How to: Frostgrave bases

In an effort to add more tutorials to this blog I have decided to share my method of basing my Frostgrave miniatures. I wanted to create something that was fairly unique and also really emphasised the coldness of the city which I chose to evoke by the use of cool blues. I have seen lots of different ways of doing snow-basing and I wanted to develop a quick method for batch painting which relied on paints alone without the need to use various basing materials.

Agrellan Earth

1. A liberal amount of Agrellan Earth is applied (Martian Ironearth works fine as well) to the base and is left to dry fully until cracked. The thicker you put this on the more dramatic the effect will be. If you want to speed up the process you can hold the base under a hair dryer for a minute or so but I prefer to let mine dry naturally.

Blue Horror

2. Then the base is covered in Blue Horror and allowed to dry.

Nihilakh Oxide

3. Then the base is given a liberal wash of Nihilakh Oxide.

Blue Horror 

Ulthuan Grey

Ceramite White

Baharroth Blue

4-7. Once the Nihilakh Oxide is dry, dry-brush is succession: Blue Horror, Ulthuan Grey and Ceramite White, getting more gentle and sparing as you move from colour to colour. To provide a neat finish the rim of the base is then uniformly covered in a layer of Baharroth Blue.

Finishing Touches

8. Your base now resembled a snowy sheet of ice and on a base such as this where there aren't any ruins or extras to break up the whiteness I like to add some tufts of Mordheim Turf. Once this has been put on I will add blood effects (something that contrasts really well with the snow).

And with that the base is done. While this process can be a little time consuming as you wait for the Agrellan Earth and the Nihilakh Oxide to dry; it is really easy to do and creates an effective uniformed look across a collection.

For more posts about Frostgrave visit the Frostgrave Page of the blog where I will be posting plenty of content over the next few months.

The Inexorable Engine - Chaos in the Old Wolrd

Tzeentch will have his due...

I have had a long and troubled relationship with the forces of Chaos. This was never an army I really planned on having; most of it being a gift from a friend. Rather than selling it over the years I have done various things with it and previously the army looked like this: Part 1 and Part 2. However this year I decided that in tribute to the Old World I would paint this army up and finish it properly for display.

I decided to give it a major re-theme, re-paint and added a few new things like Chaos Dwarves while cutting any filler and rubbish. After being busy with uni for a year I settled down for a month of intensive painting and finally got this army where it is now.

Thoughts from my desk: Age of Sigmar, Purple Worms and batch painting

Having just gotten back into the blog I have quite a few thoughts and things swirling abut in my head that I felt like writing down. Since the end of my academic year I have hung around my university doing research for my dissertation and in my spare time doing bits of hobbying. While my desk is usually covered in odd bits of paper, books and post-it notes; it is currently swamped beneath paint pots and miniatures.

This is where we are at the moment with quite a few different things going on that provoked my train of thought...

An Army of the End Times: The House of Shattered Tears

My army of the End Times; my tribute to the Elves of Warhammer Fantasy using models both old and new to create an eclectic mix of elves that represent that noble yet cursed race who have ever been at the forefront of the Warhammer World. I have had a lot of fun with this project and though I doubt this army will see much time on the battlefield it will at least be a fond reminder of the Old World and the cursed elves of Ulthuan who helped me down the road of the hobby.

House of Shattered Tears:  Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3

Disappearing and returning to the hobby

As some of you might have noticed I sort of dropped off the face of the earth some time in September last year. The past year for me has been incredibly busy for various reasons and without warning my hobby was put onto the back-burner. In between commitments I did manage to paint a few things but nothing substantial and unfortunately blogging fell off of my radar altogether. I think this is something that we all do from time to time when life overtakes us and I would like to apologise that in this instance I disappeared without warning. 

My academic year however is now over and with some free time I have been able to get some serious painting done and decided it was high time I address the blog. Firstly I have reorganised some aspects of the blog in order to make newer and more interesting content more easily available while clearing out some of the digital cobwebs that had built up. 

Currently I am working on re-painting my Chaos army (a project I wanted to finish before Christmas but never got round to) and some random stuff for Frostgrave which my brother and I have really gotten into this past year. You can expect to see this, alongside a few random Kingdom Death miniatures to appear in the next few months.

WIP Twilight Knight (Reverse Pin-up)

Also this summer I am planning to do a serious re-evalutaion of what I own and will most likely be selling off some of my armies and miniatures which I don't use anymore and are just languishing in boxes gathering dust. Those models I choose to keep will receive special treatment in order to be displayed. As I don't battle very often I have decided I might as well get a glass cabinet and put what I do have on show.

As for future projects I am in fact planning on taking the plunge into Age of Sigmar. I have decided that my time for mourning the Old World is over and I can hardly resist the new miniatures and the appeal of delving into a new universe to explore. More on this to come in the Autumn when I start work on the Court of the Silver Lion and the Church of Nagash. No doubt I will soon write an editorial about my thoughts on Age of Sigmar as a follow-up to the editorial I wrote last year: Thoughts on Age of Sigmar: rage, optimism and the uncertain future...

Lord Quasdomo the Twice-Cursed

Already I have started work on this mighty Chaos Lord who will be visiting the Court of the Silver Lion as a foreign dignitary. I had an awful lot of fun converting the Forge World Praetor Tribune, which I picked up on a total whim having gone to my local GW for some paints, and I look forward to using him in the future.

I also plan on posting some more of my other art to the blog including canvas and watercolour pieces. Currently I am working on this acrylic painting which was inspired by the season finale of Game of Thrones. On this note I will leave you and I look forward to posting some more content on here in the next few weeks.

Doombringer out.

WIP: The Mad Queen