These three 28mm scale metal models of some Giant Rats are manufactured by “North Star Military Figures” and can be bought as code FGV309 - Boar & Giant Rats from their “Frostgrave" Range. According to Joseph A. McCullough's lore for the Frozen City these "rats were one of the few species that did manage to survive the freezing of the city" by "hiding in some part of the ancient sewer system."
The trio were initially primed "Citadel" Abaddon Black, heavily dry-brushed "Vallejo" Heavy Charcoal so as to bring out their furry detail, and drenched in "Citadel" Nuln Oil. I then painted all of their limbs, tails, ears and noses with a combination of "Vallejo" Heavy Warmgrey and "Citadel" Carroburg Crimson, before delicately dry-brushed all the deadly rodents' fleshy parts using (more) "Vallejo" Heavy Warmgrey.
With the bulk of the cat-sized beasts completed, I spent a little time 'feathering' the join between their dark hides and their limbs with some additional "Citadel" Abaddon Black, and 'picked out' their sharp front teeth using a mixture of "Vallejo" White and Strong Tone Quickshade by "The Army Painter". As a last touch I spotted the Giant Rats' tiny malevolent eyes with a dab of "Vallejo" Heavy Red.
Despite having completed this particular packet of scavengers for wintry Felstad, I still don't actually have enough miniatures to populate my tabletop should I roll especially poorly on the Random Encounter Table for "Frostgrave", for the fanged critters can appear as a horde of four 'Pack Hunters' if the dice gods prove particularly uncharitable. As a result I have started work on another trio of the foul fiends...
To ensure I don't spend the entirety of my precious hobby time pigmenting Giant Rats, I have however, also made some significant progress on the Spider-Man figure found inside the Marvel Crisis Protocol Core Set by "Atomic Mass Games". Having previously painted a "Heroclix" model of the web-slinger, I've stuck to my trusted recipe of using "Vallejo" Heavy Red and a wash of "Citadel" Abaddon Black to do most of the hard work on the crime-fighter's webbed costume.
The "Atomic Mass Games" miniature is though somewhat greater in size than the "Wizkids" sculpt, so I plan to subsequently lighten the red up with a careful dry-brush or two. In addition, I am currently assembling the super-hero skirmish game's two hard plastic models of the Black Widow, with the intention of doing one in Natasha Romanova's white costume.
Thanks Roger. I don't think the photos do many of the smaller minis I paint much justice to be honest, with the Giant Rats especially proving difficult. Spidey should be posted very soon, and I hope to have him accompanied by some WIPs of the two different Black Widows. One is her classic costume from the comics which comes in the starter set, and the other (sold with Hawkeye) is more akin to one of her MCU costumes, imho. I have though managed to acquire a second copy of the figure from the starter set separately, so if that arrives in time I'll paint that one in black, and have three :-)
Cheers Undercoat. The rats' fangs certainly are large. I'm hoping to do a test game featuring an entire nest of the critters once I've finished the other three. Spidey should be posted up tomorrow and give me some time to work on my two Black Widows.
Nice work on the rats Simon, I think they are good enough to withstand the "close inspection" myself, also very nice progress on Spidey, all the Web-patterning on his costume must be a nightmare to paint (luckily I've never had to paint one myself, so kudo's to you sir!).
But Black Widow! now you're talking my language, is it two of the same sculpt or two different ones?
Cheers Roger.
Those rats look scary! Those fangs are huge!! Wouldn't want to stumble across them. Great monsters for Frostgrave. Can't wait to see your completed Spider-Man in a future post.
Thanks Dave. The Giant Rats are super-dinky so I don't think the close-up photographs really so them justice; albeit the snow flock appears so large in the pics you can sort of tell just how small they are. I plan on doing a group shot when I've finished the final three rodents, so that should give a better representation of their size.
Spider-Man is already finished and ready for posting at the weekend. The "Vallejo" Heavy Red dry-brush has certainly helped on his hands, shoulders and feet, but is still somewhat darker than I'd have liked around the torso. However, he's tabletop ready, so that'll do.