Dwarvember Week 4

Ah, well, here we are. Week 4 of Dwarvember is upon us, and against all odds and reason, I have managed to finish the Challenge. Not only did I manage to complete an entire Dwarf project in one month, but I also managed to create a second Warband for Frostgrave in the process. This one was not easy... I didn't even join this Challenge until the middle of Week 3, so I had some catching up to do.

^ First up for this week we have three Dwarf Infantryman. They were originally Miners from The Battle For Skull Pass boxed set from Games Workshop, but I wasn't a big fan of the candles on the helmets. So I clipped them off and added some stray parts from Ye Olde Bitz Box. I also managed to get the problem in painting the purplish skin sorted out from last week. I may need to revisit those riflemen...

^ The Barbarian. Barbarians are supposed to have a 2-handed weapon, but this guy has two hand weapons. I am sure my opponents will allow this slight variation to slide on by. Right, guys?

^Finally, the Dwarf Witch-Lord. This started out as the cannon swabber from the aforementioned Skull Pass set, but I modified him just a little. The helmet is a Beastmen standard from the first plastic Beastmen boxed set that GW released long ago. The cape is from GW Wood elves, the sword in the sword pommel in the sheath is from GW High Elves, and the staff is a Hunnic standard from Essex miniatures. I have had it kicking around for about 22 years now, I remember buying it in San Diego a couple of years before I moved to Las Vegas Sin City USA.

^ And now, the whole Warband. Clearly the Dwarf Witch-Lord is going to be a Witch in Frostgrave game terms, but I haven't quite figured out the details yet.

So there it is. A Dwarf Warband for Frostgrave, from start to finish in roughly a week and a half. Viewers might notice a wholesale lack of anyone resembling an Apprentice. This is deliberate on my part, I want to try a variety of different playing styles in Frostgrave, and The Wizard With No Apprentice is a part of that. Wish me luck.

Please check out this week's Mo'vember entry as well.

Dwarvember Weeks 1, 2, and 3

I haven't been painting much in the last couple of years. I certainly haven't joined any challenges or contests. So when Mo'vember neatly coincided with my introduction to Frostgrave and the start of a warband for it, I found it a bit of a daunting commitment to try and paint the whole warband by the end of the month AND create posts about it. Further, I had started a week late and had to do some catching up. So when I saw the Dwarvember painting challenge, and realized I would not be even starting on it until the third week, I knew well enough to stay away.

Riiiight... we all know the truth to that, because otherwise there would be no blog post about this so-called Dwarvember. The immediate problem for me was that I am already doing another painting challenge, and adding another eight to ten models to be finished before the end of the month might be setting myself up for failure. Further, my dwarf models were all in Storage, so realistically I wouldn't even be joining the challenge until the third week. Two weeks to complete an entire dwarf warband as well as my other warband in progress? NO PROBLEM!

#goals

I actually made the pilgrimage to Storage on Wednesday, and brought some plastic GW dwarfs from (I believe) the Battle For Skull Pass starter set. I got them from a friend when the boxed set was released, he only wanted the orcs so he just handed the dwarfs and goblins off to me. Or something like that. The goblins will make an appearance as a Frostgrave warband at some point too, I am sure. Anyways, it was a long time ago and the end result is a bunch of unpainted plastic dwarfs I have had laying about for literally years.

fact: dwarfs and goblins are natural enemies, much like cats and dogs, or Republicans and Democrats

I have been wanting to do a dwarf force for a game, any game, since I was a teenager. It never really fell into place for me. I have painted, and then lost or sold, plenty of dwarfs in the last 30 years. So I wanted to do something new, something different, something edgy with these dwarfs. And as I was looking at the models, I saw one of the cannon crew. And a picture of a wicked conversion grew in my mind... evil dwarfs! discolored skin! dark clothing! minions of the Dwarf Witch-Lord! MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!

Stop rambling already!

But this week, we just have the three musketeers (one for each week of the challenge so far.) They will count as crossbowmen in Frostgrave. I am not too happy with how the pale skin on the arms turned out, but I think I was hitting my stride with it by the last figure. The rest will be much better in next week's installment, which will be the rest of the warband and the Witch-Lord.

I took a lot of pictures of these guys... only three turned out well, and were all essentially similar. So after all that rambling, we only have one picture of the Evil Dwarfs.

More next week!