Frostgrave – Here comes the flood

Many of the Frostgrave scenarios have quite specific requirements for both terrain and models and there always seems to be something unusual to add to my collection.

The Into the Breeding Pits supplement contains subterranean scenarios set in dungeons and cave networks and the ‘Here Comes the Flood’ scenario requires a set of canals running through the middle of an old magical waste treatment centre. Yeah, pretty specific.

The main mechanical terrain pieces in the game are the canals which form a cross centred on the play area and running from edge to edge. The scenario has rules for falling in them and trying to cross them so they are essential.

We also need bridges crossing these canals at various points because moving through them is frankly not a great idea.

The rest of the board should be filled with magical waste treatment machines, whatever the hell they are.

Lastly, the scenario includes a flood event that basically throws the whole table into disarray at some random point in the game. This event is instantaneous and a one-off resolution, so technically could probably be done without any representation, but as it is in the name we are gonna try anyway.

I didn’t want to have to model a whole elevated play area with recessed canals (similar to TTCombat’s Carnevale terrain) as this was just too much work. If i already had a collection of this terrain that could represent the cross pattern of the canals and cover a 3’x3′ table I would have been tempted and for others definitely consider it.

After a brief discussion with my tame 3d printing goblin, we decided that an alternative way to go is lay flat ‘canals’ onto a dungeon textured play mat. We found a great low profile sewer channel print that forms part of a modular system.

After some file stretching to make the channel the prescribed 3 inches wide ‘we’ (my mate David) printed out 32 sections to form the arms of the cross and a central junction to link the arms together.

After cleaning the prints up with a file to remove any rough edges and print defects I decided to glue the sections in multiples of 4 to 1mm plasticard. This gave a storable modular layout that wasn’t ridiculously fiddly. Have 33 loose pieces of plastic wasn’t gonna last 5 minutes once play started.

The junction section was kept separate and I ran over the assembled sections with Vallejo plastic putty just to blend some of the gaps between the print components and improve the look of the channel as a continuous feature.

With the prints ‘based’ painting was a doddle.

Firstly I primed with a 2 parts black to 1 part ghost grey Vallejo surface primer through an airbrush. They do make dark greys in the range, I just don’t have any.

The prints were then drybrushed with first, Vallejo Model Color (VMC) London Grey, then second, VMC Light Grey.

After drying, but before applying any washes I painted the prints with water. This step is really helpful when applying washes to terrain as it reduces tide marking and excessive pooling of the wash.

I applied a generous wash of Citadel Colour Agrax Earthshade then used some Citadel Colour Green Glaze sparingly to create an impression of lichen encrusted areas, focusing on the area just above where I imagined the water line to be most of the time (i.e. when the channels are not in flood).

As a final touch I mixed some Games Workshop Brown Ink with some PVA and painted a thick line down the centre of each sewer channel to represent and sluggish flow of brackish sewer water.

They look the part and are low and robust enough to be playable so job done.

‘Not so fast!’ I hear you cry. ‘This is Frostgrave. Where the hell is all the ice and snow.’

Fair point. The scenario is underground so we aren’t gonna see fresh snowfall. However, it describes the channels as being filled with freezing water and blocks of ice. In a moment of thrift, I had the idea of creating generic sewer channels for use with many other games and then adding the ice as a removable modification.

Which I will be covering in the next bit.