Quicklinks: Chosing a Wizard, Hiring a Warband, Team Necromancer, Team Sigilist, Terrain Status Update
36 Days Til Frostgrave!
Another week has past and I’m well on my way to getting closer and closer to Frostgrave game day. Last week we discussed the planning stages and ideas associated with the epic Frostgrave gameboard I have planned for an upcoming battle of wills with my other half. If you want to hear more about my Elder Scrolls inspired battle board check out the (Map Design) post from last week.
Have no idea what so ever as to what Frostgrave is? Well start at the beginning of my epic adventure to my most ambitious tabletop project of all time, and on a deadline (Frostgrave: Beginnings). We aren’t quite a month out but I’m already starting to feel the pressure.
This week I worked with Graham to select the models we wanted for our warbands and I 3D printed the teams if the models were still in digital form. Check out our rosters! I will break into the individual models, their source and our thoughts in choosing our schools of magic and models.
Also stay tuned at the end for an update of my printing progress of my board and if I’m currently moving on schedule.
Choosing your Wizard
The most important figure in the entire game of Frostgrave is your Wizard. The wizard is the main figure head of your warband and sets the cadence and theme of gameplay for your party. Before you can start playing Frostgrave you must 1) name your wizard and 2) select the school of magic that best represents you. It is key to select something that fits your gameplay style and what you consider to be fun.
The 10 Schools of Magic
There are 10 schools of magic of which you can choose from that will open up a realm of possibility for you arsenal of spells to use in combat. While you can learn spells from other schools of magic it is more difficult to cast those not from the school of which you choose for yourself. Just to get an idea lets give a quick summary of your available choices.
Chronomancer: Users of magic to manipulate time itself.
Elementalist: Magic focused on controlling the four elements. These are your typical fireball casters
Enchanter: Wizards who apply magic to objects or people. These would be crafters who are capable of creating magic weapons.
Illusionist: Use magic to “fool the senses, case confusion and fear, and convince people of things that aren’t true.”
Necromancer: Study the magic associated to death and the creation/control of undead creatures.
Sigilist: Magic through reading and writing. These can see the mystical patterns in writings of all types.
Soothsayer: Allows the wizard to extend their senses beyond their body.
Summoner: Work magic by opening doorways to different planes of existence.
Thaumaturge: Draw magic from positive energy.
Witch: Draw on the powers of nature for their magic, they brew potions, cast curses and seek the aid of plants and animals.
Hiring a Warband
To go along with your wizard every player is given 400 gold crowns to hire and assemble a crew to adventures into the Frozen City. You then of course spend 100 gold crowns of that to spend on a wizard’s apprentice making two spell casters on your team. The rest of the money is at the players disposal to hire the various soldiers available to you.
To hire a warband there are two main types of soldiers: Standard and Specialist. A maximum of 4 specialists may be hired as they are more advanced soldiers. Each soldier comes with various stats, weapons and cost. You are allowed only a maximum of 8 soldiers making it a total party size of 10. You can of course modify that number slightly to be higher in specific scenarios.
Now that we have a basic overview of what makes up a warband lets introduce the teams! All models shown are 3D printed with a combination of filament and resin models.
Warband #1 Team Necromancer
So I’m not saying that my husband is predictable but well my husband is predictable. I do not know what about a necromancer makes him so happy but any opportunity to raise undead and attempt to create the largest army possible…. well that is what he will choose. As one of the most well known magical types Necromancers can create and control undead creatures.
Since he is already so biased towards Necromancers he has decided to use some models he is already partial too such as one of his dungeons and dragons player character models hekumi?????
The models selected for his team consist of four different sculpting companies and all are attempting to convey the theme around a risen undead warband.
Role: Necromancer Wizard
Name: Hagatha (temporary?)
Model Name: Swamp Witch
Sculptor: CastnPlay
Set: Swamp Collection
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey)
Graham decided on this swamp witch as his necromancer wizard. We loved the storytelling and detail of death and decay oozing off her. I mean she is even dragging a bag of sculls beside of her.
I am currently considering of painting the branches/antlers on her head and back with a necrotic green glow storytelling that the magic is growing out of her control, literally. What do you think?
Role: Necromancer Apprentice
Name: Hekhumi
Sculptor: Heroforge
Printed: Filament (Hatchbox Pla)
Hekhumi is painted by Graham my awesome husband and was a dwarf cleric with necromancer tendencies in the last dungeons and dragons campaign I ran. He couldn’t resist the urge to use the model he designed on Heroforge and grew such an attachment to previously.
Role: Archer & Tracker
Sculptor: Dragon Lock Miniatures
Set: Skeleton Set 2 (standing) & Skeleton Set 3 (kneeling)
Printed: Filament (Hatchbox PLA)
These skeletons were apart of a set of miniatures I printed and painted last year as I was getting back into the hobby with the birth of my first son. They are from the Dragonlock Miniatures Kickstarter which I printed 100% of the models.
Role: Thugs x 3
Sculptor: Dragon Lock Miniatures
Set: Skeleton set 2, 3, & 4
Printed: Filament (Hatchbox PLA)
I think Graham felt bad as to all the painting I was going to have to do and picked quite a few models i’ve already painted. I definitely appreciate it but i’m going to have to paint more skeletons for the scenarios now so they don’t match!
Role: Thieves x2
Model Name: SheGhoul C (female) & Ghoul C (male)
Sculptor: Broken Anvil Miniatures
Set: Graveyard Shift
Printed: Resin (Epax hard Grey)
Finally a first on the website! A brand new sculptor that I have not showcased yet on the website! Broken Anvil Miniatures is a fantastic up and coming miniature company which make both physical and digital miniatures.
These ghouls have so much character and Graham thought they would be perfect as undead theives for his warband.
Role: Knight
Model Name: Undead Knight 1
Sculptor: Broken Anvil Miniatures
Set: Graveyard Shift
Printed: Resin (Epax hard Grey)
To finish up the warband is the powerhouse. The knight to fight for the treasure and protect the necromancer!
Role: Zombie
Model Name: Zombie Butcher
Company: Lost Adventures Co.
Set: Zombie Lost Adventures Volume 1
Printed: Resin (Anycubic grey)
Since Graham is playing a necromancer there is a chance that this zombie will be able to join his warband. Using the spell Raise Zombie an additional member can be added.
Graham chose this Butcher model as a fun piece to story tell long dead citizens being raised from the dead to battle.
Warband #2 Sigilist
You might be thinking to yourself, “What in the world is a sigilist?” Well a sigilist is a wizard of knowledge through the writing word and languages. They utilize special abilities to do a ton of fun utility actions. They can transform a piece of parchment into a bridge or ramp. They can also even summon a quill to furiously distract their enemy. I decided to choose a wizard slightly different as they do not have any obviously offensive spells right out of the gate but do have the capabilities to level quickly through absorbing knowledge or write scrolls to sell later. Since we are playing a campaign with these warbands I decided to build for a different approach and develop for a long game. We will see how that turns out!
As for the models in my warband, I decided to use some of my favorite dwarf models and one of the “Mega Projects” i’ve chosen for my 2021 Hobby Goals and have yet to really dive into, Hold my Dwarf. This kickstarter by Miniatures of Madness is a collection of dwarfs of all kinds of fun character and storytelling. So every model in my warband minus my wardog will be from this collection.
Role: Wizard Sigilist
Model Name: Kamli the Summoner
Company: Miniatures of Madness
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey)
Since the Sigilist is all about the power of the language and the written word, why not have a wizard who is literally pulling power from a book. I absolutely love this model as it is completely floating in the air and the wisps of power come into his hands.
Role: Apprentice Sigilist
Model Name: Hesur
Company: Miniatures of Madness
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey)
I absolutely love the power this miniature conveys. Where is the wind coming from? I cannot wait to work on blending in this magnificent robes.
Role: Crossbowmen x 2
Model Name: Soldier Set 3
Company: Miniatures of Madness
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey & Anycubic Grey)
Did you know that archers and crossbowmen in Frostgrave have the exact same stats? It is purely just the aesthetic that you want in your warband. Will be interesting to see who comes out in the battle of the archers vs crossbowmen.
Role: Thugs x 2
Model Name: Tegnar the Bloodthirsty (banner) & Doran Grimlook
Company: Miniatures of Madness
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey)
Doran Grimlook printed with a failure on his arm and it didn’t come out. He is supposed to hold a shield but we decided that we kinda like the badass feeling of a thug with only one arm. What do you think? Should I reprint him and fix the issue?
Role: Thief
Model Name: Felin Fastep
Company: Miniatures of Madness
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey)
First female warrior of the warband! I absolutely love this dual wielding fury. Also the detail on her shoulder pads came out exceptionally.
Role: Infantryman
Model Name: Lomli Longclaw
Company: Miniatures of Madness
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey)
This two handed warrior is ready for the cold weather wearing his gear out of furs of monsters he has slain.
Role: woah “Man-at-Arms”
Model Name: Mimma the Melee Housewife
Company: Miniatures of Madness
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey)
Mimma is one of my absolute favorite models. She might not be completely set for battle but comes with pot lid shields and will hit you with a ladle instead of the butcher knife at her hip. Also you will see once I paint her but her shirt even has hearts on it. I mean who can harm such an innocent housewife?
Role: Wardog
Company: CastnPlay
Set: Hawkers of Thamarya
Printed: Resin (Epax Hard Grey)
Although very small and as Graham would say “has no neck” this beast is ready to run to the rescue and yipp his way to success!
On to Paint!
Now that I have showcased all the models that have been printed for game day I now have to get them ready for the game table. So far I count 15 models to paint. I’m such a slow painter here is hoping I paint them in time and all the terrain. I am just going to need to paint bravely!
Terrain Status Update
I’ve been printing miniatures for my warbands on my resin printer, previously filament models were done last year so the filament printer has been printing non stop.
So far I have finished printing the Burgomaster’s Office from Printable Scenery’s Shadowfey Kickstarter. This building comes in a modular three levels and three different pieces. I’ll be sure to share more 360 degree photos later.
I have also chosen the Printable Scenery Graveyard Walls after comments on last week and oh boy do I love them more than I thought I would. They have great height to them, a graveyard tombstones on one side of the walls and is super dynamic. I don’t have a complete set yet but quite a few check it out.
I even started to scheme the layout and spacing for the graveyard. I naturally gravitated to a 6 inch graveyard playable space on each side of the mausoleum however Graham pointed out that I still had way too much open line of sight so I think I’m going to bring it in for a more congested playing feel. You can definitely see that I still have a good bit to print to completely flush out the space but I’m getting excited about the prospects.
Whats Next?
My printer is currently focused on finishing the graveyard walls, small pieces like tombstones and scatter inside the graveyard. I also am working on printing the river and bridge sections. Hopefully these areas of the tabletop will be printed within the next week but I am going to take a break briefly and help a call to action in printing pieces for face masks. I have a friend who needs some for a school and I offered my services. It will feel good to contribute what I can to help fight off Covid-19.
After I finish printing those I plan to start printing a few Hagglethorn Hollow models for the battle map! So excited as they finally released some ruined buildings like the cottage.
Do you have a favorite model? Is there something you are looking forward to the most in seeing? Feel free to comment down below.
As always Happy Crafting,
Carrie aka Crazmadsci the Crazy Mad Scientist.