Wizard Fight!

Welcome, friends!

Today, we are going to talk about next season's structure, and especially the new game we've nested with Dungeons & Dragons.  We're excited about Frostgrave, and with good reason.  Now, this isn't a Rulebook Rumination for the book (though I will provide one next season after we put it through it's paces).  Instead, this is a look at the game and how we're making it fit what we want, rather than (for example) NOT making it into something we want.

The last few years we've introduced a fair number of new games, looking for the je ne sais quois that would land a game or setting (or even just a model line) a permanent place on the Wargate's schedule.  We found we enjoyed all of these games, but enthusiasm for many of them has waned off.  Either they don't have a project lead to run a nested RPG, they weren't quite robust enough to carry a season by themselves, or maybe it suffered a worse fate - it suddenly strikes as silly to be married to another IP after the GW fiasco a couple of years ago.

To this end we've managed to put the focus on three main setting milieu, and the move to a three season year to accommodate longer campaigns.  While Dungeons & Dragons has fine pedigree as an RPG, there really isn't a competitive system to allow us to fight the kinds of battles we want to.  D&D Attack Wing provides a great system for fantastic battles between all sorts of strange creatures, it fills a niche all it's own.

So, if D&D Attack Wing is "quick-play / high-magic"...what else do we want?  We want what we previously had, the "two-party" split we've been doing for years between small-scale skirmish games for warbands, and larger-scale battle game for armies.  In both cases, dragons and beholders need to be included (at some point).

We decided to forgo larger battles between armies (for now) until we find a rule system we want to double down on, and in order to decide that we'll probably have to have some group test games with Kings of War and Hail Caesar! before we really decide to go with one or the other.  Time will tell, and we're not too worried about this for the moment.  What was clear at the time we made this year's seasonal plans is that there was a obvious heavyweight contender for the skirmish game slot, and it was a brand new Osprey publication.

The plastic miniature sets helped convince us.

"We are here for the (adventure) party."

So, specifically, why Frostgrave?  With all the other games out there, what about this set us on the course we're on?  Well, as mentioned earlier this is not a Rulebook Rumination, so I won't discuss rules or the physical books themselves until later in Season 2.  All that jazz isn't so important right now, because the specific reason we decided on this game wasn't just the simple (yet wonderfully robust and elegant) ruleset.  Rather, it was the very obvious tone of the background material and units presented.  You see, although Frostgrave has a setting...it's not well described and exists mostly as flavor.  So, since we have hundreds of models for this sort of game we had no need to buy anything new but the rules.

I don't understand the mentality we used to have.  ONLY these models and ONLY these rules and ONLY this company and ONLY (blah blah blah).  I can only say we were young, and naive.  Chained to our own lack of imagination, we wound up with what basically amounts to hundreds of the same model and games that turned into PAY2WIN nightmares.  Those days are long gone (as we have been frequently saying of late).  With a fresh perspective and refined experience, we have set about making next season an exemplar of how our schedule will work and incorporate games.

Turn Dead for what?!

The strongest imagery that sets it apart is that it's cold.  So, we ditched that entirely and moved it to the Forgotten Realms.  Since Dungeons & Dragons 5e material is focusing on the Sword Coast, if we travel a little farther north we'll find a frozen land similar to the one in Frostgrave.  Not that your tabletop terrain needs to reflect that coldness, as there's not any "main" rules that govern, say...freezing to death.

With that in mind, there is almost unlimited room for expansion, even just to tackle the basics of a fantasy world - what with all the various elves and goblins and what-have-you's infesting what we might refer to as "places of adventure".  We've bandied around how this could be done so that it suits our collection and preferences...but Osprey is on the ball with the expansions.

In a few years, if this game gets continual support from the publisher...it could be very meaty indeed.  Already, there is one expansion book, Thaw of the Lich Lord, and it will feature prominently during this year's campaign.  We'll review that one with the rulebook next season, and it really sets the bar high.

Exciting times!

Obviously, one of the main things missing is a preponderance of monsters you can have in your warband.  There is a bestiary and monsters, sure...but (save for some spells) they are mostly NPC style hazards.  Our players want to be the monsters.  All kinds of monsters...to a point appropriate for a skirmish game.  Hopefully, Osprey will keep up their releases for this.  To that end, we hope you decide to check out the game,as there are PLENTY of reasons to do so.

In any case, it will provide us with more tools and examples to use.  This year we won't be expanding the game with Wargate rules...but 2017 may see us looking into taking the game in unexpected directions.  Don't expect dragons on the battlefield (save for, perhaps, special occasions) but there are dozens of fantasy style monsters we can port as both wizards and their henchmen.

Sandgrave, anyone?  Adventure among the sandy ruins of a desert empire.  Watery Grave, where ships are involved.  I could go on with settings that could easily be attached, but let's not forget monsters, new magic and all the other sorts of material we are used to.  In fact, we may start porting our favorite material from other skirmish games to satisfy our need for an all-encompassing ruleset that we are free to use our collection with.

Did I mention plastic gnolls releasing with Into the Breeding Pits?  I love me some gnolls, so I'm interested to see how they fit into the current ruleset.  Maybe they'll give us a gnoll wizard.  Maybe I'll use a gnoll model and call it an Illusionist.  Either way, the current Frostgrave models are fantastic multi-part plastics and as far as I can tell this will be the first ever such box filled with gnolls.  Good ol' gnolls.  I love me some gnolls.

Gnolls - because Hyena Men under your city is worse than Rat Men.

If you're into this sort of game, you won't be doing yourself a disservice to pick up a copy of Frostgrave.  The price point is A NEW STANDARD for the industry.  The main hardback will cost about $20 USD at full retail, and the expansions seem to weigh in between $13 and $18.  The box sets are around $27 USD, and a two-pack of metal wizards (should you need them) will cost $10-14 USD depending on where you purchase them.  Of course, that's retail - we paid $17 for the main rulebook and a paltry $8 for Lich Lord.  That's serious value, and I think that will prove one of the best investments we've ever made during the inaugural season coming up.



So, the only thing left for a distinguished and accomplished Gatekeeper like yourself to do is pick a wizard school and build a warband from the hundreds of models we have in cases - or if you want something different just build a new model.  We're going to be painting our warbands for a feature next season as well on Project Days, and with a model count of less than 10 initially this should be an easy exercise for the group and let us show off the newer camera.

Get with the Project Coordinator to setup your warband any time before Season 2 begins on May 1st.  The campaign season is already planned, and the timeline of scenarios and special events is the most robust one that has been rolled out in a long while.  Frostgrave will also be the first game on the schedule to include a "campaign day" - a new style event where the focus will be on a special set of linked scenarios for the entire wargames session (prior to RPG's in the evening).

In addition, there are some more surprises we are developing that are going to return our campaign seasons to serious order, including bringing back some old Wargate traditions.  It's taken us a long time to work out this new plan, but compared to the old GW-centric model of our club, our new itinerary is superior in every way.  We're very pleased with how it's working out, and excitement over the new game and the implications it delivers is reaching a fever pitch.

So sharpen your dirk and carefully prepare your spells, Gatekeepers.  Frostgrave, the Frozen City, awaits.  It's time to get ready...


Images owned Osprey Wargames.