And the skies clear for long enough to get things varnished ...............

......... with no fear of fogging! Here are the first few (page down to see them all).

I've been sitting on a number of painted items from the Frostgrave Maze of Malcor supplement. Firstly, the Wraith of Malcor;

He is supposed to be accompanied by his Advisory Council, but I can see both him and his Council working for many different scenarios in other sets of rules;

I really should have photographed them all together. Maybe I'll do that for a later post.

Next, a bizarre thing called a Collegium Porter, perhaps a distant relative of Rincewind's Luggage?

I have to say that I really like this piece. I mean, who doesn't like a bit of angry animated furniture?

The last item from The Maze of Malcor ended up being painted as something entirely different. He was supposed to be a Coal Man, but I thought that he would be more useful as a generic Stone Troll;

I really like this model and I am really happy with the way he has turned out, especially with the tufts of vegetation growing out from various crevices and crannies.

I've got more things to photograph, but they can wait for another day.

More Maze of Malcor - a Bog Man

This is one of the creatures from the Maze of Malcor Bestiary. 

According to the rules, a Bog Man is a kind of Undead creature found in bogs and marshes. They have no skeleton and are basically a human-shaped bag of flesh filled with mud and marsh gas.

I painted this one to look like he'd been rotting away in some smelly quicksand environment before emerging to do whatever it is that Bog Men do. My main aim was to make him look smelly and decomposing. I think I succeeded.

The figure is from the official North Star range of Frostgrave figures. 

Maze of Malcor - Four Wizard Shades and a Banshee

Ages ago, when it was first announced I bought the Frostgrave Maze of Malcor book and the associated range of figures from North Star. Sadly, our then-current Frostgrave campaign at the club came to an end and we all decided on a break from Frostgrave. I never painted up any of the figures, well not until now.

In the book, the Wizard Shades are portrayed as incorporeal but with a normal appearance. I decided that I wanted them to look more "ghostly".

As you can see, I've used a greenish palette for these figures, making them, hopefully, look a bit more like generic ghostly apparitions, or maybe even statues. Who knows? They could come in useful for all sorts of games with horror-based, gothic or supernatural settings.

I took a slightly different approach with the Banshee, giving her a reddish tinge to her flesh and hair. I wanted to make her look a bit different to the other apparitions. I'm not sure that I'm totally happy with the outcome, but she will have to do.

I'd be interested to see what others think about these.

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.

The Maze of Malcor - a Nickstarter

This is excellent news for all of us who want more female miniatures for our games.

As Annie says on her Facebook page;

The Maze of Malcor Nickstarter IS NOW LIVE - and excellent news for you all - you can join in the pre-order program through Bad Squiddo Games - woohoo!

This is the extra monsters and encounters from the book, as well as PLASTIC FEMALE SOLDIERS, more troop and wizard types (female!) and some fancy token things.

What does this mean?

Basically you just buy it like any normal pre-order system. It will ship early December. The "starter" element is that the more people join in, the more freebies you get on top of what you've bought.

Will Bad Squiddo totals count towards this total?

Yep, every penny of Malcor bucks will be counted up weekly and sent to North Star to add their counter.

Why Bad Squiddo though?

Because we're cool! You get to support North Star, Osprey AND Bad Squiddo if you come through us. Also, as the leading company in Believable Female Miniatures, you can add even more to your new female Frostgrave force while you are here.

So I can add anything else from the shop at the same time?

Hells yes, do it!

Any other questions - go for it. 

To find out more, and to order some terrific toys, just go HERE

I've already succumbed and ordered the lot, because it all looks so good I didn't want to miss out on anything.