More Foot Sergeants - 28mm FireForge

Seeing as I was down a few crossbowmen for my Renaissance Army I made up 24 FireForge Foot Sergeants as crossbowmen (see below):

The remaining 24 were a combination of Spear, Battle Axe, Sword and Mace. Excellent figures (see below, another gamer noted their potential usefulness for Frostgrave):

Need another box of these ;)

The (Early Imperial) Romans are coming ... in 28mm

For a while now (well it seems to have been about ten years actually) I have continually found myself "humming and 'arring" about moving up to 28mm for certain ranges of figures. My thoughts ...

For ECW and Renaissance is sensible in 25mm/28mm to me (so I have collected some Warlord Games, a pack here and a pack there od Scottish ECW to honour a Scottish connection in the family but .. ahem, sadly without painting them .. er yet - but hang on I did paint up some Wargames Foundry metal Landschneckts, a herd (12) Redoubt Miniatures Mounted Men-At-Arms and some old Games Workshop Warhammer Empire figures to great applause).

Napoleonic's (as in big battles) were traditionally 15mm (but I painted them so, so slowly), but then the likes of Sharp Practice gave an excuse for 28mm and likewise, and I should say recently AWI "skirmish" gave me the excuse to unashamedly buy a box of Perry's AWI British Infantry (of which I have fully painted one out of the thirty odd to date, head hangs in shame) as well as collect a pack here and a pack there of various Napoleonics.

Ancients though were always thought of as safely 15mm for me, particularly because of my painful obsession with collecting DBM armies starting with the Greek City States. Just as that seemed to be going out of fashion Xyston miniatures (perhaps briefly) breathed life back into in and bring it into fashion IMHO. Their hoplites "stole my breath away" Top Gun style but I fear ruined my ageing eyes, I will still paint my Thracian tribes. To be fair this was fun as I did paint a fair few hoplites (and true I still have a fair few still to do). But then the Romans a dilemma ...  but I had time. I had read lots of Greek history and I would naturally have to do the same for Rome. There is a lot to read.

I made a small 15mm DBA army (Early Roman Imperial actually .. that's one of the reasons I still need the Thracians) but stalled, it didn't feel right. I knew it all started with "Foundry" and how their 28mm figures looked so beautiful when well painted. Republican, Caesarian and Early Imperial  .. but the lead was horribly expensive (though Xyston was not cheap for anything beyond DBA into DBM or DBMM territory) .. so I held back for fear of financial ruin and then came the plastic 28mm revolution, so it went back on the list "of wargaming things to do before you die", the Warlord Games Early Roman Imperial starter set became a "must".  I must have passed one by half a dozen times but held back as my attention was on "other matters of import". Then they went "out of stock" ... argh ... then they restocked, but I saw this bargain advertised on eBay and the deed was finally done (see below, 80% percent of the figures already put together [cleanly] but painting not started):  

The "defence" rests its case and I throw myself at the mercy of the court! The Army Painter method (aka dip) will be applied this year methinks. Note: They will also be very useful for my "Roman Fantasy" .. "Lost Legions" from Osprey Wargame Rules and perhaps a run out with "FrostGrave" game nights!

That's my plan or excuse anyway ;)

Footnote: WW2 is 20mm (a huge assortment collected over the past 25 years, lots unpainted) and 1/200 (a sensible early war collection) or 1/300 (a lot of donated and aquired lead in the form suitable for a proto 1944 German Panzer diviusion) anything else is madness .. so don't ask me why I have a large box of unpainted 15mm in the loft and why on earth I have a pack of Perry's 28mm 8th Army and DAK in the "should be a simple Project Box". Naval and Air will have to be dealt with elsewhere dear reader ;)

FrostGrave .. OK so I bought the book ;)

"Shiny thing, shiny thing, alert, alert!", but as we all know resistance was futile ;)

So all it took was a  quick look on eBay [where I spotted it at a cheaper than the original RRP, a bargain, for want of a feeble justification/excuse] and much to my surprise or rather embarrassment (aka my wife's inquisitive "What's this then another toy?") The parcel arrived promptly at the door. Despite the third degree at least it's here now (see below):

The good news is that it fits in perfectly with my existing Dark Ages/Fantasy collections so there is no additional figure purchases required .. that is unless I want to and of course I always want to! 

Perfect  for a "beer and pretzel" style game night.

;)

A touch of FrostGrave (II) .. Welcome back to the D&D in a Death Match scramble for Magic Items

I discover there is no end to my magic users talents as he summons or rather animates a corpse into a zombie [see lady in red below] to be totally under his control, mawahaw, evil laughter. Sadly she is very slow to get into combat and upsets my own thugs in the process, something about sharing combat space with an undead creature (see below, the magic user doing his stuff with his ever faithful Ninja by his side as per usual):

The battle for the disputed artifact token heats up as I draw up most of my fellow grave robbers troops to me. My imp is going sterling service for his master in the background but is soon to become a victim to a lucky "stab in the dark" from my adversary so much for animated monsters (see below):

The spoils remain evenly split at three treasures a piece (a profitable draw) as I am repulsed back in the centre by my opponents mercenary fighters. Although I did take out two of his henchman off camera thanks to the poison blow dart of my Ninja! The wizard and apprentice decide to safely safely depart as discretion is the better part of valour, before the inevitable wandering magical super-guardian monster(s) appears to see what all the noise is about (see below, the zombie is showing what a useful ex-human shield she can be):

As a finishing touch I prepare a clever piece of magic which will steal me the last treasure item. A super charged magic missile is prepared with the last of my manna. All I need is a good high dice roll (see below):

And I blow my hand off! Ow, time for my one-handed magician to re-embark on his balloon boat out of FrostGrave, feeling sorely chastised for going one spell too far. Still I have plenty of time to peruse the magical tomes on the flight home.

Summary:
FrostGrave is an excellent way to recycle old AD&D figures and floor plans along with nerwer 28mm fantasy and Dark Age wargaining figures :) 

A touch of FrostGrave (I) .. Welcome back to the D&D in a Death Match scramble for Magic Items

Reeling after the intensive (but fun) game of Strategos II of First Mantinea (it has to be said, again, I seem to be on a bit of a trip here) I slumped into a chair exhausted. Obviously seeing me as an "easy picking" I was approached by a young chap with a quiet Monty Python style psst, nudge, nudge, wink, wink "Excuse me. Fancy a game of FrostGrave sir?"

With dismissive air of "Excuse me, who do you think you are talking to, I'm a serious Strategos II player, can you not see the blisters on my dice throwing hand? Don't come all 'Jack the Lad' with me young man!" The nice young chap explained the concept of the game and just to humour him I give it a go. Within five minutes of playing I knew I was going to be an addict. It all takes place in the frozen, ruined remains of a magical city, devastated by misuse of "fell lore" in the dark past and now it is inhabited by fearsome beasts guarding ancient lost relics (see below):

You control a wizard, their apprentice and a hired bunch of mercenaries (aka thugs) as you search for magical loot. You get straight into tactical action from the start (see below). My ancient Chinese wizard is guarded by his trusted Ninja (bottom right of picture) as he sends a thug to fight off my adversaries henchmen (see below, right middle):

My cunning wizard then summoned a mischievous magical imp to wreak havoc in the enemies backfield, boy I already love this game, I have already summoned a monster, something I never managed to do in my D&D career. True I often attracted monsters as a result of my actions but that is totally different story. It certainly beats being a 1hp first level D&D magic-user with a ventriloquism spell (see below):

Meanwhile guarding the back of my wizard, my apprentice impresses everybody by summoning an impassable wall to block any enemy advance while my thugs find shiny things in the shadows of the ruins (see below):

What could possibly go wrong? Stay tuned for further details ...