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.
Frostgrave: Zombies
Since I intend to play a necromancer in Frostgrave, I might need some zombies sooner or later, which will be awakened by the master and his apprentice. As luck would have it, Chaosbunker boss Dennis had a few Mantic Games zombies left over and I always wanted to see what you could get out of these minis with some simple methods.
Frostgrave Necromancer Warband – Part 1
A new project always has something magical about it, and in the case of Frostgrave that's literally the way it is. As Dennis summarized nicely in his review, Frostgrave is a pretty simple setting - two rival wizards seek treasures in the frozen city Felstadt. That's it. After the flood of complex and lengthy fantasy games on the market, this is refreshingly simple. Due to the vast selection of fantasy models on the market, the creative side stands in an extreme contrast to this.
I started with a similarly uncomplicated approach this time. I just wanted something fantasy, but I wanted to draw a bit more from the well-known generics and not dive into the world of ultra-high fantasy from a well-known manufacturer. For this I play a different skirmish game. Another incentive was my experience with Dead Man's Hand, in which I painted models in the classic 28mm scale and where it was fun to paint a few generic minis, which can be used in several games.
Bolt Action Campaign The Road to Berlin
With the Ostfront supplement for Bolt Action, the campaign covered the "entire" activities that involved the Russian armies, beginning with the Winter war and Khalkin Gol. But this new supplement, Campaign The Road to Berlin, covers the very last years, from June 1944 until the crossing of the Spree.
Warlord Games goes into the detail on these years of the late war. Very much into detail indeed, with 148 pages this campaign supplement is the biggest so far. Campaign New Guinea is a couple of pages short with 132 pages, followed by Battle of the Bulge and Duel in the Sun both with 124 pages. So you get quite the bang for your 19.99 GBP or 30 USD. Shown above as first images of this review are the two covers, with the final cover (left) and the early cover (right), presented by Osprey in one of their product catalogues. This happens quite often, to promote an upcoming book, before the final decision on the artwork is done. We have already seen this with Duel in the Sun and Campaign New Guinea.
Oathmark Elf Infantry
Further plastic kits were introduced for the new Oathmark - Battles of the Lost Age system by Osprey Games and North Star Miniatures, among them new Elven.
I was able to get my hands on a single sprue for this review, of which 6 are in the complete box with 30 Miniatures in 28mm scale. The price is set at 25 GBP. As you can see, each sprue contains options for spearmen, regular soldiers with hand weapon and shield or archers. And additional pieces for standard bearers and officers. In the box are 30 plastic 25mm square bases by Renedra as well.
Bolt Action Campaign New Guinea
After Empire in Flames, Bolt Action revisites the far east with the supplement Campaign New Guinea.
With 132 pages, Campaign New Guinea set a short new high score for page load, trumping Battle of the Bulge and Duel in the Sun (both 124 pages), only second to the recently released The Road to Berlin (148 pages). This campaign supplement covers the part of the pacific wars on the planets second largest island, between the Japanese Empire and the Allied Forces (Australian and US American). The price tag on this book reads 19,99 GBP or 30 USD, which translates roughly into 25 EUR. I want to start this review with the comparison of the final cover (left) and the early cover (right), presented by Osprey in one of their product catalogues. Nothing unusual, we already saw different covers circulating early among others for Duel in the Sun as well.
Bolt Action Duel in the Sun
The Bolt Action supplement Duel in the Sun covers one of the most well known campaigns of the second world war, the African and Italian Campaigns. And we want to share it with you in this review.
Bolt Action Campaign Sea Lion
The second campaign supplement for Bolt Action Second Edition leaves the road of historic events and goes for the What-If scenario of the Operation Sea Lion. These were the plans of the german forces to invade Britain.
Sea Lion is another big expansion for Bolt Action, at least page-wise. At 124 pages it shares the lead with Battle of the Bulge. After covering the desert of Africa, the harsh winter of the Ardennes and several parts of the western front, the battle is brought "home" with Operation Seelöwe / Sea Lion. The operation was real, but never came to existence. There were severe plans by the Nazis to invade Britain in 1940, but the plans were never moved to realisation. This campaign book is set at the new price range of 19,99 GBP or 30 USD, which translates around 25 EUR.
Bolt Action Campaign Battle of the Bulge
The first campaign supplement in the new edition is Battle of the Bulge, the battles in the last winter of world war two.
Along with Duel in the Sun this is the thickest campaign supplement for Bolt Action at 124 pages. It covers a specific campaign instead of an area, therefore the scenarios etc. are pretty much following each other. The book covers 12 scenarios, an army list for the free french and special rules for the fierce winter situation in western europe. Pricing is set at 19,99 GBP or 30 USD, which translates around 25 EUR.
Oathmark Dwarven Infantry
A bit out of nowhere and unexpected, Osprey Games and North Star Military Figures announced a new range of fantasy plastic miniatures, under the label Oathmark - Battles of the Lost Age, beginning with a set of dwarven infantry. This range will be released later this year, but as a special for Salute 2017, there would be a pre-release of single sprues.
The sprues were sold at 5 GBP each, so I assume a later box price of 20 GBP for a box of 20 (similar to the Frostgrave plastic pricing). I was able to get a sprue at Salute, and want to share my impression with you in this brief review.
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