The Heroes of Fruglehofen

Yes, I know I said I was starting with Gimbrin's Mine... again. Due to vagaries of the warp or machinations of some evil power I am still waiting for some of the dwarves I need for the defenders. Forging boldly ahead, I've finished the named characters of Fruglehofen (also still on the lookout for a pair of Bogels who should be en route).

Albi 'Mad-Twister' Schutz owns the village trading post and is a retired champion wrestler. He is a popular figure in Fruglehofen and the citizens will look to him to lead them in time of crisis. I've painted him pretty much like the cardboard counter that comes with the game.

Grimwald Calico is a Brettonian anarchist lying low in Fruglehofen after a failed assassination attempt on the mayor of Quenelles. The text says he is armored in chain and equipped with a shield, but I'm going to stat him in leather. He has a bomb which should prove entertaining, especially as I'm going to work out some way it could backfire in skaven-like fashion. I haven't even seen an official model for Grimwald on eBay in a year (though I admit to not policing the auctions on a regular basis), so I resorted to an old Ral Partha casting from the same era. Many of their models from the period would be too slight of build to fit in with Citadel, but I think the pre-slotta base and heavy cloak help him look right at home.

(EDIT: Thanks to Orclord at Stuff of Legends, I have a proper Grimwald on the way!)

Antonio Epstein is half-Italian and half-Reiklander and was on his way to an exotic party in the southern lands until he spied the lovely Riolta Snow. He will be an unwilling defender of the village, but will try to impress the Elven archer with his derring do! I took the opportunity of the plain doublet to add some stripes to show his is a fancy lad!

Riolta Snow is a High Elven archeress and wealthy dilettante on holiday touring the Old World. To her misfortune, she is in Fruglehofen when the Lichemaster attacks, but she will be a valuable in defense of the village. A fellow traveler, whose name she can never quite remember, seems intent on following her around...

Gim Grundel is a halfling and runaway from the lands of the Empire to the north. I've already showcased him on the blog, but wanted to include him to soothe my OCD.

I've slowly been amassing a collection of fighters, mercenaries, and townsfolk to use as the defenders of Fruglehofen. These models are a mix of original 80's lead and modern Wargames Foundry castings. The original scenario calls for 20 with hand weapons and 20 with bows, but I may reduce the archer contingent a bit. There are no missile weapons in the Lichemaster's army beyond any spells the big guy can throw. I actually haven't decided on what rules I'm going to use, so that will have some bearing on what I need to do to try and balance the game.

I'm having a lot of fun with this project! I'm preparing to build a custom board for Gimbrin's Mine and I'll chronicle the method behind the madness in an upcoming post.

Mikael Jacsen, Ranlac the Black, and Gim Grendel

Yes, I know I said I was starting with Gimbrin's Mine, but these models were calling to me. I think I'm going to use an armored skeleton model I already own for Ranlac the Black, so all I need are a few dwarves (I'm in the process of gathering the models for them as I wanted adventurer types rather than rank and file soldiers).

I picked a 3rd or 4th edition Vampire Counts shield for this hero because Gary Chalk's illo shows a corner of Jacsen's shield with some manner of clawed wing. I didn't like the purple and the red I chose is featured on many of  the undead models in my army.

I think I'm going to use this guy as Ranlac the Black...

It is obviously different from the official model, but I've probably sunk enough money into this collection for now. I have an unpainted Krell model, but I'm not sure I like it in comparison with some of the other models I have with double handed weapons. He may end up with an axe or scythe in my games.

Switching gears to the first of my defenders of Fruglehofen, here is Gim Grendel!

This is one of my favorite models from the early range and I bought him several years ago. The tiny sword blade was broken when the model arrived in the mail. I ended up cutting away the whole right hand and replaced it with a plastic hand and sword from a plastic Empire soldier, cut and filed down to an appropriate length. I still want to do something with the shield, but haven't decided on heraldry or maybe some sort of  hand-daubed graffiti which might be more appropriate for the tiny village.

As long as I'm at the keyboard, I also added a model to my larger undead army, Darius Crowe...

He joins the Lichemaster and Dread Dalgath to provide magical support for the army, ensuring plenty of chances to cast Dance Macabre!

More as I get them painted...

Terror of the Lichemaster

When I got back into collecting classic Citadel miniatures, one of the first things I did was start gathering undead models to replace one of the first armies I'd ever built. To launch things right, I went and spent way too much on one of THE classic models to lead them.. Henrich Kemmler!

eBay being what it is, this was probably a recast, but when I was just getting back in I didn't even know that was a thing. Maybe I got ripped off, though honestly I don't care as I have the freaking Lichemaster painted and standing front and center among my undead collection.

So fast forward to today. It's been a while since I visited the Old World, but I still try to keep up with the blogs in the community. Rochie's current project over on Buried Under Lead inspired me to dig through all of the Oldhammer stuff I have hidden away with an eye toward starting a new project.

In case it wasn't obvious, I have always been a fan of the Terror of the Lichemaster. I've owned the original campaign boxed set for years. The simple campaign (and the follow up Vengeance of the Lichemaster in the Citadel Journal Spring 1986) is a fun set of games with a large variety of models - dwarves, skeletons, townsfolk, etc. Looking through my models, I already have much of what I would need to play a version of these.

Besides the dreaded Lichemaster, I have Mikael Jacsen (another stupidly expensive purchase). Although I can easily find the other undead champions on eBay, I'm not really a fan of the models. I already have a pile of badass undead characters and they can be called into action in their place. I already have plenty of skeletons and zombies too, though I may need to paint a few more for summoning.

On the other side, I can press Bugman's Rangers into service for the dwarves of Gimbrin's Mine. I also have a pile of Wargames Foundry Medievals to field as the villagers and I'll mix in some Citadel Fighters and Villagers for variety. I actually have a few of the 'named' defenders of Bogel's Farm and Frugelhofen including Albi Schutz, Antonio Epstein, Riolta Snow, Gim Grundlel and Samgaff. Many more are available and can be found cheaper when listed as "C46 Villagers and Townsfolk" rather than under any search for "Lichemaster" (Thanks to Matt for listing this information on his Lichemaster project on Oldhammer in Toronto as I was unaware most of these models were generic). Some of these, don't match their description. For instance, the Bogel menfolk are all armed with crossbows, but the models depict them in their farming finery. Again, these were obviously pulled from the generic ranks of townfolk, but I will end up substituting models to fit into my little corner of the Old World.

Along with collecting and painting the models, I'm going to build custom boards for the battlefields. Gimbrin's Mine and Bogel's Farm will be quite small, maybe no more than 2x4' given the number of models needed for those games. I'll be looking at keeping them modular, so there may again be differences to fit my needs. For Frugelhoffen, I doubt I'll try to represent every building as I only think it necessary to outline the path of the roads, but there needs to be at least enough room to cram in 50+ models for the defense.

This will be a long term project, but I intend to work on the campaign in stages. Gimbrin's Mine will be first which means I only have to paint about half a dozen models, but I will need to construct the cliff so that might take a while!