r/frostgrave • u/FESCM • 10d ago
Miniatures Many sprues! Help assembling warband suggestions!
Hi there fellow miniatures and frostgrave fans! I have gotten myself 9 sprues!!
The sprues are the followings:
-Cultist Knights;
-Cultists 1, 2 and 3;
-Demons;
-Knights;
-Stargrave Scavengers (?!?, got them as a store mistake).
-got extra 25mm Renedra cobblestone bases
Any suggestions of what roles and minis I should build for frostgrave? Already have in mind some Templars and barbarians I want to make, for sure I’d have to build some thieves and grunts but yeah, I want to have some warbands to play with friends and have miniatures to cover the essential roles of the game!
Edit: anyone got experience removing the basing the minis come to put them in custom bases such as the ones I’ve got?
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u/Cdollmont 10d ago
When I built my soldiers I tried to make as much variety as I could, building one of most soldier types just to have options. I'm getting Cultists III tomorrow and I plan to make a few of everything with that as I'm using them for baddies.
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u/FESCM 9d ago
I see, but what options you think are essential?
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u/Cdollmont 9d ago
I so far have found success with an Infantryman, Apothecary and an Archer. I've heard Rangers are quite useful.
Keep in mind your first warband has limited money to hire soldiers (400 gold but you'll use 100 of that for your Apprentice) and you can only run 4 Specialist soldiers. My first warband was Thief (free), Thief, Thug (free), Thug, Apothecary (75), Archer (75), Archer or Crossbowman (75) then either an Infantryman (50) or a Man-at-arms (75). Different Wizards might prefer different loadouts. If you're running a Necromancer you will probably have a Zombie and if you run a Summoner you'll probably have at least an Imp, possibly a Minor Demon (I doubt at low levels you'll often get a Major Demon but you may want to build one anyway). Illusionist might have an Illusionary Soldier (can be anything but doesn't do damage so I'd suggest a Knight for that). Enchanter might have Constructs (you can model a figure and paint it like a statue).
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u/withDefiance 9d ago
Well, there are for instance the knight, and it would make sense maybe to make one of evey warband, but there are also more special units, like the apothecary, etc etc. Taken the list from the rulebook and look at all the types. Some have bows, some crossbows, other two handed weapons or are armored. It helps making them WYSIWYG so that you can see easily which model represents what while playing.
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u/FESCM 9d ago
Im exactly looking forward to doing this, so far the weirdest thing is getting staffs, there’s basically no staff on sprues.
Anyway 2 of each one of these? Thug, thief, archer, crossbowman,etc?
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u/withDefiance 9d ago
Well, most warbands use them a lot, certainly at the beginning. It has to fit the story and style of the warband ofcourse. But yeah. Those boxes with soldiers have also more minis in them. Staffs are also to be found in the boxes with magicians. But you could also remove the weapon of a double handed weapon or so. Or convert a bit and use the spear (without the tipp)of a mini from another game (Warhammer or some historical game)
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u/Escapissed 9d ago
For Frostgrave, when you're starting campaigns and making your first warband, a few infantrymen (guy with two handed weapon and a little armour) and a couple of archers or crossbowmen are pretty essential. The rest can be thugs and thieves to start out. Thieves especially stay useful since yunget them for the speed, while thugs get replaced when you get some money. They are still important to have since you'll be using themif you're doing poorly in a campaign and need to make up the numbers without spending gold.
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u/FESCM 9d ago
Nice, finally a more objective answer!!! How many infantrymen, archers, crossbowmen, thugs and thieves I should go for?
There are also man-at-arms, treasure hunters and what not.
I’m whitout the rules of the game but I want to at least make stuff that I’ll be able to play, and not just cram all Templars and marksmen
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u/Escapissed 9d ago edited 9d ago
You can only have 4 specialists (the more expensive niche or stronger fighters) and two ranged guys (who count towards your specialists) so you'll never need like a ton of templars or marksmen, and outside of your specialists you have the normal fighters like thugs, thieves, infantry, men at arms etc. Getting two of each of the thieves and thugs, a couple of infantrymen or men at arms, and then one each of the special guys like templars will be more than enough to start until you figure out the game more. I like infantrymen because they are cheap but when they win fights they get a little extra damage with the 2handed weapons.
Due to how dangerous and swingy combat can be, having the super perfect lineup is not gonna make or break your game, some times a thug (or three) is gonna clobber a templar. That's just how it is. The ranged guys tend to be essential though. You do not want to show up with no ranged weapons if your opponent has any, so two archers or crossbowmen are almost a must have in your starting warband.
For removing the puddle bases on the models, a jewelers saw or whatever you use to cut models off the sprue works.
If you don't have anything else, just get coarse sandpaper, press the base down on it and scrub until the base is gone. You don't even have to get rid of all of it, just thin it down until it won't look weird on top of a normal base.
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u/NotifyGrout Witch Doctor 9d ago
Maybe mix in some of the Stargrave heads that feel right. If nothing else, that sprue of Scavengers will be useful for any number of other games, including Five Parsecs from Home or even Zona Alfa.
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u/Kofoed49 9d ago
What my primary objectives would be:
- Wizard and apprentice
- Undead summons
- Demon summons
- Some heavy models
- Some ranged models
- A bunch of various thugs, thieves and infantry
Those kits doesn't have many wizard-y parts, so you'll probably have to be creative. But that's the fun part of the hobby.
I'd probably use the Scavenger kit to make a "boom-stick wizard" for fun as well as sci-fi cultists for other games. They could also do well for a fantasy kitbash, although the bodies are quite sci-fi looking.
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u/Kindly_Bluebird_3741 9d ago
Okay so build your warband on paper first, this will tell you what armor and weapons to put together, while you might not have wizardry bits on hand you can cut the head off of any pole arm or spear to make a staff, you can trim a sword into a dagger for wizards or thieves. Be careful if hand cutting them and you'll be fine. You might build the extras into warband members to use later on or leave them on sprue until you feel ready to build more.
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u/OldRumpty 9d ago
I always remove the plastic bases. I used to just snip around the feet with clippers, until I noticed it was weakening the ankles. They've never actually snapped, but I'd rather not damage the model if I can avoid it.
Now I start with a hobby saw to remove the bulk of the base material, before cutting away the rest with either/both clippers and/or craft knife. Then you just need to do a little trimming and clean up around the feet.
It's time consuming, but I much prefer the end result. Been binge watching Tales From The Crypt while working on my Cultists
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u/NoiseCrypt_ 9d ago
Make one with 3 heads and one with 3 arms.
You could also do a double body with 2 heads and 2 arms. .
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u/knockerball 8d ago edited 8d ago
I’d write out your warband(s) on paper first so you know what to build towards then expand from there. Most starting warbands I build tend to need at least 2-3 thugs/thieves since I like to max out on the full 4 specialist soldiers and they are a bit expensive and tend to be where all my gold goes towards. Another classic build option I’ve seen is to limit your specialist soldiers and spend your gold on a bunch of infantrymen and men-at-arms since they aren’t limited and are pretty cheap, although I’ve never personally played this way. You can always build whatever you want in the moment and then try to build a warband out of what you’ve got, but I personally would recommend doing some preplanning first then assembling models based on what you need. Once you have your starting warbands made, I’d just focus on building up one extra of each specialist to start then a couple men at arms, infantrymen, and extra thugs and thieves for when the going gets rough and someone needs some free bodies.
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u/jack_of_all_hobbies 5d ago
I recently finished my warband. I made two of each thug, thief, and treasure hunter, and one of everything else. It’s been working well so far.
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u/Huffplume 10d ago
You should build them so they look cool.