Bolt Action Pulp Partisan Cultists

Today I'd like to share an idea for a rather unusual Bolt Action army. 

Picture from Fenris Games

I am a huge fan of Weird War settings, but sadly, there is not much interest in that at my gaming club. Generally, they are quite conservative and like to stick to the rules as they are, while I like to be more... experimental.

Anyway, after realizing that there is almost no way to get away with a British '46 army based on a late war German list (basically an excuse to build some British assault engineers and use JTFM's Tortoise as a Jagdpanther), I thought up a new concept: Cultist Partisans!

Every proper Pulp setting has a sinister cult performing strange rituals to end the world/ wake up an ancient good / summon creatures from the other side / have NSFW social gatherings.
So why not make a fun Bolt Action army based on this concept?

This is the list I envisioned:

Kingsport Irregulars (Partisans)

Second Lieutenant with SMG
+ soldier with SMG

Partisan Squad 1
NCO with SMG
Soldier with Panzerfaust
16 soldiers with rifles

Partisan Squad 2
NCO with SMG
Soldier with Panzerfaust
16 soldiers with rifles

Partisan Squad 3
NCO with SMG
11 soldiers with SMGs
Anti-tank grenades

Guerrilla Squad
NCO with SMG
11 soldiers with SMGs
Anti-tank grenades

Anti-tank Team with Bazooka

General Purpose Truck
General Purpose Truck

= 1000 points

Pretty straight-forward: Two large squads as a solid base, and two assault squads in trucks to get right in your face. Plus a little extra in case of tanks. Anyway, not the best list ever, but okay to play.

Now the fun part - miniatures!
When one thinks of cultists, the excellent Frostgrave plastic box comes to mind immediately. Combined with an abundance of left-over firearms and Molotov cocktails from different Warlord Games boxes this should be a great foundation for this army.

Of course one could just use some army trucks as transports, but if I go wacky, I go wacky all the way:

Behold Sloppy Jalopy's 1910 Type B bus - the perfect way to ride into battle in style!
For the second one I would take the Ford AA panel van from the same manufacturer:

Or I get a Mack Bulldog Model AC from Shapeways:

Or, to fit with the tongue-in-cheek approach, this little vehicle from Great Escape Games:

This army also offers some interesting options for mission objectives and markers. Fenris Games has a whole range of Mythos-inspired pieces like these:

"Sir, we need to blow up the rune stone before those lunatics complete their ritual!"

And if you are looking for some further inspiration, have a look at Osprey Publishing's books about the military struggle against the Elder Ones:

On that note: Cthulhu fhtagn!

Bring & Buy

Last weekend we had a bring & buy at our local hobby club. I brought some things from my cabinet and managed to sell more than I bought myself, so I guess it was a success ;)

I got two new miniatures I'm going to use for Frostgrave: a classic Warhammer wizard and a Helldorado demon.

The wizard should make a nice Necromant. I'm thinking about painting him in dark black and brown colors. The demon is really freaky, and I'm looking forward to painting it.

I also got some reinforcements for my Mordheim warband. A new model for my Assassin Adept and a couple of giant rats:

Next, two very good tank walk-around-books:

I'm doing a lot of research about late Cold War armies for a small project of mine (which I will talk about in a later blog post) and those are a great addition for my reference library.

But the best purchase was this:

A huge lot of 10mm Normans, about 70 knights, well over 120 spearmen and about 20 archers and crossbowmen, each.

More than enough to make a DBA 3.0 army, even if I "double-base" (putting twice as many miniatures on each base as needed, for example 6 knights per Kn (3) base)!

This week I'll try to finish painting my Skaven (including the new models) so the yare ready to play on sunday. I'll keep you posted ;)

Tanks and Dogs

A couple of days ago the last block of the summer project ended, so I was busy painting tiny tanks.

In addition to the Tiger IIs I painted a whole lot of other vehicles, too. Most of them were planned as bonus miniatures for previous blocks, but I didn't got around to take car of them:

Front: Sd Kfz 234/2 Puma, Tiger II (Prosche turret), Kübelwagen, 2x Sd Kfz 251/7 and a Sd Kfz 251/16
Middle: spare Porsche turret, 3x Tiger II (Henschel), 3x fuel trucks
Back: 3x Tiger II (Henschel), 3x Whirlwind AA SPG

The Tiger II with the broken barrel is the one I tried to fix... Maybe some two-component glue will help.

This weekend we are going to have a "bring & buy" event at our local club. I was rummaging thorugh my hobby cabinet to figure out what can go (bye, bye, Bolt Action Italians...) when I found quite a few things I can use for Frostgrave.

For example Hamlet from Hasslefree Miniatures, who will be a very good War Dog:

I also found a whole lot of Wreck Age miniatures, including a pack of dogs:

Those are much smaller than Hamlet, but I think if I put two of them on one base it schould work out quite fine.

Last, but not least, a Reaper Miniatures Genie.

This one will be useful as a summoneed demon or for the magical lamp scenario from the rulebook.

There is a bunch of stuff from Harwood Hobbies' Sinbad range, too.
Some pictures of the actual miniatures in the next post. I promise ;)

Top 5 Companies for Frostgrave Miniatures

Although the official Frostgrave range is very good, some miniatures do not exactly work for me, for example the Apothecary and the Barbarian. The plastic soldier box is good, too, but there is a certain lack of alternative parts, especially for left arms (And I don't really want four guys holding the same lantern in the same way as if there was a latern sale at the local merchant's hall...)

Luckily, there are heaps of companies producing alternatives. Here are my current Top 5 (and a half):

Honourable Mention - Black Chapel Miniatures

A very limited range so far and some of it is too "modern" with blackpowder guns and "Renaissance"-style clothing, but I really dig their new Alchemist who has good chancs to become my Apothecary, and the Ice Wizard can be used as an alternative Witch or Elementalist.

#5 Reaper Miniatures

You need something? Reaper has it. Most likely multiple alternatives. They have an awesome Figure Finder. Looking for a female human showing off some spell effects? There are five of them. Human Knight with a hammer - chose out of seven. Sadly, sculpting quality is not always great, but if you want everything you need from just one source - go to Reaper.

#4 - Footsore Miniatures

Great and reasonably priced Dark Age miniatures, sadly a lot of them with spears. But they have a nice "rabble"-vibe to them.

#3 Hasslefree Miniatures

These miniatures just ooze character and they are amazingly well done. I especially like their female Barbarians.

#2 Fireforge Games

The Frostgrave plastic soldier box was designed to be compatible to the Fireforge boxes, and many of the miniatures shown in the rulebook are converted with Fireforge bits. Especially the Foot Sergeants are almost a "most-buy" for every Frostgrave player. The Teutonic Infantry is a great supplement, too, especially for building "specialist" soldiers like marksmen.

#1 Otherworld Miniatures

The classic D&D-style is perfect for Frostgrave, and the miniatures have a nice "down-to-earth" realistic look. Also a great source for all kind of critters!


So what's your favorite company for Fantasy Adventurers?

Frostgrave - Soothsayer Warband

I put together my first Frostgrave list. This is actually a little bit more complicated than in other games, mainly because you'll have to chose the spells for your wizard. Every wizard starts with 8 spells, three from its own school, one each from their aligned schools and two from any neutral school he is allowed to use.


  Soothsayer Wizard

• Dagger (5)
  

3 Soothsayer – Combat Awareness, Reveal Secret, Awareness
1 Thaumaturge - Shield
1 Chronomancer – Fast Act
1 Illusionist - Glow
2 Enchanter/Summoner/Necromancer/Elementalist/Sigilist – Enchant Weapon, Bone Dart

These spells give him a good mix of buffs like (Combat) Awareness, Fast Act and Glow, combined with Enchant Weapon against those pesky critters and Bone Dart to support alles from afar. And Reveal Secret allows him to place an additional treasure token in a convenient spot.

  Apprentice (200)

• Dagger (5)
  

An Apprentice can use the same spells as the wizard, but less effectively. They are kind of a back.up to give you a second chance to cast an important spell. Their stats are also directly dependent on those of your wizard, and when he becomes a better fighter, your apprentice does, too.
 
Marksman (100)

The Marksman comes with a crossbow, hand wepaon and mail armour, combined with good fighting and shooting skills. In my opinion the best soldier class in the game, able to deal with alomst anything.

Treasure Hunter (80)

The cheapest soldier with a fighting skill of +4, and fats enough to keep up with the Thieves.

2 Thief (2x20)

Thieves are faster than most other soldiers so they are best choice to go collecting treasures. Especially when backed up by a Treasure Hunter

3 Thugs (3x20)

Well, you should always have some expendable guys around to keep your opponent busy

Warhound (10)

Just because there were 10 points left.

Frostgrave - First Steps

One of my latest acquisitions was Frostgrave by North Star Military Figures and Osprey Publishing. Frostgrave is a Mordheim-style skirmish game. The background is pretty simple: a bunch of wizards hire some soldiers and go adventuring in the ruins of a long-lost legendary city.

Today, I'll just want to share some pictures of the miniatures for the game.

Up first, the Chronomancer and his apprentice. Chronomancy is the youngest of the magic schools and considered to be a short-cut to power. Of course, with great power comes great resp... eh, risk.
As masters of time their spells are all about slowing down and hastening. If they are really ambitious, they can even try to store some time for later use.

Next a pair of Soothsayer. They are specialists in awareness and mind control, revealing secrets and making their opponent forget spells.

Last, but not least, Witches. Curses, potions and controlling nature is their speciality, and if all goes downhill, they can shoot some poisoned Bone Darts at their enemies.

Wizard have access to a lot of different henchmen, called soldiers.

Thugs are the lowest in the food chain. They are just some rabble armed with hand weapons. I made two groups of Thugs from the plastic Soldier kit:

To make them a bit more distinguishable I arme one group with swords and one with axes. This is a purely cosmetic choice because weapons do not grant any special rules.

Thieves are faster than Thugs, but only armed with a dagger. I built two, and decided to make them twins:

Archers are the cheapest way to add some ranged attacks to your warband. They fight as well as Thungs in close combat, but also have leather armour:

Infantrymen have two-handed weapons and leather armour, making them better and more resilient fighters than Thugs. Their two-handed weapons give them a bonus on damage, too :

Men-at-Arms have leather armour and shields, giving them a very good armour value. They are armed with hand weapons:

I also received some metal miniatures as rewards for pre-ordering the game, i.e. a Knight and a Templar.

A knight is an excellent fighter and with shield and mail armour he has the highest armour value of all soldiers. But he also costs five times as much as a Thug.

 The Templar changes the shield for a two-handed weapon which makes them the best damage-dealers in close combat. Next to him a metal treasure marker:

Talking about treasure markers, the pre-order deal came with five generic and three special treasure markers, too:

The weapon rack is broken due to a bubble in the resin, but nothing that won't be easily fixed.

My first impression is very good. The miniatures are well designed, although the plastic Soldier kit has a distinct lack of useful left arms, making it necessary to use parts from the bit box or to have some repetition. This is a general problem of this box, for example three of the four Thugs with axes are converted in some way.
On the other hand, the set was designed to be compatible with Fireforge Games boxes, and mixing the Frostgrave soldiers with a box of Foot Sergeants will give you an excellent base to build you warband(s). Alternatively, Gripping Beast's Dark Age Warriors or Arab Foot Soldiers shoudl work fine.

My plan at the moment ist to build and paint two warbands (I always try to get two forces for each new game, it is much easier to get people to play that way ). One of them will have a black and red color scheme, the other one (most likely) white and blue.

Here is a WIP of the two Thieves:

The faces need some more work...