Frostgrave.

Hey Folks...

A consistent theme through most of this Blog is my constant annoyance with myself for not focusing on one thing at a time and flitting from one project to another. I am currently making efforts to stop doing this and thats why I started a new game system this week........ mm.

So Frostgrave is a new game system published by Osprey publishing in the UK. I came to know about it through an article in War-games Illustrated. The thing with new games is that they need to attain a certain mass in players otherwise you end up buying stuff and then never using it. I believe this game is going to do ok and several members at both the games clubs I attend have the book and have started up warbands. Its a game with a low level of investment required which is a good thing.

The basic premise is Warband, frozen City - fight. Its very similar in concept to Mordheim from GW but simplier in the rules and campaign system. I loved Mordheim but the post game squence put me off as it was very intensive, this system still has that progress element but it is a lot more streamlined.

Everything revolves around your Wizard, he/she is the only one that will progress and everyone else is basically expendable. Your wizard picks their type and a bunch of spells, you select your warband and crack on. The only quibble I have is that there are a ton of spells and you have to select your list as you build your warband which means you really have to read through them all and then try and pick which ones will work. I read through them briefly and then picked ones I liked the sound of.

What I love about this game is that there isn't a set of models that you have to use so you can pretty much use what you want. I am sticking with GW models as thats what I have lying around and I have plenty of bits to make up a band of warriors, however saying that I did go and buy a few models once I had thought about character and fluff etc.

My Wizard (Traguard) is the Warlock model from the original Mordheim range. Its a pretty old model and it was sitting in a box unpainted. I bought a box of Empire Militia models as these can be assembled with a whole bunch of weapon options. This provided me with the very basic and cheapest troops - Archers and Thugs.

For my Apprentice Wizard I am using the Dark Elf Sorceress. Now I know what you are thinking - this model has very little clothing on and would surely freeze in the city of Frostgrave. Well yes - so my fluff is that she is a cold blooded Ice Elf. I think that just about covers it. I wanted to use this model because its just an awesome model.

As mentioned I used the Empire Militia for the rest of the group, after my first game I made some gold and was able to upgrade some of warband members. I made two purchases, firstly it was a Barbarian, for this character I used the plastic Dwarf Troll Slayer model. I also added a Ranger and for this I used the Wood Elf Waywatcher Lord model.

I have only had two games so far but I have really enjoyed them and am looking forward to more, hopefully the game will gather a following and there will be some expansions and continued support.

Here are some pictures of the models painted some far.

Traguard the Wizard

Barbarian, Wizard, Apprentice Wizard, Barbarian.

Dwarf Troll-Slayer Barbarian

Apprentice Wizard. 

So after two games I am really enjoying it. Its a fun game to kill off an hour or so and the fact that there is an uncomplicated campaign element is really nice. In both games there have been some really hysterical moments where my mental hard hitting Barbarian has failed to do anything but then an archer has managed to one shot someone from max range with a zillion minus modifiers. How you use your wizard in the game is a major factor, you can only cast one spell a turn so you really have to think about how yo utilise him but also making sure he doesn't get killed off.

We have just played very basic games so far so am looking forward to trying out some of the scenario games.

Until next time...