Reaper Giants & Ogres Galley

Gallery showcasing some of Reaper's fantasy big boys (and one gal) along with some kitbashed flaming braziers.

Scale shot with ruler and Frostgrave archer.  As you can see, they're pretty big, and posed to be looking down on mere human runts.  The giants are on 60mm bases.

Scale shot with ruler and Frostgrave archer.  The giant's huge, standing on a 60mm base, while the ogres are only a little smaller on their own integral bases.

Probably my favorite hill giant sculpt ever.  The knuckle-walking simian posture and splayed apelike feet really sell how massive the creature is. 

Frostgrave: Sinister Sarcophagus & Mysterious Altar

A Wargames Illustrated a while back interview with Joe McCullough included a mention that he was going to be including more interactive terrain into his games in the future.  Many scenarios already have features that encourage (or even require) models to interact with them, but the idea of "generic" ones that can be included in the standard scenario listed on page 38 of the core book is quite a bit trickier to execute.  I'm taking a stab at making a couple here using some Reaper Bones stuff I'd painted up for an RPG.

Unless stated otherwise, models with the Animal trait cannot interact with terrain features.

Sinister Sarcophagus

A sinister sarcophagus is placed in the center of the table and replaces the central treasure token.  Arrange the rest of the table so that all players' setup zones have roughly even access to the center, no one should be completely cut off by impassable or dangerous terrain.

A model in contact with the sarcophagus may spend an action to attempt a TN15 Fight test to force the seals and remove the lid.  Alternately, they may attempt a TN12 Will test to find and open the concealed locking mechanisms to remove the lid, but if this test is failed the figure becomes poisoned by a trap.  Thieves and Treasure Hunters receive a +3 to Will rolls when trying to open the locks.

When opened by either method, the place the central treasure token on the sarcophagus, which can be picked up using the normal rules.  Then roll 1d20 and place the named creature (if any) in directly in contact with the figure that just opened the lid.

1-2:  Vampire.  This creature is starving after long imprisonment and starts with only 3 Health.

3-4:  Medium Construct

5-6:  Minor Demon

7-8:  Ghoul

9-10:  Armored Skeleton

11-12: Skeleton

13-18:  Nothing but dust remains, no creature appears.

19-20:  Medium Construct.  This creature temporarily joins the warband of the model that released it.

Also plenty big enough to provide excellent cover for nearby soldiers.

Mysterious Altar

This terrain feature is placed in the center of the table and replaces the central treasure token.  Arrange the rest of the table so that all players' setup zones have roughly even access to the center, no one should be completely cut off by impassable or dangerous terrain.

A model in contact with the mysterious altar may spend an action to invoke its forgotten gods for either a boon or a bane by passing a TN13 Will test.  If the model is carrying a magic item of any kind (including a potion or scroll) they may permanently remove it from their warband as an offering to the gods to automatically pass this test.  If the test is passed, then either:

1) A boon gives the model the central treasure token provided it can currently carry one (ie doesn't have a treasure already and isn't an animal) and an immediate 3" move (unmodified by carrying a treasure token) without using an action.

2) A bane allows the model to pick one enemy that it can see and make a +5 elemental magic attack against it.

If the Will test to invoke the gods is failed, the model immediately suffers a +5 elemental magic attack and its activation ends.

Not quite as tall but still good cover, and easier to move over if you want to.

Frostgrave: Cult of Violet Shadows

The Cult of Violet Shadows here don't have an backstory beyond "sinister demon-worshipping cult who think human sacrifice is neat" but they sure are popular despite that.

I've been using them for all manner of random humanoid nasties in the McCullough fantasy games for a while now, and they're even been my crews for a few games of Frostgrave and Ghost Archipelago.

Many of them are lightly converted with hand and weapon swaps and the odd bits and pieces from other kits.

I went pretty light on ranged weapons, which turned out to be a fortunate choice when second edition came out and put serious limits on how many shooters you could have in Frostgrave.

Since they were also seeing use as my own crew now and then, I made up a few oddball figs for that purpose.  They've also come in handy in a few TTRPG games as boss monster encounters with the regular grunts as minions.

Here we've got a Summoner College wizard and his apprentice, as well as a zombie for some casual necromancy.  I'm particularly happy with the eerie lantern the boss has stuck on the end of his "staff" there.  The bit actually comes from GW's old Mordheim human sprue, which is sadly out of production after its contents were removed from Age of Sigmar with the release of the Cities of Sigmar book. 

And here we have two models (left and right) to swap in when we manage to cast Possess successfully, and a third that hits the table as a summoned minor demon.  I find it's useful to have variant figs for Possessed soldiers so the opponent doesn't forget which models are currently hosting demonic horrors, and the unified look of everything suits my fancy more than random models.  Most of the conversion parts are leftovers from Wargames Atlantic's excellent giant spider kits, which gives you a plethora of extra limbs.

Ghost Archipelago & Frostgrave - Serpent-Men

Today's post showcases more of North Star's modular plastic kits, this time the serpent-man boxed set for Ghost Archipelago, along with a few hybrid kitbashes using parts from the Frostgrave Cultist box and heads from a Stargrave sprue.

Group shot of all 23 miniatures. 

The serpent-man figs are quite a bit bigger than the Frostgrave humans are, and come with larger 30mm bases.  They're fairly slender though ("gangly" would be a fair descriptor) and not as bulky as many modern 28/30mm scale stuff like GW's bloated figure range.

Scale shot with some Frostgrave soldiers.

I've done three kitbashed "hybrid" serpent-men, partly as a test to see how compatible the kit's weapons are with the smaller human kits.  I think they work pretty well, as long as you don't mind a bit of Implausibly Huge Sword syndrome.  Their hands (which are part of the weapon bits) are pretty much identical in size, so no need to worry about sculpting them yourself, just clip at the "bracelet" and attach to the wrist on the human arms the same way you would with some of the optional cultist bits (eg that neat wavy-bladed left hand dagger).

(Left to right) Hybrid serpent-man swordsman, spellcaster, berserker.

The actual serpent-man figs seem to have been somewhat poorly received, the main complaint being their lack of tails and supposedly short arms.  Personally I quite like them as-is, they have a distinctly unnatural look with an anatomy that parodies the human form without wholly departing from it.  Their arms aren't short at all, it's their legs that are quite long, an effect made more noticeable by their hunched shoulders and forward-jutting heads.  As for tails, well, I like Sleestaks just fine, and they're just as tailless.  A competent modeler could easily sculpt their own short tails if wanted, but I'll pass.

Warriors wielding twin blades, backed up by a pair of crossbowmen.

These guys have actually seen more table time in RPGs and Frostgrave than Ghost Archipelago, which kind of died off locally about the time I finished the original batch.  The hybrids are newer, of course - their reptilian heads only came out with Stargrave.  I'm sure these figs would be happier someplace less snowy than Felstad, but it's probably warmer in the catacombs beneath the city.

Spearmen (spearserpents?) both with and without shields.  Those wavy blades are just neat.   

I could see using them in scifi games as well.  In Stargrave they'll make nice randomly-appearing Primitives.

Serpent-men with shields and hand weapons, some converted from other blades, as well as a dagger-wielding torchbearer. 

They can be (and have been) used as part of a player's crew as well as NPC creatures, although it's probably a good idea to adopt a unique color scheme or do some conversion to tell the NPCs apart if doing so.  Or use them in Frostgrave, where serpent-men don't normally appear at random.  Wizards are notorious for having oddball henchmen.

Two-handed weapon users.  As you've seen above, it's easy to convert the blades on these for use as really intimidating single-handed weapons.