Here's a small diorama I've put together

I've been playing around with my lightbox, DSLR and tripod.

In this photo, a group of Pirates from Bad Squiddo and North Star run slap bang wallop into a mysterious masked figure and his Stone Troll. Intent on finding plunder in the old ruins on the hill above the bay, they didn't think that anything nasty might be lurking up there. Things may not turn out well for these intrepid, if impetuous adventurers.

The Stone Troll is actually a North Star Frostgrave Coal Man and the mysterious masked figure is Malcor from the Maze of Malcor Frostgrave collection, also from North Star.

The background for this shot is a scene from one of my Jon Hodgson books and a small scenic piece I recently made using Renedra plastic ruins on an A4 MDF base.;

I primarily made this to use in photos but it should also be useful as actual gaming scenery. The twisting plants growing around the ruins are model railway wire foliage branches. The grass, gravel and earth are from a variety of sources.

For those of you who are interested in such things, I took this picture with my Pentax K-70 DSLR and Pentax  DA 1:3.5-5.6 18-55mm AL WR standard zoom lens. The picture was shot using aperture priority with an aperture of f25 and an ISO 400 film speed. I've recently bought a JJC TM electronic remote shutter release (cheaper than the Pentax model) which makes slow shutter speed photography a lot easier. I'm thinking about using my Sigma 50mm 1:2.8 DG Macro lens in future lightbox experiments.

What the postman brought this time

I was expecting a box from Bad Squiddo, because I knew that Annie had shipped the Maze of Malcor Nickstarter, but I wasn't prepared for an explosion of PINK!!!!! when I opened the box. A gorgeous surprise. This was a couple of things that weren't in the parcel that I picked up when I saw Annie at Warfare.

And here they are - Ninjas and Onna-bugeisha with naginata and yumi, plus badges.

There were also the usual freebies in the box. I think the walking stick is going to go on the Christmas tree.

Then, underneath was all the Maze of Malcor stuff. First, the box of plastic female soldiers.

Then, the actual book.

And finally, a huge bag of shinies.

In that bag are the new female Thief, Barbarian, Knight, Templar, Apothercary, Markswoman and Tracker with with Warhound figures, plus a lot of new specifically Malcor goodies. There are five new Wizards and Apprentices, representing the new Schools of Magic; Sonancer, Astromancer, Distortionist, Fatecaster and Spiritualist.

There are also assorted monsters and creatures. These are as follows. There is an Acrisbird (a bit like a grumpy ostrich on steroids), a Banshee, a Bog-Man, a Coal-Man, a Collegium Porter (a kind of animated chest of drawers), Starfire Elementals, Glass Spiders, Shrieking Wolves, Phase Cats, Bloodwaves and a Mantodeus ( a sort of giant creepy-crawly). In addition there is a model for Malcor, accompanied by some Wraiths (his Advisory Council) and one for a Rangifer Shaman, plus the shades of four dead Wizards which were stretch goals for the Nickstarter. I think there was supposed to be a fifth one of these but the goal wasn't unlocked.

All in all, a huge amount of stuff to make up (there are lots of separate bits with some of these figures), prep and paint. Still, at least it will keep me busy after Christmas.

I can see lots of potential for these figures, apart from Frostgrave, and they are terrific models too.