Something Funny Happened on the way to Frostgrave!

Much like the hobby butterfly that I am I have managed to convince regular gaming compatriot Ash to try out Joe McCullough's recently released Frostgrave rules. Both of us, whilst growing up in the wilds of Yorkshire, were sucked into the mysteries of the fantasy genre at an early age and my first forays into fantasy gaming were via the majesty of early D&D, Runequest and Warhammer Roleplay.

My Warband comes together - re-purposed GW WFB Figures

So fast forward a few years (*cough* twenty eight to be precise *cough*) and here we are wanting to return to those halcyon days of youth but without the patience to roleplay.

Enter Frostgrave!

If you trawl the internet you'll find plenty of reviews of this game, both positive and a few critiques. The game itself centres around the pursuit of magical artifacts and treasure in a ruined magical city. It's warband based with each warband being led by a wizard of some kind and backed up by a diverse group of warrior archetypes (think D&D). Now where it gets cool is the campaign element with your wizard progressing based on experience and treasure acquired during the game (much like Mordheim).

My Sigilist faces off against Ash's dastardly Necromancer

The game mechanic is d20 based with everything being resolved with a single opposing roll off (like LoTR but with less rolling). Turns are IGOUGO but with an initiative roll off so there is unpredictability. Each turn is also broken into who gets to act in what order, so all wizards act first (one player then another), then all apprentices, then the warriors. What is really cool is the game can therefore have multiple players rather than being limited to one on one (so similar in play to IHMN).

So the system is really easy to pick up with some really subtle tactical elements such as forced charges (you go too close to an enemy model and the owning player gets to force a combat) and movement penalties for picking things up (it’s a game of collecting treasure after all) so you can trudge about and stash treasure then hare off after more.

Meanwhile my Apprentice leads a mission to capture some
 treasure protected by Ash's Dark Amazonian Necro-apprentice

Its simple, quick and easy to pick up, the only minor gripe being that Wizards can gain experience simply by killing folk (which isn’t very wizardly) so if your opponent is a power obsessed loon then the game can quickly out of hand.

My Wizard is incapacitated by Ash's foul sorcery and falls!
Luckily in the after game clean up its revealed it was
only a flesh wound and he's back to fight another day.

However if you like narrative based games where your little toy soldiers come to life and develop then this is a good one, at least for fantasy gaming – think Mordheim but easier!