Frostgrave Warband: Badgers!

I feel I am making good progress at getting my Frostgrave project closer to the tabletop and our first game. Tonight I finished up another warband -- Splintered Light Miniatures 28mm Badgers. These are some really nice figures, I feel. Unfortunately, four of them were the same pose. So, I put my skills to the test on making them look different. I think I did a pretty good job at giving them the appearance of variety.

The Badgers' Heritor leader, left, and their spellcasting Warden (and familiar) right

 First up, are the warband's leader (Heritor) and its Warden (spellcasters). The leader is the guy on the left with the giant morning star held over his head. Although the lighting in my photo doesn't show it, his surcoat is a deep purple. I actually snagged this miniature from my friend Keith Finn in a trade because it looked like the perfect leader figure for this warband. Alongside him is my favorite figure of the warband (or should I say figures?). I love this Badger pointing as if he's casting a spell or about to hurl a blast of magical energy towards an enemy. What makes it all the better is the tiny, unclothed badger in a mirror pose. This small badger was a giveaway from David McBridge of SLM, tossed into a purchase I made at a convention. What better figure for a tiny familiar than this one? As soon as I got these figures out in preparation for painting, I thought I had to put the two of them on a combined base. He has magical symbols painted on his lavender tunic, with the largest one on the back (which you can't see in this pic).

A Badger archer and axeman investigate my newly-produced ruins pieces looking for abandoned treasures

One of the modifications I did to the figures was add a bow strapped to the back of one of the Badger Axemen. As you can see in this picture, I did a very medieval looking surcoat over the armor that the figures wore. Some of the armor I painted in bronze mail, the others in steel chain. I gave them a checkered pattern on their surcoat, which I thought turned out fairly well. You probably can't tell from these iPhone images, but there is highlighting in each square, as well. The other badger, in yellow and black, was also slightly modified. I converted his double-bladed axe into a single-bladed one. I know, not the most labor-intensive modification, but it does give him a slightly different appearance. Hopefully, with the different color schemes they'll appear less uniform on the tabletop.

I converted the spearmen on the right from the axemen on the left - I like how it turned out!

Finally, the most fiddly of my conversions -- the spearman. I snipped off his axe and added a spearhead to the top and extended the axe handle to the base. It is every so slightly crooked, but then again, miniature spears made from soft metal often end up that way as wear and tear from using the figures! I like how the slight lean forward of the pose looks as if he's resting on the spear, supporting some of his weight. The red, white, and silver pattern is fairly medieval looking, and I like how it turned out, too. His companion axeman in blue and yellow is the only one of the four axe poses that is completely unmodified.

I'll be offering up this warband to my players to use in my Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago campaign. I definitely like how these figures look. They are some great examples of Splintered Light Miniatures quality poses and castings. Next up on the painting desk is some more terrain -- scratch-built ruins using the Hirst Arts block that turned out really nice!

New Warband for Frostgrave: Pine Martens

The Pine Marten warband using Splintered Light Miniatures

I am continuing my preparation to begin running Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago for the Sunday night gaming group. I am painting up warbands for the players using Splintered Light Miniatures' line of 28mm animals. This warband uses figures from their Pine Marten line. I have to admit, I had never heard of a pine marten before I bought the figures a number of years ago. Apparently, they are a type of weasel more common in Europe.

Each warband will consist of 5 figures, but I will usually be painting up a sixth one for some variety and player choice. This is half the size of a standard Frostgrave player force, but we have a pretty big crew on Sunday nights, so I am worried about games taking too long. Another local group ran a Frostgrave campaign with smaller warbands, as well, and everyone seemed to have a good time, I hear.

The Pine Marten's Heritor, left, and Warden.

The leader of each force is called a Heritor in Ghost Archipelago. He has magical powers, but is often a skilled warrior, as well. His family bloodline has remained pure tracing ancestry back to those that drank at the magical Crystal Pool, which explains his greater powers. The figure above on the left is the one I plan on being the Heritor (although the player who uses them is free to choose a different one, I guess). I gave his chain and plate armor bronze with gold highlights. The fur pattern is probably the one I think turned out best of the group. Meanwhile, the Heritor's assistant is a spellcaster called a Warden. These wizards learn elemental type magic -- based off of water, air, earth, etc. They are not allowed to wear armor or carry shields (but are free to use whatever weapons they choose). So, this figure with a halberd and billowing cloak worked great, I thought. It his hard to tell in the photo, but the cloak is painted in four bands of colors -- pink, burnt orange, red-brown, and dark brown. A wizard has to have a fancy cloak, right?

Two Pine Marten warriors -- one with a morning star and the other with an axe and bow strapped to his back

Next up is a group of ordinary soldier types. The SLM Pine Martens do not come with any archers or missile troops. I decided that I would modify a figure in this case as an archer in case players want missile troops. I thought about cutting off the axe, drilling out the hand, and then inserting a box. However, I am not very good at converting figures. So, I decided to simply glue a bow to the figures back. It is much more noticeable if I turn the right-hand figure around to see the backside, but I was happy with how it came out. The left-hand figure with the morning star turned out well, too, I thought. I especially liked how the pattern on his tunic looks.

Two more SLM Pine Marten warriors

There is not a lot of variety in the SLM Pine Marten figures, so you'll notice duplication here. The left-hand figure is a repeat of the axeman above, while the swordsman is the same pose as the Heritor. Although I love the SLM line of animals, that is one drawback of some of the creature types. Some have only a few poses, some more, some even less. So, it's probably a good thing that I went with the smaller warbands! I would have had to do a LOT more figure modification otherwise.

Mice Army - Splintered Light Miniatures

Brian Jacques' Redwall novels are the inspiration for much of the Splintered Light Miniatures line, especially my mice army!

I finished the last four stands of my army of Splintered Light Miniatures Mice. I know that SLM is billing itself as 20mm figures, nowadays. However, these mice are tiny! Which, I guess, is to be expected. The figures average about 11mm in height from the bottoms of their feet to the tops of their heads. So, after all the 28mm figures I've been painting recently, this was an adjustment.

Still, the figures are great, and are very cleanly cast. There tends to be little to no flash at all that needs to be trimmed off. And not so many nooks and crannies that are difficult to fit your brush into, like in some lines. Nor is there an over-abundance of equipment festooned to the figures. They tend to paint up quickly -- especially one you have whatever base coast and drybrush method you're using to depict their fur.

So, here it is, the third of my SLM armies based up for my own fantasy miniatures rules. Enjoy!

Mice Heavy Infantry
I thought it would be cool to give each heavy infantry unit of the army its own banner with slogan. The slogans would all be related to cheese. I am normally not given to whimsy in my miniatures gaming, but this was one I couldn't resist. Each heavy infantry base has 5 figures (light troops have 4). I painted them in the colors of Medieval Heraldry as my theme for how they look.

The "Meunster" and "Camembert" regiments

The "Edam" and "Cheddar" regiments

The "Gouda" and "Brie" regiments

Mice Light Infantry Slingers
Splintered Light Miniatures make mice with slings, so these were a natural for this army's skirmishing infantry. I put four figures to a stand with light troops to show their more dispersed formation. I also did not bother with banners for them -- figuring that only the heavy units would really use them. This photo, and the one above of the Gouda and Brie regiments, were entries I submitted in the Lead Painters League.

Mice slingers lurking at the edge of terrain

Mice War Elephants
Elephants and mice together? It just fit too easily into this slightly whimsical army to resist. I sorted through my 15mm Ancients figures and found a couple of Indian elephants that I would not be painting anytime soon (if ever!). I scratch-built a howdah using craft sticks and bamboo skewers. I armored it with some 28mm Dark Ages shields, and crewed it with a couple mice spear, and voila! The heavy fist of this mouse army was done.

Mice riding on elephants was just too perfect for me to resist...

Mice Heroes and Shaman
One of the many things I like about Splintered Light Miniatures are its "heroic" figures. For every line, there seems to be a number of leader or hero type poses that really give it spice. In some armies, the figures are so cool looking it is hard to pick which you want to be the heroes or leaders! These were the two I chose for this army, along with a wizard-looking type to be a Mouse Shaman.

A mouse shaman and two heroes

Squirrel Army - Splintered Light Miniatures

My Splintered Light Miniatures Squirrel Army

I got a visit from a squirrel outside my office window, today. He had a complaint. He was wondering why I had not post pictures of my Splintered Light Miniatures Squirrel Army, yet, but HAD post them of my Raccoons. His flicking of his tail conveyed his agitation as he pointed out that the Squirrel army had been painted before the Raccoon one. So, to avoid being swarmed by angry squirrels next time I go outside, here it is.

Squirrel Archers

Here are pictures of my stands of Squirrel archers. Note that all units are based up for my own fantasy miniatures battles rules  (still in the writing stage -- hopefully playtesting soon). All units are on hexagonal bases.

Squirrel Spear & Sword 

Squirrel Highlanders

I have to admit that these are my favorite figures in the army! I mean really...squirrel highlanders? What a cool concept. The sculpting has so much personality. If they gave you enough variety of the highland squirrels in the bags, I'd have done the entire army this way!

Squirrel Ally

It seems only appropriate that Squirrels would ally with Ents. I mean they do spend most of their lives in trees, right? So, the two would have common ground when it came to fighting enemies. Here are two Black Raven Foundry Ents, with a Squirrel "tree herder" marshaling them.

Squirrel Heroes

Each army under my rules will have a number of generals, heroes, wizards, etc. These are based individually, and on smaller bases. Here are this Squirrel heroes!

Splintered Light Miniatures Raccoon Army

With my Wars of Insurgency and Beaver Wars published, my time has finally been freed up some to work on my next rules project: a fantasy miniatures rules set for use with the woodland animals of Splintered Light Miniatures. I am finishing up my third army specifically based for this system. Once my fourth one is complete, I will begin playtesting. Or perhaps I will put other figures I have on sabot bases and start earlier.

The hexagonal basing system is a key component of the rules. Each unit is on a roughly 45mm (1.75") base. This will be a key feature of the movement rules designed to eliminate arguing over the milimetrics and angle-measuring of some rules sets. It will also fit in with the First Command Wargames philosophy of easy-to-teach and simple rules. I will save for later posts detailed discussion of the rules mechanics.

Instead, I wanted to feature pics of one of my painted armies. This one is my Raccoon army. A couple of the photos were entries into the Lead Painters League back in 2013. Others are front and back detail shots of stands. Most armies will be composed of around 10 bases of units with three individually-based leaders.

Also painted up are my Squirrel army, and the almost-completed one is my Mice army. Sitting on the painting desk, waiting patiently for its chance to strike, is my Fox army.

These are pre-painted plastic figures that are repainted and based up for the army

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Spear-armed Raccoon troops

Another Two Units of Splintered Light mice

Two more units for my Mice army to be used in my fantasy miniatures battle project

With the Lead Painter League done, I was free to work on any project that I wanted. I have a huge batch of Acheson Creations buildings coming in, but they have not arrived, yet. So, I foresee a lot of French & Indian War terrain, like forts, blockhouses, log cabins, and such in my near future. For the time being, though, I needed something else to paint up. I decided to do another two bases' worth of Splintered Light Miniatures mice for my fantasy miniatures battle project. I'd completed the first two stands for Round 1 of the League, so decided to add a couple more units.

On the left, the Muenster regiment (motto on flag: "Here be Muensters!"....thanks, Nicole!)

Under these rules, each stand will be a self-contained unit. Awhile back, I'd purchased a huge bag of hexagons bases (about 1 3/4" across) from Litko for an -- as yet -- unrealized gladiator project. When I decided to slip this particular project in front of the gladiator one, I'd decided to use some of the hexagons as bases for my troops. The reason for that is the movement system will utilize a "gridless" hexagon board. If you have ever played the clicky aerial game "Crimson Skies" then you know what I am talking about. A unit lays down a number of hexagons in front of their position to indicate their path of movement. The unit base is then placed atop the final hex and that is its location.

On the right, the Camembert regiment (motto on flag: "Oh Camembert, we stand on guard for thee!")

The result of all that is "units" are composed of 3-5 figures based on a single hexagon base. I sorted through my mice and decided to paint up a unit of spear and one of axes. I tossed one spear in with the axes to be its standard bearer, and added a hero mouse to the spear, as well. If you remember, the theme for the units in my mouse army is cheese. Each unit, or regiment, will take its name from a type of cheese. My first two units were Gouda and Brie. Each also has a battle slogan that uses the cheese brand as a pun. For these two units, I decided to go with Camembert ("Oh Camembert, we stand on guard for thee!") and Muenster ("Here be Muensters!"). I have my friend Nicole to thank for the Muenster slogan, by the way.

Back view of the two regiments. I really like how the purple came out with its color wash!

The 18mm Splintered Light Miniatures I am using have very medieval-looking uniforms. So, I'd earlier decided to use the "rules of Heraldry" for my color patterns, as well. That meant no "color" (Black, Red, Green, Blue, Purple) on color, and no "Metal" (White, Yellow) on metal. The Muenster regiment has hooded cloaks, so I decided to go with a split Purple and Yellow color scheme. I decided to be lazy and not quarter the Camembert regiment, and also go with a split, half and half scheme. They would be blue and white.

I also decided to continue using the skills I'd picked up in this last round of the Lead Painters League. I did color washes on the four colors used for the mice's uniforms. I particularly liked how the purple came out. I painted it a base coat of lavender followed by a watered down wash of Iron Wind Metals "Tongue Purple." The same format was used for the other colors -- a pale base coat followed by a richer color wash. This is finished off by a dry brush of a very light shade in that tone. The three colors and the shaded tones of the wash gives it a more vibrant color, I feel.

The banners I once again produced in photoshop. The Muenster one had to be very narrow to fit in the small space between the mouse's head and the tip of the spear. So, I made it a long, flowing pennon type. For the Camembert regiment, I used a 28mm metal spear trimmed to size. I then used a pin vice to drill a hole in the base to secure it into. It was then pressed up against the outstretched paw of the hero mouse to make it look like he is grasping the standard.

Although I am painting very small miniatures when doing the mice, they still seem to go easier than the 28mm skirmish figures I paint with their riot of equipment -- especially the Conquest Miniatures Indians who will often have several bags, powder horns, etc., festooned all over them. Measuring about 14mm in height from feet to tips of their ears, these are small figures. The detail is well-cast, though, and I never really feel that anything is a stretch to do. I do their belts, for example, in two tones, just as I do for larger figures. I have always loved Splintered Light's line of miniatures. Every time I finish up a batch of them, I love them that much more...!

Lead Painters League 8, Round 1: Splintered Light Miniatures Mice

 

My Round 1 entry into Lead Painters League 8: "Fight the Gouda Fight!" Splintered Light Miniatures mice, painted and based for the fantasy miniatures rules set I'm writing. I won 443-17 in that round to start with a 1-0 record.

Since Round 1 of Lead Painters League 8 is a theme ("Classic Fantasy"), I decided to go to the inspiration for Splintered Light Miniatures excellent 15mm-20mm line of anthropomorphic animals. The mice of the Redwall series are the iconic force from Brian Jacques line of young adult fiction novels. I've wanted a mice army ever since I read the first novel in the series. However, whenever I parked myself in front of the Splintered Light booth, something else always seemed to catch my eye. First it was the badgers, then Squirrels, Fauns, Raccoons -- it seemed everything animal in the forest was cutting in front of the mice. However, when I decided to write my own set of fantasy miniatures rules, I knew it was time. I bought the figs needed for the mice from David at Splintered Light.

And there they sat. At least for a year. Until the league was announced, and the Classic Fantasy theme was unveiled. I am assuming that the league won't have a problem with them counting as "classic". After all, a line of 22 books is fairly extensive! Anyway, my new rules feature units on hexagon-shaped bases. Each base contains 3-5 figures. So, I sorted through my lead pile and pulled out two bases worth of mice. One is a unit of spearmen, er, spear mice, and the other is armed with swords.

Like I do anytime I paint an animal or SLM anthropomorphic animal, I did my research first to see what mice really look like. I sorted through Google images until I found and downloaded a range of colors from white, gray, tan, brown, black and yellowish-colored mice images. I always glue my figures down onto cardboard squares to paint them. So, I wrote on each piece of cardboard what that particular figure would look like. Each base would have a standard bearer, leader figure, and three rank and file mice. I decided to go with a "quartered" medieval look. The spear unit would be green and white, while the swords would be red and yellow. I also intended to give them a regimental name. In a rare bit of whimsy (for me), I decided to name each regiment after a type of cheese, and give the a battle cry based off of that. So, channeling the state of New Hampshire, the Brie regiment would have a battle slogan of "Live Brie or die!" The Gouda regiment would be "Fight the Gouda Fight!"

The first step was to paint the fur. Using dry brushing and washes, I did my best to replicate a variety of mouse looks that I'd found in the Google image searches. The figures are crisply detailed and relatively easy to paint. There is not a overabundance of equipment on them, so they went fairly quickly. I did a dry brush for each color of their uniform quartering, too, beginning with a darker tone and dry brushing the lighter over it. I really liked how some of the figures turned out -- the medieval hooded surcoat in particular looks sharp painted up in a quartered pattern.

I wasn't overwhelmed with the job I did on the shields. I was even less pleased with the look my ink wash gave me. I've been using this new method of washing ever since I abandoned the clear Acryl and black mixture. The acryl has a tendency to strip the acrylic paint I use off of the miniature to the bare metal. The ink was a change, and I have been fairly pleased with it. I am starting to become disenchanted with it, though. This league may see me switch if I'm not pleased with it again, soon.

For the banners, I used a combination of Google images and Photoshop. I created a rectangular banner with an image of cheese on it, with the battle slogan for each unit. I printed them off on my color laser printer and glued them around the standard bearer's pole. The mice standard bearers are cast with no flag, but simply a large crescent shape atop their pole. I also decided to change the way I do the flocking for this entry. I painted the base with white glue and poured Woodland Scenics brown medium ballast over it. Once dry, I painted it in Burnt Sienna -- my favorite earth-red ground color. I then dry brushed a light tan over the ballast. I also added a few slightly larger pieces of tallus as rocks. I did my ink wash over the surface, and then Woodland Scenics blended gray turf was added to it for patches of grass, and clump foliage further added for brush.

All in all, I am pleased with how these two bases of mice came out. Will they bring me a victory? Well, smaller scale figures tend to not do as well in the Lead Painters League. So, we'll see, as these little buggers measure about 10mm from feet to eye level. I'll bill them as "15mm" in the contest. Otherwise, voters always assume the figs are 28mm.

Remember, pictures will be added after the first round voting is complete (late March).