A Few More Frostgrave Bits: Ulterior Motives

Ulterior Motives

No sooner had I finished my terrain and figures when a new addition to the game, that requires a few more terrain items, came out. The extra elements described here were made in anticipation of the arrival of my set of cards for the Ulterior Motives expansion, which looks like an excellent addition to the game. All these terrain items have been made so that they can be used free-standing on my basecloth or on top of any suitably-sized terrain item (except the gateway, which is really designed to stand on its own).

Of course, any or all of the items here can be used as dressing in any game of Frostgrave whether or not using the Ulterior Motives cards.

I should note that when I had finished making these, my copy of Ulterior Motives arrived, and I realised that duplicate items might be useful to have in case opposing players have the option of both placing the same item. So I made duplicates of each item as well.

Arcane Disc

Arcane Disc

This magic circle type thing was made from a pre-cut 50mm MDF disc to which I added a thin skin of milliput in a circle around the edge. Lines and runes were scribed into this with an old pen. The inside of the disc was textured with PVA/filler mix, sand and chinchilla dust and finally decorated with snow flock in layers.

Trapdoor

Don't open that Trapdoor!

I made a door from cut wooden coffee stirrers (only one in fact) and some bits of card and tiny scraps of balsa. The door was slightly inset into a hole cut in an MDF base. I resisted the urge to make the trapdoor hinged so that it could be opened.

The Pit

The Pit: not a hole in the table

This was made from another 50mm MDF disc. I cut a circular hole about 30mm wide from its centre, and glued the disc to a piece of card cut to shape so as to be able to paint the inside of the pit. The edges of the hole were then slightly raised with Milliput, inscribed to look like brickwork edging the hole. The inside of the pit was painted black to give the impression of a deep hole.

Gateway

The Gateway

I made this in the same way as my walls, from balsa wood scored with a pen to look like stonework, based on MDF. This gateway is larger than the other ones I made, and I added a small buttress to the whole just for fun. The piece was painted grey and washed black. This one was slightly harder work than most of the other pieces here but I think worth it in the end.

Sarcophagus

Sarcophagus - two of them in fact

This one was very simple. I took a cut-down small cardboard box (formerly containing medicine) which I sandwiched between two cut pieces of foamboard, toppped with a piece of card and based on MDF. I filled some gaps with Milliput to tidy it up, but otherwise that's it.

Runic Stone

Runic Stone: with added runes

This is described as a pillar with runes on. Very easy to buy a resin cast one, and because a resin-cast one would be a waste of time to imitate, mine is a lot more rustic - and easier. It is a suitably-shaped piece of broken roof tile, based on MDF. I added a skin of milliput to both flat sides and etched runes into it using an old pen.

Statue

Statue: with removable top, just in case it comes to life

I haven't actually got a figure I like for this statue yet - I intend to find a figure in a static pose, possibly a souvenir rather than a figure proper - so for the moment all I have is a plinth for it. I'll use a figure on top for the time being. The plinth is made from mounting board and more card from that medicine box, again based on MDF. The sides of the plinth were painted with PVA textured with chinchilla dust.

Constructs

Constructs: small to large (L-R, obviously)

This was a frivolous idea that worked out well. I don't have any construct-type figures, so rather than buy some I made some by sticking balsa wood offcuts together into fragile-looking, rather haphazard and vaguely humanoid shapes, in appropriate sizes. I wanted them to look like they had been made from the stonework and rubble of the city itself, so they're painted like my Frostgrave terrain. They'll do!

And now for some Frostgrave games using Ulterior Motives…

A Scenario for Frostgrave: The Pit

There's a pit full of treasure in a hidden corner of the Frozen city

As promised, here is my scenario for use of the grille that I made when putting my Frostgrave terrain together. This scenario was originally created for a multi-player introductory game to Frostgrave, in which four different warbands fought over a small part of the frozen city. I've since simplified the scenario a bit based on lessons learned during that original game and offer it here for everyone's enjoyment. Feel free to use and adapt as you see fit for your own use.

Skeletons!

Scenario: The Pit

Background

As the ice sheet covering the frozen city melts, it exposes an open shaft in the ground that leads to an ancient treasure-filled mass grave. The residual magic of the city has, however, infused the vault and animated its former occupants, out for revenge upon those who would violate their last resting place.

Setup

Place a large underground entrance in the centre of the table, and fill the remaining area of the table with city ruins. Put one special treasure token in the centre of the hole.

Place four treasure items each 6" away from each side of the vault entrance with a clear path from the vault to them. Place one skeleton on each side of the vault entrance against the vault edge.

Special Rules

The grille covering the entrance to the tomb counts as rough going. Each turn any figure of a warband ends their move on the grille they must roll a die. The surface of the grille is fragile. On a 14+ they fall in and are considered dead for this scenario. Thieves and treasure hunters may reroll this die once. Wizards and apprentices may adjust their own die score in the normal way.

At the start of each creature phase more skeletons will emerge from the pit. Roll on the following table to see how many, and where they appear. Identify each table edge as north, south, east and west and place one skeleton on that side of the pit if that compass direction is indicated below.

1-4 no skeletons come out of the pit this turn

5 one skeleton (north)

6 one skeleton (west)

7 one skeleton (south)

8 one skeleton (east)

9 two skeletons (north, west)

10 two skeletons (north, south)

11 two skeletons (north, east)

12 two skeletons (west, south)

13 two skeletons (west, east)

14 two skeletons (south, east)

15 three skeletons (north, west, south)

16 three skeletons (north, west, east)

17 three skeletons (north, south, east)

18 three skeletons (west, south, east)

19-20 four skeletons (north, west, south, east)

These monsters behave normally unless any figure is within 6" of the central treasure, in which case they will always move towards and attack the closest such figure.

Treasure and Experience

The four normal treasure tokens are only worth 20 xp each while the central special token is worth 100 xp.

The central treasure is substantial. When the central token is recovered, roll twice on the treasure table and add both results together.

A Small Part Of The Frozen City

Somewhere in the frozen city...

It's taken me a long time to sort out terrain for Frostgrave but at last I have constructed enough pieces of general terrain to make a small but relatively densely-built part of the frozen city as well as some special terrain pieces to be able to play a few of the scenarios in the basic rulebook. The game has also provided an excuse to get some old fantasy figures out of retirement and onto the table after a little rebasing and touching up. I've added a few newer figures as well to make up a couple of warbands.

My basecloth is a 36" x 36" square of table-protecting material. This is used upside-down, painted in grey emulsion, textured in places with PVA and chinchilla dust, painted in patches with a black wash and then when dry with more patches of matt white emulsion. I didn't use snow flock on the base as I reasoned that this was likely to come off inconveniently and probably leave marks. The whole looks pretty good with the terrain pieces on top and rolls up reasonably conveniently for transport.

The terrain is made from wood offcuts, cardboard, mounting board and balsa wood based on 3mm MDF. The rough hewn brickwork effect is scored onto balsa wood using an old pen. I made the main pieces before taking photos but have taken a few shots of some of the scenario pieces as they were constructed, as the techniques are pretty much the same. The examples below show the monk's cells made for The Haunted Houses scenario.

For elements with balsa wood walls, I first cut the wood to size and roughly to shape so that the pieces would fit together. Then I scored rough brickwork onto the balsa using a ballpoint pen. 

Balsa wood pieces cut and scored

I made sure the brickwork looked correct across adjoining edges and cut individual bricks at the top wall edge to give a less regular effect than the wall being the same height all along. I made sure that each cell had an entrance, either cut to appropriate size as as an open doorway or an open gap in the stonework.

All parts were then assembled and stuck together using PVA glue on an appropriately sized MDF base.

Assembled room, with rubble mixed and ready for application

There's a fair bit of rubble on the ground in my city. This is useful for covering edges and filling difficult areas on the terrain pieces but also I think gives the finished item a great look. The rubble is made using a really cheap and simple solution that I first discovered some years ago making ruined buildings for WWII terrain, from crushed peanut shells roughly milled with the help of a coffee grinder. This was mixed with PVA glue and a little water and then applied in rough heaps to selective areas at the base of the walls.

Rubble added to the base

Once the rubble had dried, i used a small amount of Milliput to fill the larger cracks between balsa wood pieces and tidy up corners, and textured to the remaining areas of the MDF bases with a basic basing mix of filler, PVA glue, sharp sand and a little water. I sprinkled this with some scattered chinchilla dust.

Finally, all pieces were painted grey and washed with black. When dry, I added patches of Woodland Scenics snow flock in layers, to give a finish a little like snow and ice that has thawed and then re-frozen.

Completed room

Some of the buildings I made have non-balsa walls which required a more subtle texture than their bases. Areas requiring this lighter texture were painted with a PVA/water mix to which chinchilla dust was directly applied to give a sort of rough-plastered wall effect. The building shown is the central structure for use in The Mausoleum scenario.

The mausoleum

I applied the same light texture to some plinths for statues for The Living Museum scenario. The statutes that stand on these plinths are separate items so that they can easily be moves as normal creatures once they become animated.

Statues on their plinths

I also made a grille - the entrance to some underground chambers, perhaps, or a closed off well or shaft. I'll write some rules for a scenario using this for a separate post.

The entrance to underground tunnels, perhaps?

I'm pretty pleased with the overall effect and looking forward to playing a few games of Frostgrave at the club!