The Pond of Dreams and Sorrows...

...and other terrain.

"You're supposed to drink from that? Rather you than me..."

My attempt at a well for the 'Well of Dreams and Sorrows' scenario, and probably the easiest bit of scratchbuilding I've ever done!

This is just a coffee jar lid, which had a nice oval pattern around the side, painted as stone and with a swirly pattern painted on top (which I might re-visit with some gloss varnish or somesuch if I ever get around to buying any.

I've also done some small bookshelves for the Library scenario. I experimented by doing these double-sided, but the 'glossy' side (remember I'm making these from a kneeling pad, and one side is coated) didn't come out as good as the 'spongy' side.

Last but not least, some more stonework, made from bits of broken polystyrene packaging - given the once-over with a heat gun, 'primed' with black craft paint and then painted as stone.

The Thing in Yellow

"Arise!"

The corpses struggled upright on broken rotting limbs at the command; the icy shriek dragging them back into some twisted semblance of life.

"Move!"

Their master flexed his emaciated fingers as the zombies shuffled forward - an aeons-old puppeteer in once vibrant and colourful garb forcing his reluctant marionettes to perform their hideous show again and again.

Blood-red lights shone in empty sockets as the power of the Lich Lord coursed through his living-dead minions, bending their noisome forms to his will. His clicking-clacking fingers clenched into a fist before he flung a thin bony arm outwards.

"Seek out my enemies and destroy them!"

Groaning and gibbering, the zombies turned and shambled into the frozen city to do the evil bidding of the Lich Lord...

Some more Reaper bones figures - some zombies and a lich. Although I found the latter a bugger to prep (cutting mold lines off the 'bones' plastic is a sod) I am particularly pleased with how the yellow, a colour I usually have problems painting, came out on the lich. As per usual the photos have flattened the highlighting somewhat.

I'm also pleased with the eyes on these figures too (a dot of white followed by a light wash of watered-down red). Not a bad job all round!

Ah Rats!

(...and spiders.)

I treated myself to some more Reaper Bones minis t'other day, including a pack of rats and a pair of spiders.

A few more random encounter creatures to cross off the to-do list - maybe we'll start introducing them in our Frostgrave games soon...

Shhhhhhh!

Quiet please, people are trying to read here!

Depending on how close to the core rules you want to be, The Library could be the most problematic scenario in the book to recreate. The scenario calls for a maze of bookshelves and such, with patches of difficult ground.

While many bookshelves are commercially available, or can be printed out and glued to shelf-shaped blocks, I decided on another approach.

I found an old tool box, complete with those foam rubber kneeling pads that fit in the lid. Having duly chopped this up, I started to 'carve' the bookshelves by scratching at the foam with a pencil. They were then glued to plasticard bases and flocked a bit at the bottom.

A quick spray of black undercoat and I painted the shelf 'frames' in my usual tester pot stone scheme (they looked more chiselled stone than wood) and did the books with Vallejo paints.

As an experiment I'm pretty happy with how they've turned out and think they'll pass muster if you don't look too closely. Four shelves done - bloody loads to go!

The Stone Tapes

“It is said that, in the ages before the coming of man, an ancient race practised an even older magic. Knowing not the ways of the scroll and grimoire, these peoples stored their spells in large rectangular standing stones known as ‘taypes’ in the ancient tongue.

By the time of the founding of the great magical city, these folk and their stone ‘taypes’ had vanished into legend – a legend that drew many a wizard into the great icy wastes that lay leagues to the north of their home, where scattered stones could still be found.

However the wizards knew not how to transfer their magic into these stone tapes (as the common tongue had corrupted the term). The stone would not absorb their magic and resisted the chisel of even the most skilled stonemason. However the wizards discovered that a portion of the stone tapes’ great capacity could be tapped into by writing their spells onto the surface (cat’s blood was thought to be the most efficacious medium).

Further storage could be attained by lining the stones in a row, it was believed, and thus the great libraries of Felstat became lined with row upon row of these ancient monoliths, brought back to the city by great and perilous expeditions to the wild lands.

It is said that, deep under the ice, row upon row of these stone tapes still stand erect like giant guardians frozen side by side; broken, faded, yet still steeped in magic as ancient and arcane as the First Times.”

Neelnygellicus (972) Customes and Practices of Olde Felstat Vol III: Ulfenhalle College of Magick Press

In other words, I hacked some bits of foam packing into rough rectangles and painted them in my now standard stone colour scheme for some cheap, quick and easy terrain.

Terrain Tuesday

With apologies to my mate Edwin for stealing the title from his blog, Thoughts of a Depressive Diplomatist!

I rescued a small amount of polystyrene packaging from the bin, with a view to making some terrain, scatter and such.

After hacking it to bits, distressing the pieces and giving them quick once-over with a heat-gun, I simply 'primed'/painted it all with black paint and gave it the ol’ drybrush with a few different layers of grey tester pot paint (finishing them off with a light brush of cream).

I also bought some small aquarium ornaments that had the same treatment. They’re very much under-scale, so I snipped off the battlements to up-scale them a bit. Hopefully they’ll pass muster as arches/doorways/bits of wall.

I’m rather pleased with the results – they have a sort of stony, dungeony feel to them, which will work well in some of the underground/indoors scenarios.

Von Unaussprechlichen's Kulten

Friedrich von Unaussprechlichen cursed his master.

He had cursed him - silently - many times before: every time the great illusionist had humiliated him during one of his ‘magical concerts’, every time he had been ordered to perform some menial task, every time he had been forced to endure his master’s ego.

But now, as he lay broken and blasted among the icy ruins, he screamed his hatred openly.

Ever since the Great Mysterio announced to an admiring audience that his next trick would be an expedition to the fabled Frostgrave, von Unaussprechlichen knew that he would not be long for this world. And so it had come to pass – twisted and contorted by an elemental bolt that had screamed through his very soul.

His retreating master had left him to die – and, as the ghouls, sniffing out fresh meat, came for him, von Unaussprechlichen cursed his master as loudly as is burning throat would allow.

‘LEAVE HIM!’

An ice-cold command echoed through the rocks as the creatures that would devour the stricken apprentice scattered screeching back to their filthy dens.

‘You are safe now…”

The voice no longer echoed, but seemed to seep from his own shattered head as if carried by some carrion beetle crawling out of his ear.

“You will serve me and I will give you the vengeance you seek. You will bring me followers and I will make you a leader of men. You will devote yourself to me and I will grant you ever-lasting life.”

This was no proposition – simply what was to be, and had been for ages…

Von Unaussprechlichen shook himself out of his memories as his band of followers prostrated themselves before him, their painted faces pressed to the cold stone. Flanked on either side by his faithful warhounds, he calmly removed the mask that hid his twisted features so that he might speak more clearly.

“My faithful – today is a momentous day. Today is when our power is absolute. Today is when the darkness eats the sun. Today is when the Great One rises! All hail the Lich Lord!”

Seemingly everyone who plays Frostgrave is creating bands of cultists at the moment, and I too wanted to have some of the Lich Lord’s minions in my collection. However, as nice as the Northstar cultist miniatures are, I wanted to do something different than add to the pointy hood brigade.

Happily, my gaming buddy Giles is selling off a lot of his collection, and gave me first dibs on a bunch of miniatures – classic old-school Citadel stuff. Rather than add hoods and such with Greenstuff, I decided on a simpler approach and painted their faces with a rough skull motif (some have turned out better than others). I also bought a couple of hounds to be used either in this cultist warband, or as random encounter wild dogs.

To lead this bunch of reprobates I found the Citadel disfigured wizard miniature among Giles’ stuff – a figure I really wanted as a kid, but never got around to buying. So I seized my chance and now he’s ready to play his role as a pawn of the Lich Lord.