Frostgrave Characters - Potion Master and Alchemist

I love the adaptability of Frostgrave. Like many of my favorite rules sets of late - SAGA, Lion Rampant and Dragon Rampant, nothing ties you into a specific figure manufacturer's line. Of course, Northstar's dedicated line of Frostgrave plastics are excellent, but what about the metal characters?

In all honesty, I wish they were a bit larger. It is fine that the plastic sprues fit in with historicals, but I would like it if the metals stood out as bit more heroic. The potion master below is actually a bit smaller than the plastics. Which probably fits with the way it would work, but I like a little more heft out of my metal fantasy figs.

I bought the pack pretty much for the potion master. He's a really unique character and tough to find a suitable stand in among my collection. The marksman is not terribly interesting - any Crusader Miniature crossbowman could stand-in for that roster slot.

Here's some treasure markers I made up using Hirst Arts casts - barrels, treasure chests, a stack of books and some sacks. 

Finally, my last minis of the week are not Frostgrave related directly, but I suppose one could make them work. Both are Reapers, one is a half orc and the other is an ogre, although I painted them with the idea that the smaller guy is a half-ogre - a father/son pairing, perhaps. 

Oberon Half-Orc and Ogre Chieftain

Heroines in Sensible Shoes

Increasingly of late, I have trouble painting to completion a kickstarter project from a company before their next line is announced. Maybe I will cut back on my kickstarters, but I certainly won't miss out on Oathsworn's next crowdfunder now that I have their most recent set painted. 

Earlier this year, Oathsworn offered a kickstarter of 11 female adventurers form the traditional D&D races and classes. Their innovative concept for this range was a line of female adventurers in practical armor and gear rather than the more revealing and less functional outfits we have come to expect. On one hand, I appreciate a good Werner Klocke female mini, but I might not want to put it on the table with my young daughter and son playing. And since we are playing Frostgrave a great deal lately, chainmail bikinis are probably not optimal gear. As with their previous projects, the project was finished early and delivered a few weeks ago. A follow up project is promised soon. 

Human Cleric and Fighter 

Wood Elf, Halfling and Gnome

Human Bard and Rogue

Dragonborn Sorcerer and Human Wizard

Half orc barbarian and Dwarf

As far as size, they are heroic 28mm - slightly larger than historical figures or your old 80s Ral Partha, but closer to that size than modern figures that are pushing up to 32mm. The designs are clean and classic. These are adventurers on dungeon delve, not characters posing for a movie poster. I question the overuse of lanterns and torches - don't halflings and elves have darkvision? But it gets the theme across. I probably should have taken the opportunity to learn object source lighting techniques, but I am generally of the opinion that it looks great when photographed and as part of a display but does not hold up as well right in front of you. That could be just the examples I have seen.

Overall, great minis and a great company.

Burrows and Badgers - The Big Guys

As I put the finishing touches on my Oathsworn Female Adventurers in Sensible Shoes, here are my final efforts from their Burrows and Badgers line. These are, for the most part, the larger figures in the line. The titular badger is one heavy piece of pewter. 

A female fox (vixen) archer.

The fox thief was one of my favorite figures in the set. It has a great dynamic pose and a clean casting - a near perfect mini. 

As I said, these are some big figures. Here is the badger beside a 30/32mm Reaper orc. The size puts it easily in ogre/small giant size range. 

Below, a couple of black rat thugs or assassins.

Oathsworn continues to be one of my favorite manufacturers. Its Kickstarters are always on time and well communicated. They have the perfect blend of innovation in concept and tradition in design. 

My next post should be their female adventurers in time for the next project from Oathsworn set to launch in a couple of days. 

Female Monster Adventurers for Frostgrave

This is one of the more interesting ideas for a Frostgrave warband I have put together, an all-female "monster" warband.  I had started this before the Into the Breeding Pits expansion was announced, but I think they will work well with the new material. 

They might make a good Beastcrafter warband, as the author describes them as being a more animalistic type of magic, Read more at his website The Renaissance Troll.  

Krokuta, Gnoll Cleric, Reaper # 02955

Looking for a goblin female was a bit difficult, so I went with a gnome female and gave her green skin. Not very d&d goblin, but maybe Warcraft.

03196: Petra Posiedew, Gnome Sorceress

03263: Ferrunk, Female Bugbear Cleric

The two "sisters" shown below will be a ranger and a barbarian in the warband.

02708: Janara HalfOrc Female & 03019: Lathula, Female Barbarian

Female Adventurers from Reaper

A small party of female adventurers from Reaper, a warm-up for my soon to be posted Oathsworn female adventurers. 

The first on the right is in Bones plastic and the other two are metals. As it is from the first bones, it suffers a bit from a lack of details. It is also a bit tall for a figure that should be a halfing...or is it a dwarf? I have detailed my problem before with Reaper's "not small enough" halflings - but it is a nice figure. 

Bailey Silverbell

Liriel Silverlocks, Elf Bard

Magda Mintsilver

The dwarf above will probably end up as an NPC in a dwarven village, although I don't suppose there are too many dual wielding blacksmiths. Maybe it is a 3rd edition feat.

Burrows and Badgers - close to completion

I have returned to blogging after a several month absence. All I can say is that it happens. Kids, job, exercise all come before the internet. I haven't been so busy that I gave up on gaming and painting, but when the time crunch hit, taking pictures and posting was the first thing cut.

I do have a nice backlog that should fuel some posts for the next couple of months.

First up, more from Oathsworn Miniatures' Burrows and Badgers. This is from their first Kickstarter and I am closing in on finishing the set.

These five shown below were most recently completed.

 Nate the Wanderer, Mouse Hedge Knight. 

Darmok Foecrusher, Marmot Mercenary

Bassk uz'Drasst, Green Lizard

Glormug Wyrde, Toad Animist

These figures are really begging for a D&D 5E conversion. And I could put it on the DMS Guild...and that's how I take on too many projects with too little time. Maybe one day. 

Oathsworn is one of my favorite manufacturers. Their kickstarters are almost always early and their figures show such a unique personality. They are not as detailed or elaborate as figures from larger manufacturers, but they more than make up for it in dynamics and characters. The castings are also top notch, quality metal and I am surprised to find the slightest bit of flash. 

All my ducks in a row

I got these Duckmen from Rebel Minis holiday sale, and they went to the front of the line in my paint queue. They are the old Mongoose duckmen for Runequest, currently released through Rebel minis as part of their Darkhold line.

I imagine these as the strangest Frostgrave band possible, or maybe as a weird wilderness encounter for PCs in my next campaign.

The sculpts are excellent, and each figure is unique. They are short, averaging about 20mm, but well detailed.

Due to aging eyes, painting at this size is not my strong suit, one reason I avoid 15mm despite its growing popularity. However, between my anthro characters and other short races, I seem to spend a lot of time in this size.

A blog reader recently asked for some comparison shots from various manufacturers, so here are a few combinations

L to R: Iron Wind Quickling, Rebel Ducman (2) and a Reaper halfling

L to R: Oathsworn dormouse, Rebel duckman (2) and a full size Reaper Elf. 

The duckmen compare relatively well to most halflings, though they lack the bulk that some manufacturers add to their halflings and gnomes. I suspect they don't want them to look like normally scaled 15mm or 20mm figs.  

And now, just some mice: 

L to R: Reaper mousling, Oathsworn dormouse, Splintered Light Rat and Oathsworn mouse.
Note that the Splintered Light fig is on a thinner base. 

A Party of Halflings (not the usual halfling party)

Here's my next set of miniatures from Acheson Creation's last Kickstarter campaign.

In all my years of gaming, I've never played a halfling character, though I am very likely to now run a halfling only warband with these guys - either in Frostgrave or another skirmish game.




As with the last set of Halfling adventurers, these should appeal to those looking for an old school (OSR) art style. The faces and costuming are very expressive and unique. As with the last set, I found some of the details requiring straight edging (scabbards in particular) to be a bit indistinct or off.

Nonetheless, I think they are fine figures, and if Acheson Creations includes more of them in a future Kickstarter, I will probably pledge at the necessary level.

Darkhold Goblins

Some time off for the holidays as allowed me to reduce the lead mountain a bit. I picked these Dark Hold Goblins from Rebel Minis at Nashcon earlier this summer. Finally finished them this week, and will hopefully play them in a 5th Ed game with my kids.





These are sculpted by Bobby Jackson and are definitely worth having if goblins are your thing. They are the right mix of comical and menacing, so they could be used in a variety of settings or flavors. The casting and production quality is top notch, very clean and no flash.

If your inclined to make a purchase, Rebel is running a sale until the New Year. I might pick up the goblin minions and maybe the duckmen. I have always received quick service from Mike at Rebel, so if the Darkhold/Runequest design interests you, they have some great stuff.

Link to Rebel Minis.

Acheson Creations Female Adventurers

Acheson Creations produces a diverse line of resin terrain and earlier this year they ran a Kickstarter for a line of plastic dungeon tiles. It delivered within a month of its promised date - which makes it early by most crowdfunding standards.

They avoided some of the outrageous amounts of free stretch goals that get a lot of projects in trouble, but one appealing freebie was packs of male, female and halfling adventurers in metal.

Here are the eight female adventurers, recently finished, but not necessarily grouped as sold. I've arranged them more for party balance.

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The sculpting quality does not match up to most of the top names in the field. Some of the hands a little lumpy, and one particular problem I noticed was a lack of separation and definition between sword scabbards and the surrounding leg or cloak.

However, they do have a lot of appeal for several reasons. First, is scale. These are true 28mm (I know 28mm is a size not scale) and match up closer with old school fantasy figures and historicals. Speaking of old school, their overall aesthetic matches the artwork from the early editions of D&D.

Here's a shot with the Acheson tiles in the background. I'd say it's Frostgrave ready.

More Burrows and Badgers from Oathsworn

I completed six more of Oathsworn's Burrows and Badgers miniatures last week. These figures were my favorite acquisition of 2015 to this point.

Anthropomorphic has suffered a bit because of the whole "furry" thing, but nonetheless, I am a fan Oathsworn's product. Their aesthetic is favors the animal rather than human form, matching the look of Disney's Robin Hood or the Redwall series.

The sculpts and castings are very clean; like great animation, Oathsworn's designs are built from bold lines and dynamic composition, rather than over-elaborate details and ridiculous poses.

Shrew Warrior, Mole Friar, Ferret Rogue 

Mole Warrioress, Hedgehog Warrioress, Black Rat Warrior

As the Crow Flies - Stonehaven Miniatures' Tengu

This week brings me to three more completed figures from Stonehaven's Half-Orc Kickstarter. Obviously, these are not Half-Orcs, but Stonehaven always adds extra character types to its themed Kickstarters. In some cases, they are the most interesting of the figures. 

The Tengu, bird people from Japanese mythology, can be found as a PC race in a number of RPGs. On a recent D&D poll, they were listed on a ballot as a possible race in 5E. Here's my vote for an Unearthed Arcana bringing back some of the old school Oriental Adventures. Wait, can we still say Oriental? 

From the left, a mage, samurai and harrier. If I was doing 5E characters, I would play them as a sorcerer, fighter battlemaster and rogue thief respectively. As it stands, I will probably put together a Tengu warband for Open Combat. 

Stonehaven Miniatures make great characters and their is definitely a unique aesthetic to their figures. One can see a trace of humor and playfulness in the sculpts without making an ironic joke - which is what I perceive to be behind the whole Chibi style movement. The production quality is excellent. Mold lines are minimal and easily cleaned.

These figures, especially the larger two, have a lateral flatness common to many of Stonehaven's miniatures, no doubt to ease in the casting process. It is a minor detriment to an otherwise excellent and growing line of figures.

Holy Vindicator

Here's a mini from a friend of mine that got the collecting bug recently. He painted up a neat color scheme (Superman, right?) and I added some washes and highlights.

Stonehaven Half Orcs

It's raining Kickstarters around here lately. In addition to my Oathsworn Miniatures, here are my Stonehaven Miniature Half-Orcs. I went for the choice of 10, rather than the complete set.

Here are the first three finished figures.  From left, the Paladin, Barbarian and Bard.

Half Orc Barbarians are cliched, but Stonehaven captures something unique in her.  Not a savage brute as would be typical, but a wild spirit, one who is curious and joyful. I am tired of grim-dark barbarians.  The Paladin begs to be generated as a Ronin and the drummer girl is appropriately Sgt. Peppers meets Punk rock.

Stonehaven has some of the most interesting fantasy sculpts on the market.  The faces ooze personality, clothing and armor is superbly detailed and the casting quality is top notch. Minimal shaving or filing is needed to get these ready to paint.  Any negatives? A strong tendency to sculpt miniatures that are "flat" in cross section. I am sure this is mainly a desire to keep the casting and spinning process simple and avoid multi-part models. Despite this, the poses are dynamic and natural.

Burrows and Badger Oathsworn Work in Progress

Here are my first three works in progress from the Oathsworn Burrows and Badger Kickstarter.

From the right, Snowbelle Venomdart, Grimnir One-eye, and Daggit Neverseen.

The Hare may be my favorite sculpt; it seems to best capture the aesthetic Oathsworn was aiming for. 

After some highlighting and base details, these will be finished. More pics to follow.