Saturday 26 September 2015

Not a Kickstarter

With all the excitement of the Warpath kickstarter, don't miss the Nickstarter for the first Frostgrave supplement, Thaw of the Lich Lord.


The release covers a softback book detailing new ways to use wizards for those who are corrupted by the Lich Lord, new monsters and a multi game campaign.  There are also more metal miniatures and a box of 20 plastic cultists to complement the soldiers released previously.  I can think of loads of uses for cultist types, and there are even heads and arms to make undead versions!

Unlike a true kickstarter, the product is already funded, though extra stuff will be added as more money is collected.  I am particularly interested in the packs of spell cards that are being produced, I have used unofficial versions of these and they speed play up considerably.

Thursday 24 September 2015

Goblin Sharpsticks 7: Well Dressed Goblins

Another hour or so painting and the goblin clothes are all painted.



Each unit has its own colour of hood.  The Sharpsticks wear red caps, inspired by the folklore creature no doubt.  Other units will of course have different colours.  The other items of clothing are painted from a limited selection of GW Foundation paints.

There are some details left to finish, then its time for the dip.

Monday 21 September 2015

Goblin Sharpsticks 6; Under Wraps

I haven't quite reached the 'what colour should I paint that' bit, there are still a few parts of the goblins that should all match.

The goblins have their feet wrapped in some sort of cloth binding or bandage.  I will paint these all the same colour, as well as the fabric on the spear shafts.  Some of the bags carried on the belts will also be this colour.  I imagine the fabric to be a sort of unbleached cotton or linen, and I like the results when I wash GW foundation Deneb Stone with Army Painter Strong Tone (in this case when I use the dip to shade/varnish everything).

Crooknose shows off his new footwear




Whilst the Deneb Stone might look a bit dull, when washed it should look like undyed cloth, probably not very well looked after.

Wednesday 16 September 2015

Goblin Sharpsticks 5; Arms and Armour

Next stage is the bulk of the metal.  For these chaps that's armour, shield and spear-tip.
They don't wear much armour, and it tends to be a bit crude, but they are only goblins after all.

Crooknose shows off his new armour




Crooknose, our volunteer goblin, doesn't wear much armour compared to some of his brothers.  He will probably have leather armour to help protect him.

The metal is an old pot of Miniature Paints Chainmail, still good after many years.  The Sharpsticks are a quick paint job, otherwise I would make more use of drybrushing, and use different shades of silver and steel.  I will add some detail in bronze or brass to give a bit more character to the armour, and the face of the shields will be painted with some form of livery, probably based on that used by the Fleabag Riders.

In terms of how long this took, Great British Bake-Off was on in the background, so slightly less than an hour to complete the metal sections (and I now have a craving for jelly!)

Tuesday 15 September 2015

Goblin Sharpsticks 4; Greenskins

Here's Crooknose with the first bit of basecoat on him.  I usually start with the skin and work outwards.




The skin is GWs Knarloc Green.  I do like these paints and its a shame they are out of production.  I haven't much experience with the new GW colours, but these were great.

The skin was simple to paint, but I did have a few issues with deciding what to paint.  In the end I painted all the right hands, but one of the arms is wearing what appears to be a cuff which I first thought might be a glove; however, the fingers have clear nails (or claws?) so I decided it must be some loose fabric decoration.  The other arm has a bracer type thing, again with the actual hand exposed.

The actual green colour is somewhat darker than the pictures show, my hobby light tends to make things look lighter.

I always try and look over a batch of figures when I finish a stage.  I often find I have missed something; in this case there are bits of leg showing on some of teh bodies, and some of the feet have toes exposed.

Next coat will be the armour and other assorted metals.


Sunday 13 September 2015

Wizard Statue 2

Just a quick update on the wizard statue for Frostgrave.  It now has a plinth to stand on.


The plinth is made from pick foam, scribes to represent stonework.  The base is 4 mm MDF with thin card stuck on for flagstones.  I will glue some rubble on as well, then its time for painting.

Size-wise its about 100 mm square and the plinth is about 20 mm high.


Gobin Sharpsticks 3; Goblins in the Brown

I finally managed to get some more Army Painter Leather Brown undercoat and the weather was good enough to get all 30 Sharpsticks undercoated.  They were stuck into cork blocks to allow spraying multiple minis at once.  (The cork is from the cork blocks sold for sanding blocks in DIY stores, and can easily be cut lengthwise in half to give two blocks; each holds around 4 to 5 normal figures).
That's a lot of Goblins!

Crooknose in person


I will batch paint these, as 30 is a bit too many for me to comfortably handle in one go.  Probably two lots of 15.  As we are following Crooknose's progress. he will be in the first batch.

As the minis have lost their bases I will use clips to hold individuals, though when I get to the dip I will probably put them all back on the cork.

Friday 11 September 2015

Incoming....

Today Mantic announced their latest Kickstarter to launch the Warpath game.  It begins on September 21st and is likely to be a biggie.  Previous test versions of the rules haven't quite hit the spot, but the test material for this looks very promising.

My first experience of Pathfinding was demoing the previous version of Warpath at a Mantic Open Day, and we all had a lot of fun.  However it, and the previous version even more so, felt a bit like Kings of War in Space.  The latest edition gets away from that, so I guess its time to get painting some of those Marauders I have stashed away.

Warpath is set in the same universe as Dreadball and Deadzone, a universe of corporate greed and high technology.  Much of the design for Deadzone was intended to port over to Warpath, and the minis were planned with this in mind.  It should be a great game, and I am really looking forward to it.

Check out their blog for more details.

And its launched and funded.Warpath Kickstarter

Thursday 10 September 2015

Wizard Statue

While I wait for some undercoat for Crooknose and his palls, here's a little bit of Frostgrave for you.

I found this at the local second hand market the other day and thought it wold be great as a Frostgrave statue.  For only 50p its worth experimenting.  The broken hand isn't  a problem, I'm sure a statue wouldn't survive unscathed, in fact I may add a bit more weathering before I paint it.



I have made a plinth out of pink foam, I just need to find some MDF for a base then pin everything in place and get painting.

I have also been experimenting with carving stonework on pink foam to see how effective it is for ruined walls.  I like my fold flat stuff, but I would like something a bit more bulky for home use as well.  Still not sure how well I like it, but I will post some results on here when I have got a bit further on.

Tuesday 8 September 2015

Sharpsticks 2a Meet Crooknose

Now the gluing.
Head first.  Its worth making sure that the lug on the head is trimmed as any sprue still on it will stop the head fitting properly

But he is still armless

That's better

Ready for painting

There is a little dint or scar on his nose so I have called him 'Crooknose' and will be using him as the volunteer to show my painting techniques.

I have a few more of his friends to finish assembling, I hope to get the undercoat on tomorrow (weather permitting).




Sharpsticks 2

This might seem like a step backwards, but here is a quick guide to how I prepared the goblins. There is nothing too complicated here, the models are only four parts and assemble easily.  There is probably no need to pin the arms in place, but I wanted to be sure, and the pins in the feet are only necessary as I will be pinning all the goblins to a scenic base to match the others.
Parts selected from the HeeBeeGeeBee*, enough to make five more Sharpsticks.

Sorted into individual goblins

The tools required.  Superglue and plastic cement also needed.

First step is to remove the integral base.  Fortunately the plastic is softish, so most of the work can be done with the snips.

Trim the outer bits of base

CAREFULLY cut out the bit of base remaining between the legs.  This will bend the legs slightly if you rush, I have even had feet snap off at this stage, but they easily glue back on.

With the snips carefully trim the bits of base under the feet, this makes the next stage easier.

The goblin's feet are a little shallow, so by leaving a bit of the base thickness underneath them I think they look better.  
The remaining stages are pretty normal, using a knife and a file clean up all the mold lines and remove the lugs where the archer's arms would go.  Then drill holes for the pins in one or both feet and using the cut surface from the arms lugs, into the torso for the arm pins.  A couple of holes in the right and left arms completes the preparation, just the gluing to do now.


*HeeBeeGeeBee = Huge Box of Goblin Bits, as featured in an earlier post.



Monday 7 September 2015

Sharpsticks so far

Here are some of the previously mentioned goblin sharpsticks.
Fifteen of the blighters

Close up including some command models
This would be enough for a regiment, but I am planning to build at least one horde, so I will assemble some more before painting.
I will follow the progress of this unit on the blog to show how I paint units for mass battles.  The results aren't award winning by any means, but they are good enough for table top use.

Saturday 5 September 2015

What I Did on my Holidays

I remember when I used to have to write that kind of essay at school, way back last century.  Just back from a lovely relaxing week with the family, but i did manage to squeeze in some gaming too.

I took my KoW goblin army to get some ready for painting.  I had cut everything off sprues and put as much stuff as possible in an old tool box, along with the various tools needed to clean up and put together the minis.
Goblin army - Some Assembly Required
I managed to plan quite a bit, i.e. what units I want to paint up and a rough army list.  I even managed to start assembling a horde of 'Sharpsticks' (spear armed goblins).  As with my previous units 40 goblins will become around 30 with some tree stumps etc.

I also got in a three player game of Frostgrave with a friend who lives in the area and my son.  I took up my fold flat ruined buildings, which seemed to work fine.



I even got in some painting as both the lad and I have the Reaper Learn to Paint Bones kit.  Its surprising how much you can learn following another person's instructions, especially as I am at the 'you can't teach me' stage.

I also managed to consume a truly heroic amount of Wensleydale cheese and took in two castles and an abbey.  All good background for roleplay.



And finally, when I got home my hardback copy of Kings of War was waiting for me.  Overall, I am a rabbit of very positive euphoria.