Wizard-Hunting for Pleasure and Profit

I wrote a thing! And it's just been published!

I'm always toying with little rules and systems for Frostgrave, because I've been elbow-deep in it for so long now, finding new tweaks to entertain myself. Most of these come to absolutely nothing, but I'm fortunate in that I have Joe McCullough himself as a sounding board if I think something has potential. I was fortunate enough to be invited to contribute a scenario to Wizards' Conclave, and I did also chip in some mounted rules for an early issue of Spellcaster, Joe's original self-published Frostgrave zine.

Well, Spellcaster has given way to Old Bones (with so many games under his belt, producing a zine for each game wasn't a viable option!), and I've been playing with more bits and bobs - this time, a set of new NPC 'monsters' and accompanying rules for building small groups of recurring foes to really menace the wizards and their warbands. I bounced them over to Joe for his thoughts, and was thrilled when he asked if I'd like to work them up as an article for Old Bones.

So, I did, and this week, I came home from work to find an advance copy of Old Bones #3 waiting for me...

Alongside Joe's scenarios and rules for Crocodilians can be found my own article: "The Most Dangerous Game". This is a collection of eight new opponents that hate magic and wizards, and who travel in small groups to the Frozen City to hunt and destroy these sworn foes.

Yes - I looked at Frostgrave and thought "needs more witch-hunters".

These 'anti-magic cells' are generated by all players in a campaign and (typically) include a mix of these new opponents and regular soldiers, stalking the warbands, and waiting to strike when their prey is at their weakest... And they keep coming until you stop them for good.

And what are those new opponents?

• Castoffs - victims of spells and experiments gone wrong, possessed of random powers (generated from the Demonic Attributes in Forgotten Pacts or the mutations from Grave Mutations).
• Echo-Hawks - birds of prey with the natural ability to reflect spells that bond (and share this ability) with a handler.
• Hounds of Zaroff - the answer to the question "what do you get if you cross a nullman with a mastiff?"
• Husks - burned-out spellcasters who have lost their magic, now turncoats lending their knowledge to groups of hunters...
• Inquisitors - templars, bounty hunters, and paladins that provide a martial backbone to these anti-magic cells. Can be generated randomly or cherry-picked to match specific models.
• Lodestones - magnets for magic, able to draw spells away from intended targets and to themselves instead!
• Wreckers - we've seen vampire hunters and demon hunters... now meet those that really hate constructs.
• Zealots - fanatics that hunt wizards using specialized poison.

I hope the rules offers new and entertaining ways to challenge your wizards.

Oh, and the art by Barrett Stanley is great!

You can pick up PDF and print-on-demand copies from DriveThruRPG.

*** 

Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Standard Troops

Hot on the heels of the recent reinforcements for the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile, I polished off a couple more cult models that have been waiting for ages for a paintjob.

A while back, I realized that my force were looking more militant than I wanted from my cult, so I built a couple of banner bearers to add more of a processional feel (and to add nice focal points to units!).

First up, a banner for the Faithful - thus filling out that unit to a full 20. This was built from - surprise, surprise - Fireforge's Living Dead Peasants, with a banner from some GW kit or another (Skaven, maybe?). The banner-pole was replaced with a wire pike, clipped to an appropriate length.

Yes, the fact that the banner is following the line of the pole and not the dictates of gravity annoys me... but not enough to prevent me from getting it painted!

Added to a unit, I reckon she looks good!

Next up, a banner for the Templars. While the Faithful's banner is relatively modest in size (some might say "sensibly sized"), this one is... objectively too big. I was genuinely concerned that it would not actually stay upright (the metal base isn't the most substantial of counterweights!), but it seems to have held together. Like the other banner, this is from a GW kit - I'm guessing Ogre Kingdoms by the size and the fact that there are random rocks tied to it - and had the banner-pole replaced with a wire pike. The bearer, like the previous Templars, is Oathmark Human Infantry with a head from the Frostgrave Cultists kit.

Both these models (the Templar one especially) reminded me of why I dislike painting yellow. On a small scale (the Templar cowls, a spot colour on a cultist's clothing, etc.), it's fine, but on bit sections like this, it just doesn't suit my wash-heavy style. Still, brown wash makes everything better (if not good), and I'm just about happy with it).

I'm not currently sure what insignia or emblems I want on the banners... I might not want any, with the 'purity' of the yellow sheets representing the 'purity' of the Yellow Bile itself... or I might just not have had the right idea yet. I might go back and apply some transfers... but I will not be attempting free-hand!

I kind of want more banners now. And some musicians...

*** 

Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Cult Reinforcements

I got the urge to paint the other week and, with my Blood Bowl team (more on that later) still en route from Spain, I turned my attention to some reinforcements for the Choleric Order of the Yellow Bile that had been patiently sat waiting for a lick of paint for a looooong time (so long, in fact, that I can't remember when I kitbashed them).

Like the previous cultists (here and here), these were built from Fireforge Games' Living Dead Peasants, which, alongside their regular non-undead 'Folk Rabble', really are the gift that keep on giving! Four of them received wire spears, and one was built as a dual-wielder, so that I have a readily identifiable 'officer' for each stand should I need one.

That said, I doubt that I'll ever field a whole unit of spear-armed cultists, so I'm going to sprinkle these amongst the other rabble, giving the whole unit an even more ramshackle look.

These five bring my unit of the Faithful to 19 figures (including their two Magisters), so I have just one more to go...

*** 

Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

Slinkers and Stinkers

It has taken me altogether too long to get these four models finished off! They've sat on my desk for months in various stages of completion, and I'm kind of glad to have finally got them done.

They're Ur-Ghuls from the Blackstone Fortress box, and while I love the aesthetic and design, I really dislike the fact that there are only two poses that are incredibly similar. I would love a box with these creepy blighters in a wider range of poses, creeping and skulking their way across the tabletop.

The only alteration I made to the base model was filling in the deep holes above the mouth with some liquid green stuff, smoothing out the head a bit more. Painting was quick - I used a really diluted glaze to apply the purple tone over a light grey basecoat, then dry-brushed on a couple of lighter greys.

On that note, I've become a complete convert to using makeup brushes for dry-brushing and now have a set of about a dozen in various sizes for about half the price of a single hobby-specific one.

As to what these are going to be used for... well, they're perfect weird mutants for hunting my Stalkers, weird aliens for Stargrave, Nullmen for Frostgrave, and they may or may not make an appearance in future Rangers of Shadow Deep games...

***

Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.

The Scarlet Imp-in-Hell

This was an unexpected addition to the painting queue, but one that I had to paint pretty much as soon as I got it! The figure is a Reaper Bog Homunculus, but in Bones plastic, rather than metal (presumably the product of a recent Kickstarter not yet available for retail). It was a gift from a friend at UK Games Expo earlier this month, and I love the ugly little thing!

I'm not a huge fan of Bones, especially for smaller figures, but this was relatively straightforward, with most of the work in prep was fixing the integral base - I have never seen a model with such a concave base! Clipping and sanding the base to something flat enough to glue down was quite a chore!

Painting was a doddle - various fleshy tones, a couple of washes, and some bone to pick out the teeth and talons etc. The eyes were large enough that I (for once!) painted them - a bright red, with a dot of yellow just to add a little more impact. For once, my efforts have actually photographed semi-well, and I'm even more pleased with how they look in person. Will I start painted eyes on all my models? Well, no...

Not altogether sure what I'll end up using this little imp for - maybe the start of a new cult? He'll almost certainly be my go-to for a small demon in games of Frostgrave and Rangers of Shadow Deep.

***

Disclaimer: All links to third-party sites are solely for the purposes of sourcing the products I have discussed, if anyone is so inclined. I have simply linked to the original manufacturer or the source I used (but feel free to shop around!) and make no money from people clicking through.