Friday 6 October 2017

Ghost Archipelago Terrain

As we draw near the release of Frostgrave: GhostArchipelago, a lot of people have been asking me what kind of terrain they are going to need for the game. In truth, just about any terrain will do. The Ghost Archipelago includes hundreds of islands, including ones covered in jungle, swamps, mountains, ruins, you name it! That said, if you are looking for some ‘off the shelf’ pieces to get you started, you might consider checking out Things from the Basement. They are a US-based, laser-cut MDF company that is currently producing a line of ‘Inspire by Ghost Archipelago Terrain’. They already have one for Frostgrave. They were kind enough to send me a couple of samples of the new range, and I’ve just had a chance to put some together.

The large piece is The Temple. I must admit, when I first pulled this out of the package, I was a little intimidated – each level of stairs is a separate piece,and I’m not a great modeller. However, the whole thing went together quite easily and, using nothing but a modelling knife, woodglue, and a q-tip, I had it done in 30 minutes or so. There is just room enough at the top for 2 or 3 models to fight it out, and even some cover for an archer to take up a good sniper position.

I also put together a couple of columns. These went together in minutes, and are delightful little pieces. They work perfectly in conjunction with the temple, but would also work independently as scatter terrain on any table. Columns and/or standing stones are likely to feature in a lot of Ghost Archipelago scenarios, so I would suggest getting 6 of them if you are ordering.

My only issue is how do I paint them? In truth, I kind of like the sort of sand-stone look they’ve already got, I’d just like them to look a bit more worn. I’m thinking some kind of wash, but worried that a brown wash might make them look more like the wood they actually are, while a black wash would just muddy them. Any thoughts and suggestions on this would be welcome in the comments section!

All-and-all, I’m extremely pleased with these pieces. I’ve also got the ‘Sacrificial Altar’, but I haven’t put that together yet. Look for it in a future post. I suspect these pieces are going to be involved in several battles in the not too distant future.

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 quick note about reviews – while these piece were sent to me specifically to review, I will never review anything that I don’t actually like. I’ll send it back instead. So, while this is just one man’s opinion, I hope you can consider it an honest one. In this case - Highly Recommended! 

11 comments:

  1. joe you can buy texture spray paint at homebase which might do the job of giving them some sandstone texure. kev

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    1. B&Q and Wilko as well; Halfords do a dark grey texture paint.

      You do need to seal the MDF, either with a spray primer or a thin coat of PVA before doing any painting/washes. The texture spray paints will do that - find one in a suitable stone colour and you can save a step or two

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  2. Will there also be pre-painted resin terrain from Adrians Walls like their Frozen City range ?

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    1. I guess the answer is yes :-D
      http://adrianswalls.co.uk/historical/28mm-Mesoamerica

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  3. In all honesty, I have no idea. It wouldn't surprise me, but I haven't heard anything.

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  4. Nice! Big fan of the Mayan Pac-Man on the side of the stairs!

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  5. How do the temple stairs fair in terms of balancing minis upon them? They look a bit small and steep to me, though visually very impressive - they look particularly nice in your mini-pov shot.

    For some cost-effective terrain, I'd heartily recommend looking at this chap's <ancient temple ruins: http://malcybogaten.blogspot.co.uk/search?updated-max=2017-08-21T09:33:00-07:00&max-results=7

    Glue gun and Jenga bricks - great fun!

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  6. My big issue with the temple is that the stairs are completely unusable for gaming because they look too realistic. Basically the whole stairs become impassable terrain. I'm not going to balance my minis on that... But otherwise it looks great.

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    1. Well, almost not terrain is impassible in Ghost Archipelago, so it's a much a problem with the system. I can't say such things have ever been a huge issue in the games I've played. I'd rather the stairs look cool, rather than 'work' which would basically mean big wide steps that didn't look like stairs in this case. But too each their own.

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  7. If you get a hold of Ziterdes foam terrain pieces, there is a nice temple ruin, very light.
    http://www.ziterdes.com/buildings/pyramids-temples-ruins.html
    I have a few of their pieces & they work very well for this game

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  8. If you build the stairs for the temple removing every other step, you will have a slot between the steps to insert a miniatures base into it, allowing minis to stop while on the steps. Though this won't work if you have basing material, or if the base is too thick.

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