Frostgrave Update Pt 2

My target was to get my minis finished as quick as possible to start Frostgrave this year. That target is now complete.

The mighty wizard and his apprentice are already assembling a might war band to enter the ruins of the frozen city in the hope to find hidden treasure and secrets it my have within its walls.

The Gang

The Wizard And His Apprentice

The Boys Are Back In Town

Bow Bro's

Scrim's The Name Treasure Huntings The Game With His Old Pal Burt

Thieving Hobbits!

There you have it my collection of war band members. I tried to make sure I had enough characters to fill all the slots I my need and maybe some could do double duty.

Now all I have to do is choose the wizards discipline and I am ready to go.

X wing : Rebels Vs Scum (New Board Test)

So for the maiden voyage of the newly made board I invited Ed over and we settled on a game of X wing (got to use my new Deep Cut Mat to)

Ed was playing Scum today and went with this lovely lot.

I was rebels and went for this formation.  (I was proxing recon specialist 2 focus for Chewie yeah.)

The Rebel ships are on there way to meet up with the rest of the Rebel fleet when suddenly they encounter hostiles ahead.

All ships charge forward dangerously close to the asteroid belt. Chewie and Blue squadron 7 moves to the left to meet Talon Bane while B wing 14 moves of to meet the Star Viper and Y wing.

Talon Bane shoots and hits the B wing taking down 2 shields. Chewie fires and hits causing Talon Bane to lose shields. The B wing follows Chewie’s lead and fires and also scores a hit.

The Y wing and Viper gang up on B wing 14 but they only take a few shields. The B wing in return attacks and hits the Y wing.

B wing 14 moves forward as the Y wing and Viper move behind out of all of each others firing arcs.

Talon Bane moves in and fires again on B wing 7 and takes more shields which delivers double damage. The B wing in response  K turns to face Talon Bane.

Chewie fires on Talon Bane causing more damage. B wing 7 in revenge fires and destroys Talon Bane.

The Y wing moves forward firing on B wing 14. The Star Viper also attacks which takes the remaining shields from the B wing and delivers damage.

(side note I miscalculated a move with Chewie which made his base go out of the area. The rules meant that the Flacon was gone from the game but Ed allowed another move.. Thanks ed.)

All Ships start to close in on each other. Chewie and B wing 14 move in to reinforce the charge on the last of the Scum ships.

The Y wing and Viper attack  B wing 14 which is desperately trying to hang on until reinforcements arrive but he takes to much damage and is destroyed.

Chewie arrives and takes revenge and shoots at the Y wing and destroys it.

The Viper scans and can see the remaining B wing is in distress due to Talon Banes earlier work and fires at the B wing. Unable to evade in time the B wing is destroyed as Chewie moves on ward to meet the Viper.

The Viper dances around the Falcon and shoots taking out the last of the Flacons shields also leaving 7 hull left.

Chewie fires back but fails to hit but shoots again due to gunner but again no luck.

Both ships continue to move side by side both desperately trying to make that critical blow.

The Viper fires and misses. Chewie sensing the time is now fires and hits 3 times destroying the Viper giving the Rebels a victory.

This was a very enjoyable game. I tried this list for the first time and was happy the Flacon lasted all game this time. The B wings are defiantly really hard and I can see why some people take 4 of them. I'm looking at you Macca!

I know it would have been a very different game if Ed did not let me take back a move with the Flacon.. I got to really take care with ships with large bases and calculating moves.

So not only was this an enjoyable game the board has now been officially christened with its first run out.  I'm really happy it works. I cant wait to get some more games in on it. 

The Big Battle Board Build.

For the last 2 years I have been waiting on a Kickstarter battle board from Games and Gears and have been collecting various bits of terrain in preparation.

Now I am not going to go into a large rant about it here as it's just to long and tiering. So if you want to see the project you can look at Game and Gears battle boards Kickstater on line and see all the comments and calamities.

G&G Battle Board

Anyway after years of delays they finally have said that they may not be able to send me my 6x4 plastic battle board ( I would have to have chosen the last one to get released and not made) 

It was supposed to be six 2X2 boards that clip together  which had trays around the edge for dice and holding cards and minis etc.

After receiving this news (people were not happy!!) I though right I am going to make my own.

So I went to my garage and found some off cuts of wood and popped along to B&Q to get 2 6X2 mdf boards to make my gaming table. 

For those who are masters at DIY look away now....

Here is the finished 6x4 Board.

I started off by making a frame around each board. Along the bottom I used the timber to add a bit of hight and support. 

The frame also gave the board a little edge which stops dice from falling off and frames each piece nicely which is handy when using a mat on the board.

I then drilled holes through the two middle sections along the bottom of each board to fit bolts. This will allow me to connected both boards together and make it easier to store the boards separately. 

Having done this the board still bent a little in the middle if you put to much weight on it. I added some brackets on the joints of the board where each board edge met which stopped this.

This was my first ever board build and made it with out any plans (silly I know). As I used scraps and tried to keep it as cost effective as possible I feel it turned out ok.

It might have been easier to get two 4x2 boards instead as the split of the boards would have gone vertically. This would have been more stable when putting the board on the table but for the same price as two 4x2 I got these 6x4 and bigger is better..

Next time I think I would use 2x1 for the sides and bottom so I could add some hinges. Then it could be a folding table.

Now it just needs its first game and luckily Ed is free and is coming to play some X wing..

Winter is coming.....

In the last post I said I ended the year looking at Frostgrave. After reading the rules and getting excited with Mr2key we are starting on our war bands. I have put Deadzone painting on the back burner for now but they undercoated and ready to be played I promise.

Now I am trying to do this on the cheap so I am trying to find fantasy figures that I may have picked up here and there. I don't usually play fantasy at all really so luckily that charity shop tin I found a while ago has lots of Lord Of The Rings minis and they have come up trumps... I knew I kept them for something.

So here are the first 3 minis I have painted so far and my first painted minis of 2016.

I am still working out what models can fill the gaps in my warband. The cunning eyed would have seen that I have used the the 2015 Salute free mini for my bow man. I was not sure what I was going to get to use him but now seems the perfect opportunity.

I think I am going to have to raid some board games I have to fill the gaps for my thugs and apprentice etc.. I have loads of monsters so this is going to be great excuse to paint them all...

Also I got this in preparation..

Walking around the sales in Debenhams I found this. The best bit it was under £20! I was told after I got this a few Frostgrave players had seen this on offer and snapped this up over Christmas.

Right I am off to see how far I can get with finishing my war band. Hopefully I can get them all painted quickly and get them ready for a good fight.

2015 In Review.

Happy New Year!

Another year of gaming has passed by and just at the end papa Nurgle decided to give me the lurgy. Thanks.

Before the year was out I finished these two Warmachine models. Saxon Orrik and my Christmas present from Ed Ogrun Bokur.




I tried a different undercoat this time using bone by Army Painter as I was getting tired of using black and finding it difficult to see some of the details in the models. After doing this I might have to start using this a bit more often or a lighter coat of white or grey at least as it really seemed to make things a lot easier.

Talking of Christmas presents I was a very lucky boy. Following on from my games of X wing at the Essex Legion I got a load of Star Wars X wing ships even the new starter set. So I now have lots to choose from (not as many as Ed though ;) ) After seeing the film twice I want some more T90's and look forward to what new ships Fantasy Flight bring out. (Ghost...cough....)

So on to the year that was 2015.

The year started by coming back to gaming again after a brief spell away and headed straight in at the deep end with Warmachine.



I really added to my army during these months working on what units I liked and introduced some new casters, solos and jacks to my collection.

During the months that followed I was able to get some good experience playing Ret thanks to Ed.



Sylys with his Leroy Jenkins moment... yes he did hit but only scratch the paint work..


2015 was also a year of trying out some new board games.

I had fun playing as a smuggler in Firefly.

Also on the table was AvP which I feel in love with due to the minis and had to grab a copy.

unfortunately I am known as the worst Predator player according to Riot having played them once in an Alien heavy mission.. Should not have split them up sigh.. This will change in 2016!

I also went on a few trips this year.  My first trip was in April where I went to Salute and it was packed with toys. I walked away with new terrain,  Warmachine minis even some free Terminators..





In october a group of us headed down to Warhammer World and our minds were blown. Lets just say grown men were acting like kids. We even got a kill team game in where my Nugrle marines were victorious.

 

During October I made my first visit to the Essex Legion and played a few intro games of Warmachine.

Over the last months since going along to the club I even got back into X wing playing in a league which finished up in a huge epic battle.





At the tail end of the year the last project I started was to work on my Deadzone figures.




Phew 2015 was packed full of gaming goodness. It was great to get back into some old games as well as discovering some new ones to. Most of all it was great to reconnect with some gaming mates old and new again and find a new club that is buzzing with ideas and lots of access to play different games each week. It was also great to get out the brush and work on some minis.

So on to the new year. My gaming plans for 2016 are to try and play as many games as I can and get some more Warmachine games in before the upcoming journeyman league at the Essex Legion as I have not played in months. Also I need to build my AvP models and finish my Deadzone project.

At the start of this year I have had a quick look at the Frostgrave rule book and it  looks like a fun game. I have not really delved into any fantasy games so this could be a good place to start. Another good part is it should not cost me anything to start playing as I have some Lord of the Rings figures that I am sure I can use.

So what's your plans for 2016?


To finish off I thought I would post some of the minis I have painted or things I have made this year. I hope to be able to keep chipping away at that pile of plastic and metal.