A Return to Frostgrave

With only one gang already painted, and terrain starting to make its way into the office, I felt that I'd better step up the pace on my Frostgrave gangs for the office demo game.

Having played around with a vaguely Mongol flavour for Gang Number 1, I went with something a little more Western with this one. The basic concept is of some kind of Templar-like order so, naturally, Fireforge's Templar Infantry was the ideal starting point, and all use bodies from that kit as a base.

With Gang Number 1, I went for a very simple manpower-heavy line-up, consisting of mostly Thugs, with a couple of more specialist henchmen options for flavour. With this gang, I decided to introduce more variety from the outset, and build a themed list, rather than a more efficient one.

So, in reverse order of importance, we have:

2 Thugs

Thugs really are the workhorses of Frostgrave, and represent the most lowly of henchmen. These two axe-men represent new initiates to the Esoteric Order of TBC. Bodies are Fireforge Templars, arms are Fireforge Foot Sergeants, the bandaged head is from a Warlord Roman veterans sprue, and the other head is from a Perry Wars of the Roses box.

2 Archers

As anyone who has gamed with me will attest, I like long-ranged weapons. Given a chance, I will volunteer to command the artillery (assuming supporting naval bombardments aren't an option), and quite cheerfully ignore the rest. Even in such a small-scale game as Frostgrave, I can't bring myself to omit bowmen of some kind. Again, Fireforge Templar bodies are used as the base, here with Warlord Roman veteran heads and Perry WOTR arms. The Roman heads are just a little too big, but nothing I can't live with.

2 'Swordsmen'

In Frostgrave, the 'Swordsman' henchman class covers anyone with hand-weapon and shield (probably something I will attempt to change once the manuscript is delivered), so these guys get a spear each as I prefer the look, especially as I'd already decided on using the Roman shields. Construction is as per the Archers, but with Fireforge Templar arms and the aforementioned Warlord shields rounding out the build.

Wizard and Apprentice

The Wizard (seen to the right, above), is 100% Fireforge Templar, save for the blue flame he's conjuring in his left hand – that is a tassel from the standard in their Steppe Warriors box. I'm particularly chuffed with this addition, even though the photo doesn't really show it off to its best effect. The left arm itself is simply a loose crossbow arm, while the right is a sawn-off spear arm. The Apprentice (left) is another Fireforge Templar, but with Perry WOTR arms. The posture is less 'bullet-time' than it appears in the photo (thankfully).

The Esoteric Order of TBC

All told, I'm very happy with these guys. I probably prefer the finished look to that of my first gang, though I much prefer the conversions involved in that initial project. Gameplay-wise, these chaps will probably have a slightly tougher time of it – they're outnumbered, and have quite a few eggs in the Swordsmen basket. While that pair hit hard, they will need to be looked after a little.

I probably need one more gang for the office game (two would be better). I'm already planning on forcing my Corsairs of Umbar to multitask once they're available, so I'm scouting for new themes... something Viking-y, perhaps?