Frostgrave.. the rivalry begins

Not managing to arrange a 'proper' game for various reasons, I had finished off a few more scenery bits recently and thought I'd have another solo bash at Frostgrave. Rather than play one of the solo scenarios, I rolled up two warbands - Zaleus the Summoner and Brankus the Enchanter and thought I'd just play a 'standard' game.. I may try a little series, taking these two warbands in head to head 'campaign'.. we'll see.

It was a fairly close fought affair, with Zaleus coming out on top with 3 of the 5 treasures. Although his apprentice was struck down by Renauld's crossbow (a natural 20), she survived. Both warbands escaped any 'serious' losses in fact.. Brankus lost one thug, but they don't count!

During the game I realise that I had picked a few of the same spells for the two opposing wizards, so that could have been better planned, but we'll see. Brankus has gained 1 level and learned a new spell from a Grimoire they found, whilst Zaleus jumped up 2 levels, improving a couple of existing spells. 

Stan and Cnut investigate an alleyway

Brankus in sullen mood

Zaleus commands a zombie to join Astrogoth fighting the skeleton

Izith about to catch a crossbow bolt badly 

Stan and Cnut encounter two wild dogs

Aggie, Brankus' apprentice, looks over the scrapping bands

Having dealt with the dogs, Stand and Cnut are jumped by thugs

A snow troll wanders into the street, must have heard the fighting

Lucius and a construct are outnumbered by Zaleus' men

New britches for Ulf!

Writhing Fumes.. a Frostgrave solo game

Jingzel sat in the shelter of a ruined archway breathing hard..'By Ozziak's balls!' he swore, 'That was hard!'.

Jingzel was the sole survivor of his band.. every single one of them.. including his apprentice, Dax.. had fallen to those Vapour snakes.. there were so many of them.. and they just kept coming. Dax had undoubtedly saved his life, casting Curse and Blinding Light spells with ease, whilst his own magic failed him. Maybe it was panic. Yet somehow, he alone had made it past those damned serpents, and the two constructs guarding the door.  He recalled the two thugs he'd only hired last week, going down to the endless snake attacks and groaned as he remembered the treasure they'd dropped.. nothing he could do now. 

Nothing but return to the camp before dark, raise another band and carry on!

Writhing Fumes scenario from the Perilous Dark book

Jingzel and his band 

Wulfred leads a group of thugs into yet another Vapour snake

A zombie raised by Jingzel fights alongside Helga in the alleyway

Wulfred leads the way

The party approach the doorway, Dax blinding the constructs

Helga, having lost the zombie, accompanies a raised Imp

Jingzel failing to cast spells, looking for an exit

Certain death awaits the party

A rare moment of triumph when Ragnuld hits a construct hard with one shot

Some Frostgrave stuff

As the UK passed 'Freedom Day' and I've watched the numbers rising, my nervousness about playing face to face games has lead me to call a pause to that for a couple of weeks, see how things go. I know I'm being overly cautious, what with both vaccines etc, but y'know, sometimes you just have to listen to your gut don't you?

Anyway, Over recent evenings I've been adding to my Frostgrave 'stuff'. Some of this has been old fashioned Blue Peter bodging.. expanding the scenery bits using all sorts of scrap MDF and foam, PVA and hot glue. To supplement the buildings I'd made previously, I now have  a box of 'scatter' items.. all on 80x80 or 80x40mm bases. 

I've also added a few 3D prints to the 'monster roster'. These are all various finds on Thingiverse and printed off on my Ender3.. they are not resin prints, so don't fare well on close inspection, but on the table, I think they look okay!

I haven't played Frostgrave in aaages, but I think I'll get a solo game underway to scratch that particular frozen itch!

A few pics (with standard henchman for scale)..

A Snow Troll

Bear

A Large construct (failed print being repaired with green stuff)

Spiders!!

Ice Toads

Wraith

Some 'scatter' scenery bases (80x40mm)

'Wall' spell marker

From the last game I played (a solo game back in December)..

A group of thugs venture into a quiet street

High ground.. great spot for zapping baddies below

A  rather unwelcome worm

Albamorious ventures into the frozen city.. Frostgrave action!

On Tuesday James made a trip over to the Polly and we had a very enjoyable game of Frostgrave. Only my second go at it after the recent club night, and I was bringing a Level 0 warband.. Albamorious the Sigilist, up against his rather more experienced level 8 warband based on 'Slaine'. (Witch)

James was very chivalrous and didn't completely wipe out my band, although I suspect that would have been quite possible.. perhaps only the odd natural 20 would have made a difference. As it was, my warband had a good blooding and got away with a couple of treasures.

Helga bravely hiding in the shadows

Fight!!

I do enjoy games that give you a narrative, and Frostgrave does deliver that.. in our game highlights included a Ranger being irritated by 'Furious Quill' for a turn, then shaking it off and placing an arrow between the eyes of Ulfric, the apprentice who had cast it! Around the ranger, James' bear was swatting off zombies and our foot soldiers were laying into each other.

Demon hot on the chase!

The highlight story of the game involved a demon that James' apprentice had released, chasing down one of my child thieves who was perched on a pillar with a treasure. Albamorious cast a 'wall' spell to delay it's progress, the boy managed to jump into an adjacent window, with the demon hot on his heels.. Albamorious cast another wall directly infront of the demon, and as it turned on him, tickled it with another Furious Quill before dispatching it with a blow from his staff! (The child, meanwhile, got away with his treasure). 

Stay back!

Great fun. 

Albamorious finally stops the demon

Unfortunately my phone pictures aren't great. Really must remember to take my camera to the club!

On a side note.. elsewhere in the room.. haven't seen one of these used for a while. (obviously just for deployment - they did talk to each other!)

Frostgrave Night

On Tuesday we had our first club Frostgrave night..  we recently decided that perhaps once a  month we'd try to arrange a 'club' game or theme, to get everyone involved and playing together. Frost grave was our first one, and it was great fun!

We actually had two games side by side.. four players on one table (of which I took no photos - sorry!), and on our table Quint and Trev played the halves of a Mog war band sandwich!

I have cobbled together a few war band ideas from the pool of figures, but would really like to 'theme' something a little more. For now, I picked the following little war band..

 Albomorious the Shit Sigilist with his Apprentice, Ulfric the Mule.. supported by Helga, a 'man' at arms, two thieves in the form of Ned and Albert, street urchins taken into Albamorious' care.. a couple of infantrymen to protect the wizard, and a crossbowman. 

Not the best war band, with only six figures, and I hadn't spent all my gold either.. but the game night was about trying out the rules and having fun.

James Strange Tower of magical Oddness drew many smutty remarks

Our table

The three way game was a hoot.. needless to say, my little band got squashed.. for some reason the children drew a lot of fire and being in the middle between the two other bands didn't help.

My crossbowman picks out a target 

Helga about to get trampled by Quint's animated Large Construct

I had one moment of hope which was quickly doused too.. A natural 20 (Critical double damage) rolled by my crossbowman, shooting at Quint's wizard. What did he roll to counter? Yep, a natural 20. (Not entirely clear in the book whether this should have been an automatic hit anyway, but all very dramatic!)

Not Fair!

So, still unsure about the longevity of this game.. but as a fun diversion it's a thumbs up.

A Frosty thing..

Set up a bit of a solo game to run through the Frostgrave rules again last night.. I might finish off the game today.. although I do find these days that solo games inevitably get put away before they're finished.

The light is a bit awkward to take pictures so I had a bit of a play..

Albomorious the Sigilist fails to cast a Draining Word spell

Guntard, the Elementalist Apprentice, lurks in the ruins

Ulfric struggles to cast spells and carry all of Albomorious' crap

Helga takes on an imp, assisted by a zombie

Marak the Barbarian and a small construct, advance.. taking a treasure token

Gertrude the Elementalist curses me for not removing the background!

the sounds of battle ring out across the frozen ruins.. or something..