High rise for 28mm

As I started to throw away the packaging for a new TV soundbar, I looked over the pieces to see if anything was usable for terrain or buildings for my miniatures gaming. I didn't think so until I set one of the styrofoam pieces on its edge. That's when I realized that I had the makings of a modern or futuristic high rise building for 28 mm figures! Great. Because I'm so good about finishing gaming projects.

This will be a representational model, not a diorama, so I'm not worried about fitting in stairs or being too picky about measuring movement. Instead of determining movement based on a figure's speed, I'll adjudicate it based on location and how long it takes to get there--so maybe one activation to get from one side of a level to the other, but two actions to move between floors. And yes, I consider that shaft to be open to all the levels, so you can have line of sight (and therefore shooting!) between characters on different levels. Now let's see if I ever follow through on this.

More minis for Frostgrave

Other than for D&D, I don't really buy new figures for my games, but I've been doing that lately for Frostgrave. The game's light background allows (even encourages) players to customize their warbands and give them unique backstories, all without having to purchase very many miniatures.

That said, I invested in some troops to bolster my wizard's forces as they scour the frozen city for treasure. These Anhurian soldiers from Reaper will fill in nicely as archers, crossbowmen, and other martial types. And in addition to Frostgrave, they will serve well as guards or soldiers in D&D or Song of Blades and Heroes.

I like the Bones line of minis from Reaper because they're cheap, easy to paint, and easy to modify if you're so inclined. And while there's an official line of Frostgrave plastic figures, I'm gonna go with the Bones for my warband.

I also bought some barrels to help with another group of figures I'm working on. More about that later. Hope y'all had a great holiday!

Christmas in Frostgrave (or: Santa's Slay Ride)

I've started playing Frostgrave on a regular basis at Dragon's Lair in Austin, and last week John, the guy who introduced me to the game at MillenniumCon, ran a holiday scenario with four players taking part.

Our warband is sitting around the fire when in walks a tiny elf (not depicted), who tells us that Santa's sleigh has crashed and leads us to the area. The small creature notes that strange gobbling sounds have come from the area. Coincidentally, the other warbands show up, also led by tiny elves (not depicted with miniatures).

The area is scattered with snowmen, candy canes, decorated trees, and gloves and boots and hats and present--parts of Santa! If we can get these components back to the sleigh, we can revive Saint Nick. In a rare spirit of holiday cooperation, all the warbands decide to work together to help Kris Kringle.

There's treasure in the snowmen, but messing with it brings them to life, and we have a fight on our hands.

About Rogue One ...

Go see it.

To analogize: If the original Star Wars movie* was The Dam Busters, then Rogue One is The Dirty Dozen. While the morality in original trilogy might have been black-and-white, in this joint it's very, very, gray.

I liked it better than The Force Awakens. Compared to that film, Rogue One doesn't feel like it's trying so hard to be a Star Wars movie. From a wargaming perspective, I'm sure you'll get plenty of scenario ideas from the many battles.

Like I said, go see it.

*A New Hope to all you kids who should get off my lawn!

Tis the season ...

... for deeply discounted holiday decorations that can be adopted for gaming. I purchased two 18" x 36" Lemax landscape accent mats (pictured above with Heroscape figures for scale) at Michael's craft store for 60 percent off.

The mats, intended for a Christmas village display, will work great as paving when laying out frozen ruins for Frostgrave or terrain for Song of Blades and Heroes. At $10 each after the discount, I picked up the last two on the store shelf. I also grabbed two of these brick and cobblestone road packs, from the same company, for less than $3 each. The cobblestones are sort of setting-agnostic, while the bricks will fit right in with modern scenery for All Things Zombie.

Christmas decor can be a great help to terrain makers. So what other holiday scenery have you found that is easily adaptable to miniatures gaming?