My Frostgrave Warband

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OHT

OHT

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No great pictures of minis i'm afraid as i'm such a casual wargamer that i've barely done it before (ok, a few bits of Warhammer back in the day), but Frostgrave (henceforth known as FG) tickled my fancy and i'm glad i got it along with the 10 scenario campaign Thaw of the Lich Lord.

It's a skirmish game where you'll never have more than 10 figures in your band. I'm sure more experienced wargamers will tell me this is Mordheim with the numbers filed off, but i never played it, so have no idea. Basically, you and your band are trying to loot the fabled city of Felstad which fell to an icy grave centuries ago. Now bits are thawing and a plethora of wizards and their bands are venturing in.

Generating your wizard and his band is fun and pretty simple (much like the game itself. I'm guessing that hardcore wargamers will find this very superficial). As you run through the scenarios, you gain money, treasure, can set up a base with various furnishings that give you bennies, and your wizard gets xps and gains levels. Sadly, along with your apprentice (the only other member of your band able to cast magic), no-one else gets to level up.

Anyway, here's the merry band i'll be starting off with.

------------------------------------------------------------------

The band is led by a rather rough and ready wizard who has earned the moniker 'The Body Hammer' for his fondness in using his crafting hammer as added force for his favourite spell Push. His apprentice is the butt of the band's jokes (behind his back of course) as he tries hard to style himself after his master - even copying his mannerisms and turn of phrase. Because of this the band call him 'Tack', something that although is meant to belittle (his Tack Hammer as opposed to the Body Hammer) he rather likes. One day he'll be in charge and then there will be proper respect.

The rank and file are left in the capable hands of Rose Redshaft, a crack shot with a crossbow, and the animals are controlled by Gelson the tracker. MicMac (or Mick and Mack as they were born) the twins provide muscle and the Body Hammer's oft worked on construct bodyguard Mr. Mean who was almost destroyed last year, has been upgraded and is now known as Mr. Meaner.

The Body Hammer

Move: 6 Fight: +2 Shoot: +0 Armour: 10 Will: +4 Health: 14
Level: 1
xps: 0
Items (5 max): Hammer
Spells (Casting Number on d20): Animate Construct (Small 8, Medium 11, Large 14) - out of game, Enchant Weapon 8, Telekinisis 8, Elemental Bolt 14, Push 10, Brew Potion 14 - out of game, Glow 14, Steal Health 14

'Tack'

Move: 6 Fight: +0 Shoot: -2 Armour: 10 Will: +2 Health: 10
Items (4 max): Sword
Spells: As wizard but -2 to casting roll

Soldiers

2 Warhounds
Move: 8 Fight: +1 Shoot: +0 Armour: 10 Will: +2 Health: 8
Cannot carry treasure or hold items

Mick + Mack - Infantrymen
Move: 6 Fight: +3 Shoot: +0 Armour: 11 Will: +0 Health: 10
Items: Two-handed weapon, Leather armour (1 more allowed)

Gelson - Tracker
Move: 7 Fight: +2 Shoot: +2 Armour: 11 Will: +1 Health: 12
Items: Staff, Bow, Leather armour (1 more allowed)

Rose Redshaft - Marksman
Move: 5 Fight: +2 Shoot: +3 Armour: 12 Will: +1 Health: 12
Items: Crossbow, Sword, Mail armour (1 more allowed)

Mr. Meaner - Medium Construct
Move: 5 Fight: +1 Shoot: +0 Armour: 12 Will +0 Health 12
 
For a second I thought you were talking about the Hordes minis! Sounds neat though.

(I bought a trio of Hordes Frostgrave or maybe it was Frostbrand warriors to use as Githzerai or Githyanki, I really think they look the part):

Sorry...BLACKFROST. These dudes:
73052_BlackfrostShardWEB.jpg
 
Frostgrave is a skirmish game published by Osprey in the UK. Got a decent line of supplements too.
 
OHT said:
It's a skirmish game where you'll never have more than 10 figures in your band. I'm sure more experienced wargamers will tell me this is Mordheim with the numbers filed off, but i never played it, so have no idea.
Click to expand...

Its a very similar premise to Mordheim, but the system is quite different and has more of a focus on magic. I like them both for different reasons.

Generating your wizard and his band is fun and pretty simple (much like the game itself. I'm guessing that hardcore wargamers will find this very superficial).
Click to expand...

lol, I'm close to being a "hardcore" wargamer, and I have to say overall I appreciate a well-designed simple system over an everything-and-the-kitchen sink rules approach. But its really exactly the same as the Crunch vs Rules Lite debate in RPgs. Everyone has their own personal sweet spot. the difference I find, is that most hardcore wargamers will play a variety of systems depending on the circumstances of the game, and don't have the long term ties to one specific system or approach that roleplayers often acquire (except those kids who only play GW/Wormahordes, but those aren't "real" wargamers ;) )
 
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OHT said:
Frostgrave is a skirmish game published by Osprey in the UK. Got a decent line of supplements too.
Click to expand...

So when are we going to see pics of your warband?
 
Pics of your warband!

And more discussion about Frostgrave!

How is Health tracked? How much damage per weapons? Is the +X bonus on D20 or other D?
 
TristramEvans said:
Its a very similar premise to Mordheim, but the system is quite different and has more of a focus on magic. I like them both for different reasons.
Click to expand...

This. There's quite a lot of that Mordheim style skirmish + warband development about these days.

It's an orphaned system, but Salvage Crew: Star Mogul is a treat.
 
It's a free download on DTRPG, check it out: http://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/89287/Salvage-Crew-Star-Mogul-Game

It's Mordheim-esque. Basically your warband is a scrapper gang, hunting abandoned outposts and battlefields for usable junk in a kind of Frontier Space background (there's not much fluff and it's not needed). The standard setup is a bunch of tight, Borderlands/Mos Eisley/Jakku style scatter terrain or shipwreck with random salvage counters placed around the map. You have to get the salvage counters back to your dropship point and bug out to get the value of them, so you need to dedicate some of your points to cargo hauler droids or small transport vehicles. Now, presumably you do this all the time without incident, the games represent those times another salvage gang has shown up at the same time and decided to contest ownership of the site. With blasters.

In between games you can spend your salvage credit on new hires, upgrades for your crew like weapons, skills or cyberware, and you can roll on treasure tables to possibly find an abandoned refinery, mine, or other interesting site that will give you long-term campaign bonuses but which the other player can choose to set a raid/sabotage scenario in.

There's not much new in it, but it has a kind of tongue in cheek Borderlands vibe to it that I like.

THE-DESERT-ROSE-CREW.jpg
 
Yeah, I hadnt heard of that one myself. It sounds kinda awesome, and a good chance to use some of my orphaned Rogue Trader minis (and Astropath Kickstarter figs once they come in).
 
I will post my review of Salvage Crew when I've done reading it and give it a test run. It's exactly in the vein of a RPG/boardgame-thingie I have been working on for a couple years.
 
Spinachcat said:
The snow fantasy is a great idea as you can leverage a lot of Christmas bits.
Click to expand...

I find it's a mixed bag. You can clean up at Michaels and Dollarama once a year at the post-Christmas sales, but the rest of the year it can be hard to find specific stuff. And making snow-covered terrain isn't a well-known technique.

On the other hand it's better than Star-Struck City, which pretty much requires tricky water-effects resin pours for every game board.
 
Baking soda makes for great snow. That plus a bag of crystals I bought at the dollar store informed my winter bases for my Necron army this year
 
I really want to like Frostgrave, but d20 in a wargame? Eww.
 
Spinachcat said:
Glued to bases? Or just tossed across the table for the battle?
Click to expand...

lol, mixed with watered down carpenter glue for snow bases. A white velvet sheet does me for the table, lest one wants to go a bit more elaborate
 
Arkansan said:
I really want to like Frostgrave, but d20 in a wargame? Eww.
Click to expand...

Good point. Yesterday I saw 64 dice rolled in one attack when genestealers mobbed a Rhino.

Does the D20 work well with Frostgrave? AKA, does the smaller number of models basically make it RPG combat?
 
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the D20. I appreciate its role as part of the history and unique identity of RPGs, but give me a 3d6 roll any day.

But, in regards to Frostrgrave, its very much a skirmish game with 5 to 10 characters per side, so combats arent much bigger than that of a well-populated RPG.
 
TristramEvans said:
Yeah, I'm not a huge fan of the D20. I appreciate its role as part of the history and unique identity of RPGs, but give me a 3d6 roll any day.

But, in regards to Frostrgrave, its very much a skirmish game with 5 to 10 characters per side, so combats arent much bigger than that of a well-populated RPG.
Click to expand...

I've been considering giving it a go, but the scene for it seems really sporadic in my area.
 
Arkansan said:
I've been considering giving it a go, but the scene for it seems really sporadic in my area.
Click to expand...

The Osprey stuff got a big initial boost simply by having the name on it, but everything except Frostgrave seems to have sunk back into oblivion. I think a lot of that is that most of their line of minis games are existing indie or small press minis games reskinned (a couple of them are Song of Blades and Heroes under the hood) and they're all pretty lightweight.

I don't find Frostgrave very compelling as a pick up game, but where it shines is in the campaign play. Maybe you could start a campaign? Around here everyone is always clamoring for someone to run one, and since you can use minis you've already got you're halfway there.
 
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