Frostgrave: A Sword and Sorcery Adventure – Part 1

Rekamark was not a very impressive city, but anyone who wanted to go to Felstadt found themselves at one of the last halfway civilized outposts of mankind before entering the ruins of the cursed city.

   "Rekamark," Balthasar said to his apprentice Achibald, thoughtfully folding his arms.

   "You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy. We must be cautious...".

And with this little intro I would like to welcome you to the next ongoing project at the Chaosbunker. Okay, I know that there were already a few articles about Frostgrave and that I actually didn't want to start building a warband until 2020, but when I assembled and painted the first models, the enthusiasm got its grip on me. It just felt good to get back into a generic sword and sorcery fantasy setting and let my creativity run wild.

What I like about Frostgrave is the open-mindedness with which the basic rules are designed. The ten scenarios are more of a framework in their description, and when the gang members are chosen, the story almost begins to tell itself. My warband consists of the protagonists, the wizard and his apprentice, as well as a rich selection of dubious characters who can represent anything. Tomb robbers, hired blades, contract murderers, street gang members, or just the good old plain adventurer.

Concept

I liked the model of the necromancer on Northstar Military Figures so much that I wanted to have him as the leader. For me, the undead and necromancers are one of the "evil" archetypes in classic fantasy. But since the wizard's model represents the player and I basically think of myself as a good-natured guy, I also wanted to give him that same positive touch. In the end, the story fragments and the warband around him should bring out his character. He should be someone who is willing to use all means, but still has a strong moral compass. That's how the image of Balthasar Tenebris and his apprentice Archibald Helfmann, an antihero and his sidekick, came into my head.

The Warband

In order to show that fate had brought this group together, I wanted to give the gang members as many different styles as possible. The dwarf with the crossbow is from the Oathmark series, his crossbow from the plastic frame of the soldiers for Frostgrave. Both model series scale very well with each other. What I particularly liked about the model was the slightly smaller size compared to a human. A dwarf doesn't always have to grow up only to the height of the hips, but can also reach up to the shoulder of an average person.

I gave the thief a crafty pose. He should give the impression as if he could jump from roof to roof and mostly does his work at night. What could be more obvious than to equip him with a rope? After all, one must be able to accept the invitations of the many unlocked windows in his line of business.

Did I mention that I am easy to get excited by computer games? Probably several times already, but in this case it's even more obvious. The plastic barbarians provided an excellent opportunity to build a warrior in an Elder Scrolls Skyrim look. During the assembly everything on the figure seemed to shout "FUS RO DAH!".

I have tried to make the two thugs in the bunch look as shabby as possible and I already have a background story in mind in which they are simply pressed into service after an attempted robbery goes wrong. While painting, I will probably paint the illusion of a few rags or holes on and give them neutral, earthy colors for their clothing.

The archer and the dog, the latter being from Mantic Games, will also find their way into the gang as a couple. Maybe I'll make her the later pupil of the dwarf, who seems to be able to teach a lot about the subtleties of ranged combat.

And this is what the warband will look like in their first iteration. I'm sure that one or the other member will eventually leave and be replaced by a new character sooner or later. I reserve the right to decide for myself how this will ultimately happen, whether through death, injury or any other unlucky event during their adventure. After all, who wants to see his lovingly created characters go to hell when you have spent so much time and had so much enjoyment imagining their background?

Greetings from the Chaosbunker

Dino