Monday, 7 September 2015

Drinking the koolaid...hello Frostgrave...

Hello all,

A little while back I was over at my buddy Mike's gaming some Arab-Israeli conflict when afterwards he showed me his spoils from the recent Nickstarter for Frostgrave.  Needless to say, the book and the figures looked great and well...I think I'm hooked.

I did not buy into the Nickstarter...mostly because at the time it was not feasible for me...however now that I have a few extra pennies...I have spent these pennies...

damn you MIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIKKKKEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


But I digress...later that week (...<secret shame> the very next day) I went to my LGS and decided to take a look through the options for fantasy and Frostgrave-ing...I ended up picking a selection of Reaper Bones figures to start my foray into fantasy.

Please refer to the above picture...and repeat...


These figures are very interesting...great detail, very nice 'artwork', and are very very light...first thing I learned was the NEED to wash them thoroughly...sometimes I get lazy and don't wash my figures...and I'm lucky enough to get away with it...NOT with these ones...

I blame Mike...please refer to the above picture...

To be completely honest, these figures were a lot of fun to paint...afterall they literally bullied their way into the queue and got to the head of the line...nicely done Reaper, nicely done.

Without further delay...more photos...


Group shot...be careful in the hood...

Reaper minis...Bones line...(left to right):
Werewolf, Warg, and Ghast



Snarly animal things...
and their little butts... 

Creepy looking Ghast...


 I also took the chance to finish up some random skeletons that I had bought at Cangames about 3+ years ago...all they needed was some basing...nice to be finally done them... 
 

Nice thing...the world of Frostgrave also gives me the opportunity to recycle and use some of my existing Crusader Warband...

Nice rune-sword John Frank Sr.



Sunday, 6 September 2015

SAGA Warband...4 Points of Crusading goodness...

Hello hello,

Continuing on from my last post...I have been hard at work on my SAGA warband.  Our club has a tournament coming in early November and I wanted to make sure that I was prepared in advance for it...as it turns out, there may be a terrain competition, so I am eyeing this as well.  As well, just after finishing my crossbowmen I also went to completing my last Hearthguard...so I have 2 sets of Hearthguards with shields, 1 with two-handed weapons...

For our tournie, there is a minimum requirement to have a 4 point warband...ideally everyone will have upwards of 6 points using the original SAGA book.  I have just finished 4 points with 3 x Hearthguards and 1 x Crossbowmen.  As my warband is inspired by the Crescent and Cross book, I have also painted up a priest to accompany my forces.

My warband is the result of much toil, work, and fleecing of tribute and taxes from the peasants that inhabit the lands held by Duke John Frank of Orange.  Financed by John Frank I, the younger, John Frank II, seeks to further the family holdings, fortune, and his personal fame and glory in the service of God.  Overshadowed by their distant French relatives and their poultry and culinary fame, the Duke of Orange and his son see their time for opportunity and triumph.

(left to right) John Frank I, Friar Chuck, and John Frank II...

Crusader Miniatures personality figures, and Gripping Beast warlord (l to r)

The 3rd Hearthguard...I had a lot of fun painting these shields up and moved to a little more adventurous side compared to last time...I also made sure to include a very horrible looking Orange Duck...in tribute to the Duke and his French lineage and their amazing Duck a l'orange...


Finally, the entire Warband...4 points plus priest... 
 




Warriors...part 2...

Howdy all,

Happy Labour day, etc...it's a very hot one over on the East end of the continent...not like the snow they have over in Alberta...quite an interesting display of extremes.  Given the heat of the day, I thought I'd get caught up on my posting and picture taking.

I recently finished the second half of my Warrior crossbow unit for my SAGA warband, part 1 here.  I very much enjoyed this foray into the dark ages and things medieval...that and it gave me an excuse to watch Nicholas Cage in the "Season of the Witch"...

Don't ask...I have this morbid love for Nic Cage movies...I blame it on "The Wickerman"...

Anywho, here are some pics of my latest warriors...cheers.


And now...with the rest of their unit...

Monday, 31 August 2015

I'm here...not dead yet...

Howdy folks,

While I have certainly been making the most of this summer, I have unwittingly embarked on an electronics-light diet...I haven't had all that many posts over the past few months.  The painting brush has nonetheless been steadily working.

I was lucky enough to get some gaming in at the Club and at my buddy Mike's place...I was very happy to get my Israeli's back into the field against his Jordanians...while I certainly won the battle, I think he may have taken a financial victory.  After our game I looked at some of his recent purchases including the Frostgrave Nickstarter...needless to say, I am slowly drinking the koolaid and now somehow have some Bones Reaper fantasy figures on my workbench...damn you!!!

I have been continuing with my SAGA warband...as of last night I am 99% finished 4 points worth of Crusaders under the command of the Duke of Orange...or Duke L'Orange depending on if he is John or Jean-Francois...I'll see what the figures tell me.  I think I'm well on my way for our November 6 pt tournie.

I have started basing some of my Main Force VC...they are still on the table...and am looking forward to working on a group gaming scenario of the Maersk Alabama...more to follow on that.

Have a great last day of August and take care...more pics and posts to come in the next couple of weeks.

Cheers.

Thursday, 13 August 2015

Khurasan Miniatures - Special Ops

Hey folks,

As some of you who have followed my blamblings...you know, blog ramblings...m'eh, it was worth a shot...my chance to influence the English language...for worse.  Anyhow, some of you may know, I have a bit of a love-fest for Khurasan Miniatures...they are great figures, amazing detail, they come to the door clean...super clean, and are a lot of fun to paint <insert shameless, cheesy advertising jingle>.

I really like them! A while back I ordered up a couple of packs of the Special Ops troops for modern, near-modern, ultra-modern, and sci-fi...these are such great figs they can fit so many different categories.

The real issue for me was to make sure I painted them as well as I could...after all, the website pics by Piers Brand set an incredibly high standard, so I wanted to do the figures some justice.  The second issue was finding some great inspiration pics...thank you google...thanks to the airsoft forum, ctv news, and a few other places that I unfortunately cannot recall.

Because I had upwards of 20 figures to paint, I thought I'd try a few different schemes...in the end I copied some plain 'desert' uniforms, some Canadian Cadpat (desert and green), OCP, and a mix of many others.

At the moment, I still have to put the finishing touches on the bases, but I'm pretty happy with the results.

Feel free to offer any advice and comments...feedback is always appreciated.  I hope you enjoy the inspirational pics.

Cheers.

First group, CSOR inspired, green cadpat with some other mixed pieces... 

The inspiration...CSOR recruiting pic

Second group, mixed camouflage...


The inspiration...CSOR overseas


Third group...fairly plain jane type desert uniform...
 


The inspiration...JTF2 in Afghanistan at the beginning...

Final figure...my first attempt at OCP cam...very challenging...but worth the adventure


The Inspiration...CSOR troops on Parliament Hill last 9th of May for the Afghanistan Mission National Day of Honour...

I know I've missed a few of the troops due to my crappy picture taking, but I'll post a proper group photo when I'm completely done.

Take care.

Wednesday, 12 August 2015

Warriors, come out to play...SAGA that is...pt 1

Howdy folks,

I've been away for a spell...looks like this will be my summer tradition...a brief hiatus from the internets and posting on the blog.  While I have been away, I have not necessarily been idle on the painting front.

With our upcoming (early November) SAGA tournie I'm working on getting a 6 point warband complete...so far I've got 2 x Hearthguards (Knights with 2-handed weapons and Knights)...but wanted to add some ranged capability so I've started on the first half of a unit of warriors armed with crossbows.

I kept pretty close to my overall colour scheme for the warband and had a fun time figuring out the 'how to' of painting crossbows and researching more of the period.

As always, comments, views, and advice are always welcome.

Take care.