Here are a group of western wizards traveling through farms and fields. They have read the ancient histories and maps and found a cave opening and ancient pillars. From the sagas they know the cave to contain great wealth and wisdom.
The inscriptions on the pillars are an extinct language, but they clearly state a warning, "Do not enter the cave. Danger."
Soon a second band of wizards comes from the east. The first band warns off the newcomers. "We were here first. We have the rights to the treasures and ancient wisdom within."
The eastern band produce scrolls and books. "These texts show that the cave and its contents belong to our ancestors. You must leave."
A leader from the western group steps forward. "Since we have discovered this cave first, it is ours by right. Your ancestors are long gone and have forfeited the right to the cave when they left."
"Be gone or you will be cursed!"
The western wizard chants, "Oh dead ones. You were defeated by my ancestors. Now I bid you to pay your debt to our slain victors. Come out and do our bidding."
With this magic incantation and a wave of the hand, a deadly host appears. Skeletons of the slain appear from the ground and the mouth of the cave.
The eastern leader steps forward.
"You magic tricks do not scare us. Be gone or you and your illusions will be slaughtered and cast to the winds!"
The eastern wizard reads the scroll, "Blok Ast Nim Forte", and a foul band of orcs appear.
"My orcs, do our bidding. Charge forth and kill them all!"
And with that the two parties of wizards, skeletons, and orcs fight over the cave and its lost wealth and wisdom.
The rest of this article has information about the figures.
This first photo shows some wizards from the Frostgrave Wizards box set from North Star Military Figures. These plastic 28 mm miniatures come with 8 bodies and many heads and arms to model a variety of combinations.
From left to right here I have made an African king, a Gandalf the Grey, a Turkish Dervish looking wizard, and a female traveler mage. There are no female heads in the wizard box, but I grabbed a few from the Frostgrave female fighter set to make a few female wizards too.
The wizard box set also include a small homonculus looking familiar, who is in the front. Originally I had the little man on the base of one of the larger wizards, but I thought why not make him his own base. Perhaps fools will believe that since he is small he is harmless. A game master can decide what to make out of him.
This second wizard group is also from the Frostgrave Wizards box set. Here I have chosen various accessories and colors to make a scroll carrying mystique, a female ice wizard (with owl helper), a female ranger-type wizard, and an Indian Sikh wizard. Once again, the female heads are from the Frostgrave female fighter set.
Many people will likely use these miniatures with the Osprey Frostgrave Wizard's ConclaveRules. I probably will not pick up those rules. Instead I will use these wizards to play Steve Jackson's The Fantasy Trip adventures. The Fantasy Trip games are usually played on hex boards, tiles, and mats. Here is a 1.5 inch hex mat from Hotz ArtWorks Mats.
This last group of wizards comes from an unknown manufacturer. I likely will update this article once I find out. These wizards come from a set of figures Dave Wuethrich gifted to me.
From left to right, the first wizard looks like some sort of female warrior. the second wizard looks like a hearty adventurer wizard, and the third wizard looks like an adventurer who is having a migraine headache.
The last figure is my favorite in this group. He looks like an older adventure traveller. I just call him "John Muir."
The following skeleton warriors come from Warlord Games skeleton warrior box set for the Warlords of Erehwon The box set has 24 plastic skeletons that you assemble yourself. I made a variety of 6 archers, 12 sword warriors, and 6 Greek hoplite skeletons. There are enough heads arms and weapons to make them all look uniform or different. This photo shows the six archers.
The box set also has a few spare skulls and arms, and so I made the four skeleton markers in the front. This is useful as a casualty marker or a place where the skeletons will rise from the ground.
This photo shows 6 skeleton sword warriors. I think the one front center right, the one leaning back and yelling, is my favorite. You might notice in this and the next photo two types of swords, a straight broadsword and a curved sarissa. They are mixed in these photos, but you might make two bands with different capabilities based on the swords.
Although the various bodies, legs, arms, and heads make for great variety, let me say these models are the most delicate 28 mm models I have made. The legs have no bases, so the feet are epoxied directly to the base. Also the delicate spine and arms are likely to be leveraged and snapped. I have not had any breaks yet, but these guys are definitely fragile compared to metal minis.
More skeleton sword warriors. Some of the heads have helmets or horns.
The bases are one inch metal washers. This gives good heft and keeps these figures standing up. The bases have a bit of acrylic texture, static grass, and base tufts from the Army Painter.
This last group of skeletons are modeled as hoplites with long spear and large copper clad shield. What is nice is that Warlord Games has included about 24 shield decals in the box. You can only see three shields in this photo, but all of my shields are different.
The following skeleton warriors come from Warlord Games orc warband box set for the Warlords of Erehwon The box set has 24 plastic orcs that you assemble yourself. I made a variety of 6 archers, 12 ax/mace/sword warriors, and 6 pole ax warriors. There are enough heads arms and weapons to make them all look uniform or different. This photo shows the six archers.
This photo shows 6 orc bashers with hammers and maces.
Like the skeleton warriors, the various heads, arms, and weapons give you a lot of variety. However, the arms and weapons are a bit delicate. It is rather easy to leverage on these and break something off.
This group of 6 orcs show some orcs with cutting instruments. I have 6 orcs with longer pole axes and 6 orcs with blades and hand axes. For these two pictures they are mixed up.
This last photo shows the remaining orc bladed warriors.
The figure in the back with a banner is from the Oathmark Goblin box set. The Oathmark goblins are a bit chunkier and taller. The Erehwon orcs are a bit smaller and thinner. They are close enough to mix in a hoard. Some might want orcs to be larger than goblins.
