'Frostgrave' Warband 1 - The Southlands, for upcoming campaign

I am currently finalising four warbands for an upcoming campaign which will be batrepped on this blog and hopefully also be in video from for Youtube. The campaign will be called 'The Cardinals campaign' and will have a warband from each of the 4 cardinal points of the compass with this one being the Southlanders. The location of the campaign will not be the frozen city but an equivalent less frozen but still magic stuffed city on an island which has been subject to a giant earthquake.

This Warband represents a Necromantic force who have travelled from the South to rummage and raid in the legendary city and is largely based on my Mark Copplestone designed Darkest Africa army which I normally use in my Legiones Antiquitata history/fantasy crossover. Unless I say otherwise you can assume the minis are from this range sold by Wargames Foundry. Those minis not from this source are 3d stls I have printed up either from 'Wargames Atlantic' or 'The printing goes ever on.'

First up the Wizard and his apprentice Bonesnakey and Redmask. I am pretty sure Red mask is a conversion but as I bought and painted these over 20 years ago I cant remember. Bonesnakey is the wizard and is a necromancer. Each of the four warbands has a different thematic wizard and as he is waving a femur I felt necromantic or witch was the choice here. After looking at the spells though I felt that as a novice witch looked a bit like playing on hard mode. Better more experienced players will doubtless know better.

Apothecary - here I regretted not choosing Witch as the missed chance to have a 'Witch Doctor' as an Apothecary was such a missed dad joke. The Apothecary obviously has a relaxed bedside manner and will not be rushing around. Obviously the original purpose in my game is as Warchief so this is a game based demotion.

Thieves are provided by some Agojie miniatures. The Agojie are the warrior women of Dahomey made relatively famous in a recent film 'The Woman King' but who have been known about by students of African warfare for many years. More usefully here they are lightly armed and look agile so made good thieves. These are stls by Wargames Atlantic

Thugs - there were many choices for thugs and I have gone with generic African spearmen. I have loads of these in different forms but just thought that (with a bit of a red paint touch up which carries across the warband) these gave a sufficiently disposable vibe.

The Warhound was obviously going to be a lioness. I have a cheetah but that will be doing duty as a (not snow) leopard in encounters so this lioness from Duncan Shadow is the obvious choice. The base is too big but I dont really care as it is never going to be a competition!

Infantrymen are provided by the Masaii of East africa based mainly on their broad bladed spears which are sort of in the same damage dealing category as 2 handed weapons. I spent some time in Kenya as a younger man and was impressed by the casual approach to lions of the Masaii and the similar tribe from the north the Samburu.

Men at Arms - I thought that this would be between the armoured Benin Infantry or the Zulu type and as I wanted the Benin for a different category it was the Zulu type that won out. Admitedly they lack armour but they do have big shields and a fearsome reputation.

Archers - standard tribal archers here, nothing fancy. I am not sure of the efficacy of african bows at range but as it is only a game it really doesnt matter. In our ruined city it's all short range anyway!

Crossbows and Marksmen - None of my 'Darkest Africa' range minis have crossbows. Many have rudimentary muskets but I chose not to go down that road. Instead and not the only time I have dipped into the East African Arabic culture and conscripted a couple of Arab crossbowmen from the slaving stations of Kilwa or Mombasa. In reality these are 3d stls by Reconquer miniatures who specialise in Reconquista period figures and are (IMO) the finest sculpts available for naturalistic figures. The chap on the left is the standard crossbowman whilst that on the left in finery is the successful Marksman.

A second Arabic style figure is the Treasure Hunter after Gold, Ivory or slaves usually and here along for the ride. This is another wargames foundry miniature from the Darkest Africa range called Baluchis who were a hereditary mercenary group who served as muscle for Arab merchants and Slavers on the East African coast.

Tracker - I have used a standard archer and given him a dog to show that he can track and shoot. Painted up with red body paint to fit the overall aesthetic. I would have preferred an African wild dog but lacked a good STL.

Ranger - Who better for a sneaky ranger than a Pygmy from the Central African rainforest? Nobody. This guy can move unseen and unheard. I am always surprised when i hear that some people are unaware that Pygmy peoples actually exist as a real thing. There are between a quarter and half a million still living in the forests of Central Africa though under threat from greed and development. I think that the existence of Pygmys also makes it harder to deny that Homo Florensis was definitely also human.

Knight - The actual Benin armoured infantry is my Knight. This heavily armoured warrior from 'Medieval/Renaissance' West Africa represents one of the most long lasting and advanced Kingdoms of Africa. From the 12th to the 17th centuries Benin was a powerhouse and very difficult for Europeans to colonise due to both climate and disease as well as the formal social organistion. The old sailors rhyme "Beware, beware the Bight of Benin, for few come out where many went in" refers to this reputation. The Stl is by Wargames Atlantic.

Templar - another West African 'inspired' miniature - this time by 'the printing goes ever on' will serve as a Templar complete with (sort of) Halo! I was tempted to use a Portuguese conquistador type figure slaughtering for God (and Mammon) but have stayed with a more Africana type.

Lastly and perhaps stretching the definition of Barbarian I have a Half troll mini - again by 'The printing goes ever on'. This is again on a too big base but I can live with that as it is in essence a really African feel barbarian. I have 2 of these for my Legiones Antiquitata army but this is the one I have chosen here.

That is everyone. It is of course possible that many of these will never be recruited and used but I would rather have them in the bag just in case (along with a Zombie or two!). Having covered the Necromancer Southland warband next up will be the Elementalist Northerners!