Frostgrave - In the Walled Town

After a stuttering run-through back in October it was time for a second bite at Frostgrave. The fact that I had just picked up a second of those cheap Simba castles obviously had an effect on the terrain (even down to not changing the green mat to a more appropriate one!).


MacSver and I just went for the simple battle with treasure collection objective. I've not really read through the scenarios yet, so haven't really got my head round the combining objectives with treasure, as most other games I play have the treasure as a specific scenario. At this early stage in our Wizard led warband careers it isn't really an issue anyway.

I had a Necromancer led group, with a couple of trained soldiers (Barbarian and Treasure Hunter) to compliment the usual thug and archer contingent, whilst MacSver had "resorted to type" (using his own words) with a smaller band of specialists.

 Two of the six treasures were set in opposite corner city towers, to provide the decision of "easy but slow" collection verses weakening the warband. Both sides took the bait though and were technically a man down for the game duration, although with MacSvers lesser numbers this was probably more costly for him.

The tone for the first half of the game was set in the first activation as my wizard tried to cast a protective spell (elemental shield) which went so badly he suffered damage as a result. MacSver confidently moved his group in table, using Telekinesis to effectively drag an exposed treasure towards his group in cover.

Early exchanges were, as expected, spell based, with the Necromancer scoring a rare but brutal success with a bone dart taking out a soldier in turn 2.

MacSver's progress up the table was cautious, as the early loss of a soldier and another off on the solo errand had left him with just his Spell Slingers and 2 ranged but capable fighters. Meanwhile I tried to work my melee options up towards the treasure (and enemy) under the covering fire of arrow and bone dart (and the very brief distraction of summoned Imp).

The table really was a bit too long (due to my excited new walling options) so it wasn't until the second half of the game that the threat of melee really started to become a consideration. Up until this point it was a case of ducking and dodging between cover to minimise the exposure to arrows and magic missiles (either from Wizard or MacSver's well cast Wizard's Eye spell).

The Necromancer's Apprentice went in an unspectacular fashion. Having lost nearly all his health by virtue of horribly back firing spells, he stepped out of the shadows to conjure a bone dart spell at the enemy Wizard (and perhaps nick off with some treasure), failed hideously and was taken out with an arrow. How frustrating!

Once the combatants got to a bit more to close quarters the action sped up a bit (aided by a couple of casualties on wither side. With my Barbarian heavily breathing on the other side of the wall, MacSver's Elementalist stepped out and blasted him with an Elemental bolt. Unfortunately for him he was one point of damage short of a killing strike.

The heavily burnt Barbarian rushed over the small intervening wall and with the shout of "Crom". The follow dice rolls were a good example of how small margins make a difference. Previous to this encounter the Elementalist had just taken a single wound, which usually would be inconsequential, but this single deficit was the margin of his death. Given that the Barbarian only had a single health point left from the previous attack: well you see what I mean!

The muscled brute fully expected this to be his final act, and waited for a vengeful arrow to strike him, but to his surprise the remaining archer had decided to play the game objective and head off with the loot. Her way was barred though as the Necromancer used all but one of his remaining health points to summon an Imp to bar her way.

This left the Barbarian (courtesy of a Fast Act spell) to rush the opposing Apprentice with the support of a thug. The Apprentice had no option but to try and attack, but was hacked down for his efforts.

The Thug rushed in behind the escaping archer and then with her briefly distracted and burdened by loot the Imp charged in a took her out of the game. This left the Necromancer's warband to escape with the most treasure.

A fun game with enough cheering and teeth gnashing by both sides to keep it even, and also a bit less page flicking in the rules. It has become apparent that finding a decent spell list would be good, as too many seem to sit idle in the list. It didn't help that I kept trying or cast spells without noticing that there were applicable ranges! I also had a lot of poor spell casting rolls, so my poor Spell Slingers were losing health at a rate of knots. We'll get there though, and talk at the end was a of doing a casual campaign through this next year (or at least a few linked games to see how the campaign system works!).