Frosthaven - "Snowflake" class unlock
My wife and I finally found some time to actually sit down and play some Frosthaven. And wouldn’t you know it, we even unlocked a new class. So, if you don’t want any spoilers for Frosthaven classes or scenarios, please stop reading now.
So, massive surprise to us that you got to unlock a class so early. I suppose I should have guessed when the scenario book said to use the class miniatures rather than the cardboard standees. As you might surmise, we sided with the Snowdancer. Partly because she was the one to guide us into the mountain and partly because it was easier to kill the Frozenfist. Being that he was closer and wasn’t immune to my Boneshaper’s poisons.
With painting in mind, I cleared up the mould lines as best I could and primed them grey. Looking at the artwork, I figured that this would be a relatively easy paint job. The main areas being the fur and the clothes, and there aren’t a load of extraneous details like there are on Warhammer miniatures.
Once the primer had fully cured I broke out the airbrush and gave the fur a nice even coat of Archive-X Reefer White. The same colour that I had used for my X-Wing, this is a nice off-white colour with a touch of warmth to it. I was a little stumped how I was going to wash the fur initially, something like Nuln Oil or Army Painter Strong Tone would make it look dirty. Which is not the look I wanted for my Algox Snowdancer. I settled on Pylar Glacier contrast paint. Which as the name might suggest is great for doing ice effects. It’s also great for giving white fur a nice hue without darkening it down too far. To bring back the texture of the fur I then drybrushed it with Ceramite White.
Feeling fairly pleased with how the fur had turned out I could move onto the remaining details on the model. Their trousers and top I painted with XV-88, a nice light orange-brown that would offset the cold tones of the fur nicely. To further enhance this I painted the bands around the ankles and waist with Mournfang Brown. Feeling bold I painted the designs seen in the artwork onto the trousers using Vallejo Yellow Ochre, Two Thin Coats Celestial Blue and Runic Purple. The bones on their head and the blowing horn on their waist I painted with Army Painter Skeleton Bone. So that it did not get lost in the brown tones of the clothing I elected to paint the mink scarf with Dawnstone. Apparently, such neckwear is all the rage in Frosthaven as the Banner Spear has one too. Lastly I painted the various bits of jewellery about their person with Scale75 Old Copper.
Moving onto the washes, the clothes and bone details were given a coat of Army Painter Strong Tone, whilst the mink was washed with Nuln Oil. Once the washes were dry I began the process of layering backup with the basecoats. For the most part I kept these relatively simple, layering the bone details and the clothes with Skeleton Bone and XV-88 respectively on the raised areas, leaving the wash in the recesses. To further enhance the contrast on the clothing, I mixed XV-88 with a bit of Vallejo Pale Sand and used it to add thin scratches on the highest areas and around the edges.
Satisfied with how the model had turned out I could then move onto the base. As it’s a sculpted base, the process was rather simple. I started by giving it a few thin coats of Ulthuan Grey, as the name suggests it has a slight grey tone to it that I hoped would differentiate it from the slightly warmer Reefer White base colour of the skin. To further separate the snowy base from the white fur, I gave it a wash with Apothecary White contrast paint, which I then followed up with a drybrush of Ceramite White. To help sell the effect of a snowy base, I mixed Valhallan Blizzard texture paint with a bit of PVA glue; this helps to thin the effect of the paint making it look like slush. I then dabbed this on a few choice areas of the base and let it dry. Finally, I painted the rim of the base with Temple Guard Blue.