From BillA - Two Frostgrave Warbands (109 points)

I think this is the closest I'm going to come to a points bomb this Challenge.  A new gaming store opened in my area recently, and in the past couple weeks I've been there...five or six times now I think.  I've begun running store demos of the Call of Cthulhu RPG (which alas, I don't use miniatures for, otherwise I'd have a larger collection of Pulp-appropriate toy soldiers!) and the owner is actually working to assemble an in-store Frostgrave league.  I'm one of three regular store attendees interested, and both the other guys are getting their spouses and kids involved as well.  I'm working on wearing down my better half Gina's resistance.  Reaper's "Mousling" figures may be the key there, but her fear is, tender-heart that she is, she'll feel too bad when her figures fall in battle.  That's why you play a Necromancer, love...

But, in the interest of supporting my new friendly local gaming store, I've been buying miniatures and paint there.  Kind of a lot of miniatures.  Kind of two whole Frostgrave warbands.  In fact, two whole Frostgrave warbands.  And I got them both painted this weekend.

So first up, here's my Necromancer warband, the Undying Host of Sutekh-Ra:

"Shhhhh...no screaming, now.  Your end will be swift."

First up, here's my Wizard, Sutekh-Ra himself.  Gina suggested the color scheme, based on the villainous Mumm-Ra from the late-80s cartoon Thundercats.  Normally a withered mummy in a red bathrobe, Mumm-Ra can occasionally turn into a more powerful, barely-wrapped form ("Mumm-Ra, the Ever-Living") swathed in a red cape, which is what I tried to evoke here.

"Nyaaahhh!"

Next, my Apprentice.  Well, if my Wizard was based on Mumm-Ra, I knew my Apprentice needed to be based on the other undead supervillain from my childhood cartoons, so here's "Skelos-Ptah",bedecked in purple and with a bare, grinning skull.  

Here are three Men-at-Arms, equipped with shield and khopesh, and three Thugs, shambling to their master's service.  I felt like "Treasure Hunters" and "Thieves" are not the sort of people Sutekh-Ra would want hanging around, so I went with more martial choices.  Finally, here are two swarms of scarabs, acting as Warhounds:

"Hi, we're thirty-two 6mm figures! I don't think Tamsin's buying it, guys..."

These work out to just above the 500 "gold crowns" of a regulation starter warband; I figure I'll use either all three Thugs, or two Thugs and two Warhounds, depending on how things play out.  

Next up, the Diabolists of Belphegor, a Summoner warband.  With these guys, I wanted to play up the traditional Faustian summoner feel, hence the Reaper "Cultists" used as my Wizard and Apprentice:

My Wizard, Belphegor, is holding the book, while his Apprentice, Bifrons, holds the sacrificial knife at the ready.  I hadn't realized this while painting them, but the black robes with the bright scarlet lining are a pair of handprints away from being the robe from the terrible movie MANOS, THE HANDS OF FATE.  

Next, a trio of Thugs (Belphegor made matching uniforms and custom shields part of their retainer) and Tivriel, a Thief with more than a hint of the Infernal in her family tree:

"How about a kiss, soldier?"

Following them are a pair of Knights: The albino Cassiatta, known sometimes as "Lady Zenith," and Vaeloth, Tivriel's older and more violent brother.  The sigil on their shields suggest they may ultimately serve some power other than Belphegor - perhaps they belong to a cult, one that involves blue oysters:

Rounding out the warband are a pair of Hellhound Warhounds.  

But of course, what would a Summoner warband be without fiends from the darkest abyss to summon? Here are two Imps, and a Minor Demon.  I have a figure handy for a Major Demon, but did not get a chance to paint him over the weekend, so he will be posting next week.  

"Red next to yellow, kills a fellow.  Hair of flame, you've lost this game.  Coal black skin, call next of kin."

I had a much harder time with Belphegor's Diabolists than I had with the Undying Host - I just couldn't get the paint to adhere to the Bones material, and eventually I figured out that there was still mold release agent stuck to the material - going forward I'm just going to give all my Bones figures a dunk in boiling water, even if I'm not planning on reposing them, just to make sure I get all the grease off.  Here's a group shot of everybody in this update together:

Let's see, if we count the two Imps as 15mm and the two bases of Scarab swarms likewise, I think this should add up to 103 points.  Does that sound right, Tamsin?

Nice work Bill. I think my favourite in this lot is Tivriel.Given that we have been scoring 28mm halflings as full 28mm figures, I was going to score the imps the same, but if you insist on me scoring them as 15mm figures...