Attributes: Duty, Marksman and Resolute (doubles rolls during generation resulted in a dual class).

(Grunt) Kassie the Quick - Rep 4 Elf Thief, AC 2, armed with 2 swords.  Attributes: Slippery and Secret Rooms/Doors.

(Grunt) Leod Goldbeard - Rep 4 Dwarf Healer (cleric), AC 4, armed with hammer (mace) and shield.  Attributes: Stout and Healing.

The first dungeon is controlled by a Rep 4 Ogre Warrior.  Reason for the party to enter the dungeon is to explore.

Rafe Donovan - 17th Century Star for By Savvy and Steel (Two Hour Wargames)

I've had "By Savvy and Steel" for some time now.  Read through it a few times but never got around to starting a Star character for the game.   I recently re-read "The Three Musketeers" by Alexander Dumas.  This along with watching "Black Sails" on Starz has gotten me back into the mood for some swashbuckling adventures.  What I like about BSS is the "imagi-nation" of the fictional nation of Edenstein.  This, along with "And a Bottle of Rum" and the recent release of "Free Ports" now rounds out a (hopefully) ongoing campaign following my star character, Raphael "Rafe" Donovan.

Aaron Stack HeroClix figure

Rafe Donovan - Work In Progress

One of the things that has kept me from gaming this period has been my lack of swashbuckler and pirate figures.  Enter some cheap Heroclix figures that I picked up on-line at Miniature Market.  I was able to troll their Heroclix section and find some extremely inexpensive figures that I envisioned converting into swashbucklers and pirates.   So here is Rafe Donovan before he gets a make over.   I started with the Aaron Stack figure.    Not much of a swashbuckling figure you say?   I have to agree.

However, pop him off his base, attach to a 1" fender washer, cut off his mechanical attachment on his right arm, add a spare sword from the bit box and we have a start.   Still need to finish up the base and give him a touch up paint job.


Rafe is the third child of a gentleman from the North Central region.  His older brother, Gabriel,  has inherited the property in Saintsbury after his father's recent passing.  His older sister,  Lillie, has married and moved to Hawkesport in the Northwest Coast region.  On his 21st birthday Rafe asked Gabriel for his inheritance in order to make his way in the world.  After celebrating Christmas and New Years with his brother at the family estate, Rafe makes his way to Hawkesport to visit his sister.

Traveling from Saintbury to Hawkesport should not have been too dangerous.  However, having never been to Hawkesport before, Rafe turned off the main road to the ruined watch tower on the hill overlooking the city.  He stood admiring the view of the city and the harbor beyond.  The smell of the ocean, the sight of the ships anchored in the harbor and the sun setting on the ocean beyond stirred Rafe's blood like never before.   Then he heard the sound of boots on the broken gravel and a voice say "Only a fool comes up here alone.  And they say a fool and his money are soon parted"...

Game notes:  January 1625 - Rafe travels from North Central Edenstein to the Northwest Coast.  I rolled double 4s resulting in a Robbery.   Next time, the results of the robbery.

CD terrain

Ok, so I've picked up a bunch of old CDs along the way.  The old AOL CDs, information sent to me at work for different topics, etc.   I've seen a lot of CD terrain posted on the internet and wanted to give it a try myself.  I also had some of the pink foam insulation used by others to carve into stones, walls, etc. So with a bit of free time (i.e. 30 minutes here and there over two weeks) I managed to come up with an idea for a magic stone circle for a place of power for Song of Blades and Heroes.  Part of the inspiration was because my wife found a used copy of Bernard Cornwell's "Stonehedge" novel.

  Here are some photos of the work in process.

CD, Cut foam and a marked up base.

hand carved runes

The standing stones

Painted Base

Almost Finished

HeroScape Elven Mage for scale

Another View for scale to show the runes

Elven Warband for Song of Blades and Heroes

I haven't had much time to actually get any gaming.  However I have had time here and there to read through Song of Blades and Heroes again.  I started working on an Elven Warband.   One of the miniatures I wanted to have was a tree man.  I had an old Mage Knight Oak Mage that I had picked up a while back and decided to convert. Here is a photo I found on line of the original miniature (forgot to take a before photo).  

I popped it off the base, glued to a 1 1/2" diameter metal washer and added some additional 'branches' to his back.  The branches were small twigs that I had picked up along the way to make trees.  The texture on the back allowed the twigs to be glued into the pits and fit nicely to look like they are growing out of his back.

I also repainted the figure adding highlights.  I also added some moss to the upper branches as well as textured the base.


This is Wandelenboom (Dutch for Walking Tree).   He is a young tree man who helps the elves defend the forest from the nasties who would come in and cut down his brothers and sisters who have yet to be awaken by the elven druids.  Since he is a young tree man I figured I would give him Q4, C3, Big, Forester, Tough, Slow.  This keeps Wandelenboom down to 47 points as he is a personality due to his Tough special rule.

Here are the after conversion of our young tree man.  Photos aren't that great as I didn't have enough lighting.

Thanks for reading.

Chain Reaction -Swordplay!

Had a chance to get in a few games with John, a friend of mine yesterday.  Introduced him to Chain Reaction Swordplay! from Two Hour Wargames.  I tried to keep it simple but also showed him Warrior Heroes - Armies and Adventures and Rally Round The King.  He wanted to play a Beastman warband so we used the WHAA tables.  He created a Greater Beastman as his leader (named Grendel) and rolled three more Greater Beastmen, a Beastman and a Beastman Archer.   This was a pretty tough group.

To introduce him to the game we used the CR-Swordplay rules.  His first game was a patrol.  We rolled for terrain and had a pretty open board.  There was a hill and rough terrain where his band entered.  Since it was a patrol we rolled for PEF locations as well as the EAL (which came up 5!).   I chose the Northmen army to be the enemy.   As the beastmen came onto the board the PEFs began moving towards them.  As they resolved themselves I had two large main parties (C) and a small group.   The beastmen gained the advantage quickly and Grendel charged the one main group, quickly killing one of them.   My dice were cold and with the one kill that group failed the man down test as well as the group cohesion tests... and promptly routed from the table!

Grendel's other Greater Beastmen moved onto the other main group and an ensuing melee broke out with 6 Northmen going at it with two beastmen.  Melee resolved into an evenly matched event.  Next round Grendel charged into the melee and turned the tide for the beastmen.

The fight continued with a Greater Beastman going Out of Fight but the northmen suffered due to cold dice (I couldn't get more than one or two successes with 5 dice in melee).

The short end of the first battle, Grendel and the beastmen warband wiped out the balance of the northmen.  Granted, I forgot to roll the man down tests to see if they ran away.

That battle lasted about an hour including set up of terrain and the flipping back through the book.

So, we tried another game as a follow on.  Since Grendel and his followers had such an 'easy' time of the patrol we followed the campaign system in Swordplay! which led Grendel and his followers on a Raid - Attacker.  This table came with a bit more terrain with forest all along the entering table edge and along the one side.  Two buildings were located on the far side of the table.  PEF were rolled for and the first one was located in the area just in front of the beastmen.  They were resolved into a group of northmen of equal number.  Activation resolved that the beastmen would go first.  The second game proved to be the downfall of Grendel and his band as the dice reversed themselves.   Two of the Greater Beastmen fell Obviously Dead in the first round of melee.  Grendel and another Greater Beastman took out two northmen with an out of fight and obviously dead as well.  The one northman archer took out the minor beastman.

At this point Grendel and his remaining band withdrew from the field as there were two more PEFs to resolve and his warband consisted of himself, one Greater Beastman and a Beastman Archer (who was Rep 3 and couldn't hit anything).

Overall a fun afternoon while our wives were off at the flea market!  Unfortunately I forgot to take pictures...

Which now gives me a great idea for a solo campaign.  The Northmen now send out a party to hunt down the remaining Beastmen who are roaming the highlands and attacking lone homesteads.

Haven't been able to get any gaming in since Christmas.  Plan to post soon as my wife's friend's husband is a wargamer.  He has made many a statements that we need to get together and roll some dice.   Hope to get some in this weekend.  Plan to introduce him to Two Hour Wargames.   I will run a small CR-FV based Star Wars encounter.  Plenty of clone troopers and a few Jedi to make a patrol through a suspected separatist base.

5150 - New Beginnings

So it has been a while since I've had a chance to do any gaming. With the Holiday Season here I'm hoping to get some games in. I recently purchased 5150 - New Beginnings from Two Hour Wargames. After reading through a few times I created my first Star, Jax Alexander - Bounty Hunter.

Jax is Rep 5; Fitness -4, People-3, Savvy-5, and Science-0

Jax follows the Mercenary QRS and has Profit as his motivation (he IS a Bounty Hunter after all).

He has Charismatic and Resilient as his two attributes.

He is armed with a BA Pistol and a knife. He wears an armored jacket and carries a Combat Comlink.

He has three grunts that he has recruited to start the game. A Rep 5 Guide (helps find the leads in the darkest of New Hope City), a Rep 5 Gunslinger (muscle for those tough encounters) and a Rep 4 Pilot (for when we need to get off-planet).

Hope to post some over the Christmas weekend.

Merry Christmas!

Six Gun Sound : Blaze of Glory

Found a recent post on the Two Hour Wargames Yahoo group with a link to a write up on the boardgamegeek.com that I had posted shortly after I purchased Six Gun Sound. Here is the link to that write up.

http://boardgamegeek.com/thread/312166/shootout-in-big-rock-nevada-generating-a-\
character

Re-reading that write up along with recently returning from vacation out west in Wyoming and Colorado got me interested in gaming this genre again. I looked through and could not find in my files any more on this character. Glad it was pointed out to me a few years later... look for more soon.

Star Wars - Undercover Stormtrooper?

After having suffered through having half of my squad being wiped out on a patrol the battalion commander decided to reassign the rest of the squad. As a junior NCO I was assigned to special services. Apparently some upper-echelon intel-type decided that training stormtroopers for undercover assignments might be a good idea. So after turning in my weapons and armor it was off to some remote training facility on a restricted planet in the core worlds.

The final leg of the trip was on an old freighter where I was assigned some old Mandalorian armor that a bounty hunter would wear and a new blaster carbine with no markings. Interesting. Odd... but interesting.

Our pilot indicated that we were going to land on Kurgal and that I should escort the cargo as a security guard. My destination was the same place as the cargo, a restricted facility outside of Sen City.

Next up... Training Week One!

Star Wars - Stormtrooper Patrol

Its been way too long since I've had a chance to play. I decided on a mix of 5150 and CR3.0 from Two Hour Wargames. I threw some terrain on the table and pulled out some Star Wars Miniatures, choosing to run a squad of stormtroopers.

I used the Star Army for the Stormtroopers and the PDF for the rebels. The Stormtrooper squad consisted of 9 troopers led by an NCO and Jr NCO (mini-me). The squad, split into two fire teams, was spread out in a skirmish line as they entered the board. The Inferno Grenade Launcher was with the senior NCOs team and the Rapid Fire Laser Rifle was with my team.

Three PEFs were placed on the board. One in the ruins to the squads left front, one in the ridge to the squads immediate front and one far behind the ridge. The PEF on the ridge was the first one that the squad resolved. It turned out to be a dug in squad of rebels (roll indicated a force of equal size to the squad). Unfortunately activation dice came up with the rebels activating first. Heck of an ambush point!

The rebels opened up and took out the Senior NCO and two others. The fire caused the Inferno GL trooper to duck back behind some rocks and another trooper on the other side of the road to duck back. One trooper rolled double ones on his reaction test and fired back, missing and was promptly gunned down by the rebels in the fire fight. My one trooper hiding behind the rocks decided he had enough and slipped back off the board (failed his leader lost test).

Meanwhile my fire team was protected by the trees (no line of sight) but seeing half of the other fire team gunned down I gave the order to double time it up the ridge and try to flank the rebels.

The Inferno Grenade Launcher trooper fired on the rebel position and took out 4 rebels including their leader. However they still passed their leader lost test and remained in their positions. Return fire took out the Inferno GL trooper (dice were not on my side yet).

Activation dice came up with the Rebels activating first. Since they didn't have line of sight to my fire team I decided I would roll on the PEF activation table to see how they reacted. They new my team was out there somewhere but had lost sight of me. They moved 16" toward the nearest PEF which was below the ridge but out my line of sight due to some low bluffs. However this movement towards the nearest PEF moved them into my line of sight. Time for some payback!

The fire team moved up to the edge of the tree

line and opened fire. The firefight ensued resulting in 4 downed rebels , one ducking back behind the bluffs, one retiring behind the bluffs (and hunkering down) and one returning fire and missing. The resulting return fire from my fire team took him down. I shifted the fire team to my left along the ridge to see if the rebels were still in sight. This also brought the second PEF into sight and it was resolved as nothing. However the one rebel was still there and snap fired on the squad and actually hit one of my men. He was taken out the the ensuing fire by the four remaining members of my team. Fortunately the trooper was able to recover on the knockdown test and was back into the fight. Just a glancing blow on the helmet. We moved down the hill and took the one rebel into custody.

This left the one PEF located in the ruins. This PEF had a REP 1 so it didn't activate all game. Leaving the one trooper with the rebel prisoner the rest of the fire team fast moved to cover along the road where we had line of sight to the ruins.

Resolving the PEF resulted in stragglers. I rolled and they had 1/2 of my force (assumed it was 1/2 of my remaining force). Two rebels hiding in the ruins but were probably the spotters that allowed the rebels to wipe out half of the squad in the initial ambush.

I sent the Rapid Fire Laser Rifle to the right with another trooper while two of us went left. The RF Laser Rifle caused one rebel to duck back and the other trooper took out a rebel. Meanwhile we swung around the ruins out of the rebels line of sight. We stormed the ruins from two directions and took out the remaining rebel.

We took the field but with significant casualties to the squad. Twelve rebels killed or taken out of the fight and one captured. The senior stormtrooper NCO = OD, Inferno GL trooper = OD, and 3 other stormtroopers out of the fight and being taken to the hospital ships in orbit.

Where Does the Time Go?

Ok, so it is now March and the last post I did was back in November? Wow...

I've bounced back and forth on what games to play. Thinking of a simple Chain Reaction 3.0 patrol using Star Wars miniatures. Hope to post photos and a battle report soon.

Safe Harbor - Outer RIm

Jack and Nee returned to the ship after their meeting at the cantina to find Bobby George lying on the gangway to the cargo hold. He had a large knot on the back of his head and blood trickling from the corner of his mouth but he is breathing and regaining consciousness. Seeing he is still alive, Jack and Nee drew their weapons and headed up the ramp into the hold. The T1 loader droid sat idle in the back of the hold. After checking out the hold and finding no intruders they worked their way towards the cockpit. Nobody was their either. Jack pointed back toward the engine room and whispered to Nee "I wonder where Kari has gotten off to?".

They search the whole ship and don't find anyone on board. Jack tells Nee to check the security log with video while he gets Bobby back to the common area that also serves as the ship's medical bay. While getting Bobby settled in Nee comes tells Jack to check out the monitor. The security video shows Bobby being hit from behind by a Wookie and Kari being taken off the ship by two heavily armed thugs.

"That's not good" says Jack. Turning to Bobby he quips "lucky you're still alive."

Nee comes back on the intercom, "We got a message too, boss. They left a datapad by the security cam. They wanted us to see this. The message says to meet outside 'The Pit' at dusk if we want to see her alive." The Pit was a local dive on the edge of the spaceport and known hangout for the darker side of humanity.

[game mechanics] - using the Larger than Life rules to set up the story it was determined that Jack and his crew would have to retrieve an object. The capture of Kari was to set up the first meeting. The meeting at The Pit was to set up the travel scene. The Big Bad is a civilized native who wants to steal an object.

Next - the outcome of the travel scene.

5150 - Life in the Outer Rim

I decided to try some 5150 gaming for the weekend. The Crew consists of a small group of smugglers, I mean Independent Merchants, making a living in the outer rim. I'm going to use some of the LTL (Larger Than Life) rules to string together their adventures into an ongoing story. My star, Jack Logan, is a Rep 5 owner/pilot of a small freighter. Jack carries a rapid fire laser pistol and has the Sidewalk Demon attribute.

Jack's co-pilot is a Rep 4 Duros named Nee Bannis. I gave him the Runt Attribute as this race is not known for their melee skills (per the Star Wars Saga Edition rules). This is a racial trait so I also drew a random card and came up with the Transporter attribute. Nee Bannis carries a laser pistol.

Jack has also recently hired a ship's mechanic named Bobby George. He is of unknown quality (Rep 3) and has the Wary Attribute. Bobby carries a laser pistol.

Jack also took in a young refugee named Kari-an. She is Rep 3 and has the Medic attribute and carries a laser pistol.

The final member of the crew is a T1 Bulk Loader Droid that Jack inherited with the ship. The droid is useful for loading and unloading cargo as well as some other things.

Next will be the beginning of the adventure.