On The Painting Desk: Prophecy of Telor about the Spirit Queen's Torment

 

I finished off the Frozen Horror so it is time for me to move onto my next set of expansions for Heroquest.  This time, I am going to tackle the miniatures found in the two "smaller" expansions, Prophecy of Telor and Spirit Queen's Torment.  These boxed sets came with alternate sculpts of the main enemies and a new hero each.  I all ready painted the new Heroes at the end of 2025.  

You may recall that these alternate enemy sculpts were new orcs with Hammers, alternate Abomination, some new Gobbos, female zombies, female mummies, sword-and-board skeletons, dread warriors with swords, a female Dread Sorcerer, and an alternate Gargoyle.  These minis were all also cast in transparent plastic.  Prophecy of Telor was an orange-red color, while Spirit Queen's Torment is a bluish-green.  Therefore, I hemmed and hawed about what I wanted to do with them.  Ultimately, I decided to just paint them up like normal minis for the game.  I think they will be more versatile and likely to see the table that way.  

So, that means the first step was to go ahead and get them undercoated!  Will my usual methods work with these transparent plastic figures?  To save time, and kill the suspense; the answer is Yes.  Yes it does.  Here they are after being sprayed in Grey Seer from GW, washed with dark grey wash, and drybrushed with cheap acrylic white.    

For my first painting session, I decided to start by painting all the Undead at once.  It did not matter which expansion they came from, I was going to paint them all together for ease and unity.  I was all ready concerned about matching with my previous minis, so no need to make it worse by splitting these up into smaller batches.  

The mummies are always where I start because they are super easy and you can build momentum quickly.  I painted their eyes Blood Red, any exposed flesh Malignant Green, and then their hair Graveyard Grey.  Then, I hit them with a Dark Wash.  All Undead get a Dark Wash to make them extra scary looking! 

Next were the Zombies.  I painted them Malignant Green flesh and then gave them a Green Tone ink wash.  From there it was simple to paint their dresses, belts, hair and gear.  I kept their hair Graveyard Grey or uncolored and just based.  Then, they got their Dark Wash and basing done.  

Finally, I did the skeletons and for these ladies (You can't really tell with Skeletons, and since almost everything else is a female version these must be too right!) I decided to go off the reservation with my usual paint scheme.  I decided to use Wizard Orb in order try to get a faded Bronze look to some of their gear.  I also used Fire Giant Orange for a rusted look on the metals.  The bones were of course Pallid Bone.  I also used Talos Bronze, and Copper from my Metallic Speedpaint set.  The final metal color was Graveyard grey.  These ladies took the longest, but they came out very different from my usual batch of skeletons.  Not sure my experiment worked 100%, but I will take it.  I never go back and re-paint a painted model!  

   So, after a day of effort, here is where the Undead ended up..... ooooh, scary! 

With the Undead finished, it was time to turn to the Greenskins for this effort. I had 4 goblins and 4 Orcs, all in the same pose.  I batch painted the Gobbos together and then the Orcs together the following weekend.  However, I swear these Orc models are cursed.  When I painted them up for Keller's Keep you may recall that I accidentally spray primed them instead of sealing them?  Well, this time I painted them all using Orc skin as the flesh tone, not realizing until I was done with the models that the flesh tone was supposed to be Malignant Green like the Goblins!  Arrrgggghhh!  Therefore, I went back and reprimed the fleshy bitz and repainted them.  I do not think it turned out that great, but they will blend in a bit better with thier fellows now.  

The Goblin gear I kept mostly Magic Blue and Runic Grey to blend in with the OG Goblins.  Weapons were Pallid Bone, Runic Grey, and Graveyard Grey.  The other assorted straps was either Hardened Leather or Crusader Skin.  The Orcs were pretty much all wearing Graveyard Grey armor which makes it look fierce and iron-like.  I also used some Runic Grey, Pallid Bone, and Graveyard Grey on the hammer's to make them distinct weapons too.  Their tabards were Blood Red, Magic Blue, Zealot Yellow, and Fire Giant Orange to help me tell them apart on the table if I need too.  

That was two weekends of painting down, and a hefty chunk of the models for Spirit Queen's Torment and Prophecy of Telor done.  These took about two weeks, and my painting total for the year is now hovering around 75+ models and they are all for Heroquest!       

Next time, I will get those Abominations and the Dread forces painted from these two supplements.  Once those are done, I will be at a cross-roads.  Do I keep on going on Heroquest, do I switch over to Late Romans, or do I paint up my Travel Battle game as a break?  Keep tuning in to find out! 

Until next time! 

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Heroquest: Prophecy of Telor- Hasbro/Avalon Hill

 

I did not take very good pictures of my copy before I started on the road.  Therefore, please take this publicity still from the creators for your viewing pleasure.  

That probably shows you what is in the box better than I can! However, I have made progress on painting it all up and will share some of that here as we go. 

This is one of the "smaller" expansions for Heroquest.  Therefore, much of what I said about Spirit Queen's Torment will apply to this box as well.  Keep in mind that ALL expansions are designed to be stand-alone with the Core set.  Therefore, these smaller boxes tend to use the miniatures and cards from the core set.... only more of them.  The main draw is the new Hero, the alternate sculpts for enemies, and the new Quests! 

So with that grab your companions, heft your long sword, and don your bracers for it is time to delve into this Quest Pack. 

Things I Like

The big draw for this box is the new Hero and the alternate enemy sculpts.  These had been Kickstarter exclusives but were released with this box to retail.  I think all of this content was part of the Kickstarter, so I am glad they allowed non-backers access to it.  I for one do not use Kickstarter and always wait for retail to see if something has legs to support.  Therefore, I would have been a bit sore if these NEVER came out. 

These enemy minis are the same as Spirit Queen's Torment with one big exception.  Instead of the cool alternate, female Dread Wizard you get an alternate Gargoyle or two.  One is the Warlock's demon-form and the other is a foe.

This boxed set also comes with some Orange, transparent dice.  I think with all the expansions I have now I can easily get a set of dice for all the players at the table.  No more passing dice between players for me! 

This Quest ties closely into the Core Quests.  Melor and his "lore" is a big component and the Talisman of Lore plays a large part in this Quest.  Players will need to have recovered it and still have it for this Quest to make sense.  I do not want to go into details in fear of spoiling it. 

Warlock and Demon-Form

Things I Did Not Like

There are a few new potions in the Alchemy Shop for this one.  Of note is the Potion of Magic, which allows you to recover up to 3 spells you have cast.  Wow, that is pretty helpful!  They also have a few variant healing potions, even to restore Mind Points.  There are also a couple of scrolls you can find, which are one use magic items.  However, not much new equipment, spells or potions in this one.  This is only a "small" expansion afterall.  

It also changes up what happens to Heroes when they reach 0 Body.  They do not die, but fall Unconscious.  Monsters can not loot their stuff, and it gives players a chance to recover the fallen with a healing potion.  This alters game play and the lose/win condition considerably and makes the game much easier.  If you want hard mode, stick with the OG death mechanics.    

This Quest plays with the idea of corruption from Dread Magic as the Players begin to gain access to Dread Magic from the Talisman of Lore.  However, as they gain these powers there is a cost.  I really like this concept a lot.  So, why is it in this section?  Well, because I want to see them do MORE with this mechanically.  After all, all Magic is corrupting even the "good" magic.  I would love to see them expand on this idea of expanding Magic options at a cost in future supplements.  This one is too small for such efforts.  Perhaps mechanics around creating scrolls or learning more spells that have a cost related to Mind Points?  Not sure, but I am sure the clever folks at Avalon Hill can figure something out.    

Again, you face a Villain a couple of times BUT it would be really nice to have a unique villain miniature.  I know, I know, this is a small supplement.  The enemy models we do get are cool, and they are cast in orange, clear plastic.  It has to do with a gimmick in the quest about a spirit bouncing between bodies, but honestly I think most of us are going to paint them up like normal foes to give them more versatility.  The Dread Warriors with swords especially can make good "mini-boss" style miniatures.  That is my plan anyway.  

Meh and Other Uncertainties

Like Spirit Queen's Torment the box art for this is smashing.  They have added some really cool foil effects and it shimmers as you turn it in the light.  It adds depth to the artwork as well.  It is a shame because I don't need all these cool boxes with cool art sitting around!  However, it is hard to toss it away because it looks the business!  

The Warlock is interesting as she is a Halfling, allowing them canonically into the setting.  She also comes standard with a ranged attack of 2 dice, which gives her a utility to Hero groups right away.  In addition, she has three spells, the most notable is the Demon-Form spell which is like the Druid's Shape-shifter spell.  I am not sure how useful this spell will be at higher difficulty Quests, but it is pretty cool and evocative.  Honestly, I think I would have made the character an Elf child rather than a Halfling, allowing her to fit in really well thematically with this Quest, Mage in the Mirror, Spirit Queen's Torment, and Rise of the Dread Moon.  Halflings might give them someplace to go later, but they still do not have a Dwarf-centric expansion so.....   

Quest 3, the Great Stairwell is probably the stand-out quest for me as it cleverly uses the board to represent moving up through a tower.  I did something similar but on a different scale in my homebrew Shadow Across Harbortown Quest (Available to Patrons).  This is an interesting way to add a new "dimension" and a clever use of the board.  

I also enjoyed revisiting Melor's Maze to make this feel like a living and breathing world to get this adventure started.  A callback to the Core Quests if you will.        

Final Thoughts

I think I like this one better than Spirit Queen's Torment and would recommend this one before purchasing that one.  The Quests seems to fit together better and the story is much cooler.  I also think the Warlock is a better Hero than the Bard, but the Bard has its uses.  It builds off the events of the Core Quests, so would work anytime after finishing the Maze of Melar.  For one of the smaller expansions, this one does what it needs to do and gives you more quests to play and Zargon ideas of what else they can do with the core game system.  

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On The Painting Desk: The Frozen Horror is Finished!

 

After my last update about painting the Frozen Horror expansion, I did not have much left to paint up.  I had painted up the baddies, painted up the doors, and then finished off the Mercs.  That did not leave much left to paint except the big monster himself.  Therefore, no need to delay the inevitable, so let's get into the details shall we?  

You can see him on the right there.  He was all undercoated up the standard way.  I am assuming that you know the drill about how I undercoat by now.  I will spare you the details.    

Those with good eyes will also see a couple of minis from the Jungles of Delthrak in that batch of minis too.  Those with good eyes and good memories will recall that I painted the Man-Bear-Pig thing with the Mercs.  This time, I will be painting up the Raptor while I waited for the Frozen Horror to dry.  

The first thing I did was mix up some of the bluish undercoat I use for ice.  Therefore, I put in one drop of Voidshield Blue, one of Holy White, and two drops of Medium.  I then painted all the ice I could find on him.  That was mostly on his armor, axe, and a bit on his body.  For his body fur, I used watered down Sand Golem as an undercoat.  That would give him a dirty fur look under the white.  Then, I gave it a blast of Holy White.  

This guy's palette was pretty limited.  I mostly used Holy White, Runic Grey, Pallid Bone, Blood Red Hardened Leather, and a bit of Crusader Skin.  Those were all Speedpaints.  Pallid Bone was for his horns and fingernails.  Holy White was for his armor trim fur.  The bulk of any metal was that Runic Grey.  Browns were for straps and the like.  For some of the rivets and detail on his armor I used Enchanted Silver and Hoplite Gold from the Metallic Speedpaint set.  I used Magic Blue for his eyes and runes on his axe too.

Unlike most of the models, I wanted to darken him up a lot, so I gave him a Strong Wash.  The base of this one is black, instead of brown.  This gives nice dark lining, and I wanted and needed that with such a mono-chrome color palette going into the end stages.  

Oh look, his little lizard buddy is getting some attention to.  I used Malignant Green on his head, arms, and calves.  The rest of his main body was Magic Blue.  His eventual tail and feathers were Fire-Giant orange.  Tongue was Blood Red and claws were Pallid Bone.  Just like the Frozen Horror!  

Anyway, back to the big guy!  With him all base-coated and washed, it was time to make him look like a Frozen Horror.  I did this with a nice liberal drybrush of Cheap Acrylic white from a Big Box Retailer.  I used a fun dry-brushing brush that I got from the same store in a cheap set of paint brushes and it works great for a lot less money.  This dry brush included his head, arms, legs, feet, hands, and the fur-trim on his armor.  I also dry-brushed the "ice" patches on him as well.  

I then completed his base the same way I do all the Heroquest bases.  I used Runic Grey on the stone work and a Privateer Press Matte Black to trim it.  Here he is looking all cold, snowy, and frozen-like...

Of course, it took a while for the Frozen Horror to dry before I could Dry-Brush him, so I worked on the Raptor a bit too.  He got Grim Black eyes, and a Green Ink wash wherever he was Blue and Green.  The Fiery-Orange got a regular Light Tone wash.  

For some added fun, I also white dry-brushed the "feathers" on the Raptor, and once that dried I painted them with Zealot Yellow.  You can not really see it too much on the finished product, but I could not find my Daemonic Yellow.  I think that would have turned out much, much brighter in the final view.  He also got the usual basing.  

Here is the Frozen Horror and his little buddy from a different boxed expansion.....

So, now I can show off the fully painted Frozen Horror Expansion with everything painted for it.  That is a pretty decent chunk of models that I took out of my pile of potential.  To finish them all off, they got a nice protective spray coat too.         

What's that you say, you also want to see the two Jungles of Delthrak minis I painted up with this group?  Okay, okay...... since you have been good little readers...... Here you go.....

So, now my WIP Box that I started my journeys with is done.  It is time to change it up.  If you thought I was going to paint the Jungles of Delthrak expansion next..... I have some bad news for you.  I am going to be painting up Prophecy of Telor and Spirt Queen's Torment next.

Until Next Time!  Another Heroquest Expansion down!  

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Heroquest: Wizards of Morcar- Hasbro/Avalon Hill

 

I did not think I was going to get my hands on this one.  It was supposed to be released in March of 2026, but due to some SNAFU many places got it and sold it out around Christmas of 2025.  That was three months early!  Therefore, when I started looking for it after finishing painting up Mage in the Mirror I could not find it!  I was concerned this was going to be a Rogue Heir situation, and it would never see the light of day again!  However, I managed to track it down at a smaller Friendly Local Game Store (FLGS)-style hobby store that happened to have a website.  I ordered it quick and it came within a couple of days, so I had it in my hands by the end of April 2026.  As a bonus, I also helped out someone's FLGS!       

Everyone says this is a re-release of an old Heroquest expansion from the OG version.  I believe them, but I never saw it.  I had never seen Against the Ogre Horde, Frozen Horror, or Mage in the Mirror either though.  I had only seen Kellar's Keep and Return of the Witchlord with my own eyes.  I am pretty sure I owned the OG Witchlord expansion.  However, despite being a re-release of the old version this time Avalon Hill made some updates by adding more quests to the quest book, and a few other tweaks.  Therefore, unlike some of the other expansions this one has new content in it.  

With this purchase, I have all the Heroquest sets except for the Rogue Heir and the Crypt of Perpetual Darkness.  I have a feeling that the Rogue Heir will never be available again, and I am not sure how much I need Crypt of Perpetual Darkness for one really "hawt" black dragon mini.  I am sure my magpie nature will compel me to get it one day.  However, for now I think I have all the heroes, quests, and monsters I could shake a stick at.  I am honestly wondering what they will be coming out with next!  

So, with that rambling pre-amble out of the way, are you ready to jump into a review of this expansion?  Okay, grab your broadsword, prepare Fires of Wrath, and Zargon open the door so we can get started! 

Things I Liked

Of course, I always like getting a lot of fun miniatures in my Heroquest expansions.  It is a big draw for me obviously.  Most of my fantasy collection now is thanks to Heroquest boxes.  I have so many now, that I keep joking I am going to be able to play BattleMasters!  Here we get a bunch of Mercs that act as friends and foes during the Quest.  These would make great units of soldiers in Battlemasters <wink>.   

Hasbro did not hold back on the named characters in this one and I am here for it!  We get a specialty Minotaur, the long-awaited Sir Ragnar, a bunch of enemy wizards, and some of their spell effects!  Sure, each wizard maybe for a handful of Quests but they are worth it.  They will see the table more than the Frozen Horror will!  Of course, there are also some new monsters too, and you have to love the Mimics... this time playing the part of a Dread Shifter.  We also get the female Wizard variant so all the main Heroes have a M/F version now.... except the Dwarf!  I really hope the next expansion is Dwarf focused.  Finally, you get the two big Golems too.  Good value in miniature pieces alone.  

They massively expand on the Wizard spell lists, and the spells of your foes too.  There are a lot of spells in this box.  Combined with the Elf spells and the OG spells and your spell-casting Heroes now have a lot of options.  Perhaps in the future, they will make a Scroll-making expansion similar to the Alchemy deck?  Maybe allow some Heroes to dabble in Dread magic but at some sort of corrupting cost.  I mean, a lot of these spells are begging to see more table time than the villains alone can give them!          

This expansion has my new favorite Treasure card..... Nothing.  They only give us one, but I really think they need to add about a dozen!  This should be the most common outcome of searching.  

Things I Did Not Like

The Quest books is.... stitched together.  It is not as cohesive as the other expansions.  They marked the OG Quests, so you can play those if you are just trying to recreate that OG experience.  However, I think if they would have stuck just with those it would have been a pretty thin expansion.  The extra Quests help bulk it out, even if they are a bit of a .... stretch.... sometimes and do not fit perfectly.  I mean Sir Ragnar is all over the place in the narrative.  

When I play, I hope the evil wizards last long enough for them to use some of the fun spells in their decks.  In my games so far, the bad guys die pretty fast.  They do not always get to use their fun toys and special tricks! 

Meh and Other Uncertainties

They added a "going to town" aspect.  I was wondering how long until they did something like this?  I mean, it was a part of many expansive Dungeon-crawler games like Shadows of Brimstone.  It gives another way for your Heroes to buff up between missions and earn extra abilities.  At this stage, Heroes might be pretty buff after doing their initial Quest, an expansion or two, and now this one.  They might not have much else to spend money on or things to do.  This gives them another avenue to expand.  Like most Heroquest expansions there are always questions about how much you can use this in other parts of the game since each one is designed to build off of the Core game and not necessarily cross-over with other Expansions.  This leaves good ideas kind of scattered across the expansions and left for Zargon's and their groups to figure out how to use as a cohesive whole.    

Final Thoughts   

I am super-glad I got a hold of this one.  The miniatures are worth the price of admission alone.  Getting some new rules and Quests is just a bonus.  I look forward to painting these all up.  Tons of new cards too.  A good value for the money and on par with some of the other large expansions for the game.  

If your group likes to use spell-caster and magic than this is a must buy.  If they are more Meat-head than Magic, then you can pass on it even though the "going to town" aspect is pretty useful for all.  This one really bulks out player and Zargon magic tricks!  That can be useful for your own homebrew Quests as well.     

Even if you do not play Heroquest this can be a really useful box for bulking out your Fantasy RPG miniature needs.  Spell effects, Mimics, Golems, and lots of NPCs/PC sculpts in those wizards and mercs.  More than enough models for a Frostgrave crew, Restless Swords game, or similar Fantasy skirmish gaming.       

Until next time! 

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On the Painting Desk: Return to the Frozen Horror!

The large box expansions for Heroquest definitely do not skimp on the miniatures.  I probably have enough miniatures now to play full-fledged wargames with them.  I know I can use them for skirmish wargaming.  I have plenty of Orcs, Undead, Ogres, Wolves, furniture, and other odds and ends.  These sets are also really useful for Fantasy RPGs too.  The downside of such large box sets full of goodies is that it takes me a while to paint them all up!  That brings us to today's post!  Look at that transition, what a professional!  

I got started on Frozen Horror and worked on the monsters and doors.  That left me to tackle the Mercenaries and the Big Bad himself.  The last batch took me about a weekend to complete.  This weekend I got started on the mercenaries that you can hire to help you get through the Quest.  It is not for the faint of heart.  

Before starting, I wished I had Wizards of Morcar because that also came with a bunch of mercs.  I wanted to get them all batch painted up together.  I am pretty good at batch painting, it makes sure they all fit in together, and would take out a big chunk of my Pile of Potential.  Too bad I have not been able to find Wizards of Morcar.  Hasbro/Avalon Hill sort of botched the release with their distributors and it came out before Christmas when it was not supposed to release until March.  Now, everyone seems sold out of it.  I really hope that Hasbro decides to re-release it, because I do not want another Rogue Heir type situation.  However, I get the sinking feeling that I may never see Wizards of Morcar available again.  Oh well.  I guess that gives me time to get the rest of my Heroquest expansions painted up and spend my money on other games. 

Anyway, I did my usual undercoating and the like.  What, you don't know what my method is yet?  Oh, their maybe some folks new to the blog?  Okay, I undercoated them with GW Grey Seer, gave them a dark Grey cheap acyrlic wash, and then drybrush them with cheap acrylic white.  This method really helps the SpeedPaints shine. 

  ^^^ That should give you an idea of what they look like when they are ready for paint.  

The keen eyed among you might notice a couple of Mercs from Jungle of Delthrak.  Yup, I am painting up the Man-Bear-Pig with this batch.  I will save the Dino for a palette cleanser when I work on the Frozen Horror himself. 

So, I got set to paint with my Mobile Painting Station.  In a surprise to no one, I am mostly using Armypainter Speedpaints, some regular Armypainter paints, cheap Acyrlic paints from a Bog Box Retailer, and the new SpeedPaint Markers.  I painted all the skin tones first using Barbarian Flesh, Monster Brown, Fair Maiden, and Tanned Flesh to give me a variety of skin tones.   

 It you know about how I batch-paint, I typically start with the boots and paint upwards from there. For boots, I used a combination of Hardend Leather, Sand Golem, and Crusader Skin.  I then went up to the pants and start painting lowest layer first so skin --> boots/shoes --> pants ---> shirts ---> Outerwear ---> armor ---> belts and straps ---> weapons and gear ---> and I save the fun of picking hair colors for last.  

I used a wide variety of colors for the clothing including Highlord Blue, Slaughter Red, Zealot Yellow, Orc Skin green, Fire Giant Orange, and some dark Purple color.  You know, all the classics.  I wanted each Mercs to look like an individual and be distinctive on the table.  These guys are not part of a military unit afterall.  This variety slowed me down a bit.  

I tried to stick to three main colors for metals.  First I have good luck with Graveyard Grey and Runic Grey for a non-Metal Metal look.  From there I also mixed in the occasional, Zealot Yellow,  Broadsword Silver or Hoplite Gold.   Those last two are from the metallic Speedpaint set. Since most of the metal in my Heroquest is not a true metallic I stuck with the non-metallics mostly.    

The Man-Bear-Pig I painted with a thinned Sand Golem, then a thinned Holy White.  From there I drybrushed Skeleton Bone from the non-speedpaint range.  I painted his claws Pallid Bone, eyes Blood Red, and his teeth cheap acrylic white.  I also painted the pads on his paws with Grim Black.  

For hair colors, I stayed pretty conservative today.  These are not main characters, they are mooks!  I don't want them to hog the spotlight!  I mostly used Dark Wood, Sand Golem, Grim Black, Graveyard Grey, and one got Zealot yellow and another got Fire Giant Orange.  See if you can find them in the group photo! 

That left them with all their basecoats on.  They were looking pretty.  I gave them all an Armypainter Light Tone wash to fill in any gaps.  Once that was dry, I did any touch-ups or finishing touches.  For example, the Man-Bear-Pig I drybrushed some white on his chest.  Others I highlighted to bring the colors back up where they needed it.  

From there, I painted their bases Runic Grey and gave them the traditional Black Trim.  Once it warms up a bit more, I will spray them down with a protective coat.  Here is where the Mercs ended up.....

Boom!  In one day I had painted a dozen+ guys.  All that was left of this expansion was the Frozen Horror.  However, I decided to leave him for another weekend effort.  A dozen miniatures in a day is a respectable days work!  That means I have painted over 50+ Heroquest models this year.  

Sounds impressive but I still have to paint: 

- The Frozen Horror Himself

- Jungles of Delthrak

- Prophecy of Telor

- Spirit Queen's Torment

- G.I. Joe Heroscape 

Man, that is a lot of stuff to paint.  A bit daunting as I need to build and paint some Late Rome stuff for Osprey now too.   However, if I see Wizards of Morcar I am not waiting.  

Until next time! 

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On the Painting Desk: The Frozen Horror on the Road

 

The main goals on my painting desk for 2026 were my Heroquest expansions.  In order to get all the Heroes for my games, I splurged last year and picked up all the Expansions with Heroes.  This left me with a pretty hefty Pile of Potential to work through.  Before I could start working on my Late Roman project for Osprey I was going to need to clear this backlog out.  Early this year, I had managed to finish of Rise of the Dread Moon so now it was time to focus on The Frozen Horror expansion. 

This expansion was a snow themed adventure for the barbarian and his pals.  That was going to be a very different look from what the Elves looked like.  There were an assortment of winter themed minis and a number of human mercenaries to go in this set.  Before I began traveling, I was able to get them all base coated and stored away in my WIP bin.  

Not much to say about the undercoating process you do not all ready know.  Grey Seer undercoat GW spray, dark grey cheap acrylic wash, and then a dry brushing of cheap acrylic white to get them to this point.  I have had good results with this undercoat process for speedpaints.  The first minis I painted from this set were the Yeti.  They were a test of my mobile painting station. 

With the pre-amble out of the way, it was time to get going on the rest of the models.  

At this point I was Mobile.  On a nice sunny, spring day I pulled out the paints and decided to give painting a go, my first real time working in my new space.  I pulled out my WIP bin and decided to give my Polar War Bears a go.  I think we have all read or seen some version of the Golden Compass now, so you get the idea of what these guys are.  Interestingly, in this expansion they get the ability to attack twice!  Plus, they hit pretty hard too!  

This gives you an idea of my painting space

I decided to use a watered down Crusader Skin on one bear, and Sand Golem on the other.  After that, I used a drybrush of cheap acylic white with a blast of Holy White speedpaints as well.  I used a dot of Grim Black of nose and eyes, and a dot of Blood Red for the tongue, and a spot of Pallid Bone for the teeth.  A surprising amount of detail on the face of a Warbear.  From there it was pretty standard suff.  I did use Absolution Green for the "fur" trim of the lighter bear.  For those following along at home, I use that color for Ogre hair, meaning that this guy had been killing Ogres and using their scalps as fur trim!  Turn around is fair play I guess.  For armor I used Runic Grey, Graveyard Grey, and Talos Bronze.  I have had good results with the greys for armor and they did not disappoint.  

            

From here, I packed them back up and let them dry overnight.  At this point, their basecoats were on and they were ready for a nice coat of Light Wash and then touch-ups and highlights.  Nothing too fancy.  Once done with those, I painted the bases with Runic Grey and then the traditional black trim to finish them up.  

Not a bad first effort at painting while on the road.  However, I still had things to paint for The Frozen Horror expansion.  After the Polar War Bears, it was time to get a bit more fiddly-foes.  I grabbed the Gremlins out.  These guys are really annoying because they do not do damage, but they DO steal your stuff!  Gross.  I wanted them to have the same skin tones as the Yetis I painted, so I went back to the Magic Blue and Holy White mix and three drops of thinner as their skin tone. 

I used a watered down Voidshield Blue as the base for their hair and beards.  I wanted them to look "icy".  From there, I painted over it with Holy White and then drybushed it with cheap acrylic White.  I did the same thing with their wands too.  The rest of the minis were standard natural colors like Hardened Leather, Pallid Bone, Crusader Skin, Runic Grey, Gravelord Grey, etc.  The details were mostly Golden Loot from the Metallic Speedpaint sets.  They were washed with a light wash and then touched up again.  The bases were the usual stuff of Runic Grey with a black rim.  

From there I had a few loose doors.  Two were ones I had missed from one of the Elven Sets, but I am not sure which one and it doesn't matter because I am painting them now.  The other two were snow and ice themed doors from The Frozen Horror.  The two sets of doors would require very different painting techniques to complete them.  I had two wooden ones and two iron ones.  Typically, one of those types is the start of the Quest while the other is an exit.  

For the Frozen doors, I used a Dark Wood for the planks, while for the Elf ones I used Sand Golem.  That tracked as all my Elf wood is Sand Golem paint.  The iron ones I used Broadsword Silver and for the Elf one I used Pallid Bone.  Again, my elf metal was always Pallid Bone so I was staying consistent.  Where the elf one was covered in vines, The Frozen Horror doors had icicles and snow on them.  

The elf doors were fairly straight forward using Magic Blue and Plasmatic Bolt for the runes and such.  The stone was Graveyard Grey and the vines were Malignant Green.  Give it all a Light Wash and they were done.

The frost and snow of the other doors required a different effort.  The runes were Magic Blue, this time with Markers.  The stone was Graveyard Grey.  The fixtures were Broadsword Silver from the Metallic Sets.  The snow and icicles I started with a Voidshield Blue wash.  Then, I painted over it with a light coat of Holy White.  Once dry, I drybrushed cheap white acrylic over it with a make-up brush.  I used watered down black to give the whole thing a dark wash.  

Final Thoughts

That feels like a good place to leave it for this post.  11 models painted is a good weekends work.  All that is left from this set is the Mercs and the big, bad himself.  I look forward to painting the Frozen Horror himself but I will probably save him for last.  

Until next time! 

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