From BillA - 28mm Frostgrave Trolls and Barbarian (25 points)

Today I've got a few more Frostgrave pieces, starting with a pair of  Reaper Ice Trolls (#77344).  Both of them are attached to 50mm round bases, also from Reaper.  I tried to keep the colors as muted and cool as possible to keep them as "cold" as I could, and I think I succeeded - the skin-tones are Reaper's Blue-Gray triad, with the softer skin of the chest, arms, face and legs highlighted one step lighter than the scaly area on the back.  I gave one of them green scraps of cloth around his hips, as well as a few green straps on his gauntlet (and for his, erm, G-string) to differentiate the two.  Additionally, the one wearing green had his right arm repositioned a little bit, bringing his hand up and forward, which I think adds a sense of momentum - like he's barreling towards a group of adventurers.

"I'm Thorgrim!" "Und I'm Einar!" "And we're going to slow roast your flesh, boil your bones for soup, and EAT" *clap* "YOU UP!"

Second, we have Reaper's "Nadia of the Blade" (Dark Heaven Legends #03409), which was part of an assortment of figures my girlfriend Gina got me for Christmas.  She'll be a Barbarian in a second, all-female Frostgrave warband I'm putting together.  I love that she has actual musculature instead of being cheesecake-in-chainmail, and her posture suggests some serious attitude.

I definitely went with a Red Sonja-influenced color scheme for her, and I tried to keep everything else as "cool" as I could to emphasize the bright red hair - silver chainmail, pale gray fur vest, wrist-band and boots, pale skin.

Apparently her sword is supposed to be straight, but on the piece I got it was bent juuuuuuuuuust right to look like a scimitar instead of a longsword.  Sure fooled me!

Here's a final comparison shot of Nadia and the Trolls to give a sense of scale.  Nadia's worth 5 points, and I'm hoping the wise and benevolent Tamsin will count the Trolls as a larger scale :)

Very nice work Bill! Great use of blue on the trolls - I'm going to score them as 54 mm figures, so this submission will give you 25 points.As for Nadia, I believe she was modelled on a certain redheaded flight attendant, not Red Sonja :)

From ClintB - 20mm Medevac Helicopter (23 points)

And as I continue to finish off my 20mm Vietnam project, just a couple more options to go which may get done in the Challenge. Firstly let me say Tamsin is NOT the flight attendant and Dave is NOT the nurse on this flight. And Frequent flyer miles will not be issued.

So what we have is a Revell 1/72nd scale Medevac Huey with Britannia Crew. Along with Pilot and co Pilot there are also a medical orderly/doctor a casualty and load master acting as security! They are all purchased as part of the medevac crew from Britannia. Slightly chunky but full of character. They also do a dead body with a ground sheet covering him (see my "Epic Fail" Bonus round entry) unfortunately it was a bit too crowded to squeeze them all in (That means someone has bound to have done it well).

It seems to me it is only in Modern wargames that casualties are vital to the game. No one worries how many Romans die for example in an ancient game. And that for e makes modern games very interesting (feel free to disagree) but not only are you trying to win the game but also do it without taking casualties.

This model was a BIG pain to finish. The kit went together well enough apart from me getting glue on the windows at every opportunity. But as it was over 10 years old (most of us have kits like that) the decals pretty mush disintegrated when applied or in one case just flaked off!  Still whinge over, I painted on two of the crosses but had to leaf a few decals off. That does not bother me as it is for wargaming and not display. If you look closely you can see the two red crosses I had to paint so please don't look closely. I know my club members well enough to know they will be happy if/when it turns up.

I have recently started using "Disposable" plastic wine glasses as flying stands as they are 8 for £1, are light and easy to store and transport and easy to replace. Also they can straddle a lot of terrain items and troops on the table so I would recommend their use if you do not already do so.

Lovely work Clint. Good idea about using disposable wine glasses for flight stands - nice and cheap and who doesn't like that?As for scoring, you've got the chopper at 12 points and five crew/casualty figures at 2 points each (half points for prone/seated).giving you a total of 22 points. I'm going to add an extra point though for the wine glass.

Tamsin's Tuesday Trouble Troop

Good morning passengers. We are currently cruising at 19,133 points towards our target altitude of 68.950.

We have a fun filled day ahead of us including two debut entries, one from a passenger who has joined us mid-flight.

Last week, someone asked how I was flying this plane while wearing a straitjacket. Have no fear, I wasn't in charge of that; this fellow was manning the cockpit:

So, all that remains for me to say is "Sit back and enjoy today's flight".

And That's A Wrap

Well the Monday Crew did themselves proud today, 7 different entrants posting 13 submissions worth a total of 805 points (not counting Miles' stats post and my posts which between them aren't with a pile of garbanzos).  

And with that it's good night from me and over to you Tamsin. 

From AdamC Two Frostgrave Monsters and a Young Fire Dragon (15 points)

Barring last minute submissions, this will be the last of our Monday posts, and we'll end with one of Adam's multiple entries

 First up we have a snow troll which is actually the Reaper cave troll and its not quite the harry beast described in the book but few people seem to make harry troll miniatures so his blueish white skin tone will have to do.

 the darker blue lumps I think those are supposed to be boils filled with puss and blood.  I made them darker blue... frozen puss and blood?  Sometimes its just best to go with the fantasy setting and not think too much about it.

 Next up is a Wraith knight a new creature from the Litch Lord expansion.  Its another reaper model though I forget which one.  Again doing undead that are incorporeal is a challenge but as this guy seemed more solid I did his, weapon, armor and scull as if they were solid

 But the cloak and robs as if they were less so and more ethereal.. or that is what I was going for.

 Finally we have a non-frosgrave figure Reapers Young Fire dragon.  I painted this (the first of several) guy for my gaming friend Chris Rett who needs monsters for his kid friendly "monster hunt" Game at Huzzah. As the kids will get to keep what they kill we need lots of monsters and I was happy to help out with the painting.

I used three sades of red in total, and buff for the spines and a black wash as it just seemed like a better choice than a brown one. That should be 15 more points (they are 25mm scale) 10 of which go to the Frosgrave challenge.

These are great beasties for Frostgrave Adam.  I really like the Troll, maybe he has mange or is following recent trends in bonds hair removal?  And I and it best not to inquire too much about troll's skin issues.  The blue skin is a nice touch.  Great use of shading on the Wraith Knight and Dragon, and again I like the use of stones, something a young dragon might collect before moving on to gems and gold.    

 So summing up Adam's activity today 5 posts, 220 points with 160 counting towards the Frostgrave Challenge.  That is to my mind a paint bomb, more impressive since only 7 figures were painted as a unit and the rest were all one offs.  Let's see what PaulS and BillA have to say in response on tomorrow's postings.  

From EdwinK - 28mm Eminent Victorian (5 points)

This is a 28mm metal figure from Black Pyramid Gaming - their Prof Stanton Brook.

Professor

He's obviously based on the Sydney Paget illustration of Prof Moriarty for the Strand Magazine, and that's why I bought him, but on handling the figure I was immediately put in mind of this figure from my youth.

Archbishop

This is Henry Edward Manning (1808-1892), Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster, and I somewhat perversely decided that I wanted him in miniature.

Whether the criminal mastermind has decided to disguise himself as Dr Manning, or whether - more shockingly! - His Eminence is himself the Napoleon of Crime will have to be the subject of further investigation.  It is however an odd co-incidence that Manning's death occurred mere months after Moriarty's supposed demise in Switzerland...

The base. again, is one I won from RayR.  I have tried to catch M's cadaverous pallor and broke the monotony of clerical black with some uncanonically grey gloves.

Criminal mastermind or Archbishop, I don't which one I fid more frightening.  Anyway a fine job on a fine figure and I am going those curtsied bases that you acquired from Ray.  Perhaps Ray can let us know where he acquired them?

From MilesR: 28mm Portuguese Line Infantry (162 points)

 A return to Napoleonics!  Please meet a Portuguese line infantry unit in 28mm scale from Front Rank Miniatues.  This proud regiment will swell the ranks of my Portuguese force to 2 regiments, but one has to start somewhere.

 The Front Rank figures are simply superb and are a joy to paint - I started these chaps after dinner last night and just got them done today.

The flags are some generic ones I downloaded from the internet (Napflags - it's a free source)

I like all forms of gaming but there is something special about seeing the big Napoleonic battalions set out on the table top.

32 figures plus 2 flags should net me out to 162 points for my "pork-n-beans" unit.

Miles you are a machine- you started these chaps after dinner last night and just got them done today.  How many cups of espresso did that involve.  Do you sleep?  A fine looking infantry unit and I do like a man who prints his own flags.  And yes Napflags is great, Warflags is also a goldmine.  Might I suggest that the next Portuguese unit you vary the trouser colours to include some in grey and especially brown.  It will break up the regularity of the unit and make it look more travelled.

From AdamC 28mm Chinese Wizards for Frosgrave (15 Points)

So one of the many awesome things about Frostgrave is you can use figures from anywhere.  So I am turning my Watchful Studios figures into a Chinese (probably pan-Asian when its done) Warband.

 These three will be the core of my Chinese Warband.  I have kept the basing free of snow so they can be used in other games where snow might not fit.

 First up is the general who I will uses as my wizard (or apprentice).  I like the striding forward drawing a weapon stance of the figure

 These are more genteel figure persons so I have kept them cleaner than I normally do going very light on the washes or omitting them entirely.

 Next we have the female general Huang Guigu based on a historic person though I have not found much about her.

 I'll use her as my apprentice (or maybe wizard I haven't decided which of these will take the lead yet).  I made here colors similar but brighter.

 Then we have the Sword Master a great figure who you could use in a number of games even modern martial arts games in a pinch.  I love how the blue pops on his back robe.

For now he'll use the Treasure Hunter template from Frostgrave but he'll be an excellent captain for this warband when that option out withe the "Sell Sword" expansion latter this month.  That's 3 more 25mm figures for another 15 points of Frostgrave miniatures. 

Terrific stuff Adam, these are some of your best figures.  The face on the wizard in red/purple is great and I really like the gold braid work on the woman.  

From IanW 25mm Fantasy Bits 16 points

Falling short for my original target by ten points left me looking for a quick fix, well what's better than a few figures for roleplaying with the kids?

Whilst these are 28mm they are about the size of 15mm so I went with 2 points each model. These are two different imps, one mounted on a base and square from an old Dungeon Floor Plan and the other is on a prototype Leven Miniatures 6mm statue plinth.

The pictures aren't great but the one on the right came out as I had imagined him to, so really happy with him. The other is OK and will be used as an imp, the winged one some form of minor demon.

 Three giant rats don't exactly make a swarm so I will be on the look out for more at future to make the kids really sweat.

The kids love playing and can get rather carried away so it's always good to get new figures as the visual aid really helps to bring the scene to life. 

Ian you are reminding me on a road trip to Calgary, trying to eke those last few kms of gas out of the tank to get to a gas station in Medicine Hat!  No fear, we'll get you above your self imposed benchmark.  

I think your being too hard on your imps, I like them both and really like the basing you've used.  An who doesn't love a Giant Rat?  I'll score the Imps as full 25mm and the rates as 15s, so that comes out to 16 points in my books.

From AdamC 25mm Warriors of the White Willow (35) points

 I think this is my first true Unit of the challenge. These are some old Heritage Miniatures that I picked up $2.00 to a pack at the Huzzah yard sale last spring.  I have done them up for Dragon Rampant as the warriors of the white willow.  I hand painted the shields with what I hoped would look like a stylised white tree... you be the judge (if it looks a little like a scary face that works too)

 They are identified by Heritage as "late Byzantines" though how accurate that is I don't know  Two handed axes aren't something I associate with Rome or its successor state I do vaguely recall the Byzantine emperors hiring Norse Mercenaries so maybe that is the inspiration. My guess is the shield would be used on the defence with that short sword and the axe used on the offencive (though using it with that shield slung on my shoulder could be awkward.

Still these seven fellows (there were 8 to a box but I used one for another project) do make a formidable looking group that should serve well in fantasy or historical games. They are 25mm scale so another 35 points.

Wow Adam you have had a full weekend.  These look like very old school Varangians, I'd say mid 1970s.  The shields are typically shown as kite shaped these days, and normally they'd be strapped on the back for axe work.  Your repurposing of them for Dragon Rampant makes a lot of sense, and this will make a fine unit.  I like the unit identification, and White Willow seems a good generic fantasy association.  Good effort on the shields, I support hand painting.  And yes there is a stylized will tree visible.

From DavidL -28mm Warmachine: Scruffy Desperado Types (85 points)

January is a very busy month for me work-wise, but I'm still managing to put in a couple hours every evening, and here (finally) is my first significant accomplishment of the Challenge: a passel of figures for Warmachine.

These fellows (along with a Swamp Gobber Bellows Crew I painted a long time ago) are sufficient to field a good medium-sized force by the standards of the game. To be honest, the core concept of the force is meant to tweak the nose of my regular opponent, who usually fields the Cygnar faction. So here we have Magnus the Warlord, a traitor to his homeland of Cygnar, now a scruffy mercenary generalissimo conspiring to bring down Cygnar's current king.

He brings with him two Warjacks: the heavy Mangler and the light (and appropriately-named) Renegade. Although these are normally considered "mercenary" designs, Magnus has painted them in Cygnar blue--deep down inside, he still thinks of himself as a patriot--but life out in the swamps and badlands is tough, and the paint is peeling and chipping, the iron beneath beginning to rust.

To help in his plotting and endeavors, Magnus has contracted the services of the notorious bandit gang, Croe's Cutthroats. Armed with crossbows and "murder blades," these desperadoes are in it for the gold and plunder and couldn't care less about Magnus's political ambitions.

Even though my Warmachine/Hordes rules mastery remains woefully lacking, I'm looking forward to fielding these guys, and hopefully soon.

If the 'jacks are being scored as 28mm vehicles (as with ChrisH's entry), then that's 15 points each, plus 11 regular figures for 55 points.

David, great post!  I know approximately zip all about Warmachine, but these have a nice Rube Goldbergian steampunk feel to them.  You painted them up very nicely, I especially like the blue on the big machines and your weathering and rust work.  Is Magnus riding some Steampunk Segue?