Adding Just a Pinch of Magic - Frostgrave Wizards

Hanging on the coat tails of any Mordheim warband is a Frostgrave one - all you need is a pair of wizards. If you've not looked at Frostgrave before, it's a very nice, neat fantasy skirmish game published by Osprey, centred on a wizard, their apprentice and accompanying band of mercenary soldiers. It's miniature manufacturer agnostic, so if you want to pit venerable Citadel metals against Reaper Bones figures, you certainly can!

The best bit about it is, as I mentioned above, all you need to adapt a Mordheim warband into a Frostgrave one, is to paint up some wizards that match the theme. Having just completed a small group of Lone Wolf Citadel Guard for use in Mordheim (prompted by the Scale Creep Mordheim Five-a-side Challenge), it seemed sensible to follow that up by painting a magical duo for the Frostgrave Wizard Battle Challenge.

When I started thinking about how to depict a pair of wizards associated with the Citadel Guard, the only way to go was to pick up on the sun motif (as depicted on their shields and tabards). I had a rummage around in my bitz box and found the old Warhammer Empire character Balthasar Gelt (missing a staff and mount). With his sunburst mask, he was the perfect basis for my wizard.

I cut away the original seated legs from Balthasar and replaced them with some plastic robed legs (not sure where they're from). He got a hand from an archer (which looks like he's making some arcane gesture), then I sculpted some drapery on the rear.

The apprentice was based on a Citadel fighter model (I'd used the axe on one of my Necromunda chaos cultists some time back). I gave him the staff from a Citadel townsfolk priest and created the sun motifs from plasticard and greenstuff. 

In Frostgrave terms, this pair will be Thaumaturges - users of positive magical energy with associations to the sun.

Thaumaturge Assaul Arev and his apprentice Ryek.

Assaul Arev is a high priest of the religion known as the Children of Ar. Worshippers believe that positive energy (and the powers of the priesthood) come from a solar deity known as Ar. Unlike most Thaumaturges, priests of Ar show their devotion with extravagant costumes of gold-dyed cloth, heavily laden with golden ornaments. Most striking of all are the sunburst golden masks that each member of the priesthood wears.

I painted this pair to visually evoke their association with the sun - hence the heavy yellow robes and plenty of gold accessorising. The yellow robes match the cloaks on the Citadel Guard, whilst the blue sashes are the same colour as the Guards' tunics. 

I like the way that apprentice Ryek has a simpler and more functional outfit than his master, yet the shapes and accoutrements still have the same feel. I suspect he has to have the staff as a magical node for his power, whereas Master Assaul has no need for such basic tools!

There's a nice colour balance once you add in the common soldiery, although I think those wizards are going to catch the eye of every marksman around!