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So, I've finally found a friend who is interested in Frostgrave and we've got a campaign going! We played several "practice" games with other warbands, but now we're ready to really enact a campaign. We, of course, waited until we'd received our copies of The Frostgrave Folio so we could include captains. I decided that the captain is my warband's actual leader and the brains behind the operation for the sake of the narrative. First off, let's meet the warband! "This had better be worth what I'm paying," the auburn-haired warrior said to the odd fellow with the foppish hat. "Oh good heavens yes!" the foppishly-hatted fellow said waving his arms flamboyantly around. "Felstad! City of wonders, mystery, enchantment...and other adjectives! It's thawing! If you can get there before other looters...I mean...historians, the treasures and riches of a past civilization of magical mavericks is yours!" Branna sighed to herself, and handed over the bag of coin. She hated to part with such a sum, but tried to consider it an investment: pay money to make money. She knew she'd need a band of followers to share in the excursion, and she'd already started her recruiting. Reliq Burrows, pirate-turned-thug-for-hire, and Dell Furth, the skittish archer, were already on board and were sitting a table away as she secured the map. After all, it's always smart to have back-up around in case deals like this go south. Next, Branna needed more hands to carry off loot they'd find. She knew exactly who she wanted to target for this. "Hmm, sounds dangerous," said Jaffy Lightfoot, the Halfling thief. "Yes, much too dangerous. I prefer my safe, urban setting where plenty of pockets make themselves available for the picking. Yes. I say no." "Huh, coward," chuckled his taller companion, Ella Shar. "Good luck getting out of your next scrape when someone catches your hand in their pocket and I'm not there to bail you out. I'm going with Branna." At this, the Halfling started making some odd sound at the back of his throat. It wasn't quite a gagging sound, nor did it entirely sound like whining. Ella had gotten used to it, and gave Branna a wink as she knew this sound indicated that Jaffy was weighing the options, but would ultimately side with her: as always. "Fine," he said with a sigh, "but I'm going to regret this, I'm sure." "Of course you will," Ella replied. "Regret is one of your many great skills!" With a couple of treasure grabbers on board, Branna knew she'd need some magic. After all, one does not wander into a land of wizards without bringing one or two of your own. She'd known some great and impressive wizards in her day. Unfortunately, the only ones available, were...well...these ones. "So, hot stuff, come to take me up on my offer?" the obviously fiendishly blooded fellow said, his voice dripping with self-confidence. "No," Branna replied, and launched into a quick explanation of the quest before he had time to try throwing yet another of his bad pick-up lines her way. V'Roth Forcahl had quite the reputation as an overly-confident ladies' man. Strangely, his meek and timid apprentice, Sylvania Efilbrooke, never seemed to be one of those ladies. In his interactions with her, he seemed caring and almost fatherly. Strange qualities compared to his usual gusto and bravado. At length, she finished her explanation. Sylvania looked at V'Roth to see how they'd respond. The tiefling laughed and said, "You know this is just your coy game to get in more time with me, Branna, but I'll play along." "Excellent," Branna replied, then added, "it'll be cold where we're going. You should find a shirt." V'Roth simply laughed in reply and then flexed. Branna was fairly happy with the band she'd gathered thus far. However, a single archer and her own bow would surely not be enough. Realistically, she could use another treasure grabber while she was at it. That settled it, she was going to bring in the twins. Venna, the sharpshooter with the crossbow, and Vesienne, the rogue, were quite a capable duo. The drawback, they were excessively co-dependent. A warband is ideally composed of members who will look out for each other. Branna knew full well that either of the DeMoir sisters would forsake the rest of the warband for her sister. Still, as long as she deployed them together so that looking out for each other worked out in the band's best interests, she was certain she could use their devotion to her own advantage. Branna was, indeed, skilled at war, but she also knew a thing or two about managing people. With the rest of the band in place, she approached the one member she truly trusted and the only one she saw as her peer. "They're a jumbled mess of outcasts, but I think we can use them to our advantage," she said. Then she leaned in and gave her warhound, Fang, a scratch behind the ear. "Just stick with me, big guy," she said, "and we'll finally hit our big payday." And with the band assembled, the only thing left was for Branna to give them a name: Branna's Brigands. V'Roth, Sylvania, and Jaffy are unaltered Bones minis. Branna and the twins are HeroClix minis I've altered (Branna was a gender-swapped version of Valeros, the iconic fighter from Pathfinder). Fang and Ella are rebased minis from MageKnight and HeroClix respectively. Dell is a Bones skeletal archer that I converted by adding Green Stuff. In terms of additional characters, the barmaids are minis I sculpted. The foppishly-hatted fellow is the result of some kit-bashing I did and arms I sculpted (he's the mini for one of my Pathfinder characters named The Traveler). I made all the terrain pieces including the bar tables (and I still need to finish painting them).

This week I finished up two of the Bones 2 Kickstarter dwarf cleric figures: Barden Barrelstrap from the Dragons Don't Share set, and Thain Grimthorn from the Original Core set. I paired them up as being ideal to fill the roles of a Thaumaturge wizard and his Apprentice for my Frostgrave collection. And, since I wanted them to be dressed similarly, I figured I would paint them both at the same time. I had the idea that they would be followers of the twin gods of metal: Argent and Aur. So, I decided to paint them in yellow and white as the symbolic colors of their gods. Nothing fancy, just tabletop paint jobs. As always, C & C welcome.

So, I recently got the Frostgrave rulebook and that got me inspired to create warbands. Of course, I couldn't just settle with the minis I already had, so I had to get more Bones...and then I needed to start sculpting. I decided I'd speed up the process somewhat by using Sculpey to do the basic frame of the figures and then get some actual sculpting of the feet and legs. Beyond about that much, using Sculpey can lead to too much mess, so I cooked them at that point and got started on adding Green Stuff. The thaumaturge, as described in the Frostgrave book, lean away from opulent clothing and embellishments and weaponry, so I thought it would be a nice twist to have the wizard and apprentice be a pair of twins. The wizard is the responsible sister who adheres to the ways of thaumaturges and the cultural traditions of their people (I was going for something vaguely Middle Eastern looking) while her less focused brother tends towards more flamboyance and weaponry. She has attire more based on culture and functionality, so she has a harness on which there will be pouches and such. She also wields a thin staff as a focus for her magic. I'm thinking I'll do a head wrap on her, but I may just go with a hood. He is wearing a medieval English looking style rather than cultural attire, though I will be adding a sash so it's still some element of a Middle Eastern look. Maybe a falchion hanging sheathed at his hip as well. (The pictures were taken on the interior of the tavern I'm creating for my terrain pieces)