Northstar Miniatures: The Frostgrave Knights plastic kit arrives!
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- čas přidán 4. 10. 2020
- ...and I couldn't be happier!
Apologies for the darkness of the video. Light went out and I didn't have the right bulb and it was late. Couldn't stop tinkering with these guys!
**Don't forget we'll have that giveaway next Monday when we return with a pile of painted progress! Keep the comments coming so we can pull your name! **
I haven't gotten to play in months, but I've always enjoyed Frostgrave. For myself and my opponents the biggest draw is cobbling together whatever models we've got. One of the last times we played I learned not to bring a Kingdom Death crew into terrain made for actual 28mm guys, as they got sniped from all over the board. Even more fun then digging out random crazy models is kitbashing a new crew into existence!
Northstar really has a great line of kits for doing just that and the Knights are no different. Totally compatible with everything else they've made (and plenty of other companies' bits as well), there's a nice looking variety of heads and armaments with which to gear up your knights. Or maybe you don't want knights but would rather a templar or two. Or perhaps a really swanky captain for your warband? That's fine. You've got plenty of included bits with which to build... well, all of them!
Details are nice and clear on the models themselves, and with the variety on offer you could certainly put all those pieces to use on the rest of your warband (or start your 6th or 7th concurrent one too). I do continue to wish for things to end up on the spure- a lute or other obvious musical instrument, more fully enclosed hoods or helmets, and a selection of more exotic weapons. Where's all the magic loot being found around Felstad?
Maybe it'll be in the next kit!
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/ obscuritiesinminiature - Hry
The modern Northstar kits are crisssspppy. The chain mail on that sprue is the best I've seen in the industry.
I saw there's new cultists coming out. Definitely on my list of things to get in the future!
I really like that Ranger with the owl on his shoulder, great detail on all the figures.
Obscurities in miniature doing obscure kit bashing
Perfection achieved
Can I upvote that "rarity sprue" idea? Forget the cowbell, we need more lute. I would also happily throw money at them to sell a random bag-a-bits.
Ohh i really like the look of these. Lots of variation and the detail is wonderful, i must try and get some ..
That dual wielding guy with the wizard head and mouse...oh my goodness 😍
As you only get 10 its a bit of a swizz...( the other soldiers boxes have 20), I use deus vault 13th century knights for frostgrave they come with chainmail and hand weapon and shield and chainmail with two handed swords perfect for the knights class or templar class, and the frostgrave soldier arms fit them as well so you can make marksmen or armoured archers...theres some shots of them on my channel if you care to look...cheers now
These models look GREAT. Your builds are really good. I love the ton of bits and bobs on them. The scabbards with shields on their backs is a nice touch. Great stuff
Such an inspiring video! These kits look great, I'll definitely have to pick up a few now. I'm resurrecting my old Dogs of War army and all the bedrolls/backpacks/gear will really fit into that aesthetic.
You really enjoy kitbashing these Frostgrave minis!
😊😊😊😊
The frostgrave gnolls box has a lot of bits that I have used for both soldiers and cultists.
I used mine all up! Guess I need to refill the reserves, don't I?
I'm not knocking Northstar I love all the kits and I own a whole ton, with all the sets the arms mix and match kind of, there is a load of bits and bobs to add on, the wizard set is actually my favourite with the little owls and rats plus all the potion bottles and scrolls and so on, the cultist set has plenty of little add on bits too...cheers now
I liked the cultist set when it came out but felt there was a bit too much undead bits on the sprue.
Aesthetically I really like the barbarians. Mixing them with the basic soldiers makes some great fantasy Viking types.
The wizard sprue is probably one of their best, I agree.
That wizards box really helps push any kitbash over the edge its filled with arms making interesting hand gestures, perfect for action poses!
Absolutely! Been saving bits for the eventual female barbarian box to get released!
@@ObscuritiesinMiniature that will be awsome! Thanks for the good word!
They getting better in Molding Miniatures. If I would Play Frostgrave, I would have a Cuthulhu Warband.
Great video!
Just found your channel as I am heading toward that Frostgrave rabbit hole and thinking about painting minis again. Great stuff as I started with your Hill Giant video. I've always been a fan of them and Ogres :-) Subbed.
Welcome aboard!
Demon kit is for Frostgrave (goes with a demon supplement released at the same time) plus they announced a new skeleton kit for Oathmark that will work for Frostgrave too. I think the reason they only included 10 instead of 20 is you don't need that many knights, captains or the other expensive units. I don't mind because 10 is more than I need and it keeps the price lower.
I saw the skeletons- they're looking pretty nice and non- specific in their attire and choice of weapons. Definitely that will be a good kit for purchasing multiples of! It'll be interesting to see what ends up on the demon sprue too!
These plus the Wizard kits are perfect to make a Dnd party from.
Yeah, they're both a lot of fun to build stuff with.
These models could sitting nicely in an army of Vampire Counts as the Sylvanian levy.
They're generic enough you could use them for nearly anything- that's part of the beauty of them!
@@ObscuritiesinMiniature Did you hear about the price of Games Workshop's gargant?
That model Kit's going to be $195!!
Unfortunately, yes. Not sure what they're thinking with those kinds of prices. I could buy a GW starter set or two, or some gigantic Perfect Grade style Gundams, or a multitude of smaller kits and games... If they'd come in under 100 US, I'd probably get one.
It's like the Fyreslayers release all over again!
@@ObscuritiesinMiniature There's no way they're going to be under $100.
I was thinking along the lines of maybe $150. $195 that's Forgeworld prices.
Thanks. Now I am going to add two boxes of knights instead of one.
Nice looking models. Hard to see but they look so clean compared to victirx with the mould lines.
This batch especially has very little in the way of mold lines. I haven't had a chance to play around with any Victrix stuff. I've been meaning to get some of their Vikings...
@@ObscuritiesinMiniature yea i've spent a few hours cleaning up about 40 victrix models from various armies, gonna mush them together for a barbarian horde. Was a little tedious, nice models for the price though. Got a couple of house carls. Lots of extras on the sprues.
Do these work for D&D? From the battle grid you have in the background it looks like they fit the scale. I would love to get the set just to build my D&D character. So cool! Thanks for the unboxing! Please do an unboxing for the wizards set when you have a chance.
These would ABSOLUTELY work for D&D. Those bases are all 25mm in diameter so they should work without any issues.
Wizards will probably be next week. I went on a building binge this past week and need to recover. I probably built and filmed a good two weeks worth of stuff.
Plus I need to get the female wizard kit as well...
@@ObscuritiesinMiniature Thanks much!! Looking forward to the unboxings!
I use these Frostgrave, Oathmark, Wargames Astlantic, and sometimes Warhammer all the time for D&D gaming - they kitbash well with each other, and with e.g. Reaper Bones fantasygaming miniatures, and the results mix well with Wizkids plastic miniatures designed specifically for D&D and Pathfinder.
Reaper's miniatures tend to be the tiniest bit taller - maybe a millimeter or two on average - but at this scale, it's really not very noticeable (you can disguise the difference really easily by using a thicker base for any figures that are noticeably shorter, and the difference disappears really nicely.) I use these kits primarily for making NPC characters anyway - guards, townies, bandits, and the like - so I don't mind if they are a little shorter than the average hero :)
The only major complaints I have about these kits (and its severity will vary by group) are that:
1. The vast majority of models from these kits are for male warrior types, naturally enough for kits designed for primarily historical military wargaming, and fantasy wargaming as an offshoot of historical military wargaming: outside of Frostgrave (and soon Wargames Atlantic), you don't have a lot of variety out there for female characters, civilians, spellcasters, and rogues and such.
2. There are more and more kits coming out all the time, but for now, you're also limited largely to a mostly European ancients, dark ages, feudal, medieval range of aesthetics, which is a small segment of the possibilities for fantasy role-playing games. (Wargames Atlantic has some historical Afghans who are fantastic for a middle-eastern kind of flavor, and will soon be releasing some Boxer Chinese for a more far-eastern flavor, while Frostgrave has those pulp "savage" Tribals and Arabian Nights style Crewmen for a little more variety, and Wargames Atlantic and Stargrave kits are introducing more sci-fi style figures, but you'll need some creative kitbashing to get much more variety than that for now. And...
3. The monsters and demi-humans seem to be largely limited to a subset of Tolkien-inspired "races" in a heavily Warcraft/Warhammer-influenced style: Elf Archer/Swordsmen, Beardy Axe-Dwarfs, hulking Ape-like Orcs, runty Goblins with wolf or spider cavalry, and occasionally some variety in the form of Undead (skeletons, zombies, or sometimes mummies or vampires or ghouls), lizard-men, and very rarely beast-men (goat-men, satyrs, centaurs, and very little otherwise, beyond the rat-men made for Warhammer), or Ogres. The most adventurous non-human kits I've seen so far have come from Wargames Atlantic, with their Halfling Militia, Giant Spiders, and lizard men with steampunk and sci-fi options! The very recently released Stargrave kits do include a few alien parts that can be kitbashed into fantasy kits, and I hope more manufacturers expand on that!
For D&D purposes, some of my favorite kits are:
For human adventurers, the Frostrgrave Wizards I and II, Frostgrave Knights, Frostgrave Cultists, and Frostrave Soldiers I and II.... Any other 28mm historical, fantasy, and even sci-fi kits are also useful (Wargames Atlantic has a great Afghan kit, for example, with great middle-eastern head dresses, that mix well with Cultist bits and some of the wizard bits to make an Arabian Nights style warband right from one of those wonderful old Harryhausen stop-motion Sinbad movies from the 1960s!)
For human villains and other NPCs, the Oathmark soldiers make great rank-and-file guards, the Cultists make great villains, etc. There are (or were) some Warhammer cultists and militia that make great villains as well, which mix with other human bits for bandits, pirates, cultists, assassins, and whatnot. Frostgrave Crewmen, Frostgrave Tribals, and Frostgrave Barbarians also add a variety of great NPC human warrior types.
For generic Elves, the Oathmark Elf Light Infantry are excellent: the lightly-armored bodies and hooded heads make great Elf and Human civilian, rogues, rangers, and the like. Oathmark Heavy Elf Infantry are nice for more heavily armored Elf fighters and so on ("heavy" meaning chain-mail in this case!) These kits are focused almost entirely on Elf swordsmen and archers (I rather suppose Elf woodsman militia to be armed with axes, actually, but that's just me.) Painted in black costumes, these Elf kits ought to kitbash nicely with, say, the Frostgrave cultists to create a band of Dark Elves!
Similarly, for generic Dwarven civilians, militia, and such, the Oathmark Dwarf Light Infantry seem like a great base to build from: bare and hooded heads and leather caps, and lightly armored bodies seem better suited for the rank-and-file dwarf sort of thing than the usual chainmail-clad Dwarf infantry found elsewhere (such as the Oathmark Dwarf Heavy Infantry); these kits are focused almost entirely on the beardy axe-dwarf characters with little room for variation such as militia, rogues, non-combatants, and the like (I rather imagine Dwarf militia and miners to be carrying picks and hammers, but that's just me.)
For halflings, Wargames Atlantic makes the only kit around! These have a medium-armored, organized military look to them: uniformed in chainmail, steel helms, and pikes (I kind of wish they had a more rural farmer militia look to them, but that's just me, and as always a little creative kitbashing for these guys goes a long way!)
Orcs/Goblins - Oathmark's Gobin Infantry are my favorite Orc/Goblin kit: in a Warhammer-centric fantasy gaming world where your options are split between hulking and muscular ape-orcs and runty goblin-runts, these goblins are a nice compromise between the two - perfect for a more Tolkien-like Orc/Goblin band (most of Tolkien's goblins/orcs seemed to be a rather weak and low-morale peasant farmer conscripts unwillingly enslaved into Sauron's armies against their will), or for D&D hobgoblins, or other light/medium-armored humanoid monsters. They are roughly human-sized and shaped (though slightly deformed and bestial-looking), in leather and chainmail, with scimitars, axes, spears, and shortbows.
Undead: There are a lot of fine options for skeletons and zombies, and even ghouls, vampires, and even mummies out there, between Oathmark, Warhammer, Wargames Atlantic, Mantic Kings of War, and other manufacturers - I don't really have a preference, these all tend to run together into fairly generic skeletons and zombies territory, but are reasonably nice kits. I think I slighly favor stock Reaper Bones figures for this sort of thing in general, though - there are a lot of great generic Reaper undead to choose from, as well as a lot of unique specialized figures (including undead elves, dwarves, and halflings, undead giants, dracoliches, liches, ghosts, spectres, banshees, and more.)
General: Reaper Bones are great figures, and can be kitbashed easily with any of the plastic kits by Wargames Atlantic, GW Warhammer, Oathmark, Mantic Kings of War, and the rest. The plastic wargames kits are great for quick-and-easy weapons and head swaps on Reaper figures to add some variety, and the Reaper figures make nice "hero" figures and specailists in armies (commanders, champions, special forces, etc.)
Other: Hnorable menions go to Wargames Atlantic's giant spiders (with optonal sci-fi bits, and an upcoming Goblin kit with a spider-cavalry option for those who want goblin spider-riders), Wargames Atlantic's lizard-people (if only for the sci-fi bits to expand into e.g. Barsoom-style planetary fantasy, steampunk fantasy, space-opera, or other less-common fantasy and sci-fi options, but it's a nice sword-and-sorcery fantasy kit, too!), Mantic Kings of War's Nightstalker Spectres/Scarecrows (these are a refreshing variation on the generic undead theme, in the form of skeletn/ghoul-like undead with pumpkin heads, witch-hats, scarecrow outfits, scythes, and so on, and some ghost-like features like limbs that end in tendrils of ectoplasm), the Warhammer "Ogor Gluttons" kit for a rather repulsive and scary looking band of ogres, and the Warhammer Night Goblin/Gitz "Stabbas" and/or "Shootas" for some creepy - if a little cartoonish - hooded-and-robed runty goblins (who would make fine D&D goblin cultists, spellcasters, and the like!)
Also:
In most cases of humanoid monster figures (orcs, goblins, dark elves, evil dwarves, undead, and so on), those Frostgrave Wizards and Cultists bits are fantastic for upgrading some of the monsters into spell-casters such as necromancers, liches, evil witches and wizards, cultists, and so on.
The Frostgrave Cultists kit includes some undead arms and heads - two skulls, a zombie head, and a fanged monster head on each sprue - which can be kit-bashed with undead kits, or otherwise used to turn the cultist bodies or other humanoid figures into undead horrors. A nice touch to include in this kit!
The Frostgrave "Tribals" have some great Stone Age weapons and other bits that work well for adding some variety to Reaper Bones plastic figures such as the "Squog" frog-men, and might be used as the base to make other "savage" monsters from. (Altneratively, they make for some interesting barbarian heroes, and, though maybe a bit politically incorrect, their wooden "tiki" type war-masks, bodies, and other bits would combine well with some of the Frostgrave wizard bits to make a tribal shaman to lead a cliched pulp fantasy cannibal tribe of villains!)
The Stargrave Mercenaries sci-fi kit includes an octopus-head for kitbashing your own mindflayer with - works great with the Frostgrave cultist bits! There are maybe three or four other "Star Wars cantina" style alien heads in this kit that can be swapped onto bodies from fantasy kits to make some unusual fantasy monsters with, incoluding one interesting (dog-like?) furry mammal head that might make an anthropormorphic animal-warrior type, or maybe some sort of werewolf, rakshasa, or something.
Overall, lots of great options for making D&D hero characters, NPCs, and mnonsters. I think the size is perfect - a great match for popular fantasy role-playing miniatures made for D&D gaming!
@@pietrayday9915 Wow! Thanks so much for your thorough response! At the local shop they finally restocked Frostgrave/Oathmark stuff so I'll definitely be picking the wizards up to give them a shot. Cheers and happy RPGing!
Nice builds You got there... So, i have a question, i recently got my grubby mittens in half a box worth of sprues, and yes, they went fast, so i'm now looking for more, any tips or snips about brands or sources with similar price/volume? I mean i was eyeing some models un Etsy and sh!t, then in dawned on me that for 2 of these i can grab a brand new box of northstar gnolls, or the soldiers... So here i am... Cheers, and happy hobby-ing!
Interesting
Not sure I have the patience to build all those
Nice kit, sure it look like tones of fun. But the miniatrues are a bit on the small side. no?
they are 28mm instead of heroic 32mm
Look at the Games Workshop Middle Earth Battle Strategy Game. Its the same scale.
Think these are in line with the old Knights of Solimnia from the old TSR Dragonlance setting.
(Showing my age now)
The little horned helms remind me of some of the Dragonlance art.
It's okay, I'll show my age by knowing exactly what you're talking about!
I thought Sturm and his order had longer, more pointy horns though? Horned helmets always make me think of 80s fantasy art.
I also tend to associate horned helmets with Elmore art, and it's not like he didn't do a ton of Dragonlance artwork back in the day, so I guess it all comes full circle...
@@ObscuritiesinMiniature that's right. I never knew where Elmore got his influence. They are definitely not based on European knights/Crusader knights. Always looked a bit different. Not quite viking horns. Think these models are deffinately in the same spirit as Sturm. Maybe horns were a bit bigger. Maybe they didn't want to intimidate the demons in the new demon kit. 😂 But they deffinately put me in mind of Elmores work.
@@ObscuritiesinMiniature Nice kit bashing. I like the hooded/Assasins creed guy. I used some Perry Minatures for my knights. With additions ofcourse.
Would you say it's worth it to get different kits of Frostgrave just based solely on the kitbashing potential?
If you're going to game at that scale- YES.
Only reason that's worth mentioning is these figures tend to be a bit shorter than a lot of the newer fantasy ranges.
If you're using exclusively Frostgrave models they're great, and they tend to work well with historical kits that are a bit more "heroic" in their sculpting- Fireforge, Gripping Beast, and Wargames Factory I have firsthand experience goofing around with kitbashing their models.
@@ObscuritiesinMiniature Thank you so much for answering, that's just what I was wanting to hear. Hm...think you finally got me into Frostgrave 😊
I agree completely with what Obscurities said: yes, these are great kits to buy for the kitbashing potential in this scale for role-playing gamers and fantasy wargamers, and to a lesser extent historical wargamers.
These Frostgrave kits in particular are loaded with great kitbashing bits: Cultists, Wizards I and II, Soldiers I and II, and Knights.
The include lots of weapons, spellcasting gear (wands, staves, crystal balls, spellbooks, potions), adventuring gear (backpacks, bundles of rope, pouches, spare sheathed/stowed weapons, and more), and a huge variety of heads.
I've kitbashed them with Warhammer, Oathmark, Wargames Atlantic, other Frostgrave, and Reaper Bones, and they work great - as Obscurities mentioned, the size is just a little shorter than the average Bones figure (which averages an almost noticeable couple millimeters taller), and the "Heroic" scale is a little stockier and more exaggerated than most historical wargames figures (this will be most noticeable with the arms and weapons of historical wargames figures, which look a lot skinnier than their Heroic counterparts), but in general it can be made to work (a taller base can hide the shorter height, for example, while slender historical wargames weapons look a little more natural on "heroic fantasy" elves and halflings than they do on "heroic fantasy" humans, dwarves, goblins, and orcs!)
I had the most fun kitbashing some Wargames Atlantic historical WWII French Resistance, and some miscellaneous 28mm WWII weapons from sprues I'd obtained at some point, with the Frostgrave cultists and wizard bits (like spellbooks), to create 1920s-era pulp horror game cultists: I don't normally use miniatures in that genre, but it seemed like such a fun project after someone suggested it, I couldn't resist it. I included some Reaper Bones Cthulhu monsters and other figures in the warband, and in spite of the potential for scale-related problems mentioned above, the bits worked together nicely!
What kind of bases are those? Do they come with the box?
Yeah, those flat ones come with the box. They come with all the Northstar kits for Frostgrave as well as Stargrave.
Is the scale of these figures compatible with Lord of the rings figures for conversions?
I'd say so, but the proportions are a bit thicker on these... more "heroic" style bodies if you know what I mean.
The LOTR figures tend to be slimmer and more realistically proportioned.
What bugs me with these is that they don't have empty scabbards or sheathes to go along with their drawn swords and daggers.
I was going to mention that! Maybe I did? Or in another video? There's never enough scabbards! I was building these along with some historical guys at the same time and the issue became very obvious for both kits about halfway through...
can you not simply cut the sword at the hilt on the scabbards in this kit to make empty ones?
@@alcovitch sure, I guess. But I usually make sword scabbards out of sandwitched zip-tie ends finished with modeling putty (so that scabbards have a slight gap where the sword would fit). But at that point it's more work than just 3d-modeling scabbards and 3d-printing them in SLA resin at a makerspace.
Thats no jailer my friend that is BDSM to the max