Weekly Workbench 29 October 2017

    Missed a post last week, not due to lack of progress as I had plenty of that, but due to not having time to get pictures taken and a post up.  So we will cover the last two week's worth of work in this post.  First though, I have to thank everyone for the overwhelming response to the Birdhouse Towers post, 1399 views, which is almost double my next highest view post!

     First up is Shep's war band, all finished and based and ready for the Skeleton Run!  From Left to Right: John the Archer, Bill the Infantryman, Gu'ard the War-Hound, Sam the Thief, Bubba Timehopper the Chronomancer, Clara the Apprentice, Robin the Thief, Captain Harkness, and Bob the Crossbowman.

    Next was Duncan's war band, finished and based as well.  From Left to Right: Soul Launcher the Archer, Viper the Infantryman, Thief 1, Bob the War-Hound, Zombie 1, Bone Crusher the Summoner, Zombie 2, Quick Shadow the Apprentice, Thief 2, Captain Tough Nut, Death Arrow the Crossbowman.  He still has a number of his summoned creatures that need to be finished but the basic war band is done.

As you can tell from the boys' warbands I gave them all textured bases that I made.  The first step was to drill holes in the MDF bases and add some rare earth magnets.  This allows the miniatures to be moved in their display cases without worrying about them crashing around.

I then used my textured rollers and green-stuff to make the bases.  I used the Cobblestone for Shep's and the Frozen for Duncan's.

Base colors for the Frozen were Army Painter Ice Storm and Space Ship Exterior followed up with a Blue Tone ink wash.  The Cobblestone base colors were Army Painter Field Grey and Dungeon Grey with a Dark Tone wash.

I then did a highlight of Gorgon Hide and another Blue Tone ink wash before using Vallejo Black Primer for the edges on the Frozen.  For the Cobblestone they were dry brushed with Castle Grey and a second Dark Tone wash with Vallejo Black Primer on the edges as well.

I also got the Eternal Guard Skeletons based as well, just in time for the Skeleton Run for Dark Alchemy Campaign of Frostgrave.

Realizing I would need more than five skeletons during the Skeleton Run, I knocked out these Reaper Bones skeletons as well, using the Vallejo Grey Sand Ground Texture for their base, it makes nice snow when painted.

This weekend I started work on Ivy's war-band, here are her Knight and Archer, both from Dark Sword miniatures.

Here are her two thieve's from Wizkids HD Minis.

Last is her snow leopard (summoned during her first game), and Crossbowman from North Star.

Saturday night Shep got in his second game of Frostgrave, completing the aforementioned Skeleton Run of the Dark Alchemy Campaign.  The battle report should be out this week.

Here is the update for this week.  A little behind on Ivy's war band and I am probably going to switch to Mugzy's instead of Gideon's this week as I will have a paper to write for C&S this weekend which will take up some time.  See you all next week!

Terrain Tutorial - Birdhouse Towers

A while back on one of the Frostgrave Facebook pages someone posted a link to Michael's Birdhouse Castle and commented they could make some good cheap terrain.  At $4.99 they were right about the price but a little work needed to be done first.

Michael's' Birdhouse Tower

 Other than needing a paint job the tower also cannot fit a standard 25mm base on the second level.

To solve this I decided to have two towers for the price of one.  The first thing I needed to do is get rid of the off center base on the bottom of the large tower.  To the band saw!

With the crooked base trimmed to the walls I could now get a straight cut between the top of the large tower walls and the crenelations/roof.

To make the roof and crenelations usable I needed to remove the small tower.  

I used a Dremel cutting disk on my DeWalt cordless drill to cut out a base for the small tower.

The crenelations were now free of the small tower but there was a lack of a roof!

To fix this I cut two pieces of 1/8 inch plywood.  One matches the dimensions of the crenelation square and one roughly matches the inside dimension of the square.

I then drilled a hole in the center of the roof pieces for a ladder to get to the top.

Add some Gorilla Wood Glue and then drop the wife's Kettle Bell on top until it dries!

Once the top was re-attached to the tower I wanted to make the walls look more like stone than wood planks.  So I used a rock to begin marking up the sides with divots and gauges.

Next I added some DAP spackling putty to fill in the gap between the new roof and the crenelations.

I then added some DAP spackling putty to the edges of the new roof to fill some slight gaps.  I also added some bits to the walls to give even more texture.

With all the hard work done it was time to paint.  First I primed the towers in Matt Black.

Next I added a base coat of Anita's All Purpose Acrylic 11086 Charcoal.

I then added the first highlight of AAPA 1200401 Antique Nickel.

And finally I added a highlight of AAPA 11084 Rainy Day Gray.

With a little bit of work we now have two towers with top floors at 4.5 inches and 2.5 inches, with an extra 0.75 inches in height for the crenelations to give your ranged miniatures some cover!

These towers allow for some cheap, easy terrain suitable for both fantasy games like Frostgrave and historical games set in the Dark Ages, all for about $5 and a little bit of work!

Weekly Workbench 15 October 2017

Lots of work done this week on the first of the Frostgrave warbands and a bunch of new goodies arrived as well.  I also set my self a schedule and some goals for the Tabletop Commanders' Winter Warmer Challenge.  I am slightly behind but will be caught up tomorrow.  As I am following the schedule to get everything done I will not be breaking it the post into categories as almost everything for the next six weeks should be Frostgrave related.

First up, the skeletons of the Eternal Guard from Alternate Armies had The Army Painter Dry Rust Effect applied to their steel parts and Military Shader wash applied to the copper pieces for oxidation.  They were then dull coated and now just need to be based, more on that later.

Duncan's warband is off to a great start with all his main party from North Star being painted and washed with Strong Tone.  They just need some quick highlights on selected miniatures and a dull coat before basing.  Here we have his champion and two extra zombies he may raise into his service.

His two thieves and his archer are nearly ready as well.

Also coming along is his crossbowman and war hound.

One of his extras, his fire giant warrior from Reaper, which on a rare chance he may be able to summon to help him, is also being worked on.

Now onto the goodies that arrived this week.  First up is the shipment from Footsore with a bunch of Arthurian legends.   

 Guinevere was their special miniature exclusive for September and I purchased several of the court to get her.  First is Lancelot and Merlin.  Also arriving are Bors & Tristan and Gawain & Galahad.  I will look forward to painting these in December and once I complete the collection with King Arthur and Mordred making a nice diorama with them.

I also received a shipment from Green Stuff World that included four rollers and their silicone guide rings.  The four rollers I chose were the plain, frozen, cobblestone, and wood.  I also received some more green stuff epoxy putty as I will be making a lot of base tops and some MDF 25mm and 40mm round bases. 

I also ordered from the small boutique company, Dark Sword Miniatures, in order to pick up some female characters for the girls' warbands.  The miniatures are all of outstanding quality; supremely detailed and with mold lines nearly invisible.  In fact, half the miniatures did not even get scraped as I could not find the mold lines.  I cannot wait to start painting these and I will definitely be ordering from them again.

 First up is Mugzy's archer and knight.  She had first pick and chose this archer.  Once Ivy picked her knight Mugzy chose the mace instead of the sword or axe for her knight's weapon. 

 Ivy ended up with the Wilding Spearwife with bow based on the Song of Ice and Fire for her archer.  She then chose the the female cleric with mace for her knight.

 I also picked up two thieves and a paladin for myself.  In this case my wizard has enchanted some woodland creatures to come to his aid.  Ella the cat and Chet the field squirrel are his thieves.  The frothy UK badger will be his paladin and I think I shall name this large fellow Sunflash the Mace (bonus points to anyone who knows the reference without looking it up).

Dark Sword Miniatures also included to free miniatures in the package.

First up is this Female Mage who may very well make an appearance in Felstad one day.

The second miniature is Thief of Hearts #5, she is a little under dressed for use with the kids but she looks to be another lovely model to paint up. 

Last we have the status update for the Winter Warmer Challenge.  See you all next week for another Weekly Workbench and I will do my best to get the terrain tutorial out this week!

Weekly Workbench 8 October 2017

The short break due to my mother's visit is over and I am back to work.  Before she left I did get some painting in and presented her with the mini diorama above, made up of the Irish Wolfhounds from Footsore Miniatures.  Her grandfather used to raise them and she has fond memories of them, but not so much their tails.

Not only a lot accomplished on the workbench but all the kids have completed the Alchemical Monstrosity adventure of the Dark Alchemy campaign for Frostgrave and we will begin the Skeleton Run this week!

Table Top Commanders' started their Winter Warmer Challenge this week and I pledged the following:

1 x SAGA Scots 6pt Warband
1 x SAGA Viking 6pt Warband
6 x FROSTGRAVE basic warbands
2 x Diorama's for Christmas Presents
Finishing the Normandy Diorama

Fantasy:  The largest portion of my work as I try to get the full Frostgrave warbands done before the kids start competing among themselves.

First up is Gideon's wizard.  He is from Wizkids new D&D Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures line.  They come pre-primed with Vallejo primer.  While there is some minor mold lines that were not cleaned off, the sculpts are excellent, the clear plastic energy pieces are nice, and you get two miniatures for $4.

The second miniature of the set is Gideon's apprentice.  I have a number of other miniatures from this line that will also be making an appearance in the near future.

Lot's of building got done while visiting with my mother as I cobbled together the warbands using the Soldiers and Barbarians box-sets from North Star Figures.  Most of these still need some putty work before priming them as soon as the humidity drops.

First up is two thieves.

Here are three Treasure Hunters, who will double as thieves until the kids upgrade them.

Two Crossbowmen.

Three more Crossbowmen.

Two Infantrymen and a Man-at-Arms/Captain

My Captain with a two handed axe and my Tunnel Fighter.

As the next adventure in the campaign is Skeleton Run I wanted to get some skeletons ready beyond the plain Reaper Bones ones.  Here I have Alternative Armies' Eternal Guard painted and dipped.

Tomorrow I will dull coat, add some rust affects, and base them.

Historical:  I also continued work on my Scots warband for SAGA, getting in some painting as I waited for other items to dry.

Three Archers, also to be used in Frostgrave.

Some warriors.

And three more warriors.

That's it for this week. I have a paint guide, with step by step pictures this time, I am putting together for the dwarf wizards, which should be out in a couple of weeks.  First up though is this week's terrain tutorial I have been teasing about (long finished by waiting to get in the lineup), and then a tutorial on the goblin's of Goblin Town, to finish out that series.  We should also be seeing another battle report as Bubba Time-Hopper makes his way through the Skeletal Run! 

Treasure awaits from Nolzur's Marvelous Miniatures!