Reinforcement

Having played a few games of Frostgrave now, I had enough resources to start thinking about making my warband a bit more robust.

At present, it's very Thug-heavy, which is great for grabbing treasure and ganging up on people, but less ideal for actually winning a one-on-one fight (I think I've been a little too lucky so far...). I'm also having second thoughts about my Ranger – I love the model I'm using, and the versatility of a pretty good fighter and archer is desirable, but... he just doesn't seem to succeed at much. Ever. It's not that he's bad at what he does, just that he seems to have the most abominable luck. Poor guy.

The Ranger. Do something useful, dammit!

So, reluctantly, I started looking for alternatives, and figured that I may as well splash out on a Knight. Knights are the powerhouses of the Frostgrave mercenaries, with good combat ability and solid armour. They're not immortal (as Joe's warband has demonstrated!), but they are tough, and can provide a distraction from what the rest of my warband is getting up to.

As most of my 'good ideas' start, I had a rummage in my bitz box, and dug out a half-finished model I'd been mucking around with for a D&D-style paladin. At that stage, it was a torso, legs and one arm. The legs came from a Bretonnian man-at-arms, and the torso (with an attached left arm) from a Bretonnian knight.

The Grey Knight

At this point, I realised that I didn't have any matching right arms, so a delay was incurred while I waited for some additional bitz to arrive. Originally looking for a classic 'sword & board' fighter, all the right arms I ordered gave me a choice of waving an over-large sword in the air, or holding one out from the body. Neither was very palatable, so a spot of slicing and drilling provided me with a spear. Not a classic knight, but not without precedent. The pose's 'adventuring' vibe was emphasised with a piece of slate on the base.

The rest was simple – bits of Bretonnian and Empire baggage to give him the look of a more seasoned traveller, and a Fireforge helmet (technically, a Fireforge head with the head part carved out) to hang from the belt. Unexpectedly, the Fireforge helmet appeared to scale almost perfectly with the GW head I had chosen. A shield from the Frostgrave plastics rounded out his equipment, and a hood carved down from one on the GW Empire wizards sprue polished off the cold-weather feel.

Painting was quick as usual, with a palette designed to suit both my warbands in case this mercenary proves fickle in his loyalties. I did dicker over whether to do more with his shield – an insignia or something – but, in the end, I preferred the simplicity of the plain shield, fitting far more with my take on the character as a disgraced knight-turned mercenary leader.

Sir Name-Pending