Back in the Saddle again.....

OK, well... lots of time off, but no need to get into the why's....


My biggest project of late has been working on getting together and putting together my stuff for Frostgrave. I have been slowly getting into this game for over a year... I finally decided to bite the bullet and go all in for resources, but not figures. I have that tendency to go crazy buying stuff and then everything sits in a closet forever until the next shiny thing comes along....


Well... I opted to buy the source material and only figures I know I would use... I do not need to own everything....

Originally I picked up one pack... my Enchanter and his apprentice and the Captains blister... I had originally intended on using models I already owned. That didn't last too long. I stepped back and tried to minimize my purchases to figures I really liked and wanted for my war band. I made a few more purchases and added in a few older figures and even a newer Reaper Bones figure to be used as a thief.



I picked up pretty much all of the source material and as expected, it was all a very good read. I selectively gathered more miniatures...

I eventually settled on how I would build my war band. I did make, in my opinion, one "not-needed" purchase and that was for the undead box.... I saw them in person and really liked them... also, they could be used for the Lich Lord campaign. I did pick up the Frostgrave Soldiers box set as I needed some basic models to be thugs and lower war band members... I have to be very honest.. I think the plastic box set can be used to make all of the henchmen types listed in the original rules.

My purchase of the lead figures was only because I liked them and wanted to paint them. I did this before I actually had a chance to dive into the plastic kit. In the end, I knew I would have a lot of extra figures to potentially make more war bands... I opted to build them and give them as a "pre-constructed" war band to one of my friends and also offered other figures to other friends.. all of which I will be building and painting for them. I have no intentions on collecting a huge mass of  figures for this game.


As I have mentioned, I have been fairly busy... life does that. My pictures above are not in the correct order either.... but this one says it all....

These will be the first ones I get done.... My Enchanter and his apprentice, my large construct (I did buy the others just to have.. in case), a Templar and Captain (not a Frostgrave figure), The Reaper Bones Thief and the Frostgrave Thief (I will decide which I like better when they are painted) and the Frostgrave Assassin.... I plan to get her sooner or later. The rest of the war band will be filled out when I create them with the Frostgrave Soldiers box set.... I will post when I get them all together to paint.


I will also be working on a second war band for a friend....  The Elementalist and apprentice II and the Brigade Games all women war band for my daughter at the same time....


I will post more when I get this rolling. With a week left before HMGS Fall IN! 2017.. I will be fairly busy, but you can bet I will be taking this stuff with me to work on when and if I get down time at the show!!!!

Aftermath of HMGS Historicon 2017

OK, so it has been a looong while.. too long to go without posting. In my defense.... I have been doing a LOT of deck building and playing of VTES..... I warned it was another wicked hobby.... My collections contains over 35,000 cards with very limited commons.. so yes... lots and lots of uncommon and rare cards!

So, Historicon 2017 was pretty awesome... the registration desk went smoothly while there was internet...

There was a crap ton of games from all eras and genera's.... plenty of historic and fantasy of all scales!

Not sure what started the trend, but there was a LOT of skirmish pirate type games... and they were beautiful!



The scenery on the skirmish board was damn near museum quality!





Bolt Action WW2 skirmish.

This awesome game was a bit about history and a bit about some serious Mummy and monster action!

Awesome WW2 naval game.

Some Age of Sail games!!!

Jim's Gnome castle!

I am simply amazed at the quality of the gaming scenery at the shows.... the GM's have really stepped up their game here... literally!

This ship game looked more like a diorama than a game! Again... more skirmish pirate games going on....

Some ACW action.....

Team Yankee!! Cold War Germany

Another AWESOME naval game!

This tee-shirt needed recognized!

This was a huge table layout for... you guessed it.... another huge pirate skirmish game.... I seriously  regret not getting into any of them!

More pirate skirmish games!

Napoleonic battles raged!

I got to play Spartacus with the guys back in the hotel room.... this game is nasty!!! If you think Diplomacy was full of backstabbing back room deals and assassinations.... it is time for it to move over and welcome in the new game to love and hate... Spartacus!!!! I got my arse handed to me!

 

This was a steam punk game... more like the "Wild, Wild West" or Victorian era.

The modeling was phenomenal!

One of my favorites... Circus Maximus.... who doesn't like chariot combat racing!

I have to say.. I was finally able to get into the beautiful Frostgrave game! It was good vs. evil.... and I, of course.... chose to play evil Skaven! Even thought the rules were exactly the same for all figures involved, playing the Skaven made me very happy. I had to comment on these pics and I realize it is pic heavy for this game, but now I know what it is to die happy.... never in my life have I ever been so hot on the dice!!! I incredibly, with the GM's own dice.... rolled no less than 15-20 NATURAL 20's!!!! I also failed quite miserably when casting some spells.. thus taking some damage to my caster and his apprentice, but when I really needed it, when the dice roll REALLY mattered.. a slight mouthing of praise to Khorne and the Great Horned Rat....  and BAM!!!! another nat 20!

Above and below... my rats.. and their stats.

Turn one.... ready to cast "quick foot" and race on into town!

The scenario we played was based off of the Lich Lord campaign.... In the following pictures, my Champion and apprentice leap up to be the first to challenge the Lich Queen and her minions.....

Some early loot... The unfortunate thing about the game, but something I love.... when you leave the  board with treasure, you don't come back...  you could however move it to the edge and then run it off later... "IF" you survived or someone else didn't come and take it!

I charged in and engaged the Lich Queen and her minions... rats are usually not so brave, but there was a lot of bling to be had.. AND... lots of delicious chocolate to be eaten if I could get the treasure off the edge of the board!!!

Of course, she summoned he skeletons to take me on... 5 to 1!!! 4 skellies and the lich queen... I miraculously won that combat!!!! Everyone was awestruck.. including myself!

Yes.. I won that combat and pushed the Lich Queen and her minions back!!!!

The 20's flowed forth form the blessing of the Great Horned One like water form a fountain!

Eventually my luck would run out and the Lich Queen did manage to kill my champion, but only after my allies were in place to join combat... will.. kill steal the Lich Queen who was down to 4 health!!!! My apprentice hides in the doorway casting spells to little effect.. but enough to draw her attention while my allies kill her!

I also managed to kill the large wandering monster which was the equivalent to a chaos rider on a great wooly rhino! The victory points were mounting for team evil!

The troll manages to finally come to my aid and strikes down the Lich Queen while she concentrates all of her spell power upon my apprentice!

Our gracious host and GM! I volunteered to bring the chocolate for his game at Fall-In! 2017.... gold coins form Romolo's chocolates in Erie PA!!! Simple the best!

As the climactic encounter for the game was defeated, I sent my rats to gather treasure to add to our VP's while the other war bands fought it out over street supremacy!

Another favorite of mine is the huge space hulk game that is put on Saturday nights... these guys are absolutely awesome... They also run X-Wing, Armada and a lot of other sci-fi games at the shows...they also manage the 40K based tournament games.... like Battlefleet Gothic and the 40K tourneys...

A special thanks to all they do! These guys absolutely rock! A friendly reminder to all that even though HMGS stands for Historical Miniature Gaming Society.. there is always plenty of other stuff going on! From board games of all types.. Euro and historic... to pulp adventure and pretty much everything else!

And thus closed another great show.... I literally have loads more pictures.... but these ones meant the most to me!