G’day everyone, thought I’d share some ideas about how to
make some Treasure markers for the tabletop miniature game, Frostgrave.
The game is made by Osprey games, and while they have some
cool objective markers made by them to use in the game, I thought I’d do
something different and really make these Treasure markers stand out on the
table.
There are some wonderful miniature pieces you can use for
markers. I decided to use pieces from the fantastic range of Reaper: Bones
miniatures. Each pack costs a little over 4 dollars here in Australia, so
they’re really great value and have excellent details to boot.
It’s a good idea to add your pieces on a base of some sort,
just to keep it tidy and gives you the chance to add a nice scenic base with
the markers. The picture above shows what I’ll be using in this example – these
are 32 mm bases from Games Workshop. Depending on the size of the actual pieces
you’re using, you may want to use something smaller, like a 25mm or 20mm base.
Next up, you’re going to need some tools. I used Liquid
Green Stuff to fill in some gaps between the model pieces and the base; Mourn
Mountain Snow texture to add some texture on the base; and some Agrellan Earth
to add the cracking effect on the base. Finally, you’re going to need a
sculpting tool of some sort to help you apply these on the model itself.
If
you’re a wargamer, I’m sure you’ve accumulated some bits and bobs of pieces
over the years. These can certainly add more detail and flavour to your
objective markers. In the example above, I’ve got some rocks, skulls and weapon
bits. You can never have enough detail on your markers!
Now, it’s time to start putting it all together.
With Frostgrave, you’re going to need at least 6 Treasure
markers altogether, so that’s what I’ll be doing here.
Now, it’s time to start adding detail to your base. Some
might like to keep it simple by simply adding sand and flock after they’ve
finishing painting their models. However, for this example, we’ll be adding the
Mourn Mountain Snow and Agrellan Earth texture beforehand, so we’ll be painting
those parts as well.
The Agrellan Earth texture does a really good job of adding
that cracked effect on the base.
Once the texture paints have dried and you’re happy with the
amount of detail you have on your markers, go ahead and prime your models for
painting.
I’ll start off with these wooden crates so I can work with
the same colours on my palette.
Before I get into too much detail with the pieces, I
drybrushed the bases. When I was happy with the texture and colour of the base,
I finished off the remaining detail on the pieces.
The picture above represents all the layering and
highlighting done. Next up is to add some tufts on the base. Mininatur has a
fantastic range of grass tufts. I’ll be adding a couple of tufts here and there
on the individual markers.
Since Frostgrave has a winter/snow setting, I’ll be adding
some snow flock on the models.
The technique which I like to use with adding snow flock is
to mix PVA, water and white paint. This prevents the PVA from being too
transparent when it dries and you won’t have to add multiple layers of the snow
flock to get that white look.
And you’re done! Pretty simple, isn’t it?
You can add multiple layers of snow flock for extra thick
snow if you really wanted to, but I decided to keep it really simple.
I hope you've found this to be both helpful and inspiring so you can create some great looking counters for Frostgrave (or for any game!).
Happy gaming!
Happy gaming!
