It has been a very time around the Grumpy Gnome family home but quite not so busy hobbywise… real life just keeps on interfering with our hobby time. I have gotten some pieces finished this week, all but one being eBay wins that were started by the previous owner. Mostly they were rebased and only minor touches done, such as the eyes and changing a few colors of the clothing to better suit our needs.
The one painted from scratch will be covered last…
So here we have a North Star Miniatures Frostgrave Lich character. He looks pretty lively for a Lich. I suppose he could be a recently created Lich that still looks “fresh”. But he will also make a fine Necromancer… perhaps even becoming the mini for my main Frostgrave Wizard.
The Skyrim Nord character I believe is from Modiphius (EDIT: Correction it looks like a piece by Brother Vinni) and will make a fine addition to Frostgrave. I really love the Skyrim aesthetic.
Next we have a hooded Cultist, which should make a fine Thug for my Necromancer’s warband, and a zombie. Normally I am not a fan of blood on figures but I think it works on this one. The North Star Frostgrave plastic kits are great and the Cultists one of my favorites. They are quite versatile and have lots of cool extra bits on the sprue.
And here some plastic Frostgrave soldiers. By adding a coil of rope to the figure on the left, and given his dual wielding weapon style, I think he makes a fine if perhaps a bit young Treasure Seeker. The Archer also turned out pretty good I think. There is a lot of character in his older, weather-beaten face.
Next up a couple of warriors. I did not plan for both of them to end up blonde… now they look a bit like brothers. I am not satisfied with the eyes on the figure to the right… I think I might go back and redo them. They look worse in the photo than in person… but that could be my failing eyesight. These two are metal figures, from North Star I think.
And last but certainly not least here we have something you do no see every day, a Pack Warg. I thought this would be a fun idea for one of our Orc warbands in our ongoing Middle Earth Strategy Battle Games Battle Companies campaign.
Originally a regular plastic GW Warg, I kept finding little bits to add. Everything time I thought I was finished I would see something else I felt I could improve on but now I think I am finally finished with it…. for now! Is any figure ever completely finished?
A lot of our hobby time has been spent dealing with eBay, both buying and selling. It takes time but it is necessary to make the most considering our budget considerations. I have also been trying to figure out how to prune our collection as we are starting to accumulate more things than I expect to have time to paint and we are running low on storage space.
In other news I finished the first season of Yakamoz S-245.
It was disappointingly predictable overall and the season finale was terrible. I hate cliff hanger season finales. This show seems like another example of a clever idea that was not properly realized. It needed a better military technical advisor, someone like Captain Dale Dye. And the science, even to a scientific layman like me, was just too far fetched. It was difficult for me to suspend my disbelief and remain immersed in the story. Good costuming and set dressing though, I will give them that. As well as decent camera work. I would love to hear what you thought of it though!
Home of the Grumpy Gnome 
Skyrim mini looks ideal. Nice Frostgrave pairing that.
Love the older archer. What a great face!
And sure, pack warg! I’ve got capybara mounts in my game for the littlest folks, so who am I to begrudge you a pack warg? 😁
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Well some folks might think a Warg would be unwilling to bear such a burden but we figure this is a “broken” or cowardly Warg.
Yeah the sculpt on the archer is brilliant. It just screamed at me to give him grey hair and eyebrows.
Thanks for the kind words!
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nice figures and painting – eyes on blondie look fine to me.
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Thanks for the kind words!
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The figures look great and glad you both love the system. Never been able to “get into” Joe McCullough’s games although Silver bayonet with its dual skill and power dice looks interesting. Excellent post.
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Thanks mate! Frostgrave is more “swingy” than I usually prefer but it kind of works for the setting. The two dice mechanic of Silver Bayonet is very interesting to me but the game at this stage feels lacking to me as far as feeling Napoleonic in nature. I just do not get the Sharpe vibe that I get from say Sharp Practice.
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I was starting to wonder when you would run out of storage space, I’m always aware that my eyes might be bigger than my stomach. If I didn’t have 2o+ years of GW LOTR figures to get through I would be heavily into Northstar figures. You keep posting how nice their figures are and keep tempting me. I do have one box of them and am impressed how much they get on their sprues.
I wouldn’t worry too much about the eyes on the one figure, that’s the danger of taking pictures, you see things you wouldn’t notice playing the game.
I know you’ve been thinking about doing a pack warg for awhile, glad to see it finally done, hope it doesn’t turn on its handlers.
My latest viewing disappointment was watching Black Crab on Netflix. Nice idea, wrong time to watch it with current events and a horrible ending.
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There is just so much very cool stuff out there and never enough time to do it all.
That is too bad about Black Crab. I suspected as much, hence why I have not watched it yet.
I feel sometimes like I will never get enough painted to play he way I want to but the games I have in mind will hopefully provide the stories I want but never seem to find on TV.
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Black Crab had a very intriguing premise but the movie was ultimately disappointing to me.
I tend to place and push figures around with my internal stories vs playing a game and that is why your NCO kitbash and your latest archer are so great, they are so full of character the stories write themselves.
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The narrative in gaming is essential for Mrs. GG and me. I see each game like it’s own movie. It is too bad Black Crab fails to deliver.
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All nice minis, but the warg especially so! 🙂
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Thanks mate! I seem to be fixated on packbeasts. I have so many more various beasts of burden to paint.
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I really like all of the minis you painted but the Skyrim one probably takes it for me. I’ve never played an Elder Scrolls game if you can believe it but you’re right about their aesthetic. I think the warg conversions are really clever as well. Who knew they’d make such great pack animals!? 🙂
I think the pictures look ever so slightly grainy which might mean the resolution is a bit too low on the images. I would also say that a little more light would help too as they look a little dark to my eyes. Its possible that the lack of lighting is causing the graininess instead too. Hopefully those give you some ideas for what to tinker with.
My condolences on running out of storage space. All I can say is that you’re in good company now! 😀 There’s always room for one more in this club as well for better and worse!
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Thanks for the kind words mate! I know I do not paint anywhere near your standard but the minis do look better in person. Certainly good enough for the table… but that could be my failing eyesight.
I tried one of those cheap portable photo box set ups. I did not like the result but I think you are right about the lighting. I am relying on the room ceiling lights. The graininess comes from me cropping photos and using an unsteady camera…. I use Mrs. GG‘s IPad to take the photos. I tried a tripod and time delay but it seemed like a lot of fuss for very little improvement. I will need to keep tinkering it seems.
Time, money and storage space… never enough to match my ambitions!
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You’re very welcome! I worry about my eyesight getting worse as I age too. I’m not there yet but I feel like it will happen eventually.
I don’t use a proper lightbox either but some desk lamps that have “bendy” necks are a godsend for photos and for battle reports. I have no idea how easy they are to find in Europe or indeed the US these days but I’d say grab a couple of those and try them for lighting your photos. They are generally cheap and could really improve your final results.
And finally, if there is one thing we all like and admire about you, it has to be your ambitious nature 🙂
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Thanks again mate. I used to have brilliant eyesight. Both my parents had glasses so the doctors said it was only a matter of time for me. For years and years my vision lasted longer than expected the suddenly a few years ago it began to deteriorate. I am not Mr. Magoo yet but I expect that will be the case eventually.
I will have a look around for table lamps that might do the trick. I really appreciate your encouragement and honest feedback.
When my ambition is waning I can always count on your to fire things up!
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Now you’re really scaring me, mate! Some people in my family wear glasses but I believe they’re like me and have good close-up vision but poor far away vision. I am lucky to be that way!
Glad to hear that info helps as well. If you shop around, you should be able to get a good deal on one or two. You may want to try different kinds of lightbulbs since some give off more yellow or blue light to see what you think looks best but that can wait until you find the lamps first of course 🙂
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