ASOIAF Neutral Heroes 2 Walder Frey

 I was intrigued by the A Song of Ice and Fire The Miniatures Game (ASOIAF) for some time. I had read the books before the TV series came out and they were generally very good and the way that they are written with different chapters from different characters points of view helps to give the overarching narrative a much wider vision. As with another author, Patrick Rothfus, Martin is a little late! on actually finishing the book series off. 

The series was generally very good as well, some bits were not great but that has been dealt with elsewhere. The main point was the story more or less worked up to where the show runners departed from the established story and timeline. Not their fault as Martin had not finished it but the difference in quality was evident.

Anyway I had been aware of the Miniatures and that they were for a wargame for some time but had not looked at them in any real detail. After the 2024 release of The Old World and the debacle on stock then I was looking around the internet and Games stores in the UK and I thought I would give them a try. 

Now the CMON site for ASOIAF is slightly annoying in that the products have good box art and some details but they have a lack of consistency about if they show the actual models or not. This then translates to if the independent game shops then have the images as they tend to just take the images given to them by the wholesaler. 

So the main reason for trying this box set out was you get seven characters, plus 23 cards; 8 attachment cards, 12 tactics cards and 3 NCU cards. At this stage I had no idea what the cards meant and I just fancied painting something different. The characters in the box are Walder Frey, Vargo Hoat, Tycho Nestoris, Bronn, Brienne, Jaqen H'ghar and Daario Naharis. They were Neutral heroes again I had no idea at that stage what that meant, but Bronn, Brienne, Walder Frey and Jaqen are four great characters from the books so this set seemed like a good deal.

The first one I painted was the Late Walder Frey, partly because he was in a chair/throne. This guy is a great character he is a curmudgeonly old git, well played by the go to curmudgeonly old git David Bradley in the TV show. Absolutely out for himself and his extended family he sees everything as an opportunity to increase his power and ultimately he is the architect of the Red Wedding which is a fundamental part of the books and series.

Below is my Walder Frey, there is nothing fancy about him and his clothes are basic, think unreconstructed Scrooge. The difficulty with the TV series and painting similar to that is that the overwhelming palette is brown. That does not tend to stand out very well when moved to a 28mm (sic) figure. The one comfort that I have given him is a nice emerald cushion, probably good for the piles.

Walder Frey ASOIAF mini

So I am not the best painter, and not even the best painter in my family but I am also not bad. I am aware of internet painters and do watch some You Tube's from Squidmar or Ninjon or Miniac but I am not going to suddenly start using an airbrush with zenithal highlights or  jump on the latest slapchop fad. I do use contrast paints. I'll go into how I paint in another post but fundamentally it is a combination of mainly GW paints (some from 30 years ago still going strong) Foundary and Army Painter. There is a combination of contrast paints, drybrush, two thin coats and washes. The finish is okay but you can see the hand in the lap could be tidied up for example.

 

Late Walder Frey in chair, neutral heroes 2

What therefore was the experience like painting my first ASOIAF miniature? Well I am going to show the last Games Workshop figure that I finished below. Now the detail on this is incredible, it is pushfit construction so some element of mini building and it comes on a highly detailed base. The plastic is more flexible and it is probably this that allows the level of detail that is on the figure. Mould lines are not really a problem (oh the old flash on some of the metal minis was insane) and the way the mini is cut into pieces helps to reduce this. There is no doubting that the Citadel, GW, Warhammer miniature makers are at the top of their game.

Althaen, Wild Hunt, Warhammer Underworlds

The figure is again painted in a similar way to the Walder Frey figure from ASOIAF with contrast paints for speed, but then two thin coats shading, drybrushing and shades when needed. For me I can see the design path of the figure from early Jes Goodwin wood elf figures and the spiky hair. An extreme form of the Lost Boys 80's big hair vibe. I liked painting it but there is certainly a difference in the two.

The ASOIAF Frey figure does lack detail, this was most noticeable around the face, where it was difficult to work out what was happening. The cards in the box helped a bit as you can use them to work out what some of the shapes on the figure are. The boot things with cord ties took a bit of working out. The fact that is was pre-assembled was also strange to me and in places it made it difficult to paint. Trying to get under the chair or behind the figure to paint the back of the chair was difficult. Especially if you are using contrast paints, in this case I had used a wraithbone base layer. So that needed touching up a few times to deal with overpainting to get a consistent finish. 

Overall though it was fun and quick, the figure was not over designed with all sort of dangly bits, pouches and ephemera, this was a big change from GW figures. And the thing is because of the IP from the books then you are already invested in the character, you can see Walder Frey as a spider at the centre of a web laying a trap for Robb Stark. I was interested enough by the cards in the pack to start investigating what all the symbols and other details meant and how could you use an old man in a chair in a wargame?