Friday, October 30, 2015

Volstrum


I purchased a last levy box set from Warlord as I just love the characterful models.  I decided to put them into 3 batches.  Two Volkstrum batches to paint and a Hitler Youth squad.  I painted up the first batch of 6 just to realize I had a kid in the mix.  Apparently he jumped into the citizen levy when I wasn't looking.  That is what happens when you don't turn on lights in the basement to move to your painting table.  He'll get moved over when I paint up the rest of his unit.
 

Below my valiant defenders of the fatherland are taking cover in the sandbags outside of the city.  Move those panzerfaust into position!

I can't resist a black and white picture for this time period.  I just like the guy in the hat too.  I might make him my squad leader.  

Even old carts are being used to defend themselves from the Red Army.  It looks like Germany is in dire straights.



Saturday, October 24, 2015

Bikers

I bought the Nazarova Twins box set for my birthday back in June. I painted one of the models right away.  Then I needed a break from painting motorcycles.  After a few other models from different genres I was back and ready to tackle the other twin.


 A bit blurry, but here she is rolling down my street.

Taking the our bike out of the garage for a spin.


Lastly, the whole gang.

Tuesday, October 20, 2015

Waffen SS Officer

I've been trying to move my mid-war army closer to a late war army with my recent acquisition of the last levy box from Warlord as well as the great plastic grenadiers.  I also needed someone to lead them so I grabbed the SS command pack as well.


I know that the black coat is more of a political officer type, but I couldn't help myself.  I'm sure the other two guys I play with won't mind. 


He looks pretty decent in black and white.  I should make a little road side check point for him to be commanding from.  I think he will do fine as a junior officer leading my unit of SS when they take the field of battle.




Wednesday, October 14, 2015

Ragik

My Haqqislam army got a little extra boost as I finished up my Ragik with Spitfire.  He was a very nice re-sculpt who will be replacing the now defunct Ragik with HMG profile.  And I do admit, he was much easier to put together.


Now that I look at him I realize that my buildings are looking a little bland.  I should add some wall art or some poster to those bare walls to make them stand out a bit more.  A project for another time I suppose!


I enjoyed the pose of this model as it gives him an nice look of I just landed now I'm ready to lend support.  The running with a spitfire really helps create that look of urgency to help his fellow soldiers.


And now a stylized photo...


Sunday, October 11, 2015

Stug Time!

I had assembled the plastic Stug from Warlord awhile ago but I never got around to painting it due to Frostgrave and work.  With the wrapping up of our Frostgrave campaign for 2-3 months to allow us to read the Litch Lord campaign and assemble terrain we may need,  I moved my attention to long neglected models on my paint desk.


I forget how quickly a model paints up with an airbrush.  Once the model had its base colors on the detail work progressed fairly quickly.


A little glamour shot on the outskirt of the woods.


Why not a little soft focus as well.

I have this tank built as a Stug 42 as I desperately need the howitzer help in my army.  I also have the other barrel painted up so it would be a quick fix to allow it to go tank hunting in the future as well.  As the rules are written there isn't much of a point difference between the Stug and the panzer, and I enjoy the turret option a lot better.  Sometimes I would rather risk a side shot against my tank than take a negative penalty to shoot! Regardless I wanted the tank for its iconic value in the war.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Frostgrave Scenario - Horde of the Bloodsucker


Horde of the Bloodsucker

A 4-player Halloween-themed Frostgrave scenario 
by Brendan O’Connor and James Garfield

Set-Up

Set up a 3’x’3 table with whatever terrain you like.
Place a building, altar, coffin or other appropriate item in the center of the table to act as the vam-
pire’s entry point.

Warbands deploy in a 6”x18” area centered on each board edge.


Objective

Last wizard standing.

As soon as only one wizard remains in play, the scenario ends. Apprentices don’t count.

Magic Enhancement

The ritual site enhances the magical power of  all casters on the table. Each time a caster succeeds in casting a spell, he gets a +1 bonus to cast for the rest of the game. The bonus is cumulative.

The Vampire

The vampire will protect his territory if he feels that his minions aren’t getting the job done. After 20 spells are cast, place him in the center of the table.

Undead Minions

The vampire’s minions will enter each board edge during the  creature phase. We recommend zombies, but skeletons and ghouls are fine depending on your collection. Beginning on turn 2, place two minions on each board edge in the creature phase. In addition, for each successful spell a
players casts, he accrues one more on his edge; they are drawn to the power!
Also place one minion for every damaging hit a player’s warband takes; they are also drawn to the blood...and the screaming like little girls! That’s right-damage your favorite opponent to add more zombies to his table edge
Bloodbath - Double down on the initial horde size by keeping track of how many minions you would have generated in turn 1, so when you place them in turn 2’s creature phase you have a sizable starting group.

-----------------
We're moving straight into the finals for our next game.  This is our stab at a 4-player deathmatch that is admittedly far more combat-oriented than your standard Frostgrave scenario.  We'll only be about a week away from Halloween when this is played, so we needed something adequately gory.

Friday, October 9, 2015

German Grenadiers

I have some mid-war Germans for Bolt Action and when the new plastic box set of late war grenadiers came out I had to have them.  Yes, I thought they looked that good!  I also thought that I should upgrade a squad of ten to some Waffen SS as well.  So that is what I did with the first batch of ten.


The hard part was deciding on a color scheme.  I wanted something that wasn't just a 1945 issue camo pattern. While I am not playing with the fashion police, I still like them to look a little authentic if I want to take then a bit earlier than 1945!   I found a handy guide while looking through Artisan webpage, and settled on a pattern.  No pea dots!


I decided I could get a little artsy with the camera settings.  



I figure a mix of rifles, assault rifles and panzerfausts would be good for the unit of cold hard killers.



Saturday, October 3, 2015

Column Bashing

Game 5 of our 7 Week Frostgrave campaign was underway and after a pretty horrible start, my witch Krigast had become quite good at his job.  At this point in our campaign he started the game at level 10, had the full bonus to his fight attribute, could cast curse, strength, and bone dart at fairly low casting values.  I was feeling that he was up to the challenge of Ben's goatmen.

We were playing the scenario Forgotten Temple.  We jokingly referred to it as "column bashing."  The joke would be on us as those columns put up a much better fight than we expected...

Here we see the section of Frostgrave from Krigast's side.


 The columns were represented by my children's toy blocks.  Good thing they went to bed because they can become territorial when I play with their stuff.

Krigast won the initiative and quickly ran with his templar and man-at-arms body guard toward the center column by the theater house.  He cast strength on the templar making him a very formidable foe in hand to hand.



On the other side of the board, Krigast's counter part, (he isn't named as far as I know so I'll just call him Maaaaa...) advanced to the safety of the trees where he raised his zombie buddy.


Both apprentices advanced as well getting themselves into supporting positions while casting buffing spells.  My newly acquired knight received a strength spell at the cost of a few hit points for example.  Krigast won initiative again and took the opportunity to strike a column.  He very handily knocked out some treasure which a nearby thief was all to happy to escort away from the board.


Maaaaa, didn't move from the comfort of his trees and waited for his cronies to arrive to back him up.  He apparently didn't have much confidence in the zombie bodyguard.  Maaa's apprentice on the other hand raised a zombie too.  They were apparently going for the outnumber your opponent approach to the game. His thief then galloped into the house and struck a column receiving a treasure token in return.


Both treasures that we had picked up triggered some wandering monsters.  2 (wolf) spiders and a ghoul arrived.  And they arrived behind Maaaa and his kids.  (I know, bad goat joke)


Krigast's scrubs were able to secure a second treasure from a column, but his ineffective  treasure hunter, who was trying to attach a column which happened to be only 2" away from a board edge for an easy escape mind you, was having difficulties fighting the column.  The column lashed out and struck him for about 4 wounds.  Then Maaa's archer spied him from across the canal....


Splat!  Struck down by an arrow.


Luckily for Krigast, his faithful apprentice was over there with an archer and a knight.  They should hopefully be able to get some treasure out of that column!  Krigast was on the move up the center.  he was feeling confident that he could capture the treasure at the center column nearest Maaa's deployment,  Maaa quickly hoofed it away to fight the column first, promptly fluffing his attacks.  The templar made short work of the raised zombie and was closing in on Maaaa.


The wandering monsters finally caught up to Maaa's apprentice's zombie who rocked out killing both (wolf) spiders before getting beaten by the ghoul.


While the apprentice's zombie was busy fending off the wandering creatures, he quickly attacked a column.  Unfortunately the column rolled a crit and turned the apprentice into dog food.


Once again Krigast rolled initiative and rounded a corner to spot Maaa wildly hacking at the last column.  He ordered his templar and man-at-arms across a wooden plank to prepare to engage Maaaa, however Krigast cast bonedart at him killing him outright.  Krigast's first wizard kill!

With that last blow, Ben conceded the game.  Krigast jumped 5 levels and now sits at level 15 for our last campaign game before our royal rumble event in a couple of weeks.