This will be a new series that will run sporadically over the next six months. I’ve taken the plunge and signed up to go on the Frostgrave 101 Immersion Tour with Geek Nation Tours, and decided I’d chronicle my preparation in the lead-up, as well as share some highlights once I’ve returned.
The Tour
The tour is being organised by Geek Nation Tours, in partnership with Osprey Games, and has us travelling to the capital of Estonia, Tallinn, more commonly know as Felstad (well, at least served as the inspiration for Felstad!), and the arch-wizard himself, Joseph A. McCullough, will be joining us. Over seven days we will be doing a mix of more standard tourist fare with a geeky bent (historical sites, things to see, exploring the city) as well as getting plenty of opportunity to push toy soldiers around and throw some dine. In my interactions with the head geek himself, Teras Cassidy, I’ve found him to be supremely helpful and efficient and it promises to be a well run experience.
Hobby Challenges
As part of the tour, there are a series of Hobby Challenges leading up to departure with the first one being two tour exclusive models, a version of Albert Magnus (aka Albert the Great, or his title – Doctor Universalis) and a swamp monster. Getting these two painted will be my first focus, and I’m hoping to get it done before the end of August. Next up will be a piece of snowy terrain, for which I have some ideas but they are still formulating, given my limited free time presently, this may end up being a ‘quick win’ with a pre-made kit. Last of the tour challenges is the bringing of an appropriate villain, for which I eagerly await details. In addition to these, I’ve also decided to create a new warband specifically for the trip, as well as completing some additions to my trusty Summoner warband led by Konrad, and some monsters to fill out my bestiary.
The New Warband
I vacillated quite a bit on exactly what I wanted to do for the new warband, and found numerous wizards which would have adequately served, but eventually decided I’d return to that which saw me fall in love with this wonderful hobby originally, ORCS! I haven’t done anything so gauche as to plan out spells and the warband, but instead acquired a few new models to ensure I had plenty of options to choose from. I started with a couple of models form Games Workshop which I’ve had on my wish list for a while, Wurrgog, who will be my wizard and the Savage Big Boss, who will be a berserker. Additionally, either a captain or knight will be joining the ranks, for which I’ve selected this lovely Orc Warlord from Mierce Miniatures. To fill out the other slots, I’m going to hunt around for a few models, but I picked up a box of Savage Orruks out of which I’ll be able to make thugs, archers and thieves, and dug out some old metal squig models which should serve as warhounds. But wait, I hear you cry, what about an apprentice? Well, I know I own a GW Wardokk model, which was acquired to act as a Snakebite Weirdboy in an old 40k army project, I just haven’t quite been able to locate him among the oodles of 40k Orks carefully (and not so carefully) stored throughout my unit. I’ve set aside a little time on the weekend to have a proper look (EDIT: found him, I’d logically stored him in the case with the models comprising the bulk of my Frostgrave bestiary).
Frostgrave
The other thing that I’m in dire need of doing is to get some games of Frostgrave in. I realised recently that it’s been about two years since I last got it to the table, an oversight that is sorely in need of correction. There’s been some interest at my local club, Axes and Ales, and we’ve had a couple of games so far. Hopefully I can get some more in as I was very rusty.
Conclusion
To say I’m excited about this trip would be an understatement, and looking at both the hobby to-do list, plus all the more practical preparation that needs to be done (flights, travel insurance, luggage, etc) I’m feeling a little overwhelmed but hopefully I can start making some progress and getting things ready to go. Regardless, plenty of painting is in the queue, so I’m off to get cracking.
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