Frostgrave - Necromancer and Cultist warband

And now, for something completely different. It's not even historical. (No, I do not in fact limit myself to historical wargames. Shocking, I know.)

From the frozen city to the north, a Necromancer, his apprentice and their band of ne'er-do-wells trying to find what they can in Frostgrave.

The (not so) merry band of scum and villainy. 15 models in all, all of them build from the North Star Frostgrave Cultists plastic kit (and some sundry bits and pieces, as well as some green stuff. And some pieces have been taken of and/or modified... but it's all plastic. And a little green stuff). Most of these ca be used for, and are intended for, several different kinds of hired help, as long as the equipment is in general agreement. Any armour can generally be handwaved as hidden under thick winter robes.

The big cheese himself, as well as the medium-size cheese in his apprentice. They're applying the Warhammer logic of command: the more skulls you have/carry, the higher up the totem pole you are.

A bunch of Thugs and random scum is always useful for carrying heavy stuff, ganging up on annoying monsters (or the warbands of other wizards) or, worse come to worst, ingredients. They're cheap, and there's always more in the nearest tavern.

Some faster fellows are occasionally useful, either cheap Thieves (armed with only a single dagger) or the more competent Treasure Hunters (dual wielding sword and dagger). Generally, you want two such models, or, as the case is with the middle guy, someone that can counts as either as circumstances (warband attrition and finances) may dictate.

Some ranged support is always welcome, be it bow or crossbow. The bowman can serve as an Archer or a Ranger, while the crossbowman can be either a Crossbowman (very imaginative name, that) or a Marksman. Generally, two guys on ranged support ought to be enough, and with one of each, there is little chance for mistakes and confusion.

Bigger weapons are always nice to hit stuff with. Three different, suitable two handed weapons in the bits pile means three guys armed with such. They can stand in for Infantrymen (the guy with a spear would be excellent for that), Templars (guy with big-ass sword dito) or Barbarians (flail-guy), or any mix of the above, once more as attrition and finances allow. The swordman could also work as a Captain of the warband, if such is desired.

A view of the two handers from the side, showing exactly how large those weapons are. The flail is converted from a spiked club (the head, and the shaft) with a bit of plastic chain in between, and a bit of green stuff to keep it all together. The sword is, I think, from the Frostgrave Soldiers kit (got a sprue from a friend, with a few bodies and random equipment left), otherwise all pieces for these guys are from the Cultist kit.

Or you could go with a shield instead of a larger weapon, if you're not quite as fanatic and think you have some chance of survival. Both and either can serve as anything armed with a hand weapon and shield, although the guy with the larger shield is primarily intended as a Knight or Captain, while the other guy would be an Man-at-Arms (or a Thug, as seen above, assuming the buckler isn't all that useful for actual protection).

Warbands in Frostgrave tend to suffer some level of attrition. But if your wizard specialises in necromancy, there is no need to waste those bodies (or any other you find in the frozen city, no matter their age). Pictured above: Bob the Thug, before and after a unfortunate run-in with something a bit larger than he could handle (yes, they're very intentionally painted the same. Necromancers, man).

The nice thing with Frostgrave (and Frostgrave: Ghost Archipelago, the follow-up) is that you don't need all that many models, you can even use models intended for completely different gaming systems. I've been using my SAGA vikings so far, with a few painted up additions (mostly the two "wizards" and a few treasure hunters). So, naturally, I have ideas for 3 or 4 warbands, and all of them will be expanded way beyond what is "needed". Then again, I've never really been known for moderation.

/Fool Out

Blood & Plunder - new table

I am not much of a terrain builder myself. Thankfully, there are some fellows (or one very prolific one) that I know. We finally got a chance to try out his latest creation.

It looks utterly amazing, doesn't it? Yeah, it does, and even better in person.

We had two games, Spanish Militia (since I wanted to try out the Milicianos Indios) against French Militia. First game, the spanish started a bit bunched up on one flank.

The French are more spread out, guarding objectives and waiting.

 First objective, guarded by a unit of French Caribbean Militia, on the farthest corner of the village square

The second objective, guarded by another unit of French Militia, in the fort guarding the harbour.

The Spanish charged forward, but due to my bad luck with the dice (and a few spectacular defensive fires by my opponent), the Lanceros were wiped out as they tried to charge the fort, followed by the Milicianos gutted and shaken trying to charge the Boucaniers in the forest. And then the Spanish bravely ran away. In all, a good game, though my bad rolls (and a few good rolls at the crucial time from my opponent) spoiled it somewhat for me.

Another attempt, with things changed around a bit. Now, the objective is roughly in between the forces, which have been moved closer to simulate "starting at turn 2" (since this is roughly how we'll demo the game at Gothcon in a month's time). Spanish down below, French up above (same forces as last time), with some sneaky Spanish Indianos up near the river on one flank (hopefully distracting Boucaniers, near the upper leftmost buildin, from gunning down Milicianos).

Two units of French Militia, hanging back for now (soon to rush forward for the objectives)

We played the river as rough terrain (obviously, but Natives don't care about that), that also provided cover for units in it. Might have to add something about not providing cover for gunpowder-armed units, but once again, (these) Natives don't care. Prevents that side of the table from being too open.

Boucaniers fails to kill natives fast enough, slowly falling to a hail of arrows (and a final charge once they'd taken some casualties and fatigue).

The Milicianos, meanwhile, manage to get up into some cover (helped by being Elusive), meeting the first unit of French Militia and soundly trouncing them. After that, with both the Boucaniers, one unit of Militia, and the commander being dead, the French is defeated. Decent enough game, but very fast and not quite balanced between the Spanish and the French. More thought will have to go into it, but we're getting there. And we will have an utterly awesome table to get there on.

And I'm still happy that I finally got the Milicianos to work. Don't be fooled by the long guns they carry. These are mostly for defense when they get charged. March up there, present the guns at the enemy only when less than 4" away, fire and the immediately charge the survivors in melee. Of course, in a normal game, you'll take more casualties going in than here.

/Fool Out.

Chain of Command - 15mm German Grenadier Platoon

It's time for a new game and old scale/period. Chain of Command has erupted onto the local club, in 15mm scale. So it's back to ww2 for me. Since it's played with a reinforced platoon (compared to the reinforced company in FoW) and individual basing, I can't re-use quite a lot of my stuff. Vehicles will be fine, but this is mostly an infantry game.

First up though, a platoon for a friend, German grenadiers for roughly the eastern front, '44.

This is the core platoon, as well as some quite a lot of support.

First up, the platoon HQ. A Senior Leader, the Lieutenant (or possibly sergeant) in charge of the platoon, and an anti-tank team with a panzerschreck. These have all been marked with white beads ("pixelpärlor", from Panduro here in Sweden), which makes for a surprisingly nice and discreet, but still easily visible, unit marking. Incidentally, white was the waffenfarbe ("corps colour) for German infantry.

First squad, with yellow beads. Every base has a bead, but they're mostly behind the soldiers so are a bit tricky to see from the front.

Second squad, orange beads. Each squad consists of a Junior Leader (squad commander, usually a sergeant or a corporal) an MG team with the squad MG42 and three men, and a Rifle team of 6 men. The squad also have a one-shot Panzerfaust. To keep track of whether the squad has used theirs, one extra rifleman also carrying a 'Faust is included in each squad.

Third squad, blue beads. Basing is quite simple. Most riflemen are single based on 15mm washers, all Leaders are on 20mm washers. Any light machine guns, which generally require a crew of more than one to work as effectively as possible, are based 2 men on a 20mm washers. The intention is that when the crew is reduced to a single man (and the firepower is reduced), you place a highly visible marker next to the base, which then reminds you that they're firing at reduced power, and you should do something about that.

Just as important as the actual soldiers, are the Jump-Off points, where your units will deploy from. You can make do with flat, boring, counters with some kind of marking on, but more scenic ones looks much better. Here we have a wooden barrel with a rifle and cap next to a bush, an old grave for some unlucky soldier (still with his helmet on top), a metal drum with a sign leaning on it, telling you that danger's close, and finally the road sign pointing towards Berlin and Krakow.

Support is something very important in Chain of Command, making for a somewhat more balanced experience. For the Germans, the single most important support option is quite possible the additional Senior Leader (with a white bead, since the Senior Leaders should be easy to keep track of). Next to him, a kubelwagen, which is cheap and might always be useful.

The second most important support choice, according to people more knowledgeable than me, is an additional infantry squad. Green beads on these fellows, otherwise identical to the three squads of the core platoon.

Since it's an infantry game, a heavy machine gun seems a very useful piece to have as well (nevermind the fact that every grenadier company had a platoon of these, making it the most likely support for the infantrymen). MG42 on a tripod and 5 crew, all with light green beads. Because the HMG is a bit too long to fit on a 20mm washer, it's instead mounted on a 25mm one. As with the infantry LMGs, two crew are mounted on the base. Once they're reduced to one, firepower is also reduced.

For when you want something a bit heavier, every most (because if I say "every", someone will find an exception) infantry regiment had light infantry guns. 7.5cm leIG18 with 5 crew and a Junior Leader. As with the HMG, 2 crew and the gun is on a 25mm washer. Red beads on this one, as the closest thing to on table artillery (red is the waffenfarbe of the german artillery, although infantry guns strictly counted as infantry since they were part of infantry regiments).

Even if it's an infantry game, armour can still make an appearance. For lighter armour, there is the 5cm PaK38. 5 crew, Junior Leader, 25mm washer for the gun. Very similar to the leIG18. These gets pink beads, since Panzerjäger regiments had pink as their waffenfarbe. The crew would wear white, however, as with the infantry gun, they're part of the infantry regiment

As can be seen, even on the larger washer, the gun isn't really confined. I'm tempted to mount it on an even larger washer, but think I will stick with this one. Gods know how I would do a PaK40. Probably not, and instead use them mounted on vehicles.

Now for some smaller support options. First, a 5cm light mortar. Since I was limited in how many colours of beads I could get, these also have red beads.

The platoon HQ has a Panzerschreck team, but it might be a good idea to have the option for another one. Pink beads, since they're anti-tank.

While there's not many large guns on the table, artillery support can be called in from off table. For that you need an observer team. Red beads once again, especially since they're artillery. Technically, they're from the regimental mortar platoon, so would be infantry, but close enough. The observer team counts as a single model, but to make it more scenic, I mounted two men o a 20mm washer.

Next up, to prove that you don't need big guns to make an enemy advance grind to a halt, a sniper team. As with the observer team, they count as one model, but are mounted two to a 20mm washer to make them more scenic (and get space enough for a bush to hide behind). A red bead for these as well, though I might replace it to reduce confusion with the observer team.

Finally, some pioneers to reduce fieldworks. Specialists and not overly useful, but I had the models, so I might as well. All of them have black beads, the only fitting (you guessed it, dedicated pioneers had black corps colours). Each team can either be gotten separately, or you can field a section with two teams, a Junior Leader and some flexibility in exactly what those two teams should be.

First up, mine clearance team. Finding and neutralising mine fields with metal detectors, spades, bayonets and rods (and brass balls)

 Next up, demolition team. Can remove most kinds of problems with explosives. Bit limited in the mount of explosives they carry, though...

Finally, a flame thrower team, for when there's not as many field works but lots of stuff that need a judicious application of (literal) firepower.

All of these are for a friend, and the assumption is that he can provide any vehicles needed himself. If that would prove to be wrong, I guess I'll have to provide another post with some random painted german tanks and such as well. What a horror :p

/Fool Out

Blood & Plunder - Brigantine

Not quite dead yet. And even better, there's sails on the horizon!

I think she's spanish, sah.

So. I'm finally finished with my brigantine for Blood & Plunder. One step larger than the Sloop, she's an impressive ship, at the same time easy and tricky to build and rig.

She's currently flying Spanish colours, but I have a feeling that this ship, more than any of the others, will see use with all my factions, both current and yet to come. The Brigantine seems to hit that sweet spot of neither too much, nor too little (of course, I haven't played nearly enough to be certain of this, but it's a working theory).

She's got one more deck, and one more mast, than the Sloop, giving space for more units, and not quite as vulnerable to getting the mast shot off. Of course, that comes at a price. She's not as maneuverable as the Sloop, and is more affected by the wind coming in from the fore.

The rear deck has space for two Swivel guns as well as four cannons (two on each side).

The middle deck has an additional four cannons (or at least space and gun ports for them), as well as a mast.

The fore deck only contains a mast and space for four swivel guns. Still, an excellent position for either snipers or a boarding party (and/or a defense-against-boarding party, if that's a thing).

She even got a nameplate. 3D printed letters, attached with super glue. She's named Hermione, not as a Harry Potter reference, but because I found out that the English, the Spanish and the French all had had at least one ship named Hermione. Since she's going to be a multicultural ship, that makes it an excellent name for her.

As with the sloop, most guns, as well as the tiller, are attached with magnets and can be removed when not needed (or, in the case of the tiller, in case I need to fill the aft deck with men).

The cannons on the aft deck, however, are just the ends of barrels sticking out, and has not been magnetised. My theory is that I will want at least four cannons on her at all times so it should be less of a problem. And it greatly simplified assembly and transport.

Everything can then be picked off, the masts folded, flags removed (as with the sloop, and thus replaced with appropriate ones for whichever nation's currently sailing her), and she's ready for transport.

She's had a few battles already, and so far come out victorious (which is defined as "still floating in the end"...)

Now, bring me that horizon

/Fool out