I made a cheeky impulse purchase the other day, the Frostgrave rulebook. I don't know why, I was on Amazon looking for something and before I knew it there was another item in my basket!
It's a superb, perfect bound, hardback book slightly smaller than A4 (I'm guessing US letter size) and is a great read. The premise of the game (as I like to think of it) is Mordheim with wizards. You choose a school of magic for your wizarding band leader to wield, choose an apprentice, then flesh out the rest of your band with soldiers – these can be made up of Knights, Thieves, Apothecaries, Archers, you name it!
A one-off game consists of two wizards and their bands fighting across a 3'x3' board to collect treasure tokens. If you're playing a campaign, your wizard can collect experience (as well as treasure) and level up over time to become more and more powerful. You can collect various cash and magic items from treasure tokens which can in turn boost your band (who don't get to level up).
It all sounds very fun and with a model count of between 5 and 8 models there's no great time investment painting models.
The campaigns also include creatures that you can encounter as you wind your way through the streets of Frostgrave, including zombies, skeletons, rats. With the first supplement 'Thaw of the Lich Lord' already released, and another 'Into the Breeding Pits' due soon, the game is already expanding, offering players new troop types and challenges.
The rules themselves seem very straightforward, nothing earth shatteringly new or original, yet rather intuitive to folks who've played these types of skirmish games before.
Now, North Star have a host of models specifically produced for Frostgrave, including a wizard for each of the available schools of magic. They also do some great looking plastic kits for soldiers and cultists. However, I'm sure you folks will have suitable models already kicking around in your metal mountains, so this could be an easy entry game at a time when we're all looking to save money. It's an opportunity for a bit of fun with a new game and a chance to use up some spare models and get creative with spare bitz.