Gaming in the Ruined City

I am a sucker for a new set of rules. I bought a copy of Frostgrave at our club's recent open day - I liked the concept of the frozen city and it didn't really require many new figures. A couple of wizards and my large collection of medievals would provide the rest of the Warband.

The rules are, in the main, fairly straightforward. Movement is similar to a lot of role playing games and combat is dice and some modifiers. I am not convinced about D20s though - it provides for a lot of variation. The system gets a bit more bogged down when it comes to the all important wizards and their apprentice. Now you get lots of paper work and many tables to consult. I suspect it's a good thing that the book has a robust hardback binding! I have never been a serious role playing gamer and this is what Frostgrave is really about. I am not a sniffy historical gamer when it comes to fantasy, but when magic becomes the dominant factor, my enthusiasm wanes.

None the less, I like the concept and the arrival of the updated PDF of Open Combat reminded me of how much I liked these rules. The Kickstarter for the printed version and dice is long overdue, but it appears supplies have now arrived from the printers. A city setting would work equally well for Lion Rampant or even SAGA.

So, a rummage through my extensive terrain boxes, finding items I had long forgotten about, resulted in only a few suitable items. An Internet search provide a range of options, but mostly MDF buildings. I realise they are popular, but they just don't do it for me. A western town perhaps, but they don't have the depth of vision for me. They just don't look like real buildings. It has to be resin.

I settled for four buildings from a firm on eBay, 'Tabletopbattle', whose small terrain range has a number of suitable 28mm buildings in resin. I assumed they were one casting, so I was less than pleased when they arrived in several parts. Even less pleased when having washed and filed them, the parts fitted together pretty badly. They needed a lot a green putty before priming.

I wanted dark and gloomy, so I started with a black primer, followed by a heavy dry brush of slate grey. I then sprayed them with the Plastic Soldier 'dirty brown' spray. Then several coats of dry brushing with shades of lighter greys and some highlights of green and brown for mud and vegetation.

I am quite pleased with the finished job, but you can judge for yourself below. I have ordered a town battle mat, but that has also been delayed. Time to paint up some more figures before the first city battle!