A Virtual Year

And so, we come to the end of 2020…

Painting, modelling and wargaming have been a no-go for me this year, what with increasing stuff at work, the pandemic, home-working, home-schooling, home improvements and building work all taking up precious time, space and energy.

While Frostgrave-related activity as been virtually nil, I, like many others, have embraced the world of online gaming.

No, I don’t mean getting shot to pieces by a twelve-year-old on Call of Duty or Fortnight, but online role-playing. You’ve read (and hopefully enjoyed) some of my Call of Cthulhu exploits, but I thought I’d round off the year with something more in the realm of fantasy – my grim and perilous adventures in the world of Warhammer Fantasy Role-play (WFRP).

Oh, and, this being a post about virtual things, I shall provide illustrations, not with physical miniatures lovingly painted by me, but with virtual miniatures of our player-characters and other NPCs. We’ve been able to reproduce our characters virtually, courtesy of Heroforge (other websites are available). So far, I’ve resisted the urge to order a physical, coloured copy of my character (or find someone to print it out for me), but if I succumb, I’ll post it on here – it’d be interesting to compare it to a ‘proper’ figure.

Anyway, on with the tale of Oswald Ruckenstark (WARNING: contains spoilers!)

Oswald Ruckenstark

Here he is: all 7’ of him. In WFRP you can choose or roll randomly for your character’s race, profession and such (as you gain more XP for the latter, this is the option I chose). Going through the character generation process I ended up with Oswald: a tall, rangy, boat hook wielding Human stevedore. Strong in arm and thick in head.

Tiring of the quiet life of a small riverside village, he met another PC; a Halfling ‘entrepreneur’ called Shifty, who hired Oswald as a porter/bodyguard/general dogsbody. Wandering the Empire in search of opportunity, they eventually found themselves in the city of Ubersreik, where we attempted to establish ourselves and earn some coin.

After one particularly good week, we decided to celebrate. After a cracking pub-crawl we awoke, heads splitting, in a doss-house among the rookeries of Spittlefields. This is where the story proper began. What was that banging sound? Why was someone nailing shut all the doors and windows… from the outside?

Together with two more PCs: a messenger by the name of Staigh and Abelard von Nirgends: graverobber, we soon discovered that the building was wracked with plague! The place had been nailed up by the city authorities, and anyone who tried to escape would be met with a hail of crossbow bolts from the City Watch who ringed the tottering tenement.

Shifty the Halfling

After some amateurish detective work, we discovered that the source of the plague was a crazed vampire who lurked in the old passages below the building; attacking its victims from the ductwork that riddled the crumbling walls. Locating this feral beast, we managed to overcome it, largely by pelting it with rubbish until Abel, showing an uncanny knack for getting away with the most madcap schemes, managed to jam a piece of garlic into its mouth. Luckily this stopped the vampire from automatically healing itself, allowing us to batter it to death.

Thus established as local heroes, we took lodgings in the dilapidated tenement (pooling the few brass pfennigs we were able to earn in our modest careers). Our poverty didn’t stop us from window shopping though, and on one fateful day we took to the Marketplatz in the hope of finding a bargain. Perhaps we could make contacts among the artisans that plied their wares and improve our lot?

Alas it was not to be, for soon a scuffle broke out between the market-goers and a troupe of travelling players. We were quickly caught up in the resultant riot, throwing punches, slipping on pies and, for some, taking the opportunity to pilfer a few coins. Among the chaos we noticed a young noblewoman being threatened by some thugs. Wading through the crowd, we quickly dispatched the villains and rescued the girl!

However, alas, our gallantry went unrewarded! A popular fire-eater was shot dead during the ruckus. We did in fact spot the perpetrator: a vicious-looking crossbowman with a milky eye; but the City Watch, arriving to arrest all and sundry, accused us of the murder! Soon we stood before the judge, our pleas of innocence ignored as much as the overwhelming evidence that proved as much.

Abelard von Nirgends

Just as it looked like we were heading for the scaffold, a lawyer appeared – a very famous and expensive one at that! Hired by the noble family whose daughter we rescued, she managed to commute our sentence to three years’ unpaid indenture in the Watch, starting immediately. The next day we were marched to the Watch barracks to begin our new job.

We were put under the wing of Sergeant Rudi Klumpenklug, a seemingly jovial man, who would report on our conduct to his superiors. Failure to meet his approval would see us back on the chopping block. He eased us into our Watch duties gently at first, but, as we followed him around as he doled out ‘fines’, we realised that he was more corrupt than the rest of the Watch put together! Moreover, as we helped put out fires, stop pub brawls and apprehending thieves, it was Rudi who coolly took all the credit!

Balking under Rudi’s dominance, we made the best of the situation as we could. Although he kept the cushier patrols for himself (whilst taking his cut of any ‘fines’ we collected), our reputation among the poor of Spittlefields meant that our rounds weren’t too onerous. However, we soon began to face bigger challenges, starting off with the case of a missing father who, it transpired, had been eaten by a rampaging River Troll. The fight against this monster was a hard one, but eventually we prevailed (Oswald wears a Troll’s ear necklace to this day).

We were then called upon to help a merchant, who had suspicions about a big-money deal he had going with a Dwarf middle-man. After investigating as best we could, we discovered that the merchant was in fact a conman, working in league with the Dwarf, who was actually a big-time criminal, to swindle a handful of rich merchants! Enlisting the help of the inhabitants of the Dwarven Quarter, we exposed the plot, but were unable to save the lives of the merchants.

Thoroughly fed up with our lives in the Watch, where opportunities for honest advancement were few, we decided to prove our innocence. By owing a few favours to the local crime lord, we were able to lure the milky-eyed assassin to an empty warehouse. However, he refused to answer our questions and, after a tough fight, we had nothing to show for our efforts but his mutated corpse. At least, upon the discovery that he was a mutant, we managed to forge a wanted poster for the guy and claim a reward!

Our next job took us out of the city. We were to assist a nobleman in shaping up his recently-acquired hunting lodge and its lackadaisical staff. Travelling with his agent (and new PC) Fridolf Wechter, we fought off a Beastman ambush to reach the place and its suspiciously sleepy inhabitants.

Fridolf Wechter

Soon we unearthed an evil magic painting and the machinations of Chaos cultists, who managed to summon a demon, just as the Beastmen attacked the lodge! After a hard and bitter fight, we managed to see off the Beastmen, kill the cultists and send the demon back to the realm it was spawned from. Battered and bruised, we continued into the countryside, looking for a missing relative of Fridolf’s.

We found the relative’s village almost razed to the ground; its surviving inhabitant’s stark raving mad. After foiling the villagers’ self-destructive schemes, we traced the source of the devastation to a nearby cave, in which lurked a terrifying, gigantic Jabberslythe! The fight did not go as well as planned (thanks to the creature’s acidic blood and the terror it inflicted on its would-be assailants) but eventually we prevailed.

Wearily resuming our Watch duties in the city, we awoke one morning to fins that Staigh had mysteriously disappeared (taking one of Oswald’s boots with him). Before we could find him, we were summoned by Watch captain (word of our recent heroics having reached our superiors). Apparently, a notorious murderer had escaped execution twice. We were to escort him to the block for the third attempt (which, if failed, meant he would go free). Should we succeed, we would be freed from our bondage!

Investigating the man’s background, we discovered that the murders were in self-defence, and that his victims were actually mutants! Still, we had a job to do; but as we escorted the man to his place of execution we were ambushed by more mutants. For some reason they claimed the man as their own, despite his refusal to join them. We fought off these vile creatures and our brave actions not only persuaded the authorities to free the man, but also to pardon us! Finally, we were at liberty!

Tired of working at the docks, Oswald had for a while been spending his free time on the amateur boxing circuit, hoping to become a famous Pit Fighter. During one bout at a local inn, Shifty, Abel and Frid watched as he was soundly trounced by a female fighter. It was here that we fell in with the latest PC: a halfling thief by the name of Clepto.

Clepto the Halfling

With no Watch duties to perform, Oswald was able to continue his fighting career, earning a place in the ring at a local fayre. While the others sampled the various wares, tried a spot of pickpocketing and nearly died in the resultant brawl, Oswald (AKA 'The Boat Hook') prepared to fight. Eventually, after a tussle with a vengeful Goblin assassin, our heroes went to cheer on their friend.

Alas his opponent had eaten a dodgy pie, but rather than cancel the fight, Oswald was forced to fight the Halfling pie seller. Now she had struck up a friendship with Shifty, who leapt into the arena to defend her against his friend. Dismayed, Oswald pulled his punches, but it was the Halflings’ skill with a ladle that defeated the would-be fighter! 

Suddenly, the fight became dangerous as a pack of mutated dogs were mysteriously let into the ring. Yet another battle commenced and it was a hard slog to defeat the slavering animals. Eventually the battle was won, however, and we limped back to the city with a hefty bag of winnings (the odds of a Halfling beating a huge stevedore being rather high).

Free to roam the city, continue our trades and try to improve ourselves (clearly the Gods didn't want Oswald to become a Pit Fighter, so he continued working his way up the Stevedore's Guild), we were soon hired by the Merchant’s Guild to investigate a certain cheesemaker, who was buying all the milk he could lay his hands on. The Guild’s own investigator had mysteriously gone missing and the reward was a substantial one.

After a twisting and prolonged investigation, we uncovered a bizarre tale of kidnapping, murder, mutation and cheese which led us down into the sewers and a confrontation with a mythical race of rat-men known as Skaven! Fighting these creatures in their own environment was very risky and the threat of a violent death in the rank sewers was real. In fact, this was the last time we saw Abel: falling into the filth when his madcap schemes finally got the better of him.

Slowly we recovered from our ordeal, but other trials lay ahead. In order to defeat the mutants, we were forced to report the incident to the local Witchfinders. Alas, this put us squarely in their sights – in their fanaticism they saw us as possible Chaos worshippers ourselves! It was time to leave Ubersreik and start a new life elsewhere.

Sister Loren

Luckily, we had been hired by the representative of one of the many coaching companies to investigate a rival firm, who he suspected of sabotage. We were to travel by road towards the Imperial capital Altdorf and locate a missing coach. Joining us would be a new PC: Sister Loren Eisenhardt; a herbalist-turned priestess who had reasons of her own to leave the city.

En-route we scrapped with a group of thugs who accused us of being sympathetic to the Imperial authorities that had stamped its authority on Ubersreik. Seeing them off, the long journey was interspersed with drunken antics, trouser-less bandits and a case of mistaken identity before we discovered that the missing coach had been ambushed by a marauding band of Goblins, whom we promptly scattered. Disappointed that we hadn’t pinned this on his rival, our employer refused to pay us and escaped to Aldorf, leaving us stranded in the middle of nowhere…

These sessions have taken us through the scenarios in the WFRP 4th Edition starter set, by way of a few stand-alone modules (both official and fan-made). The next leg of our perilous road journey heralds the beginning of that famous Warhammer campaign, The Enemy Within…

If you enjoyed this round-up, I’ll continue to summarise Oswald and co.’s adventures in the new year. 

Until then, here’s to a better one!

Malcor Rises

High above, in a bare chamber carved into the frozen peak, an eerie mist clung to the debris-strewn floor.

‘Crack!’

Far below, at the base of the mountain, jagged chunks of ice crashed to the ground. Within minutes they came swarming in through the newly revealed doorways, like ants to a broken pot of honey.

As if agitated by the presence of the intruders, the mist swirled upwards, coalescing into the figure of a man. He half walked, half flowed to the solitary window and looked impassively upon the minute forms below.

Three more entities drew forth from the mist: half-formed figures that bowed obsequiously to their master and fawned about his tattered cloak as it solidified into being. They drew back as he clenched his fists, tilting their heads quizzically as if waiting for instruction.

The headmaster turned, face unreadable and eyes naught but dark shadows behind his mask. Wordlessly he pointed to the gaping hole that led to the inner recesses of the complex. The Advisory Council nodded in supplication before flying out of the chamber on their errands.

When they were gone, Malcor the Mad returned to the window and watched. Plans would be made and traps laid. The faculty would return and the intruders would be punished. The sanctity of the Collegium of Artistry would remain intact…

The last batch of figures for The Maze of Malcor brings us to the man himself and his Advisory Council.

For the latter I tried the same approach as I did for the Wizard Shades, but used a greenish basecoat rather than grey (if only to make it easier to select the figures to paste onto the background during photo-editing). As there is less detail in these, there isn’t as much colour to ‘bleed’ through, but I added a little flesh-tone around the face and torso.

Malcor himself painted up surprisingly easy. I went for the same greenish effect as his toadies from the feet up to the waist before doing a normal paintjob for the top half, drybrushing them to blend the two halves together.

I’m pretty pleased with how it came out, though I will admit to chickening out when it came to painting the eyes, which to my mind by rights should be glowing with magic – I didn’t want to ruin the paintjob by screwing up and making him cross-eyed or somesuch.

Now I have to work out how to build some more of the specific terrain for the scenarios in the book (for as little expense as possible!)

Shades of Wizardry

As intruders steal into the prestigious Collegium of Artistry, it’s headmaster Malcor summons forth the spirits of long-dead teachers from the great staff room in the sky.

Soon the shades of these mighty wizards, each the foremost proponents of their fields of lesser-known magic, sally forth to defend their school from those who would loot it’s treasures…

I’ve sat upon these figures for ages, simply because I had no idea how I was going to paint them!

The ‘official’ paintjobs on the Northstar website has them fading from a normal-looking top half, into their wispy grey bottom half. However I wasn’t sure I could pull off the blending and wanted to do something different anyway.

After much deliberation and discussion with my mate Andy, I decided to start off with a ghostly pale grey base colour (they are shades after all), through which bleeds the colours they would have worn when alive (If you’ve seen the Doctor Who episode ‘Under the Lake’ you might have some idea of what I’m getting at). Cue lots of drybrushing.

I’m not sure if I’ve managed to pull this off – perhaps the colouring is too subtle for the tabletop, making them look more like statues – but if I don’t consider them finished now, they’ll be back in the painting queue for ages! I’ll refine the technique for the next batch of figures…

Oh, while I was at it, I found this feather in amongst some old Playmobil stuff that was being thrown away. I thought it'd make a nice 'furious quill' spell marker.

The Monsters of Malcor; Part 3

The next bunch of Malcor miniatures, or ‘Phase Green’ as I call it.

Glass Spiders: The Decanters of Death! Drinks trolleys with attitude. The globes are supposed to be filled with acid. However I’ve no idea how to paint realistic-looking liquid and envy those who can. So in the end I just picked up my brushes and splodged the paint on here and there.

Mantodeus: Giant insects that pounce on the unwary from their nests. This model was an absolute b*st*rd to put together, with more drilling, pinning and gluing than I’d happily apply to one mini. As a result I painted this with little enthusiasm, sticking to a basic all-over green.

Acrisbird: Terror birds from the tropics. I initially went for a black and white colour scheme on this model, but the end result looked like a very annoyed turkey, so I went back and, considering that green seems to be the overarching theme of this batch, went over the black bits with dark green. Now it looks like an very annoyed parrot!

The Monsters of Malcor; Part 2

Presenting the second batch of models from Northstar’s Maze of Malcor deal. Again they took a little more prep than I’d like, but they’re still great minis!

Banshee: screaming ghosts of women done wrong.

Bloodwave: blood-red killer or magical lava-lamp? You decide!

Bog Man: when zombie meets marsh gas, this floppy terror is the result.

Starfire Elemental: fizzing balls of blue fire, shaped by the lost arts of Astromancy.

I’m very happy with how these painted up, especially the Starfire Elementals, which I had no idea how to approach and just went for it! The next bunch is primed, so watch this space…

The Monsters of Malcor; Part 1

I'm currently ploughing my way through the miniatures I received in last year's Maze of Malcor 'Nickstarter'.

Here is the first batch...

Coal Man: a basic lumbering construct that's used to feed the Collegium of Magic's furnaces.

Collegium Porter: the ultimate in mobile storage.

Phase Cats: feline denizens that have bred in the magical atmosphere of the Collegium.

Shrieking Wolves: a cross between burglar alarm and security guard.

The models are very nice, although the casting quality left a little to be desired (I wasn't sure what bits to snip off on some of the more 'swirly' miniatures), but after being cleaned up the multi-part pieces went together very well (with one exception which is still in the queue).

So far they've painted up nicely - how long that continues remains to be seen!

New Year's Nan

I'm starting the new year not with a Frostgrave mini, but something for my Very British Civil War collection.

(As I mentioned in my pre-Xmas post, my VBCW blog went kaput, when Photobucket tried to screw me over.)

A while ago I approached Mark 'TinShedGamer' Fuller, who I knew was sculpting some character figures for 1st Corps' interwar 'Twentieth Century Follies' range.

I told him the story of my Nan, who got into trouble during WW2. You see my Grandad was in the local Home Guard, and Nan would habitually welcome his unit back from manoeuvres by playing 'Come to the Cookhouse Door Boys', full blast on my uncle's Boys' Brigade bugle. This became something of an annoyance and eventually she was told firmly to stop!

And thus, after supplying him with some reference photos, the following standard bearer mini was born, complete with bugle!

Thanks Mark, and Happy New Year everyone!

Enter the Dragon

Since time immemorial Atrrakza the Blackhorn had slumbered beneath the magical city, dreaming great saurian dreams atop the vast pile of treasure it had accumulated over the aeons.

Once every few centuries something would awaken the great beast: a shift in the magical field, the sudden craving for more glittering things, the intense cold and frost that had as of late settled on his mighty scales… or simply just hunger for flesh…

Who knows what had roused Atrrakza the Blackhorn this time. Perhaps it was the prattling of the small ape-like creatures that scrabbled around the tunnels near it’s cavernous chamber with their torches and feeble spells. Maybe it was their squabbling over trinkets that were rightfully the property of the dragon.

Either way, as it’s eyelids opened to reveal jet-black eyes that gazed balefully into the darkness and it’s nostrils flared with sulphurous clouds, Atrrakza the Blackhorn stirred…

Wargamers can be a very nice bunch of people. Last December I posted a little update, talking about the latest issue of Spellcaster magazine, which features rules for dragons. I also uploaded a photo of my kids’ toy dragon, which I intended to use until I got around to buying a proper model.

Months later and I received a very nice email from my chum Phil Curran, who told me he had a spare one, and would I like it? I of course said yes, and within days I was the proud owner of this lovely beast from Mantic’s Kings of War range.

It’s a massive model – a really nice chunk of plastic which painted up a treat (despite my heavy-handed drybrushing on some areas that I managed to avoid photographing). The red colour scheme I wanted has come out lighter and more orangery than I anticipated, so I decided to go for black horns, claws and teeth to add some contrast.

All-in-all though I’m very pleased with how the dragon came out, so thanks very much Phil for your generosity – you’re a true gent!

The Lucky Demon

Hopefully this fellow should be winging it's way to the lucky recipient of my little competition soon-ish.

It's such a great figure I thought I'd share the finished result with you fine folk too!

The Frozen Thieves – A Scenario

Having a few Celtic casualty figures left over, I hit upon the idea of painting some as some frozen statues. This in turn got me thinking up a scenario…

The Frozen Thieves

Back in days of yore, the fearsome Ice Dragon made it’s lair on the outskirts of Felstad and brooded over it’s vast hoard of magical treasures.

Many a foolish thief would try to pilfer the Ice Dragon’s trinkets as the beast lay seemingly asleep, but, as they stole back into the city to hide their loot, a shadow would envelop them as the dragon descended upon it’s prey.

Such unfortunates would be blasted by it’s icy breath, turning the cowering thieves into frozen statues. It is said that while the Ice Dragon is long dead, these statues remain to this day and, more importantly, so does the treasure they so hurriedly discarded.

Set Up

The table represents the last hiding place of a group of thieves as they were set upon, centuries ago, by the Ice Dragon. Set up the table as per a standard game of Frostgrave.

Each player should place one treasure token and two figures representing frozen statues, as per standard treasure placement rules. Deploy warbands as normal.

Special Rules

The frozen statues represent thieves that have been frozen by the Ice Dragon. Although frozen solid, spellcasters may be able to thaw them out enough to learn where they have hidden their hurriedly hidden booty.

To do so, the spellcaster must be in base to base contact with the statue and use an action to successfully cast any spell in his/her repertoire by rolling a casting roll of 10 or higher (i.e. a spell that requires a 10 or more to cast, or a spell with a lower casting value that is empowered to 10 or more).

If the spell is cast, the magical energy will partly awaken the frozen form. Consult the table below.

The frozen statues will only reveal one item of treasure, but may have multiple spells cast on them until they are completely thawed out.

Casting roll	Effect
10-17	The frozen statue is thawed out enough to scream the location of some of the hidden treasure. Place a treasure token in a random direction, d20” from the statue. If the treasure has already been revealed, nothing happens.
17-19	The frozen statue is completely thawed out.  In addition to revealing the treasure as above, the figure temporarily joins the spellcaster’s warband. It has the same stats as a thief, but, due to it’s recently frozen state, can only take one action per turn. If the spellcaster has room after the game, the thief can join his/her warband and operate as normal in subsequent games.
20	You manage to completely thaw out the statue, but the thief has been driven insane over the centuries and will make an immediate and furious attack on the spellcaster. Treat it as a barbarian which, due to it’s recently frozen state, can only take one action per turn. If it defeats the spellcaster, it will act as a wandering monster for the rest of the game.

Experience and Treasure

Any treasure revealed by the frozen thieves is treated as normal.

Experience is calculated as normal, but with the following additions:-

• +10 for each thief that is thawed, or partially thawed out a frozen thief by the spellcaster (in addition to the usual experience earned by casting a spell). This only applies once per thief.
• +10 for each thawed thief that joins the spellcaster’s warband and survives the game.
• +10 for each thawed thief that is killed by a spellcaster’s warband (in addition to any experienced earned if killed by the wizard).  

Optional rule

You may introduce the Ice Dragon into this scenario. See Spellcaster magazine issue 2 for rules on using dragons.

For each spell that reveals a treasure, make a note of the number rolled (including modifiers, empowerment etc.).

When that treasure is picked up, roll for wandering monsters as usual. However, if a creature is spawned and if either of the rolls on the monster table matches the noted spell casting roll, place the Ice Dragon on a random corner of the board.

Treat the Ice Dragon as an ‘adult dragon’ with the spit poison trait (this represents it’s icy breath, which has weakened during the intervening centuries).

The Ice Dragon activates in the next creature phase.

As per the dragon rules, spellcasters gains +50 experience if their warband slays the dragon.

A Princely Sacrifice

Apologies for the lack of posts recently – lack of gaming and modelling time means I haven’t done much hobby-wise.

I have however made a start on the specialist terrain needed for Forgotten Pacts. I’ve cobbled together a sacrificial altar (out of foam and No More Nails glue), for the Rescue the Prince scenario.

The prince in question is a Warlord Games Celtic casualty figure.  I’ve a few more left and have an idea for them – more of which at a later date.

I still have to make a glowing sphere on a plinth and some telescopes – something to ponder upon…

Oh, and please don’t forget my little competition (https://frostgravery.blogspot.co.uk/2018/03/50th-lead-adventure-page-giveaway.html) – there are still a few more days left to enter!

Foulhorn!

“Ye gods! What hellish realm spawned that abomination?”

The tracker winced, wishing that his new employer would keep his voice down. Thankfully the creature squatting at the other side of the clearing seemed more interested in it’s meal than any noisy wizards.

“None my lord, for they are the natural offspring of this world.”

The wizard’s apprentice joined the pair and peered around the pillar they were hiding behind.

“That’s a beast of nature? Like a bear or boar? I don’t believe it!”

It was indeed a strange thing, the tracker mused, watching as the animal held down it’s prey with one pair of powerful arms, whilst another, smaller pair delicately sliced off chunks of flesh with bladed ends.

“Aye, it suckled at it’s mother just like you and I, young master.”

“Huh!” the apprentice sniffed, “My mother's nothing like that!”

"Don't forget I've met your mother..." muttered the wizard as he flicked through the large grimoire he habitually carried with him. “Ah, yes… It’s a Foulhorn isn’t it? Looks a bit different than the illustration… Says here that the ancients used them in the Millennial Circus due to their ferocity.”

“And they also have very good hearing my lord," said the tracker as the Foulhorn raised it's head. "Perhaps we’d better make a run for it…”

Foulhorns are another of those Frostgrave creatures that are quite specific in their description. These powerfully built hunters are horned beasts that not only have normal limbs, but also a pair of arms that end in sword-like blades. They appear primarily in the Arcane Locations supplement (also collected within the Frostgrave Folio), but also get a mention in Forgotten Pacts.

The base model for my version of the creature, which differs a little from the illustration in the Folio, is a Reaper Bones Numenera Ravage Bear. To this I have added a pair of Tyranid arms I got off eBay. They’re rather puny looking compared to the model’s arms, so I glued them to the front of the body, rather like the little arms of a T-Rex.

The paintjob is quite a simple one – maybe a little dark, but I’m happy enough with it.

I’ve also knocked up a couple of pillars. These came about due to the sprue exchange thread on the Lead-Adventure Forum, where participants puts their unwanted stuff in a box and posts it to the next person on the list. This person takes out the bits he/she wants, puts in some unwanted stuff and sends it on, etc. etc.

This time around there wasn’t anything I particularly wanted, but I did take out a pair of Weeping Angel figures – freebies from a Doctor Who magazine I believe. They aren't the best sculpts (I cut the arms off one as they were so badly done) and are made of in rubbery plastic, but they’ll do for statues. A little bit of plastic tubing and some texture and voila, some (rather wonky) pillars.

Speaking of the Lead-Adventure Forum, don’t forget my 50th LAF page celebratory competition!

The Ambronnax Conundrum

As time passes, things age and thus Ambronnax, the Endower of Senescence, squats ahead of the ticking seconds, feeding on the decay as they pass.

It is said that when it manifests itself, the demon's chosen form is that of a giant ape with two boar-like heads. Clutching a glowing ball and hovering on a magical disk it brings decay to the very passage of time itself.

However it is also whispered in certain forbidden texts that it also takes another form – that of an ever-changing mass of flesh. This shifting tower of gibbering bulges, all-seeing eyes and lashing tentacles has driven many a man mad.

Accompanying this monster are the Failing Wretches – half-formed, lumpen and limping travesties of the human form that heft their noxious and decaying weapons in the service of their master.

Continuing on the Forgotten Pacts bestiary we come to the demon Ambronnax and the Failing Wretches. Like most of the demons in this expansion, Ambronnax has a very specific description that is difficult to achieve without some major conversion work.

After much thought, I decided to avoid trying to make this creature by the book, and chose instead to use a different model that instils, I hope, the same feeling of decay. The most obvious choice would be a Warhammer demon of Nurgle, but I much prefer the look of this Fenris Games Son of Yog-Sothoth model.

For the Failing Wretch Minions I once again turned to CP Models and their Demons range. This pack of four minis make great wretches in my opinion. No painting experiments this time – just a basic greenish colour scheme with a hint of pink, which my photos haven’t picked up, to accent some of the features.

Yep - happy with these!

The Deadly Assassin

Being an assassin may seem like a glamorous job, but behind every swift, sharp exit there’s a tonne of preparation and spadework – quite literally in some cases.

Dig a deep enough rut and your target’s wagon will ‘just happen’ to break a wheel in it. Thus distracted, your target is easy prey to your ministrations. Usually this is the end result of your client’s displeasure in your target but sometimes it’s, y’know, just for fun.

The assassin watched as the merchant’s goods spilled out of the stricken cart. The fat bejewelled man was busy berating his driver while the bodyguards looked on with wry amusement. No-one saw the assassin coming.

First rule of assassination? Not only make your own luck, but remove other people’s as well...

A quick post before the half-term holiday next week. The only soldier type I was lacking was the assassin. This has now been duly rectified with this Reaper miniature.

The cart is a very nice model, not only as a general piece of scatter scenery but also an integral part of the Loot the Cart scenario from Thaw of the Lich Lord. It was kindly given to me by my pal Giles (cheers mate!) and given a quick paintjob.

Tiszirain: Demon Prince of Poor Painting Decisions

There are times when even the most pure of heart are vulnerable to corruption. For wargames figure painters this is often the time when he/she asks him/herself: ‘what colour scheme shall we paint this in?’

One cursed night this happened to me. I had found a great model – a Reaper Bones Frost Wyrm - that I wanted to use to represent Tiszirain: demon lord of victory and consumption. Little did I know that this aspect of the creature is also the demon of poor painting decisions! Unaware of the danger, I merely listened as, what I thought was my inner painter’s voice said: ‘Go on, paint it yellow. You love painting yellow…’

Then, with a slight chuckle, I heard the words: ‘oh, as a matter of fact, why not push the boat out and go for a black and yellow-striped wasp theme?’ And then, it laughed: ‘and paint my Chilopendra minions yellow too...’ for I had recently undercoated some CP Models Gene Reaper aliens for these demonic underlings. 'Paint a black stripe on them too,' it giggled. 'Oh dear, you've made them look worse - never mind, paint over it with... more yellow!'

By now the thing was roaring with malicious mirth, gibbering sarcastic encouragement as I wrestled with my chosen colour scheme. ‘Green or brown wash? I think green…’, ‘no, add more water… oh look, it’s puddling around the bases…’, ‘just go for your standard quickstain, it won’t dirty the yellow at all…’

By the time I got to the drybrushing I was howling in anguish! However, battling on I clung to whatever sanity I could grasp and eventually applied the final coat of varnish - the hateful things were done! Confident that I had exorcised the monster, I reached for the next model in the pile – a CP Models Three-headed Lurker that I wanted to use as a Toravor (a multi-headed burrowing demon). With renewed confidence I opened my paints tub, as the voice sniggered: ‘Go on, paint it orange…’