Oathsworn Into the Deepwood

So, me and some friends played Gloomhaven and really enjoyed it.  When Frosthaven cameout (which we backed on Kickstarter) we were very excited.  The game however just never had the feel of Gloomhaven.  All the character classes seemed overly complex for no good reason and what we thought would be a fun addition, the Outpost building phase, was just a major drag on the fun.  So after quite a few hours and missions, we decided to make a change.  

Enter Oathsworn Into the Deepwood.  So far so great.  We have played two sessions and the story mode is really fun and interesting and the boss battle part is a lot of fun and very engaging.  

I painted up our starting party, left to right, the Priest, Penitent,the Huntress, and the Warbear.

 

 

 

Frostgrave: The Treasure Phantasmal

 Max the Witch gazed across the frozen landscape.  There had been a noticeably growing chill the deeper into the frozen city her and her war-band delved.  She had sent her snow leopard and owl ahead to scout.  She knew the wizard Nikodemus must be nearby.  He seemed determined to dog her every footstep.

A large clump of ruins materialized in front of her out of the mist.  Her eyes seemed to be playing tricks on her...a glowing phantasmal figure seemed to levitating on the top of the central.  That was no trick of the mist, that was a wraith.  Her owl lighted upon her shoulder, whispering into her ear.  Nik was here then...on the other side of the ruins.  She barked orders, her chill breath seeming to freeze in the air before her.  She sent one group to the the nearest ruined building to search for treasure, another she bid make haste with her in the lead for the central ruin where certainly the biggest prize would be.  

Nik eyed the cold and lonely set of ruins.  An owl across his field of view....he chuckled aloud.  Max was certainly here then. He motioned he War-band forward into the misty ruins of Frostgrave....

 

Max motioned her apprentice to take her snow leopard to search nearby ruins.  Out of the heap of rubble a wraith appeared, striking her apprentice down cold.

 

 

 

Nik directed his apprentice to investigate deeper into the ruins while he took a group up the nearest rampart, only to be met by a wraith, springing from a pile of loot! 

Team Max made there way to the central treasure only to be greeted with a very a phantasmal figure floating above a large chest....a wraith!

 

 

Nik's apprentice skulks below the melee above at the central treasure, thinking better them them than me!

 

 

 

Nik's tracker looked on in silence as Max's war-band battled the wraith, pity in her heart for Max's apprentice's lifeless body... she then directed Nik's captain and treasure hunter forward.  Eventually the wraith was defeated.  Seeing her apprentice's cold lifeless form, Max summoned a demon who she directed at Nik's war-band who now stood over her fallen comrade.

 

Nik ascended a nearby tower "Max, my men's didn't harm your apprentice!"  Max ignored his words and sent her automaton up the tower's ladder to attack Nik and his crossbowman....and out of anger threw a dagger at Nik with all of her might..... nearly taking out his eye!  Nik countered by shooting the owl off of her shoulder with his elemental bolt.

 

 

The final treasure was taken and both sides withdrew, Maxine carrying the body of her fallen apprentice back to the safety of her base.  But alas, Geoff could not be revived...

RIP Geoff, Maxine's brave apprentice.

 

JSA Shindenbutai Senku Troops

These are the JSA Shindenbutai Senku Troops from Operation Sandtrap-  I really like these guys and how they turned out. 

 

 

Infinity N5 Operation Sandtrap - Fennec Fusiliers

 So I am taking the journey into Infinity by Corvus Belli.  I really like the lore and the miniatures.  I saw a post on X by Corvus Belli that they would have early access pre-release of copies of the upcoming battle pack Operation Sandtrap to those that wanted to demo the game.  This corresponds with a rule refresh from N4 to N5 rules.  One just needed to email them an enthusiastic email as to why you wanted Operation Sandtrap etc.  I actually didn't expect a reply, but I got one with an invitation to the pre(?) pre-order....

Here are the first miniatures from this set, built and painted.  Very high quality metal.  I painted them in the Canyon Snake camo pattern that was shown in the optional color patterns of the Kestrel Colonial Force

Frostgrave stuff - Loot Studios Terrain + Reaper Bones

I did not get painted what I expected to get painted over the summer and really didn't have nearly the amount of hobby time that I thought I would have.  Then I somehow tried to start one too many projects which caused a massive backlog and a general hobby funk to set in.  In the midst of that I started a game of Frostgrave with my daughter (see previous post - Frostgrave Well of Dreams and Sorrows).  I was able to get my daughter's warband built and painted and mine built but just my wizard painted.  Eventually I will post pics of each.  However, I just had a hard time lately getting more done.  Painted terrain has always been a great way to get motivated as it is pretty quick to get good results.  So, I printed up quite a few pieces of ruins I had from a past Loot Studio subscription.  These are perfect for Frostgrave or quite frankly any fantasy game.

These turned out great, so easy...primed dark brown, then primer grey with a zenithal of light grey and/or  Zandri Dust (or both).  Then a heavy dry brush with an antique white craft paint followed by a dingy oil wash.  Done.  And that got me back in the mood to paint so I grabbed the miniature I picked for my Frostgrave tracker, which happens to be a Reaper Bones mini.  Not a huge fan of the bendy soft plastic they are made with but I was really happy with the result....see below!

 

 

 

 

 I quite like the way she turned out!

Frostgrave: The Well of Dreams and Sorrows

 The wizard Nikodemus surveyed the snow covered ruins.  Somewhere in that mess was the well, and he intended to drink from it....movement caught his eye, there a 100 yards away.  Another wizard with a warband no doubt.

He directed his band to move forward.  He advanced beckoning his captain to follow, his tracker to take position on a nearby ruin and to provide cover with her bow.  His apprentice followed with that greedy treasure hunter and a couple of thugs hired on the cheap.  The rest of his group fanned out looking for treasure.  As they walked, Niko chanted enchantments upon his captains sword with his apprentice doing the same but directed at the trackers bow.

He caught sight of the other wizard through the snow covered trees doing the same...a lass with blonde braids and a twinkle in her eyes even from this distance.

They converged on the well at about the same time.  She had a tall woman at her side huge axe at the ready, a captain taking cover in the ruins with a crossbow....and two very large warhounds, growling and menacing.

Niko spoke "I want no trouble, just here for a drink, likely same as you", As he said this his captain stuck her sword in the ground next to her and casually pulled out her heavy crossbow.

Without heeding what Niko had said, the lass began a cast as her warhounds pounced on two of his thugs that had moved up into position near the well.  Her spelled fizzled, but the hounds bites were true and one of Niko's thugs was mauled almost to death.  A fast and furious melee ensued...ending by the thrum of bow and crossbow string. One of the dogs lay dying as did her barbarian who had tried to sneak into position to take out the tracker watching from above.

She smiled and raised an eyebrow..."Perhaps you're right old man, a drink is all we are here for, no need to spoil it with blood"

The two wizards eyed each out as they both drank from the Well of Dreams and Sorrows, their apprentices following suit.  Then both warbands retreated back into the encompassing forest.

Two wizards suspiciously eye each other as the drink from  the Well of Dreams and Sorrow

A snowy and frozen well

The melee was fast and furious

This was the first in what I hope to be a long and fun campaign of Frostgrave with my daughter.

Frosthaven - Banner Spear Proxy model....Stormcast style

 So one of my current monthly (sort of) games is Frosthaven.  We played and completed Gloomhaven and were excited about Frosthaven.....but not as much anymore I think.  The scenarios are still fun, if not a bit harder and longer (grindier?).  But the town building is a complete drag.  And I was really disappointed in the miniatures.  I think of Gloomhaven and Frosthaven as sort of bespoke games and they just should have better miniatures.  My first character was a Deathstalker and that mini was terrible so I printed a much better proxy for it (really should do a post for that).  When I retired that character I chose the Banner Spear and my next character class, but the included miniature was just terrible looking.  Enter Stormcaset Eternal Gwynne Ironsoul -

 

I then went crazy with magnets and made the banner removable and a couple of left arm swaps with an actual banner model for a banner summon.

I really like how this turned out and actually like the placed banner a bit more than the one she is holding.  Was sort of making that up as I went along using contrast paints and a bit of panel lining.  

Gynne wasnt actually my first proxy I made.  I kitbashed one from a Questor Soulsworn and some Stormcast parts and came up with something that I think was a good representation of the Frosthaven box art of the Banner Spear.

Forgive the pictures, those are my first attempt with a light box.

I think this actually is a great Banner Spear especially when looking at some of the Banner Spear art out there.  But the miniature presented a very large footprint that I thought would take up too much space on the board.  And in the end, Gynne Ironsoul turned out better than I could have imagined, both as a kitbash and the paint job.

Wildercorp Hunters Started

 It has been a very busy summer and cannot believe I haven't found time to post and not as much painting as I would like at all.

Here is a quick palate cleanser I did to take a break from all the grim dark 40k for the Wrath and Glory Campaign.  First mini's from the Warcry Wildercorp Hunters set  (a gift from my family!).  One of these is a Cities of Sigmar soldier equipped with the unused spear from the set.  I really feel like spears or pikes should have been a part of the Cities of Sigmar troopers actually.

These were fun to paint and looking forward to the rest of the box set.

 

 

 

I think these are my favorite two, I call them Otto and Sven.  Otto is about to bury a hatchet in someone while Sven sicks the hounds on them.

Wrath & Glory - The March of Chaos Story so far

 So I finally got around to updating the Wrath & Glory campaign page, check it out for a full synopsis.

 Here are some pictures I took of some of the battles.

 

The group finds themselves surrounded......

  

 

We shall prevail!

 

 

This was quite the battle, and we found our first big boss!

 

Wrath and Glory - Cultists and Plague Marines

 Just a quick post showcasing some cultists and plague marines I painted up for the Wrath and Glory Campaign.

I did a little bit of kits bashing on these, adding mechanicus arms to the figure on the left and right of center.  They are intended to be Dark Mechanicus Cultists.

These three Death Guard Plague Marines were part of the Blackstone Fortress Expansion No Respite and I was quite happy to finally get them painted up!

Printed Mechs by Titan Forge

 So, I 3d printed these mechs really just to play around with and never really meant to fully painted them.  They are by a company called Titan Forge, who makes really good stl files.  You can check them out on their web site https://titan-forge.com/ or their MyMiniFactory store.  I have actually printed quite a few of their miniatures and have never had any issues rinting them.  

These Mechs were printed on a Phrozen Sonic Mighty 8k.  The print consisted of the main body, arms and legs and the cockpit cover.  Their were multiple weapon options.

I primed them in Leadbelcher, which I had never used out of the rattle can.  The result was a very smooth finish.  I then taped off one of them and hit the top areas with a blue paint (Coastal Blue from Rust-oleum).

They sat around for many months and then I started playing around with them after I got a bit burned out from painted all the minis for the ongoing Wrath and Glory campaign.  The green one was supposed to be just bare metal that I was going to test out some weathering effects, but I got carried away and really liked the models so put in a little effort.  The canopy over the cockpits is literally just a coat of Gryph Hound orange over the leadbelcher, and I think it looks pretty great.

And now they are being used in the Wrath and Glory campaign. Woot.